In old Manehattan

Chapters

Prologue. Hoofington, Manehattan.
Chapter 1. The Crusaders meet again.
Chapter 2. Welcome to the big city.
Chapter 3. Snow Heart.
Chapter 4. Old 'friends' arrive.
Chapter 5. Barricade.
Chapter 6. Paper's apartment.
Chapter 7. Past associates
Chapter 8. Mystery solved?
Chapter 9. There is a storm brewing on the horizon.
Chapter 10. Strange assistance.
Chapter 11. The storm approaches.
Chapter 12. The storm is axed.
Chapter 13. New chance.
Chapter 14. Building bridges.
Epilogue. Silver Axe's master.

Prologue. Hoofington, Manehattan.

Prologue

The pegasi weather service had certainly gone out of their way to make it rain over Manehattan. Water poured down like a waterfall over the streets, sending ponies not already with umbrellas or other water protective clothing, fleeing for shelter.

The very wet weather didn’t deter one pony walking up a street down in Hoofington. She wore a black cloak that covered most of her body, only the grayish white hooves and parts of her thin legs were visible from under it. The mare walked in a hurried pace but it was laborious as if she carried some weight.

The pony was heading towards one particular building. It wasn’t a tall building but a wide one, it had large front windows where ponies were visible inside doing exercises. The mare stopped in front of it and raised her hooded head to stare at the sign fastened on top of the gym. The Barricade, made in stylish letters.

The mare grunted, stomped one hoof on the ground before heading inside. Her ears were assaulted by the rock music being played over the entire gym, clearly meant to help with the mood while the ponies did their workout. Underneath her cloak the pony frowned and her mouth twitched a little.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” An ash gray pegasus stallion sat behind the counter. The cloaked pony swiftly turned her head towards him.

“I’m looking for the owner of this establishment,” she snorted, there was a cold tone in her voice.

“The boss is busy,” the pegasus said and shrugged, he frowned when the mare stomped one hoof on the ground.

“I don’t care if he’s in the middle of a questionable act with his mate in his office, I’m here to talk with him and I will talk with him now!” she snapped loud enough to compete with the music.

Before the pegasus could respond a big grayish opal earth mare came running to the counter to investigate the commotion. She arched her brow when seeing the cloaked pony who stood in a small puddle from the water dripping down from her.

“What are you doing here? Should you even be traveling in this weather in your condition?” the newly arrived pony asked, there was a hint of concern in her voice.

“Spare me your sympathies,” the cloaked mare snorted and raised a leg to throw down the hood. Revealing her white head with dark gray and white mane and broken unicorn horn. Her golden eyes stared at both ponies coldly. “I’m here to see that good for nothing stallion you share your bed with.”

“I tried to tell her that he’s busy, Barbell,” the Pegasus grunted, receiving a glare from the unicorn that he didn’t pay much heed too.

“And I said that I did not care,” the white mare snorted.

“Calm down Snow Heart, I’m sure I can drag the boss out of his paperwork long enough to see you,” Barbell said and gestured to the unicorn to follow her.

Snow Heart said nothing, just nodded sharply. The unicorn followed the earth pony further into the gym and towards the entrance of an office. Barbell knocked on the door, opened it a bit and looked inside. A very tired and irritated voice from inside snapped:

“What is it!? I’m busy!”

“Snow Heart wants to see you,” the earth pony announced without even flinching.

Barbell chuckled as she pulled her head back and looked at Snow Heart who waited impatiently behind her. The bigger mare stepped back and opened the office door fully and gestured to the unicorn to enter.

Snow walked into the office and her eyes immediately set up on the desk and the large dark gray unicorn sitting behind it. He looked tired and irritated, his dark blonde mane was in a bit of a mess after he’d clearly tried tearing at it with his magic in frustration and in front of him was a mess of papers.

“When I find the pony who invented taxes…” he muttered before glaring up at the mare, she didn’t even waver and glared right back. “What do you want?”

The unicorn mare reached into her cloak without a word. From it she produced a large purse that by the sound and look of it was full of money. This she threw to the desk, landing in the middle of the pile of papers, sending some flying around. The stallion raised his brow and now looked at her more questionably. He activated his horn and an indigo colored magic aura enveloped the purse, it opened and he looked inside.

“And what is this?” he asked unsure.

“I would have thought someone like you, Barricade, knew what money looked like,” Snow Heart snorted, the other unicorn rolled his eyes at the sarcasm.

“Right, let me rephrase that, what is this money for?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you’re planning a new foalnapping and need help.”

“I am not, how dare you!?” Snow Heart snapped, stomping a hoof on the floor. She took a moment to calm down, but still gave Barricade a stinging glare.

“This money should cover the rest of Tango’s so called questionable petty debt you strung on him years ago. I trust now that this means your business with him is over and you’ll just let us live in peace,” the mare said sharply.

“I’ll try but you two are living in the building I’m running for Barbell’s dad.” Barricade shrugged and closed the purse.

“Don’t remind me. We pay the rent on time and as far as I know none of the other tenants have any complaint about us. So I would appreciate that you leave us alone,” Snow Heart growled and turned to leave.

“That depends on great many things, Snow Heart.” Barricade grunted, for a moment he looked at the picture frames that were on his desk before rising up.

The unicorn stallion walked over to the mare who had stopped when he spoke. She narrowed her eyes but said nothing, even when Barricade was now right in front of her, nearly muzzle to muzzle.

“Let’s not forget a few ‘minor’ details here Snowy.” The stallion snorted, his expression almost matched Snow Heart’s.

“You and Tango are a bit more in debt with me than money wise. Don’t forget that when you were granted parole, absolutely no town wanted you anywhere near it. I’m so far the only one who agreed to grant you an apartment. When Tango was kicked out of his first apartment, I didn’t have to accept him at all considering our history together. In fact, I had every reason not to want him in my building, but here we are, I gave him a place to live in,” Barricade told her, his eyes narrowing even further.

Snow Heart looked away but still had that same hard expression on her face. Barricade started to circle her, he saw that despite her front the mare was really uncomfortable with what the stallion was saying. Once he would have reveled in this level of power he was holding over her, now he was just angry, not so much at the mare but what she reminded him of.

“Seriously Snow Heart, the two of you are completely dependent on my good graces. The great Ponyville foalnapper and her lackey that nopony wants or cares about. How is the job hunt going? You’ve been off community service for a while now, Tango was lucky enough to land that low paying security guard job. You can barely show your face in public, can you? That’s why you wear that stupid cloak right?” Barricade stopped circling, staring now at the black damp cloak.

The stallion used his magic to grab the edges of the cloak and threw it off so it now just hung on Snow Heart’s neck. The mare glared at him again, her entire grayish white body exposed, especially her swollen underbelly. Her dark gray and white tail swished back and forth in irritation.

“You honestly think they are going to allow you to keep it?” Barricade asked with a snort.

Snow Heart’s face fell, genuine fright appeared in her eyes. She quickly grabbed her cloak and threw it over herself again, the mare looked away and now the discomfort she was feeling was visible on her face. Barricade sighed and some of the anger he was feeling subsided.

“Tell you what.” Barricade grabbed the purse with levitation without even looking back at the desk and threw it to the mare, it landed with a clank on the floor in front of her. “Keep it. You’re right, the money debt was petty. I’ll forget all about it.”

Hesitantly Snow Heart used a hoof to grab the purse and put it back in her cloak. She started towards the door intending to leave, but stopped and looked at Barricade when he addressed her again.

“But this is just another thing you owe me now, don’t forget that,” he warned. Snow Heart made no comment, just stared at the grim looking unicorn for a moment before opening the door and left the office.

When she was gone Barricade returned to his desk and sat down behind it, staring at the now scattered paperwork. He sighed and glanced at the small puddle of water on the floor that had leaked from Snow Heart’s cloak.

Have I really just come down to this? he thought before gathering up his papers again with his magic.

End Prologue

Author's Note

And we are finally off. A story that was supposed to be up in 2013 or 14 :rainbowlaugh:

Naturally a lot of my original plans for the story have changed, but the basic idea is still the same. Old readers, welcome and I hope you enjoy this sequel. New readers, welcome as well, hope you enjoy this story.

Although part of my now expanding The Equestria Tales universe, that by now counts 7 stories, including this one, I've striven to write this one so that it can stand mostly alone, of course reading the other stories adds depth, but all necessary details will be in this story because you shouldn't have to read 6 other stories to be able to read one story. :pinkiehappy:

So I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1. The Crusaders meet again.

Chapter 1

“We’re going to Manehattan. We’re going to Manehattan!”

Applejack took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying not to let the three dancing fillies around her bother her too much. She stood on the train station platform in Ponyville and around the mare bounced her little sister Apple Bloom and her two friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

It was midsummer and no school for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Things were also doing so well at the farm that Applejack had decided to take her sister to the big city to meet their relatives. Big Macintosh could handle one week without her, or that’s what he and Granny Smith said, they were apparently of the opinion that she needed a vacation.

When hearing about Apple Bloom’s trip, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had asked if they could come too, their families had no plans. Applejack didn’t mind and her little sister definitely didn’t either, now all three of them could meet up with Babs Seed and have some fun together.

“Sweetie, dear, are you sure you packed enough?” Rarity inquired, rather unfazed by the antics of her sister and her friends. The unicorn was looking concerned at the mountain of luggage.

“I think so.” Sweetie Belle stopped her bouncing and scurried over to her big sister. “It’s only a week after all.”

“Yes I know, I’m just worried you don’t have enough,” her sister claimed, rubbing her muzzle thoughtfully with a hoof.

Ah’m more worried how in the hay we’re goin’ to get all that stuff into the train, Applejack thought and tried not to shake her head. She didn’t react much when a rainbow colored blur came whooshing past her, except by grabbing a hold on her Stetson hat so it wouldn’t fly off.

“Hey squirt.” Rainbow Dash landed on the platform, grabbed Scootaloo in a headlock and gave her a nookie. “Try not to have too much fun in Manehattan without me.”

“Can’t promise anything,” the orange filly grinned. “But we are going to meet Babs and have awesome fun.”

“I’m sure you will.” The rainbow maned mare nodded but then she looked around and scratched the back of her neck “Say aren’t your mom and dad going to see you off?”

“Mom said she would try and get back from Cloudsdale in time, dad’s been in Canterlot for the weekend overseeing a play he wrote. He won’t be back until tomorrow.” Scootaloo shrugged, she was quite used to her parent’s being absent as both worked in places that took them away from Ponyville. The young filly didn’t mind much, she enjoyed the freedom and not having parent’s hovering over her every minute of the day.

“Hey you think we’ll find a pony who doesn’t understand his or her Cutie Mark?” Apple Bloom suddenly asked excited, ever since gaining their own, the crusaders agenda had quite changed. Now they were filled with desire to help other ponies understand their destiny.

“Who knows, but don’t be goin’ and asking everypony you meet if they understand their cutie mark correctly,” Applejack reminded her sister who grinned sheepishly.

“Oh thank Celestia, you haven’t left yet,” a hurried voice called and a pony came racing to the station.

It was a brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark. He stopped on the platform to catch his breath, on his back was a parcel. The crusaders looked at him curiously but before they could inquire about it, Applejack was already speaking to him.

“Howdy there Mr. Turner, Ah would have thought you of all ponies knew when the train came,” she said with a chuckle.

“Yes that would be right, I just didn’t know which train you would be taking,” Time Turner said with a dry chuckle. He grabbed the parcel from his back and presented it to the mare “Applejack, can you do me and Derpy a favor and deliver this parcel to Tango down in Manehattan.”

“Sure, so how is old Tango doin’?” Applejack asked as she accepted the package.

“Wait, Tango is living in Manehattan now? When did that happen?” Rainbow Dash asked with a confused frown.

“He went on probation shortly after he was arrested but was placed in Manehattan. Derpy and I just found that out by happenstance few years ago, we’ve been corresponding, Mulberry has gone and visited him few times, but we are a little worried about him if I must be honest,” Turner sighed. “Tango didn’t want many to know where he was living so we’ve honored his wishes.”

“What do you mean you’re worried about him?” Applejack frowned, she had only learned of Tango a little a while ago simply because she was friends with Derpy’s friend Carrot Top.

“Actually we’ve been worried about him ever since we first met him, at first during our letter writings he seemed alright, but just asked for news and said very little about himself. When Mulberry went to visit him, he said he didn’t like the look of the neighborhood Tango was living in and lately Tango’s letters have been down right depressing,” the stallion told her.

Applejack frowned and took another look at the parcel, especially the address. It didn’t ring any bells for her, then again it had been a long time ago since the mare had temporarily lived there with her aunt and uncle. She didn’t remember all the street names.

“Rarity, you familiar with Hoofington?” Applejack looked at Rarity who had joined the group in their conversation. If anyone knew the big cities it would be her.

“Hm.” The white unicorn rubbed her muzzle thoughtfully. “No, it’s certainly not in the fashion district and certainly doesn’t sound like the main market place. Bridle Way is the theater district, this is probably one of the residential areas further in the city, like Hooflyn.”

“Babs lives in Hooflyn, maybe Hoofington is just nearby,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Most likely, oh well we’ll worry about it when we get there.” Her older sister nodded and put the parcel among her own luggage which was just one suitcase. It was actually both her and Apple Bloom’s luggage.

“One another thing, keep an eye out for Barricade, I think he lives in the area too,” Turner said in a warning tone.

“Oh right, that lousy good for nothing lives there too,” Applejack snorted and her eyes narrowed a little.

“Who is Barricade?” Rainbow Dash asked, mirroring the Crusaders in confused expression.

“An awful stallion who took advantages of poor Derpy Hooves many years ago. It was before you moved to Ponyville, he’s unfortunately Dinky’s biological father,” Rarity explained to them.

“He’s nothing but trouble that pony.” AJ nodded and looked at Turner. “Don’t you fret, Mr. Turner, we’ll deliver the parcel to Tango and stay away from Barricade.”

Time Turner nodded his thanks before leaving the platform. Rarity and Rainbow Dash now looked at Applejack who seemed deep in thought suddenly. The Crusaders noticed this as well but before anyone could inquire about it, a vanilla yellow pegasus with a light purple mane and tail made a clumsy landing in front of the platform.

“Oh I made it,” she said, completely out of breath explaining the uneasy landing. On her flank were three purple parasols.

“Mom.” Scootaloo jumped off and rushed over to the newly arrived mare.

“Hi Scoots, see I made it, just like I said,” Parasol chuckled and hugged her daughter.

“Awesome to see you, mom, glad you could make it,” Scootaloo said and the two went up to the platform. Rainbow Dash gave the yellow mare a playful nudge.

“Don’t tell me you are tired after a short trip from Cloudsdale, Thunderlane will be gunning for your second in command position of the weather team if he hears about that,” she teased.

“In his dreams, I’m just a little out of practice flying at top speed,” Parasol made a playful excuse and stuck her tongue out.

“We are going to have to see about that, can’t have my second slacking off,” Dash snorted but still grinned.

Applejack had barely noticed Parasol’s arrival; she was still thinking. Something did not sit right with her and what Turner had said about Tango worried the mare. Then he had also taken his time to warn them about Barricade, could it be he thought those two were connected somehow?

I should make sure not to take the girls with me when I deliver the parcel, just in case. Sunflower or Aunt and Uncle Orange can help me find the address, she thought and looked up when hearing the distant sound of a train whistle.

“That’s our train,” she announced, recognizing the Manehattan express.

The Crusaders almost immediately began jumping up and down in excitement again. It was finally happening; they were going to Manehattan for the first time after acquiring their marks.

Here lies Vanilla Cream.

Beloved sister, daughter, granddaughter.

The light of her laughter,

taken from us too soon.

Rest and be ever at peace.

Babs Seed stared at the headstone, heavy frown on her brow. She blew the bang of her mane out of her eyes but never stopped staring at the grave. The filly was a bothered by seeing that name on the gravestone, ever since discovering it when visiting her own mother’s grave a while ago.

It’s her isn’t it? Babs thought, the grave was only a couple of years old at the most.

The gravestone was white marble and aside from the inscription it also featured a cutie mark, no doubt it had once adorned the pony who now lay in its eternal slumber. It was a candy heart.

In Babs’ head there came an image of a vanilla colored pony with a soft yellowish mane, manning the counter of a candy shop. Shop that was long since closed now. The filly’s frown turned into a scowl.

“It gotta be her.” Babs muttered and turned her head when hearing her name called. Her sister Sunflower was by the entrance of the cemetery, having already walked there after the two sisters paid their respect to their mother’s grave. The filly, however, had taken a turn to take another look at the mysterious headstone with the familiar name.

“Babs, we’ll be late to meet Applejack and the others at the train station,” the light crimson mare called.

“Coming, Sunflower,” the filly responded and finally tore her eyes away from the stone. She trotted off, navigating the paths between the various gravesites before arriving at the gate.

“What were you looking at anyway?” Sunflower asked as the two ponies headed off away from the cemetery.

“Oh nothing important,” Babs said with a shrug.

Sunflower didn’t inquire further, figuring her sister had simply seen a curious looking headstone. It was clear though why she had been in a hurry, it was bit of a walk to the train station from the cemetery, but still short enough that it was pointless taking the subway.

Once at the station they found the platform for the incoming Ponyville train. Sunflower had brought a magazine and once sitting down immediately began reading it. Babs meanwhile decided to take a look around, there were a lot of ponies on the platform, it was impossible to tell though if some were waiting for arrivals or if they were waiting for the train to board it.

Babs walked a bit further towards the station proper, she noticed the concession stand and wondered if she should buy something to drink since it was warm. The filly started towards the stand but stopped short when seeing young pegasus land in front of it. The girl was dark grayish brown, her mane and tail was dark grayish sapphire blue with grayish blue highlights.

Cara? Babs frowned, the newly arrived filly was thinly but still healthy looking, her cutie mark was a screwdriver and a wrench forming an X.

Cara didn’t seem to be in any hurry at the stand, she was carefully looking at the selection and stepped out of the way for other ponies who already knew what they wanted and made their purchases. Babs wondered if the filly remembered her, it had been a while since they last met and it hadn’t been the most amiable meeting.

Babs started towards the stand, she wasn’t worried about teasing. Cara wasn’t one of her old bullies, but it still wasn’t a pony she cared much to meet again. The earth filly stopped again when the pegasus turned her head when hearing a train whistle. Babs blinked at the sight of her bruised cheek, it looked like something or someone had struck her.

The arriving train turned out to be the Crystal Empire express so Cara turned her attention back to the stand. Taking a deep breath, Babs approached the stand and first now noticed that the pegasus stood slightly taller than her, she guessed that made sense Cara was a year or two older probably already in her early teens.

“Hey,” Babs addressed Cara, who immediately looked at her with a scowl.

“Yeah, what’cha want?” she snorted and showed no sign of recognition.

“Remember me? You stole my ball few years ago, called me a Hooflyn snob, though you did apologize for dat,” Babs reminded her and smirked, she actually wanted to try and be friendly.

“Oh… it’s you.” Cara now seemed to realize who she was talking to. She showed no contempt or reservation but she clearly was wondering why Babs was talking to her.

“You still livin’ in Hoofington,” Babs asked curiously.

“Where else would I live, Hooflyn?” the pegasus snorted and returned her attention to the stand.

“My name is Babs Seed,” the earth filly grunted, at least she hadn’t been called a snob again.

“Good for you,” Cara remarked and finally selected a candy bar and a soda from the stand and went to pay for it.

Well this is marginally friendlier than last time, Babs thought and picked a soda for herself.

The filly wasn’t really sure why she was trying to approach Cara. The pegasus had clearly stayed out of Hooflyn after their last encounter since this was the first time since last when she saw her. Babs had since then changed schools and didn’t go to many of her old haunts anymore.

“So what happened to your cheek, you in a fight or somethin’?” Babs asked while she waited for Cara to complete her purchase.

“Or somethin’,” the pegasus muttered and then glared at the younger filly. “I mean, it’s none of your damn business, Hooflyn.”

Before Babs could say more Cara unfolded her wings and flew off. The earth filly shrugged and went to pay for her soda, then she returned to the platform her sister sat on and read her magazine.

From the corner of her eyes Babs noticed Cara land amongst group of teens at the edge of the last train station platforms. The pegasus stood closest to the tallest of the colts, an earth pony, bluish colored with silver mane.

Must be her friends, Babs shrugged and looked down the train tracks when hearing a train whistle. This time it was the Fillydelphia train, she glanced at the time table and saw that it was at least another ten minutes before the Ponyville one.

“Can’t wait to meet the Crusader’s again, been way too long,” Babs remarked even if she knew Sunflower would barely hear her while sunk in her fashion magazine.

“You think Uncle and Aunt Orange will mind if I have my ears pierced, or am I still too young for dat?” she asked just to test the reaction. Sunflowers just made a humming sound; she hadn’t heard a word her sister had spoken. “What about my tongue?”

“Yes, sure whatever,” Sunflower said dismissively. Babs giggled, she had no plans to get any kind of piercing but it was always fun to see how sunken her sister sometimes was in her reading.

Finally, the train from Ponyville arrived. Sunflower looked up from her magazine and packed it away. Babs watched eagerly as the car doors opened and ponies began pouring out of them. She was quick to see three fillies amongst them and immediately ran over to greet them. In fact, she didn’t stop until she barreled right into them, tackling all three to the ground in a hug.

“Good to see you too, Babs,” Apple Bloom laughed as her cousin allowed her and the rest of the Crusaders to stand up.

“What can I say, I missed ya all,” Babs chuckled and helped Sweetie Belle rise, the unicorn hadn’t quite recovered her breath after the unexpected tackle hug.

“Why hello Babs, hello there Sunflower,” Applejack greeted as she arrived out of the car. Sunflower had just arrived with the group when seeing where exactly her little sister had run off too.

Babs quickly greeted Applejack before she turning her attention back to the Crusaders, leaving the mare to talk with her big sister. Now that her Ponyville friends were finally here she could tell them what she had in mind. That is, as soon as they were out of earshot from the adults.

“So in your last letter, you said you had a mystery on your hooves?” Apple Bloom inquired. Babs was quick to shush her cousin and carefully glanced at the adults who hadn’t noticed.

“Yeah, but I’ll explain later when we’re home at my place, but I do want your girls help to solve something,” Babs Seed told them, causing the three Crusaders to glance at each other.

“Mother of mercy, is that your luggage?” The four fillies suddenly heard Sunflower shout. They all glanced back to see the mountain of bags and suitcases.

“Well, that here is mine and Apple Bloom’s and that one is Scootaloo’s,” Applejack said and pointed towards two suitcases, then tiredly she gestured to the mountain. “That’s Sweetie Belle’s.”

