A new chapter

by Ponelover

Going to Manehattan, Part 4

Alright, I guess some explanation may be needed as to why I’m rather surprised by her.

I guess everyone remembered the story of Hearth's Warming Eve, the story of the 3 tribes that banded together and formed Equestria. Well, the actual story, as in the literal book of Hearth's Warming Eve does mention that there is another tribe of ponies that followed the original three tribes into the land of Equestria, they call themselves Thestrals, although by the wider population, the term ‘Batpony’ is much more commonly used. Very much night creatures as their names would suggest, they usually reside on the southern jungles of Equestria, living off the land as best they can while mingling with the few tribal ponies that live there.

After Discord was defeated, and Princesses Luna and Celestia ascended to become Equestria’s new rulers. The Batponies, formerly ignored, began to venture out more into the world, interested in this so called Princess Of The Night, their culture would slowly evolve into one that would revere Luna significantly more than Celestia, partially due to their nature of being almost natural nocturnals, which makes them appreciate Luna’s night even more, and also due to the rather secluded nature of the Batpony tribe, leading them to develop a significantly different culture than the rest of the three tribes. Times were good, if a bit different.

Luna turning into Nightmare Moon would turn the world upside down for them. As Ponies began associating the Thestrals with Nightmare Moon, slowly, they distanced themselves, returning to their reclusive jungle cities in Southern Equestria. Princess Celestia, understanding the Bat Ponies’ desire to be forgotten, purged all pre-Nightmare Moon records of their existence, leading them to become a sort of ‘lost’ fourth tribe. As the years turn into decades, and decades turn into centuries, stories about Nightmare Moon turned to myth, and so was with the Thestrals as well. I don’t need to tell you that everything changed once Nightmare Moon returns and Batponies were then thrusted into the limelight once more.

I live in a weird time. I left Equestria too soon to see the Batponies return, yet when I returned, Batponies were not necessarily too integrated into society. It’s almost like I walked into a time capsule, seeing a society that was once shrouded in myth suddenly thrusted into modernity.

And a member of these Batponies was staring right into my eyes, looking very confused as she turned her head at my apparent daydreaming. “Hey uhh, you alright there?”

“W-what? Oh sorry, I was just daydreaming is all.” I replied, now rather embarrassed. “I’m sorry, but this is the first time I’ve ever met a batpony before, I’ve only read about your tribe from old books and Twilight’s journal responses. Guess i’ve got some catching up to do.”

“Uhh, i’ve never read Princess Twilight’s personal journal before, but i’m assuming that you’ve never encountered a batpony in person before.” She replied. “Well, I guess that for simplicity’s sake, i’ll just tell you that i’m not really any different from anypony you’ve ever met, I have my wants, desires, whatever. Only real difference is that i’m nocturnal and I love my fruits something fierce, other than that, nothing different.”

With myself still looking as if I just encountered some long lost treasure, I slowly nodded my head at the dark coated batpony. Not wanting to drag the issue further, i’m here on a mission after all, i’ll learn more about batponies once this whole ordeal is over, hopefully.

“Alright. So, Tempest, can you show me what you’ve got?” I asked. “You seem to have taken your time grabbing whatever documents were available in Gladmane’s house, let’s hope that the dirt you’ve got is worth it.”

The Crimson Mare nodded, walking over towards a coffee table before unloading various pieces of paperwork. As she is busy putting stacks of paper on top of each other, I trotted forwards and started looking at the documents, stacks of correspondences, discussions with fellow business owners, all the usual stuff.

Up until I stumbled upon a specific set of correspondences, a series of letters between Gladmane and a… well, that is certainly interesting. I’ll spare you the details, but it concerns some certain discussions between him and a very famous politician about attempting to break the power of the unions, and….. ah, delegitimizing Princess Celestia in the process, a lot of the wording sounds like it came straight out of some conspiracy, and it also didn’t help that the subjects of each letter was very blatantly saying ‘The Manehattan Plot.’

Looks like i’ve got my first dirt on this stallion. Raising my hoof, I motioned for Starlight to come forwards, “What do you think of this? Do you think that this’ll be enough?” I asked, giving the correspondence to her. The more she read it, the more I saw her eyes widened and her mouth frowned.

“Well, i’m going to assume that he’s in deep trouble.”

“Deep trouble? Sunset, this is a straight up conspiracy!!!” She screamed. “Conspiracy against the crown, conspiring with an elected official for private gain, corruption, arguably treason, all just from these sets of letters!”

