Switched Roles

-Manehattan-

She let out a long pleased sigh as she sipped from her tea. The cafe downtown was simply a necessity in her life. The long work days in the law offices were simply grinding the sanity out of her this week. One day she hoped to have enough reputation to work out of her own home and with the luxury of a piano being at her hoof tips. But for now she couldn't think to play the pony pokey on the piano with her mind in such a mess. Tea and relaxing on the couch in the cafe would help her unwind. No obligations. Nothing around her to tend. Just simple tranquility.

The bright eyed mare let her eyes stare off into the ceiling, paying not heed to any other onlookers. While her bright golden eyes were her most noticeable feature, her business dress and saddle briefcase at her side were carefully picked attire of hers that she prided herself in. Looking the part as a public defender always made her feel good.

"Hot damn what a good day to alive." Talon wiped the a little blood from his mouth as he left the pile of thugs laying in he alley. "FYI you pansies I didn't have any money." Dumb colts always thought he was some punk rich colt from the upper city because of the nice clothes he wore. He hated ponies who judged on looks, which could beg to say he hated himself.

Though had the though ever came to his head he'd probably accept it and move on. No time to be baby about how bad your life is.

He stepped into a nearby cafe with his black suit with grey stripes running elegantly down his shirt and pants. A fedora was wore slightly crooked on his styled dark pink mane with match pink feather. He stood average height. The only thing that gave him a sort of aura was his piecing light blue eyes, they seems so Innocent for such a violent spirit.

Hew wait in line and got himself a drink before looking around and seeing the place was crowded. He wasn't gonna sit outside so he took a sit across from a golden eyed business filly. "Hey, I'm sitting here and no I don't plan on hitting on you." He sat and with a sip of his drink he seem to go into his own little world as he stared out the window where a pat of water hit the window. "Great! Now my hat will be ruined. Real classy Manehatten." He said as he wondered if he could punch out this glass then run away fast enough.

The light brown mare with black mane was startled at first, her moment of peace and quiet interrupted by the rather interestingly colored stallion. She said nothing at first, watching him stare out the window and vent at the rain that was beginning to come down. While some ponies might have found his colors effeminate, she found them to make him stand out nicely with his attire. A nice outfit always made her smile.

"Oh, well I guess I'm sorry to hear that." She replied to him, referring to his first sentence with a smug grin. "Usually that is the first thing I get from stallions such as yourself. Nice outfit by the way. It would be a shame if that fedora got ruined." She took a sip from her tea and met eyes with him.

"Then whoever hits on you should understand the ethics of mating chain and see you clearly are the type that approaches. You got eyes like a predator. Your likely to like weak colt's you can use for your entertainment. Don't blame you for doing it. Hell I'd wink at few colt's if it got me free meals." He said as he drew a few faces in the window and leaned back in his chair to face you once that no longer entertained him.

His eyes seem to read the air, like he was planning how he escape. He looked at the filly wondering if another colt would come off to try and hit on her so he could pretend he was with her and get fight out of it. He felt the tips of his hooves itching, and his left hind leg shake from the on pour from outside. He loved fighting in the rain.

"I'm Talon Nor. Nice to meet you goldy eyes. I like how they match your power suit. You lawyer or something?" He hadn't seen many fillies wearing suits like that in while. Well expect at office desks and special nights at strip clubs.

She blushed and let out a little giggle. "A predator? My oh my. I take it back, you are hitting on me. I haven't heard anything like that before though." She rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat comfortably, keeping a pleased smile on him.

"My name is Rena by the way, and I am a lawyer. I like to make sure I look the part and do it well. Though I don't think I'm much of an 'approaching' type." She had to laugh at the description of her supposed 'methods' of the 'mating chain'.

"I thought you a disgruntled pony from the stock market first you came in though. Now I'm not so sure." She didn't mind so much conversing with this pony. The exchange of reading the other pony amused her and she liked ponies that could take a step ahead of the initial introductions.

Talon sat back with his front hooves in his lower front shirt pockets as he just sat there with blank face, with a few hints of him having some thoughts running in his head. He chuckled a little at the saying he was with the stock market. "Fighting bears and bull sounds more appealing." He chuckled once more as he sipped the whatever garbage they called coffee down his throat. He wasn't sure if he got his joke, then again he didn't care.

