Manehatten Secrets of a CMC Filly (Bellosh101, Steel Eagle, & Riverhippo)

[SteelEagle]

Aye, only a single obstacle remained in the trio's quest to enter the shop and tear through its innards like Mexicolt food. They had gotten this far on the backs of the good work Babs and Valen had done while Remington lay passed out on his own back. or stomach. He alternated as the duo- mostly Babs- did the work of bringing him along. Hopefully the smell of pure heartland sugar would wake him up and energizing him for the rest of the day. Failing that, at the very least they'd get as much candy as could be physically brought along with the,. For medical reasons, of course. Important. Medical reasons. For Remington. Of course. And he was having a hankering for some sugar and the only answer was only a few feet in front of him, blocked off by a pegasus filly who wasn't buying what they were selling.

She ws rightfully concerned about their friend for all the wrong reasons and questioned their actions, which Valen supposed made sense. They were, after all, lying tremendously. The lie better work or else they'd get torn to shreds by the angry and hostile crowd- they were neither angry nor hostile, maybe just a little perturbed at most- who would most assuredly hold the high society colt responsible for all of this. Which he was. Partially. In any case, she fluttered next to Remington. That opened up the path to the door and Valen nodded towards Babs. Hopefully she'd take the position and plead their case with the shop owner as she seemed to better communicate with the ponies in this area while Valen pulled Remington over his body...with great, heaving effort.

"He is...hypoglycaemic...low...blood sugar needs some...sugar...closest place...here...oooh....oooh...he needs to lose some weight..." Valen offered, laughing weakly as he waited for the door to open mercifully and usher them into a land of treats and friendship.

[Bellosh]

"Hey, what's wrong with him? And why'd you bring him here if he's so sick?!"

"He is...hypoglycaemic...low...blood sugar needs some...sugar...closest place...here...oooh....oooh...he needs to lose some weight..."

And here, Babs Seed’s plan encountered its first snag. A little white pegasus girl sensed something amiss, as made obvious by her accusatory questions. Babs could have kept everything under control, but stupid Valen lost his cool, blabbering about complete nonsense. “You knucklehead!” Babs shouted in her cousin’s face; “Ya’ don’t lose weight by eatin' chocola-”

The goldenrod filly stopped herself from further talking, realizing just how she managed to apparently admit their guilt in cutting through line with a lie. Adopting a tone of humility, Babs quickly did what she could to assure that one filly that everything’s cool; “Look pal, try getting our friend here awake. It ain’t possible; da’ only thing ‘dat works is sugary stuff. If ya’ wanna’ help us out, help Rem here get inside the store.” Knowing how absurdly hard it was to get Remington to wake up from one of his sudden naps, Babs reasonably believed that the filly will realize the same thing, and so buy the new excuse hook, line, and sinker.

[Slazer]

“You knucklehead! Ya’ don’t lose weight by eatin' chocola-”

The filly harrumphed when the goldenrod foal, the apparent leader of the group, managed to admit their own guilt while berating one of her friends. She caught the flub easily- one did not manage school group projects and get good grades while not doing everything yourself without having a quick ear and quicker sense of group tension- but she was a bit surprised at how quickly the rather rude Manehattenite filly switched gears and started calmly explaining why they were trying to dupe the crowd. She was even more surprised to hear that the red pegasus on the ground- 'Rem', which she assumed was a nickname- was just napping!

"He's only asleep? There's no way..." The white pegasus said incredulously. She took a better look at him, noting how he was breathing alright, how he twitched a bit when she prodded him with her hoof; he seemed okay, just out cold. He just walked to the front of the candy store with his buddies and... fell asleep. "Huh. That's kinda cool, actually." She admitted.

She turned back to Babs and grinned; "Alright, I'll help you out. Might gimme a chance to practice my gossiping skills!" With that, the white filly fluttered back into the crowd and started speaking with a few of the foals swamping the store, nudging a little rumor about another nearby candy store offering free candy into the group. She wasn't counting on all of them to buy it and bail on the Emporium; just enough to create an opening for Rem's friends to get through.

