Chaser

Chaser

Story 3

Chapter 1: Welcome to Manehattan

By: SleeplessScribe

Life at the Apple farm was starting to get crazy, what with giant, evil griffons making storms in the sky, weird monsters running through Ponyville, waking up with Rarity’s cutie mark, and Twilight becoming an alicorn, but after a while, things finally started to settle down. Work resumed as usual, but we still had a few dead trees despite it being prime time for ‘em to start bearing fruit. Didn’t put too much of a hurting on the farm, though.

About three weeks after the whole cutie mark fiasco, Big Macintosh came to me with a letter from our relatives in Manehattan, the Oranges. “What’s this now? A letter all the way from Manehattan?”

My brother had been getting much better with his shyness and his little speech impediment, but he still didn’t go out of his way to say more than what the situation needed. “Eeeyup.”

Before reading it, I called Applebloom over, but we all agreed it was a better idea to go to Granny Smith rather than have her come here. When the whole family was together, I read the letter aloud.

“Dear Apple Family,

You are invited to the coming home celebration of Citrus Orange, who after 8 years of dedicated service in Equestria’s armed forces, is returning home with his honorable discharge. We would like to have at least one member from all the extended family, though as many as possible would be preferred. The celebration itself will be held in three days in our home in Manehattan. The address is in the envelope, and we look forward to your presence!

We hope to see you there,

The Orange Family”

My little sister threw her hooves in the air with an excited shout. “Manehattan! That’s the big city! I’ve always wanted to go there!”

Setting my hoof on her head, I had to shake my own. “No can do, sis. That trip would be way too much for a little filly like you, and there’s no way Granny Smith could make that trip, either.”

Granny had obviously been listening, but she was probably in and out, given her response. “Eh? What was that about chocolate chips?”

“Make the trip, granny.”

“Ooh, well why didn’t you say so?”

Big Mac patted my shoulder, turning his head in the direction of the city in question. “You’ve already been there, so you should go. I’ll stay and take care of the farm while you’re gone.”

I let out a sigh of relief; while my desire to live in the city was long dead and gone, I’d always thought about returning for a visit some time. However, the trip to Manehattan would probably take two or three days itself, so I had to get packing as soon as I could.

* * *

Seeing as how it was probably going to be a one night stay at most, I packed lightly, bringing only enough spending money for a train ride to the town nearest Manehattan, which happened to be Fillydelphia, and a few meals. We couldn’t really think of a fitting gift for a family as rich as the Oranges, so we decided to bake a nice apple pie for me to take and serve it at the party. I don’t mind talking about how excited I was, seeing as how I hadn’t seen my aunt and uncle Orange in ages, even though I didn’t know much about Citrus.

With my bags packed, and as many goodbyes said to my family as possible, I made my way to the train station. Saying goodbye to my friends never crossed my mind with how excited I was, but luckily it didn’t have to. Before I could get to the train, I was on the ground underneath a pile of pony friends, each giving me their own goodbyes.

I couldn’t help but laugh a bit at the surprise group hug. “How’d y’all know I was leaving? I know I didn’t say anything.”

Before anypony else could say anything, Pinkie Pie poked her head up out of the pile and took a deep breath. “Well, I was walking by Sweet Apple Acres and I heard you reading that letter so I was like gasp I have to tell everyone so we can say goodbye and so we all decided to hide and give you a surprise hug right before you left!”

I could still understand her, but would it kill that pony to talk normal once in a while? “Well I sure do appreciate it, this was mighty kind of y’all. But you don’t gotta worry about me, I’ll be home before you know it!” They were still waving at me even as the train station disappeared from view. Even by train, the trip to Fillydelphia would take a couple hours, so I decided it was a good time for a nap.

Taking a snooze probably wasn’t a good idea, seeing as how it took someone shaking me a little to keep me from missing my stop. I gave the polite pony my thanks and hopped off, checking my map to see just how long of a trip I was about to take. Things would have been a lot easier if the tracks to Manehattan itself weren’t being worked on right now, but hey, where’s the fun in always doing things the easy way? The good thing was that Fillydelphia’s train station wasn’t far from the road to the city, so rather than just sit around wasting time, I set out. It was actually a pretty busy road, but that didn’t surprise me. What with the train tracks being out, the only way to get to Manehattan was by walking, flying, or by stagecoach. As I made my way, I heard quite a bit of chatter from the pony folks around me, and a lot of them were talking about “barely getting out”.  Their conversations made me curious, but I knew better than to stick my nose where it didn’t belong. The sun was starting to go down by the time I had passed the area where the tracks were being repaired. However, thanks to a stroke of dumb luck, I managed to hitch a ride with a traveler who happened to have extra room in his coach.

It was still late when we got there, but at least I would be able to sleep in a hotel or something. As we approached the city, the bright lights from within blocked out the stars in the sky. The city most definitely was not like I remembered it. It was surrounded by a tall wall of steel topped with barbed wire, and we had to go through three checkpoints before we actually got inside the city. Once we were in through, the only difference from what I remembered as a filly was the lack of ponies in the streets. Unfortunately, the kind pony that offered me a ride had somewhere to be, so I had to find the address on my own. It wasn’t really that bad, though.

