Chapter Seven:
Manehatten
It was at around 11:00 am when the Mane Six had their first glimpse of an automobile. They had just left the small forest area they had spent the night in and had ended up in a small, nameless town that was basically just a store and... something called a gas station which they had never seen before with the exception of Rarity, who had recognized the town as one of the carriage stops where the charter carriage she would take whenever she went to Manehatten usually pulled over at to allow ponies to stretch their legs and get something to eat, or to fuel up their cars, which she explained was what the gas station was for. She didn't know much about how these cars worked, she just knew that there would be a lot of them in Manehatten, and that they would probably start catching glimpses of them as they got closer to the city. At the moment though, the young mares were more interested in tossing their gross old food from the day before and buying themselves some quality eats then they were about seeing a car.
Twilight stepped out of the store after making her purchases, counting what remained of her bits.
"Fifty," she muttered to herself. "Hope the others brought more than me."
It was at that point that she heard a low rumbling sound unlike any she had heard before. It was coming from just up the road, and it was getting louder by the second. The others seemed equally curious about this noise with the exception once again being Rarity, she knew what it was. Seconds later a large metallic and almost animal-looking contraption came hurling down the street, going at least forty five miles an hour. The only thing Twilight had seen that was faster than whatever this thing was was Rainbow Dash, and right now even she looked amazed at the speeding object. Through a window in the left side, an earth stallion could be seen with both forehooves gripping what looked like a round wheel.
"I-is that...' Twilight started in amazement.
"A car? Yes, Twilight, that is a car." Rarity said rather dully.
"Daaayyyom," Rainbow Dash said. "That guy's haulin' ass."
"I'll say," Rarity muttered. She then took a step towards the speeding vehicle and shouted: "IT'S UNDER TWENTY FIVE IN TOWNS, YOU IMBECILE!"
The driver made no indication that he heard her. He sped on out of what could loosely be called a town and off into the distance, the six ponies watching until it was out of sight.
"Gotta admit, them things sure do look handy," Applejack said after a while.
"They look fun!" Pinkie Pie cried out in joy. "I wish I had one! Can you imagine speeding through Ponyville in one of those things? That'd be super super uber funeriffic! Everypony'd be all diving out of the way and stuff, it'd be sooooo funny! Maybe I'll buy one with the bits I get! I can give to Mr. and Mrs. Cake! That would show them how much I care for them! And they'd no how sorry I am for being such a naughty little pony and messing up that wedding cake and-"
"Pinks," Dash cut in. "I think we get it, they're really neat." She paused to think for a moment. "Guess I wouldn't have much use for one, though, me bein' able to fly real fast and all. Still, I wouldn't mind trying one out sometime. What about you, Shy? Think you can handle one of those babies?"
Fluttershy looked deeply concerned.
"Well, um... they look kind of dangerous..." she murmured.
"They look kinda pointless is more like it," Twilight said bitterly. "Honestly what's wrong with just walking or taking a carriage? Everypony's in such a hurry these days. Besides, something about those cars just doesn't sit well with me. I don't know what it is, but they just seem like they're going to be more of a problem for Equestria than a they will be a help of some kind. I mean, did you see that black smokey stuff coming out the back of it? That can't be good for the air we breathe. I'll have to write Celestia about that and-" she stooped there. She forgot that she no longer considered herself on speaking terms with her former mentor. "Ah... actually, scratch that. If cars end up becoming the next major mode of transportation in Equestria, then so be it. I won't complain. I don't think I have it in me to complain anymore."
Her friends just nodded and shrugged. Whatever would happen would happen. They really seemed to have developed a knack for that attitude recently.
"Well, whatever the case, I can guarantee you that we'll be seeing much more of these contraptions the closer we get to Manehatten," Rarity said.
That was actually a fairly comforting thought. Now at least they had a way of knowing how close they were to their destination. They continued onward, spirits significantly higher than they had been the day before. They had even managed to bury the thoughts of their miserable excuses for parents far back in their subconscious'... for now at least.
By 2:00 pm that day, carriages were no more. Now just about every minute that passed was accompanied by a car heading either to or from the now nearby Manehatten. By this point, the Mane Six were now forced to walking a few feet to the side of the road due to the abundance of automobiles. There was temptation to hitch a ride with one of them, but Rarity had warned them that hitch-hiking was dangerous. For all they knew one of those drivers could've been a rapist or undetected serial killer. It was better to play it safe and just stick to walking, no matter how tiring it got.