Now all eyes went to the white unicorn girl. Her crusader friends and Applejack didn’t look overly impressed, while Sunflower and Babs Seed’s jaws were proceeding towards the train platform.

“What?” Sweetie put on her most innocent expression. “It’s just a few necessities.”

End chapter 1

Chapter 2. Welcome to the big city.

Chapter 2

“You know, it’s a good thing your sister has opened a boutique here or we would never have been able to store all those suitcases,” Babs Seed remarked as she opened the door to her room and led the Crusaders inside.

“I don’t see what the problem is, it was just ten suitcases,” Sweetie Belle grumbled.

“Fifteen, those were fifteen and that’s not counting the bags and the hat baskets,” Scootaloo grunted, but that only seem to confuse unicorn some more.

Babs Seed and Apple Bloom shook their heads as they entered, ignoring the banter of their friends. The room had been fitted with three extra bed up against one wall. Otherwise it was a fairly typical filly’s bedroom, though toys were starting to make way for other things like music records and books, the walls were covered in posters of famous pony musicians.

“Ooh, is this where you practice your mane styling?” Sweetie Belle asked when she spotted a head-bust with a fake mane on it. Lots of scissors and other tools meant for mane care were around it.

“Yup, Aunt Orange is even goin’ to sponsor me to a great mane styling school when I’m done with regular school.” Babs nodded with satisfaction and glanced proudly at the scissor cutie mark on her flank.

“That’s awesome,” Scootaloo proclaimed, she had already claimed a bed and was balancing herself on the frame.

“Yeah, but I have a feelin’ you didn’t want to talk with us about mane stylin’, what’s up?” Apple Bloom wondered and sat down next to her cousin.

“It’s about somethin’ dat happened a while ago,” Babs Seed started and waited until she had the full attention of her friends. Sweetie Belle quickly turned away from the head-bust and Scootaloo jumped off the bed and landed next to the unicorn and sat down there.

“As you all remember, before I came for the first time to Ponyville, I was bein’ bullied for bein’ a blank flank. One time it happened, I ran into a sweet shop to hide,” Babs Seed continued. “The pony workin’ there was really nice, her name was Vanilla Cream and she helped me hide and even gave me free candy from the shop. I started to visit occasionally, sometimes even with Sunflower.”

“Then one day she was just gone, an old pony was suddenly at the counter and she told me Vanilla had gone on vacation. At the time I was goin’ on the trip when I first met you girls in Ponyville so I figured I would just see her later, but when I came back, the shop was gone, it’s a hat shop now,” Babs said looking deadly serious.

“Okay, granted that is weird, but that was few years ago, why are you bringing this up now?” Scootaloo wondered.

“Because just few weeks ago, I found her grave, it’s in the same graveyard mom is buried in,” the earth filly immediately responded. “I don’t think she was ever on vacation; I think she was murdered.”

The Crusaders stared shocked at their friend. At first they wanted to think Babs imagination had just gone wild, surely it would have been in the newspapers and she would have had her answer then. Apple Bloom then realized that Babs wouldn’t probably have found out, she was in Ponyville during that time, it was quite possible she missed the papers and any news if a pony had been murdered.

“You didn’t hear anythin’ when you came back?” Apple Bloom still decided to have that confirmed. Not surprisingly, her cousin shook her head.

“I wasn’t really thinkin’ dat much about it when I came back, I was busy dealin’ with my bullyin’ issue and guess I didn’t really think that much about it. At least not until I went to visit the shop and found it closed,” Babs answered.

“Did you know where she lived? Did you try and see her there?” Sweetie Belle wondered.

“No, I only knew dat she lived in Hoofington and I’m not supposed to go there. No point now though.” Babs shrugged with a solemn expression.

Apple Bloom started to think this over. Granted, Ponyville was a much smaller town than Manehattan, but she was pretty sure a murder would have been in the papers. Heck just the foalnapping case they had gotten themselves into few years back had received national coverage.

“Have you tried lookin’ up old newspapers?” she asked, that couldn’t be too hard. The expression on Babs Seed said otherwise.

“There are over 30 different newspaper printed in Manehattan, Hooflyn alone has 10 local papers, I wouldn’t even know where to start,” her cousin lamented.

“Hoofington papers of course, wait we know somepony there.” Apple Bloom suddenly lit up, back in her mind the name had been bugging her before it suddenly hit her.

“Of course, Tango lives in Hoofington, maybe he knew Vanilla or at least heard something.” Scootaloo caught on, recalling the parcel Time Turner had given Applejack.

“Who is Tango?” Babs wondered.

“Oh, remember the foalnappin’ case we wrote you about?” Apple Bloom looked at her cousin who nodded.

“Sure, Diamond Tiara was foalnapped by somepony who wanted revenge on her family, I read dat in the papers.” Babs confirmed that she was at least vaguely aware of it.

“Tango was a police officer in Ponyville, he was in on the foalnappin’, helping the foalnappers,” Apple Bloom continued.

She and the others Crusaders then proceeded to tell Babs more about the foalnapping. How they had gotten involved since this was back when they were still looking for a cutie mark. Scootaloo became quiet though when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle talked about the foalnapper, a mare named Snow Heart. Her friends didn’t notice as they were living themselves too much in telling the tale.

“So Snow Heart and the others she hired got caught and that’s when they learned that one of them, the big pegasus Silver Axe that Big Mac fought, was actually a murderer,” Apple Bloom flailed her hooves as she gave the shocking twist. “And he killed the griffin that helped foalnap Diamond Tiara.”

“Woah.” Babs listened mesmerized to the story.

“And Snow Heart and Scootaloo’s mom used to be friends when they were fillies, right Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle looked at the pegasus and first now noticed how silent and thoughtful she had become.

“Hey Scoots, somethin’ wrong?” Apple Bloom inquired.

“Hm? No, just, I still feel little bad not remembering Snowy. I peeked into mom’s scrapbook she keeps that has pictures of me as foal and there were more pictures than I realized of her there with me, mom never showed me this though, then again I was never interested in seeing pics of me as foal,” Scootaloo sighed a bit.

“It’s not your fault, she did leave Ponyville when you were still very young,” Sweetie Belle pointed out and Apple Bloom agreed.

Scootaloo nodded and her spirit lifted up slightly. She knew there was nothing she could have done anyway, the filly had barely remembered Snow Heart and the mare hadn’t apparently recognized her either at first. Still she felt sadder for her mother, Parasol had clearly been fond of her childhood friend and had been devastated when learning that she was the ringleader of the foalnappers.

“So back on topic, if this Tango was involved in the foalnappin’, why is he in Hoofington?” Babs wondered when seeing that Scootaloo was feeling better.

“Uh, I heard Mr. Turner say somethin’ about him bein’ on probation? Whatever that is, Ah guess that’s some sort of punishment for committing a crime.” Apple Bloom shrugged.

“Tango was always nice, though a bit of a stick in the mud sometimes,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “He always liked to help.”

“Yeah but we got a problem then, I am not supposed to go to Hoofington and I’m sure Applejack won’t like it if you three go there either.” Babs pointed out. “I’ve been there once, when this filly stole my ball and I chased her all the way to Hoofington by accident. I can tell you, that place really is a dump.”

“But you came back okay didn’t you?” Sweetie Belle asked and arched her brow. “The place can’t be that bad.”

“Huh, guess that’s a good point,” Babs said as she thought it over. Now that she thought about it, everyone she had met in Hoofington had been helpful, even Cara had in the end apologized for stealing her ball.

“Ah the adults are just being paranoid, I say we go over to Hoofington and go talk with Tango and see if he knows this Vanilla Cream,” Scootaloo declared and rose up.

“Wait, we don’t know where… oh no wait, the parcel.” Apple Bloom jumped up and ran out of the room, leaving her two friends to explain to her cousin what she meant.

The filly ran past the living room, noticing that Applejack was talking with Cousin Sunflower, Aunt and Uncle Orange. She paid it little mind, she figured they were merely catching up and telling each other what various relatives were doing. Apple Bloom headed into the guest room Applejack would be using, she immediately spotted the parcel on top of the suitcase.

Apple Bloom jumped up to the bed to read the address on it. Then she had a thought, since they were going to Hoofington anyway, why not just deliver it for Applejack? She grabbed the parcel in her mouth and scurried back to Babs Seed’s room where the other girls waited.

“It says Hoofington Park, what’s the fastest way there?” she asked as she put the parcel down in front of the others.

“Subway, you can walk to Hoofington but it takes a while,” Babs told her.

“So Hoofington is not near Hooflyn?” Apple Bloom asked and frowned a little when cousin shook her head no. She had been so sure the places were near each other.

“Well let’s go then, no time like the present.” Scootaloo jumped to her feet and eager to go, plus this would give them an excellent chance to explore the big city in the meantime.

“Shouldn’t we let Applejack know that we’re going?” Sweetie Belle wondered with a concerned look.

“Oh I’ll do that, you gals just head down stairs, I’ll meet you outside,” Babs said and rose up. The three Ponyville Crusaders all nodded at that and rushed out of the room.

Babs took a detour into the living room on her way out. She just walked in as she heard Mosley Orange, her uncle, talk about Sunflower and how she had recently graduated from business class. Her big sister was blushing in embarrassment at how the stallion kept praising her. The filly couldn’t help but giggle a little.

“Hey, the Crusaders and I are goin’ out for a bit,” she declared when there was a pause in the conversation.

“All right, dear, just be back before dinner and remember to keep off the streets, be sure to tell your cousin and your friends that, Manehattan streets aren’t like the ones in Ponyville,” her Aunt instructed with a smile. Applejack, however, looked a little skeptical.

“Uh you sure it’s okay for the girls to be out alone in the big city?” the mare wondered.

“Oh no it’s fine, Applejack, don’t worry darling. Hooflyn is perfectly safe area for children to play,” Aunt Orange assured her niece.

Well it’s not Hooflyn I’m worried about, Applejack thought but decided to shrug it off.

Babs didn’t really hear Applejack’s concern as she was already heading out after her aunt had spoken. She met the Crusaders outside the apartment building, the three Ponyville fillies were staring around still a bit in awe at being in this big city.

“Oh shoot, I forgot to tell dem we are going to deliver the parcel for Applejack.” Babs realized as soon as she was outside.

“We won’t be long, we can tell them afterwards,” Apple Bloom assured her cousin. Scootaloo nodded, it was with some hesitation that Sweetie Belle did, she looked the most sceptical of the three.

“True, I’m just trying to be more open with them, you understand, you remember how closed I was,” Babs said as she and the other Crusaders began walking down the sidewalk.

It was not a long walk to the nearest subway station, but it took them a little bit to figure out which way went to Hoofington. Even Babs, who was more used to the system had a little trouble spotting it. It wasn’t exactly straight forward like going to Bridle Way.

They did find it in the end and soon Babs got them all tickets. The ride itself was rather uneventful, the Crusaders marveled though at being in a train that went underground the whole way. The girls did, however, start to notice as they approached their destination, that less and less ponies were in the car. By the time the sub stopped at their station, it was empty safe for them.

“Not many going to Hoofington, huh?” Scootaloo remarked as she and the rest stepped out. The pegasus, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stopped short when seeing the messy Hoofington station.

“You weren’t kidding when you said this place was a dump,” Sweetie Belle whispered to Babs, there were few adult ponies nearby and she didn’t want to offend them.

The fillies climbed up the steps to the streets and once again the Crusaders were in for a shock. So far all the buildings had been rather pretty and well tended too, even the old looking ones. Now they saw structures that clearly needed repairs, there were cracks in the sidewalks and streets and much more litter.

“This is Hoofington?” Scootaloo blinked and barely could believe they were still in Manehattan.

“Yeah.” Babs shrugged and started to look around. “Uh I don’t know where in Hoofington, Park is, I took us to the part of the place I had been when I first came here.”

“So I guess we ask for direction,” Apple Bloom looked around, she didn’t see many ponies about and some looked rather unsavory.

“Oh this was a bad idea,” Sweetie Belle lamented as the fillies started following Babs.

“Don’t they repair the houses here? What’s up with that?” Scootaloo asked and looked around at all the disrepair.

“Rarity is always gushing about Manehattan, I wasn’t expecting the place could look like this,” Sweetie Belle said and side stepped before stepping in a puddle, it didn’t look like water.

“She’s probably only seen or knows about the shiny parts,” Babs shrugged. “Seriously majority of Manehattan is actually pretty dull.”

Apple Bloom was about to add in her two bits when suddenly a pony passed them at full gallop. The filly blinked when her back suddenly felt lighter and she turned her head, the parcel was gone from her back, now held firmly in the mouth of the running stranger.

“Hey! The parcel!” she shouted and immediately started running after the thief.

“Hey wait for us!” Scootaloo called as she and the other girls hurried to catch up with Apple Bloom. The pegasus filly dearly wished she had brought her scooter along.

The chase didn’t last long as Apple Bloom rather quickly lost sight of the thief who obviously knew the area better. She stopped, snorting and stomping one hoof on the ground.

“Dag nabbit. That pony stole Tango’s parchel!” the filly glowered around, hoping to spot the pony again.

“Some ponies.” Sweetie Belle shook her head in dismay.

“Maybe we can still find him,” Scootaloo declared, not quite ready to give up and almost immediately scurried off. She was stopped by Babs Seed.

“Are you bonkers? He’s long gone, sorry gals, that parcel is gone. I should have told you to carry it in your mouth, not as easy to steal,” Babs said giving her cousin a sympathetic look.

“Why would somepony steal a parcel from a filly? Who does that?” Apple Bloom had clearly not calmed down.

“Welcome to the big city, Cuz.” Babs couldn’t help but smirk a little at her cousin’s naivety. “Sorry but this happens, it can even happen in Hooflyn if you’re not careful.”

“How am I going to explain this to Applejack?” her cousin lamented and groaned in more frustration.

“We’ll deal with that later, since the parcel belonged to Tango, I guess we better find him and explain it to him first,” Babs suggested, mostly because they were still in Hoofington so they might as well.

“I still say we should try and find the parcel again,” Scootaloo grunted and really wished she could fly now. “This would never happen to Rainbow Dash. She would catch the thief.”

“Yeah but none of us are Rainbow Dash, let’s just be glad the thief only took the parcel.” When those words left Babs mouth, the color almost drained from the Ponyville girls. Quickly they all three nodded when remembering that they had in fact witnessed worse crimes. They could have been the ones stolen.

With glum looks the fillies tried to find their way back. Babs had intended to take them to one place she did remember in Hoofington, a gym of some sort. The earth filly was sure they could get directions to Tango’s address from there.

“What a way to start our week in Manehattan,” Apple Bloom mumbled, her head hung low. She was so distracted she didn’t notice a pony that was crossing the street and stepping up on the sidewalk. The filly walked right into the stranger.

“Ompf..” Apple Bloom fell back and the other girls stopped short when seeing what happened.

Before them stood pony draped in a black cloak. Only the thin grayish white legs could be seen and from under the hood a muzzle peeked out. Two golden eyes stared at the four fillies, then there came a gleam of recognition in them. Slowly, the mare reached up with one leg to take down the hood, revealing herself as she stared dumbfounded at the Ponyville Crusaders.

“Snow Heart!?” Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shouted when realizing who the pony are.

“Girls… what… what are you doing here in Hoofington?” she asked looking and sounding very alarmed.

“We’re here to find Tango, what are you doin’ here?” Apple Bloom responded, tilting her head and raising one eyebrow.

“I-I live here…” Snow Heart started to look around worriedly. “You four need to get out of here, this place is not safe.”

“Tell us about it, we just got robbed by a pony who took Tango’s parcel that we were going to deliver to him,” Sweetie Belle grunted and pointed in the general direction she thought the thief had gone.

“Wait, is this the Ponyville Foalnapper?” Babs Seed asked, her jaw dropping a bit. This title caused the mare to cringe as she glanced at the Manehattan filly.

“I’ve served my time… I live now with Tango here in Hoofington...” Snow Heart stopped talking for a moment, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm down. Then she assumed a more serious expression as she looked down at the girls. “As I was saying, you four need to get back to wherever you came from, now!”

“Oh, you live with Tango?” Apple Bloom lit up, ignoring Snow Heart’s apparent urgency. “Do you know if he knew a pony named Vanilla Cream.”

At the sound of the name, Snow Heart froze and her eyes widened. She whispered something the fillies didn’t catch. Then the mare scowled as anger started to surge through her, all she wanted now was the four girls to disappear away from here. Snow was about to say something, she opened her mouth but her words died down when noticing that the street they were on was bereft of life.

Snow quickly looked around and then gazed upwards, seeing three pegasi stallions up on the rooftops. One was very muscular and ash gray, one was little leaner and was yellow, the third was dark bluish gray and the smallest of the bunch.

Oh no, Snow Heart gasped and started to back away from the fillies.

“I’m not breaking the rules! They stopped me!” she shouted skywards, confusing the girls who glanced up at the pegasi who jumped off the roofs and descended down to street level.

“Barricade! I didn’t break the mandate! I was just passing by them!” Snow Heart continued to scream, the pegasi didn’t approach but were clearly blocking any escape routes.

The four Crusaders looked at each other at the sound of the name. The Ponyville fillies recalled the brief discussion at the train station, while Babs was finding the name familiar for other reasons.

Isn’t that the name of the gym Cara ran into back when she stole my ball? she thought.

They didn’t need to wonder for too long who Barricade was. From one end of the street a tall and very fit unicorn stallion was approaching. He was dark gray, his hooves dark brown and he had dirty blonde mane. On his flank was the image of a brick wall. Snow Heart was also staring at the newly arrived pony.

“Snow Heart,” Barricade’s expression was very grave as he observed the cloaked mare.

End chapter 2

Chapter 3. Snow Heart.

Chapter 3

“I did not do anything wrong, I accidentally bumped into the fillies and they started badgering me with questions, I was trying to get away,” Snow Heart declared, she looked half between nervous and angry.

“Rain Storm!” the unicorn shouted, the blue gray pegasus immediately glided closer.

“Yes, boss?” Rain Storm inquired as he landed next to Barricade.

“Get those fillies to wherever they live, if they need to take the subway, I’ll pay you back. Just get them away,” Barricade grunted, barely sparing the girls a glance.

Apple Bloom wanted to protest but had to admit that leaving was probably the best idea right now. Things looked like they could get ugly and she wasn’t sure if Applejack would be happy if they got involved. All four fillies looked at Rain Storm when he came flying over, he looked rather young compared to the other stallions.

“Alright kids, where you are from? I better get you all out of here, this isn’t a nice place,” he said and gave them a friendly smile.

“Uh, they are staying at my place in Hooflyn, what’s going on?” Babs Seed asked and glanced over to Snow Heart who was staring at the ground, gritting her teeth.

“Nothing you kids need to worry about. Since you live in Hooflyn, I’ll take you to the subway,” Rain Storm said and started to usher the fillies away.

The Crusaders didn’t protest for now, Sweetie Belle was actually a bit relieved they were leaving, things had started to look a little scary. Scootaloo, however, kept glancing back with concern at Snow Heart. Apple Bloom and Babs Seed were both contemplating as they walked.

Suddenly, Scootaloo broke off from the group and ran back to the confrontation. The other girls were too late to stop her and Rain Storm wasn’t quick enough, the young pegasus filly was already standing between Barricade and Snow Heart before he realized she had rushed off.

“Hold it, what has she done wrong?” Scootaloo asked, staring right that unicorn who arched his brow when seeing her suddenly in front of him.

“Rain!” Barricade growled and glared at the sheepish pegasus stallion who was returning along with the rest of the girls.

“Sorry, boss,” he said meekly and approached Scootaloo. “Come on kid, the adults here need to talk!”

“Not until I hear what she’s done wrong, she is a friend of my mom’s!” Scootaloo claimed firmly. Behind her Snow Heart frowned in confusion, Apple Bloom and the other girls looked at their friend skeptically.

“Your mom should pick better friends,” Barricade snorted and then rolled his eyes. “Fine, Snow Heart by court mandate is not allowed within fifty yards of foals that are not related to her. If she breaks that, all kinds of government officials will be coming around to make sure she stops doing that, I don’t like that. I stop it before it happens.”

“Scootaloo, will you and your friends please go, it’s alright, Barricade is just… helping me remembering my limitations,” Snow Heart finally spoke.

“That’s awfully scary way to help her remember,” Apple Bloom whispered to Babs and Sweetie Belle who nodded in agreement.

“Sir,” she then spoke up and approached, the unicorn looked over, sighed in frustration and gave Rain Storm another glare before focusing again on the earth filly.

“She wasn’t wrong though, we did bump into her and didn’t leave her alone when we recognized her,” Apple Bloom confessed. “We didn’t mean to git her into trouble.”

“Wait, Snow Heart knows all of you?” Barricade snorted and eyed Sweetie Belle and Babs.

“Well we’ve met before, back where we come from, Ponyville,” Apple Bloom explained, when she mentioned the name of her home town the unicorn stallion froze.

“You’re from Ponyville?” he asked but didn’t really wait for an answer, as Apple Bloom was starting to nod to confirm it he was already addressing Rain Storm.

“Rain, get the kids out of here NOW! I don’t care if you have to carry all four of them, get them out of Hoofington!” the stallion snapped, then promptly used his magic to pick up both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, put them back to the sidewalk and pushed the rest in the general direction of the subway station.

The girls didn’t really get a chance to protest much more, Barricade was already walking away along with the other two pegasi stallions, motioning Snow Heart to walk as well. Rain Storm was also actively making sure to stand in their way this time as he herded them towards the subway station.

“Wow, he freaked out when you told him where you all came from,” Babs noted. The other Crusaders nodded, having observed the same thing, the discussion at the train station returned to their mind. Sweetie Belle glanced back at Rain Storm, wondering if he knew more.

“Excuse me,” she slowed down a little to walk closer to the pegasus. “Why did he act like that when my friend mentioned Ponyville?”

“Ah, not sure if I’m allowed to tell really, let’s just say the boss knows ponies in Ponyville and rather not they come here,” he said with a shrug.

“But everypony in Ponyville is friendly, they wouldn’t cause trouble here,” Apple Bloom remarked, looking back at Rain Storm.

“I’m sure they wouldn’t, look I don’t know all of the boss’s personal history. I just do what he tells me to do,” the stallion simply said.

“He isn’t going to hurt Snow Heart is he?” Scootaloo asked half accusingly, she hadn’t liked how frightened Snow Heart had looked.

“No, no, don’t worry. He was just making sure rules weren’t being broken, that’s all,” he told her, though the younger pegasus wasn’t sure how much that was true.

