Archangels

Archangels
Eraverse
Chapter 2: The Archangels
By: SleeplessScribe

It was late, so Citrus led me to one of the manor’s guest bedrooms after our conversation. I thanked him, brushed my teeth, washed off, and got ready to go to bed. However, my attempts to sleep were interrupted about half an hour after I had settled into bed. From where I was, I could see a faint light coming from down the hall, as well as a muffled conversation. After all I had been told, the urge to sneak over and listen was just a touch too hard to resist.

My room was at the end of a long hallway, and the light was coming from behind a closed door about three doors down on the left wall. Once I was there, I pressed my ear to the door and listened. I couldn’t exactly put faces to the voices since they were muffled, but I could still hear what they were saying.

“You need to call this off! Every guest you’ve brought here is in danger.”

“This wasn’t my idea, and it would be incredibly rude and ungrateful of me to tell them all to just go home, especially after the planning and effort my family put into this. Believe me, I know the risks, but I just can’t.”

“We don’t have the resources to protect everyone. Not only that, but I’ve heard talk about ‘Archangel’ from the locals. If the wrong ears hear these rumors, it will be a lot harder for us to do anything.”

“I know, I know. I... I’ll try and keep things brief tomorrow and get the guests on their way. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not mad, just worried.”

“I understand.”

A few moments later, I could hear hoofsteps coming towards the door. I took off for my room as quickly as I could while staying quiet, and I managed to tuck in just before Citrus walked past my door.

The morning came quickly, but the typical sound of crowing roosters had been replace by a right awful ringing from the clock beside my bed. After hitting the alarm and tidying up, I made my way down to the second floor. Quite a bit of chatter was coming from the room to the left of the stairs.

Opening the door revealed numerous ponies in a third dining room. A lot of them greeted me when I walked by. The ones that didn't reminded me of last night, as I overheard the word "Archangel" a good few times. Now I was getting really curious.

Apparently I'd woken up much later than I was meant to, seeing as how a loud bell started ringing not too long after I walked in. As it rang, ponies sat down in seats with their names on them. It took a moment for me to find mine. I was seated between two ponies I didn't recognize, but they both smiled and gave me warm greetings.

I was fairly close to the front of the table, which was where Citrus sat, so it was easy to see and hear him when he stood up to address us all.

"Honored guests, friends, family, I cannot express my joy and gratitude in seeing you all here today. I thank each and every one of you, but I am afraid that this meal together will have to be the most time we spend together."

This got a lot of folks to chattering. Once again, I heard the world 'Archangel' come up more often than Granny's story of how she saved the farm from timber wolves.

The old colt held up a hoof and everyone simmered down. "As I'm sure you're all aware, Manehattan has run into some tough times. The Orange family had expected the situation to be less hectic for all of you, considering you are our guests, but it appears that's not the case. Do not worry; none of you are in any danger. Your visit here will simply be shorter than anticipated."

I got a nudge from behind me as I was listening. The filly next to me had leaned in close and began whispering.

"Do you think this has something to do with Archangel?"

All I could do was shrug. "I've been hearing that name a lot. What in the world is it?"

Her eyes widened. "You don't know? Supposedly, he's this brave pony who goes around saving people from criminals."

The mare on my other side then turned to us with one brow raised. "Did you say 'he'? I heard Archangel is a filly. She apparently saved two young ponies from foalnappers."

“So I’m afraid you all will need to prepare for your return home after this breakfast. Again, please forgive me.” Citrus’s speech had faded out for just a moment. Once the talk of Archangel was over, his voice was once again the only one I heard.

When Citrus sat back down, at least five servers walked out of a door behind him. Each was carrying a shiny, silver dish, and they announced what each dish was before allowing all of us to take a serving and pass it down.

After breakfast, my goal was to find Citrus. I needed answers now, or this was going to bother me for who knows how long. By a stroke of luck, I caught him walking down the same hallway that my room was in. Something seemed odd about him, though; he was walking quickly and constantly looking around. I decided to hang back and watch instead of just calling him out.

The stallion eventually came to the end of the hall and tapped the wall three times. It took a moment, but a portion of the wall slid back and to the side, revealing a dark stairway. Seeing this left me with a dropped jaw and wide eyes, but I was also way too curious, and a little suspicious, to let this go.

I heard him talking and then he began to walk away, so I rushed for the door. It began to close before I got to it, but I was fast enough to scoot in. I never was keen on the idea of being a pancake.