"Remind me again why we decided to walk?" Rainbow Dash said in annoyance. The rough terrain on the side of the road was shredding her hooves, and she was sure that she had slept wrong on one of her wings, because she couldn't get off the ground for more than a few seconds with out being hit by a strike of pain across it.
"Because you didn't feel like flying us over," Twilight began. "We didn't feel like paying for the charter carriage, I can't teleport somewhere I've never been, and the balloon is-" she stopped abruptly, a look of dawning horror spread across her face.
"What?" Applejack urged. "What about the balloon?"
Twilight didn't answer. Her mouth hung agape and her eye twitched almost comically. Slowly, her friends began to realize what she was thinking.
"Twilight," Rarity began in a slightly shaky voice. "Please tell me that there was something wrong with the balloon, and that was why you didn't suggest we take it. Please tell me we didn't just spend nearly three days walking all the way from Ponyville to Manehatten when we could've taken the balloon."
Twilight once again said nothing, but the look she retained on her face said it all, and one by one her friends began to groan in frustration.
"You gotta be fuckin' shitting me, Twilight!" Dash shouted at her. "How could you not have thought of the balloon?"
"I-I...I," Twilight sputtered. "I remember thinking about it that day. I didn't want to haul it out to go get Rainbow Dash when I was gathering you for that chat in the Everfree forest. I guess I must've... sorta... kinda... subconsciously crossed it off in my mind at that point." She went quiet for a moment, taking in the shocked, enraged, and -in the case of Pinkie Pie- stupidly grinning faces of her friends. Even Fluttershy looked pissed, and it took a special effort to get that kind of reaction out of her. Twilight then managed to let out the only word that seemed appropriate for this moment: "Whoops."
Rainbow Dash charged at her, roaring with rage. Twilight jumped back in fear and braced herself for serious blow, but Applejack quickly cut in front of her and held the enraged pegasus back. Dash spluttered obscenities unlike any she had used before. It was getting to the point where she wasn't even saying coherent sentences anymore; it was all just one swear after another. If Rarity hadn't been so enraged as well, she probably would've fainted. But as it was she agreed with just about everything Dash was saying. Applejack, meanwhile, in spite of how annoyed she was at Twilight, was doing all she could to keep the scene from getting any uglier.
"Dash, you knock this off right now!" she yelled.
"FUCK THAT!" Dash roared. "IMMA FUCKIN' RIP HER HEAD OFF! WE WALKED FOR THREE FUCKIN' DAYS IN THIS SHIT, DODGING CARS AND CARRIAGES AND CRAZED, FUCKIN' BACKWOODS HICKS, AND NOW SHE TELLS ME WE COULD'VE TAKEN THE FUCKIN' BALLOON? I'M GONNA-"
"YER GONNA SIMMER DOWN AN' SHUT THE FUCK UP! THAT'S WHAT YER GOIN' DO!" Applejack screamed right into Dash's ear.
Dash struggled a little while longer, then slowly began to grow tired. Soon she was just breathing heavily, still muttering "fuck" and "bitch" every so often.
"Dash, I'm sorry!" Twilight apologized, her eyes starting to well up. "I just wasn't thinking properly! I was so afraid that whole day of what you guys were going to think of me for suggesting this whole bank heist thing! Please don't be mad at me, Dash! I'm really sorry!"
Dash snorted and turned away from her teary eyed friend. Twilight stepped up to say more to her, but she was cut off by Fluttershy, whose expression of fury was profoundly disturbing.
"Twilight, Angel is dying for Celestia's sake!" She said in a voice that wasn't quite a shout, but was louder than her usual muttering. "I don't have much time to save him! I'm starting to wish I had just flown here, that way Dash and I could've maybe gotten a head start while we waited for the rest of you! It probably would've only taken a day for the balloon to get here! We 'could've saved so much time!" He enraged expression suddenly melted to shock and horror. "Wh-what if he's dead right now? What if if Big Macintosh forgot to check up on him? Oh-oh my poor little Angel! I-I gotta-"
"Big Mac wouldn't ferget somthin' like that!" Applejack shouted in defense of her brother. "He's a real dependable pony, and Ah swear he won' let ya down, Shy!" She then turned to Twilight, doing her best to contain her own anger. "Twi, ah'm tryin' ta be civil here but... this whole thing is really startin' to feel like a waste o' time!"