Rain Storm didn’t leave the girls until they were all the way at the subway and boarding. The Crusaders in fact saw him standing on the platform watching the train pass by from the window. It appeared the stallion was making extra sure that they had in fact left.

“Well that was a waste, we didn’t meet Tango and the parcel was stolen,” Apple Bloom grumbled as she sat down on the bench.

“Well, we met Snow Heart. She seemed to know who Vanilla was,” Sweetie Belle remarked, causing everyone to look at her confused. The unicorn arched her brow, she had thought it was obvious. “Didn’t you see how she froze up when Apple Bloom mentioned the name.”

Now they all had to think back and slowly it came to them that Snow Heart had indeed recognized the name.

“And since she lives with Tango, we don’t have to look all over for her,” Scootaloo said and suddenly jumped off the bench just as the subway was slowing down to stop.

“Uh, Scoot’s, what are ya doin’?” Apple Bloom asked confused.

“Getting off, the next stop should still have us close enough to Hoofington that we can walk back,” she said and hurried towards the opening doors.

None of the girls could really argue with that, even Babs had nodded at what Scootaloo had said. The other Crusaders quickly leaped off their benches and hurried after the pegasus filly. The station didn’t look much better than the previous one. Checking a nearby map confirmed that they were in fact still in the Hoofington area, just a bit further north.

“Wait, why are we still doing this?” Sweetie Belle asked with a concerned frown, she had actually been rather relieved to be leaving this shady neighborhood.

“We agreed to help Babs solve this mystery and we aren’t going to do that in Hooflyn,” Scootaloo pointed out.

“Yeah and Ah’m sure we can find direction to Park from here.” Apple Bloom nodded, deep down she was also hoping to spot the parcel thief again.

“But what if we run into Barricade and he just sends us away again?” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“Oh come on, what are the odds dey even live in the same building, Hoofington isn’t maybe as big as Hooflyn but it’s still big enough,” Babs chuckled. She, Apple Bloom and Scootallo then hurried up to street level, with reluctant Sweetie Belle trailing behind.

“You don’t have to follow me all the way,” Snow Heart grunted and glared back, behind her came Barricade and the two other pegasi stallions. She knew the ash gray one was called Tornado and the yellow one was Thunder Storm.

“We all live in the same building, Snowy,” Barricade grunted and shook his head.

Snow Heart didn’t respond to that since she knew he was right, so she simply continued onward. The mare did her best to simply ignore them, she just wanted to get to her apartment for some solitude. Tango wouldn’t be home for few more hours. The only problem right now was that the foal she carried was causing her to walk slowly.

The mare sighed softly, the meeting with the fillies had brought up some uncomfortable memories. Some that she still had nightmares about. Therapy had slowly helped her overcome the worst, but there were still times they would come back and haunt her. She tried to ward them off by thinking about what the girls had wanted.

Why did they ask about Vanilla Cream? She wondered and debated whether to tell Tango about this chance meeting.

He’s getting better, but mentioning her might set him off. Snow Heart frowned slightly. Probably best not to take any chances.

Snow Heart then noticed that she was finally approaching the apartment building. The mare looked forward to sit down and rest, it had been a long fruitless noon at the unemployment line again. Her past continuously haunted her, though in some cases they had asked her to try again after she had delivered.

“Son of a Manticore!” She suddenly heard snapped from behind her. Glancing back, she saw that Barricade was scowling but staring past her, so where Tornado and Thunder Cloud. The mare turned forward again and spotted two teenagers by the entrance. One was Cara, Barricade’s daughter, the other was an earth pony, blue with silver mane and tail.

The three stallions charged past Snow Heart and towards the two younger ponies. She could see the colt look up, shout an even stronger profanity in shock when seeing who was coming, before bolting off. Tornado and Thunder Cloud continued to chase him, while Barricade reminded by his daughter, neither looked very happy.

“What the Tartarus have I told you about hanging around with that twerp, Cara!?” Barricade growled loudly at his daughter.

“He’s not a twerp! He just so happens to be my friend!” Cara snapped right back, not in the least intimidated by her father.

“This guy is NOT your friend!” Barricade snorted. “You know perfectly well that I don’t want to see him or his ilk around here!”

“What do you care, it’s not like you are any better!” Cara retorted, but then noticed that her father was staring at her bruised cheek. She quickly put a hoof over it, but indigo magic aura from her father pulled it away.

“What happened to your cheek?” he asked, his voice and face becoming darker. “Did he do this?”

“It’s nothing, I just hit my head on my way out this morning,” the pegasus muttered and tried to pull her hoof free from the magic.

“Don’t give me that, I know a hoof slap when I see one!” her father snorted, only to receive a cold glare from the filly.

“Yeah, I’m sure YOU would!” she snorted. The magic aura vanished and Barricade fell silent.

By this time Snow Heart had caught up, but had heard the conversation since both had spoken loudly. The mare stopped, almost curious to see how Barricade would respond to that scathing retort from his daughter.

“Get inside and go to your room, you’re grounded!” Barricade said and this time his voice was low.

Cara opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind, instead she just glared daggers at her father, snorted in frustration and stomped into the apartment building. Barricade hung his head when she was gone, muttering something to himself before going inside. He hadn’t even noticed Snow Heart standing there nearby.

I would say trouble in paradise, but that would imply this is paradise, she thought and took a moment to rest up against the wall.

Tornado and Thunder Cloud returned on the fly, neither looked very happy. The mare figured the colt must have given them the slip. The two pegasi landed by the entrance and Tornado walked straight inside, Thunder halted for a minute and looked at Snow Heart.

“You need any help?” he asked, dropping the frown and assuming a kinder expression.

“I’m fine,” Snow Heart grunted and rose from the wall. Ignoring the pegasus, she waddled inside.

It was at this time that the mare was really relieved that the apartment was on the ground floor. No stairs to battle with while carrying the extra passenger. Not that she wouldn’t stubbornly climb stairs in her condition if she had to, but fortune had at least favored her an easy to reach home.

Upon entering, she could hear a noise in the kitchen. Snow Heart frowned and made her way towards it, she was surprised to see the tall dark gray earth pony in there.

“Tango?” She addressed him and stepped inside. “You’re home early.”

Tango looked up from the newspaper he was reading. The stallion looked tired and there was sadness in his eyes, yet he did his best to smile when seeing the mare, it looked very broken.

“Uh… yeah… they didn’t need me today,” he whispered and the smile dropped. “Actually they don’t need me anymore.”

“You were fired.” Snow Heart sighed when seeing Tango cringe. She walked past the stallion and to the small counter. There she started to prepare tea, straining to use what little magic she had in her broken horn.

“I’m sorry… I just… they didn’t think I was cut out for it… I tried telling them we were expecting a baby but…” Tango fell silent when hearing a snort from the mare.

Snow Heart tried to keep her temper in check, inwardly cringing when the snort managed to escape her lips. She knew it wasn’t Tango’s fault, it was probably her fault. They had probably heard who he was living with and didn’t want to be associated with anyone that knew her.

No matter what I do, I keep being a monster. Destroying lives all around me, she thought and glanced down at her belly. They won’t let a monster keep a foal.

No… no… keep thinking of something else… focus on something else… she chanted in her mind. Slowly the anger passed and the mare could focus on the tea she was making.

“I… met the fillies you knew back in Ponyville, the uh Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Snow Heart mentioned before realizing she had slipped up. She quickly looked back but to her relief Tango only frowned a little in confusion.

“What? What were they doing in Hoofington?” he asked.

“They probably got lost, they were staying with a filly in Hooflyn that was with them,” the mare quickly said, not wanting to bring up what the Crusaders had asked about. Snow returned to her tea, vowing to keep her big mouth shut.

“Probably crusading for a cutie mark.” Tango shook his head and returned to his newspaper.

“No, they had cutie marks,” Snow Heart mentioned, causing the stallion to look at her again.

“Oh right, Mulberry mentioned something about that in one of his letters, I forgot,” he said and furrowed his brow. “I forgot, yeah, maybe they just got lost.”

Snow Heart breathed a sigh in relief. She brought the tea to the table and before sitting down, took off her cloak. She had started to sip on her tea when noticing that Tango still hadn’t returned to his newspaper, he still looked like was thinking.

“They really didn’t tell what they were doing? The Crusaders tended to share whatever they were doing, whether you wanted to know or not,” he wondered and looked at Snow Heart again.

“Somepony noticed I was too close to children and notified Barricade, he and the pegasi brothers showed up and interrupted,” Snow Heart quickly said, Tango sighed and nodded accepting that explanation.

“I’m sorry… wish we didn’t have to live here…” he whispered and the sadness returned to his eyes.

It’s not your fault. Snow Heart looked down at her tea cup.

“They didn’t hurt you?” Tango wondered and scooted closer to the mare.

“No, just the usual scare tactic,” the mare responded, she didn’t react when Tango put a hoof over hers.

“I’ll get another job, they said they were going to recommend me to another firm, we’ll get through this,” he said gently and leaned closer to give the mare a peck on the cheek. Snow still didn’t really respond.

Why do you care about a monster like me? Somepony who hires a killer to abduct a filly, who can’t do anything without ruining lives of other ponies. Snow Heart raised the cup in her shaky magic aura and drank from it. Tango gently caressed her back before scooting away and returned to his newspaper.

Why did Scootaloo care? Snow Heart wondered as she remembered what the young pegasus did.

End Chapter 3

Chapter 4. Old 'friends' arrive.

Chapter 4

Applejack continued listening to her uncle drone about his citrus business. It was mostly a polite interest; the mare knew she wouldn’t be much better if asked about her apple farming. People often assumed that all she cared about were apples, even if her farm made other crops as well and a lot of her apple business in Manehattan was handled by Mosely Orange.

The only one not really listening was Aunt Orange, she had never been much of a business mare, letting her husband handle that. Her talent lay more in accessory design, the necklace she wore being her own creation. The mare busied herself with the newspaper, while the others talked, although she kept one ear on the conversation in case someone needed her attention.

“So, in other words, business’s been good,” Applejack said with a chuckle once her uncle finally seemed to be finished. The others smiled at the short summary of just about everything Mosely had been talking about.

Talk soon went into family and how everyone was doing. Applejack was pleased to hear that her various relations, distant or otherwise were doing good. Then she in turn told them that despite her advanced age, Granny Smith showed no sign of dropping down, Big Mac was doing good too and Apple Bloom hadn’t changed too much since acquiring her Cutie Mark, her stubborn focus was now just on other things.

“And then they got that idea in their heads that Ah needed a vacation too,” she finished and shrugged, her uncle and aunt just chuckled.

“That does remind me of old grand aunt Tangerine, she would never take any break from her work,” Mosely started and began a long reminiscing about his great aunt.

Applejack only half listened, not that she wasn’t interested hearing about her distant relatives, but her mind was suddenly brought to the parcel she had promised to deliver for Time Turner. That in turn brought up the warning about Barricade.

Granted she had never interacted that much with Barricade back when he had lived with Derpy, but she had known about him and seen how devastated the pegasus had been when he had left her. Applejack’s opinion of him didn’t improved at all when she heard later about how Turner and Derpy had a run in with Barricade few years ago, about the time they became a couple.

“What can ya’ll tell me about Hoofington?” she asked when hearing that her uncle’s story was ending.

“Oh, it’s downright a sad place,” her aunt remarked with a sigh. “It’s this small part of Manehattan everypony seems to want to forget about.”

“It’s gang territory, houses are in disrepair, the streets need fixing, but the city focuses everything on the tourist areas,” Sunflower snorted. “Guess they figure if they allow the criminals to run rampant there, they won’t bother their precious tourists.”

“Now let’s not be unfair, crime there has gone down lately from what I’ve heard, but still it’s not an area I would recommend the unwary to visit, why do you ask, Applejack?” Mosely wondered and looked at his niece.

“Ah just have a parcel to deliver to an old friend who used to live in Ponyville, he’s now livin’ in Hoofington,” Applejack mentioned and judged from the raised eyebrows that the other ponies were wondering what this old friend was doing, living in Hoofington. “He is a bit down on his luck, he was involved in some things but as far as I know is doin’ a little better.”

“I can take you there once you’re finished unpacking,” Sunflower offered, which reminded Applejack of course that her suitcase was still unopened in the guestroom.

“Yeah, Ah better git to it,” she chuckled and rose from her seat. She was accompanied by her aunt who insisted on helping, even if there wasn’t terribly much in the suitcase at all considering how little clothing ponies wore.

“There is this one drawer on the dresser that can be a bit of a bother to open, I’ll show you a little trick how to do it,” Aunt Orange said as they headed to the guest room, her niece nodded in appreciation, she didn’t want to bust up her relative’s furniture after all.

When they entered, the first thing Applejack did notice was that the parcel was not on top of the suitcase. At first the mare just shrugged it off and figured it had fallen somewhere on the floor, she didn’t quite get a chance to look for it as her aunt started to show her the dresser and the faulty drawer.

Then together they unpacked from the suitcase, Applejack put Apple Bloom’s things to the side so her sister could get to them, they left Scootaloo’s suitcase alone figuring the pegasus would have her own idea where she wanted her things.

“Ah’m just glad we didn’t have to cram Sweetie Belle’s horde in here,” Applejack chuckled as she began searching for the missing parcel. “Hey, Aunt Orange, seen the parcel Ah had with me anywhere?”

“Why no.” The older pony started to look around herself. The two mares took a minute to look around, but could only come to one conclusion, the parcel was gone.

“Land sakes, what could Ah have done with the parcel? Ah’m sure I put on top of mah suitcase,” Applejack grunted as finished the third round scouring under every furniture in the room.

“Yes, I am sure I saw you do that,” her aunt nodded in agreement. “Maybe the girls know where is, we can ask them when they come back.”

Applejack nodded at first in agreement, but then it hit her like a locomotive. She knew her sister and her friends knew Tango too, they often enough fled from the former police officer after a disastrous attempt at a cutie mark search. Despite that, Apple Bloom would probably consider him a friend and since the girls went out, she probably figured they could deliver the parcel for them.

“Oh no, the girls. Sunflower!” Applejack raced out of the guest room and back to the living room, her aunt could only follow her confused over what had spurred her niece.

“Sunflower, we have to go to Hoofington, now! Ah think the girls went to deliver the parcel for me,” Applejack declared to her cousin.

“That can’t be, Babs would know not to go there,” Mosely started to protest, but there was hesitation in his voice.

“You know Babs better than that, Uncle, come on Applejack let’s go.” Sunflower jumped from her chair and the two cousins raced out of the apartment, leaving the two older ponies behind who glanced at each other worriedly.

“Okay, I have absolutely no idea where we are,” Babs Seeds declared as the four crusaders went around another corner.

The four fillies had been wandering around for few hours since leaving the subway station, however, this part of Hoofington looked even worse than the part they had been in previously. Some buildings had big signs marking them as condemned. They hadn’t even met any pony at all.

“So we’re lost,” Scootaloo sighed, Babs didn’t really want to nod to confirm it but was forced to.

“We just need to stop wanderin’ around aimlessly, okay let’s just go in that direction and keep going in that direction, surely we’ll meet somepony by then who can help us out,” Apple Bloom suggested.

As none of the other fillies had any better suggestion, they all nodded and started off. While they walked, they continued to talk about the various things they had done in the past. Apple Bloom told them about the Heart’s Warming Eve visit her family had with Pinkie. Babs was surprised to learn that a rock farm was a real thing.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to be here so early.”

The fillies stopped when hearing the whispering voice. They looked at each other wondering if one of them had said it.

“Couldn’t be helped, the bastard’s flunkies chased me out of the area.”

Scootaloo was the first to catch on where the voices were coming from, made a silence gesture to her friends before sneaking to a building and peeked around the corner. The other fillies soon followed suit.

Deep in the alley they saw a blue teenage colt with silver hair, standing in front of him was another earth pony, sea green and with a brown mane fashioned into spikes. They spoke in hushed voices and kept furtively looking around as if they feared being caught.

“They spotted you?” the adult pony growled.

“Hey the stupid girl assured me that her dad wouldn’t be home yet so I thought it was safe to escort her, you know, scout deeper in,” the colt grunted, the other pony didn’t look happy to hear that.

“You actually went all the way to Barricade’s own apartment complex? Are you daft? No wonder you were spotted, most of his inner circle lives there,” he snapped and quickly glanced around as the pony realized this had been too loud. Seeing nothing he relaxed a bit.

The fillies listening in looked at each other skeptically, unsure what exactly they were witnessing. Sweetie Belle didn’t like the looks of these ponies, especially the one with the spiky mane. Babs focus was on the teen, she was sure she had seen him somewhere before.

Isn’t that the guy I saw Cara with at the train station? She wondered.

“Hey, nobody was around, it was Barricade himself and Thunder and Tornado who just suddenly appeared,” the teenager snorted.

“Oh great, you’re telling me that Barricade knows now you’ve been snooping around and seeing his daughter?” the older pony hissed.

“Hey, it’s cool. She’s young and stupid and been telling me all kinds of things about dear old dad. Ever since he returned from the Crystal Empire few months back he’s been behaving down right strange. You know how it is in Hoofington now, his gang barely does anything,” the teen snorted and then chuckled a bit.

“Yeah sure they are keeping us out in the fringes, but when is the last time you heard the Barricade gang doing anything of note, at most they meet at the gym and that’s it. She’s even told me he’s been letting ponies that owe him money off the hook left and right. He also keeps having terrible nightmares, screaming about shadows and darkness, takes Barbell a while to calm him down.”

“Fascinating,” the older pony sneered.

“It is indeed fascinating,” a foreign accented voice addressed the two ponies who jumped a bit and turned around.

The fillies continued to watch, having themselves started a bit at the sudden voice. Their brows rose when seeing a brownish looking earth stallion with a dark mane, wearing shirt and red cloth around his neck with white polka dots, his cutie mark was a golden skull that had a green and red gem in its eye sockets. Accompanying the stranger were three rough looking ponies.

“Who in Tartarus are you?” the spiky maned pony addressed the newly arrived pony.

“I am Dr. Caballeron and I’m investigating how my old business associate, Barricade, is doing. I’m really interested in hearing that he’s having such a rough time since he cut all ties with me so many years ago,” Caballeron said and lazily examined one of his front hooves.

“Wait, you’re the guy Barricade was always selling stuff too?” the teen colt blinked in astonishment.

“Well it was more of a, ‘I knew of some items his parents discovered, he would get them for me and I would pay for that service’ kind of a deal. However, few years ago he stopped, refused to work for me. I let it slide, but I must admit I wouldn’t mind convincing him to engage in business with me again,” Caballeron explained and then grinned slyly as he looked at the two ponies. “And I want you two to help me.”

“Why would we want to help you? Wait, Dr. Caballeron, aren’t you the dude who is always after Daring Do?” the sea green pony snorted.

“I have a life outside Daring Do,” Caballeron spat and looked incensed. “Well if you do not wish to help, boys, get him out of my face.”

The fillies gasped when the three rough looking ponies advanced immediately on the sea green one. He didn’t even get a chance to do much before they were right on top of him and beating him into a pulp. The whole time Caballeron just stood there and casually fixed the cloth around his neck, the teen colt stared as well, wide eyed and half terrified.

Soon the beaten and battered body of the spiky maned pony was thrown into a nearby old dumpster. Now Caballeron turned his attention to the teenager, who was frozen with fear.

“Now boy, are you going to refuse to assist me? I couldn’t help but overhear that you are getting a little cozy with Barricade’s daughter.” The earth pony chuckled dryly.

“Um well, yeah… Spikes, few of my buddies and I have been spying on Barricade and his gang for few months, hoping we could establish our own gang that could take over… but yeah I’m in with his daughter, she thinks I’m alright… I mean, sure I can help, what do you need?” the teen colt stammered, shaking like a leaf.

“I need you to keep doing what you were doing for now, but report to me rather than that pathetic sack of manure my boys just dumped into the dumpster,” Caballeron said and out of a pocket inside of his shirt he produced a card. “I’m staying at this hotel. One of my people will always be around to escort you to my room.

The teen colt hesitated before grabbing the card, but the older pony didn’t let go just yet, instead he narrowed his eyes on the boy.

“Now don’t get any bright ideas, my dear boy. I have been keeping an eye on Barricade for a little while myself, I just need to know few more minor details before I move in. Details that have eluded me, but I’m hoping that somepony, somepony like you who is in with his daughter, can eventually provide,” he warned before letting go of the card.

The teen just nodded, assuring the doctor that he would do that. Suddenly all five ponies in the alley looked up when hearing a sound. Outside it the fillies were hugging the wall hoping they were out of sight and three hooves were over Sweetie Belle’s muzzle, she had been unable to hold in a sneeze.

“Ah probably just a rat. What’s your name boy?”

“Trail.”

The crusaders continued to hold their breaths as the voice became more distant. Didn’t seem the ponies were coming their way to leave the alley. When there was no more sound they all let out a sigh in relief.

“What did we just witness?” Babs cringed, the memory of Spikes being beaten into pulp still vivid.

“We really need to stop witnessing ponies being dumped into dumpsters,” Scootaloo remarked, remembering last time that had happened.

“Wait, Dr. Caballeron is real? Isn’t he from the Daring Do books?” Sweetie Belle wondered utterly confused.

“Okay, that just happened,” was the only thing Apple Bloom could really say at the moment.

“Should we go see if that pony they attacked is okay?” Babs wondered, not really thrilling at the idea of going into the alley.

The crusaders all glanced towards the entrance, but much like her the Ponyville Crusaders didn’t really like the idea of coming anywhere near it now. Two of them, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle cringed as they remembered Silver Spoon in the dumpster back in Ponyville.

“We should tell somepony though,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Tell somepony what?” a voice addressed them, causing all four fillies to scream for a moment. It quieted down quickly when they saw a teen colt standing in front of them, but this one was aquamarine and had a cobalt blue mane cut into a large mohawk. On his flank was a yellow typewriter and dangling around his neck was a camera.

“Whoa, whoa, easy now,” the teenager said calmly, holding one hoof up. The crusaders sighed in relief when seeing it was none of the five ponies from before.

“A pony was attacked in the alley over there,” Apple Bloom rose and pointed towards it. The crusaders then all at once proceeded to try and tell the teenager what had just happened.

“Okay, whoa, one at a time,” the colt raised his voice a bit to overcome the noise. The fillies fell silent, looking a little sheepish. “Let’s just focus on the important fact, a pony was attacked. Is he still in there?”

Both fillies nodded, the colt looked at the alley, took a deep breath and rushed in. The crusaders didn’t follow and just waited outside of it. They all arched their brows when they heard the colt laugh.

“Spikes? Oh man, they really messed you up. Did you run into Barricade and his boys again?” they heard the colt say in a loud voice. “You know better than to be hanging around here. Barricade’s gone nuts on anypony he thinks will raise the crime level in Hoofington again.”

