Gangs of Manehattan

When Starlight Glimmer had returned to Manehattan, the verbal smackdown she had laid on Fluttershy's colleagues truly had been something to behold! Seeing Spitfire, who'd been so brash and confident during her attempt at interrogation almost cower before Starlight's grasp and handling of paragraphs and law details! And, in the end, the police had to let Spike go. However, she didn't manage to get the planted evidence out of the equation just yet...

Sometime later, Spike had been 'invited' to a meeting with the district attorney, which is where he and Starlight were right now, while, in the club, the preparations for the day were being made, supervised by Tempest and Sunset.

Part of the staff were busy giving the club an extra polishing after the cleaning crew had done their work earlier, others were checking their stocks, and some others were taking a bit of a break before the evening. Applejack and Big Mac were carrying crates of booze into storage, Button Mash behind them with a keg of beer.

The two had just disappeared into the back, when the others heard Rumble's voice from the entrance! “Hey! We're not ope,-...” He was interrupted mid-sentence, followed by a groan of pain and the pegasus tumbling through the door way! Behind him, a bunch of burly, mean looking ponies entered. The non-action members of the staff hurried to get to safety.

Most of the group wore working clothes and wielded pipes and tools, maybe they were construction workers? At the head of the group was a blueish-grey earth pony stallion wearing a hard hat and... a brown earth pony that was, if that was possible, even taller and bulkier than Big Macintosh! He didn't wear a construction worker outfit. Instead, his clothes weren't too dissimilar to how Applejack and Big Mac dressed, at least when Mac wasn't wearing his bouncer outfit.

“What do you think of this place?” The tall one asked the one in the hard hat.

“Nice place, Trouble Shows. Would be a shame if somepony wrecked it,” he looked over the interior. “I mean, one good hit at one of those support beams of those walkways and they'd come crashing down!” As the stallion said that, two of his guys played with sledgehammers. “And that wall over there...” He shook his head in mock concern, “Doesn't look very stable...”

“What do we do?” Double Diamond hissed at Tempest, when he saw how one of the goons pinned Rumble to the floor.

“We really can't use any more attention right now!” The broken horn unicorn whispered back. “Spike's meeting with the DA right now!”

Sunset Shimmer took a few steps forward and glared at the intruders. “What do you guys want here? We ain't open yet!”

“We want you outta here!” The speaker told them gruffly. Their job was to make them want to leave. Since they were a somewhat famous club, they'd announce it, maybe even make public that they were looking for a new location. Then, Sombra would sweep in with a fair, even generous offer to buy the place, maybe even offer one of his own buildings. He'd be the generous benefactor, and, from what the boss had told them, the dragon would probably even believe it, and get the building he wanted.

“Hard Hat, let me talk.” They didn't worry about those amateurs knowing their names. They wouldn't meet each other again, unless those idiots were dumber than they looked. Not that “Trouble Shows” and “Hard Hat” actually were their real names, if anypony asked. They had earned those names in their years as muscle for Sombra. Trouble Shows certainly was trouble. For others.

He walked up to the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey standing on it. Sunset and the others watched as he opened it and drained it in a matter of moments! Then, he tossed the empty bottle into the shelf behind the bar, causing it, and a few of the other bottles, to splinter and booze to splatter around!

“Take this as a friendly warning...” Trouble Shoes growled! “We don't want a bunch of two bit players like you around here anymore...”

Tempest really was surprised! Apparently, those goons had no idea who they were! Whoever their boss was had to be some wannabe big wig! One of those guys that had gotten to a semi-decent position and now thought they could take everything he wanted! “And why, would we do that?” Sunset asked, apparently hypothetically.

“Because our boss wants you to piss off.” The huge earth pony replied in an evil, low, voice.

A little smile, unnoticed by the intruders, crept on Tempest's face as she let her jacket drop onto a bar stool. “And what if, theoretically, we would tell you to piss off?”

“Then, we will do this the hard way... Hard Hat! You know what to do.”

“Of course...” The construction worker grinned! Now came the fun part... “Lads! Wreck this place!” The moment he had given the order, one of his underlings slammed his sledgehammer through one of the tables, another one tossed a brick into some more bottles on the shelf and a third one smashed a lamp using his steel pipe.

This noise, however, finally got the attention of the ponies in the back! Or maybe they were coming back anyway and heard it when they were at the door! “What the fuck is going on here?!” Applejack shouted as the kicked the angrily opened the door! Button, Mac and her rushed into the main room...

For a few moments, Trouble Shows, Hard Hat and the others paused and stared at them.

With his captor distracted, Rumble managed to grab the telescopic baton he had in his back pocket! Before the other pony could react, the baton unfolded and the pegasus hit him across the forehead with it! He followed it up by pulling his legs to his chest and kicking with both of them against his opponent's chest!

The struck pony fell backwards, crashing against the opposite wall of the entrance! Rumble hurried to get back onto his hooves and, using his wings, rushed to the others!

Now that Rumble was save, Tempest allowed herself to grin more prominently. “We ain't gonna cower and run away, tail between our legs, because of some assholes that think they can just waltz in here and take over! We wouldn't have gotten to where we are if we did!” She proclaimed!

Trouble Shows looked at Big Macintosh. Younger, a bit smaller, a bit less buff, but probably the largest threat right now, much more so than the crippled unicorn that talked so big. It was telling that she began to talk back like this only after he showed up! “So, you really want it the hard way, huh? Well, don't say we didn't warn you and tried to settle this peacefully. All you had to do was to sell this heap of junk and piss off... But no... You have nobody to blame but yourselves when we're done with you!”

“Bring. It. On.” Tempest had said that, with Spike's situation right now, they should try to keep it down, but she'd be lying if she wasn't itching to teach those guys a lesson!