"I-I know, guys! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" Twilight pleaded.
Nopony said anything. Dash's muttering had ceased, but the look of contempt on her face was as prevalent as ever. One by one the lavender unicorn gazed over the expressions of her friends, hoping at least one of them had calmed down a bit, and one by one she saw that they were more pissed off than she had ever seen them. Pinkie Pie was once again the sole exception; she looked rather confused, and even a little bit frightened.
"I... I thought we were havin' fun walking," she said quietly, receiving some annoyed groans in return.
"You must've mistaken my expression of pain and misery for joy," Rarity grumbled.
"Look, guys," Twilight started. "We're almost there; we're too close to lose ourselves to anger now. Can't we just keep happy thoughts in out heads and just push onward?"
None of Twilights friends seemed at all motivated by Twilights words. Rarity shook her head, rolled her eyes and continued up the the road. She had no words that could properly express how angry she was. Dash had pretty much said it all for her. The rainbow-maned pegasus herself had taken off up the road along with her.
"I'm not saying a word to anypony until we get there," she muttered. "I honestly have nothing to say to you guys right now."
"Real mature, Dash," Applejack sneered. She then turned back to her unicorn friend. "Twi, Ah'm not mad at you, Ah'm mad at the situation. This whole thing is jus' so... nuts. Ah ain't sworn like that in Celestia knows how long. Ah... Ah'll stick with ya fer now, but... this has just really put a damper on mah day, an' Ah wasn't in particularily cheery mood ta begin with."
The farm pony then took off up the road after the others. Twilight then turned to Fluttershy, hoping that she had retracted to her usual timid self. Unfortunately, the look shy pegasus gave her was still full of frustration. She turned and headed off after the others without a word.
Finally, the young unicorn turned to Pinkie Pie, and she was somewhat relieved to see that the party pony still appeared to be more confused than angry.
"I was having a fun time walking with you girls," Pinkie said quietly.
Twilight sighed and placed a foreleg around Pinkie's neck.
"Thanks for being so understanding, Pinkie," she said. "And I really am sorry for everything. If I could go back in time and convince myself to take the balloon, then I'd..." Twilight was just too downtrodden to speak anymore.
Pinkie placed her muzzle under Twilights chin and lifted it gently.
"Stay positive for me, kay?" she asked with a small grin.
"I'll try," Twilight replied reassuringly, smiling a bit as well. "Let's keep going; we're almost there."
The two then took off up the road after the others. Pinkie could've easily just bounded on up the road, leaving Twilight to lag behind her, but instead she chose to stay right by Twilights side, gently nuzzling her as she walked. Twilight was deeply grateful for the earth pony's comfort; it made her forget that for one brief moment she was genuinely afraid of her friends. The rage and frustration that had shown in there eyes had reached levels unlike any she had ever seen from them. Then there was the fact that they were about to enter a heavily populated city, and these six ponies had abilities that far exceeded what most other ponies were capable of.
Celestia help that city. Twilight thought to herself.
It was around 6:30 pm and the sky was growing a golden orange when the Mane Six were standing at the slope of a large hill, looking down on the massive, bustling city of Manehatten. Massive was an understatement... this city shattered the very definition of the word "epic." The city had indeed grown since Applejack had been there; she barely even recognized it. With the exception of Rarity, the ponies all gazed in awe and wonderment at the sprawling metropolis. It made Twilights jaw drop in a way that even Canterlot could never do.
Mammoth grey and black skyscrapers lined the landscape for miles and miles and miles, glistening and shimering in the glowing sunlight. Smaller box shaped buildings, some with large cement spires jutting out of of the roofs and spewing black smoke into the air filled in the gaps between them, making the city seem so dense it looked more like a solid wall. The road leading into the massive forest of buildings was nothing but a mesh of cars, trucks, and occasional carriages slowly edging their way inward. A similar scene accompanied the road leading outwards. Loud honks and shouting permeated from the cars, making the young mares jump in surprise from time to time. Whenever the line of cars would move, small excesses of dirty black exhaust would waft upwards and drift over into the faces six ponies, almost as if these traces of smoke had minds of their own.
