Story 1: The Arrival
Despite the smog filled, polluted air, and the rubbish filled streets, Rocky saw a certain beauty in the city below him. The luminous neon signs of the restaurants, the loud voices of the pedestrians, indistinguishable from the observation deck of the airship, all calling for his attention, beckoning him to join the crowd. Various balloons and other aircrafts drifted across the night sky, blotting out what few stars could be seen, casting off giant tides of exhaust from their giant motors and smokestacks.
It wasn’t until Rocky had passed over one of the taller buildings in the area, did he realize the immense size of the city before him. Like a moth to a flame, he ran towards the paned glass walls of the deck and eagerly pressed his face against the transparent surface, soaking up all of the life around him. The people, the tall buildings, the airships, even the most-likely toxic air. He loved it all.
To get rid of the annoying glare from the ship’s harsh artificial light he cupped his hooves around his eyes, no doubt looking like a small school colt. But he didn’t mind.
One of the other ponies in the room snickered. “Careful! You don’t want to fall out!” Rocky ignored him, his mood not allowing his body to turn away from the sight. Manehatten, he thought, I’m really here. He stood there in silence, with his mouth agape and a smile large enough for anypony on the ground to see. Wow…
He didn't know how long he stood there like that, only stopping when he heard a gruff voice yell out to him. “Hey Kid. Wha-what was your name again? Raptor? Richard? Something like that…anyway, how’s about you stop gawkin’ at the city and actually start doing your job.” The captain barked in his thick Manehattenite accent from across the room, calling him back to duty.
“Oh…right! Sorry, and it’s Rocky by the way. Rocky Gunner, sir.” Stumbling backwards, he realized that all the other ponies had left to return to their stations, leaving him alone with the old drunken captain. Hiding his embarrassment, he swiftly trotted toward him and stopped in front of him. For a minute the two stared each other down, the captain with a stern disapproving look, Rocky with a fake sheepish grin that the awkwardness had brought upon.
“Right…Anyway, I needs you to get back upstairs so you can help out wit’ the gas regulator for the GFB-9. Oh, but first, go tell the ponies down in the furnace room that we’ve almost arrived at the Manehatten Docking Ports, will ya’?” His breath smelled of apple cider and tobacco, no doubt from his personal "secret" stash that wasn't fooling anyone. The captain lazily turned around and started walking up the stairs that led to the main cabin of the Brass Saddle, the captain’s prized airship.
“Oh…uh, yah, sure! I mean, yes sir!” The ship was filled with a multitude of different machines and doohickeys that made various noises and flashed multi-colored lights, working on some job that Rocky didn’t even know existed aboard an air vessel. In any case, he had no idea what a GFB-9 was, or where he could find one.
The crimson colt, as the workers sometimes called him ( though usually with a different four letter word that started with a "c" ), stopped mid-step and turned his head to look back down at Rocky. He looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and disgust. Once again, he gave a plastered grin in the hopes of the captain leaving soon so he could figure out just what in Celestia a GFB-9 is. The captain sighed, shook his head, and set off up the stairs again.
He thinks I’m some moron, he thought to himself. How ironic. Rocky had never heard a pony speak with such an accent, and the thought of the captain implying that he was the idiot made him laugh. Pushing those thoughts back, and stealing one more glance at the vibrant life of Manehatten, he too began to make his way up the stairs.
The metal door that led into the workplace of the crewmembers of the airship opened with a whoosh and a hot wind that stung Rocky's eyes. Instantly, the heat from the room enveloped him, causing him to take a sharp short breath. The scenery inside the room was exactly what one would expect from a steam-powered vessel. It was hot, steamy, and filled with all manner of valves and brass pipes that clung to the wall. The source of the airship’s propulsion came from the workponies shoveling loads of coal into blazing furnaces, which produced the steam that let the vessel go forward. Or backward. Or for that matter, up and down. As if on cue, the roaring sound of a flame from one of the many furnaces briefly graced their ears before subsiding back into the consistent drawl.
“Well if it isn’t Rocky Gunner?! How ya’ doin’ ‘bud? If ya’ would’ve told me I’d be havin’ some company I would of cleaned the place up a little. Whatcha’ need?” A strong, hardy voice cut through the noise in the room, and Rocky new it could only be one pony. Coconut Crisp, the aging ex-military captain and all around lovable bastard.
“Hey Coconut. The captain sent me with a message for you ponies in here. He said that we’ve almost arrived.” Rocky relayed the message to his old friend in front of him.
“Oh really now?” Coconut gave off a small laugh. He pulled off his blackened goggles to reveal an almost bleach white coat, complete with a set of maroon eyes. “Well isn’t that great? Just about time too! I can’t even remember the last time I’ve gotten out of this hellhole they call a furnace room. Ya know if it was my ship I’d never let my crew work like this! I’d at least get them a nice ceiling fan of some sorts… ” Rocky let the eccentric pony ramble on for a few moments, only stopping him when the conversation had turned into a story about what he called “the golden days,” or the time before he had met his first 1st wife (I tell ya’ Rocky, it wasn’t bad enough that she took the kids, she had to take the whole damn house!).
“So don’t you think we should probably start the docking process?” He had to nearly shout for the old-timer to hear him.