The staircase was lit only by a few torches along the left wall, and it spiraled down for a decent bit until it came to a big, iron door. Citrus started talking to the pony he had come in here with and a voice I vaguely recalled pushed me to jump out.

“Citrus, what in tarnation are you doing?”

Both he and the other pony jumped to look at me. My eyes widened yet again when I saw the only pony’s friend. Standing right there beside Citrus was Jet, the colt that helped me the night before.

He shook his head quickly and immediately turned to Citrus. “What is she doing here? Get her out! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to have her here?”

My cousin opened his mouth, but I more or less didn’t care to wait for my answers any longer, shoving myself between the two.

“Hold up now, y’all! What in Equestria are you two doing down here?” Suddenly, a thought popped into my head that I had to bring up. “Citrus, are you Archangel?”

Apparently ponies speaking before Citrus could get a word in was becoming a trend; now Jet had his voice raised a little. “She knows about Archangel? Citrus, what the hell are you doing?”

“Well if you would let me speak, maybe I can explain!” Citrus narrowed his gaze at both Jet and me before letting out a sigh. “I don’t know how Applejack got in here, but I did tell her about the real problems the city is facing. She was the only one who directly asked me; I felt it was safe to tell her.”

Jet just rolled his eyes. I took the opportunity to talk again since it seemed my cousin was done and Jet didn’t have anything to say.

“So is Archangel a real thing, or just a rumor? Is he, or she, or whatever, actually a pony that helps others?”

The two colts exchanged looks. “I know that look. We can’t say anymore. Applejack needs to leave now.” Jet exclaimed.

Citrus set a hoof on his face for a moment. “Maybe she can help. She already knows more than anyone else in the city, and I know a few Apples. They’re a tough bunch.”

I went to speak, but Jet was faster than me. “Oh no! That is way too dangerous! I told you Citrus, I can’t take outside help. What if something happens to her? What will her family think, huh?”

At this point, I was starting to get frustrated, so I slammed my hoof down to shush them both. “Alright, y’all better tell me what’s going on right now! I ain’t leaving ‘til I get a straight answer!”

They both looked me right in the eye and let out heavy sighs. Citrus reached out, placing a hoof on Jet’s shoulder and motioning to me with his head.

“Look, why don’t we just tell her what’s going on? It’s literally just us three here right now. We should just tell Applejack what she wants to know, and if she wants to help, I think that should be left up to her.”

The bigger colt let out a groan and a defeated “fine” before leaning against the wall. With that, Citrus once again addressed me.

“Applejack, you already know how bad the situation in this city is. A pony named Monopoly came in a few months ago and founded this company called Timetech. On the surface, it looks like any old watchmaking company, but we have evidence that Monopoly is the head of various drug trading and pony trafficking rings.”

This got me raising my brows. In all my twenty-one years I’d never heard of crimes like that here in Equestria. I don’t even think Granny Smith heard of things like that before, and she’s been around much longer than I have.

“He’s got all of law enforcement in his pocket, so unless he says to do it, nobody gets in trouble for anything. That’s why gangs run free now; I guarantee you they work for him too. As for Archangel... Archangel isn’t just one pony.”

My cousin turned towards the door, knocked on a lower part three times, and then on a high part twice. Once he set his hoof down, the door opened into a room full of ponies talking, reading papers, and doing all sorts of this.

“The Archangels are the only thing standing between Monopoly and total control of Manehattan. Orange Manor’s old cellar is just one of their bases, and Jet is their leader.”

Jet pushed himself off the wall once Citrus was done. “We do whatever we can to disrupt gang operations here. We’re hoping to eventually connect the dots and link them with Timetech. Once we do that, we can request help from Canterlot because we’ll have proof that all the incidents are just isolated cases.”

I tilted my head a little. “Why do they need proof?”

“If we don’t have proof, we can’t get help. It would look terrible if royal guards came here and arrested with wealthiest pony in Manehattan without some reason. Not only that, but I guarantee you he’d get a not guilty verdict if he were taken to court before we have evidence that he’s connected with any of this.”

As Jet spoke, his eyes told me just how serious he was. I thought back to what Citrus had said a little bit ago, and then did some serious, serious thinking.

“Citrus said it would be my choice whether or not to try and help you. I can’t just go home knowing something like this is happening. Citrus, if you can get a letter to my family telling them I’ll be here a little bit longer than planned, I’ll gladly help.”