Coughing and sputtering at the disgusting pollution surrounding still wasn't enough to dissuade them from taking their their eyes off the architectural achievement before them. As Twilight finally manged to tear her eyes away from Manehatten, she saw that her friends -with the exception of Rarity- looked as though they had forgotten the whole balloon debacle earlier that day. Their faces were so filled with rapt awe that it was likely they wouldn't even mention their previous argument ever again.
Rarity, while somewhat amused by the slack-jawed looks her friends had, figured she had to do something to get their attention back on the task at hand.
"Well, shall we?" She urged.
"Rarity, this place is amazing!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "You come here every year?"
"I certainly do," Rarity answered. "And believe me when I say it loses it's charm after about thirty seconds."
"Well what are we waiting for, girls? Let's take Manehatten!" Pinkie gleefully announced as she bounded down the hill. The others followed slowly after her, their expressions of awe beginning to fade a little, giving way to fear and apprehension as they drew nearer to the imposing city.
Rarity had not been kidding when she said Manehatten would lose its charm relatively quickly. Once the group was within the city limits, Manehatten was less an awe-inspiring eyesore and more of an intimidating monster. It felt like they were within the bowels of some sort of living breathing creature, and everything within it was struggling for life. The sidewalks stuffed to the edges with ponies trying to squeeze past each other, creating a feeling of claustrophobia unlike any the virgins to Manehatten had ever experienced. They had to keep moving or one of them would surely collapse. The streets, which now cut between buildings like a maze, were as packed with cars and carriages as ever. Where they intersected were tall aluminum poles which jutted out of the sidewalks and extended out over the street. Hanging from the ends were vertical yellow metallic boxes which had three different colored lights protruding from them, the top red one currently glowing. Every once in a while the glowing light would change to the bottom green one, and the cars facing that particular light would being moving.
It was a strange system, unlike any Twilight had seen before. She assumed that whatever light was glowing indicated what the cars facing it were supposed to do. It was a just a theory, and she supposed she could ask Rarity if she knew what they were for, but she wasn't really interested enough to bother her for that bit of info at that time. For now all she wanted was to get to a nice open area where she could think and breathe properly, as well as get her friends together on what they were to do next.
They continued on through the crowded sidewalk, bumping shoulders with passing ponies, garnering a few "watch where you're going"s and various other rude statements and profanities. Looking straight up, the tall foreboding sky-scrapers gave an almost box canyon like feel, like they were trapped at the bottom of some massive crevice with no hope of getting out. Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, and she had a look in her eye like she just wanted to take off straight up into the air and never come back down. And indeed the pegasus did lift herself off the ground for a few seconds only to come stumbling back to the ground, grimacing in pain and rubbing the base of her right wing with her forehoof.
After about twenty minutes of shuffling there way through some of the most crotchety ponies they had ever seen, the crowd started to thin a bit as they turned to enter the random buildings that lined the streets. Eventually they came to a street corner that was fairly unoccupied. The young mares all seemed to get the same idea and formed a tight-knit circle right there. They all leaned in close to each other to make sure no passing ponies could hear what they were saying. Twilight once again made sure to gage the expressions her friends were showing to make sure she didn't say something that could be taken as inappropriate by them. Right now, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all seemed physically shaken. Even though Dash was trying to hide it, she was clearly intimidated by this cold and uncaring city. Rarity looked rather unphased; she had obviously grown accustomed to this. Pinkie Pie, however, was still grinning stupidly at everything, as though she were still totally entranced by the city's mammoth scale.
It was a mixed bag of emotions, and Twilight had to say something to get the ball rolling. She decided to open with something in a more positive vain.
"Well, here we are!" She said with a nervous smile and giggle.
Nopony - with the exception of Pinkie- smiled or giggled back.
"Oh, gee thanks, Twi, I never would've figured that out," Dash grumbled sarcastically, still rubbing her sore wing.
"I-Is your wing alright, Dash?" Twilight asked with genuine concern.
"Fuck yourself, Twilight," Dash replied in a mock cheery tone.
Twilight sighed sadly. The balloon incident had not been forgotten. The fact that Applejack and Rarity hadn't jumped stepped in to scold Dash for her immaturity suggested that they just didn't care anymore. Still, she had to push onward.