Coconut seemed to visibly shake back into attention in front of Rocky. “Oh! You’re right, if we could get these damned machines to work again.” Looking back to the jumble of mismatched machinery he sighed and walked over towards one of the unlit furnaces. “For some reason, this unit and the two next to it haven’t worked properly since we left all the way back from Gallopington! It’s amazing we’ve gotten this far! You don’t happen to know how to work an old steam motor do you?” The soot-covered pony looked hopefully toward Rocky.
“Eh, sure I’ll give it a go.” Before he had time to react he was whisked away toward the furnace and given a few simple rusty tools and a pat on the back. “Okie dokie…” He took up a small wrench and proceeded to look at the backside of the furnace, determined to figure out the problem.
After several minutes of tightening and turning, he managed to get the furnace back to a bright hot blaze, with a fair amount of cursing. “There, that should do it.” He sat back on the cold ground and wiped his forehead with the dirty handkerchief he was given.
“Amazing… How did you manage to do that? It took me weeks, and I never figured it out. One helluva genius, you are. A blessing from Celestia for sure.” Coconut smiled, his many years in the hot furnace rooms of airships showing on his cracked, exposed lips.
“Well thank you, I do try my best. Though I never have worked on an engine so complex…” He thought back to the days when his father would take him in the shed behind their small house and let him help fix his old single-pony balloon with the mini-furnace on the back. And though the furnaces on the Brass Saddle were much more complex than his old balloon, the general structure of a furnace never changed.
“What was that?” Coconut had heard the tail end of his remark.
“Oh nothing. Anyway, do you happen to know what a GFB-9 is?” Rocky had almost completely forgotten about the captain’s orders.
“A GFB-9? What in the blazes… Oh! A GFB-9! Isn’t that one of those fancy gas filled balloons that these new airships have? (I tell ya’ Rocky, all we had back in my day were those honest-to-gawd hot air balloons) Yeah you just go straight out the door and head and up the stairs to the Gas Regumalator Room.” After Coconut was finished with his explanation, Rocky thanked him and began out the Furnace Room doors.
“Oh and one more thing Rocky. Do take care in Manehatten. It ain’t like Gallopington. A pony can get in knee deep here. Just…know who to trust, ‘mkay? Don’t get in too much trouble, ‘cause you might not be able to get out. And stay away from those skanky, gold-diggin’, good-for-nothin’… ” Rocky chuckled, thinking of all the crazy nights that his old friend must have had back in his prime. He turned and trotted out the door with a background of an angry Coconut yelling about how he was cheated by those gawd-damned thievin’ whores.
With the exception of the lack of furnaces, the Gas Regulation Room was exactly like the Furnace Room. It was fairly large, but over packed with tubes and knobs that jutted here and there, making it rather cramped and tight. A giant taught fabric dipped through the interior of the room creating an illusion of a concave ceiling. In addition to various pipes, large brass canisters lined the wall opposite to the door, all equipped with identical gauges. Each of the canisters were easily taller and larger than Rocky, and each looked like they were ready to explode with the slightest of provocation. One of the more daunting ones shook and vibrated as it let loose jets of steam from the top of the bolted container. He made a mental note to stay clear of that one.
“Oh look who it is gents! The famous Rocky Gunner, stowaway of the Brass Saddle and soon-to-be world famous pilot. Come to see how us regular work ponies are doing?” Sighing with annoyance Rocky turned and found himself face first with the smug grin of Copper Pipework. “Oh come now, we mean no disrespect. If anything, we wish to give you more respect. I don’t know about you boys, but I’m impressed by our young friend here!” Copper stuck a hoof in the air and pointed it in Rocky’s direction. “Sneaking on to the Brass Saddle, stealing rations, the getting caught in the captain’s office! I mean, what were you even doing there?” For a second time Copper gave a mocking laugh, which his goons mimicked without hesitation.
“I dunno Copper, why don’t you come over here and I’ll show you.” Rocky gave the most sarcastic smile he could.
“Ooh! Since when did kitty grow some claws?”
Rocky ignored the head engineer and instead relayed the message from the captain. “We’re almost to the Manehatten Docking Ports. I’ve been told to come assist with the gas regulator up here. So, here I am!” He tried his best to sound spiteful. It didn’t work.
“Oh really now? Let’s see if we’re just about to arrive, then that means…Huh, two weeks and four days since we left Gallopington. Three days slower than usual. It must be those brain-dead ponies running those sorry excuses for motors downstairs. One of these days, I swear…Anyway, so you’ve been told to come assist me and my crew up here. Well for starters do you know what exactly a gas regulator is?” Copper gave a patronizing look toward the clueless stallion.
“No? I thought not. Well the gas regulator in here makes sure that the correct ratio of gasses goes into the Canvas Beauty.” Copper trotted to the large fabric ceiling that Rocky was just beginning to realize as the inflatable balloon that kept the Brass Saddle afloat. “See, these hoses connect the gas canisters to the gas pockets in the Canvas Beauty, or GFB-9 as you call it. Hey, are you listening? Anyway, all I need you to do is watch that gauge over on that gas canister over in the corner and tell me if the needle goes into the red part. Got it? Oh and, by the way, you might start to feel a little lightheaded. These canisters haven’t always been the, uh, most airtight things in the world. Just sit down and take a small breather and you should be just fine (And try not to pass out, will ya’?). Okay, is everypony ready?” Copper picked up a communicator from the nearby table and spoke to the pony on the other side. “Alright Captain. We’re set up here in the GR room. Just give the signal and we’ll begin the docking process.”