“Spikes? Oh buck…”

The fillies heard the lid of the dumpster slam and the colt rushed out of the alley, his face was now pale. He muttered something to himself before looking at the fillies.

“Girls, did you see who did that?” he asked in a dead serious tone. Apple Bloom proceeded to describe the ponies.

“Sweet Celestia. Trail, what have you gotten your rump into now?” the teenager whispered startled and looked around more nervously.

“What’s your name?” Sweetie Belle asked, since they hadn’t really been introduced, her crusader friends gave her a look, this was hardly a time for introductions.

“What? Oh, I’m Paper Scribbler… um I better get you girls out of here, come with me,” the colt said, now there was determination in his voice and face. He started to run off and the crusaders followed, figuring they might as well since he probably knew the way out of here.

“What about the pony in the dumpster?” Babs called.

“Don’t worry about him,” Paper responded and cringed a bit.

“Why not?” Scootaloo asked.

“Because he’s dead,” the teenager now grimaced and the crusaders eyes opened wide in shock.

End chapter 4

Author's Note

Now if this damn sequel would have been written on right time, that is two years ago instead of today, the second part of this chapter would be a more clearer reference to the Time Keeper of Ponyville, where I did reveal that Barricade used to do some shady business, acquiring things for certain ponies who paid him for getting those items.

Well we finally get to meet Barricade's old boss so to speak, I have wanted to use Cabelleron for ages, always intended for him to be the one Barricade used to do business with. I always figured Caballeron was a pain in the ass for many archaeologists, not just Daring Do, he's just more known as an antagonist for Daring Do since she writes books about it.

Chapter 5. Barricade.

Chapter 5

Barricade drummed a hoof on the arm of the chair he sat in the living room of his apartment. The unicorn stared forward with a heavy frown on his face, his eyes didn’t really lock onto anything, they were rather distant. If they could mirror what was going in his head, they would show snow and a large mountain with a jaw like peak encircled by shadow and smoke.

“PRIVATE!” his panicked voice screamed in his mind as a memory passed through, causing Barricade to outwardly sneer a bit.

“I knew you were stupid, Barricade, but seriously, this is just ridiculous.” A dark voice growled in his mind. The unicorn closed his eyes, shivering slightly.

“You actually think you can have it both ways. You want to have normal family life and at the same time behave like you’re some criminal big shot.” The same dark voice mocked him.

“Tell me Barricade, are you really living in the paradise you envisioned for yourself?”

“Two of your daughters now hate you and want nothing to do with you anymore, you are holed up in some run down part of a city where you barely manage to make ends meet even if you run that gym and help running that apartment complex for your bedmate’s father.”

“I brought you a beer.” A female voice shut down the dark mocking voice playing in the unicorn’s head.

Barricade’s eyes focused again and he glanced to his side. Barbell stood there, offering him a can of Manehattan Gold. The stallion glared at the drink for a moment before looking away.

“I don’t want it,” he growled.

“You don’t want a beer, you?” Barbell was almost stunned at hearing that.

“You heard me!” Barricade snapped and turned in his chair so his back would face the mare.

Barbell watched the backside of the stallion for a second before sighing in frustration, she left the beer can on the coffee table just in case her bedmate would change his mind, before she stomped out of the living room,

It hadn’t gone unnoticed in the gang or Hoofington in general that the leader had changed. Few months ago he had gone to the Crystal Empire to see to his estranged brother, who had apparently been injured and was hospitalized there. When Barricade returned few days later, he was a changed pony.

Barbell had been the first to notice, her lover had started to have powerful nightmares. He would wake up screaming and thrashing in the bed, but he constantly refused to say what they were about. He also absolutely refused to talk about his trip to the Empire, he would pale up if it was mentioned.

Gang activity took a strange turn as well, any activity that knowingly would break the law stopped. Pressing the locals for protection money stopped, Barricade even stopped collecting money ponies owed him. If anyone worked up a nerve to ask, the unicorn would just growl. “What’s the bloody point.”

What they did suddenly start to do was chasing out those they knew were doing something illegal. Any minor gangs still surviving in the Hoofington area disappeared or were forced into the fringes.

Nobody in the Barricade gang really minded. Majority had minor jobs here and there and some where employees at the gym. Most figured that the boss was just trying to vie for some more respectable clients, clients that could bring in some more money than squeezing the local ponies.

Yet those in the inner circle knew that was not the case. Barricade was behaving downright odd, muttering about shadows and darkness when he thought nobody heard him, or lamenting about how whatever he did was just pointless. Barbell would also sometimes find him in the living room like she did moments earlier, sitting and staring off into the distance.

This is getting crazy, she thought as she entered the kitchen and saw Cara fixing herself a glass of soda.

“Hey! You’re grounded, get to your room!” the mare snapped at the pegasus.

“Seriously? I can’t even get myself something to drink?” the teen filly snarled and stomped off towards the entrance of the kitchen, leaving her drink behind.

Barbell stopped the girl before she could get out by putting a front leg on the doorframe, blocking her path. The earth pony sighed deeply before looking apologetically at the girl. “Sorry, it’s just your father, he’s driving me nuts right now.”

“Tell me about it,” Cara grunted and rolled her eyes.

“Get your drink, sit down by the table,” Barbell said and removed her leg from the entrance. The filly grunted and returned to the kitchen counter to fetch her glass.

Barbell walked to the fridge and rescued another can of beer from it, she turned around, using her hind leg to close it as she walked towards the table. Cara was now sitting there sipping her drink, eyeing the mare half curiously.

“So, are you going to finally tell us what happened to your cheek?” Barbell asked as she sat down, opening the can while she waited for some form of a reply.

“Nothing happened, I just hit it,” Cara muttered and now glanced away.

“Cara, you know better than try those horseapples with me, was it that boy you think we don’t know you have been hanging out with for the past few weeks?” the mare asked, noting immediately how Cara shifted uneasily in her seat.

“How many know?” the filly asked unsure.

“Goldie has seen you few times meet him at the train station, Blazer also told us he saw the two of you,” Barbell responded and sipped from her can, chuckling inwardly when seeing the shocked look on the girl. “Seriously girl, you think your dad doesn’t have us watch you like griffins over their treasure.”

“But why did dad…”

“Oh he didn’t know, we didn’t tell him. Because we knew he would blow his top, like it or not, you are his precious little spitfire,” Barbell interrupted Cara, grinning a little at the indignant snort from the teenager.

“We wanted first to make sure how things went, we know Trail and that he used to be in a small gang we chased off. However, now you need to convince me that I didn’t make a mistake keeping this silent from your father,” the mare lowered her voice a little and glanced at the kitchen entrance. Nobody was there, so she returned her attention to Cara.

“Dad will tear him apart.” Cara frowned and stared into her drink.

“Did he hit you?” Barbell asked with added sharpness in her voice.

“No… well not on purpose, he didn’t see me, it was an accident,” Cara claimed and now looked straight at the mare. “He was arguing with a friend of his, flailing his hooves, I walked too close.”

Barbell frowned a little in concern, this still didn’t add up to her, but the mare wasn’t sure how much she could pressure the girl to talk. Cara could be just as stubborn as her father and was quite often ready to dig her hooves in on certain matters.

“Look Cara, your father loves you, you are the only one of his kids he gets to see because you live with him. He’s burned the bridges with your sisters and their mothers and he just can’t work up a nerve to rebuild them. He just doesn’t want you to make the same mistakes he did,” the earth pony started to tell the girl, her voice now more solemn.

“He also knows he is a jerk and he recognizes other jerks. He knows too well what a pony like that can do to another pony. He does regret what he did with your mother and the mothers of your sisters, he is just too scared to make amends with them. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to you, that some jerk like he was leaving you in the ditch after having his fun with you,” she continued and shook her head sadly.

“Trail isn’t that bad,” Cara grunted.

“Your dad sees himself when he was younger in that colt, he sees the same arrogant selfish jerk, so please give him a little break about this. I don’t know what happened to him after he went to the Crystal Empire, but something has snapped. I don’t know if somepony beat some sense into him or has driven him off the edge, but your father is suffering right now and he gets angry at things that remind him of the past,” Barbell told her.

Cara didn’t reply just sipped her drink. The mare drank from her own can too, thinking over what she had just told the girl. The last bit was probably the strangest of it all, but Barbell could swear by it, anything that reminded Barricade of his past behavior seemed to anger him now. Anger him or scare him.

They both looked up when there was a knock on the apartment door, Barbell rose to see who it was. Barricade wouldn’t answer it if he was still in his funk in the living room. The earth pony left the kitchen, headed for the entrance to the apartment and opened it. Outside was her brother, Blue. The large blue earth stallion seemed to be in a hurry.

“Hey Barbell, is the boss in? We have a situation,” he declared while walking in.

“Living room, what kind of situation?” Barbell asked, arching her brow.

“There are two mares going around Hoofington looking for some kids, they aren’t locals,” her brother answered.

“Describe them,” Barricade growled as he suddenly stood in the entrance to the living room.

Barbell started a little bit at seeing him there so suddenly. Blue, however, wasn’t fazed and started to describe the two mares. Barricade showed at first no change in expression when his second in command described a light crimson mare with a sunflower cutie mark, but he started to look concerned when the other mare was described as orange with apple cutie marks and wearing a Stetson.

“They must be looking for the kids that were bothering Snowy,” Barricade muttered. “Didn’t I tell Rain to send them to Hooflyn again?”

The unicorn started towards the entrance, pushing past Blue, but hesitated and looked at Barbell. He turned to face the mare and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry… uh thanks for the beer.”

With that done Barricade was about to return to the entrance when he spotted Cara peek out of the kitchen.

“Cara! You are grounded. Go to your room!” he snapped and pointed in the general directions of the bedrooms.

“I was getting a drink!” his daughter growled.

“Fine, get a drink, but then straight to your room!” the unicorn ordered, ignoring the exasperated groan coming from the pegasus.

Then without further delay Barricade rushed out of the apartment with Blue following him. In the hallway outside, the unicorn ordered the earth pony to get Rain Storm of the three pegasi he had been with earlier today when confronting Snow Heart. Barricade then headed downstairs to the ground floor, intending to wait for them outside.

Celestia was in the process of lowering the sun when Barricade stepped out of the complex and the streetlights were turning on. The unicorn looked around with a frown, wondering if the mares had been in Hoofington long looking for the girls. He cursed a bit for not ordering Rain to take them all the way home.

Great, Ponyville, you continue to haunt me. Punishment for that foolish stunt I tried few years back? Probably… Barricade sighed, he did not revel in the idea of meeting someone from Ponyville again, especially someone who knew how he had acted.

Applejack… she was the one with the farm I think, ugh her brother could probably beat Blue in a fair fight and she could probably kick my ass if she wanted to. I think I only met her once or twice, but Ponyville is a small town, everypony knows each other, she probably hates my guts for what I did to Derpy. Barricade glanced back when hearing the door open, seeing Blue and Rain Storm come walking out.

“Rain, you did escort the fillies to the subway, right?” the unicorn growled, the small pegasus stallion flinched a little when seeing the boss irritated.

“Yes, totally, I swear. I even watched the sub head off,” he claimed.

“Well clearly the fillies didn’t make it because two unknown mares are now here in Hoofington looking for kids. I’m willing to bet it’s those four kids they are looking for,” Barricade snorted and turned his attention to Blue. “Do you know where they are currently?”

“Goldie met them near Lane, they asked her about the kids, she then alerted Blazer about it who came to me. I sent Blazer to keep an eye on them discretely while I talked with you,” Blue told him.

Barricade immediately began walking in the direction that would take them to Hoofington Lane with the other two following. He didn’t get very far because a dark green earth pony came running, calling him by his title.

“Blazer, what’s news?” the unicorn asked.

“The mares are coming here, the orange one remembered an address on a parcel the kids were apparently going to deliver here, they asked directions and are only a block away. They know Tango,” Blazer quickly informed.

“Huh, the kids didn’t have a parcel, did they?” Barricade glanced at Rain who shook his head to confirm that.

“Blue, you’ve been home all day with your dad, did four kids come here earlier?” the unicorn looked at his second, who shook his head.

“Oh ya have got to be kiddin’ me!”

Barricade winched when hearing the voice snap across the street. Glancing in the direction he saw Applejack standing there glaring at him, with her was Sunflower who looked more unsure, clearly not liking the looks of the four stallions.

“Applejack.” Barricade tried to regain some composure, but deep down was very nervous as the apple-farmer crossed the street, undaunted by him or his companions.

“Ah hope you and yer buddies aren’t trying anything. Ah happen to know a friend lives around here and Ah’m warning you Barricade, Ah will not take kindly to ya messing with him,” the orange mare growled, glaring all kinds of sharp weaponry at the unicorn.

“Tango, right?” Barricade tried not to roll his eyes when Applejack narrowed her eyes even more. “He lives in this apartment complex here, that I happen to run for my friend’s father.”

Those news caused Applejack’s brow to rise a bit in mild surprise. Barricade glanced at his companions and decided to dismiss all of them except Rain. Then he turned his attention back to the two mares.

“You are looking for four kids, right?” the unicorn asked and nodded when getting hesitant positive responses from both.

“Look, Rain here and I met them earlier, I told Rain to send them back to Hooflyn, he even watched them board the subway train,” Barricade informed them, the pegasus grinned nervously when the mares eyed him. “But judging from you two, they never made it back.”

“No, they got it into their heads to deliver a parcel Ah promised to bring Tango,” Applejack grunted, she clearly didn’t trust the unicorn, however, by the tone and mannerism the mare figured he was telling the truth so far. He wasn’t acting smarmy or condescending, he was serious and she could spot concern in his eyes.

“When I saw the kids, they did not have a parcel. They had either finished delivering it, but if they had, you probably wouldn’t be here, so it’s a high chance it got stolen from them,” Barricade informed her.

“Ugh, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo would insist on looking for the thief,” Applejack groaned as she looked at Sunflower.

“Babs would know that would be impossible, but she might be convinced to assist,” her cousin added and shook her head.

“Look, why don’t we go see Tango, maybe he has seen the fillies,” Barricade suggested.

Applejack frowned, wondering why the unicorn was being so helpful. What little she did know of him was that he never helped unless he had something to gain from it. The mare had to admit though that they needed help from someone that knew the lay of the land.

She glanced at Sunflower who had relaxed a little when the two earth ponies had been dismissed. The orange mare wasn’t surprised her cousin had been a little nervous, the blue pony with the scar across his face hadn’t exactly looked very friendly and neither had the green one. The pegasus didn’t look too bad and that only left Barricade who waited for her reply.

“Fine, but don’t ya try anythin’, Ah’ll be watching you,” Applejack warned.

Barricade nodded and gestured to the mares to follow him and Rain Storm. Since they were still in front of his apartment complex they didn’t need to go far to reach the entrance. The unicorn then took them straight down the first hallway to a door on the ground floor. He knocked sharply on it.

It took a little while for a response and Applejack could have sworn she heard a female voice. The door opened a crack and the mare could just make out a golden eye on a white face peeking out.

“Ugh, what do you want now, Barricade?” Snow Heart groaned.

“There are mares here to see Tango, Snowy,” Barricade told her simply.

The door closed and they could hear the chain bolt being removed. The entrance was opened fully and Snow Heart looked outside. Her eyes widened a bit when seeing Applejack standing there.

“A-Applejack… what are you doing here?” she whispered startled.

Applejack was starting to wonder if she was going to be meeting every single pony she didn’t like much before finding her sister and her friends. The mare half expected the Flim-Flam brothers to be living down the hall. She was about to open her mouth to respond when Snow Heart seemed to realize something and gasped.

“I-is this about your sister and her friends? Barricade sent them away…”

“Hold on, you’ve seen ‘em?” Applejack interrupted the now frightened mare.

“At the same time I did, your sister and the other fillies bumped into Snowy here and like I said, I had Rain send them back to Hooflyn,” Barricade clarified and then did explain a bit further the brief encounter the crusaders had with him and Snow Heart.

“They said they were trying to find Tango, a parcel they had for him was stolen,” the unicorn mare added, shifting nervously in the door entrance.

“Has Tango seen them at all today?” Applejack asked, she frowned when Snow Heart shook her head.

“They must have jumped off at the next station, that’s still in Hoofington,” Rain Storm pointed out, that caused Barricade to scowl a bit.

“Don’t know why they bother to use that stop, most of the buildings near there are condemned and usually just bums hang out there, well I know some low-lives still hang around there too since I don’t bother with that part,” the unicorn grunted, then he looked at the pegasus, narrowing his eyes a little. “Doesn’t Scribbly sometimes go there?”

“Probably, then again, he’s all over Manehattan most of the time,” Rain chuckled a little.

“Scribbly?” Applejack hoped this discussion was leading closer to finding the missing kids, she was starting to get a little tired of the lack of process.

“Paper Scribbler, he’s a kid who lives up in Arena, the closest thing to a nice part Hoofington has. He roams Manehattan with his camera and notebook, documenting everything he sees, then he goes home and writes stories. If the girls are still in Hoofington, there is a high chance he’s seen them,” Barricade explained to her and started to walk back towards the entrance.

Applejack realized quickly that the unicorn intended to take them to this Paper Scribbler, she took one last glance at Snow Heart, wondering if she should say goodbye. The unicorn mare was already in the process of closing the door. Applejack decided to be polite, but the words froze on her mouth when finally getting a proper view of the other mare.

Is she expecting? Applejack didn’t really get a chance to ask as the white pony had closed the door again, clearly not expecting any goodbyes.

“Who was that, she seemed to know you,” Sunflower asked as the cousins started to follow Barricade and Rain Storm back out.

“Ah… Ah’ll tell you later, cousin,” Applejack muttered, right now it just suddenly didn’t feel right to be bringing up Snow Heart’s past.

End chapter 5

Chapter 6. Paper's apartment.

Chapter 6

“Aunt Gretel? I’m home!” Paper Scribbler called as he and four fillies entered a nice cozy looking apartment.

In the front hall alone were shelves full of various statues and figurines and the walls were littered with pictures, a lot of them were of the teenager at the various stages of his life. The Crusaders looked around in wonder, so far they could say this was the nicest looking part of Hoofington they had seen, even the street outside had looked marginally better than other parts.

“Uh, why did we come here?” Apple Bloom asked the colt who had repeated the name of his aunt, slightly louder this time. “Ah mean it is a nice lookin’ apartment and all, but we are kind of in a rush, plus what about the pony in the dumpster?”

“Yeah, is he really dead?” Scootaloo asked, still not quite over the news.

“Eh, maybe, I actually didn’t get that good look, but Spikes didn’t look too good and I couldn’t see if he was breathing,” Paper told her and shuddered. “As for why we are here, we need to report the body to the police.”

“Uh, shouldn’t we have gone to the police then?” Sweetie Belle asked confused.

“Yeah, no, I don’t go to the police,” Paper said and made a face. “They don’t take me very seriously around here and would probably just dismiss it. That’s why I need Aunt Gretel.”

“What noise is this, is that you, Paper?” an old voice addressed them.

Out of a room came an old looking female griffin. The feline part of her body was reminiscent of the spotted body of a jaguar instead of a lion, while the bird part reminded the fillies of an owl with grayish chest plumes and big luminous eyes. She wore thin framed glasses on her beak and wore an old dark blue shawl that looked knitted.

“Aunt Gretel, the girls here and I found Spikes in a dumpster down in Hoofington Junction, we need to tell the police,” the colt informed the old griffin who peered her eyes at him before shifting her gaze the girls.

“What were you doing in Junction, Paper. Haven’t I always told you to stay away from there and what were you young ladies doing there, that is no proper place for little foals,” she admonished the ponies with a stern glance. “Now what are your names little ones? Paper always forgets himself, he should introduce new guests first.”

“Oh, uh I’m Babs Seed’s, ma’am. This is my cousin Apple Bloom and our friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle,” Babs introduced the crusaders to the old griffin.

“What a nice polite filly, you need to find more friends like that Paper, they might influence your behavior better,” Gretel said with teasing smile at the colt who rolled his eyes. “Now what was it you said about Spikes? What’s the boneheaded stallion gotten himself into now?”

Paper proceeded to explain the situation as he currently knew it to his aunt who listened, rubbing her beak with her claws. The griffin shook her head when her nephew finished.

“I do hope you’re mistaken, Paper. Spikes is an idiot, but he deserves better than this. I will trot along to the police and let them know, why don’t you give your friends some refreshments until I come back, we probably need to help them get home,” she said and grabbed a purse from the nearby table and was soon out the door.

“Your aunt is nice,” Sweetie Belle complimented when Paper gestured the fillies to follow him into the living room.

“She is,” the colt agreed before leaving the crusaders in the room to go to the kitchen to get drinks.

The four fillies got seated in an old couch which had lots of soft yet old looking pillows on them. More pictures were on the walls, but now in addition to Paper those had griffins and other ponies. Few were even of a younger looking Gretel.

“You know, maybe he can help us get to Tango,” Scootaloo suggested, her friends nodded having thought the same.

“He does seem to know the area,” Apple Bloom said, she was glancing at all the pictures. She could spot two ponies that bore resemblance to Paper Scribbler.

“So, am I the only one getting bad vibes about the pony we saw? He was after that Barricade we met earlier,” Babs looked at the other crusaders who all fell silent when remembering what they just witnessed.

“Woah, hold on, you four ran into Barricade?” Paper remarked as he returned to the living room. On his back he was balancing a tray with glasses and pitcher of orange juice “Better yet, what were you four doing in Junction and yeah, explain Barricade.”

Shrugging Apple Bloom proceeded to tell the teenager what they were doing in Hoofington, told him about their meeting with Barricade and Snow Heart and how they had ended at the alley where the pony was beaten up. Paper listened intently while he slipped the tray down to the coffee table and started pouring the girls their drinks.

“Vanilla Cream, that name is familiar.” Paper frowned a little as he thought the name over.

“We are hoping Tango knew her, he used to know everypony in Ponyville back when he lived there, only Pinkie Pie is better than him at knowing everypony,” Apple Bloom remarked, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. “Of course, we were also deliverin’ a parcel to him but that got stolen.”

“Well you can forget that parcel, it’s long gone, but I do know where Tango lives,” Paper told them, lifting the crusader’s spirit already, but before he could proceed to tell more there was a hard knock on the apartment door.

Paper arched his brow and glanced at the clock on one of the shelves, the crusaders figured this meant that the colt wasn’t expecting anyone.

“Hold on, I’ll just be a minute, maybe it’s just our neighbor,” Paper said and trotted out of the living room, there was another hard knock.