"Alright then," she began, trying to ignore Dash's scathing glare. "I know it wasn't easy, but we're here now, we made it. That's one stage of our journey completed. Now we need to find a place to hold up while we plan out our next moves. We can't afford any hotels, so we're gonna have to squat somewhere. Rarity, do you know about any abandoned buildings or factories around here?"
The fashion pony thought for a moment.
"Well, to the east is the more... unfortunate side of town. There may very well be some old tenements we could hide out in. B-but those buildings are rather dangerous, not to mention brimming with filth and decay, and... oh, I just don't think I could manage." Suddenly she perked up and turned to the farm pony next to her. "Applejack, dear, didn't you once mention that you had family here?"
"Yeah, mah aunt n' uncle," AJ said. "But Ah ain't heard from them in a while. Ah dunno if they still live in the same area of the city, or if they even still live in the city at all. 'Sides, don't it'd be wise fer us to hunker down with 'em considerin' what we're plannin'. Wouldn't wanna get them involved, they're descent folk."
Rarity sighed in defeat.
"Then I suppose we could just continue eastward and see what we can find," she said.
"Hooray, more walking," Dash moaned.
"I'd suggest taking a cab, but I don't think there are any in this city that will fit all of us inside, and they can be somewhat costly," Rariry said.
"What's a cab?" Pinkie asked, still beaming away.
"I'll tell you some other time," Rarity replied, know that with Pinkie one question would soon become several.
"Alright," Twilight said as confidently as she could. "Lead the way, Rarity."
With that, the group continued onwards, their weariness and misery growing with each step. It was when they passed through a much more open, brightly lit and colorful part of the city that their spirits lifted a bit. The buildings all around them shimmered and glimmered with with thousands of light bulbs all blinking in unison, spelling out the names of the hottest new plays and musicals. In the center of the sparkling display was a massive video screen flashing advertisements for the latest fashion crazes and soft drinks.
Pinkie Pie's eyes went wide with jubilation and her face was nearly split in half with how massive her grin was. Twilight caught a glimpse of it, and couldn't contain a small laugh. It was just another bright moment in an otherwise dark situation.
However, the brightness lasted only a short while. Soon the six ponies were in the worst part of Manehatten they had seen yet. Nothing but derelict factories and shoddy apartments surrounded them. The ponies in this part of town were significantly harder on the eyes as well. They were as craggy and decrepit as the buildings around them, and they all seemed to wear permanent scowls on their faces. Their most distinguishing feature was actually something that they lacked: cutie marks. Not a single pony here had one. That was never a good sign for older ponies. Twilight and her friends just did what they could to avoid eye-contact and moved swiftly down the streets, looking for any place that could serve as useful for their plans.
Steadily, they were beginning to lose hope. None of the buildings here could possibly work for them. Most were amazingly still occupied, the rest were simply too unsafe to enter. It appeared as if the slightest jolt would send some of these buildings tumbling to the ground. It was growing dark out by the time Twilight was ready to announce that they try elsewhere.
"Girls," she said breathlessly. "None of these buildings are going to work for us. It's just not worth the risk to hold up in one of these death traps. Where else should we try, Rarity?"
Once again Rarity took some time to think.
"The docks down by the river might work," she suggested. "There are a lot of warehouses and wharfs located there. Chances are one of them might be abandoned. I think it would be significantly more stable than any of these buildings."
"I hope you're right," Twilight said with a sigh. "Let's take a look."
The group once again followed Rarity, who couldn't have been more relieved to get out of that part of town. She only heard about this area of town; until this point she had never been there personally. She wished she could've kept it that way.
"I'm so tired..." Fluttershy whispered, her head hanging low.
Twilight moved into to comfort her friend, but the pegasus shrugged away from her, still not over the events of that afternoon.
It had become very late at night when the six mares were trotting along the side Manehattens filthy, nameless river. It wasn't so much a river as it was a small stretch of water that flowed only a about a dozen miles from a lake north of Manehatten into another lake south of the city. On the other side of the "river" was another smaller section of the city that soon gave way to natural landscape again. Out in the distance of the body of water was a massive green statue of a mare lifting a torch high above her head, representing freedom or liberty or independence or friendship... or something along those lines.