“Good, good. I’ll let everypony know on the speaker. Oh, and hey, did that little brat find his way up to you guys?” Rocky recoiled a little at the sound of the captain over the static communicator mentioning him.
“Oh yes, he did. Don’t worry, we got him a job to do.” The orange pony gave another smirk in Rocky’s direction.
“Very well then. I’ll announce our arrival.” Not two seconds later did they hear the crackling sound of the ship-wide loudspeaker turn on accompanied by the less than excited captain. “Mares and Gentlecoats. This is your captain speakin’. We’ve arrived at the Manehatten dockin’ ports and about to start the docking procedure. We apologize for the longer than expected trip, but we hope it was an enjoyable one. Do not be alarmed if you feel any bumps in the next few minutes, as they are expected during the docking process. Once again, on behalf of all the crew of Brass Saddle, we thank you for flying with us and hope you have a great stay in Manehatten.” As soon as the captain finished his speech the room burst into a frenzy of rushing about ponies.
“Reduce that valve!”
“Come on, we need more gas in the lower pocket!”
“No! Too much gas in the upper pocket!”
“Ah! Somepony stepped on my tail!”
“Alright, who touched my rump?”
“Quit standing around!”
“Rocky! How’s that valve?” Rocky barely heard Copper over the chaos of the ponies in the room.
“What? Oh, it’s good! Perfect!” As a result of the chatter, Rocky had to scream to make anything that sounded more audible than a whisper.
“Great! And…that…should…DO IT!” All at once the Brass Saddle came to an abrupt stop, sending everypony in the room lurching forward. “How do the attachments on the canisters look?”
“Everything looks fine, no noticeable damage of any kind. Nope, I think we’re good, sir!”
“Very nice job gents! And to all of you, welcome back to Manehatten!” Rocky saw a smile cross Copper’s face as all the ponies in the room hollered and huzzah’s.
Rocky made his way toward the exits of the airship, following the flood of ponies anxiously trying to get off and get out into the city. As he came to a standstill he began to think about the next few days to come. He had no place to live, no food to eat, no job, and most importantly, no money. It dawned on him that he wouldn’t survive very long if he didn’t find someway to make a living. The initial hope he had when he hitched the ride on the Brass Saddle was that some distant relative would be waiting for him at the docks, ready to take him in with open arms. Now obviously that’s not going to happen.
Somepony dressed in a fine silk suit bumped into Rocky, snapping him out of his thoughts. Without realizing it, he’d almost made it onto the bridge that connected the airship to the docks. But the sheer amount of ponies trying to escape the luxurious, yet claustrophobic confines of the Brass Saddle all at once blocked his view of the outside, and as a result Rocky could see maybe five feet ahead of him.
Eventually the crowd moved forward and Rocky slowly trudged along with it. He reached the edge of the bridge and took his first breath of the Manehattenite air. With his lungs full he stepped out onto the bridge and began his new life.
When he opened his eyes it was as if he was looking through the eyes of a totally different pony. Tall gleaming spires shot out of the ground and reached up to the smoggy sky, some reaching farther than Rocky could see. He could tell the dock itself was located hundreds of feet above the ground. Making sure he was tight against the railing, he dared a look over the edge and was astonished at what he saw. It was almost as if the city visibly shook with life. The city wasn’t just all in the air or on the ground; rather it was divided into many layers, each with their own buildings and residences. He noticed that the higher the layer was, the wealthier and nice the environment was. Likewise, the lower the layers got, the poorer and more dangerous the level looked. He hoped he wouldn’t have to spend more time on the lower levels than he had to.
For a pony who spent his entire life on the ground, he couldn't help but feel like a young colt, when everything was new and exciting to him. He thought of Manehatten like she was a beautiful lady. She was an elegant woman who wore expensive dresses and sipped on imported drinks. But after hours, when nopony was looking, she was an untamable beast, the kind that would bring ponies thousands of miles away just to sit in the same room with. She was the type that wouldn't beg for the center of attention, she would expect it. She knew she was beautiful and she loved it.
“Move it!” Somepony carrying a large saddlebag that must have been twice his size (and probably weighed that much too) broke his concentration and shoved his way past Rocky, giving him a glare.
“Sorry.” Rocky disregarded the pony and continued his way onto the dock bridges. Even with his tiny saddlebag, he was just small enough to where he could easily weave around the ponies standing about. This also meant that the only view he got was one of priceless leather designer bags and the cold metal floor of the jetway. The bridge itself went down at an angle towards the dock, so much of the crowd was staggering and skidding to avoid falling over the pony in front of them. Rocky was no exception. After getting to a point where he could see the bottom of the bridge, he found a new problem. Several security ponies waited at the bottom to check the tickets and passes of the offloading passengers.
Rocky silently cursed to himself while he struggled to formulate a plan. When the crowd continued to shuffle forward, Rocky had no choice but to follow them and hope for a break. As he reached the bottom he began to frantically search around for an option. He considered walking back up to the ship through the sea of ponies when a deep voice called out to him.