[Hippo]

Princess Luna looked through the window into the doctor's office Remington was laying in. She looked and smiled. With a wide smirk, she giggled. But then she disappeared.

​

Remington only got a glimpse of Luna as he heard the giggle. But she disappeared before he could tell it was her to be sure. "Was that... Princess Luna!?"

Inside the room, the zebra doctors all talked quietly with one another, and after a short while they all looked at each other and nodded some more. The unfamiliar zebra started waving out the door. "Alright, clear the way, we got a pony who needs sugar here!" The red colt's eyes dilated. Remington knew he was dreaming, but about what, he wasn't sure.

​

[SteelEagle]

Valen loved his cousin. He really did. But sometimes he wondered if she was half as dumb as she sounded, because if that was the case Celestia help her. The fact she couldn't separate their story from the fact Valen was having trouble carrying Remington meant one of two things. The first was that she was simply very stupid. The second, and the one he personally supported due to his love for her, was that she was such an honest pony that the whole construct of lying put the kibosh on her brain. As she yelled at him, Valen finally had enough of her attitude. As his cousin disrespectfully bellowed at him he had to resist the urge to karate kick her across the whole world. It didn't help that by doing that she had revealed the truth of the situation, which made the whole charade relatively pointless. Uggh. You couldn't count on a filly sometimes, especially if she was aggressive as Babs. He then hip tossed Remington off of himself and on top of Babs.

"Babs, sometimes I don't think we're related. I was saying he was too heavy for me to carry, dumbtail. Are you sure that you're not a space alien?" Valen asked glumly before he sighed, facehoofing the whole while. Luckily, the pony in front of them didn't seem all that perturbed by the lies. Worked just as well for Valen that she was willing to help out, working her rumor magic with the crowd. A few ponies left and that was all they really needed in the first place, a silent note of congratulations being written in Valen's mind. He'd thank her once they were free and clear. Until then, a thousand things could prevent him from eating his candy and as long as such vile obstacles remained there could be no peace amongst the stars!...or the Manehattan CMC. After just a few short moments the path cleared and Valen eased his way front, hoof on the door as the time neared. Any minute and they would score big.

"Alright, we're almost there. As long as we aren't challenged to a dance off by some street wise dance group or a ballet squad, we should be fat and happy in just a few minutes!"

[Bellosh]

Amazingly enough, the kid proved willing to help out once she saw how Remington slept. Who ever felt those naps of this would actually benefit Manehattan’s Cutie Mark Crusaders? Maybe in time, Remy could figure out how to get into these sleeping trances at will, allowing for Babs & Company to convince ponies to let them cut through any sort of line. Just think of the possibilities!

Thanks to the other filly’s efforts, Babs Seed and her pals finally found enough gaps to squeeze through the Emporium’s front door to inside the establishment. What the little ponies saw was quite the peculiar sight: colts and fillies roaming the aisles for any candy they could find, the shelves more than half empty by now. Quickly, Babs came up with a game plan; “Alright Valen, get somethin’ to put whatevah candy you can find and take as much as ya’ can. I’ll join ya’ once Remy here wakes up.”

But before Babs did anything else, she remembered to show gratitude to the filly that helped them get in here faster; “‘Danks for helpin’ us out back ‘dare pal! My name’s Babs Seed by 'da way; what’s yours?”

[Slazer]

Crown Jewel brushed back her mane with a bright smile on her face as a few foals in the crowd bought the rumor and departed; she still had the magic, alright. She wondered for a brief moment if it was knightly to be manipulating a crowd like this. There was nothing wrong with spreading a few half-truths if it helped ponies, right? She felt Silver Ward would approve.

“‘Danks for helpin’ us out back ‘dare pal! My name’s Babs Seed by the way; what’s yours?”