The ponies scanned the many sets of docks that jutted out into the water. Some contained nothing more that a few small food stands, others were completely baron. One held a giant amusement park, which was closed for maintenance, much to Pinkie's disappointment. Once in a while they would see what appeared to be a factory, but it always had lights on, indicating that it was still in use. It wasn't until they got down to the very last dock that they saw a large dark building sitting at the end of it. It was definitely a warehouse of some kind, and the six ponies were drawn to it almost like moths to light.
"Please tell me it's abandoned, please tell me it's abandoned, please tell me it's abandoned," Dash repeated over and over again.
The closer they got, the more they were able to make out the exterior facade of the building. It was made up of rigid sheet metal and had long strip of glass windows encircled the upper portion of it. Now they were certain this was some kind of warehouse. But was it abandoned? A sign on the front of a metal door reading Condemned answered that question, and for the first time in a long while, hope entered the hearts of the Mane Six.
"Well, how about it, girls?" Twilight asked as they gathered apprehensively around the outside of the door.
"Might as well," Applejack said.
"Looks good to me," Dash added.
"I guess," Fluttershy mused.
"I suppose this will have to do," Rarity sighed.
"Let's do it!" Pinkie cheered.
It was settled.
"Alright," Twilight sighed. "Maybe one of us should take a peek inside first just to make one hundred percent sure it's unoccupied."
"Ah'll do it," Applejack offered.
The farmer stepped forward quietly pushed the door open. She stuck her head inside and looked around around for a few seconds. Her friends stared at her hopefully, praying that everything would be fine for them. She suddenly seemed to freeze, as if in terror, and she slowly backed out. The look on her face made their once hopeful hearts sink.
"We've got a problem," AJ said sadly. "There'r some stallions in there. They... look dangerous."
Immediately the others all forced their ways to the door. One by one they stuck their heads inside, and one by one they were met with a terrible sight. A group of six young stallions propped up on some large crates in the middle of the otherwise desolate warehouse. They did indeed look like trouble; their manes were shaved or done up in spikes. Some of them wore piercings through their noses and ears. But the most disturbing aspects of these ponies were what adorned their flanks: cutie marks. But these weren't genuine cutie marks, and there was nothing cute about them. These had been crudely carved in with knives by the looks of them. They formed the shapes of knives, guns, and rather crude renditions of the stallion genitalia. Each of them took turns spouting some kind of inane babble, relieving loud obnoxious roars of laughter from the others, who when then all take swigs from bottles of what appeared to be some kind of alcoholic beverage.
One by one the mares stepped back and turned to face each other. The expressions of defeat they all wore had never been more apparent than now. They looked as if they had just suffered the worst blow of all. Even Pinkie was no longer smiling.
"So now what?" Dash said, her voice raising.
"We... could try someplace else," Twilight suggested.
"I don't know any other places that would work for us," Rarity snapped, she was close to sobbing. "And... I-I don't want to walk anymore! I just can't take anymore walking!"
"W-well... maybe we could..." Twilight was at a loss for words.
Applejack stepped forward and shook her head.
"D-do ya'll think maybe we oughta just... go back home?" She whimpered. "W-we're in over our heads here."
"Fuck that!" Dash shouted in a hushed tone. "I didn't come all this way for nothing! I'm not quitting!"
"Oh yeah, you really suffered somthin' fierce, didn't ya?" Applejack shot at the cocky pegasus. 'Jus' couldn't keep yer hooves on the ground could ya? Felt like leavin' us in the dust a few times, didn't ya?"
"Get the fuck outta my face!" Dash spat back. "If Twilight had just remembered the fucking balloon you wouldn't have-"
"URGH!" Twilight groaned. 'Will you shut up about the fucking balloon? I said I was sorry several times now! Why can't you just-"
They were all suddenly cut off by a loud muffled scream. They turned to see that Fluttershy had buried her face into her forehooves and let rip with all she had. She continued on for a good twenty seconds before pulling her red tear-streaked face back out. Her sobbing immediately humbled the others, and they suddenly all felt deeply ashamed of themselves.
"I-I'm so scared," Fluttershy whimpered, burying her face again and crying even harder.
Pinkie Pie stepped up to the sweet young pegasus and gently wrapped a foreleg around her. She calmly hushed her and rocked her back and forth a bit. This went on for a few minutes before Rarity approached her sobbing friend and patted her as well.
"Do you want to go home, dear?" She asked.
