Tales From Riversdale: Life Without Harmony

by Rare80

Chapter Six

The rain had picked up again by the time they got home. The second round of storms seemed much worse than the first. Thunder boomed like there were cannons being fired all around Riversdale. Romero trudges forwards, but is no longer in a hurry. Not because he’s not in a hurry to get home, he most certainly is, but his hooves are so tired and weary from the almost eight-kilometer trek to his apartment to move quickly anymore. His company are even more exhausted.

“Mister Romero,” a fatigued Rarity calls out from behind him. “Please tell me we’re getting close, my hooves are aching. It’s unbearable!” All of them were soaking wet by now. Only Rarity had the foresight to pack an umbrella. She originally gave it to Twilight for her to borrow, she then gave it to the yellow pegasus, she gave it to AppleJack, and they passed it around so many times that they each got equally drenched until the harsh winds kicked up and ruined it. “Is the weather always this dreadful in Riversdale?”

‘Sure,’ Romero thought sarcastically. ‘There’s a magical place where it rains and only rains, 24/7.’ His patience was wearing thin now. He might snap if they don’t reach home soon. He’d been listening to these girls complain for over two hours now. That’s not all, Rainbow Dash’s eagerness to fly and zip about like a crazy pony all across down almost got them in trouble earlier. Riversdale, and other urban areas like it, are Cavallian ‘No-Fly Zones’. She can hover no more than ten feet above the ground within city limits unless she’s inside of clearly marked off areas, like parks and such. Romero quickly discovered that she can be quite a hothead when pushed far enough. Rainbow barked at the officer in protest, I mean she really let him have it. It was only when the officer threatened her with a 5,000 buck fine did she finally back down.

“We’re close, less than a block away.” Romero reassures his group that they’re drawing near, but it seems like they’re not buying it. They cross another empty street, and on that corner. There stood a meager-looking, four story, red brick building. The building was much longer than it was wide, but that wasn’t saying much. The front had a cement stoop, while a set of rickety metal stairs ran along the right side to the third floor. Romero trots up the stoop. Using his mouth, he removes a brick from the side of the building, revealing that it’s concave on the inside. He reaches a hoof into the opening, and pulls out a set of keys. He places the brick back onto place, and quickly unlocks the door.

“Why do you keep your keys inside of a brick?” Twilight asks flatly.

“Well, I was expecting to be gone a lot longer than what I was. So, I had a friend of mine check up on my place occasionally while I was gone.” Romero walks in inside, relieved that he was finally within the confines of his warm apartment. Being warm was beside the point, just being home was amazing. Feeling a typical Riversdale summer rain, the smell of smog, smoke, and burnt enchiladas filling the air wherever he went. Does Equestria have enchiladas? Doubt it. Who the heck needs the clean air and the green, rolling hills of Equestria when you have enchiladas, spicy potato wedges, deep fried green beans, and rice? The natural food in Equestria is way overrated. Romero went on to clarify his earlier statement. "I leave a key in this secret spot for my friend so she can come in and check everything That saves me a couple of bucks from having to get a whole 'nother key made."

“You have friends?” Twilight asks as she steps into the cozy apartment, wiping her hooves on his welcome mat. Romero, meanwhile, is still fixated on her statement.

“Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?” Romero raises his voice, and throws up his hooves, completely surprised that he’s being backtalked by a pony who is currently a guest in his house. “What kind of Friendship Princess, are you anyway?”

“Wow, Twilight. What the heck was that?” Pinkie chirps in as she follows behind Twilight, shaking her mane a little to get some of the rain water out. Twilight shakes her head rapidly and blinks a couple of times once she realizes what she just said.

“Oh, wow. I apologize. That was… uncalled for.” Romero narrows his eyes at this purple Equestrian, and quite frankly she was really beginning to get on his nerves. He watches her look around disapprovingly around his apartment, clearly not enjoying the décor. The walls of his living room were painted and dull mustard color, and she immediately shudders at the sight of it. Romero didn't like the color either, but that's what the apartment came with.

Rarity follows Pinkie and she immediately collapses on his couch, floating in her luggage afterwards. She groans as she sprawls out on Romero’s sofa. “Oh, I have a headache from carrying all of that luggage, all that way.”