“Ticket and pass, please.”
“What?” He barely heard him over the roar of the crowd around him.
“Ticket and pass, please.” The bored expression of the security pony met him as he held out a hoof, expecting the travel papers in return.
“Oh…yeah, about that…” Rocky stared at the ground nudged the cold steel of the port’s ground with his hoof.
“Ticket. And. Pass. Please.” The large stallion began to look annoyed. Desperately, his mind scrambled for some excuse.
“Well, you see, I don’t actually-“
“Hey, kid! Hurry up, will ya?” Rocky was cut off by an angry, irritated, voice yelling behind him, which was shortly joined by more angry shouts. Rocky shrank down a little at all of these angry ponies ganging up on him. Surrounded on all sides by the angry Manehattenites, his eyes darted all over the crowd trying to step over him.
“Ah Rocky! There you are! Finally arrived, I see.” Everypony turned to face the voice that called him out. Almost out of nowhere, Copper Pipework parted the mob of ponies to reach the center. Rocky was relieved to see a familiar face, even if it was Copper's. “Come now, let’s go grab a bite to eat, why don’t we?”
“Uh…yeah…sure.” Copper grabbed a confused Rocky, who was going with whatever Copper was doing, happily accepting the free ride through security. They trotted through the airport at a brisk pace, not allowing Rocky a chance to examine this new environment. Aside from the ponies that they bumped into, most didn’t pay them any mind until they reached the doors leading out of the airport.
“Here you are, sir. Your cab should be waiting outside for you. And, welcome home.” A stallion in a fine looking suit opened the door for the two and ushered them to a sleek looking black carriage with blacked out windows that sat in the street, waiting for them. Sir? Rocky could not make any sense of the events that just transpired.
He tried to think of all the possible reasons as to how all this was possible. The free ride through security, the doorman, the fancy sports carriage, none of it made sense. His explanations grew wilder as time went on, eventually coming to the idea that he was being kidnapped by a very rich Copper look-alike.
“Dear Celestia, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ponies in one place at a time!” Copper spoke to him as they sat down on the garnished leather seats of the cab.
“What was that all about?” Rocky looked strangely at the pony beside him.
“Really? I just saved you from being arrested for stowing away and no ‘thank you’? Oh well. Anyway, that wasn’t about anything. I just saw that you were in trouble so I came to see if I could help.”
“Okay, but what about all this?” Rocky was confused about Copper’s sudden change in character from his usual old snooty attitude, but was more interested in how he managed to afford this multi-million bit carriage.
“Oh this old thing? It was…my father’s. Let me borrow it for a while. Pretty nice, huh?” He leaned back and stuck his back two hoofs on the back of the chair in front of him. Unfortunately, this only raised more questions than answers. “Look, all you need to know is that you’re not in jail right now and that you’ve made it to Manehatten. But I wasn’t kidding about that bite to eat. Seriously, you look horrible. Driver, can you take us to that little restaurant down on level three I like? You know which one it is.”
“Of course, sir.” The driver gave a small nod and started driving forward out onto the busy paved streets of Manehatten. For the first time since Rocky arrived, he got a chance to actually observe the city from street view. It was very different from he expected. Once they passed the perfect top level, things seemed to lack the surreal shine that the city seemed to have from the air. Busted signs and broken neons were not uncommon sights, and the ones that managed to keep themselves intact were nothing but cheap tourist shops with the same "I heart Manehatten" shirt over and over again. Rocky had to admit that he was somewhat disappointed with Manehatten now. When he touched down it was like walking through his very own dream, and now seeing this less-than-perfect sight he felt a little insulted. Why would Manehatten choose to show him this?
He found himself comparing everything he saw to Gallopington. Things were so…urban here. The buildings, the roads, even the ponies seemed different. In Gallopington ponies tried to make an effort to stop and say hello to each other as they went about their daily lives. Here, though, ponies only thought of each other as inconveniences or obstacles to avoid as they walked down the packed sidewalks. It made Rocky a bit sad, but he also remembered that Manehatten was a lot bigger than Gallopington. There’d be no possible way to be able to greet everypony they met. So he rode in silence and watched the sad buildings blur by through the darkened windows as the carriage made its way to Copper's restaurant.
"It is a good city, you know."
"Huh?"
"Manehatten, It's a good city. I know it doesn't look it right now, but these ponies have been through a lot. What, with the recession, unemployment rates climbing almost to 21%, not to mention the lower level revolts. Things have been rough here. Ever since Governor Peach passed the Safe Travel Act last year."
"What happened?"
"It was supposed to be a step in cleaning up the city, an act that would save our homely little town. Officially it said that certain levels would be put under heavy temporary watch, to ensure their safety. His idea of ensuring their safety was setting up borders on the levels, effectively cutting off the bottom six layers from the rest of the city."
"That's terrible!"
"It didn't seem so bad at the time. Gang violence had pretty much overrun the bottom six levels so it seemed pretty simple: kill the problem at the source. Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite like Peach had wanted it to. The lower levels, being mostly industrial, supplied the rest of the city with all of its needs. Peach figured that our few remaining factories on the upper levels would be enough until we could build more. He didn't count on ponies not being able to afford anything now. Eventually ponies started getting laid off, the factories shut down, many ponies were thrown out on the streets. Peach eventually had to completely seal off the top three levels to preserve his beautiful city. Armed guards monitor everything. Nothing gets past there without their permission."