Fluttershy shook her head resolutely.
"No, I want to save my Angel," she said confidently. "I want to go through with this."
Rarity sighed, then turned back to the others.
"What shall we do, Twilight?" She asked.
At that very moment something came over Twilight, something more powerful than she had ever felt before: pure, uncontrollable rage, moreso than she had ever felt before in her life. Seeing her friends reduced to this, to crying and whimpering, to being in such terrible physical and emotional pain, had awakened a monster within her. They weren't going home now, there was no chance of that whatsoever. They weren't leaving until they got what they wanted. She would make sure of that. Right now, what her friends needed was they proper pep talk, and she had a whopper of one lined up for them right then and there.
"We're staying in this warehouse," Twilight said calmly.
Her friends stared at her, confused.
"B-but what about..." Fluttershy started.
"We'll ask them to leave," Twilight continued.
"Ask them to leave?" Rarity gaped. "But... you saw how dangerous they looked! What if they-"
"If they refuse... we'll make them leave," Twilight said, her voice now barely able to contain the rage within her. "We didn't come all this way, suffer through countless trials and hardships, deal with horrible lack-luster parents, save Equestria on multiple occasions, and wind up getting fucked in the ass by fate... just so we could give up, turn around and go home with our tails between our legs!
"I know you're all angry with me about the whole balloon thing. Well I want you to take that rage you're feeling and direct it at THEM!" She pointed at the door. "We are NOT letting those punks in there stand in our way! We are NOT going to go quietly into the night! And we are NOT leaving this fucking city until we GET... WHAT... WE... CAME... HERE... FOR!"
That did it. One by one the expressions of fear and defeat her friends once wore slowly melted away to expressions of rage that matched what Twilight was feeling, maybe even surpassed it. Even Pinkie Pie was giving one of the most intimidating pouty faces she had ever shown.
"Yer Damned right, Twi!" Applejack exclaimed. "It ain't like us ta give up like this!"
"Here here, darling!" Rarity cried.
"I'll do it for Angel!" Fluttershy proclaimed.
"Let's gut these fucks!" Dash shouted, launching a forehoof in the air.
"IIIIIIIIIT'S PARTY TIME!" Pinkie cried, a deranged smile on her face.
Twilight launched a beam of light from her horn. A large bubble like force-field formed from it, surrounding the entire area before becoming invisible. It was a sound-proofing spell; nopony on the street nearby was going to want to hear what was about to go down in there. With a mighty buck, Applejack kicked open the warehouse door and the group made their way inside, gritting their teeth in psychotic rage, rage at everything around them, rage that was about to be unleashed on these unsuspecting punks in ways that they couldn't even begin to imagine. This was going to be messy...
Cliffhanger! Ha ha! Don't worry, I'll be quick with the next chapter, because in all honesty, the next one is the one I've been looking forward to writing the most!
One small thing I want to mention: I went back and added a couple of sentences to the last chapter regarding Rarity and Sweetie Belle. I know that in the show she was left with her because her parents were taking a vacation or something. The story I made up for them in this fanfic was just something I wanted to do for the sake of adding drama to the story. But apparently a reviewer took umbrage with the fact that I had taken some artistic liberty in that area. "Unnecessary and downright cheap grimdark" were his words. He wasn't really being a douchebag or anything, but his comment made me roll my eyes.
First of all, it's a story about the formerly good Mane Six losing themselves to anger and hatred, becoming downright sadistic and cruel (as the next chapter will illustrate). Of course it's going to contain grimdark elements, it's a grimdark story!
Second, sure the backstory I gave Rarity and Sweetie Belle was pretty dark and intense, but wasn't Rarity's selfless act of love kind of a bright spot that shined through it all? Because that was my intention.
Thirdly, I can't be the only person who's made some alterations to a movie or t.v shows universe for the sake of a fanfiction. If it creates better drama, then I don't think there's any reason why it shouldn't be done.
Seriously, back me up if you feel the same way I do. And a big thanks to all of you who were willing to accept my little contradiction to the MLP universe and just enjoy the story for what it is. Seriously, that guy was just one out of several hundred who have been reading this and favoriting and subscribing to it. I am very pleased with the support I have been given! Thank you all so much! Check back for more soon!
Update: the reviewer and I are on good terms now. Don't send him hate mail or anything. He's a good guy!