I raised one of my eyebrows and turned to see that Tempest had just finished unloading all of Gladmane’s paperwork, now littering the coffee table. “I can only guess just how deep his correspondences get.” Starlight finished, now frowning very visibly. “I didn’t sign up on this adventure to get roped into a business conspiracy, but from what Applejack has told me, this Gladmane has always had a head towards trouble. I don’t need to tell you that these actions ain’t strengthening friendship and harmony in this city.”

She sighed, looking at the potential work in front of her. “Ocellus needs all of our help, if her employers are willing to go to such lengths to shut her down, we’re going to have to peruse every single piece of paper for evidence. Sunset, Tempest, Sonata. I know this is sudden of me to ask of you, but are you willing to help me in this? I ain’t standing by while Ponies like him act like they own Manehattan! Not while I'm still the rector of the School of Friendship.”

“Well, you don’t need to ask me twice.” I responded.

“You can obviously count on me.” Tempest said.

“Uhh, yeah. What do you think I am? A meanie?” Sonata replied.

“Alright then. Let’s get to it.” Starlight said, lighting her horn and immediately shifting papers around.

---

Well, this is certainly some very interesting paperwork to say the least. I am not very sure if it’s terribly illegal, but if what’s unearthed here is true, then i’m sure it will be all worth it.

Alright, a bit of a recap. After that little bit of a pep talk Starlight gave to us, with the added emphasis of helping Ocellus and her little labour union, we’ve found out that the Manehattan business community is just, well, terrible.

Strikebreaking, union busting, cajoling with politicians, bribing city officials and police officers, even planned assassinations! I want to say that they’ve overreacted, but considering the size of the strike we entered into, I’d say that this level of fear and disgust they’ve had towards Ocellus and her group is certainly, if not appropriate, then to be expected. Still though, such horrible ponies!

I think i’ve lost count at how many times they’ve mentioned the labourers working under them as ‘peons’ or ‘servants,’ with extra spice in case the workers they employ belong to another species. I haven’t been back on Equestria for long, but i’m pretty sure referring to Changelings as ‘bugs’ isn’t necessarily polite, nor appropriate.

Seriously, their lack of adaptiveness is mind boggling, heavily resistant to even the smallest of changes, even to the point of secretly referring to Rarity, Rarity! The Element of Generosity herself, as a ‘mistake!’ I think Ocellus would be very happy to see this, all of this, this is definite evidence we have against Gladmane and this little ‘society’ he’s a part of.

“Alright.” I said, wrapping up another series of private correspondences. “Don’t you think we have enough dirt on this Gladmane to have him rot in prison or something? I don’t know how many counts of bribery and corruption he’s going to get, but it certainly will be in the double digits.”

While I’m being rather pissed off, Sonata was silently comforting herself. This little group reading session was definitely hitting her. “I didn’t expect this Gladmane guy to be such an utter meanie!” Sonata said, wrapping her flippers around her chest. “I mean, why?!? For realsies why?!? Why can’t you pay your workers decently? Is it just too much to ask for?”

“Apparently for him, the answer’s a resounding ‘yes’.” Starlight responded. A hint of venom visible in her voice. “Well, at least we know what we have to do with this newfound information, although I’m not sure how we can convey it.”

“We can send a teleported letter to Celestia herself.” Tempest suggested. “She will no doubt take swift action once she receives this… disturbing bit of information.”

“No. I don’t think she’ll act, at least not in time.” I countered. “Taking such drastic action, without a good reason to do so will damage her reputation a bit. No, we need to set a primer. A way to set the conversation with the regular ponies of Manehattan. We need a public way to air this dirty laundry, and then we’ll have Celestia and the Royals take over.”

I was a former student of Princess Celestia, and I know that she doesn’t take things half rumped.Tempest’s suggestion might have worked, but it relies way too much on the situation on the ground. No, the groundwork must be set.

“Hey, Selenite.” I asked. “Is there a radio station in Manehattan?”

“Oh, yeah. Dozens, why do you ask?”

“Do you have a famous radio station where a sort of morning show is watched with millions of listeners tuning in?”

The batpony smiled at the tone of my voice. “Yeah, MNKV 105’s Morning Coffee for Manehattan. Are you planning to infiltrate that?”

“Sort of. I have a plan, and it hopefully won’t cost any blood. I just need an audience with the presenter, and potentially a bunch of cars. Can you do that?”

“Hmm.” Selenite pondered. “Well, I need to utilize most of my contacts here, but it is possible. Are you planning on doing a tell-all or something?”

“Yes, exactly that.”