Jewel was broken out of her thoughts by Babs' thanks and exchange of greetings, thick with that Manehattenite accent that the lady-to-be was already growing to associate with the foal. "I'm Jewel, Crown Jewel. A pleasure to make your acquaintance!" She replied with a smile.

[Hippo]

The zebra doctors carted Remington to a large white room, and then left him. Almost immediately as the door closed behind them, the lights turned off and a red indicator light started blinking in the corner of the room. The light, as it was the only one, lit up the entire room. And above Remington, a large mechanism started coming down towards his face, his body strapped to the bed unable to move. The mechanism looked like a large funnel. In fact, that's exactly what it was. And when it got to his face, the funnel was shoved into his mouth.

​

[SteelEagle]

Babs gave the order and Valen was prepared to see it through. Yes, she was a bossy little one who could cause more problems than she could solve with an attitude that mixed between explosive and defeated, often times within the same sentence. But there were times where before the bossy exterior took over she came up with brilliant plans. Plans so good they could be summed up in just three words: GET THE CANDY. Valen let go of their petty cousin struggles and snapped off a quick, impressive-enough-for-Valen salute. Of course, he wouldn't go alone- it wouldn't be safe nor prudent and besides it took a bit of harrunging to get to the higher places of the store unless you have wings. And wouldn't you know it, wouldn't you believe it, they had just such a guy! Valen heroically tossed Remington into a short tracked wooden cart and started pushing him down the aisle.

Along the way, Valen shoved tons and tons of candy into the cart, jumping over the cart itself or using it as a way to get positioned to reach higher. He would get a bit of speed and race down aisles while he jumped on top, clearing the way of competition and allowing him to grab candy after candy. After what seemed like forever but could only have been a minute or two, this great effort was seemingly taking its toll on the young lad who had by this time spent himself on his exuberance. He was slowing down. Slowing down but not out, not out by a long shot! The cart rolled to the fifth aisle and he saw it hanging at the top shelf out of reach- a box of Crunchy Dot Dittos, the craziest little snake this side of Unyasi. He couldn't reach it...but Remington could! Valen pulled his friend from under the pile of candy he had been under and started slapping the pegasus awake cartoonishly.

"Remington! Get up and go get those candies! Time to fly, buddy!" Valen yelled before , whether the pegasus was awake or not, he cocked back and threw the pegasus like a javelin towards the box of candies!

[Bellosh]

"I'm Jewel, Crown Jewel. A pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

Without the line to deal with, Babs Seed finally had time to get a good look at Crown Jewel, the filly who helped them out. The first thing Babs noticed at once was the lack of a certain special something on Crown’s flank; a cutie mark! “Hey!” the girl with the thick accent prepared to comment; “You’re a-”

"Remington! Get up and go get those candies! Time to fly, buddy!"

Miss Seed instantly turned around towards Valen, horrified to see him prepared to throw Remington at a high box of candy. “Valen wait-!” It was no use; the filly’s cousin threw all caution to the wind along with all of his pegasus. Gaah, Babs didn’t know if she could watch the catastrophe that was about to take place, and probably get them kicked out of the candy store. Thanks a lot, Valen Orange.....

[Slazer]

"Remington! Get up and go get those candies! Time to fly, buddy!"

Crown Jewel's jaw dropped as she spotted the rather scrawny orange foal, Valen if she overheard properly, lift his unconscious buddy and chuck him towards a box of candy on the top shelf like he was at the Equestrian Games. Even though Pegasi weren't the heaviest of the pony races by far, it was still a pretty impressive feat in Jewel's book. She was pondering how he was that strong when it finally caught up to her that Valen had chucked his buddy. Unconscious. Towards a box of candy on the top shelf.

"Oh sweet Celestia." Jewel murmured, and she could just feel all her hard work persuading the crowd to move swirl down the drain as the red pegasus flew unpowered through the store. Her first instinct was to bail before this became the inevitable disaster it was heading towards, but she forced herself to hold her ground; it was uncouth to leave ponies she helped hanging. She'd helped them get in here, and she'd help them get out. Nevertheless... "Got any plans for this, Miss Seed?"