The streetlights made it quite bright and easy to see, but even without them, the light from all the skyscrapers and apartments probably would’ve made it bright anyway. I kept having to look down at the letter and my map as I walked; Manehattan was a pretty big city, and I did not want to end up getting lost. After a while, though, I realized that I had passed the same apartment complex three times. “Consarnit! Now where the hay am I?”

I probably should have been paying attention to where I was going just as much as where I was headed. Fortunately, I was able to find where I was on my map pretty easily, so I decided to stay still while I planned out where I needed to go. My luck was incredible today; I wasn’t but a block away from the Orange’s estate. Setting my map back in my bag, I turned right around and made my way down the road. As I walked, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was… being watched, or something. I quickened my pace a bit, and that’s when I began to hear the faint tapping.

After a quick spin I lowered myself, ready to fight whoever or whatever was following me. “Come on out, I know you’re there! Y’all should know better than to pick a fight with a country pony!” No response. There were no sounds, no movement, no nothing but the echo of my voice into the night air. That is, nothing but the echo until I turned around.

From my new position face up on the ground, I stared up at a mountain of meat. No, not that kind of meat! The stallion that stood before me was massive, even bigger than Big Macintosh, and fifty times as scary. Two scars stretched across his left cheek, and a black patch covered what I assumed to be an empty right eye socket. His voice was low and gruff, and there was less friendliness in it than an angry bear.

“Awful late for a mare to be out by herself, ain’t it? If you’re lost, I’d be happy to help you find your way.”

“Oh, no thanks, I’m fine. I know where I’m going, don’t you worry!” I started backing away, getting up on my hooves only to bump into another stallion just as big as the first. Before I knew it, I had at least one on all sides of me.

If anyone had the brains, it was the one with the eye patch, since he was the only one that seemingly knew how to talk. “No, you’re not. It’s way too late for a pretty mare like yourself to be out all by herself. I don’t charge much, either, just fork over that bag and everything will be fine, you need someone to help you fight off all the… bad ponies here.”

He flashed me a sly grin, and I knew I wasn’t gonna be getting away any time soon. All I could do was take a stand and hope they backed off. If it was just one of these guys, or if all of ‘em weren’t so huge, this wouldn’t have been nearly as hard. “I ain’t scared of you! This bag is for family, not a bunch of greasy city folk that look like they bathe in the pigs’ feeding troughs!”

The grin remained on his face as they began to close in on me. “You got spunk, lady. I like spunk, and I think I’ll be taking more than just that bag, now.” He turned to the good behind me, stomping his hoof on the ground. “Hold her.”

So he wasn’t just a sack of trash, he was a horndog too. I felt the pony behind move to grab me, and now they were all too close for me to move. The thug’s forelegs were around me before I could kick him away, and the leader towered over me, directing the two on my sides to take my saddlebags off. “I’m going to enjoy making you scream.”

He froze as he started leaning towards me, looking up past his buddy’s head. “Aw no. No, no, no, you idiots said they wouldn’t be around here!” The two side goons shrugged, and I really wanted to try and kick ‘em, but I was still being held by the rear fool. However, I didn’t have to turn around to see what they were freaking out about. I saw silhouettes rise up from some of the lower rooftops and fire escapes on nearby buildings, and finally I was released as a voice came from behind tall, dumb, and ugly.

“You’re right, cyclops, a mare as pretty as her shouldn’t be out this late.”

The big guy turned to face a dirty, grey colt with a long mane and tail of oak brown hair. I couldn’t really see his eyes from where I was, and the low brim of his baseball cap didn’t help. This colt looked just slightly bigger than my brother, but he had the muggers shaking in their nonexistent boots. “Back of, guy! She’s mine; one step closer and my buds will make her part of the pavement.”

He let out a loud laugh, and that’s when I noticed the red stitches in his right cheek. Were facial injuries some kind of fashion statement in the city? “What buds?”

Both One-Eye and I turned around, and all three of the goons he had brought with him were out cold and in hoof cuffs, being taken to… somewhere by other ponies. When the mugger saw this, he took off, and still had my bags. He ran pretty fast for such a big guy, but what surprised me even more was how quickly the other stallion caught up to him, tackling him to the ground and pulling a pair of hoof cuffs from beneath the red band around his left foreleg. A few of the ponies that had been standing on the rooftops came to join him, and he handed the cuffed pony over to them. “Lock him up. We’ve been after this guy for weeks.”

He made his way over to me, with my bags, and tossed them to me. His brim was now raised, and I saw not only the bright blue eyes, but the bandage across the bridge of his muzzle. “Old dead eye there won’t lying; it’s really not safe out here this time of night. If you don’t mind, I can help you get where you’re going. Free of charge.”

The dirty stallion gave me a smile, and there was a whole lot more friendliness coming from him than what I was just faced with. “Name’s Jet, Jet Rush. The guards around here are about as straight as a candy cane, so these streets belong to me and my crew.”

