Gleaner Chronicles: American Monsters

by sevenofeleven

Chapter Six: Robbery and Chocolate cake

86th street and 6th avenue.

Again Margot was amazed and depressed about how close the city looked like the one she lived in some time ago. The sun had set several hours ago, and now she looked out at the dark storefronts and buildings as she rode in LaShawn’s van. It just didn’t feel right that the streets were empty on a fine summer night. Margot glanced over at Skybreeze who sat next to her.

“I remember when I went to Manehattan to visit my uncle. Even at two a.m., you could see ponies enjoying the night air. So many lives lost,” Skybreeze said while looking out the window.

LaShawn looked back at Skybreeze. “Some areas of the Bronx still have ponies out at night. Not all of them are muggers.”

Margot wondered if LaShawn’s statement was meant to be a joke.

After LaShawn briefed them back at the garage, Burnie came in with some food. It was an amazing zucchini lasagna. Then Margot made shoes for Far’s group. Before she was able to take a nap. LaShawn picked her and Skybreeze to go on a bank robbery. Digit, a small yellow earth pony stallion, one of LaShawn’s crew also went with them. He just looked at the screen of his laptop. So far, Margot didn’t hear him say anything.

“So, LaShawn, what exactly do we have to do for this bank robbery?” Skybreeze said.

“Well, we are just robbing an empty building so the threat level will be low. I’m hoping that you and Maggie can get us into the vault where all the big bucks are,” LaShawn said.

Digit said, without looking up from his laptop, “It’s all about the Benjamins!”

Margot watched as Digit moved his hooves over the keyboard. The keys were being hit by some sort of telekinetic field from Digit’s forehooves. Now she knew how the ponies used all of the small buttons she saw at the apartment. Also it seemed that any pony could do telekinesis this way.

“Digit will hack the security so we don’t show up on the cameras. Even though the MA won’t show up if we trigger anything, I want to make sure. We have to approach the bank from the east so we don’t show up on the atm’s cameras. Once we get the vault open, we grab some money bags and be gone. There are gangs that live nearby. They don’t care or need the cash but they might cause trouble if they find us and I would like to keep my money and not split it with anyone,” LaShawn said.

When LaShawn mentioned gangs, Margot had a mental image of ponies wearing bandannas while flashing butterfly knives. Then she figured that these ponies would have guns. “Two questions. What sort of weaponry do gangs here have and why wouldn’t they have robbed the bank already? If the vault has money to buy things then wouldn’t they already have taken it?”

LaShawn shook her head. “They can break in and steal the petty cash but the big bucks are in the vault. Not too many gangs got the equipment or spell power for that. Then again, once they get the money, what are they going to spend it on? Barter and looting are the best ways since there are no stores. Gangers like the rough life and don’t want to live in a green zone. Even though the MA won’t investigate bank robberies, maybe, if you show up unnotched with a big bag of cash it probably won’t go well.”

The van stopped. “Well, it’s time to get paid!” LaShawn said with a smile as she opened the doors of the van.

Digit squealed. “Shawnie wait! I have to finish hacking into the bank’s security.”

LaShawn looked back at Digit. “Since when does it take you this long to do this?”

Digit shook his head. “Done. You’re safe for ten minutes.”

LaShawn pointed with her left forehoof outside the van. “Let’s do this!”

Margot left the van first then she was followed by Skybreeze. LaShawn was last.

The bank looked like many financial establishments Margot had been to. Glass windows all over like a fish bowl. It took her less than a second to pick the lock. Inside, the air smelled musty like it had been a year or more before the doors were last opened.

Skybreeze’s eyes grew wide as she looked all over the place.

Margot just kept her eyes on LaShawn as she led them to the back of the bank. There was one more door for Margot to unlock and a short walk to the vault room.

The vault door looked just liked the ones in the movies. Large, shiny and heavy. Even though Margot knew laser spells that would carve through the metal like soft butter, she was still impressed. Margot concentrated. She sensed the electricity that crackled through the wires of the control panel. All she had to do was to change its path so it went through the door’s locking mechanism. It just took a few seconds before the status on the panel went from locked to unlocked. Margot pressed the open vault button and bowed to LaShawn as the vault door swung open quietly.

LaShawn whispered, “Dayum.” Then she walked inside followed by Margot and Skybreeze. LaShawn pointed at some bags of money. “Maggie, can you make sure we just get bags without dye packs? I like the color of my stripes.”

Margot scanned the bags and used her telekinesis to separate the bags with the dye packs from the regular bags.

Skybreeze looked at all of the bags. “How much money do we need?”