My cousin gave me a nod. “I can do that.”

The other colt shook his head again and looked at me. “Applejack, are you absolutely positive you want to do this? What we do is dangerous, and a few of us have already gone out and not come back.”

I stamped my hoof down again with a firm nod. “I’m a good friend of Princess Twilight herself. I know the value of helping folks out, and I’ll give up my favorite hat before I turn away from a situation like this. Y’all need all the help you can get.”

He looked me in the eye and just stood there for a few minutes. “You’re serious. There’s nothing I can say to convince you to go home?”

I just shook my head. “Not a thing.”

I could just see the defeat on his face when he heard my response. In fact, I think his ears would’ve fallen flat had Citrus not caught his attention by walking back up the stairs.

“I’ll see you both later. I have a letter to write.”

That right there got a smile out of me. “Thank you kindly, Citrus.” Then I turned to Jet with a more sassy smirk than I had intended. “So, mind telling me what exactly y’all do?”

His face went from defeat to disbelief in the blink of an eye. “Applejack, you just stood here and told me that you were absolutely positive that you wanted to help us, and you’re not even sure what it is we do?”

“Well I got the big picture. It ain’t too much to ask for some details, right?”

He simply sighed and walked into the room, motioning for me to follow. Nopony here even bothered to look up at us. We just walked right through to another door that Jet opened for me. Yet again we were in a dark hallway, but this one at least had torches on both sides of the walls. I really didn’t want to push Jet any more than I already had, but I was tempted to remind him that I had asked for more details about the Archangels.

Thankfully I didn’t have to. “So... what exactly is it you want to know?”

“Everything.”

After another sigh, Jet started talking again. “That’s not helpful. It’s a decent walk to where we’re going, so just ask me questions.”

I actually kind of understood where he was coming from; it was easier to answer questions than to pick a topic out of something broad. “Uh... how did this all start?”

“A bunch of us got fed up with suddenly not being able to do anything. See, with the way things are now, you can’t say or do anything that Monopoly doesn’t agree with, or you get locked up. Archangels started as just me with the help of a few friends. We all figured that it was more work to not bend the rules than it was to shatter them completely.”
I just nodded as I listened. “I guess I can understand. You just kinda started being troublemakers?”

Jet paused for a moment, adjusting his hat. “For a time it was like that. In time, we realized that we were really good at what we did, so we tried to form this group with the intent of actually making the situation better. The Archangels started to grow when others volunteered to help us, too.”

“How did other ponies even find out? Y’all seem pretty set on staying secret and quiet.” While this was true, there was no way I was going to mention just how often I heard the name in the short time I’d been here.

“Most of them were like you. They were almost victims of muggings or abductions, but we stepped in and stopped it. After the first few new members, we started just accepting volunteers from the city.”

I still had more questions, but Jet held up his hoof as we approached a huge, circular door. There was a rectangular slit in the middle of it that opened as we walked up to it, and a pair of eyes could be seen on the other side.

There was a brief pause before a gruff voice came from behind the door. “You have two options.”

Jet stepped up and looked the other pony straight in the eye. “I’ll make a third.”

The window slid closed again. After some creaking and scraping, the door rolled open to let us in. The room was short, with a set of stairs being maybe fifteen feet away. On either side of us were walls lined with pipes of different sizes, but I didn’t get a good chance to look at them, as Jet tugged me with him up the stairs.

When we went through another door at the top of the stairs, I saw that we were in some kind of theater. Rows of seats stretched from the back of the room right to the front of a small platform. A huge screen covered the wall we were facing, too. A nudge to my side brought my attention to Jet again.

“We’re based in this theater, here. It’s been closed down for a while, so we all worked to convert the building into a fitting main hub for our operations. We use this room as our briefing room, the one immediately to the left as a cafeteria of sorts, the theater at the end for sleeping, and the one directly to our right is a monitoring hub. The lobby upstairs from here connects all four.”

My head was starting to spin with all this. If this was all real and not some kinda crazy dream, then the situation here was heavier than I had bargained for. Of course, nothing was gonna stop me from helping folks in need. Jet was quiet now, which gave me time to think and process everything he’d said. I still had a million questions, but something told me Jet wasn’t done walking me around.

My thoughts were interrupted when the colt stepped in front of me. “I think the best thing to do right now is introduce you to the main leaders, but you’re free to ask any more questions first.”