"Rena a nice name. Bet nopony made fun of you when you were a foal. Also what kinda lawyer are you? A prosecution or a smugbag? Or defense attorney as they say when wanting to be politically correct." He said with rasp to his voice. Coffee always made his voice get a little deeper.

Rena let out a chuckle. Fighting bears and bulls? I did not expect to find a macho pony in a suit like that. She felt a little bothered by his opinion of attorneys but did not let it belittle her mood.

"Thing's were interesting in my foalhood, mostly due to my family. And I'm a 'Defense Attorney' for the public. I hope you won't ever need to see me for business reasons if you're going to be fighting anything other than bears."

"Defense attorneys like ponies with more blood on their hooves then if I dyed the Bale river red. They help father's not pay for their foals they made by forgetting to wrap up with the neighborhoods sloppy second." He turned back out to the window to draw a picture of little foal with trace of his war hardened hooves.

"Though I'm sure you have helped only innocent ponies. I don't hate you yet, so I'll make you a exception for now. Though likely you have been paid off dozen times. I don't blame you if you did. I'd forge or destroy evidence then build a mountain of lies to get the bits that would put my foals through college, or let me buy a suit of every color costume made with a house to have them all in." He wiped away the little foal he created in the window before turning back.

"All this talk about stupid things is making me hungry. Wanna buy me a pizza? I'll owe you a solid." Talon tasted the coffee again then promptly threw it on the ground where the rest spilled in runny brown form on there carpet.

Rena blinked in astonishment. She had ponies speak negatively of lawyers in front of her before, but this was the most blunt and rude one she had heard yet. And throwing his coffee on the floor of her favorite cafe was not acceptable.

"How...can you even say that? Call me corrupt and suggest my family is poorly raised? And then ask for food on my tab in the same spiel?" Her golden eyes narrowed in disappointment. "I have few real needs in life Mr. Nor, but wealth and suits are not among them. All I need is the good feelings of helping a pony in need in my heart." She let out a frustrated sigh and moved to get up and leave the table. Rena refused to be seen sitting with a pony that was going to stain the carpet. She knew the owner very well and did not want other customers to attribute her to him.

The few spatters of rain soon turned to a downpour resulting in the many ponies who still walked the streets to take shelter in various shops. One such pony was dressed in a black cloak and boots. Her white mane was matted down on her neck and she pulled a cart behind her loaded up high with various odd bits of scrap metal and machine parts that she promptly parked in front of the cafe that she then entered. Her movements were slow and deliberate and her face was wrinkled. The only other indicator that she was an older pony was that she had knobbly knees, the rest of her body was still tight and firm with muscle and a few pounds of fat in the right places to give her the pleasing rounded mare look yet still rivaled some stallions in both height and girth.

She briefly shook the rain from her cloak at the door so she would not soak wherever she sat. She had had a long trek to and from the junkyards of the slums, some hot tea to shake off the cold rain sounded lovely to her at this particular moment. She paused a moment when she saw the coffee cup fall to the floor and looked up to see the young lawyer leaving the table in disgust. Now this particular pony knew Rena fairly well and the types of company she associated with. This suited jerk was not one of them. She hastily made her way to the table and glared at the ruffian. "Listen here you three piece shitbag, whatever you said to her, you're going to apologize for now or we're going to have a problem."

Talon sat there staring at her for long time as the side of his face lowered a little. Giving a clear look of his face without the hat to see the finer details of his complexion. "A fighter comes in many forms. Bet if you were in courtroom right now I'd be handing over my suit right now."

He stood up to do something, but was confronted by older filly. Older fillies were a dangerous bunch. You may think old filly wouldn't be threatening, if that's the case try living in this city for two years without almost dying or being robbed of everything then tell me the old ponies don't deserve medals of some kind.

He stared back unflinching to the older mare before him. "I'm part of generation that has little to no respect for their elders. But sense I'm in such bright mood to see someone lived to your ripe age I will." He smirked as he turned pulling out a few napkins before setting them on the ground to sok most of th coffee up and then pulled out a stick of 'Stain-Away'. He rubbed it into the carpet and set bit on where the barely viable spot was.

He stood back up with lean of his hat to cover his eyes, but made a wink to Rena before he did.

"Thanks for the laugh Goldy eyes. Also I never said you were corrupt. I it was likely. I took philosophy classes to let me twist the words around to make my backless comments and claims come out without me looking like ass." He tipped his hat to donkey in line. "No offence, unless you wannafight about it." He grinned as the donkey shook his head silently.