“If ya wouldn’t ta packed so much stuff ya wouldn’t be hurtin’ right now, now would ya?” AppleJack lectures Rarity as she follows in after her. AppleJack was slightly more prepared than her companions. She wore galoshes, but she didn’t bother wiping them on the welcome rug before walking in. Tracks of mud follow her. Romero watches helplessly as his creme colored carpet is ruined. He sighs, and shakes his head.

“Well, we weren’t going to be able to get on a bus with all of the luggage Rarity and I had. I really didn’t want to waste money on a pass anyway. We really had no choice but to walk the whole way up here.”

“What the heck is a ‘bus’?” A wet Twilight asks as she sits on Romero’s favorite chair, a fluffy-looking recliner. A muddy carpet, a wet chair, and luggage up to the ceiling; and we haven’t been home five minutes yet. He groans as he can almost feel the muscles around his skull beginning to split from an upcoming mega-headache. This was going to be a LONG 60 days.

“OH! OH! OH! I think I know! Pick me! Pick me!” An excited Pinkie Pie raises her hoof like a school child. “Is it when one of those big metal thingys we saw crawling along the streets when we were walking up here? The ones with the big bright lights in the front? One made a beepy-honky noise when Rainbow Dash tried to run in front of one.”

“Kinda…” Romero replies. “That’s not a bus, that’s a car. A bus is a lot bigger so it can carry a whole lot of ponies around town, and they only stop at certain places.” The room got silent at the girls try to wrap their minds around such a concept.

“They didn’t seem so tough,” Rainbow Dash dismissively remarks as the two pegasi fly in and close the front door behind them.

“Rainbow Dash, it would’ve killed you. A car literally weighs a ton, you’d be crushed. You wouldn’t have a chance!” Rainbow Dash waves Romero off despite his pleas, and rolls her eyes. “Do you have a death wish, or somethin’? Even little foals know not to go playing in the street!”

“Since when do you care about what happens to us?” Rainbow Dash barks back at Romero.

He wastes no time in firing back. “Because, I don’t know what kind of consequences I would face if Celestia found out one of you was killed. Something tells me she’d hardly believe it was an accident. I don’t want somepony else's blood on my hooves.” Rainbow Dash glares back as him as he lectures her. He then snorts angrily, trotting of the direction of the stairs.

“What I need is a shower!” Rarity and Romero exclaimed in unison. The two shocked ponies then stare at each other.

“Look, my apartment has two bathrooms, but only one has a shower. So we’re going to have to coordinate this--." Romero tries to calmly explain the situation to his guests when Rarity gets off the couch and trots up to him, waging her hoof at him.

“Oh, no no no no no no no no... I am absolutely filthy from that horrid rain. My nearly flawless complexion needs to be salvaged immediately! Luckily, I brought my exfoliating tea leaf and cucumber coat wash and body oil, and it’s…” She takes a quick look at her large pile of luggage. “…uh, somewhere.”

“See? You’re not even ready!” Romero rolls his eyes and trots back over to the couch, as Rarity begins to dig through her many bags. “In the meantime, I can put on some television and you gals can watch.”

“What’s a television?” Twilight questions.

Romero replies by pointing a hoof at the small wooden box sitting on a stand right in the middle of his living room that everyone had surprisingly ignored. “You turn it on like this.” Romero trots over to it and turns a large metal dial to the left until it clicks, and the screen flashes on. A black and white image fills and dances on the screen as audio plays. The girls gasp collectively, wide eyed, apparently having never seen anything like this before. “You can turn the dial more to get more channels, and turn the dial back to turn it off.” The girls mutter among themselves. Romero turns around, and quickly trots upstairs.

He smirks, “Now that’ll keep them entertained for a while.”

Comments

[Sir Budginton]

Rainbow I swear to god if you purposefully get hit by a car just to prove how "tough" you are or because you didn't listen to Romero then honestly you've just reached new levels of stupidity. And the scary thing is is that this may actually happen, even if it's just a small chance, because with how much rainbow dislikes Romero she may do it just to spite him. And she has zero knowledge about cars.

Don't do it.

[Geeknerd]

Wow...the mane six is being rude af