LaShawn shrugged. “We only need two or three bags. Sky, you take one.”

Skybreeze grimaced. “The name is Skybreeze, not Sky.”

LaShawn’s eyes narrowed.

Margot spoke up to block the upcoming argument. “So if each of us gets a bag, we should be good?”

LaShawn nodded and shot a glare at Skybreeze.

Each pony grabbed a bag and walked out of the vault.

Margot closed the door using her telekinesis.

LaShawn’s walkie squawked. “Shawnie, Shawnie, somepony gotta knife to my throat! Help!” Her eyes narrowed again as she ran to the front of the bank.

Margot and Skybreeze followed. From there they could see a bunch of ponies outside holding bats and knives. One of them had Digit.

LaShawn left the bank and walked up to the pony holding the knife to Digit’s throat.

Margot and Skybreeze stood at LaShawn’s left and right sides.

A large brown and white earth pony stallion sauntered up to them. “Well, well, it’s the famous Shawnie. Nice to meet you.”

LaShawn’s eyes narrowed hearing her pet name in the mouth of a stranger.

Margot focused so she could cast a stun spell on all of the hostile ponies at once. Stunning was not as easy as blasting them with fire though. She just waited to see how things would play out. If any of the hostile ponies tried something, they would wake up on the ground, eventually.

The brown and white pony introduced himself. “Name’s Marko and youse in my ‘hood. I don’t really need the money but I’m not a fan of the Resistance.”

LaShawn faced Marko. “The Gleaners took our world and life away from us. We should fight to get it back!”

Marko looked away from LaShawn and laughed. “You and what army? All of the armies of the world couldn’t beat the Gleaners. Why should now be any different?”

Margot hoped that Skybreeze wouldn’t join the conversation.

LaShawn looked away from Marko and then back. “I’m not going to give up and neither is my crew going to. You are in a yellow zone. Eventually it will become green and you will have to move.”

Marko looked back at LaShawn. “As fun as debating if resistance works, I have a job for someone who likes fighting. A bunch of Sunscreamers and zombies have moved into the projects across the street. I need someone to take them out. Since you have two unnotched unicorns, I think you got the power to deal with my unwelcome neighbors.”

LaShawn laughed. “Well, why don’t you deal with your neighbors?”

A sneer crossed Marko’s face. “You’re an unwelcome neighbor. I know where your tiny crew lives. Do this task for me and things stay well, let’s say less complicated.”

A few seconds passed until LaShawn sighed. “Fine. We’ll do it.”

Marko waved his left forehoof at the pony holding the knife to Digit’s neck. The pony put the knife in its scabbard. Digit ran to LaShawn and locked his forehooves around her forehooves.

Marko smiled. “You can find my guests in building three forty two in the Dyckman projects up on 97th street and Columbus ave. I suggest that you roll up on them when it’s nighttime.” He nodded and his crew galloped off down the street. Marko huffed and puffed while he galloped behind them.

LaShawn hugged Digit then she looked up at Skybreeze and Margot. “Damn him! Let’s take the money back.”

The ride back to the garage was a quiet one. Margot wondered if Marko could be trusted.

LaShawn broke the silence. “Digit and Burnie and some other ponies in my crew are like my new family. Family is important to me. I figure that you guys have family or you’re tryin to save those ponies to help other families. I’m sorry that I have to include you in the mission for Marko but my crew doesn’t have enough power.”

Margot faced LaShawn. “Sweetie Belle’s sister is in the Eyesore building.”

LaShawn nodded. “Yeah but if you do kill Eya Sore, it’s going to be hell for us. We get to laugh that the Gleaners got a kick to the balls before we have to run and cry. Please help and I swear that you will get what you need to free your friend from the Eyesore building. I can’t promise anything for Washington DC, but I can see about getting some names for contacts. Hopefully, Marko stays off our backs while we’re helping you.”

Margot also wondered about Marko’s plans.

---

Stop N Go Garage
Guest Quarters

When they returned back to the garage, Margot and Skybreeze went upstairs to brief the team.

Far glared at Margot. “Really, we have to do a mission against Sunscreamers and zombies?”

“Yes. I suspect that there might be other threats there.”

“Do you realize that this Marko may not stop with the requests? We have a mission to do and limited time to do it. I was hoping that we wouldn’t get mired in local issues. We don’t live here.”

“I understand your concerns, but we can’t do this alone.”

Nga'Devro walked up to Far. “Nga'Devro doesn’t see any way through this. Unless we split up into two groups. One group helps LaShawn, while the other group works on doing the mission.”

Apple Bloom walked up with Scootaloo. “These ah ponies. We have to help them. Who knows? Maybe by helping them we help ourselves.”