The teen went to the hall and opened the apartment door. His eyes bulged out in shock when seeing Barricade standing out in the corridor along with Rain Storm. Just behind the stallions were Applejack and Sunflower.

“Hello Scribbly,” Barricade addressed the young pony.

“Um, Barricade… w-what are you doing here?” Paper said and grinned nervously at the towering unicorn in front of him.

“See these mares? They are looking for four fillies that aren’t supposed to be here in this part of Manehattan. Since you are always all over the place, I figured you had seen them,” Barricade grunted.

Paper glanced at the mares and could spot family resemblance with two of the fillies in the living room. The teen considered his options quickly, knowing Barricade would want an answer right away. The fillies hadn’t asked him not to tell that they were here and if he was guessing correctly those were family members looking for them.

“Well you’re in luck, I just happened to find four filles down in Junction and brought them here,” he told them.

“What? The fillies are here?” Applejack asked, raising her eyebrows. Sunflower sighed in relief. Barricade and Rainstorm looked mildly surprised at the luck.

“They’re in the living room,” Paper told them and had to quickly step aside as the mares rushed inside. He didn’t need to tell them where the living room was since it could be seen from the front hall, they were soon in there and the surprised exclamation from the girls was heard.

Paper was going to follow but a dark gray leg wrapped around him and pulled him closer to the unicorn. The colt cringed as he glanced at Barricade whose eyes had narrowed, he looked deadly serious.

“Scribbly, Junction is a bad place to be right now. I’ve been pushing the worst scum of Hoofington to it lately and there is no telling who are lurking there. I’m sure you’re already aware of all that that, but…” Barricade started to talk in a quiet but stern voice, but Paper interrupted him.

“Tell me about it, the fillies witnessed Spikes being beaten up and dumped into a dumpster.” The words just escaped the colt’s mouth. He hadn’t really planned to tell about it, but he was just so stressed at being held so close by Barricade.

Barricade arched his brow as he regarded the teenager, then glanced at Rain Storm who had frowned when hearing the news. The unicorn looked Paper again and let him go, he was about to say something when the loud voice of Applejack interrupted.

“Ah don’t want to hear it. We are marching right to the nearest subway station and goin’ straight back to Hooflyn!” Applejack and Sunflower were herding the fillies out of the apartment. “Ya should feel lucky we aren’t also taking the next train right back to Ponyville!”

“But Applejack!” Apple Bloom protested, but to no avail, Babs couldn’t even get a word in with her sister, Sunflower just gave her a glare. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle figured the smart thing to do was just be silent.

“Well, thank you kindly, Paper Scribbler, for finding and keeping my sister, cousin and their friends safe,” the apple farmer addressed the teenager who just nodded. Applejack then looked at Barricade. “And… uh thank you as well, Barricade. Appreciate the help.”

“You’re welcome, you and your family should hurry back to Hooflyn. Hoofington isn’t a safe area,” the unicorn advised her.

“That is exactly what we are going to do.” This time it was Sunflower who spoke and the mares continued to usher the fillies away.

The two stallions and one colt watched the six ponies disappear down the stairs, before Rain Storm and Barricade returned their attention to Paper.

“Did the kids tell you what they saw?” Barricade asked.

“Uh yeah, yeah they saw Trails and Spikes talk with each other, then those four other ponies showed up, oh what did they say one of them was called, doctor something,” Paper told him and tapped his muzzle in thought. “Doctor Caballaro something.”

“Doctor Caballeron.”

Paper looked at Barricade who had whispered the name and inhaled sharply. The colt wasn’t sure what to think, the unicorn was starting to look pale, he looked at Rain Storm who could only shrug, he had never seen his boss like this.

“Wait, Doctor Caballeron? Isn’t he a character from those Daring Do novels?” the teenager suddenly realized where he had heard the name.

“Yes, yes that’s exactly what he is.” Barricade suddenly laughed nervously and pushed Paper back into the apartment. “Don’t worry about it Scribbly, I’m sure the kids were mistaken, heard the name wrong. You just forget about it. I take it you had your aunt go and report that Spikes is in the dumpster? I won’t worry about it then. Take care, remember, stay out of Junction.”

With those words spoken the unicorn grabbed the apartment door with his magic and slammed it shut. Then Barricade hurried down the corridor towards the stair, forcing confused Rain Storm to run after him. They didn’t notice the apartment door open a little and Paper peeking out after them, the teen looked utterly confused but also partly amazed.

“Uh boss? Boss?!” Rain Storm called after Barricade once they were out of the apartment complex.

“What was that all about, isn’t Caballeron the…” the pegasus slammed his mouth shut when Barricade whirled around, red hot fury was suddenly in the unicorn’s eyes.

“Don’t. Say. That. Name!” Barricade snarled, glaring daggers at the smaller pony. The unicorn turned around but didn’t start walking again. “I’ve cursed hearing that name spoken for years... if my family knew… he was the one… he was the guy I was… stealing for from mom and dad…” Barricade looked up at the night sky, gritting his teeth.

“This is the guy who almost killed dad, left him for dead in the badlands. This is the one guy who can make mom mad enough to get visibly angry… and I became one of his many lackeys…” the unicorn glanced back at Rain Storm.

“He’s the one. He’s the one who filled me full of this shit. That I could be a big time criminal hot shot and still have normal family life. That I could do whatever I wanted and never get in trouble with the police or the royal guards. He’s the guy who told me that rules were meant to be broken and bent if they got in my way,” Barricade sighed and hung his head.

“So, what was he doing in Hoofington Junction and why did he possibly kills Spikes?” Rain Storm ventured to ask.

“We need to find Trails. Paper said Trails was there too,” Barricade said and suddenly took off. The pegasus had to fly to keep up with him, but the unicorn didn’t run very far, after two blocks he suddenly halted.

“Boss?” Rain Storm landed next to Barricade who was staring forward. The smaller pony looked in the direction the unicorn was looking and his brow rose high.

A large pony was standing and staring at them at the other end of the street. It was a stallion by the looks of it, dark brown. His mane, tail and hooves were silver gray in color. The stranger was too far away to see the cutie mark. Rain Storm felt that something was off about him, the eyes looked strange, he could have sworn the eye white was green, but he was too far away to see clearly.

Suddenly the strange stallion stomped a hoof on the ground causing both Barricade and Rain Storm to brace themselves for an anticipated charge. No attack happened, the stranger spread his wings, revealing himself to be a pegasus and took to the air. In few wingbeats, the pony was gone into the night.

“Did you see that? You saw a big pegasus there, right? It wasn’t just me.” Barricade looked at Rain Storm who nodded.

“Okay, let’s forget Trails for now, he’s probably holed up somewhere right now and laying low… Damn, that was downright creepy, did you see something off in his eyes?” The unicorn cringed a little. He didn’t want to admit it, but there was something familiar about the gleam he thought he spotted.

“I thought I saw something, yeah, the eyes looked blank, vacant,” Rain Storm muttered, agreeing fully with his boss about the creepiness.

“Let’s go home, but be on our guards, I don’t like what is happening. Caballeron, that freaky pegasus,” Barricade muttered and turned around to head home, followed quickly by the smaller stallion.

End chapter 6

Chapter 7. Past associates

Author's Note

In Old Manehattan from this chapter onward is now being edited by Hail King Sombra, I recommend reading her stories, especially if you like King Sombra. :pinkiehappy:

Also, if you are curious why there is the Applejack tag and so little Applejack, don't worry, next chapter will focus on her. :ajsmug:

Chapter 7. Past associates

Chapter 7

“Should we really be here?” Tango muttered in a quiet tone of voice as he followed Snow Heart down the street. The couple were in one of the main shopping districts of Manehattan. It had been the mare’s idea to go out for a little bit, forget their current work-related troubles and just enjoy a day out in the city.

Snow Heart didn’t respond right away. She was glancing around, almost as if she feared ponies would recognize her. To the unicorn’s relief, they were completely ignored by others that passed them by. She still kept her hooded cloak on and as tight as possible.

“I figured a change of scenery would do us good,” she finally responded. It wasn’t like they could really shop that much, but at least it was something different from the dreary streets of Hoofington.

Tango didn’t really have a response to that. He just sighed and nodded. They continued down the street and would occasionally stop in front of shops that caught the mare’s interest and look at the displays in the windows. The stallion’s mind wasn’t really on window shopping. He hadn’t told Snow Heart, but he was thinking about the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Why were they in Hoofington? Did they really get lost? he couldn’t help but wonder.

Tango wasn’t sure he cared for this reminder of Ponyville. It was from a life he felt he no longer could return to. Even though he exchanged letters with Time Turner and Mulberry and his former police partner had come visiting once, the stallion was really just beginning to want to forget it.

Snow Heart thinks I don’t know, but I know it’s upsetting her to be reminded of that place. The memory of having hired Silver Axe still haunts her. He glanced at the mare who was smiling a little as she examined some clothes on display in the window of a fashion boutique.

I messed up a lot during my probation, the least I could do was offer her a home when she was finally allowed on parole and they couldn’t find any place for her to stay. Tango smiled a little himself, but it was a very weak and broken one.

Barricade hadn’t cared as long as he kept paying his debt and rent. Tango was also advised to stay away from certain topics with her by her therapist. The stallion had followed all instructions to the letter.

He hadn’t really intended to get into a relationship with her. Even if the stallion had feelings for the mare, he had never been sure if Snow Heart really returned them. She had manipulated him into helping her with the foalnapping in Ponyville, playing on his feelings for her - a deed he had long since forgiven her for, but Tango had never been sure how she really felt about him.

However, during the first few weeks, Tango found himself often having to reassure and comfort the mare. She had very bad nightmares, suffered nervous breakdowns and would often freak out if foals came close to her. It took a few months before she started to again resemble the mare he had once known.

During one such breakdown, Tango had her in his arms trying to calm her. It was then when Snow Heart had asked him something that almost caused his heart to stop.

“Who is Vanilla Cream?”

“W-why do you ask?” Tango had asked nervously.

“The mare that Barricade lives with, Barbell. She was arguing with one of those thugs that hang around. She said something like ‘you want another Vanilla Cream incident’ and that shut him up. I don’t know what they were arguing about,” Snow Heart had told him, but then noticed how shaken Tango had become.

Their roles reversed and suddenly it was Snow Heart who had to comfort Tango when the stallion began to explain to her about Vanilla Cream. He had started crying and just couldn’t stop.

After that, Snow Heart’s tune had changed quite a bit. He could have sworn she became more protective of him. She started to once again show her old confidence and mannerisms. Soon enough they were dating, though they couldn’t go out that much on what little money they did have and now Tango’s old bedroom was a hobby room.

Then the shocker happened - Snow Heart became pregnant. Tango personally wasn’t sure if he was worthy of being a father, he was though more concerned over Snow Heart, who he knew was scared to death.

Tango was shaken out of his reminiscing when seeing that Snow Heart was ready to continue their walk, having looked at everything in the window.

“Are you alright?” he asked quietly, noticing that her breathing was a little more labored.

“I’m…” Snow Heart stopped and looked back at him, peering from underneath the hood of her cloak. “I guess I should sit down soon.”

“We could find a café or a diner,” Tango suggested, glancing around.

Snow Heart nodded, liking that idea. She felt she needed tea and maybe a small bite to eat. The mare wished this was something they could do more often. She could already see that Tango looked much better at the change of pace from their usual routine.

He does so much and asks so little. He should have just forgotten me and taken up with that mare he met during his probation. She would probably have been a much better companion to him than a monster like me. Snow sighed slightly and cringed when feeling she definitely needed to sit down. Fortunately there was a bench close by and she waddled straight to it while Tango looked around for a café.

The mare hung her head, glancing down at her swollen belly. Lifting one hoof, she started to gently caress it, a sad smile on her muzzle. She was off parole, there were no government officials breathing down her neck, yet the mare couldn’t help but worry that she wouldn’t be allowed to keep the foal. Right now Snow Heart just couldn’t believe anyone would allow her to raise a child.

Ugh, it’s so warm, Snow Heart thought and carefully glanced around. There weren’t many ponies around, so she partly undid her cloak and took down the hood.

“Miss Snow Heart? Is that really you?” a foreign-accented voice suddenly addressed her. Snow Heart glanced over and blinked in surprise when seeing the brown stallion standing nearby.

“Doctor Caballeron?” she asked, confused. The stallion laughed, walked closer and grabbed her hoof with his.

“Please, you need not be so formal with me, my dear,” he said, lifting the white hoof of the mare to his mouth to kiss it. “You know you can just call me Caballeron.”

“I… of course.” Snow Heart wasn’t sure what to say. She then noticed that Tango was returning and that the usual thugs that followed the doctor were already eyeing him with dangerous glares. “This is my coltfriend, Tango.”

Doctor Caballeron had noticed Tango approaching them and narrowed his eyes, but his expression eased, much to Snow Heart’s relief, when hearing the mare’s introduction. Instead he just put a hoof on his chest, the friendly smile returning to his lips.

“Ah my dear, any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” the doctor declared, his lackeys taking it as a sign to back off. Tango, however, kept glancing at the four ponies, unsure what to think.

“Tango, this is Doctor Caballeron, I worked for him a few years ago,” the mare looked at the earth stallion who arched his brow.

“She was quite an asset to my little team back then, I was sad to see her go, but I can personally appreciate wanting payback against your enemies, so I wasn’t about to stand in her way,” the doctor said, not noticing that Snow Heart cringed a little.

Tango said nothing. He knew criminals when he saw them and he definitely recognized a crime boss. In fact, the way Caballeron spoke reminded him a lot of Barricade before the unicorn started changing. Years ago, Tango would have firmly asked the doctor and his lackeys to leave and evict Snow Heart out of the area, now however, he just stood and watched, unsure what to do.

“So… Caballeron, what brings you to Manehattan?” Snow Heart ventured to ask.

“Personal business. An old business associate lives in the city and you could say I’m catching up,” the doctor told her, then looked at Tango. “There is a quaint little diner nearby. I insist on treating you to lunch.”

Every warning bell in his mind was telling Tango to refuse the offer, but then he looked at Snow Heart and saw that she didn’t seem too bothered by the doctor, even if he had reminded her of the Ponyville foalnapping. He even dared to think she was rather glad to meet him again, even if she had been taken by surprise that he was there.

“Careful now, ah, I see you are expecting. Congratulations. I assume Tango is the lucky father?” Caballeron remarked as he helped Snow Heart down from the bench. He gave Tango a knowing wink when the mare nodded to confirm it.

It can’t hurt having one lunch with him, he thought and walked closer to stand by Snow Heart. Caballeron stood on her other side and Tango wasn’t surprised that the thugs followed them from behind.

As they walked, Tango did a brief double take when seeing one of the boutiques and the name the big sign displayed. Neither Snow Heart or Caballeron noticed and kept going. Tango shook his head and quickly resumed walking before the thugs walked into him.

It’s just a name, he thought as they walked past the boutique in question. The sign read ‘Rarity for you’ and as the group walked past, four little heads peeked carefully from behind the entrance door and covertly watched them.

The diner wasn’t too far away, thankfully for Snow Heart who really wanted to sit down by now. They went inside and found themselves a booth to sit in. Snow Heart and Tango sat together while Caballeron sat in front of them. His lackeys got seated separately in a different booth nearby.

“So, how is your usual business going?” Snow Heart asked, being careful not to say exactly what it was the doctor did.

“I’m taking a brief break from it. I’ve been unable to locate my ‘reluctant associate’. She’s being careful and elusive right now,” Caballeron told her. Tango frowned a little at the way he said associate. Snow Heart seemed to understand however and just nodded.

“So I’ve been trying to contact my other old associate instead who lives in the city. I don’t believe you met him when you worked for me,” the doctor continued and rubbed his muzzle a little. “Then again perhaps you did. His name is Barricade.”

Both Tango and Snow Heart were unable to contain their surprise when hearing the name. It didn’t escape the attention of Doctor Caballeron either who arched his brow a little. “I take it you are familiar with him?”

“We… well, we rent an apartment in the building he runs,” Snow Heart said.

“Oh really,” her old friend seemed to be all ears now, smiling even wider. Tango wasn’t sure he liked that.

“How do you know, Barricade?” Tango decided to ask in turn.

“I took him in when he was still just a teenager. He was a rampageous colt, full of energy and very independent. His parents, well they meant well, sent him to a military school in Canterlot, hoping it would instill some discipline into him. He resented it greatly and though he finished it, he never returned home to them. We met in Baltimare where he was staying with two friends of his,” Caballeron started explaining casually, but fell silent when the waiter came to take their orders.

“He agreed to work for me and I would send him assignments when I had something for him to do. However, a while ago he suddenly stopped, refused to do anything more. I let it slide, but I wouldn’t mind engaging him again. I have some interest in a few things I know he would be the best pony to help me acquire,” the doctor continued once the waiter was gone.

Tango already noted that Caballeron never said one word of what exactly he did or what kind of jobs Barricade had done for him. He also noticed that Snow Heart didn’t seem lost at all in the stallion’s vague talk.

“If you will excuse me, I think I’m going to use the restroom before our lunch arrives,” Caballeron excused himself and left the booth.

Tango sighed a little, wondering why he kept meeting criminals these days. He looked at Snow Heart. So far bringing up her past had usually caused quite the severe reaction from her, yet Caballeron had not even caused her to frown.

“I hope you don’t mind, Tango. I realize it’s obvious that Dr. Caballeron is not the most ethical pony nor are his activities, but I don’t have many friends and he’s never judged me and I know he won’t judge me either for… the foalnapping. You and he are probably the only ponies I know who don’t care who I am,” the mare looked at Tango, smiling weakly.

Can’t say I blame her and it is doing wonders for her mood, Tango thought and did his best to smile back. “Of course. It’s quite alright.”

Caballeron returned just as their food arrived on the table. While they ate, the doctor began telling them about his various travels. As Tango listened, he thought he could at least pinpoint what field the doctor was in. It sounded a lot like archeological work. Now the stallion started to piece more things together, wondering if Caballeron stole and fenced valuable artifacts.

But how does Barricade fit into this? he couldn’t help but wonder. Barricade looked more like a pony Caballeron would use as a lackey, like the thugs in the other booth.

Once they were done eating, it was Snow Heart’s turn to go to the restroom. Both Tango and Caballeron watched her waddle away. Once she had disappeared out of sight, the doctor turned back to the former officer with a smirk on his muzzle.

“You are a very lucky pony, Mister Tango. Snow Heart is quite a catch. I still half-regret not having convinced her to stay on in my operation,” Caballeron addressed him.

Tango slowly turned his attention back to the other stallion. The doctor was taking a sip from his drink, but never took his eyes off him.

“Luck is probably not the best way to describe my life right now,” Tango muttered and looked away. He didn’t react to the chortle coming from the pony in front of him.

“Probably not no. It must be difficult to get back on your hooves after being caught committing a crime and serving your time. Nopony trusts you, everypony wondering what you might be up to all the time, judge you even before they meet you,” Caballeron said.

Tango winched slightly. The doctor had been right on the mark. The former officer sighed and could only nod to confirm it. Caballeron’s smirk turned a bit more devious.

“Living near Barricade can’t be too easy either,” he added.

“At first no, it was hell,” Tango snorted. “Barricade and his thugs bullied everypony they could get away with, including me. He even forced me to start paying him money because I had once stopped him from harassing ponies I knew.”

“However…” he frowned a little as he recalled the last few months. “Lately he’s…been different. He cancelled my debt to him. Snow Heart did have hoof in that though, but he’s been cancelling debts with others, too.”

Caballeron listened intently to what Tango had to say about the unicorn. The former officer continued to talk about Barricade’s different behavior and attitude. Personally, Tango was just glad that the unicorn was off his list of what he needed to worry about. Still, he wouldn’t mind living far away from him.

“Nopony knows what happened?” Caballeron asked, nodding when Tango shook his head.

“What is your current occupation, Tango?” the doctor then asked, smiling even wider when seeing the hesitation come over the stallion in front of him.

“I… I recently lost my job. They said they didn’t need me anymore… Snow Heart has been unable to find a job herself,” Tango sighed.

“What would you say if I offered you a position on my little team? It would take you away from Manehattan for a period of time, but I pay well. I take good care of those who work for me,” Caballeron silently chuckled when seeing the apprehensive look come over the former officer’s face.

He can’t be serious, Tango thought and had a half a mind to absolutely refuse the offer right then and there. He already had a good idea of what Caballeron did and if Barricade was any indication, working for him would be no better than when he had helped with the foalnapping.

Before he could really respond, Snow Heart returned. The mare immediately noticed the conflict in the stallion. Then she looked at Caballeron who had not dropped his smirk.

“Is there something wrong?” Snow asked as she sat down.

“Caballeron just offered me a job,” Tango said and was not surprised that the mare’s eyes widened in shock when hearing that.

“Why don’t you think it over and get back to me,” Caballeron said and drew out a card. He put it on the table and pushed it towards Tango. “I’m staying at this hotel.”

Tango stared at the card, almost as if he hoped it would burn if he just stared at it long enough. He didn’t even notice that Caballeron was saying his goodbyes and soon enough he and Snow Heart were alone in their booth.

“How badly does that guy take rejection?” Tango whispered. He felt a little ill that his situation was so bad that criminals were offering him jobs.

“Not very well. He has a very big ego. Then again, he very seldom gives ponies time to think about his offers.” Snow Heart frowned a little, struggling to use the magic from her broken horn. She picked up the card to look at it more closely.

“I take it that you didn’t just wander far north after you first left Ponyville, hmm?” This question caused the mare to drop the card. For a long time she stared at the table before hesitantly glancing at Tango.

“That part… is true, Tango. What I never told about were the years inbetween,” the mare struggled to hold her emotions in check as she thought back.

“After I sulked for a week…in the cabin Silver Axe lived in, I went to Manehattan. It’s there I met Caballeron. He gave me a job while I… while I planned…you know…” Snow Heart turned her head to look out the window.

“I actually considered canceling the whole thing, just continue to work for him… but in the end I was just too stubborn, too full of myself. I hired poor Paul… and then remembered Silver Axe. Went to hire him and… you know the rest…” she fell silent.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to bring this up,” Tango winced, realizing he had accidentally brought up the very topics he wasn’t supposed to bring up. Fortunately though, it seemed Snow Heart’s therapy was working. She hadn’t broken down, but it was clear the whole thing still bothered her.

There was silence now in the booth, Snow Heart just kept staring out of the window though her mind was far, far away, deep in the past. Tango was staring down at his empty plate, feeling guilty for upsetting her.

“Hi Tango. Hi Snow Heart!” suddenly three voices broke the silence, causing both ponies to jump a little and look over. Standing there were Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Babs Seed. Behind them was Applejack, looking half-annoyed at the fillies and half-apologetic to the couple.