Now I had to pick and choose questions that really needed answering. There was one thing that was nagging at me, but I didn’t ask right away. In fact, I was apparently taking so long that Jet looked worried.

“Hey, Applejack? You there? I’m sure that wall is interesting, but I have other things to do.”

I shook myself back down to earth and nodded. “Yeah, sorry. I think I just now realized what I’ve gotten myself into. I mean, this whole deal sounds like the plot to one of Twilight’s crazy action books or something; it’s just hard to believe that this is actually real.”

Leaning onto his back legs completely, Jet crossed his forelegs. “And you volunteered to help without know a damn thing.”

“Hey, there ain’t no need to talk like that! Just because I know how heavy things are don’t mean I plan on running. I can’t go home knowing y’all are having such a hard time. I just... I just wish I could tell someone what’s going on.”

Almost immediately, a thought crossed my mind that nearly made me jump. “Wait... why can’t I just go tell somepony else? I know you told me about all that legal mumbo jumbo, but what’s stopping me from just going over to Ponyville for some help?”

Jet’s eyes widened and he immediately smacked his hoof against his forehead. “I am so stupid! Ugh, we should’ve waited to let Citrus go write that letter.”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

The colt put his front hooves on the ground again and nudged his head towards the theater door. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

He led me up the steps to the main lobby, where an empty concession stand sat on the left wall and old, broken dividers would have separated the lines of ponies coming in to see movies on our right. Jet walked out of the only front door that wasn’t boarded up, waiting on me to come through too.

There was a ladder leading all the way to the roof of the theater, which Jet quickly climbed up. I followed behind him, and he pointed forward once I was at the top.

“See that?”

My eyes were drawn to the train station I had arrived at. There were dense lines and crowds of ponies at the entrance, but they were leaving very slowly. It was like only one pony left the station for every five that were there.

“Security is tighter than you realize here in Manehattan. That train is the only way in and out now; flying is restricted, and anyone who tries to walk in is turned away. While this wouldn’t normally be a problem....”

The dirty colt paused for a moment, tapping his chin. “There are too many unknowns. If you’re really friends with Princess Twilight, that would be a swift victory. Even if they tried to keep you from coming back, they’d never deny an order from a Princess. The problem lies with trying to get out.”

I looked from him, to the station, and back again. “Why wouldn’t they let me leave?”

“I don’t know. Honestly, I’m not sure I want you trying to leave.”

I narrowed my gaze, a frown slowly growing on my face. When Jet turned to me, he jumped back and started shaking his head.

“No need to give me that look! Hear me out, okay? What I’m afraid of is those thugs from last night warning the guards about you. If they did, you’ll be arrested on the spot, and we both know that’s something that should be avoided.”

I was really tempted to argue with him, but at the same time I did understand his feelings. We were high enough for me to get a good view of the city, and this view got me to thinking. It was harder to notice since I arrived late last night, but in broad daylight, the city looked even worse.

The whole sky was like one thick cloud of smoke. Trash and dust littered the streets and drifted in the air. A lot of the walls I could see were covered in weird looking art and graffiti, and ponies walked around with their heads down constantly. Everything was just... wrong.

"Can you do something for me, Jet?"

He gave a quick nod and adjusted his hat. "Depends."

"Can you just... tell me this is real? Y'know what I mean?"

Jet nodded again. "I understand. In less than a day, you've learned about a very dark situation in a once proud city, had almost everything you knew about this place shifted and warped, and now have thrust yourself into the struggle yourself. This is real, Applejack. Very real."

After a deep breath, I felt I had finally managed to move past my "is this happening?" mindset. With that out of the way, I could actually think about other points Jet had made.

"So if I can't be spotted by the law, how am I supposed to help y'all?"

The colt raised both of his front hooves up halfway. "Okay, hear me out. The Archangels move throughout Manehattan two ways: the sewers and the rooftops. Usually only pegasi take the roofs, but a few earth ponies, myself included, do on occasion."

“Sewers don’t bother me none. Getting messy is part of my life, y’know? But I do know the fussiest unicorn that wouldn’t even think of getting close to a sewer.”

He rolled his eyes and made his way back to the ladder. “Don’t even get me started on fussy unicorns. Come on, I’ll introduce you to the others in charge and hopefully someone can show you around the tunnels.”

Once Jet was at the bottom, I went down the ladder myself. “Sounds good to me.”