Sweetie Belle nodded as she sat watching the meeting.

LaShawn cantered up to the group. “I need Maggie, Sky and Far to go with me to deal with the Sunscreamers.”

Skybreeze sighed, she opened her mouth but a glare from Margot made her close her mouth.

Far nodded. “Fine.”

The picked ponies followed LaShawn. She walked up some stairs to another room. This room had a locked metal gray door. LaShawn unlocked the door and walked inside.

Margot and the other ponies followed her into the room. The room had gray foam soundproofing all over the walls and the ceiling. On one side there was a rack with guns and on the other side were paper targets in the shape of ponies.

Skybreeze saw the targets and grimaced. “I guess there’s no harmony on this world.”

LaShawn walked over to the gun rack and picked up a pistol. “Nope, all of that is in the next world. Well, if it exists.”

Far eyed the guns. “Do you have a good sword and shield?”

LaShawn sighed. “You don’t want to be doing any melee with a Sunscreamer. They have muscles everywhere. They can kick you into next year though they like to fry ponies and turn them into Sunscreamers. You are better off bustin a cap in a Sunscreamer from a distance.”

Far walked up to the rack. “How am I going to use these weapons? Do I put them in my mouth?”

LaShawn walked up to Far. “That’s nasty. You put the gun at the end of your hoof like this.”

Margot scanned LaShawn’s right fore hoof. Like Digit, LaShawn was using some sort of telekinesis from her hoof to hold the gun.

Far peered closely at LaShawn’s hoof then he stuck out his left forehoof. A small Glock flew from the rack, and hit Far’s hoof then it fell to the floor.

LaShawn backed away from Far. “Damn! How about we try that with a gun with no ammo in it later.” She looked at Margot.

Margot had looked at the gun rack and thought that most of the guns were simply trash.

The Glocks and other pistols were okay but the MAC-10s were probably not as good as an assault rifle or a sniper rifle. Her bosses at D-Core pushed their magic users to be familiar with firearms. Margot knew that using a gun allowed her to save her magical energy reserves for other threats. She expected that Marko either didn’t tell them about all of the enemies they would have to deal with or he just didn’t know.

Margot picked up a MAC-10 using her telekinesis and inspected the gun. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a while. That was a shame. Dirty guns could jam at the worst time. She looked around for shooter’s earmuffs.

LaShawn had been watching Margot carefully. “What?”

“Where are the shooter’s earmuffs?”

“We don’t have any. You shoot for a minute then stop.”

“We need them so ponies don’t go deaf in here.”

LaShawn shrugged.

Margot sighed then she thought about some of the shooter earmuffs she had used. It just took her a few moments to conjure up two shooter earmuffs and one pair of goggles. She put on the earmuffs and the goggles. Margot checked the gun to see if it supported single shot then set that option. Five shots to a paper target later she put the gun down. She wasn’t happy that the bullets had a too wide spread.

Far looked at the target. “It seems like you have had training on these weapons. They use them on your world?”

Margot nodded.

LaShawn looked at the target. “Somethin tells me that you have had military training. We could use someone to train my crew how to use guns better.”

“Your crew needs to clean the guns better too unless it’s hard to get cleaning kits.” Margot said.

“Before the Gleaners came, it was hard to get guns out of certain ponies’ hooves. Now, the Gleaners took all of the guns away. It’s illegal to own a gun unless you are part of the MA. Ponies that didn’t like that either got killed or fled to the yellow or red zones. I’m sorry but gun cleaning kits also are very hard to get. Somepony has to steal them from the MA.”

“OK, I can make some kits for you,” Margot said.

“Thanks Maggie. I appreciate that.” LaShawn turned to Far. “Ok, I’m going to teach you how to shoot a gun.” While LaShawn was teaching Far,

Margot picked up a gun and walked to Skybreeze.

Skybreeze shook her head. “I can use my magic. I don’t need these weapons.”

Margot nodded. “Yes but you don’t have an infinite amount of power. Shooting enemies will save your magic for when you really need it.”

Skybreeze peered at the gun. “Well… Fine.” She picked up the gun.

Margot pointed out the safety then she used her telekinesis to bring over a set of earmuffs for Skybreeze.

Skybreeze put on the muffs and fired the gun. The shot flew over the paper target.

LaShawn looked at the new hole in the wall. “Hey!”

Skybreeze fired again and this time the target got hit in the flank. “Well, it seems that I am improving a bit.”

Margot conjured up two more earmuffs and one cleaning kit. The next hour was spent watching Far and Skybreeze learn to shoot and try LaShawn’s almost negligible patience. Then it was back downstairs and to the guest quarters.