“W-what are you doing here?” Tango asked, glancing concerned at Snow Heart, who watched everyone warily.

“Sorry about that, but the girls really do want to talk with you, Mr. Tango.” Applejack sighed a little.

End chapter 7

Chapter 8. Mystery solved?

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 9. There is a storm brewing on the horizon.

Chapter 9

“The old Barricade was very good at collecting debts on ponies, be it through money or an ‘I helped you, now you owe me,’ kind of thing. When one of the random inhabitants of Hoofington would run into his gang they would let them be, but it could come at a cost with Barricade sometimes knocking on their door and demanding they do a favor for him because he didn’t bother them that one time,” Paper explained to the mares and fillies where they now were gathered at a café table.

“I know you probably find it strange that the Barricade you know was letting his marefriend Barbell escort Vanilla away, but trust me, that was a debt he fully intended to collect later. It was not out the goodness of his heart.” The colt shook his head and started to munch on the salad sandwich he ordered.

Applejack frowned when hearing this. That sounded like the jerk she remembered. The fillies had ordered sodas and some cookies. She and Sunflower just had tea.

“Then a few months ago, all of it changed and I really do mean all of it,” Paper said, furrowing his brow.

“I don’t know all the details. I just know that Barricade went north because his brother was in the hospital in the Crystal Empire. Nopony thought much of it. Life continued as usual. Then Barricade came back.” The colt stopped for a moment to drink his own soda.

“And he came back changed?” Applejack asked.

The teenager nodded in response. “Really changed. At first it wasn’t obvious, but then word started to spread out that Barricade was canceling all debts ponies owed him, money or otherwise. He would refuse to accept payments, telling ponies to just forget their debt. Favors ponies supposedly owed him were no longer collected on. Various minor undesirables who sometimes tried to cause trouble were chased out to the fringes of Hoofington. Most of them, if any are left, are now in Hoofington Junction,” he continued.

“What could have caused him to change like that?” Apple Bloom wondered aloud.

“Nopony knows. I have heard rumors that something happened to him in the Crystal Empire, but that’s all I know. Nothing concrete, his gang members are quiet and don’t seem to mind. Speaking of, nearly all gang activity has ceased. The gang still meets up, but they’ve stopped all their dealings - no collecting protection money, nothing. The gym is still running, but that’s about all that’s left and that is legitimate business.” Paper shrugged.

“How do ya know Barricade?” Applejack asked, causing the colt to cringe a bit.

“Ugh, I can blame my natural curiosity for that. As I told you, I wander Manehattan as a hobby. I take pictures and I even write some fiction for the local newspaper. Some of my stories take their inspiration from Barricade and his gang, so I’ve had few run-ins on my own with them. Barricade seemed to take almost sadistic pleasure in tormenting me, that is, the old Barricade did, mostly to drill me for any information I might have,” Paper grunted, but then his expression became more thoughtful.

“However, since Barricade came back from the Crystal Empire, he’s actually left me alone most of the time. In fact, when he came with you to my aunt’s apartment, it was the first time I’ve seen him for a really long time,” he then added.

Applejack nodded and started to digest the information she had received. She now had a clearer picture and realized that her own suspicious nature had created a mystery that wasn’t there. Paper had explained why Barricade, before attitude adjustment, had been helpful and by the looks of it, Hoofington was changing for the better. Snow Heart and Tango were probably just not in the best state of mind, considering their past, the former officer guilt ridden by Vanilla’s death and the unicorn carrying her unborn foal.

And now Caballeron shows up. Why is he here? He knows Snow Heart, the fillies mentioned something about overhearing him knowing Barricade. The apple farmer frowned heavily. She was realizing that she had been focusing on the wrong mystery. She looked at the Crusader when hearing them gasp and all four of them ducked under the table.

“What in tarnation are you doin’?” she asked and looked at the four fillies. Her sister just pointed towards the street. Sunflower and Paper looked over, Applejack did soon after. They saw a teenage colt walking past, blue with a silver mane.

“That’s the pony we saw talking with Caballeron in the alley. He’s supposed to report to him,” Babs whispered.

“Trail?” Paper arched his brow, all eyes went back to him.

“You know that pony?” Applejack asked, but wasn’t really surprised.

“Yeah that’s Trail. He used to be in one of the gangs that rivaled Barricade for Hoofington, but Barricade eventually succeeded in chasing them out. They were wiped out later in a police raid. That happened before the change. Since then he and Spikes have been mucking around in Hoofington Junction, well until Spikes got beat up and left in a dumpster,” the colt told her.

“I saw him at the train station shortly before you all came, Cara was with him,” Babs said as she and the Crusaders ventured back to their seats.

“You know Cara?” Paper blinked in surprise.

“Well no, met her once or twice. She stole my ball, I chased her. Her dad made her give it back to me,” Babs said, not wanting to elaborate that she had chased Cara all the way to Hoofington for it. “That was a few years ago, before I got my cutie mark.”

“Who is Cara?” Applejack wondered if that was someone important.

“Only the one thing that will cause Barricade to murder you if you even touch a single feather on her wings. It’s his daughter. He is highly protective of her; the gang is highly protective of her. She’s not bad, has a bit of an attitude, had a habit of stealing tools, but surprisingly her dad got her to stop it.” Paper once more produced from the well of information he possessed.

“Why would she be with Trail? Barricade would go ballistic. He hates that colt. His father was the leader of that gang. They would often run into each other back in the day. Those meetings were often bloody and costly for both sides.” The teen shook his head and drank from his soda. He stopped mid sip when seeing the look coming on Applejack.

“I take it that this hate is mutual?” Applejack’s voice had turned low. Her dread didn’t ease when Paper nodded. She looked at the Crusaders. “And you four overheard that this Trail fellow now works for Caballeron?”

Sunflower and the younger ponies almost jumped in surprise when Applejack suddenly sprung from her seat and started to run from the café.

“Where are you going?” Sunflower called.

“Sunflower, you take the fillies home. I have to talk with Barricade!” was the only thing the orange pony shouted before disappearing around the corner.

Spikes, you’re and idiot. Instead of seeing a golden opportunity to finally get revenge on Barricade, you just had to act like a tough guy and open your big yap, Trail thought as he entered the lobby of the hotel.

After calming down from his initial encounter with Caballeron, the colt had realized this was an ideal opportunity for him. He and Spikes had tried for so long to do something to reestablish themselves, but nothing had ever come out of it. Barricade, despite a lack of real activity from his gang, still had a vice grip on Hoofington. He was allowing no new gangs to emerge - they were squashed at birth.

At best, Trail had managed to woo Barricade’s daughter, Cara, who was entering her teen years and was emotionally vulnerable. However, he wasn’t sure where to go from there. He had hoped she would feed him some useful information, but so far the pegasus had not really given him anything he could use.

With Spikes now in the hospital in intensive care, Trail fully intended to use this new development in his life. His father and the gang he ran was maybe long gone, but the colt fully intended to not let him be forgotten.

The hotel he was now in wasn’t the biggest in Manehattan, but it was still abuzz with activity. Lots of ponies checking in and checking out. Trail made his way to reception, avoiding the check-in lines since he wasn’t going to be staying. Even if it wasn’t big, it was far too expensive for him.

“Uh, I’m here to see Caballeron?” Trail asked one of the receptionists. The pony gave him a funny look. The colt frowned, wondering if he had gone to the wrong hotel.

“Oh, the young colt means Mr. Manehoof, I’m sorry, he is a big Daring Doo fan and sometimes dresses up as his favorite villain from the series,” a voice addressed them from behind.

Trail turned around and arched his brow when recognizing one of the stallions that had beaten up Spikes. He was light gray, with a black mane and tail and wearing dark sunglasses and around his neck was a black and purple collar and a white tie.

“Come with me,” the stallion said in a quieter voice and pulled Trail away from the reception area.

“Never use the boss’s real name in public. Not everpony is aware that he isn’t just a fictional character by A.K Yearling and he’d rather keep it that way,” the pony whispered sharply to the colt as he led him up the stairs to the next floor.

Trail could only nod quietly and follow. He was soon in a hotel room where Caballeron was lounging on an easy chair, holding a glass of wine.

“Ah if it isn’t my new friend, Trail. How have you been, my boy?” Caballeron grinned when he saw Trail and gestured for him to come closer.

“I’ve been fine sir, but I have had to avoid Hoofington. Barricade’s gang seems to be eager to get their hooves on me,” the colt responded.

“That is to be expected I suppose, especially if they think you are in with his daughter.” The stallion winked and laughed. Trail only politely chuckled. “But I do hope you have something useful for me, otherwise you shouldn’t be here.”

“Cara managed to get me a message. She is grounded, but thinks she can sneak out later tonight because her dad and Barbell are going out. Barricade’s other bedmate, Goldie is supposed to watch over her. She wants to meet me,” Trail reported.

Caballeron didn’t respond to this bit of information just yet. He took a moment to sip his wine, then continued to just stare forward.

“How could you get that information when she is grounded, in her home in Hoofington I assume, while you have been avoiding it?” he finally asked.

“She has a friend who lives in Hoofington who can go to Cara’s apartment without rousing Barricade’s suspicion. It’s a filly from school - she’s as braindead as Cara. Doesn’t even know I used to run in a gang,” Trail explained with a smirk.

“Boys,” Caballeron called. Suddenly all three of his henchmen were in the room. Trail got uneasy and wondered if he had said or done something wrong. His new boss looked at him again and smiled eagerly. “So, tell me, Trail. Where are you two ‘lovebirds’ meeting?”

As Trail began talking, the ponies in the room failed to notice a shadow watching them from outside the hotel room window. As the colt began to leave, a big brown Pegasus flew away from the hotel, his eyes glowing intensely green.

“You’re not mad at me?” Snow Heart quietly asked. She and Tango had arrived at their apartment. The stallion had been quiet the whole time during their trip. They halted in the hallway where the dark gray earth-pony sighed heavily after short moment.

“At first… I was a little angry, but no, I’m not mad,” he whispered and glanced at the mare. “But I am worried. I’ve dealt with ponies like Caballeron. We, in fact, live in an apartment that’s part of a building a pony runs that apparently used to work for him and we all know how that unicorn used to be.”

“Snow, he offered me a job, clearly as yet another henchpony. You heard Applejack and the Crusaders. The fillies saw Caballeron order his lackeys to beat somepony up, possibly to death. I know what sorts of jobs he will be expecting of me. I don’t think he’s here for a friendly visit with Barricade.” Tango turned to face her. “There is no doubt in my mind that he offered me this job because we live right under Barricade’s roof. He wants somepony on the inside, so to speak.”

“Should we warn him?” Snow Heart asked. She was getting worried. Unconsciously, she put a hoof on her swelled underside. Tango glanced towards it.

“I don’t know,” he finally muttered, turned away and headed to the kitchen. Snow followed him. Without a word, she started to prepare something to drink, but was soon shooed to a seat and Tango took over.

“Why do you love me?” she asked suddenly.

Tango paused in his job. He was completely unprepared for this question. He turned his head. Snow Heart was sitting at the table, staring down at it. She looked sad and one hoof was stroking her belly.

“Snow, we’ve both made bad decisions in our lives and we have both been punished for it,” Tango began and moved to sit down in front of her. “You are stronger than you think. I mean, despite your own problems, you swept them aside when you heard what I had gone through while waiting for you. It wasn’t me who got rid of my debt to Barricade, it was you. I love you, because despite it all, you will protect and care for those close to you, even if you are shaking on the inside.”

“I’m not the mare I used to be, Tango,” Snow Heart whispered, her eyes still transfixed on the table.

“I’m not the stallion I used to be, Snow. This has been a rough past few days. We’ve met faces from the past we probably didn’t want to meet,” he said and tried to smile, but it was weak.

“It’s true… I’m sorry, Tango. As much as I appreciated seeing Caballeron, I didn’t really want to meet him. I’m sorry you had to meet him. He’s bad news and it probably wouldn’t do me any favors to be re-associated with him. You’re right, it’s so like him to try and get somepony on the inside. He’s only interested in you because we live in the apartment Barricade runs.” Snow finally looked up. She looked a little more determined.

“Actually seeing him made me realize how much more I wanted to see Parasol again, and my old friends in Ponyville. Scootaloo stood up for me when Barricade confronted me. She called me her mother’s friend. Here I am feeling sorry for myself and I ignored a hint that I might possibly be able to contact her.” The mare sat up more properly in the chair. Tango was a little impressed - this was a little more like the Snow Heart he remembered. Then again, she could have periods of her old self returning.

The couple were interrupted when there was a hard knock on the apartment door. Snow Heart sighed, some of the sudden flame in her heart subsiding when the reality of their situation came back to her.

Tango rose up and walked back to the hallway to answer the door. When he opened it, the stallion was surprised to see Barricade standing there along with his daughter Cara.

“Tango, can you and Snow Heart help me?” the unicorn asked. He looked mildly annoyed, Cara even doubly so.

“With what?” the earth pony asked, unsure as he kept eyeing both father and daughter. In his surprise at seeing them there, he forgot about the whole thing about Caballeron and to warn Barricade.

“I’m in a bit of a bind here. There is a one-time showing of a movie that Barbell wants to see. I’ve promised to take her, however, my original sitter, Goldie, can’t come over. I forgot she has finals and I want her muzzle to be in the books and not being distracted keeping an eye on Cara here,” Barricade started to explain.

“I don’t need a foalsitter,” Cara growled and stomped her hoof.

“You do when you’re grounded,” her father snapped right back.

“What’s going on here?” Snow Heart came waddling into the hallway. She arched her brow when seeing Cara and Barricade.

“Uh, Barricade needs a ‘sitter for his daughter.” Tango was really confused and surprised that Barricade would come to them for this job.

“Don’t you have plenty of lackeys for that?” Snow Heart snorted.

“Usually I would, but I need them for something else right now. Look, it’s just for few hours. I’ll even let you skip the rent this month for this,” Barricade told them.

That caused Tango and Snow Heart to look at each other for a second in utter surprise. They certainly could do with not having to pay rent for a month.

“You do know I’m not allowed near children not related to me,” the mare stated. She really just wanted to see if Barricade was truly serious about this.

“I’m not a kid!” Cara growled, flaring her wings in frustration.

“Yeah and you display it with such high levels of maturity.” Barricade rolled his eyes before settling them on Snow Heart. “How about I just won’t tell them if you won’t?”

“Technically speaking, the restriction only falls on foals under the age of 13. It didn’t say minors, it specified age.” Tango looked at Snow Heart again.

“It’s settled then. Here is one bratty teenager. She is grounded, so she is not to leave the apartment.” Barricade quickly pushed Cara into the apartment and used his magic to grab hold onto the doorknob. “Might in fact be a good preview for the two of you of what awaits you in 13 years or so.”

The unicorn quickly slammed the door shut, leaving Cara behind, glaring at the still unsure couple.

“We didn’t, technically speaking, agree to this yet either,” Tango whispered to Snow Heart, glancing uncertainly at the surly filly standing in front of them.

“Since when has that stopped Barricade?” Snow Heart sighed before looking at Cara. “Well, you might as well come inside, dear.”

Cara narrowed her eyes, but didn’t say much, just grumbled under her breath as she followed the couple to the kitchen. It was then that Tango recalled his discussion with Snow Heart about Caballeron. The stallion mentally groaned, but figured it was safe enough to wait until Barricade came back.

End chapter 9

Author's Note

Well, things are certainly happening. Sorry about the delays in updating.

Chapter 10. Strange assistance.

Author's Note

Posting this chapter earlier than intended, due to how long it's been since the last update.

Chapter 10. Strange assistance.

Chapter 10

Applejack didn’t even bother with the subway - she kept on running towards Hoofington. As she listened to Paper, things had just started to click in her mind. It was quite obvious to her now what was going on and as much as she disliked Barricade, the apple farmer wasn’t about to let a child be endangered if she could help it.

Adding together what the Crusaders had witnessed, then when meeting Snow Heart and Tango again and confirming that Caballeron was in fact in Manehattan, it was quite obvious now that the amoral archeologist was going to use Barricade’s daughter against him.

And if Barricade is really turning around, based on what Paper told me, then that is not what he needs in his life right now, Applejack thought. She recalled how helpful Barricade had been. No question at all - he had helped her and Sunflower find the Crusaders. There was no sign of the jerk she had met a long time ago in Ponyville. It definitely supported what Paper Scribbler had told them.

She finally arrived at the first Hoofington street, sighing when seeing it was Junction. That meant she still had some ways to go. She also remembered what she had been told about this particular area. It was best not to dawdle here for too long.

There were no ponies around and the sun was starting to set, but Applejack wasn’t worried. Considering the kind of ponies she had dealt with in the past, a few low-life criminals were the least of her worries. As she continued onwards, the mare couldn’t shake of the feeling that she was being watched.

Suddenly a huge pegasus landed in front of her. Applejack gasped when seeing the brown pony with the silver-colored mane and hooves. His eyes were glowing green.

Heavens to Betsy, it’s Silver Axe! Applejack cringed when remembering the mute stallion her brother had fought to a standstill back in Ponyville during the foalnapping incident.

“What are you doin’ here?” she asked, preparing for anything. She knew this particular pony was much stronger than her, considering even Big Mac had barely beaten him in a fight. There was also the fact that he was mad. This was a serial killer with many murders on his hooves. And what’s up with your eyes?

Applejack hoofed her face as the mare realized she had just asked a mute pony for an explanation. And unfortunately there was nothing around to write with and she didn’t understand hoof signals.

“Barricade is not at his home. He is in Lane right now, seeking Trail. He suspects treachery. He is not wrong.”

The mare blinked when hearing the unearthly voice coming from Silver Axe. His mouth wasn’t moving, yet the voice had come from him. It was like someone was speaking through him.

“What, now wait just a minute. You...speak?” Applejack couldn’t believe her ears. She jumped a little when the pegasus stomped a hoof down.

“There is no time for idle prattle. Caballeron has murder on his mind. He will force Barricade to cooperate no matter the cost.”

Once again the voice spoke even though there were no mouth movements from Silver Axe. Before Applejack could say anything further, the large pegasus spread his wings and flew off. In few swift wingbeats he had disappeared above the tall buildings around the mare.

Okay that just happened. Applejack wondered for a moment if she should run to the police with the news about Silver Axe. However, it seemed clear that the pegasus or whoever was speaking through him was warning her and even told her where Barricade was.

“I’ll find Barricade, then I’ll worry about Silver Axe,” she figured and started off again, hoping against hope she wasn’t making a mistake.

Barricade sighed, wondering if he should just give up. He and the members of his gang had been scouring through Hoofington in search of Trail, but had so far come away with nothing. Barbell and Blue were with him and occasionally a gang member would come to report in before being sent to another location to search.

His mind wasn’t really on the search either. It was on his past. Everything he had been doing up to this point, when he worked for Caballeron, stealing artifacts for him from his own parents, losing count how many times his brother Private and his friends had stopped him.

Then I moved here, hoping to set up my own little thing, getting a gang going and… ugh it all just seems so pointless, he thought. Considering the threats Equestria has faced, Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis… what does it amount to to being just another thug they would just crush under their hooves if they had managed to take over?

He was right. I’m pathetic, a dreamer trying to be big. When compared to him and the others, I’m barely even a footnote in the history books. Barricade looked over at Barbell, remembering all the mares he had been with during this period.

Cara’s mom, Fuzzy Cloud, Junebug, Lyra back when I was in that military school, Foxy… sweet Celestia, Foxy… I swear I still can’t stop thinking about you… Derpy… Tartarus I treated you bad, just used you to get over my anger for being driven away from Foxy and then dumped you the moment you gave birth. I don’t deserve to have Barbell and Goldie now - how are they putting up with me? The stallion sighed. Barbell noticed and looked at him.

“Everything alright?” she asked, noting that Barricade looked almost remorseful.

“I… just thinking,” the unicorn muttered and looked away. “I don’t think we’ll be finding Trail. If the stupid snot is smart enough, he’s staying far away from Hoofington right now.”

Barbell raised her brow, but said nothing. She was pretty sure that was not what Barricade was thinking. However, she didn’t get a chance to inquire about it as something large landed in front of them. The three ponies blinked when seeing the huge brown pegasus blocking their path.

“Hey, that’s the pegasus Rain Storm and I saw the other day,” Barricade remarked. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“You are looking for Trail,” a dark voice came from the pegasus even if the mouth didn’t move. “He’s nearer than you think, moving into position for a trap for you, set up by Caballeron. Turn at the next street and you will find him.”

Before Barbell or Blue could really say anything more, the pegasus spread his wings and flew off into the darkness. The siblings looked at each other then looked at Barricade who was frozen solid, eyes wide open.

“Barricade?” the earth mare stepped up to her bedmate and put a hoof on his back. “Barricade, are you okay?”

“T-that… t-that voice…” Barricade whispered. Now his mind was on frozen peaks, a cruel, dark voice echoing through them. He saw green and red glowing eyes leering over him, under them a cruel smile on a dark gray muzzle.

“Boss?” Blue came closer as well. Barricade was shaking. The big earth pony looked at his sister who was just as lost as to what was wrong with the unicorn.

“BARRICADE!” Barbell finally decided to shout right into his ear. That seemed to snap him out of his shock. Barricade jumped a bit and looked at the mare, looking more like he had just woken up from a dream.

“Boss, that pegasus said Trail is right around the corner,” Blue informed him, Barricade snapped his head towards him with a scowl.

“Then let’s go get him!” the unicorn growled and ran off, forcing the earth pony siblings to gallop after him.

They hadn’t gone too far when seeing the teenage colt in question, heading right in their direction in a mad dash. Barricade sneered and as they got closer, he activated his magic and snatched up the boy, slamming him against a nearby wall.

“What? But you were behind me!” Trail shouted. He had looked utterly terrified, but now looked really confused.

“I don’t know what in Tartarus you’re yapping about, but now that I have you, you are going to tell me what Caballeron is up to,” Barricade snarled as he, Blue and Barbell walked closer to the colt.

Trail clamped his mouth shut. The colt had shaken his confusion away since that wasn’t really important right now. Barricade had him pinned and the colt knew all too well how the unicorn dealt with those he didn’t like.

“The pegasus said something about a trap,” Barbell mentioned. The three adults immediately noticed Trail’s eyes open wide in surprise.

Barricade snarled and got right into the colt’s face, the teenager trembled a bit at the glare and was picturing a long hospital stay in his very near future.

“What trap?” Barricade asked in dangerous tone of voice. “What is Caballeron planning?”

If I tell, Caballeron will kill me. Need to waste their time while he gets Cara, Trail thought and summoned just enough willpower to attempt to return the glare. It paled in comparison to the stallion pinning him with magic.