I raised a brow at him, looking around. There were no more silhouettes, nor were there any others out on the road now. “Your… crew?”

“Yeah, my crew. Like I said, the law enforcement officers around here are pretty dang crooked, so we took it upon ourselves to bring some real justice to this city.” Jet gave a chuckle and looked at my map. I had the route I planned to take marked out, and he looked up at me with a very serious expression. “You know the Oranges?”

His question, and the tone he asked it in, completely distracted me from the fact that he had somehow taken my map out of my bag without me noticing. “Well, yes. I’m Applejack, part of the Apple family, and we’re relatives. I got a letter from ‘em asking us to join them for Citrus’s coming home celebration, but I was the only one that could go.”

Immediately he brought himself as close to me as possible, putting his foreleg around my shoulders and leading me through my route. “Look, Applejack, it is not good to be associated with the Oranges right now, believe me.”

Before I knew it, we were at the door of the Orange’s estate, and the apparent vigilante released me. “Look, you seem like a nice enough pony, so I’m going to give you this warning: take care of your business here, and get out. As fast as you can, get the hell out of here.”

There was no time to ask what in the world he was talking about before the door closed in front of me. “So, you save my pie, money, and dignity, and then tell me to get out and slam a door in my face? Huh, so much for ‘great city’.”

The sudden voice made me jump, but considering all that just happened, who wouldn’t have? “You’ll have to forgive Jet. Harshness like that is his way of protecting others.” His coat was a similar color to mine, and his rust-colored mane and tail were cut short. Heck, his mane was almost gone. He bore two crossing spears on his flank, and a pair of kind eyes on his face as he reached out his hoof to me. “Citrus Orange. And you are?”

I took his hoof and shook it for a moment, unsure if I should’ve just gave him the pie and left or not. “Applejack. Sorry to say that I’m the only one from Sweet Apple Acres that could come, but everyone else had different reasons for staying behind.”

Citrus rolled his eyes at me, but his grin told me it was more of a “does it matter” kind of gesture. “I’m sure you’re pretty curious as to what just happened. If you follow me, I’ll fill you in.”

Before he had said anything, I never noticed how… plain this room was. Not that I really cared, but what would a pony like, say Rarity, think if she entered a mansion and the first thing she saw was just a white room with stairs? My cousin led me up those very stairs, and that’s where the actual wealth showed itself. Despite it being almost midnight now, there were chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling with lights brighter than Nova’s mane after he bathed. The entire floor was a thick jungle of light blue carpet, and the first thing you saw when reaching the top was about ten chairs and expensive-looking sofas surrounding this big, flat screen nailed to the wall. To this day I don’t understand why anypony would rather watch television instead of being outside and having fun themselves. Must be a rich pony thing.

That wasn’t what Citrus wanted to show me, though. He brought me through a curving hallway behind the TV, and at the end was this large, empty room with a wall at the end made entirely of glass. The veteran led me to it, and pointed out a skyscraper that towered over every single other building in the city, though from this distance it looked like a chocolate fountain. “You see that, Applejack? That’s TimeTech Industries’ business headquarters. They manufacture and sell watches, clocks, and timers, and the owner of the company just swooped in here one day and made an empire within weeks. Everypony was suspicious of his methods for obtaining so much money so fast, but his newly acquired wealth and power prompted them all to keep their mouths shut. We’re sure he’s been doing something illegal, we just don’t know what.”

My brow was once again raised as I looked out at the bright city. “Alright, so what’s this got to do with Jet and the Oranges and whatever?”

Citrus gave a stern glare, holding his hoof to his mouth for a moment. “Keep your voice down, these windows aren’t great for blocking out sound. Right about the time TimeTech started growing, big business leaders started… disappearing. A lot of wealthy CEOs and powerful politicians vanished, and a lot of us think TimeTech is behind it. The guards in Manehattan do nothing about crime, and I think it’s because their pay has been getting quite the boost. Thugs have gotten away with a lot of kidnappings, robberies, and assaults, but they only seem to when their crimes are against those that could cause competition for TimeTech. That being said, the Orange family made their living off of selling pocket watches and grandfather clocks, and since then the business has expanded even beyond just time-telling machines. We are TimeTech’s biggest rivals, and it’s only a matter of time before we start getting attacked. I’m sure Jet told you that he has a ‘crew’ that owns the streets, right?”

This whole story made me speechless. I was so blown away, all I could do was nod when he asked me.

Citrus turned back to the tower, letting out a sigh before he spoke. “Most of the ponies in Jet’s little law enforcement group are members of families that have lost their jobs. Not only that, but while most of them are your age, there are quite a few young ones that have lost their parents. Jet and his gang aren’t just keeping the streets clean, they’re trying to get this company out. We all want TimeTech out of our city. They’ve got this city beneath their hoof, and they don’t care who they crush to keep their power.

I wasn’t quite speechless, but I was still completely astounded at Citrus’s story. “Why would anypony let this happen, much less make it happen?”

He let out another sigh, leaning against the glass. “Cousin, welcome to Manehattan.”