“Alright then. I’ll see what I can do.” Selenite responded. Grimacing at the very thought of it. “You know that this will be a tough one right? MMPD and this weird ‘society’ thing is gunning after your rump, and the first thing you do is to waltz into one of Manehattan’s tallest buildings and announce to the world of their crimes.”

“I know that, but I must do this. I didn’t spend all that time in isolation just to be some inactive observer. And if my actions will help a good amount of ponies, and non-ponies, then i’m willing to take that chance.”

Selenite sighed, finally conceding. “I didn’t gain a comfy life just to potentially see all of it dragged into the muck. But you’re right, I can’t stand by and see creatures be dragged down and belittled like that. If anypony needs me, I’ll be right at the home telephone.” And with that, Selenite bolted out of the living room, leaving us to contemplate a plan.

“Alright, now we need to contact Ocellus, and about the cars...”

“Don’t worry about the car Sunset!” I heard Selenite scream across the hall. “I have tons of em, a lot of them are pretty fast too!”

---

The streetlight flickered off and on, it’s flickering the only thing illuminating the roadside at this time, Manehattan may be lively by day, but at midnight, and especially in early mornings, its streets were eerily quiet. Almost turning downtown Manehattan into a ghost town.

Suddenly, a door opened, myself exiting it. Only holding a cup of some particularly hot coffee, it’s insides drenching my mouth as I tasted it’s bitter fruit, it’s 5:00 AM, almost time for the plan to come to fruition.

I stared in front of me as the empty streets of Manehattan greeted me, the only thing of interest by the roadside was a black vehicle, a black vehicle with its engine still on, and inside of it, familiar figures looking back at me.

“I see that Manehattan’s Coffee Shops are still a thing huh? Never thought I can still have coffee with all the changes I see around me.”

“Well, that’s Manehattan for you.” I heard the driver, a certain Batpony, responded. “Always changing, but nonetheless, staying the same. I still don’t know why I chose to live in this city. I’ll be honest.”

I laughed a little bit before entering the car. “Has Ocellus been briefed about the plan Starlight? And have the cars been delivered?”

“Yep. Just sent a message towards her apartment, thank Celestia they have unicorns as part of her group. She’s gathering all the cars available within reach of her members, if everything goes according to plan, it should be a walk in the park.”

“And the other cars?” I asked.

“Selenite’s other cars have also been transported, Ocellus has told me that she’ll be there when it happens. You… were there when we teleported the cars y’know. Did you forget or something?”

A blush formed inside my cheeks. “Sorry, this whole thing sounds ludicrous, I just forgot that we teleported all those cars together.”

“Well, let’s hope they don’t wreck my other cars too much.” Selenite complemented. “I paid good money for those things, but considering the plan you propose….... Well, anything to expose their corruption I guess.”

“Don’t worry Selenite. I’m sure that Celestia will compensate you in some way or another. Especially once she has heard of your exploits this morning.” I finished. Still busy sipping my morning coffee.

As the darkened sky started turning into a more dark blue. I heard multiple chatters from the radio, all that chatter I slowly tuned out, revealing a single chatter of a certain Changeling.

“Hello, Sunset? You there?”

I grabbed the speaker of the radio. “Yeah, I'm here, you ready?”

“You sure about this? This plan seems rather… wild, don’t you think?”

“Well, if you have the MMPD and the entire upper class gunning after you, what do you think I should do? Just lay down and do nothing?”

“... Fair point, i’ll meet you in 2 hours then. Let’s get this show on the road.”

As if on cue, Selenite turned on the lights of her car. Her hind legs predictably pushing at the gas pedal, the car’s V8 engine roaring into life from it’s silent sputter.

“Alright then, we good?” She asked.

“Yep, let’s go!” I replied, and the car left, leaving behind a trail of rubber, smoke, and engine noises.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the late update, so I guess 2 chapters is hopefully good compensation for my tardiness.

Also, Selenite's car, in case you're wondering.

Comments

[Melody Song]

It's fine about the wait, and Selenite has a sweet ride. Nice two chapters, can't wait to see what happens at this talk show.

[Roboman3000]

So batpony are now a thing

[Yoshifan30]

So Sunset was still a little surprised to see a bat Pony and pretty interesting theory about them and their history but anyway they found out why the workers are getting unpaid and also treated so poorly all of those past years and they got enough evidence against him hopefully the city and everybody will understand and listen to sunset in the others for this and hopefully it doesn't get them killed from Gladmane

[maxtes252]

The picture of Selenite's car is broken