Rocky listened with great interest. How is that possible, he thought to himself. Why hasn't anything been televised?
When Rocky asked him that he said, "It has! Everypony is too interested in some hot-shot reporter in Fillydelphia right now to care about us. Manehatten sucks, every pony knows that. It's old news. Ponies want to hear about who played who last night or if they got the lucky lottery number. Nobody wants to broadcast Manehatten: the Crap-Hole of Equestria."
"Man…I'm sorry. Tell me about the revolts."
"Well about six months ago a group of laid-off factory workers that were forced to move to the lower levels, before they were closed for good, broke through the borders. They killed the guards, rallied a bunch of ponies and brought the fight to the middle levels, trashed most of the buildings on level seven. Made it all the way to level twelve before they were stopped. They must have had the bright idea that this would get them their jobs back or something. Who knows…"
"So what happened to them?"
"Well the ones that weren't shot were put in jail, or executed. It's funny, he closed off the border and left them all to fight amongst themselves, but he still insisted that he could fix them."
"Insisted? As in, he gave up?"
"Well sorta. After the revolt happened, ponies began to get mad that all he'd done is make things worse, so they gathered outside his house demanding to see him. I guess he finally realized he couldn't fix anything, so he…opted out."
"Oh…" With that, their conversation ended.
As they drove, Rocky noticed that the things had begun to go from bad to worse. Almost all of the doors of the buildings were sagging, and many looked to have been unoccupied for years. He guessed that they must have been reaching the lower levels. Here there weren't any neon signs, no ponies walking up and down the sidewalks, even the other carriages seemed to have disappeared.
“Um, Copper? Where are we going?” Copper broke his gaze from the window, for a moment to look at Rocky.
“Level 3. To the Little Yearling. I know, it’s not top-level dining, but the hayfries there are to die for. Trust me.” Copper stared out at the lower-middleclass in wonder.
“Isn't that kind of illegal?”
"Usually yes. But I get certain exceptions."
Rocky was debating whether or not to make a break for it at the next stop they came to, but because of the lack of other ponies, the driver felt no need to stop at the different signs and lights. A small bit of nervousness crept its way into Rocky as the carriage continued it’s seemingly endless trek through the slum area of the city. He twisted in his seat trying to overcome his edginess, but to no avail.
A few minutes later, Rocky felt the car come to a stop. He looked up to see a military-like barricade at the top of the sixth-level ramp complete with tall chain link fences, razor wire, and armed guards. A man in uniform came up to the driver side and stared in. The driver whispered something to the guard. Whatever he said must have worked because the guard turned on his back hoof and yelled at his partner to open the gate.
"Have a good night Mr. Pipework."
The carriage rolled past the guard and the gate and slowly they descended into level six. What just happened? It was so weird how every pony treated Copper with such respect. Even the cops answered to him! Who is this guy?
After a little while Copper turned to Rocky with genuine concern on his face. “Hey, are you alright?”
“Just fine.”
“Okay, but- Oh, here we are!” Copper suddenly perked his head up and pointed his hoof towards the only speck of light down the entire street, which Rocky assumed to be the Little Yearling. It was a small little building, and looked to be the nicest of all of them. Really, all that meant was that most of its windows were still intact.
The carriage pulled into the small parking lot beside the Little Yearling and the driver exited the vehicle to come open up their doors for them. The door on Copper’s side opened up to the big hulk of the stallion that was the driver. As soon as the driver cleared the way, Copper stepped out of the carriage. Rocky didn’t want the extra courtesy so he opened his own door and got out. It must have been close to eleven at the time and the entire street seemed to be deserted. The sudden contrast from the main part of the city shocked Rocky. How could such an amazing city like Manehatten have a slum like this?
“Rocky! Are you coming?” Copper’s voice snapped him out of his daze and he trotted over to where he stood. “Oh driver, you can just circle around for a bit, we’ll only be maybe…twenty minutes?” The driver nodded and got back into the carriage. Copper and Rocky watched as the sleek sports carriage sped away, shooting a noticeable amount of pollutants from its exhaust pipes.
“Shall we go inside?” Copper motioned towards the glass doors leading into the Little Yearling. Rocky nodded and trotted behind the engineer as they made their way into the restaurant.
“Hi, welcome to the Little Yearling. Take a seat, I’ll be out in a moment!” The two ponies were greeted by the cheery sound of a young mare. The Little Yearling was modeled after an old retro diner and included all of the like decorations, which meant old vinyl records and chrome tables illuminated by bright red and blue neon tubing that lined the border of the ceiling and the wall. Besides the mare who had greeted them and whatever cooking staff they had back behind the wall, the restaurant was devoid of customers, giving Copper and Rocky a moment of much needed privacy.
“So do you want to talk now?” Rocky asked the orange stallion who had been intently focused on staring out the window at the evacuated buildings across the street.
“Sure, what do you want to talk about?” Copper turned his head to look at Rocky.
“Well for starters, why did you save me back at the airport? And why are you suddenly so uninterested in mocking me? I thought that was your favorite thing to do, wasn’t it?” Rocky lashed out at him.