“Big words for a unicorn without a horn!” Hard Hat snarled! He pulled a wrench from a pocket, took aim... and threw it at Tempest!

Moments before it hit her on the head, she disintegrated it with a blast! “My horn is broken, yes,” She told him. “But that only means that I can't focus my magic. Not that I can't use magic at all!” Following this up, she delivered a gut punch to Trouble Shows!

To her surprise and displeasure, the large stallion barely flinched... That was a new one! Using her surprise, he lifted Tempest up like she was a little filly and flung her across the room! “What the fu-...” She managed to let out before she went airborne. The henchmen laughed as they saw the unicorn sail towards a wall!

Tempest Shadow hit a wall alright. But not one of stone, or plaster! She hit the wall that was Big Macintosh's chest! He caught her easily, and gently placed her back down on the floor.

Mac looked at Tempest. “Let me take care of him...” He told her.

She nodded. “You him. We the others... APPLEJACK! NIGHT GLIDER! FLASH! RUMBLE! EVERYPONY! LET'S THROW 'EM OUT!”

As the brawl began in earnest, Twilight Sky, Gabby, Clear Sky, Holly Dash, Flitter, Derpy and other non-combatants vaulted over the counter to get out of the fighting chaos that would unfold any moment now! They weren't fighters! And in any case, Twilight Sky and Derpy had daughters to care for! Meanwhile Sugar Belle was hurrying to remove the most valuable bottles from the shelf behind the bar.

One of the ponies had not jumped to safety let out a whistle as she watched Big Mac and Trouble Shoes locked into a test of strength, trying to push each other away! “If this wasn't such a serious situation, and the two were less clothed, maybe a little oiled up... that'd be kinda hot!” Cloud Chaser whispered, taking a swig from a bottle of rum that was standing next to her.

“Cloud Chaser!” Her sister gasped in exasperation from behind the counter! “Not the time!” Though Flitter couldn't help but quietly add: “But you're right...”

One of the fighters had noticed it as well, and he wasn't amused: “CLOUD CHASER!” Button called over! “STOP GAWKING!”

“Oh, right...,” she set down the bottle slightly embarrassed and joined the fray. “Sorry!”

A few hours later, Trouble Shoes was standing in front of Sombra's desk. Holding a bag of ice against his shoulder, he looked rather downtrodden. “I am sorry, sir.” He groaned. “They were stronger than we expected. Especially that big guy they had... And the one that I think is his sister...”

“So, you failed?” The boss' voice was an ominous, low rumble as he, lounged in his chair, looked at his underling from underneath his eyebrows.

“Unfortunately yes...” Trouble Shoes swallowed. By now, he'd been working for Sombra, or 'the Boss' as his men just called him most of the times, for many years. In fact, he had been one of the first he'd recruited. After Trouble had tried to rob him, which had ended with the earth pony getting beaten half to death! Since then, he had worked for him efficient and loyally, which had payed off very nicely. But he also knew about the potential price of failure... “I take full responsibility. I underestimated them...”

“Hmmph...” The intimidating unicorn grumbled, waving a hand dismissively. “If you say that they are strong, that means something.”

The earth pony let out a quiet breath he hadn't even realized he was holding in! “Thank you, sir.”

“We know each other for a long time now, Trouble Shoes, and I know that you usually deliver. You admitted that you underestimated them. You don't try to shift the blame. Counts for something in our business.” Indeed. More than one incompetent underling had experienced how much worse than failure was the unwillingness, the inability, to admit to it. From errors and mistakes, as long as they weren't too major, too foolish, too common, one could learn and improve. But if you couldn't admit that you made an error, you were bound to repeat it. And if you were bound to repeat it... you were a liability. And a stallion like Sombra had no use for liabilities. “Tell me what happened.”

The tall earth pony proceeded to so.

His chin resting on the back of his right hand, Sombra gave a small nod. “Where are Hard Hat and the others?”

“Getting patched up. He has to be back at a construction site the day after tomorrow and doesn't want it to be too visible. They might ask questions, especially since, I think, he said that there was some sort of official inspection.”

“Mhm... What do you think how I should proceed?”

Trouble Shoes shrugged. “We could get Mane-iac? She should probably be able to wipe the floor with those guys with that crazy mane of hers...”

“No!” The boss immediately shook his head! “She'd leave only corpses and a bloodbath! Even if her usual behavior would likely mean that the police wouldn't expect a planned hit, they most likely would scoop through the whole building!” And that would mean that they'd find the secret rooms! Maybe even the extra secret one... And if they found the entrance, they might get their hands on what HE wanted. Even if they weren't able to open it, they'd probably not sell it until they did. And any interest Sombra would show for the building would raise some suspicion!

The Mane-iac was one of the biggest mysteries, and greatest wild cards, of Manehattan's underworld. Sometimes working as a psycho for hire for others, her she usually acted on her own deranged and unpredictable whims. Even when working as a hired hand, these attributes of her could be as much of a boon as a drawback! Sometimes, it was as if she had a sixth sense for hiding places, opportunities and other things, other times, she decided to turn on her employer on a heartbeat because one of his muscle decided not to indulge her current interests.

This extended to her own crimes, and how she interacted with her victims, and crimes in general! One day, she'd let somepony barraging her with a whirlwind of cusses slide after a scared apology, with a gentle tap on the cheek and a “See? That wasn't that hard, was it? Now off you go!” Another time, she'd gut somepony for accidentally spilling some lemonade on her shoes. Even if they apologized. You never knew what mood one might find her in, which just made it worse...

“As of now, they probably think that you were sent by some low level wannabe gang boss, trying to muscle in.” Sombra continued. “If we pile on too much too quickly, they'll get suspicious. Let's wait, for now. We seem to have time.”

“Yes, boss.”

And, maybe, this ominous informant would provide again...