My Little Underlevels

by zero_hour

Twilight Sparkle Part 2

Twilight Sparkle woke up to the sound of running water. She looked up from her cot and saw Spike filling a tall glass with water and a packet of juice mix. After glancing at the clock, she buried her face back in the pillow. She had been having a nice dream about a grassy hill, too. Still, the clock read 11:30, and just because she had work off today didn’t mean that it was okay to sleep all day. The mare lifted herself up from the bed and stumbled half-asleep over to the bathroom, where she did her best to smooth her frazzled mane. The water stopped running in the next room, and Twilight called across the apartment.

“You’re up early today, Spike. Don’t tell me that you got up on our day off just to make me juice.”

The dragon responded in a tired, irritable voice. “We’ve got conduit worms.”

Twilight poked her head out into the main section of the apartment, a worried expression on her face.

“They didn’t bother you at all, did they?”

Spike snorted. “If being woken up by a worm trying to crawl in my ear counts as being bothered, then yes.”

Twilight rushed over to her friend, lifting him up in a massive hug.

“Oh, Spike, I’m sorry. Are you all right?”

Spike grunted in protest as the wind was squeezed out of him.

“I’m fine, really,” he wheezed. “Put me down.”

Obeying the request, Twilight began to pace around the room.

“Let’s see. Things to do today: get rid of conduit worms, do Rainbow Dash’s paperwork, and stock up on food over at the grocer’s.

She picked up the glass of juice that was still sitting on the counter, beginning to drink it in large gulps.

Spike protested, only to be interrupted by his pony companion. “But Twilight-”

“Now Spike, I know what you’re going to say. You think that I should take some time to relax.”

“But I-”

“Well if I don’t get these things done now, they aren’t going to get done at all.”

“I just-”

“And I’d better get going now if I want to finish everything on my list.”

The mare set the now empty glass in the sink and galloped out the door.

“I’ll see you tonight Spike!” she called, disappearing down the hallway.

The dragon gave a resigned sigh as he watched her leave.

“That was my juice…”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Twilight trotted briskly down the street, the plan for the day organizing itself in her head.

Turning towards a small, beaten building with “Repair” written proudly, if a bit faded, above the door, she sighed to herself. “Might as well start here.”

A bell chimed as she walked in, and a gray pegasus with a blonde mane and goggles emerged from a back room to greet her.

“Hi Twilight,” she bubbled enthusiastically. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Hello Derpy. I’ve got conduit worms in my apartment again.”

The unicorn tried not to stare as Derpy slid her goggles up to her forehead, revealing her crossed eyes.

“So is your landlord too cheap to get rid of them or what?”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, I have to pay for maintenance. When do you think you can come over?”

The repairpony smiled. “Anytime. I haven’t been too busy lately. Ponies don‘t break things quite as often as I’d like them to.”

“Okay then, tonight around seven?”

“Works for me. I think I have your address written down somewhere. See you then.”

The mares waved goodbye as Twilight left the shop. That was one thing taken care of. Next stop would be-

Twilight’s train of thought was broken as three young fillies raced past her. She recognized them as Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, the local troublemakers. In hot pursuit of the trio were a small group of stormponies, the local police force. As the troopers passed Twilight, one of them slowed and stopped. The two ponies stood awkwardly until the armoured one broke the silence.

“It’s me. Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. You know I can’t recognize you with that helmet. Take it off.”

The mare complied, taking the opportunity to wipe the sweat out of her eyes.

“Those dang fillies are getting faster.” she grunted.

“Why are you chasing them?”

“Scootaloo got her hooves on another switchblade. We’re trying to take it from her.”

“You know she’d never hurt anypony.”

“Well yeah, but still…”

“Still…”

The two friends stood there for a few seconds until young voices sounded from a side street.

“Hay, Ah didn’t do nuthin’! It’s Scootaloo ya’ll want!”

“Hay gimme that back! It’s for self-defense!”

“Dumb cops!”

Rainbow Dash put her helmet back on with a sigh.

“I’d better go help my squad out. See ya.”

“See you later.”

Twilight watched her friend run off before going about her business.

“Now where was I? Ah yes. Groceries.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Twilight arrived at the Apple Family Market five minutes later, and was greeted by her good friend Applejack.

“Well hiya Twi’! What brings you here?”

“Hello Applejack. I’m just here to do some routine shopping.”

