The sun shone brightly over Equestria as a train was arriving into Manehatten. Princess Twilight and her adopted son, Spike, were heading to the city on a Royal visit. It’s been a few weeks since Celestia had named Twilight a princess, and at the moment, she was still trying to get used to it. Twilight had brought Spike with her, mostly due to the fact that her friends and his were busy. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were heading to Canterlot for a fashion show, thanks to Rarity’s friend, Fancy Pants and his wife, Fleur Dis Lee. Applejack and her family were heading to Appleloosa to visit their cousin, Braeburn. As for the others, they were all at Rainbow Dash’s tryout for the Wonderbolts. Twilight was hoping she wouldn’t mess up, especially in front of her crush, Soarin.
A sudden jolt made Twilight almost fall out of her seat. She looked over to her son and nudged his shoulder.
“Spike, wake up.” She said. Spike began to slowly wake up. The train ride had made him tired, considering he had sat there for a few hours. He looked around and saw his mom looking down at him, giving him a warm smile. “Glad to see you up, sleepy head.”
“Morning, Mom.” Spike replied. He sat up, stretching to get rid of any remaining sleepiness in his body. He felt like he had been picking apples from Sweet Apple Acres all day, thanks to the uncomfortable seat.
As they got their bags together, one of Celestia’s Guards knocked on their door.
“We’ve arrived in Manehatten, your Highness.” He said as he continued on to the platform. Twilight and Spike left their compartment and walked onto the platform. All around the train, Guards were standing there, their gold armor shining brightly in the sun. They walked through the rows of guards to the streets, where the mayor was waiting for them.
“Greetings, Princess Twilight,” he began. “We are pleased to meet you.”
“Greetings,” Twilight replied. “Before we talk, I need to take Spike to the park for him to stay at. He’ll be fine there for a few hours.” They Mayor nodded and went back to the city hall, as Twilight took Spike to the park. As they were walking by one of the local restaurants, Spike’s stomach began to growl. Twilight laughed until her stomach growled as well, making her blush as Spike began laughing as well. “I guess we’re both hungry.” When Twilight looked at the door, she saw a sign that read ‘No Kids Allowed’.
“Where we going to eat at, Mom?” Spike asked. Twilight thought for a moment before heading in the direction of the park. They walked through the Bridleway Theater District and saw the headlines for a new movie, “Shining and Cadance save Equestria”. They laughed, remembering that they saw the real thing, but agreed to stop and see the movie for themselves.
They finally reached the park and went up to a Hot Dog stand. When the owner saw them, he decided to try something. Twilight and Spike walked up and began to order.
“I’ll have a regular hot dog with ketchup please, and for my son, just a plain hot dog.” Twilight told the man. After he made them, he gave is price.
“That will be two thousand bits.” He said, an evil grin on his face, thinking he would be able to make a lot of bits. Since Twilight was the newest princess, and the youngest, he believed it would be easy to make a lot of money off her. She looked at the man in horror. “No bits, no food. Unless you want to come back to my place with me." He finished, his face beginning to make Twilight uncomfortable. She was about to just walk away when they heard a voice.
“Hey, leave them alone!” The three of them turned to find a young girl around Spike’s age along with a member of the Royal Guard. The man just sneered at the two new arrivals.
“What’s it to ya, you little shrimp?” He taunted. The Royal Guard walked up to the man and brought out a pair of handcuffs. The man began to fear for his life, considering he had just hit on a young woman, who was only in her late teens, while he was a forty year old man. He tried to run for it, but couldn’t get away from the guard in time. “I didn’t do anything wrong, officer!”
“Let’s see here,” he began. “You attempted to swindle money from a princess, and not to mention, that princess was only in her teens, as you tried to have your way with her. I’d say you done quite a bit wrong.” He put the man in cuffs, just as some of the older guards arrived to take him to the station. The younger guard handed Twilight and Spike their hot dogs.
“Thanks for your help, Babs,” said Twilight. She turned to the guard to thank him, but stopped. “Spike, why don’t you and Babs go play for a while. I need to talk with this guard for a bit.” Spike nodded his head and went with Babs to the playground. When they got there, Babs spoke up.
“So you’re the Spike my cousin told me about,” she began. Spike looked at her in confusion, not knowing what she meant. “Apple Bloom’s my cousin. She told me you would be here with your mom for a Royal visit and asked me to see how you were doing.” In truth, Babs always wanted to meet him, since her cousin told her as much as she could about him. All the other info she had, was from Sweetie Belle, whom was Spike’s best friend. “They told me about you being basically being a prince as well. That has to be the coolest thing I’ve ever heard!” Babs couldn’t hold in her excitement very well, as she kept on cheering, which in turn, embarrassed Spike. His face began heating up from the praise he was getting and all the people looking at them. Spike put a hand on her shoulder to get her to quiet down.
“Could you not shout it out please?” He asked. “I prefer not to have all of Equestria all over me about it. Everytime I go to Canterlot, some noble tries to marry their daughter off to me. Last time, it was a five year old girl. I’m only thirteen, not old enough for marriage yet!” It was true. Everytime he went to Canterlot, The Crystal Empire, or any other major city, some rich noble would try to marry their daughter off to him, just to become royalty as well. For Spike, he was didn’t want to be with them. He only had one girl in mind, but he wouldn’t tell anyone, not even her, for fear of being rejected. He turned and saw Babs looking at him.
“Sorry, Spike.” She said. She never thought that he didn’t like the royal life. From what she can tell about him at the moment, is that he prefers to just be a normal kid. "So, I guess you just want a regular life, not one that gives you everything?"