Sorry about how long this has taken to get out. I've been... stressed.

[Hippo]

These zebra doctors were crazy. And whatever this dream was doing was putting a lifetime of fear into Remington concerning the striped equines. However, they did something nice and started dumping liquid chocolate into the funnel straight into his mouth. Well that was... tasty. And after a few satisfying seconds of forced deliciousness, the funnel was pulled off, and Remington was placed in a catapult. "Wait. What is this, why am I in here?" And Remington was suddenly launched into the air. For a second, the force of movement scared him, but then came the peaceful serenity of being placed in midair. He felt so free, and he flapped his wings as he wanted. And to his trajectory, he landed softly on a cloud, which sported all different kinds of candy boxes and bags of chocolate. Was this heaven? Had Remington died?

Consequently, Remington was tossed in the air and as he got to the top shelf where the box of candies Valen wanted was at, Remington knocked them off and sent them falling towards the cart in Valen's possession. Only one problem. Remington landed on the shelf.

​

[SteelEagle]

They were all ponies of doubt. Who could blame them? Their minds weren't filled with creative explosions that morphed into action. The world of candy demanded a certain degree of risk-taking to earn the sugary reward that followed. But for all of their words otherwise, ponies everywhere tended to doubt the risk-takers. They were all Equestrians and Equestria was an utopian society where risks were generally frowned upon. So he didn't blame them for not falling in line. But he also knew how this would play out. He would get an insane amount of candy and would take the biggest cut because he had taken the risk. Well, technically it had been Remington but he was asleep so the negotiations were very one-sided.

And it worked, mostly. Candy after candy was knocked down, the vast majority finding home. The most important landed square in the glorious basket of candy. A whole box of Crunchy Dot Dittos, all for him! This would be the best day ever in about five minutes. In his great and overwhelming generosity he would share a few with the fillies and a few with Remington in recognition of Remington's contributions to pony society this day. The only way this plan had not worked out wonderfully was that Remington had landed on the shelf. The shelf wobbled for a minute...but held firm. Remington was too small to tip the whole thing over, but the fella hadn't stopped moving yet. He rolled right off of the shelf towards Valen!

The colt braced for impact, all hooves on deck for this one lads! It didn't help matters much though. Remington fell and promptly half-squashed Valen like a bug, little birdies tweeting above Valen's spinning head as it popped out cartoonishly from beneath Remington.

"Just like I plaaaaaannnneeeeddddd," he moaned absentmindedly, smiling before lowering his head and getting KO's comedically.

[Bellosh]

Babs Seed’s mouth dropped in horror when the unconscious Remington promptly rolled off the shelf and squashed Valen Orange. She only had a split-moment to dig their way out of this situation before losing their own chance at candy. Fortunately, Babs was rather used to thinking on her hooves. “Hey, what are yah’ two twerps doin’ with our cart!?” she lied off the bat, convincingly acting indignant; “Go play your stupid games someplace else!”

Mischievously grinning at Crown Jewel to let her know that this was part of the plan, Babs rushed to unceremoniously toss Remington, and then Valen, out of the cart. Everything else she kept, and without further adieu, cantered to the check-out line with the goods. Assuming foal-aged customers and overworked adult employees weren’t the best at keeping track of everypony around, chances were high that Babs and Crown would not be identified as companions of the two colts.

Oh yeah, as the filly disposed of Valen, Babs made sure to stealthily snatch as much of her cousin’s bits as she could. They’d be needing all that money to pay for the treats. As if anticipating Crown’s objections over seemingly throwing the other two Crusaders under the bus, the East Side filly nonchalantly commented; “Meh... ‘dey would have wanted it ‘dis way.” Candy was all that mattered, even if Remington and Valen Orange faces the consequences alone.