Copper took a moment before answering. “That’s definitely a starter. Back at the airport I saw you getting harassed by that mob of ponies, trust me, I know how that feels, so I thought I could come help out.”
“But why?” Rocky cut in before Copper had a chance to finish.
“Well I want to protect my future investments.” Copper eyed him down looking slightly mischievous.
“Investments? What do you mean investments?”
“Nothing, we'll talk about it later. Right now we need to get you some food and a place to sleep. I’m guessing that you don’t have either of those, right?” Rocky shook his head.
“No. And to be honest I don’t have a clue to what I’m going to do. I wasn’t really thinking when I snuck on the Brass Saddle. I just got on and hoped for the best.” He scoffed a little at himself, realizing that he sounded like a little guilty school colt.
“Well sneaking on was pretty impressive. That ship is top-of-the-line in security at the moment. How did you manage to do that?”
“You kidding? That was the easy part. The dock ponies really don’t keep an eye out on the cargo bay doors.” Rocky sat back up and seemed almost proud to know he broke into a high security airship.
“Whatever you did it was impressive. Ah, miss…Wildflower!” Copper read the name tag of young waitress that had trotted up, the same one that greeted them earlier.
“Hello, what can I get you two?” Wildflower returned his friendly gesture with a smile.
“Ooh, let’s see…can we get two orders of hayfries and two cups of coffee? Half milk in mine and- What do you want in yours?” Copper turned to Rocky.
“I’ll have the same, please.” He gave an awkward smile to Wildflower. Rocky had to admit she wasn’t bad looking. She returned it with a genuine warm smile.
“Anything else?” She looked between the both of them.
“Uhm…nope that should be good! Thanks.” Copper pulled out a rather large sack of bits and counted out more than enough for twice the food they ordered. He set them down on the table. “We’ll just pay early, in case we have to make a quick break.” Copper winked at Wildflower, who just stared, wide-eyed, at the little stack of gold presented to her.
“Thank you sir!” She scooped up the money and made her way towards the back to deliver their orders, or more likely to gloat about the amazing tip she received.
“Well that was nice of you. What’s the deal?” Rocky returned his stare back to Copper.
“What do you mean?”
“Back on the Saddle, the entire time you made fun of me and treated all the other ponies like they were dirt. Now you’re paying for my dinner and tipping the waitress more than she’ll make in two weeks. What changed?” Rocky didn’t try to sound so harsh, and didn’t even realize he had raised his voice until he stopped talking.
“I have to make a strong appearance for my…company. The Media expects me to act like that, so I do. But as you can see, I’m obviously not how I appear to be. Any more questions?” Copper never changed his cool composure.
“What company? Does this have anything to do with what you were talking about earlier?”
“As a matter of fact it does, a job really. But it’s a long story so you might want to get comfortable. I’m part of Pipework Industries, a name which I’m sure you’ve heard. My father owns it, but I’m training to be his successor one day. Anyway, we supply Equestria with anything motorized. Steam carriages, airships like the Brass Saddle, pipes, coal, name it and we have it. We own half of Manehatten and are at the height of our age right now. As the city turned to shit, more people wanted out. Since the highways out of the city are down on the bottom, airship travel is the safest bet. As cynical as it sounds, we were glad when ponies started flooding out of the city. Boosted our profits considerably. Unfortunately, we aren’t the only ones out there. There’s a huge market out right now. Businesses like Black Cat, Generation Industries, and Avion Tech are becoming threats lately. But our main competitor right now is Hover Tech. While we might be doing well, they’re doing amazing. We come out with a new material for balloons, they come out with a better one. No matter what advances we make, they make a better model, for half the price. Anyway, lately our researchers have been looking into…other forms of transportation.
"Pipework Industries has always been based off of steam engines, but a recent discovery shows that there are better resources available to use. More specifically, fossil fuels. I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t heard of them. Up until now, most fossil fuels have just been used to power your non-magical appliances, like your oven, probably. Our ponies down in the labs however had the brilliant plan to make a carriage run off them. I could get into the science but there’d be no point. Hover Tech is also looking into other transportation methods. We know this because of the recent interview with their CEO, Capital Cash. In the interview he said that with his new technology coming out, there wouldn’t be a need for steam engines anymore. We know that he's always had a hatred towards fossil fuels, claiming they're 'unhealthy for the environment', but we still don’t know what to expect. He refuses to let the press know what they’re doing at Hover, saying that his new engine design is worth the wait. If his new design is as good as he says it is, then, based on their track record, Hover Tech might push Pipework Industries completely off the books and seize total global dominance.” As Copper finished Rocky couldn’t help but feel small in front of this pony.
He couldn’t believe what this lowly engineer could be telling him, but the facts were all there. The fancy carriage, the bags of money, his own flipping name on the company (Rocky still to this day never knew how he didn’t catch that before), even the complete change in personality, it all made sense; yet somehow it didn’t. Rocky guessed that just the thought of seeing Copper, a work pony used to spending hours in a small steaming room, working on various airship components, in a fancy suit discussing business details with other corporate shmucks was just absurd and, quite frankly, laughable. Or maybe it was the thought that Copper was actually successful, making big bits at airship conventions and living it up in high-rise towers, soaking in all the Manehatten glory. He hated both ideas, but then again, what if they weren’t ridiculous? Why couldn’t Copper be some multi-million-bit pony? He had the right attitude that all business ponies seemed to come with. His cool, slick composure kept other ponies taking him seriously, yet allowed him to adaptable for when new situations arose. Now that Rocky thought about it, it seemed more than logical that he would have some name here in Manehatten. Even when Copper was holding up his corporate attitude when he acted like all the other ponies were in his way, he always seemed to have a strong since of leadership. Not what you’d expect from the average engineer.