"No, I don't." Spike said.
"You're a lot nicer than some of the kids in my school," she said. "All most of them care about are themselves, and not even bother talking to some. There are some of us that are nice, but there are ten particular ones we have to watch out for. They go after everyone, even others not from here." Babs herself had been a victim to what they've done and they even gave her a nickname that she hated.
Before should could as Spike what life was like for him in Ponyville, the same group of bullies that she told him about walked up.
“Hey look,” the ringleader said, pointing his finger at Spike. “Some fresh meat, and by the looks of it, Baby Babs is here for a beating as well.” These ten were always going around picking on other kids and beating them up, including girls. They always got away with it, considering their parents were high up in the Equestrian Government. Everytime they got in trouble at school, their parents threatened to close the school down, causing the teachers to lose their jobs. When it came to it, they had little choice but to keep it running, despite all the protest of angry parents.
Most recently however, they began doing other things besides beat up others. Despite all the laws they’ve broken, they’ve never got into trouble with the law. Not even the Manehatten Police could do anything, or they would be fired.
The ten bullies soon approached Spike, and the leader punched him in the side of the head. Spike fell to the ground, just as the others begin holding him down and started punching him in the stomach. Spike began to cough up blood after the first few punches, as he began to cry for help.
“No ones going to save you.” One of the bullies said. Just as he was about to punch Spike’s nose, he found himself punched in the side of his head, knocking him a few feet away from Spike, going unconscious from the blow. The other nine looked and saw Babs standing near Spike, her hands balled into fists. Three of the members ran out of the park, not wanting to get hurt, leaving only six others to deal with her. One of them ran at Babs, but was tripped by Spike, who had gotten up, but was still weak. Four more ran, not knowing what would happen if they stayed, leaving only the leader by himself.
“I’ll make sure you two pay for that!” He yelled, as he too began running from the park. Babs looked over to Spike and saw him on his knees, in pain. She knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder. Spike looked over to her and smiled.
“Thanks for the help.” He said. Babs returned the smile and helped Spike to his feet, just as Twilight and the guard she was talking to ran over to them.
“Spike!” Yelled Twilight, her voice filled with concern. She ran to her son and checked him over, worried he would be very hurt.
“I’m fine, mom,” he replied. “Just some local bullies.” The guard shook his head and picked Spike up.
“We better get him to the hospital,” he said. “There’s one just a block away from here.” The three of them ran, with the guard carrying Spike, the whole way there. When they got to the doors, they rushed inside to the desk.
“My son needs medical attention now!” Twilight commanded. The nurses rushed over with a bed and gently helped to place Spike on it. They took him to the ER, as some of his injuries were internal. They waited another hour before the doctor finally came back out.
“Your son is fine,” he began. “We were able to heal him a little, but he’ll have to stay in bed for a few weeks. He got a few bruised bones and ribs, but he can walk. He’ll be fine for your trip back home, but he can’t do anything physical during that time. Make sure he has some crutches to help him move around when you leave here.” He walked away, allowing the three to enter the room. Twilight ran to her son's bedside, wanting to make sure he was alright. The guard and Babs waited at the front of the bed, allowing Twilight to be next to her son.
“Hey mom,” Spike said, his voice weak from the beating and the surgery. “What’s wrong?” Twilight’s eyes began to water, as tears rolled down her cheeks, upset that he had been hurt like that. Twilight smiled and held Spike close to her, happy that he was alright and that he would be able to leave Manehatten just fine. Just as she was getting ready to contact Celestia about what happened, the mayor burst through the door, anger on his face.
“What is the meaning of this?” He asked. “Ten of our brightest children, sons of some very important government officials told me that your son and his friend attacked them for no reason. As mayor, I’m demanding to know what happened! You know what, never mind. Guard, take this boy and his friend to the jail right now!” The mayor however, was shocked by what the guard said next.
“No.” The Guard replied. The mayor turned to punch him, but was slapped in the face by Twilight. She had lost her patience and just wanted to get out of the city.
“Captain, take the mayor to the jail,” she said. “Tell them that Princess Twilight orders them to keep him there.” Her voice had lost all pleasantries at what he wanted to do to her son. The guard nodded and grabbed the mayor, dragging him out as he was kicking and screaming. Twilight left the room to see him get taken away, as Babs walked over to Spike.
“Talk about a weird day in Manehatten,” She said. “Normally, all we have is just some play going on or something. Never had a princess actually have the mayor arrested.” They both laughed at that for different reasons. For Babs, it was because it was an unusual day in Manehatten. For Spike, his mom had never done that before, so he could imagine how the others will react at the news. They continued laughing until Twilight walked back in. She was confused by what was going on, but decided to leave them be.
“Spike, you ready to go see the movie?” She asked. Spike nodded and got out of bed, with Babs helping him out of the bed. “You can join us, Babs. You helped Spike against those bullies, so you’re welcome to join.” She walked outside again as Babs and Spike slowly walked to the entrance. When they arrived, they found Twilight and the Guard talking again. They walked over to them, as Twilight turned in their direction.
“Which movie were you two going to go see?” Babs asked.
“”Shining and Cadance Save Equestria”,” Spike said.
“That’s what we were going to go see when we ran into you guys!” Babs exclaimed. The four headed off for the movies, eager to see their version of the real event. Along the way, Spike and Babs began talking again.
“Thanks again for saving me back at the park.” Said Spike.
“What are friends for.” Babs replied. They shook hands knowing that they both had gained a brand new friend. Spike couldn’t wait to tell the others of his day in Manehatten when he returned home.