He walked passed the mare as he passed he whispered to her. "I don't have regrets for anything I do. I never apologize." He opened the glass paneled door, causing the chilly air to sweep in. "Be careful it seems the mother bear has come home Goldy Eyes. Now if you'll excuse me a pizza is calling my name." He walked out like absolute thug as the wondered where they sell good pie around it.

Rena was very familiar with hiding meaning behind words. She still failed to see how his attempt to suggest he did not actually directly insult made his words any less damaging. While she was tempted to sharply reply to him, working in the courtroom taught her to save her words for the right time, if any at all. And right now she didn't care to extend the duration she was engaged with this pony. Without any more words, she watched him leave before taking a seat back at her table.

"What a snooty creep. You would think a pony that dressed like that would at least try to act the part." She sighed and fell back into her seat. "Good to see you Blue. Thanks for 'dissuading' him." Rena smiled to her old time friend.

Blue wasn't, as Rena well knew, a pony to let things go easily. Especially when this young punk outright told her that he never apologized. Blue carefully followed him toward the door and right when he opened it she quickly turned around and delivered a healthy buck into Talon's rear, sending him out into the street and the rain. The old mare turned around to survey her handiwork with a snort. "You sure look like an ass now. If somepony asks you about those boot marks on your ass, tell them you got your ass handed to you by an old lady."

Talon was sent flying into the street where he hit the scum covered ground, he felt the road burn and goo now on his suit as stood up with instead of angry look he looked happy as foal in toy store. "Hat: 35 bits, jacket: 398 bits." He said as he leaned up on one hoof back to him standing.

"The fact /you/ threw the first punch. Priceless. A guess the saying is true. There is truly somethings can't buy." His eyes had this tiny fire in them as cracked his neck "Oh, and I forgot the ass mark yo so kindly gave me.That's another 78 bits right there."

Talon took a little breath in as he the world slowed down a little. He didn't need to be smart ass anymore or even care about what he was doing. He was in his own world now as his eyes were death locked on the mare. 'Knobbly knees. Suggests age and with age comes weaker bones. Big, suggests slow expect for the tight flank I saw when she hit me. Experienced from te angle of the kick and dead center hit of my butt.'

Talon looked at his environment. 'Glass door and glass windows. Poor metal frames. Easy to throw or be bucked though. Avoid. Walls with corners. Avoid. Accurate and damaging attacks. Keep away tactics. Older, can unlikely stand prolonged fights. Prolong and spend her energy before using my 'Special talent'.'

"Let's be formal so you can tell the ponies in that neighborhood you came from why your hip broke. Tell them Talon Nor, The Counter did this to you." He spread his legs to shoulder length width and bends his knees. "You can't claim you handed my ass unless you walked out of the bathroom with funny look or my face is a bloody mess." He pointed at the mare with smirk. "Just so you know I promise I won't hold back against you. I'll wreck you just like the trash on 5th street."

"That's the one. The scag."

The colt stared at the scene from around the corner. Then looked disbelievingly back at his older brother. "Grandma or the ponce?"

Corkscrew scowled at him. "The one that introduced himself as 'The Counter', you twit. Beat up Hammer and Nail on fifth street before. He disrespected us, and thus he has to pay. And you're here just in case things go completely wrong."

"Hindsight," the colt replied, rolling his eyes, "Fun."

The five brothers went back to observing the scene.

"I'm kinda interested in seeing the fight, bro," Brick commented.

"That's the plan," Corkscrew grunted, "Wait for the fight to finish, then kick the ponce when he's down. It's good plan. I thought of it myself."

"Yet you still bring me along," the colt snorted.

Corkscrew glared at his youngest sibling. "Shut up, Nothing."

Nothing rolled his eyes again, before going back to looking at the scene. Really, the only reason his brothers let him come along was patch up their wounds if the 'unthinkable' happened. The youngest of a huge family meant he was stuuck with the stupid jobs. When his siblings were being particularly mean, they said he was lucky to be in the family at all, instead of being a servant somewhere. Still it meant that it wasn't him, Nothing, thatnwas getting his head kicked in, so there was that, at least.

And it wasn't as though...

"Huh?"

"To win, Nothing. Who do you think's gonna win?"

Rena blinked at the scene unfolded. She had to facehoof. There was no excuse not to. Her friend whom might as well be her grandmother had once again joined in on some trouble that could have been over with.