A slow, deep voice emanated from behind a crate of canned hay. “Seems ‘bout time we got ourselves a paying customer.”

Applejack glared at the pony behind the crate. “Now Big Macintosh, you know that Fluttershy has the best a’ intentions with that there place she set up, an’ the least we can do is provide her with somethin’ ta feed them folks. Now ain’t that right?”

The red stallion looked away from his sister’s eyes, clearly unconvinced, but unwilling to start an argument.

“Eeyup.”

He continued to push the heavy crate, a testament to his strength, as it would have taken at least four lesser ponies to accomplish the same task. Twilight watched him admiringly as Applejack addressed her.

“We always give Fluttershy somethin’ for that shelter she’s got. Big Mac seems ta think it’ll bankrupt us.” The orange mare sighed before continuing. “So were ya’ll lookin’ for somethin’ special or just canned goods?”

Casting a furtive glance towards the door, Twilight leaned towards Applejack and whispered, “Actually, I was looking for some apples.”

The earth pony began to sort through a group of cans that were scattered across a shelf.

“Well let’s see here, we got pears, daffodils, daisies- aw horsefeathers, Ah can’t seem ta find the apples. Applebloom was supposed ta sort these-”

Applejack was interrupted by a small cough from her friend. Seeing that she had the orange mare’s attention, Twilight spoke.

“I’m not looking for canned apples.”

After a quick nod and a check to make sure nopony was in the shop, Applejack ushered the unicorn into a side room, hurrying in after her. Twilight was led up a flight of stairs to a door with a small keypad lock on the wall. After Twilight, on her friend’s insistence, had looked away, Applejack punched in the combination and the door slid open. The two mares entered together, gazing upon the object that dominated the tiny room. It was a dwarf apple tree, hardly three feet high, and the pride of the Apple Family,. It was also the only source of fresh fruit in the district, and very possibly the entire underlevels. As such it was kept secret for fear of theft or simple vandalism. Few ponies could purchase the apples that grew here and Twilight, being Applejack’s close friend, was one of those ponies. She walked a slow circle around the tree before spotting two perfect-looking miniature apples. The unicorn stared hungrily at the fruit for awhile until, sighing regretfully, Applejack spoke.

“Twilight?”

Receiving a faint “Yeah?” in response, the orange mare continued. Ah know we gave y’all a few free apples before, but what with givin’ Fluttershy all that free food an’ payin’ all these danged fines that Applebloom keeps bringin’ in, Ah think y’all’re gonna hafta pay this time.” Twilight tore her gaze from the tree and faced her friend.

“Well that shouldn’t be a problem. How much are they?”

The earth pony kicked at the floor sheepishly. “’Bout ten credbits a piece.”

“What? Ten credbits each? That’s almost a month’s rent!”

Applejack’s face began to grow red as she scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “Well,” she stammered, “Ah don’t think that- that is, it takes a lot of work to-”

Seeing Applejack’s distress following the outburst, Twilight calmed herself.

“Hay, so I can’t afford it. It’s not like it’s the end of the galaxy, right? We’re still friends.”

“Yeah, Ah guess.” The orange mare perked up. “Tell ya what, Twilight. Ah’ll make it up to ya. Ah’ve got some knives that Braeburn got a hold of down at the docks. D’ya want one?”

“I appreciate the offer, Applejack, but-” Twilight stopped mid-sentence as a thought hit her. “You, uh, haven’t been giving those to Scootaloo, have you?”

“What, Applebloom’s little friend? Yeah, I figure she could use it, what with her being on her own an’ all. Why?”

Twilight shook her head. “Never mind, it’s not important.”

Applejack grinned. “Alrighty then. Anything else Ah can help ya‘ll with?”

“No, I just came here for the apples.” The mare cast one final longing glance at the fruit before turning to the door. “Anyways, I’ve still got things to do to today.”

“See ya later then. Good luck with whatever it is ya’ll’re doin’.”

Twilight left the shop, feeling Big Mac shooting her a disapproving glare, undoubtedly due to her lack of purchase. She hurried away, making her way back home. It was only one-thirty, so there was still plenty of time to finish that form for Rainbow Dash if she was fast. She entered the apartment, picked up the papers, and began to review them.

“Let’s see what we have here…” The mare read through the medical report, muttering to herself as she did so.