“So what would you have me doing at Pipeworks?” As he finished speaking, Wildflower showed back up carrying two baskets of steaming hayfries that made Rocky’s mouth water at the sight of them. She sat them on the table, along with the two cups of hotter-than-hay coffee.
“Here you go. Let me know if there’s anything else I can get for you.” She winked and stayed around to see if any of the two stallions would ask for anything else.
“Thank you, it looks delicious.” And with that she smiled again and trotted off back to the register, where she stood there still counting her tip she got earlier.
Rocky stared at the succulent treat in front of him for only half a second before he dug in. He didn’t realize how hungry he was until his entire mouth was full of the greasy delectable hayfries.
“Where was I? Oh yes…Technically you wouldn’t be working for me. You’d be working as a sort of ‘scout’ for us. I want to send you to work for Hover Tech. We need an inside man to gather information for us. Stuff we can use to pass them. I’d get you a job in the applied science area and all you’d have to do is work for a few months, gain their trust, and tell us what exactly they’re doing there.”
Rocky laughed. “This sounds more like an off-the-books type of job.”
“Well…yes. You wouldn’t be officially part of Pipework Industries, but you’d still answer to me, and you would still be paid. Big money. Real money.”
“How much?”
“Depending on how well of a job you do, and how valuable the info is, I’d say somewhere between 500,000 and 2,000,000 bits.”
Rocky froze. His eyes could have been permanently glued to the eyes of Copper. There’s no way...
“I see that got your attention. We’d get you a small, cover job at Pipework and set up a two-year agreement where you’d get several installments of cash to around...19,000 per week? As you can see, this is important to me. I believe that there’s something up with that place. As a whole, Hover Tech is very secretive. No press conferences, no public appearances, even their employees are kept secret. They have their own tower in the middle of the business district of Manehatten, but everypony knows that nothing goes on there except for cheap advertising and business meets. No, the real magic happens about twenty miles out of town in a little facility in the middle of nowhere. Now having a testing facility doesn’t sound suspicious, but what goes on in there is. Recently some of our ponies have seen strange drop-offs every few nights. Giant delivery carriages will show up around eleven o’clock and drop-off some cargo crates, then drive off. Most coming in are from some zap-apple farm out west. Now what would a company like Hover Tech need with zap-apple jam? The whole thing takes only around five minutes, and the drop-off nights seem random, so it’s difficult to document one of them. That’s why we need you. Our last mole that was sent into the facility was on to something before his cover was blown, and we need to find out what it was.”
It took a long time for Rocky to digest the information he was given. His eyes broke from Copper’s face, but still raced around looking for answers. But unfortunately, none came. Another carriage had pulled into the parking lot and was now shining their lights directly at the two stallions, momentarily blinding the pair. But soon their blindness dispersed and Rocky resumed his thoughts. Me? A spy? He still had one nagging question that wouldn’t go away.
“Well what happened to your last contact in Hover Tech Facility?”
Copper closed his eyes and sighed. Rocky heard him mutter, almost under his breath. “I don’t know.”
Both Rocky and Copper remained silent for several seconds before either of them talked.
“About four months ago we lost track of Agent Blackjack. He was on to something big, so we kept pressing him and pressing him to get more. We had gotten too close to back down, no matter what Blackjack said. Eventually they grew suspicious and then…it’s my fault, really. I was leading the contact department at the time. He was my responsibility. That’s why I need you. I need somepony to get info on him, whether he’s alive or dead, I need to know.” Rocky looked up from his reflection and was startled to see the pleading face of Copper looking at him. The false lights of the carriage illuminated the right side of his face, casting a dark shadow over the other side of his orange coat. For some reason the ponies in the carriage hadn’t turned off their headlights, and they really had started to get annoying. Whoever the pony was, Rocky had half a mind to go outside and tell them to shut it off. As he stood he was able to see over the brightest part of the lights, and he examined the source of the light.
It had a sleek design with instead of the usual flat windshield, a curved one that bent towards the top of the carriage making it more aerodynamic than the norm. The whole thing had a black paintjob, with a silver border between the glass and the rest of the carriage. A very nice carriage. Besides the sleekness of the ride, there wasn’t anything different about it. Nothing until the front bumper…
“Copper? Why did you say that we might need to make a quick break?” Two hooded figures stepped out of either side of the carriage and walked in front of the Hover Tech license plate.
“Oh, for security reasons. There’ve been…attacks on fellow associates. Why?” Copper began standing up slowly, now for the first time, noticing the two ponies outside, now reaching inside their hoods, pulling something out…
“Because, I think we might have to!” Rocky grabbed Copper by the leg and tackled him to the ground into cover, as the automatic gunfire ripped through the thin glass of the Little Yearling. A scream could be heard, coming from Wildflower no doubt. Rocky and Copper scampered behind one of the booths and sat there covering their ears to protect themselves from the noise of the guns.