[Slazer]

As Babs Seed proceeded to kick Valen and Remington to the curb and hijack the candy cart, Jewel could only remain where she stood, shocked at the cold treatment. They seemed to all be in this together originally, but this startling display of selfishness rubbed the filly the wrong way. Then she caught the look that Babs was giving her. The gears turned for a moment before everything clicked in her mind; this was the plan? Crown Jewel shook her head and opened her mouth to protest-

“Meh... ‘dey would have wanted it ‘dis way.”

-and then closed it. Did she still intend to share with her buddies? Well, Jewel would make sure she did, especially if those two colts were going to take the heat. She gave Valen a pained smile as the white filly followed Babs towards the check-out. "Are ya gonna give them a bigger cut, Miss Seed? It doesn't seem right to just drop 'em on the side like that after Valen's, erm... athletics." She asked offhandedly, though the expectant look she gave the filly was a clear sign she wanted an answer.

[Hippo]

Remington was pushed off his cloud by a mean bird. The bird seemed to curse something as Remington left the cloud below, but he couldn't quite make out the exact profanity that such a bird in the sky would tout. Bird didn't normally talk anyway. And as Remington fell, he realized he could not fly, his wings were doing nothing for him. It was in this split second that he knew he was doomed to fall. He glanced at the ground to see exactly what he would fall onto.

As soon as Remington's red pelt collided with Valen, Remington woke up. He was unhurt and he looked around in wonder, not really making heads or tails of anything. "Wha- Where am I?" Remington started shaking his head a little to break free from the lack of senses and tried to gain his vision back. First thing he noticed, a pony was underneath him. Remington reached around the pony as if he was hugging. "Valen? Is that you?" As soon as he realized it was Valen, Remington dismounted his friend. "Where are we? What the heck is going on? Hope long was I out for?"

​

[SteelEagle]

Being knocked out wasn't all that bad. Valen got to investigate the inner workings of a vivid imagination as the mind reeled at the pace of change. No doubt it would have been preferable to not get knocked out but the card he had been dealt had a picture of Remington's butt on his face and the words "Gracefully and Thankfully Knocked Out" in huge letterhead. It lasted a few seconds as he felt in an otherworldly sense getting pushed and falling and smacking some more before slowly rising himself to awareness. The world had changed. The cart was gone. He had a massive headache. His bits were gone. Remington was hugging him like a long-lost stuffed animal found after intense searching, and then just as quickly dismounted him. Valen was then able to pull himself up, as wobbly as he was. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened, especially as he peeked out towards the checkout and saw Babs and their new ally hanging out with the cart. Uggh. Traitor Babs. The new filly looked abit more concerned. Less Traitorous.He shook his head and went about answering the questions posed by Remington.

"You fell asleep, you fell asleep for a while, and-" just then, the owner turned the corner. He had heard some commotion and only now had been able to come around to the scene, as active and crazy as the store was. All he saw were two wounded looking colts, and a lot of merchandise on the ground. All Valen saw was an opportunity, "-then we were robbed by an orange filly with a pink mane. She hit me over the head with a box of Crunchy Dot Dittos and pushed you off the cart on top of me. Then she took my bits. Look at this!" Valen moaned, revealing his slightly torn bitpurse. And a very empty one. The owner had been going to confront the two but hearing their tale recoiled in horror instead. Thievery in his store- intolerable! Unmentionable! Bad for business!

He marched up to the counter and saw a pony matching that description. The owner also saw a damaged box of Crunchy Dot Dittos. This was madness! Valen followed quietly and saw it all come to fruition. The owner tapped the cart just as it was time for the two fillies to go ahead and get checked out.

"Young ladies, did you two rob those poor colts over there?" The owner asked as evenly as he could to try and mask his anger...mostly at the bad press. The Oranges were a well known family, with Valen's parents being in the tabloids somewhat constantly. Valen himself had found more than a few pictures of himself in them. Luckily for Valen, the owner was one of those losers who read those dregs.

