Ponez: Pony Girls in the City

by Chrome Masquerade

Suburban Days part 1

(Miniopolis Jail - upstairs)

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went to the upper level, as instructed. There, they found a rather stocky man leaning against a nearby wall. Upon seeing them, he engaged in conversation.

"'Ey!" he said warmly, "Thhe name;s Darius. What brings a couple of lovely ladies like yourselves around here?"

"Magical mishap 41." Pinkie said in an offhanded manner.

Darius raised an eyebrow at that, keeping his expression neutral.(1)

More diplomatically, Rainbow Dash said "Suffices to say, we're new in town. My name's Rainbow Dash (Call me Rainbow normally, or Dash when I'm 'on the field'(2)) and this here's Pinkamena Dianne Pie (Pinkie's so much easier, though)."

Darius smiled and said, "I take it you two are here to check ouut the Hoopz game? Nobody knows why, but it does give out some nice rewards, if you get good enough."

RainbowDash and Pinkie exchanged looks, put out their fists and one quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors later, Rainbow Dash was the victor. She went over to the basketball hoop and picked up one of the balls.

Minigame Start: Hoopz
Level 1 - Got No Game
(3)
With the first ball in hand, Dash tossed it and sank the first shot. She took the second ball and tossed it while catching the first with her free hand.

The second ball started to bounce to the side, but she rolled and caught it, tossing it back to the hoop in one smooth motion.

After the fourth shot, an airhorn could be heard and one of the balls started sparkling with green energy. Dunbking that one, a ping sounded off. Having played the game before, Dash knew that she'd just earned double the usual reward for each regularshot.

Rolling the other way and catching both balls, she tossed both back to the net, sinking them perfectly. She went on like this for the whole time the minigame went on. Deciding to finish strongly, she grabbed one of the balls, turned, backflipped and slam-dunked the ball

You have earned $120
[iHoops skill has gone up to Level 2; Granny Styler.]

Putting the balls back where they were before she started, Ra innbow walked back over ti Darius, giving Pinkie a brofist.

"Dang, girl!" Darius said, impressed, "You got some game!" He put out a clenched hand for a brofist, which Rainbow gave heartily.

"Ah, that was only level one." Rainbow waved it off nonchalantly. "Still, Simoleons saved are Simoleons earned."

Grabbing her winnings, she pocketed them.

"C'mon, Pinkie. Let's meet up with the others."

Darius said, "Hol' up there! I'm beginnin' to like you girls, so I'mma give ya some Xizzle Beads."

"Xizzle beads?" Pinkie queried.

Darius broke character to launch into explanation mode. "A Xizzle is a perk that makes you special, whether making you more charismatic briefly, making you lose energy more slowly, to just plain shelling out cash to you. Every three beads can get you a Xizzle, once you've earned yourself entry to the Xizzle Club."

"So... what's the password?" Pinkie asked.

"The hair's black, not blonde." Darius said, grinning. "Nice try, though. Now go on; Your peeps are probably waitin' for ya. See ya t'morra?"

Rainbow gave Darius a four-tap 'handshake'.

Darius looked impressed again. "Dang! You know the Streetie Shuffle. I can tell we're gonna get along jus' fine."

Rainbow looked at him questioningly. "The Streetie Shuffle?"

Darius replied, "Well, in case you didn't know, all of the rep groups have their own 'gesture' of that kind. That said, if you don't like being in one Rep Group, you can always kiss up to the boss of another." he then grinned and added "Me? You can call me King Streetie."

Rainbow smirked. "King Streetie, eh? I'll keep that in mind."

With that, the two left the scene.
-----------------------

Twilight was examining the recycling bin that was near the entrance of the police station. 'This is ridiculous!' she thought to herself. 'The pop cans I could understand. The piles of trash and license plates? Why not? But spent nuclear rods? Three eyed bullfrogs?! How do you even?! '

Indeed, Twilight was well and truly flummoxed. Her ears had begun to heat up. If she speculated too much more, she'd start spouting smoke. Rarity had used it several times but hadn't questioned the hows and whys of it. Twilight -being the inquisitive, scientific type- was having a much more difficult time of it.