“You better watch out, Barricade, your time is over, there is a bigger player around now and he has a surprise in store for you,” Trail said, trying to sound mocking, but it came out more like a frightened squeak.

Trail blinked when Barricade started laughing, even Barbell and Blue looked at the unicorn unsure. It wasn’t a mocking laughter, it was a mad one. Barricade even took a step back as he continued to laugh like a hyena.

“Uh, Barricade?” Barbell was about to place a hoof on his back, when Barricade suddenly stopped laughing, slammed Trail a second time against the wall and was now looking at him with a strange, mad glint in his eyes.

“You think Caballeron is a big player? You honestly think he is anything? You think he can do anything worth anything?!” Barricade shouted, his eyes open wide and the pony looking like he had gone insane.

“You know what’s out there, Trail? You know what lies and waits for our precious Princesses to drop their guards? You know nothing! We are nothing! We are two-bit thieves and thugs, merrily going on about our lives, knowing NOTHING about the nightmares that lie outside this city,” the unicorn continued to roar at the bewildered colt.

“There are things out there that eat guys like Caballeron for breakfast and the rest for dessert! Everything we do, everything we make, it’s nothing for those things! They can tear apart your mind simply by looking into your eyes. They will strip you apart and lay your fears bare with powers that are beyond our feeble minds!” Barricade was livid, shaking Trail in his magic as he ranted.

“They will possess your loved ones and use their bodies to kick you around. They can tear into your head and turn you into an automated servant that will attack anything, even those who are coming to your aid. They can drain the life and sanity from a bar full of ponies. Death means nothing to them. They have power to come back again and again and make your life a living nightmare until you reach a point where you can’t even look at a shadow without trembling in fear!” Barricade threw Trail away, sending the colt flying across the street. The unicorn was starting to cry, tears just streamed uncontrollably down his cheeks.

“He made me helpless. I couldn’t help my brother. He was torturing him, tormenting him and I could do NOTHING!” Barricade crumbled down to the ground, where he continued to cry.

Trail groaned and tried to roll back to his hooves, but something stopped him. He looked up weakly and saw an orange pony wearing a Stetson. She gave him a sign to stay put, before looking over where Barbell and Blue were now standing over Barricade.

“Is he alright?” Applejack asked the two earth ponies.

“I honestly don’t know,” Barbell could only say as she stroke Barricade’s back, the unicorn had stopped ranting but was now sobbing into his forelegs.

Ah really need to ask Twilight for more details about that Crystal Empire incident she told us about, the farm-pony thought.

“Uh wait, what are you doing here?” Blue then finally realized who had just arrived. Both he and Barbell looked at Applejack questionably.

Tango glanced to his side when he noticed Snow Heart come waddling into the kitchen, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

“That girl takes after her father,” the stallion chuckled and turned to put cups on the table.

Snow Heart made no comment, just snorted as she sat down. Cara had been left in the living room where she had been stewing ever since her father had brought her to the apartment. The mare had been attempting a conversation, but judging from Snow’s expression, it hadn’t gone too well.

“I’m starting to wonder if Barricade is punishing us for something,” Snow finally spoke as she struggled to lift a cup of tea with her magic.

“Just keep an eye on the price. One month without rent, you would almost think things are looking up for us,” Tango said and got seated by the table. Even Snow Heart couldn’t but chuckle at the weak joke.

“Tomorrow, I’m going to send Parasol a telegram. I think it’s time I stopped wallowing in self-pity,” the mare said.

Tango arched his brow. He hadn’t even expected to hear this. Before he could even comment on it, Snow Heart looked up at him. The fire was back in her heart.

“As I was telling you before Barricade dropped her daughter here. I almost ignored a hint that I might have a slim chance of connecting again with my old friends in Ponyville. I’m going to take the chance. Even after all this time, Scootaloo still referred to me as her mother’s friend.” She said and looked down at her belly. “If worse come to worse, I can at least say a proper goodbye.”

Tango nodded, then he glanced towards the entrance of the kitchen. There was still no sign of Cara leaving the living room. He rose up and started towards the door, glancing back at Snow Heart.

“I’m going to check if Cara wants something, I mean we can’t be starving our landlord’s daughter, now can we?” he chuckled before leaving the kitchen.

“Good luck,” Snow Heart called after him, recalling already the stubborn silence she had been met with.

The stallion made his way to the living room, half expecting a teenage pegasus filly to be on the couch, he was already opening his mouth to ask her when his eyes were greeted with nothing. Tango frowned and looked around but saw not a single feather.

Wondering if Cara had gone to the bathroom, Tango went there intending to knock on the door to see if she was inside. But the door to the bathroom was wide open with no sign of anyone having been there recently.

Tango hurried to the kitchen, but a dreadful thought was already entering his mind. There was no way for Cara to get to the bathroom without passing the kitchen, and she couldn’t have gone from the living room to there without passing him first.

Oh no, Tango cringed when seeing that as he suspected, only Snow Heart was in the kitchen. The mare’s brow rose when seeing his expression.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Cara is gone,” Tango whispered, already picturing Barricade bashing his head up against a wall for losing his daughter.

End chapter 10

Chapter 11. The storm approaches.

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 12. The storm is axed.

Chapter 12

“Is he goin’ to be alright?” Applejack asked, watching Barbell talking quietly with Barricade who had finally risen up. Next to her stood Blue, who was now standing guard over Trail. The colt didn’t really dare to move with the towering earth pony over him.

“I think so, never seen the boss like this,” Blue said with a heavy frown.

“I heard he’s been changin’,” the apple farmer remarked, eyeing the blue pony who simply nodded.

“You don’t mind it?” she then asked. This time the blue pony just shrugged. Applejack grinned a little. This was a bit familiar territory.

“You don’t question the boss,” she held back a chuckle when Blue shook his head.

“The boss does what he does, not mine to question what he does. He wants to quiet down, that’s fine,” The stallion then did gave a bit longer answer than the mare was expecting.

Oh well, guess he is different enough, Applejack thought.

Their ‘lively’ conversation was interrupted by Barbell and Barricade approaching them. After giving Trail a stinging death glare, causing the teen to shrink back, the unicorn looked at Applejack questionably.

“Don’t tell me the fillies are on the run again in Hoofington,” he grunted, clearly trying to pretend nothing had happened.

“No, Ah came here to warn you about Caballeron. Ah think Ah know what kind of trap he’s plannin’ for ya,” Applejack said before glancing at Trail. “It just hit me when my cousin told us she had seen this pony with your daughter and Paper Scribbler told us you and he have a rivalry going and with him working for Caballeron now.”

Although Applejack’s telling was very abridged it was enough for Barricade to puzzle the pieces immediately together. Slowly his gaze turned back to Trail who was really wishing he could sink into the ground right now.

The unicorn activated his horn, pulled the colt up with his magic and dragged him up to be right in front of Barricade’s face. The stallion continued to stare coldly at Trail before whispering in a very deadly tone:

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“I was told to lure Cara away so Caballeron could capture her and use her as a bait for his trap.” Any resolve that had been left in Trail was quickly gone and the colt was really fearful for his life right now.

“One more thing.” Barricade sneered, tightening his magic hold on the frightened teenager. “Did you slap my little girl?”

Too upset now to talk, tears just streaming down his cheeks, Trail could do little but nod. He had seen furious ponies with murderous intent before, it just came with gang life. He had even seen Barricade at what the colt thought was his angriest. None of it compared to the cold fury that now stared him right in the face.

“Barricade!” An orange hoof was put on the unicorn’s back. Applejack had scooted closer. “There is no time for this. You have to go home to make sure Cara is still safe. There might still be a chance.”

“Leave Manehattan, Trail. Get out of here. Because if Caballeron has so much as ruffled a feather on Cara. I will not rest until you are nothing but a smear of blood on the streets of this city!” Barricade snarled and threw the colt away and started galloping away with Blue and Barbell right behind him.

Applejack started after them, but paused to glance back at Trail. The teen was rising up, visibly shaking and trying to hold back the sobs. The colt then glanced up at the mare, still looking fearful. Then he sprung off in the other direction. Shaking her head, Applejack hurried to catch up with the others.

It didn’t take her too long to at least catch up with Blue who was heavy built and thus ran much slower than the others, but he at least clearly knew where his boss was going. Further up ahead were Barricade and Barbell. Applejack figured though she would hang back.

“Thanks,” the big stallion addressed her.

“Hmm?” Applejack glanced up at Blue, wondering what he was thanking her for. “Uh for what?”

“Stopping the boss. Don’t get me wrong. Once I wouldn’t have minded watching him do some serious injury to Trail. But if he is serious about quieting down, then hospitalizing a kid isn’t how ya go about it,” the stallion said and came to a halt in his gallop. Applejack stopped as well, wondering why they had.

The mare didn’t need to worry about losing sight of Barricade and Barbell, she now saw that they had arrived at the apartment complex and the couple were rushing inside. Blue started to walk towards it at a slower pace.

“The boss can be a difficult friend, but he is a friend. Barbell also loves him and I know she doesn’t mind these changes at all. She wouldn’t even mind settling down and have foals of her own if she could have them,” he continued, being a bit more talkative than previously. Applejack arched her eyebrow.

“She can’t have foals?” the mare asked curiously.

“No, something wrong in her body, dunno what they call it, ‘infar-’ something. Anyway, she and the boss just click somehow. She’s been a good mom to Cara,” Blue explained.

Applejack just nodded. The stallion had fallen silent now as they got closer to the apartment complex. As they approach the front door, Barricade came rushing back out, along with Barbell and Tango.

“Cara snuck out,” the unicorn growled, in his magic there was a note. “She went to meet Trail, or so she thinks.”

“We found the note in her room,” Barbell explained.

“Where would she go meet Trail?” Applejack asked quickly, realizing they were on a time limit now, if it wasn’t too late already.

“The note doesn’t say, but I would guess outside Hoofington,” Barricade snorted and tossed the note to the ground.

“Isn’t the shopping district near Hooflyn a popular meeting place for teens?” Blue asked, causing everyone to look at him.

“Worth a shot,” Barricade grunted. Before they could go, Tango addressed him.

“Barricade, I’m really sorry about this…” he started but fell silent when the unicorn turned to look at him. What the former officer wasn’t expecting was a smirk.

“To tell you the truth, Tango, I would have been more surprised if she hadn’t snuck out on you. Don’t worry about it - this is on Trail and Caballeron. You just get back in there and tend to your pregnant marefriend,” Barricade told him before he started to gallop away with the others. “Oh and you don’t have pay the rent for a month. Cara’s allowance will cover it!”

Applejack considered talking with Tango before heading off after the others, but realized quickly they were pressed on time and she didn’t know the route the others were going, so it would be best to stick by them. She intended to help as she could, now that she had both seen and heard that Barricade was really changing, the apple farmer intended to see this through. She had been especially impressed how Barricade had laid no blame on Tango for Cara sneaking out. That was a clear sign to her the unicorn was improving.

Tango was given a nod and a smile from her though before she rushed after the others. This time she increased her speed a bit so she could run closer to Barricade. She did have one more question and if she got the right answer, she would have a plan brewing.

“Barricade, what does your cutie mark stand for?” she asked, knowing that sometimes cutie marks weren’t always that obvious in telling what ponies talent’s were. Having witnessed her sister and the rest of the Crusaders in action had told her that plenty of times.

“Is this really the time to be asking about the picture on my flank?” Barricade asked, glancing briefly at the orange mare. On the other side of him, Barbell was chuckling.

“Just answer the question,” Applejack demanded, figuring with Barricade it was better just to press for an answer instead of going into in-depth explanations. The unicorn raised his eyebrows, looking a little impressed.

“It will sound nuts to you, Applejack, especially since I know you know how I used to be,” Barricade took a brief moment to glance at the brick wall on his flank before moving his head forward again since he was still on a full gallop. “I’m very good at building communities. Seems whatever power that be that puts those stupid things on our flanks figured it was best represented by a sturdy brick wall.”

Applejack almost laughed at the idea but then it just hit her. The gang and actually whole of Hoofington. Despite having ruled Hoofington in fear it had still been somewhat stable according to Paper. The gang was clearly loyal to him - he seemed to know who should have what positions and it shone even better now with Barricade’s change. He had cleared out all the other gangs and Paper actually had said things were better in Hoofington.

“So, you are building a better community now in Hoofington?” Granted this was second question but her one more question had brewed another.

“Well somepony has to. The city council certainly doesn’t seem to care one bit about this district. All the city money goes into Bridleway and the other touristy places. You should have seen this place when I first got here, this was far more of a Tartarus-forsaken pit before I took over…” Barricade started to rant but then caught himself and glared at Applejack. “Alright, what are you up to?”

“Let’s make sure Cara is safe, then I’ll tell ya,” Applejack smirked, noticing that Barricade now looked very intrigued. Even Barbell looked curious.

High on top of a building, Silver Axe stood and observed as Caballeron and his henchponies dragged bags full of struggling fillies into an abandoned building in Hoofington Junction. Though silent on the outside, inside his mind a dark voice kept speaking.

“It seems Caballeron has already caught the bait for the trap he hopes to spring on Barricade,” The dark voice growled. “Seems my warnings came a little too late.”

Silver Axe himself was silent, even in his mind. He had fully accepted that he was no longer in control of his own mind or body and just let things happen. His wing spread as he was compelled to fly up and head to another part of Hoofington.

“Just as I suspected, they are going the wrong way. They probably still think they have time to prevent Barricade’s daughter being captured.” The dark voice sighed when seeing Barricade, the earth pony siblings and Applejack running on a street much further away from Junction. “I guess I better clue them in.”

The big pegasus sped up before diving down, landing with a heavy thud in front of the four ponies, spreading his wings as he did so to further block their path. They all stopped and looked surprised to see him once again.

“You are going the wrong way. Caballeron already has your daughter. They are hiding in Junction, preparing to spring their trap.” the voice spoke through Silver Axe before swiftly taking back to the air.

Meanwhile on the ground, very confused ponies were still trying to figure out what had just happened.

“Okay, who is this guy? Why does his voice sound so familiar and why is he helping us?” Barricade growled, trying to hide the anxiety he had felt when hearing that disturbingly familiar voice again.

“His name is Silver Axe, my brother and sister had a run-in with him back in Ponyville during an incident involving a foal napping…” Applejack explained, but then glanced up to the sky. “But he’s supposed to be in an institution, he’s mad and he’s supposed to be mute.”

“Well he certainly talks well for a mute pony,” Barbell remarked. Applejack couldn’t disagree, but that voice didn’t sound natural.

“Let’s figure out that later. He did tell us where to go and he’s so far been helpful,” the apple farmer suggested. Then it finally clicked with Barricade what Silver Axe had just told them.

“CARA!” He shouted and dashed away with the rest barely being able to keep up with him.

Up in the sky, Silver Axe was headed back towards Junction.

“This will not do. Caballeron is perhaps just a small bug compared to the likes of me, but even bugs can have nasty bites. I have plans for Barricade far greater than his and I will not allow him to disrupt them,” the voice growled as the pegasus made his way back to the building that overlooked Caballeron’s new hideout. Already he could see that two of the henchponies discreetly watching the entrance from two different alleys.

Silently Silver Axe glided over to the building and then dropped down into an unoccupied alley. He made his way to a nearby window and carefully peeked in. He saw Caballeron standing there along with one of his henchponies, not far off from where the filles were all tied up and gagged.

“You see, his parents have been digging in the San Palomino desert and I happen to know they have uncovered many valuable artifacts. In the past before he quit, I could use Barricade to secure these kind of items for me to sell,” Caballeron could be heard saying.

“I want his assistance in doing it again. Some of these items will sell for a hefty profit and he will do it again…”

Outside, the forces controlling Silver Axe were having him slapping a hoof on his face, resisting an urge to groan out loud.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me. He’s spelling out his plan to one of his minions? This guy is more pathetic than I thought. I bet he’ll probably monologue the moment Barricade arrives here,” the dark voice snorted. Silver Axe glared back into the building.

“You and I are going to have a little talk, but not just yet…” he fell silent when overhearing that Caballeron was still talking about his plan.

“We will force him to comply using his daughter and if he still doesn’t comply, we will perhaps go further. Perhaps his brother...”

Silver Axe’s frown changed into a scowl, his muzzle twisted into a sneer. His eyes turned red and green and purple mist began sprouting from the corner of his eyes.

Inside the building, Caballeron and his lackey jumped when suddenly the wall exploded and they heard a loud growl. From the dust cloud, they barely could make out a large figure of a pony and its glowing eyes. Suddenly shadow-like tendrils shot out, grabbed the amoral archeologist and dragged him out of the newly-formed hole. He didn’t even have a chance to scream.

The henchpony stared where his boss had just been and now there was only a hole. The big pony was gone and the dust was settling. Strangely enough, the debris had completely missed the girls. They didn’t even have dust on them.

“Screw this, I’m not paid enough deal with something like this,” the stallion said and quickly galloped out of the building.

Okay, that just happened. Cara arched her eyebrow, she glanced at the Crusaders and blinked when seeing that Scootaloo was already in the process of getting out of her ropes.

“Finally. I thought they were never going to leave,” the pegasus filly grunted after removing her gag. Then she proceeded to untie her friends and Cara.

“Wait, you could escape from the ropes?” Cara remarked stunned.

“Pfft, it was easy. I read in Daring Doo that she would always flex her leg muscles when being tied up, so when she relaxes them the ropes are no longer tight around her and she can slip out. It was Caballeron and his henchponies...she deals with them all the time. Granted, I didn’t know this was something they actually did in real life,” the crusader explained to the teen.

“Speaking of, what happened to Caballeron? And who was that pony in the dust cloud with the glowing eyes?” Apple Bloom asked, eyeing the big hole in the wall warily.

Cara opened her mouth to say something, but she was suddenly bathed in an indigo-colored magic aura and pulled into a tight hug by her father. The Crusaders meanwhile were cringing when face to face with Applejack.

“Girls! What are ya’ll doing here!?” the apple farmer snapped.

End chapter 12

Chapter 13. New chance.

Chapter 13

Barricade could barely contain his relief when seeing Cara as he burst into the abandoned building. Grabbing her in a hug, he just held on tight. He and the others had heard the explosion, seen Caballeron’s lackeys make a mad dash away and had feared the worst.

He didn’t even pay attention to it while the crusaders desperately explained to Applejack that they had really honestly not intended to be here. His whole focus was on his daughter right now.

“I’m so sorry, Cara. You were never meant to get tangled up in my messes,” he whispered, trying to keep his tears in check.

“Mess is putting it mildly. What the heck is going on? Who were those ponies?” Cara growled, but didn’t really struggle to get free, secretly glad to see her father again.

“Ponies that just made my life miserable once before I broke away,” Barricade simply explained as he let her go and got back to his legs. He glared around. “By the way, where is Caballeron? I got a hoof I want to crush into his skull.”

“That’s the other crazy thing. The wall over there exploded. Some big pony appeared in it and then the shadows just grabbed that guy and pulled him away,” the teenager told him. Her father looked at her stunned.

“The shadows grabbed him…?” he whispered shocked. He looked at Barbell and Blue who just shrugged and looked more confused than him.

“Well something grabbed him,” Cara snorted, glancing towards the fillies who were still trying to explain to skeptical Applejack that they were here by pure accident. She could confirm their story. They had asked her for directions back to Hooflyn before they were all abducted, however that would mean confirming she had snuck out. Then she realized that her father probably already knew she snuck out. Sighing, the pegasus walked over to Applejack.

“They are telling the truth, they ran into me a few streets away from Hooflyn and asked me for directions back there,” she told the mare.

Cara expected to hear some snark from her father about why she was there, but nothing was said. She glanced back at her father and arched her brow. Barricade was just staring down at the ground, eyes wide open and he seemed completely and utterly lost.

“Dad?” she approached her father. Barbell was already by him, trying to address him as well.

While Cara, Barbell and Blue tended to Barricade, Applejack was still confronting the crusaders about their story. Although Cara had confirmed they had been on their way back to Hooflyn and had gotten lost, they still hadn’t quite explained why they were lost in the first place since Sunflower was supposed to take them and Babs back to the Oranges.

“It’s my fault,” Scootaloo confessed with a sigh. “I wanted to warn Snow Heart about Caballeron like you were going to warn Barricade. Mom still sometimes talks about her and has been trying to find her and I think she still wants to be her friend and… I wanted to tell her that as well. The girls snuck off to stop me and turn me back.”

Applejack looked at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom who both nodded to confirm what their friend had just said. The mare shook her head, still a little angry at her sister and the other crusaders for being in Hoofington again, but this time around two of them had tried to prevent that, so she just smiled instead.

“Alright, Ah’ll forget this instance, Ah think ya’ll have been through enough,” she said. “Okay we will go to Snow Heart and Tango before going back to Aunt and Uncle Orange and you can tell her, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo grinned and jumped a little in joy while her friends were sighing in relief that they wouldn’t be in trouble over this. The Ponyville ponies then turned their attention to the Hoofington ones. Barricade was just at that moment shaking himself out of his stupor.

“Uh sorry, I zoned out there. Let’s get the out of here,” he recommended, putting a hoof for a moment on his concerned-looking daughter’s back.

“We’ll be accompanying you back. Scootaloo has something to say to Snow Heart she didn’t get a chance to tell her the last time,” Applejack said as she and the Crusaders walked over to them.

“Yeah sure.” Barricade nodded and the group walked out and made their way out of Junction, not knowing that green and red eyes were watching them high above on top of one of the buildings.

Silver Axe continued to watch them walk away, his right front leg firmly wrapped around Caballeron who was wrapped up in shadow like tendrils. The earth pony tried to struggle but found himself unable to move much.

“Come, Caballeron. I think it’s high time we meet face to face,” the dark voice spoke through the pegasus. He spread his big wings and took off to the air, disappearing swiftly into the night, carrying the frightened pony in his legs.

Tango opened the door to the apartment and was surprised to see the Crusaders standing outside. All three of them greeted him cheerfully. The former officer could only really say a stunned hi.

“What are you girls doing here?” he asked, bit worried they had snuck off once again. Then he saw Applejack further off as the mare was walking up the stairs to the next floor.

“Scootaloo wanted to talk with Snow Heart about her mom, Scootaloo’s mom that is,” Apple Bloom explained. All three girls grinned.

“I didn’t get a chance to do so at the diner, after we mentioned that mare you knew and died,” Scootaloo pointed out, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

“Oh,” Tango frowned a little, then he glanced back into the apartment. “Snow Heart has actually gone to bed. This has been a bit of a trying day for her. Ah, do you know if they found Cara.”