"I'll have to inform you that it is a crime and I will not tolerate it. I am going to call the constabulary-" he began before dramatic Valen intervened, feigning a limp as he hobbled onto the scene.

"Good sir, no need. This was obviously a crime of desperation by a pony with no means. Why, just look at her! A true ruffian by nature, unable to make an honest living. A pitiable, not condemnable sight to behold," Valen got close and had a smirk about him, "she is dull-witted and silly, unable to think past violence," he pulled back and sighed before striking a dramatic pose "and she wants nothing more than some candy to pass her by until the next event- well, let me be bold and kind then. I will buy her, as well as her lovely friend here, this cart of candy! Maybe some kindness will mend her wicked ways."

[Bellosh]

If Valen Orange was trying to get Babs Seed out of trouble (after getting her into it, no less), he definitely picked the most blatantly callous way to proceed. The filly remembered similar insults flung by past bullies all too well, striking a deep personal chord she’d rather forget about. Hence her judgement, which normally would have led her to remember that Valen needed a way to bail himself out too, became very clouded and full of spite. If Val wanted to make his cousin’s life miserable, Babs vowed to return the favor in turn. Even if it meant forfeiting all their candy. As if candy was going to make the girl of brawns forget about Valen’s idiocy and name-calling anyway!

“Oh yeah?” Babs countered with all the hostility she could muster; “What are ya’ Valen Orange but a pampered little boy who can’t do manual labor to save his life? Yaw ‘dink yaw’re so rich and famous ‘dat yaw can get away with cuttin’ ‘drough line and tossin’ our friend at a candy shelf!” Babs aimed her firm hoof at the mess created by the Manehattan CMC’s pegasus weapon. “And when I borrow your money to pay for our candy because yaw’re knocked unconscious on ‘da floor from your dumb stunt, yah somehow ‘dink it’s a brilliant idea to accuse YOUR COUSIN of stealing from ya'. And yaw’re too ashamed to even ADMIT ‘dat we’re cousins! Apparently, I’m nothin’ but a dead-beat ruffian!!!”

Ironically, Babs Seed was just about to make Valen’s words come true as she aimed the shopping cart straight at her cousin, tossing all of the bits inside with the candy; “Yaw like buyin’ candy so much? HERE YAW’ GO!” A fierce buck sent the cart hurdling straight towards Valen. The colt needn’t worry though if he failed to dodge in time; the cart would only push him into an empty cardboard display. Fed up with how everything was turning out, Babs stomped out of the store in a huff, contemplating whether to just ditch the gang and leave them to find their own way back to the CMC Warehouse.

Meanwhile, the storeowner could only shake his head, coming out with a completely negative opinion of a troubled filly, full of outlandish accusations, who truly couldn't think past violence. ".....I hope you don't go to the same school with that bully, kid."

[Slazer]

Crown Jewel could only sit and stare, jaw agape as the situation spiraled out of control in record time. First, Babs and herself nearly got the Guard called on them thanks to Valen, then he started mouthing off about Babs, and then Babs blew up and bucked the whole mess right out the window- and at Valen, too! The cyan-maned colt started this one, of that Jewel had no doubt; Valen didn't seem to be treating Babs with any measure of respect at all, even though she was the one who put her flank on the line to get them into this store and to sugary nirvana- in fact, he seemed to be doing everything in his power to make things even more difficult for her, his own cousin! It made Jewel more than little upset with the colt; hayseeds, they could have both gotten arrested thanks to his mouth, so he was throwing two people that had helped them under the bus.