“Oh Celestia! What do we do?” Rocky screamed into the face of Copper, who looked almost as scared as he did. Terror gripped his heart and threatened to take over as he sat there amidst the broken glass and bullet riddled ground. Dear Celestia, I don’t want to die! He looked across the room and saw the nose of Wildflower peek around the counter of the register. No! You stupid mare! A couple of shots in her direction instantly brought her back to her cover.
For the moment the bullets stopped and all was silent except for the crunch of broken glass being stepped on under-hoof. Rocky sat there, frozen in fear as he waited for something to happen, anything to happen! He looked over at Copper and was surprised to see the engineer staring at the floor, his eyes darting here and there, coming up with a plan. It seemed he was the only one thinking rationally. The light given off from the carriage was brighter than ever and cast a shadow of two figures slowly walking towards them. Dear Celestia, this is it. I’m going to die. Rocky closed his eyes and started praying to the goddess princess for any type of repentance.
“Rocky, I need you to do something.” Rocky looked over towards the face of Copper, barely whispering to him. He nodded and Copper continued. “You’re going to need to trust me on this. I need you to stand up, get their attention.”
Rocky couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You what?” He stared insanely into the face of the stallion beside him.
“Yes, trust me.” He tried his best to reassure him, but the most it did was make Rocky believe that he’d lost it.
“No! There’s no wa-“ Copper silenced him by sticking his hoof on his mouth.
“Please, just get them talking.” He nodded to Rocky, and then slipped around the other side of the bench that was unseen to the two assassins. The two shadows were getting closer and closer, almost close enough to reach behind the booth. Rocky had no idea what he was going to do, so without thinking he shouted out the first thing that came to mind.
“Wait! Please don’t shoot! Please!” He stood off the ground with his hoofs shielding his face, more scared than he’d ever been before. But to his surprise he discovered that the he was still alive, which was definitely a good thing.
“Where is Copper Pipework?” The larger of the two trained his gun on him and made more advances towards Rocky.
“I don’t kn-“
“Don’t lie! Where is Copper?” He shouted again, this time with the barrel pressed against the center of his forehead. Rocky once again closed his eyes.
“I- I don’t-“ BANG BANG! Rocky heard the two gunshots ring out, but didn’t feel the impacts. Besides the deafening ringing in his ears, he felt nothing. But then Rocky opened his eyes. The two assassins were lying on the floor, each with a small pool of the dark red blood forming around their heads. Over the bodies stood a stunned Copper, holding the smoking barrel of a handgun, eyes wide with terror refusing to move off of the limp bodies on the ground. He couldn’t see any more than that because suddenly the ground didn’t seem quite as stable before and threatened to rush up to meet him. Rocky looked back and forth at Copper and the two ponies lying on the ground.
“You…are they dead?” Rocky felt the insides of his stomach toss and turn at the sight of the two assassins.
“Yes…yes they are.” He spoke grimly and in a low voice. Suddenly Rocky felt very sick. He staggered off towards the corner and vomited a few times. The ghostly images of the ponies lying on the ground, their eyes still open refused to leave him.
“Come on. The cops will be here soon, we need to leave.” With that he half carried, half walked Rocky out of the restaurant on to the still deserted street. He set Rocky down, but urged him to keep on going.
He pulled out his communicator and nearly shouted. “Hello? This is Copper! Tumble…Tumble are you out there?” Rocky had no idea who Tumble was, but at the moment he could care less. The images of the limp lifeless forms of the ponies wouldn’t leave him, no matter how hard he tried.
"No, no we're okay. Two dead, Hover Tech. I don't know how they found us! Somepony must have tipped them off I was back!"
A dazed Rocky heard shouts on the other end of the line.
“No! Meet us at the corner of 1st and Blue Sky Avenue. And be quick!” He disconnected the communicator device that Rocky didn’t even see him pull out. “Rocky, listen. I need you right now. In a few minutes this place might be crawling with cops and reporters, and I can’t have you slugging around like how you are right now. So please, snap out of it!” Copper was grasped his shoulders rather roughly and shook him slightly.
“Right, right. I’m sorry, it’s just that…you actually killed them.” He looked back at Copper with a strange face.
“I know…and I’m not proud of it. But let’s forget about that for a little. I need you to be at your best more than ever now.” Both the two stallions heard the screeching of tires down the street and saw Copper’s carriage speeding towards them. It made a hard stop not three feet away from them. They both ripped open the doors and jumped inside. Tumble, who Rocky discovered as their driver, peeled off before they had the chance to even close the door. Neither Rocky nor Copper had anything to say, so they sat in silence, listening instead to the music of distant police sirens.
Rocky leaned his head against the cold glass of the carriage and watched as the buildings transformed to the better. Shops, restaurants, ponies began to show up. Rocky didn’t think he’d ever be so relieved to see the sight. Welcome to Manehatten.
Author's Note
Hey guys, thanks for reading! As much as I loved writing this, it will most likely be a one-time deal. With school back in progress I have a lot less time to write, so I probably will not be making any more /: However, if this gets enough positive reviews I might consider continuing. So leave a comment below telling me what you liked and what you didn't, thanks!