There were a bunch of ponies that were part of LaShawn’s crew hanging out with Far’s group. Margot saw two changelings hanging out with Nga'Devro.

One was a changeling mare with a blue hair and mane. She also had a pair of multifaceted glasses. “My name is Lin Wen.” Lin stuck out a hoof for a bump.

The other changeling had normal looking green eyes along with a black mane and tail. He also stuck out a hoof to bump. “I’m Lenny Park.” After greeting the changelings, Margot looked around. Several other ponies from LaShawn’s crew were meeting Far’s group.

A familiar scent hit Margot’s nose, it had been a long time since she had smelled it. This included the time she had been a pony and some of the time she was human. It just took her a few moments to chase down the delicious scent. Digit and Burnie were standing in front of a tasty looking chocolate sheet cake. Margot knew she just had to get a slice.

Burnie cut a small slice and placed it on a plate for Margot. All of the goings on around her faded away as she cut a piece and brought it to her mouth. Margot remembered times when she was a kid and her mother would allow her to lick the spoons and other utensils.

For a few moments, Margot was back home feeling safe and loved. All too soon the cake was gone from Margot’s plate. She thought about getting another piece but then she wondered if that was being piggy.

Burnie smiled at Margot. “Do you like it?”

“Yes.”

“I made it for Digit. He had such a terrible night. Chocolate does have healing powers.”

Margot nodded. “So Burnie, how did you meet LaShawn?”

Burnie looked away and then looked back at Margot. “I was the head cook at the Metropolitan Hotel. Guests would call the kitchen and order food and I and my staff would make it. Then the Gleaners came and that life collapsed like a startled souffle. Um, sorry about the food analogy.”

“No problem,” Margot said.

“Zombies attacked the hotel. I could handle them as long as I wasn’t surrounded. The Met was cheap on pay but they always made sure to get top quality cookware. I had two iron skillets called Bim and Bom. Of course, I don’t cook with them anymore. Any zombie that showed up met my twin skillets and then I would dump the body outside. I know folks back home that might want to try some dead pony but this meat was just poison. Then those horrible Caspers showed up. I couldn’t hit them. Then it was time to run away. LaShawn managed to keep them busy so I could escape. I owe her my life,” Burnie looked away.

Margot thought she heard a sniffle.

“I heard you guys are going after some Sunscreamers,” Burnie said.

Margot nodded. “Yes. Do you know where Sunscreamers come from?”

Burnie’s eyes narrowed just for a moment. “The black sun causes them. Any pony caught outside when the black sun rises is knocked out and changed. Also Sunscreamers can zap ponies and turn them. I haven’t seen any of this happen.”

“How do I fight them?” Margot said.

Digit held out his empty plate.

Burnie put another piece of cake on it. “Shoot them or zap them. Do it from a distance. Sunscreamers can use the sun’s energy to attack you. Also they can use the regular sun too, not just the black sun.”

“Burnie, what did LaShawn do before the Gleaners?”

Burnie laughed. “LaShawn Greene was a Equinicide Detective. When things went kaput, she tried to rescue as many people as she could.”

Digit looked up from his plate. “Book em Danno!”

“Yeah, I was one of NYPD’s most decorated officers. Got a bunch of commendations and stuff. Now it’s like something from a kid’s story. It doesn’t feel real anymore. At least, I was lucky, the MA didn’t try to recruit me. I was out of their reach in a yellow zone. I heard that most ponies that got the choice between serving the MA or death, chose death,” LaShawn said with lowered ears and tail.

LaShawn’s ears perked up. “What about you Maggie? What do you do for a living? By your scent I can tell you are not the same type of pony that Jerome is. He seems to be a different species from the other ponies.”

“Jerome is from a different world and I am from a different world. We were brought to Equestria by the Messenger of Oonte.”

LaShawn peered at Margot. “Really? The Messenger is real?”

“Yeah, I felt his hooves wrap around my body before I ended up in Equestria,” Margot said. She neglected to say that the Messenger grabbed her human body.

LaShawn laughed. “I don’t believe that the Messenger or Oonte are real. If they were, they wouldn’t allow the Gleaners to attack. One bit of advice. Don’t tell the other ponies about the Messenger. It will cut down on the fighting. Lin and Lenny have some definite ideas about religion.”

Margot nodded.

“When this party dies down, make sure you get some rest. Tomorrow we wake up early to take out the Sunscreamers,” LaShawn said.

Margot didn’t add that maybe they would have to take out Marko too. Time would tell tomorrow.