In that light, it really didn't surprise her that Babs reacted poorly. No true lady would have taken that kind of talk sitting down, after all. Even so, the venom in Babs' words clued the observant Jewel in on something deeper than just a lack of respect from family. She'd seen this kind of behavior before: jabs are taken at each-other, somepony steps on somepony's berserk button, and then the whole thing becomes Cerberus's chew toy. He hit a nerve... a bad one. Crown Jewel, resisting the urge to give Valen (who would no doubt be suffering enough for his actions after having a cart that stuffed bucked in his general direction) a heated glare, put on a smile for the shopkeeper as she spoke her mind. "I don't think she's like this all the time. She seemed nice enough earlier, and I don't think anypony could handle those kinds of accusations without getting mad." Truthfully, she didn't think Babs was that bad of a pony- a little rough around the edges, sure, but no pony went through so much trouble for their friends if they didn't care for them. It was the kind of mindset that Jewel could understand and even admire, to be able to assert yourself with the intent to help others. Even if it did go entirely wrong and leave a candy store as a bit of a wreck...

Jewel sighed and dug into her saddlebags, retrieving a small white pouch- her entire allowance for the week, which she had had every intention of spending at this store. Not quite what I had in mind for 'spending', but... Before she could second-guess herself, Jewel left the bit-pouch at the shopkeeper's hooves. "For the damages. I'm really sorry about all this." There, it was done. Couldn't take it back now. It was a meager offering, sure- her parents weren't rich and neither was she- but it was the gesture that counted. After giving the adult a respectful nod, Jewel turned and trotted out the door after Babs Seed; she figured that the rough-n-tumble Manehattenite could use an unbiased ear to unload on right about now.

[Hippo]

Remington quickly realized the environment between his friends, and quite frankly, he wished he was still sleeping. The dreams he had were frightening, but at least they were just dreams. This waking experience was a nightmare. And Remington could tell, as he was finally able to control his thoughts more easily. Unfortunately, they did not give him the power to change the situation much. He pouted quite fiercely, tears building up in the corners of his eyes. "How could Babs do this?"

With the accusations given, and the authority of the shopkeeper on Valen's whim, Valen seemed to want to even out the score by offering a gesture of kindness as a way of retaliation. Even Remington thought he was nuts, not understanding the amount of the irony, or even that some of this was set up for the intention of getting away with as little amount of trouble coming from what seemed to be the only adult pony in the area. ".....I hope you don't go to the same school with that bully, kid." After a short comment from the shopkeeper, Remington started crying out loud as one of the cutie mark crusaders of the Manehatten area walked right out of the store, and right out of Remington's heart. I thought we were a team...

​

[SteelEagle]

Valen didn't have time to get out of the way of the raging cart which was bucked with all of the fury an upset, outraged, and somewhat unnerved filly could muster. Valen wasn't the most athletic colt of all time by any stretch of even his most vivid imagination and he could not hope to get out of its way in time. Before she had done this maybe her words will have made the shopkeeper dig deeper into his own mind and work out the truth of the matter. Thankfully, all that happened was Valen was hit full force by the cart and sent flying with it through a display case and into the wall with a thud, the cart reversing course several feet before coming to a stop. The important thing was that the candy didn't come flying out, a few pieces of it tossed into the air a foot or so before landing back safely. Valen stood up and wobbled around for a bit before regaining his senses, shaking his head free of the cobwebs with a sigh.

The problem with fillies was that they lacked a certain deceit that was required of any successful acting job. Too often and too strongly pulled in by the fierce tide of an emotional roller-coaster to satisfy the basic requirements of a good lesson in theatrics. The new filly couldn't be expected to size it up quickly of course but he had to admit to a bit of disappointment in Babs Seed. She hadn't taken him up on the iffer which, if she had, would have seen them out the door with lessons learned and candy in tow as one big happy group. Instead, she stormed off after causing a huge scene. She didn't even gt her revenge by messing up Valen's plans, either. She just sorta...flopped and failed like a particularly angry fish whose devious plan hadn't worked. Valen wouldn't have had to resort to such acting had she not just ran off with his cart, meaning he had little sympathy for her. If she had 'played nice' then so would he. Oh well. When she was stuffing her face full of candy perhaps things would look different for the angry one.