----------------------

Applejack was in the small park in the center of Urbania. She'd spent the past five minutes trying to communicate with the planet beneath her very hooves. At length, she'd gotten permission to use its power.

Stomping on hoof, the plant nearest to her -a strawerry plant- grew by about an inch. An instant later, a few large juicy-looking strawberries grew in with audible pops. Knowing that the ground under the plant would have to be dried up somewhat, she got some water from the nearest source, bringing it over to Rarity, who was at the shop, bargain hunting.

"Say, Rarity?" Applejack queried, "Can ya use that horn of yours ta pur'fy water?"

"Of course, darling. Why do you ask?"

Applejack handed her the container. "Just wanna make sure. The water 'round here ain't... of th' best quality. Ya mighta noticed."

Rarity nodded. "Perfectly understandable, dear." She bent down, touching her horn to the water. In an instant, the water turned about four shades brighter.

"Now THAT thar is more like it!" Applejack said, approvingly. "Do it yerself unicorn water." she quipped, then took the purified fluid to the plants in the previous area. Rarity went back to her browsing.

Suddenly, she was tapped on the shoulder by a suspicious looking man who had a cap with a feather in it. "Psst! Hey! Do you have some time?"

Rarity put one hand on her hip. "Talk or walk, darling."

The man nodded. "I'm Berkley Clodd. There's something I want you to get for me. A giant shrunken head set!"

"Giant shrunken heads?!" Rarity exclaimed, taken aback, "That isn't possible!"

"It IS... if they're made entirely of balsa wood. But the set looks very lifelike, which is why it's so important to me. There's something in it for you and your friends if you get it for me."

"How do you know they're my friends?" Rarity queried.

The man smirked. "Do you see any other half animal characters in the vicinity? I didn't think so. It's not hard to put two and two together."

"Fair enough."

"Anyway, the auctions start at night, around 5:00. I've seen you occasionally taking recyclables to the bin in the police station. You should have enough to get it. I'll pay you back for it, of course."

Rarity nodded. "I'll see about it, dear."

"Thank you kindly, madam." the man said, before seemingly fading into the shadows.

A woman came out of the store and over to Rarity's side. Looking in the direction the man had gone, she shook her head and said, "That man. He knows I don't trust him, so he figures that saving face is about equivalent to not showing his face at all, I suppose."

Turning to Rarity, she stuck her hand out. "Name's Phoebe Twiddle. Yours?"

Rarity smiled and returned the gesture. "Rarity Belle. Call me Rarity. I take it you're this venue's local purveyor-"

Phoebe tilted her head. "What?"

"That you own this store?" Rarity rephrased, sighing.

"Oh!" Phoebe said, now understanding. "Yes, that's correct. Anyway, you're a new face around here."

"Well, my friends and I have... only recently come to town. We aren't sure... how long we'll be around, though." Rarity replied, choosing her words carefully. "For the nonce, we'll require a residence for seven."

Knowing full well what that meant, Phoebe lifted her eyebrows briefly. "Well, there are two houses for sale over that way." she said, pointing the way. "One larger than the other, but both should be reasonably priced."

"Excellent!" Rarity said, joyfully. "By the by, how long until these... auctions begin?"

Looking at the watch she was wearing, Phoebe said, "Actually, right about now. Come in, if you like."

Rarity accepted the invitation, heading to the back room of the store.

At length, the item she was waiting for came up. The auctioneer said, "Alright! Here we have a set of false shrunken heads! The bidding starts at 100 Simoleons."

"120." someone said.

"140!" said another

"175!" yet aother put in.

Rarity thought quickly. "293." she stated, loud enough to hear. "Only offer." she added.

After the obligatory three count, the item was sold. Adding that to her inventory, she waited for the next item.

"Next up, we have a Mix Whizzard 1000..."

Author's Note:

1: For the purpose of this story, that might as well be his version of saying this.
2: I'm going with this mechanic henceforth.
3: I'd put the music for Hoopz here, but for the life of me I couldn't find it. Sorry.