“Broken nose… Excessive bleeding… Missing clumps of mane and tail… Will be unable to walk for a number of weeks…” She moved on to the next section, this one filled out by Rainbow Dash herself. The careless, poorly spelled scrawl contrasted sharply with the neat print of the squad’s medic. It read:

“So this colt comes up and hes all like hay and im all go away but he wood not so I beet him.”

Twilight put her head in her hooves. Rainbow Dash really needed to let up on the local ponies. Even with the utter lack of governmental presence in the underlevels, somepony up there was bound to notice the brash young stormpony, and not in a good way. Pushing those thoughts aside, she turned to the next page of the packet of papers, this one almost completely blank. She sighed, preparing to fill in the extensive form. Hopefully this wouldn’t take long.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Twilight was just finishing the final page when a buzzer sounded in the apartment. She set the papers down and walked over to the door, pressing the intercom button and speaking into the barely-functional speaker adjacent to it.

“Yes, who is it?”

A cheerful voice answered her. “It’s me, Derpy! I’m here to get rid of the conduit worms!”

As Twilight opened the door to admit the pegasus, she silently wondered how the mare kept her cheerful attitude. Twilight had trouble staving off depression at times, and she had a steady, well-paying, comfortable job, even if it was dull beyond belief. The pony who was now unpacking a toolbox in the corner of the room, on the other hoof, was lucky to make a few credbits killing pests, and considering the kinds of pests that lived in the underlevels, it was a wonder that the poor pony wasn’t completely insane. Twilight glanced back to Derpy, who was now holding an old stethoscope up to the wall, her eyes crossed wildly and her tongue stuck out one side of her mouth in concentration. Looking at her now, Twilight decided, it was easy to imagine that she was already insane.

“Hay Derpy?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any friends?”

“‘Course I do!” The gray mare looked up from what she was doing. “You’re my friend, aren’t you Twilight?”

“Of course I am, but I mean friends that you hang out with, aside from your job.”

Derpy frowned thoughtfully before turning back to her work. “I guess not. Other than Dinky, that is.”

“Dinky?”

“Yeah, Dinky. My daughter.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. So she was supporting a filly on top of everything else? She must be straining to make ends meet.

Without warning, the repairpony threw down her stethoscope, snatched up a crowbar, and began to pry a section of the wall open. The wall gave way with a screech, revealing a thin, enormously long white worm wrapped around a length of electrical wire. It began to slither further into the wall before Derpy grabbed it with her bare hooves and proceeded to pull it length by length out of the wall. When she had finished, she threw the writhing bundle onto the floor and began to stomp on it. After a few minutes, it became still. Derpy turned with a triumphant grin towards Twilight, who by now had turned away nauseously.

“I got it!”

Twilight groaned, putting a hoof on her stomach. She had seen conduit worms plenty of times, but somehow she never quite got used to them.

“Thanks Derpy. Could you, you know, get rid of it?”

“Sure thing, Twilight!” The gray mare stuffed the worm’s corpse into her saddlebag and started collecting her tools. An unpleasant thought entered Twilight’s head.

“Hay Derpy?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you planning on doing with that thing?” She gestured to the worm’s remains. Derpy grinned.

“Well, conduit worms feed off of electricity. I charge a battery with what‘s left of this thing. It’ll power a cordless drill for at least an hour.”

“Right… Well… Have fun with that.”

“Will do Twilight! See ya!”

“Wait!”

Derpy halted halfway through the door. “Yeah?”

Twilight smiled. “We should hang out sometime.”

The pegasus returned the smile. “Sure! You know where to find me!” She continued out the door and down the hall, passing Spike on his way in.

“So did she get rid of the conduit worms?”

“Yes she did,” Answered Twilight, walking to her bed. “You can sleep easy tonight.” The unicorn yawned. “I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“’Night Twilight.”

Twilight closed her eyes, thinking back on the day. Applejack’s store was losing money, Rainbow Dash was getting in trouble with her police work, and Derpy was clearly struggling financially. Twilight was glad now that she had offered her friendship to the mare. Down here in the underlevels, even more than elsewhere, the biggest thing that got ponies from one day to the next, was their friends.

Comments

[p0n00b]

Looking good so far!

Don't disappoint me :).

[Abrams]

Reminds me a Coruscant Nights trilogy and Republic Commando:Triple Zero. The same feeling. Like it.

[TAB]

This is great, had it sitting in my read later, and I'm glad I got around to reading it

And this: “So this colt comes up and hes all like hay and im all go away but he wood not so I beet him.”