After Richie was done eating they headed for the train station and made the journey to Manehattan. Once they were there a nearby cop almost made a move to arrest Richie, until Twilight - who was actually wearing her crown - cut him off.
"Why- Princess Twilight Sparkle!" The cop gasped. "But...begging your pardon princess but what are you doing with a thief?"
"He's not a thief, and my friends and I are here to see that he gets justice." Twilight said firmly.
A.N. I figured that Twilight was never recognized as a princess in Manehattan before because she wasn't wearing her crown. I wouldn't be surprised if most Manehattanites believed that Princess Twilight would never make a public appearance without her crown. Especially since Celestia never does.
"Richie!"
Startled, everypony turned and saw Mr and Mrs. Orange head over to Twilight and her friends.
"What are you doing back darling, you know the police will put you in jail." Mrs. Orange said concernedly.
"I know, I only came back because some new friends of mine - including your niece - are here to prove my innocence." Richie smiled, glad to find out that the Oranges still cared about him.
"Oh good, we never did believe that you were the thief." Mr. Orange said haughtily. "The nerve of those reporters claiming that you were, that was why we didn't even want to see them."
"It wasn't their fault, Richie told us that his uncle framed him." Applejack said.
"What?" Mr and Mrs. Orange gasped.
"Oh I should have known, that pompous bit-pincher." Mrs. Orange frowned. "Obviously he wanted all of his brother's money for himself. Oh if there's anything we can do for you Richie darling, just name it."
"Actually, can you do us a favor and deliver this pardon from Princess Celestia to the nearest police headquarters for us?" Twilight asked. "We want to confront Richie's uncle as soon as possible."
"Of course Twilight." Uncle Orange smiled.
Surprised, Twilight turned to Applejack questioningly.
"Wrote them a letter sayin' that you prefer to be addressed without the princess title a while back." Applejack chuckled.
"Oh. Thank you Applejack." Twilight smiled. "Well everypony, we'd better get going."
"Indeed." Mrs. Orange agreed. "We hope to see you all soon after this matter is cleared up."
"I hope that too." Richie smiled.
All of them then left, the Oranges for police headquarters with the pardon and Twilight and her friends for Richie's old home.
Of course they had to take a few taxis there, because Richie and his parents had been so wealthy that they could afford a three-story house in Manehattan instead of one of those wealthy condos (let that sink in for a moment). Meaning of course that Richie's house was far away from the downtown shopping district.
However Richie had the taxi stop behind the house, which was possible because there was a street between it and the front yard of the next house due to the backyard being that huge.
"Don't want my uncle to see us coming, fortunately he wasn't as fond of nature as my parents were." Richie explained to the others.
He used his magic to create a path through the hedge, and the group sneakily followed Richie to one side of the house.
"Here's my secret entrance." Richie smiled before pushing back a bush a little and using his horn to open a hidden door in the wall.
"Way awesome." Rainbow Dash whispered with a smile.
"Thanks, I enjoyed playing pretend when I was a colt and one of my favorites was pretending to be a secret agent." Richie whispered with a smile back.
They then quietly started to walk through the secret passageways.
"Uh-oh...guys, my Pinkie Sense just told me that somepony is being hurt over there." Pinkie suddenly whispered, pointing down one passageway.
"But that way is the kitchen-" Richie's eyes widened and he hurried in the direction Pinkie pointed in.
The others followed him, and saw him use his magic to open a door into darkness. Richie went in, and in a moment the dark was replaced with light. They instantly saw that Richie was by a light switch, and that they were in a pantry. They could hear sounds of whipping.
"I have had enough of your stupid riddle!" A mean and gruff male voice said. "Tell me where the Family Vault is now!"
Looking upset, Richie opened the pantry door. Everypony else could see that the next room was a kitchen...and also saw a mean-looking dark brown unicorn cracking his whip at two Earth pony servants!