“Yes they did. Uh we’ll let Barricade tell you about that, but Cara’s back home, safe and sound,” Sweetie Belle informed him. The stallion sighed in relief when hearing that.

“Can you at least tell Snow Heart that mom has been trying to find her? She wants to contact her but never knew how because nopony would tell her where she was on parole.” Scootaloo said, not wanting to have Snow Heart woken up if she was already retired.

“I will,” Tango assured the filly before chuckling weakly. “Yeah it’s been a bit of a secret where she’s living because she’s not exactly a very popular pony as you well know.”

The fillies nodded. Tango glanced back out. “Say where did Applejack go?”

“She said she wanted to talk with Barricade a little before we went back to Hooflyn. She was going to meet us back here,” Apple Bloom explained.

“Well, I guess you can wait inside while she doing that. The living room here to the left,” Tango offered and stepped out of the way to let the Crusaders inside.

On the third floor, Applejack was waiting just outside Barricade’s apartment. He and Barbell had told her to wait while they took Cara inside. Though the teen hadn’t looked terribly upset over her ordeal, the mare figured they wanted to have a little private talk with her first.

She didn’t need to wait too long. Soon enough Barricade stepped outside and stood face-to-face with her. The unicorn looked tired, even if the situation had been resolved rather miraculously.

“Ah got to say, Barricade. Ah’ve been mighty impressed by what Ah have seen so far of you,” Applejack stated and crossed her front legs. “You ain’t the foul-mouthed jerk that took advantage of Derpy all those years ago.”

“Heh, glad you noticed,” Barricade chuckled weakly. “Thanks for the help by the way, even if we didn’t really need to do much.”

“No problem. Seems like you got someone watchin’ over you. Ah’m still confused how Silver Axe fits into all of this. Ah’m going to report it to the authorities that he was spotted here before my sister and I head back to Ponyville in few days,” the mare said. There were still a lot of questions unanswered, but she had already noticed that even Barricade was as confused as her. There was one thing though she could ask. “You could tell me though, what happened in the Crystal Empire?”

Barricade frowned and looked away. He had a feeling Applejack knew more than she was letting on. It couldn’t be a secret what generally happened in the Crystal Empire a few months ago. Then again, few probably knew all the details.

“My brother was possessed by a monster and that same monster took control of me. He invaded my mind, showed me my worst fears and then had me attack others. He killed an inn full of creatures just by sitting there in the possessed body of my brother. He and things like him are the reasons I prefer living in cities, deep inside cities, so I stay far away as possible from these kind of things,” Barricade muttered, still not going into full details but giving enough.

“Worst of all, because of my stubbornness, because of my brashness… I almost got my brother killed. Private could have died in that cave and there was nothing I could do to help him.” The stallion stubbornly tried to hold back a tear, quickly wiping it off with a hoof.

The unicorn fell silent, giving Applejack time to digest it, recalling now more from the short briefing Twilight had given her and the rest of their friends about the incident in the Crystal Empire. Most of it was though just that an old enemy had been resurrected and two ponies, Private Iceland and Barricade had been involuntarily been involved.

“And he’s the reason for the changes?” she asked carefully, though she was mildly impressed how cooperative Barricade was being.

“Yeah. After I got back, I realized just how pointless everything was that I did. I had seen what it really is like to rule through fear and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I figured Hoofington deserved better, so I made it better, the best I could. I completely drove out other gangs, had my gang stop harassing other ponies, stopped enforcing loans. It isn’t much, but at least Hoofington is safer now than it was,” Barricade sighed and sat down. “I want to do more, there is so much that needs to be done, but I can only do so much. It’s the city that has to pay for some of the repairs that need to be done here, but this district just gets pocket money to do some minimal upkeep and most of my money goes into… paying for all the foals I have all over the place.”

“How many foals do you have?” Applejack frowned. She knew about at least three of them.

“Well, Cara lives with me, then there is Dinky, Coal. I allegedly have two sons, Cooper and Chisel,” Barricade sighed as his thoughts went to all the mares he’d mistreated.

“Wait, Cooper as in Junebug’s Cooper?” the mare blinked in surprise when Barricade nodded. “I can see now why Junebug never said anything about his father.”

“Don’t blame her… wait she lives in Ponyville now?” Barricade asked and got a positive nod in response.

“Have you even met them?” Applejack wondered, from what little she knew from Derpy was that Barricade only had daughters.

“No. I just send them money. I was really horrible to Chisel’s mother, I just stay clear away. The boy doesn’t need to meet me and if Junebug doesn’t want to tell Cooper who his father is, it’s fine by me. I don’t blame them for it,” the stallion sighed.

Applejack furrowed her brow as she thought this over. Perhaps it was too late to help with Cooper and Chisel, but she had an inkling that things were still possible for his daughters.

“So, tell me Barricade, how good are you at building bridges?” she asked.

“Horrible, I’m better at destroying them from orbit,” Barricade grunted, having caught on what kind of bridges Applejack was talking about, considering their conversation. He raised an eyebrow in puzzlement when the mare suddenly grinned.

“What if you had a little help?” Applejack inquired slyly.

End chapter 13

Chapter 14. Building bridges.

Chapter 14

Ponyville.

“Welcome, one and all to the Summer Play of the Unicorn Sisters!” Dinky raised one hoof high in the air where she stood on the makeshift stage in Ponyville Park. In front of it were scores of ponies watching. The violet filly then took a flourishing bow before gesturing to her right.

“And now let me introduce the players. On my right, Tootsie Flute, still sharing a room with me… wait,” Dinky rose up and looked at Tootsie. “Why are we still sharing a room?”

“Because our house is too small!!” Tootsie Flute shook one hoof into air, faking an angry scowl. This caused some chuckles from the audience.

“Yeah, our house is too small,” Dinky frowned thoughtfully, before gesturing to her left. “And to my left, all the way from Fillydelphia, Coal!”

On her left was a black filly with a silver gray mane and a golden heart cutie mark. She bowed as well and got applause from the audience. When Coal rose, she looked at Dinky.

“Coal, you came all the way from Fillydelphia to be in our play. How are you feeling?” her sister asked.

“Tired, you know how far it is between Fillydelphia and Ponyville?” Coal said with an indignant snort.

“You didn’t take the train?” Tootsie asked, Coal faked a shocked gasp.

“There are trains that go here?” the black unicorn sounded indignant. Then she looked towards the audience, specifically where a maroon-colored pegasus mare with a white back and muzzle stood. “Mom. You lied to me! You tricked me into exercising!”

All she earned was a tongue from her mother and laughter from the audience. The fillies themselves were trying very hard not to giggle themselves, maintaining as serious faces as was possible.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough horse play. Let’s get this play on the road!” Dinky declared as the girls began their act.

In the audience, the maroon mare, Coal’s mother Foxy, was really trying not to laugh too loudly at the antics happening on stage. With her was Derpy, but also there was Foxy’s sister Dew Doe, a smaller blue pegasus with a white and red mane and tail. Standing next to her was a dark gray unicorn stallion with a blonde mane and tail, Private Iceland. Usually he was seen with a fairly bored expression, but he was actually smiling slightly as he watched the play.

“They have been rehearsing this for weeks. I’m glad so many ponies showed up for it,” Derpy whispered to the ponies from Fillydelphia. Foxy nodded in agreement.

“I would ask where they get their ideas, but considering their mothers,” Dew Doe teased, earning mock glares from the other two pegasi mares.

The ponies were so intent on watching the play that they didn’t notice three more entering the park along with Applejack. The apple farmer looked around, spotting what she needed to see, she started towards the back of the crowd, but was intercepted by a pony who did notice them coming.

“Applejack, what’s Barricade doing here?” Twilight Sparkle asked, sounding concerned as she landed in front of the newly arrived group. Behind the farm pony were Barricade, Cara and Barbell.

“Ah met Barricade while in Manehattan. He’s here to make amends,” Applejack told the princess.

Twilight looked at the unicorn whose attention had been caught by the fillies on stage. Cara was also watching and actually chuckling at some of the jokes thrown around.

“I wish I had a little warning with this…” Twilight cringed slightly but didn’t elaborate further what she was worried about. “Come on, I know where those he needs to speak with are.”

Applejack nodded. She had actually spotted the ponies, but allowed Twilight to lead the way, planning to inquire later what had Twilight so nervous. Through the crowd of ponies they headed towards where Derpy was with the Fillydelphia ponies. The first to notice them was Private, who frowned when seeing who was walking behind Applejack. Dew Doe, Foxy and Derpy were next and they looked really shocked.

“Hi ya’ll. I got a pony with me here who wanted to talk with you,” Applejack addressed them, noticing that Twilight was glancing around, looking at every shadow.

Before any of the pegasi could say a word, Private stepped forward, holding out his hoof to the mares in a signal, before looking past Applejack and right at Barricade whose attention was still mostly on the stage. He had to be gently nudged by Barbell to finally look towards his twin brother.

Private arched his brow when seeing the solemn expression on Barricade before he nodded and then gestured with his head for them to walk out of the crowd and further to the back.

Barricade took a deep breath before following his brother with Cara and Barbell. After them went the three pegasi mares. Applejack and Twilight stayed behind. The princess was still glancing around, but the farmer knew that Barricade was on his own now.

“What’s goin’ on with you?” Applejack asked her friend.

“I can only say right now that certain parties would be very interested in learning that both Private and Barricade are here. I’ll tell you more later. Let’s make sure things don’t get heated at this impromptu meeting,” Twilight told her and started towards the back, but still kept a respectful distance.

Outside the crowd, further back, Barricade was now face-to-face with his brother. Cara stood next to him and so did Barbell. The pegasi mares kept a respectful distance, but were still listening.

“I just wanted to say that…” Barricade started, eyeing the three mares that stared at him suspiciously. “Look, I know I am the last pony you want to see. I know I treated you all horribly. I know nothing I say will really fix what I did in the past. But I still want to say that… I’m sorry for all of it. I really am."

“After I got back from the Crystal Empire…I finally understood all the pain and torment I had caused all of you. I started to hate what I had done. I am a jerk, there is no denying that. I was a bully and should never have done what I did. My daughters deserve a better father than me, who is never around, makes false promises and thinks he can buy their love with gifts,” Barricade sighed. For the first time ever he was really having problems with words.

Private still showed no expression and the pegasi still looked suspicious - Derpy especially looked resentful. Further back, watching were Twilight and Applejack. The princess was very impressed hearing what Barricade was saying while Applejack was smiling, knowing this time the jerk wasn’t putting on a show, this was genuinely coming from his heart.

“I’m not asking for another chance. I just wanted to say I’m sorry and you can take what you want from it,” Barricade finished.

Suddenly Private walked forward and to the shock of everyone who knew him, he put a leg around Barricade in a hug. The pegasi mares looked especially stunned. It was very well known that the silent unicorn was a strict non-hugger. Even Pinkie Pie had realized that.

It was then that Twilight and Applejack noticed the silence all around them. Looking back they saw that the entire crowd of ponies were watching, most were puzzled or curious. On the stage however, the three fillies had stopped, two of them were staring at their father and uncle, mouths hanging wide open.

Tootsie was the first to come back to her senses and promptly shouted. “Uh, impromptu Intermission.”

“You two wanna go to them?” she then whispered to Dinky and Coal.

Dinky and Coal blinked out of their astonishment, glancing at Tootsie before looking at each other, then promptly jumped off stage and rushed over to where their family was.

“Dad?” Coal still couldn’t believe it. Private had let go of Barricade by now.

“You came to our summer play, even if we didn’t even invite you?” Dinky wasn’t much better than her sister, wondering if she was dreaming.

“Uh… heh… yeah, couldn’t miss it, could I?” Barricade turned to them, smiling weakly. “Look girls, I came to apologize. I’ve been a rotten father and not much better in dealing with your mothers. I can understand if you want me to leave.”

Dinky and Coal looked at each other confused, questioning if this was their father at all but a changeling in disguise instead. Then they looked at their mothers, who now looked unsure but reserved. Dew Doe had a more indifferent expression now.

Finally the fillies glanced at each other, put on determined looks and nodded. They marched over to their father and promptly hugged him, much to his surprise as the others around him. Then the girls looked at him, smiling.

“Alright, one more time,” they both said.

Barricade felt strangely relieved hearing that. He looked at Foxy and Derpy who still looked reserved but made no protest over their daughters’ declaration.

“Uh, Dinky, I don’t think you’ve ever met your sister, Cara,” Barricade gestured to the pegasi teenager.

“You told me about her,” Dinky looked at Coal who nodded.

“She used to live with Grandma Mirage and Grandpa Hard Shovel, then she moved to live with dad,” Coal explained, then glanced warily at Cara. “We never got along.”

“Uh… yeah, sorry about that,” Cara looked a little sheepish. “I wasn’t the best pony myself, but hey consider who I lived with.”

“Hey!” Barricade faked an indignant snort but all three fillies giggled.

“Okay, we’ll talk later. We have a play to finish.” Dinky realized that there was still a crowd of ponies around and Tootsie was still alone on the stage. The two unicorn fillies quickly made their way back to the stage.

Barricade watched the fillies go and resume the play. The pegasi mares wasted no time joining the crowd again. The stallion looked at his brother who still stood near him. Private gestured for him to come with him, followed by Barbell and Cara. They were stopped on their way by Twilight and Applejack.

“I’m very proud of you, Barricade. This was a very brave thing of you to do,” Twilight said smiling warmly. “Though I think you should have done this a few months ago in the Crystal Empire.”

“Eh, what can I say, it always takes me a while to get the hint,” Barricade chuckled. Even his brother shook his head, smiling at that remark.

With that both Twilight and Applejack disappeared into the crowd, but not before Barricade received a nod of approval from the farm pony. When they were gone and their attention was mostly on the play, Barricade glanced at his brother.

“Say uh, are Dew and Foxy still social workers that deal with ponies newly out of prison?” he asked.

Private glanced at him. “Yeah though Foxy is moving to more projects involving troubled foals and Dew Doe is taking on more psychiatric projects,” Private told him.

“I got two tenants that could use a little extra help. I know Manehattan isn’t in their jurisdiction, but I figure they could help reassure them and even get them better connection to help them,” Barricade said quietly. “I’ll explain better when the play is over.”

A few weeks later in Manehattan.

Tango was sitting down in the living room with a newspaper and Snow Heart was lying on the couch when there was a rather rhythmic knocking on the apartment door. The two ponies looked at each other confused, before the stallion rose up to answer.

Outside stood Foxy Stripes and Dew Doe, the blue pegasus smiled warmly while Foxy grinned eagerly and waved one hoof.

“Hi Tango, nice to see you again,” Foxy greeting the stallion cheerfully.

“Ah, Foxy, Dew, what are you doing here?” he asked confused, recalling back when he had helped these two ponies along with Derpy, Time Turner and Private.

“This time we are here to help you,” Foxy declared. Dew Doe chuckled.

“May we come in? We can explain more in private,” the blue mare asked.

The stallion arched his brow but then shrugged and let the mares in, taking them to the living room where he introduced them to a puzzled Snow Heart.

“So what are you here to help us with?” Tango asked when everyone was seated.

“We have been talking with your old parole office and investigating your situation. We found several things in both your cases that have been seriously mishandled in your parole. Granted you are both off parole, but Snow Heart is still free on several conditions,” Dew Doe explained. The couple just nodded. “You are both still unemployed I understand?”

“Yes,” Snow Heart sighed.

“Yeah, that’s one of the things that were seriously mishandled. The local council here is required to assist you in getting jobs. Also, we found little evidence that there were protests over either of you being housed in other cities. It seems to us that the ponies handling your case just wanted to dump you off in Hoofington and forget all about you,” the blue pegasus continued. Snow Heart and Tango frowned and briefly glanced at each other.

“But never fear, we are here!” Foxy declared before smirking. “After some more investigation and actually talking to certain ponies that do know you, we are prepared to have you moved and even have jobs lined up for you.”

“Wait what?” Snow Heart blinked in confusion.

“Yes uh, one Parasol, Mulberry, Filthy Rich and Major Mare have vouched for you and Princess Twilight Sparkle has given the strong impression that you can be moved to Ponyville and start anew there,” Dew Doe told them as she looked over some papers from her saddlebag.

This time Tango and Snow Heart were too stunned to even speak.

“But how can I move back to Ponyville?” Snow Heart asked once she was over the most surprise.

“Oh that’s easy. Just take the train,” Foxy smiled and grinned when Dew Doe elbowed her.

“I know it sound strange for you, but well…” Dew pulled out a very thick scroll from the saddle bags and gave it to the couple. “Princess Twilight went around and asked ponies if they were against or for the two of you coming back. She asked those who wanted you to come back to sign. It has over two hundred signatures.”

“Over two hundred but, Ponyville has… just over two hundred…” Tango unfurled the scroll and was surprised to see so many familiar names immediately at the top of the list.

“They want us back even after what I did?” Snow Heart blinked.

“Eh, from what I hear, they said others did worse to them. Something about at least you didn’t try and take over the town or make it into chaos capital and such,” Foxy Stripes shrugged before resuming her grin. “So what do you say? Ponyville?”

“I guess we are going back to Ponyville.” Tango looked at Snow Heart who actually smiled genuinely for the first time in ages.

“Parasol wants me back,” she whispered. On top of the scroll was Parasol’s name.

End chapter 14

Epilogue. Silver Axe's master.

Epilogue

Somewhere.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Caballeron shouted as he still struggled in the legs of Silver Axe who had been flying with him for a long time by now. The large pegasus ignored him and just kept on course.

The earth pony then finally noticed how high up they were and that they were surrounded by snowy mountain peaks. He immediately stopped struggling when he realized that if the pegasus did as he had demanded, he would be plummeting to his doom.

“Where are you taking me?” he asked. Still no answer.

The stallion sighed, cursing his luck. He had been so close to trapping Barricade, only for this strange pony to suddenly burst into the building, swoop him up with some kind of shadow magic and fly off with him. He started to look around and actually began recognizing some of the peaks.

“Wait a minute, we are dangerously close to Mountain Goat lands. They don’t like trespassers. Are you insane?” Caballeron asked, but still got no answers. Then he noticed that the Pegasus was descending towards a mountain.

Caballeron arched his brow when seeing a fort built on the side of a cliff. The only entrance to it was built right in front of a sheer, deadly drop to the unseen ground below. The pony didn’t like this - the Pegasus was now flying straight for the fort at top speed.

“Uh, slow down, slow down, you idiot!” the archeologist screamed as they continued to barrel towards the fort.

At the very last second the door swung open and they flew right into a pitch black room. Caballeron was still screaming as he was unceremoniously dropped to the hard stone floor. The only illumination was a light source that shone a lamp light straight down on him. Everything outside that light was completely black.

“Uh… hello?” Caballeron slowly rose up. The pegasus was gone, the door behind him had been shut closed and for the first time now the pony noticed that the darkness all around him seemed to be moving.

“Ah, Caballeron. Finally we meet,” a dark voice addressed him.

The stallion frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about, we have met. You carried me here before nearly braining me on that door,” he protested. There was a soft dark chuckle all around him.

“Ah no, you met my puppet, who I spoke through. He’s been useful, but he does draw attention, being an escaped fugitive, so he is not much use to me now,” the voice explained.

Caballeron glanced to his right when hearing a thud, like something heavy had suddenly dropped down. Then there was a metallic clang. It came closer, sounding like hooves clad in armor. The stallion looked forward and had to look up as a large unicorn stepped out of the darkness in front of him. A red cape adorned his back, his chest and legs were clad in steel armor, on his black-maned head rested a spiky crown and producing from the forehead was a red, curved horn. The eyes were red and intent as they stared grimly down at the archeologist.

“Who are you?” Caballeron asked, confused.

The pony didn’t respond. His horn started to glow red and suddenly a large bag full of bits dropped down in front of the archeologist. Caballeron looked down. For a moment he was almost full of glee at seeing so much money, but came to his senses and looked up at the unicorn.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“The amount of money in this bag is worth the same as you would get for any artifacts the archeologists Mirage Rock and Hard Shovel have dug up. I’m offering you a deal,” the unicorn stated flatly. “You take this bag and from now on, you leave Barricade and his family alone. Forever.”

Caballeron looked at the bag. It was certainly a lot of money, however, his greed told him that it would only last for so long and he could still get much more.

“Why don’t you double the amount and I will consider it,” he said and put on his best business smile. It instantly disappeared when the unicorn’s eyes turned green and the muzzle twisted into a sneer.

“I suggest you take my first offer,” the unicorn snarled, looming now over the earth pony with a murderous glint in his eyes. “I’m giving you a chance to come out of this meeting, Caballeron, with your pitiful heart still beating in your sorry carcass.

“Barricade and his family have a lineage to the dark ponies buried deep within them. Know this, I am King Sombra, the last of the dark ponies and the sole living heir to the Dark Pony Empire. They and all ponies who have ancestry to my race are as good as my subjects and I will protect my subjects just as much as the Celestial Sisters protect theirs,” the large stallion growled. Shadowy tendrils began inching towards the archeologist.

“I will not have a sniveling worm like you interfere with those that are mine. I would have been content with having Barricade beat the living snot out of you, but then you just had to say you were going after his brother if his daughter was not enough to threaten him.”

The shadow tendrils grabbed Caballaron from all directions and the shaking pony was violently ripped up from the floor to be at the same level as King Sombra’s eyes.

“Private Iceland is mine! I will not have anypony touch a single hair on him! Especially a bug like you who thinks he is so big when in truth he is nothing. You are barely worth a microsecond of my time.” King Sombra then slammed Caballeron to the ground, releasing him from the tendrils. “Now, I will say it once more. You take this bag and from now on you leave Barricade and his family alone. Forever.”

Shaking in fear, Caballeron quickly grabbed the bag with his front legs before looking up at the shadow king with a nervous grin.

“Barricade who? I’ve never heard of any Barricade or Mirage Rock or Hard Shovel or whatever their names are. Yes, this will be fine,” he said in a high-pitched tone of voice.

“Smart answer,” Sombra growled darkly, suddenly smoke and shadow consumed the frightened earth pony as the king teleported him back to Equestria.

Sombra then glanced to his left, two pairs of completely blue eyes were staring at him from one dark corner.

“Take Silver Axe back to the institution you found him in for me. Give my regards to your queen and thank her again for her assistance,” he retorted.

There were some buzzing noises from the eyes before they disappeared. Briefly the door to the fort opened and two dark shapes flew through it, carrying an unconscious Silver Axe. When the door closed, Sombra dropped his frown and smiled.

“Well then, time to sit back and wait for the appropriate time to enact my plan.”

Outside the fort a dark laughter could be heard echoing amongst the snowy peaks.

The End