"Haha, no. Can't say I attend school with that one. Good day, sir," Valen finished and started pushing the epic cart of candy out, tossing Remington a piece of candy to soothe his frazzled nerves. For being a pegasus Remington was surprisingly fragile. Well, Honky Donky Tonky Bars helped soothe even the most anguished of cries. "Now, let's go find Babs. She probably needs some candy herself," Valen whispered as they left the store, eyes seeking the angriest little filly this side of the divide.

[Bellosh]

*Short one today*

In her anger-fueled pride, Babs Seed made up her mind to ditch her companions and head home on hoof. Her thoughts now bent on her stupid cousin, bystanders could hear the filly grumbling to herself as she marched alone. By the time the other Cutie Mark Crusaders made it out of the candy store with their tasty loot, they would be able to just almost witness Babs stepping onto a crosstrot if they spotted her fast enough. And with their pal’s disgruntled state of mind, she wasn’t paying as much careful attention to the busy Manehattan street as she should have.....

[Slazer]

Crown Jewel sighed as she stopped on the side of the street just beyond the candy store, looking up and down the trotways for Babs. What had happened in there was inexcusable on Valen's part, but Bab's reaction had been... well, not unexpected, but very strong. She was certain that Babs needed to cool off and maybe vent some troubles on somepony willing to hear them, and Jewel wanted to be that pony. She wanted to get to know this quick-thinking filly better, maybe even call her a friend, and friends were there when you needed to talk to somepony.

The young filly merely nodded at the other two foals when they exited the shop, keeping her eyes trained on the streets looking for Babs. She was still upset with Valen over the incident in the store, and that friction was also being aimed at Remmington by simple proximity. She grinned when she finally spotted Babs, looking quite grumpy as she crossed the trotways... with her eyes down... in a busy street. The grin quickly faded.

"Oh dear. Miss Seed!" She cried as she kicked off the ground and fluttered in an arc towards the crosstrot, landing on the edge. "Babs!"

[Hippo]

Being tossed a candy bar only did so much to cheer Remington up. Regardless, he would peel the wrapper back and begin chewing on it, the brown melting chocolate being rubbed accidentally around his mouth. Once outside, Remington looked around the streets not really knowing where he was. He had no choice but to stay in hoof with Valen. He had hoped that he would lead him back to the warehouse and that from there, Remington would head home to cry in his bedsheets on the friend lost today. "You do know the way home, right Valen?" Remington sniffled.

​

[SteelEagle]

Dealing with fillies was strange. You'd think because of his modelling career and alternative life that he would have a better grasp of them but this was folly and silly. If anything it made the aggressive ones like Babs all the stranger for their inability to be reasonable. He had his own oddities that persuaded others that he was something less than wholly there all the time and so did most ponies once you took the time to think about it. But really, Babs' little outburst and her head down attitude towards communication wasn't helping matters any either. It was hard enough to foalsit one Crusader who had problems staying aware of what was going on, but foalsitting his older cousin because she was having a temper tantrum wasn't on the docket.

But today, saving her was. She walked headlong into traffic and while the geode lights had just turned, carts were already barreling towards her. And she didn't see them. Nopony was doing anything about it except yelling for the newest filly in the group and sobbing because he had just woken up like Remington. The only one who could do anything was Valen Orange, he of the beatific skills in acting that had caused such a reaction. Well, it was nothing other than her fault to start with because of her robbing him while he was down and out method of candy purchasing but by the end of it all none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was making sure his cousin got back safe and sound, even if she partially didn't deserve it. Partially.

Valen quickly went into the candy pile and pulled out a candy rope. Made from who knows what incredibly unhealtrhy materials, it doubled as a rescue tool in comedic circumstances such as this. He whipped it at his cousin and expertly got it around her tail and jerked her back just in time- a second later and a large cart would have run her right over! She twirled in place all the way over to her group, crashing into Valen and then into the candy pile. It knocked Valen for a loop as he rolled out of the candy pile, spitting up various snacks from his mouth as smiled his award-winning, soul swooning model smile sans focus as his eyes rolled around.

"And that is how my cousin does it on her farm. Yee. Haw?"