"No, because you don't deserve to find it!" The male servant, most-likely the butler, glared; he was tan with gray hair, similar to Mayor Mare except it most-likely was real instead of dyed.
"Why you insolent-!" The dark brown unicorn - no doubt Richie's Uncle Lawrence - prepared to actually strike the butler with his whip!
"No!" Richie suddenly cried, leaping in-between the two.
This caused Lawrence to strike Richie with the whip instead! Lawrence gaped as Twilight and her friends gasped.
"Richie!" The butler and the female servant - probably a cook - rushed over to him; the cook was light blue with white hair.
"Wha- How did you get here?" Lawrence demanded before turning to where Richie came from...and widening his eyes upon seeing Twilight and her friends. "Oh...Princess Twilight...uh..."
Before he could utter another syllable, Twilight used her magic to tie Lawrence up with his own whip. She then zapped Lawrence's horn so that he couldn't use his magic.
"Disgusting." Twilight glared at him. "Whipping innocent ponies like that."
"Indeed, you make me ashamed to be a unicorn." Rarity agreed, also glaring at Lawrence.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and even Pinkie glared at Lawrence as well before they all went over to Richie. He had a nasty gash in his side, but otherwise was fine.
"Oh Richie dear, I'm so sorry this happened." The cook petted his mane affectionately.
"Don't be, I'm just glad he didn't hurt either of you instead." Richie smiled.
"Even though it isn't good that you got hurt, it is good seeing you again." The butler smiled.
"Same...I missed you both."
"Um, sorry to interrupt but I think it'd be best to continue this where Richie will be more comfortable." Twilight said. "Don't worry about Lawrence, I took care of him."
The butler and cook nodded and let Twilight use her magic to levitate Richie to the living room where he could rest on a couch. Even though her study of medicine was somewhat limited Twilight was able to heal Richie enough to at least stop his bleeding. Rarity then donated a long ribbon from her suitcase to use as a temporary bandage.
"Everypony, this is Herbert Martingale and Diane Bridle. They were the butler and cook for my parents, and second parents for me." Richie introduced. "After my parents died they were the ones who took care of me."
Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash introduced themselves. Richie then quickly explained why he was back and why they came with him.
"So, what riddle was that meanie talking about?" Pinkie asked.
"It was a riddle Richard and Regina told us to tell Lawrence if he ever asked about the Family Vault. They didn't want Lawrence to find the vault until he could properly answer it." Herbert explained.
"Family Vault?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, my parents kept their most precious treasures in it." Richie explained.
"So what's the riddle?" Twilight asked.
"The vault is hidden behind the most valuable thing in the world." Diane said.
Confused, Twilight and her friends looked around trying to figure out what it could be. Applejack then noticed something: a large painting of Richard and Regina with a much younger Richie.
"Hey, I think I might have found it." She said, going over to the painting.
Herbert and Diane were stunned, while Richie opened his mouth slightly and then smiled.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"The most valuable thing in the world is family." Applejack smiled.
She pressed her hooves along the bottom of the frame, until she hit a button. The painting swung into a secret room.
"Heh, no wonder Lawrence couldn't figure it out." Twilight smirked.
"Way to go cuz!" Pinkie bounced.
"Aw, t'weren't nuttin'." Applejack rubbed the back of her head humbly.
Richie got up off the couch, and led the way into the room. He turned on a light, and paused for a second. Twilight and her friends looked in as well and were stunned but then touched. No gold, jewels, or even sacks of bits. Instead there were old toys, photo albums, books, baby things, and a few bowling trophies. They started going further into the room, and upon closer inspection Twilight and her friends saw that Richard and Regina had won the trophies together.
"Your parents loved bowling huh?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah. More of a baseball pony myself." Richie smiled before looking sad. "Didn't get much of a chance to play a real game though, closest I got was my dad hiring professionals coaching me."
"I understand your loneliness, I didn't get to really hang out with friends myself. Didn't even have my first slumber party until after I moved to Ponyville." Twilight said sympathetically. "It was mostly my fault though, I was too into my studies back then."
"Well, at least we have real friends now- Goldie!" Richie suddenly beamed and picked up a Golden Retriever plushie before hugging it. "Man I've missed you."
"Hid him in here back when your uncle insisted that you grow up, along with the rest of your old toys and books." Diane smiled.
"I know, I remember Herbert telling me one day after I came home from school." Richie smiled.
"How come they didn't wait until after you came home before moving everything here?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Lawrence was coming home from work early that day." Herbert explained.
"Oh."
"He's so cute." Pinkie giggled, patting Goldie on the head.
"Thanks, my parents got him for me one Hearth's Warming Eve." Richie smiled. "Always wanted a dog, but I was too young to have a real one for a pet at the time..."
Richie suddenly turned around, remembering that he had seen photo albums earlier. Emotional, he set Goldie down and went over to them. He opened the first one, filled with photos of his parents dating and getting married. Everypony else just sat or stood there silently, knowing that Richie was going through a lot of sadness and pain at the moment.
Then, Applejack slowly walked up to him. When she got closer she could see tears forming in his eyes. She sympathetically put a hoof on his shoulder.
"I know how you feel..." She said softly. "I lost my parents when I was a little filly...Apple Bloom was just a baby at the time."
Richie sniffled a bit.
"It isn't fair how good ponies sometimes die before-" Richie stopped because he had still been turning pages in the album, only to spot an envelope hidden amongst the pages. "Could it be...?" He actually started to smile a little, using his magic to lift up the envelope and take a sheet of paper out of it. "It's my parents will!" He gasped happily.
"Really? What does it say?" Rarity smiled.
"It says that I inherit the house, the business, everything, with Herbert and Diane acting as my guardians until I'm old enough to run everything by myself." Richie grinned.
Everypony else cheered, until there was a loud knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Herbert left; a few moments later: "Oh, hello officers. Can I help you?"
"Yes, we got a letter from Princess Celestia pardoning a Mr. Richie Fillyanthropy for thievery due to having been framed by his uncle Mr. Lawrence Fillyanthropy." One officer said. "We've come to take him in for questioning."
"You can easily pick him up now, I got him tied up in the kitchen." Princess Twilight showed herself to the officers.
Her friends, Richie, and Diane soon followed.
"Oh, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Another officer said as he and the two other cops there bowed. "Didn't know you were here."
"Never mind that." Twilight waved a hoof dismissively.
"So you said you had him tied up? He must have done something horrible." The first officer said.
"Very horrible."
Twilight quickly explained as Richie went back into the vault to grab the will and close the photo album.
"Right, we'll take him downtown." The first officer said. "Mr. Fillyanthropy, you are under arrest for framing your nephew for thievery and assaulting two innocent ponies."
Since he was still tied up, the officers merely levitated him towards the paddy wagon. Richie showed himself.
"Mr. Richie, I am glad to hear that you are innocent of thievery." The first officer smiled. "It sounds like you'll be taking over your home and family business."
"I was supposed to anyway, I found my parents will in one of their old photo albums." Richie smiled, levitating the will towards the officer.
The officer took it with his own magic and glanced it over.
"Looks legit to me." He said before handing it back. "Doesn't matter either way at this point though. Oh, be sure to stay here for a while. You'll be called in to court to press charges against your uncle."
"No problem, there are some changes I'd like to make regarding how my uncle ran things anyway." Richie replied. "For one thing, I want to see how the orphanage is doing."
"The orphanage? They ran into financial trouble again so your uncle shut it down a couple moons ago."
"I was afraid of that." Richie frowned. "I'd better get that taken care of first, the sooner the orphans get a roof over their heads the better."
"I agree. Well, I'd better help my partners escort Mr. Fillyanthropy to headquarters." The first officer left. "I'll see you later."