"Blue....Please don't tell me your going to fight him. I already defended you before. And the 'poor old mare' defense is going to look silly. Can you just let the dumb stallion go?" She sighed. The first time they met was similar to such circumstances. Rena happen to be nearby to jump on the opportunity to get a guaranteed case. In the end she made friends and learned that Blue was not the best client to have with such an interesting back story.

Blue, as Rena well knew, wasn't fond of waiting around, especially not for some punk. In quickness uncharacteristic of an old lady, Blue Lightning quickly closed the gap and with a practiced motion stopped just short of him, planted her hooves on the ground, and turned to deliver another powerful buck.

Talon instead of going up her center for uppercut or backing closer to her to prevent her buck to hit him at full strength he jumped back out of reach of her attacks into the street. 'Power hitter. Too strong to take blows from her.'

Talon saw a few ponies gathering around and scanned the crowd for guards. None so for. River canal nearby and the streets were patterned weird around here. He should be fine if the guards didn't have wings, which was also unlikely.

Talon needed to see something before he dared attack that mare. Just one thing would cause him victory with little damage to him. If it wasn't there he then he would walk with some nasty hits to beat her.

This reminded him of his first fight. The day he got his cutie mark and the colt with the deal. No point going back on it. It wasn't like it mattered anymore.

The five brothers took a deep breath, and released it in a "Oooooooh".

"Grandma, I think," Nothing said softly, "Ponce looks distracted by something. Guards, maybe?"

There was four grunts of disgust, and one "Pigs."

"No need to rush into things, then," Corkscrew muttered, "Last thing we need is to end up in the slammer."

Another thing Nothing was glad not to experience was jail time. His brothers were always...protective about that sort of thing.

Rena could tell they both were serious about making this fight happen. No amount of facehooves could express her feelings right now. Her closest friend was picking a fight with what looked like a gang pony. She could not simply sit and watch.

I am going to buck Blue in the face for making me do this and mess up my dress in the rain.

She ran outside and put herself between the two ponies, pushing back on Blue to try and open the distance. "Both of you cut this out! This is pointless!" Rena fell back on what she knew best, and what her cutie mark, a shield, had taught her. "If we have problems, lets resolve it with words. Let me talk you through it if your going to be hostile about it. I don't want to be seeing you all beat up in a court room!"

Miss Lightning had just bent her head down under her cloak to pull out a monkey wrench between her teeth from a saddlebag for a followup attack. With Rena standing in the way, she lost the momentum of the motion. She looked at her attorney like she was nuts, speaking through the piece of metal in her mouth, albeit muffledly. "Honethly Rena, do you think thif thug can afford a lawyer?"

Talon eyes widened as he grew anger, his eyes were full of hatred as he saw the wrench. "Coward!" The word seem to come out of his mouth strangely, it was word a noble or swordscolt may say, not some street punk. "How dare you disgrace this nice little fight were having by bring in that tool. Not even knife or anything used to hurt ponies."

He hated weapons. Used by cowards and weaklings who couldn't hold there own in fight. He had thought this would be a real battle. Hoof vs. hoof. A battle worth getting fired up about. Now it was a game of stealing her weapon then hurting her, hoping now to get hit. No honor or having fun with it. Talon felt a crud-ding feeling in his stomach. He was sick from the sight of the weapon.

"Weak." His words titled the air. "I thought the older types had a sense of honor. Guess your trash like the rest of them." He hated using weapons. He had used one once. After that time he swore only to destroy with his hooves if he could. A limitation he liked. One with a talent like his should be kept in check with the limitations of one's body.

Nothing burst out laughing. It stood out from the muttering crowd, and drew attention to him.

Unwanted attention. "Nothing, shut up," Corkscrew hissed at him, raising his hoof in a threatening gesture, "You'll ruin the plan!"

Nothing tried to smother his laughter with his front leg. It was just so....idiotic. All parties involved were idiots. The dolled up mare was an idiot for sticking herself in the middle of a fight. The ponce was an idiot for acting surprised that his opponent was using a weapon, and being offended somehow. And granny was an idiot for...something, I guess. Fighting instead of doing sewing and playing bridge. Yeah. That was it.

Corkscrew lowered his hoof. "We disperse. Nothing, with me. Brick, Breaker, and Bruise, we track the Counter after the business has died down, but do not engage before my cue. Now scram."

They did. Nothing was still snickering, but stopped under Corkscrew's glare. "You have now drawn attention to us," the elder sibling growled, "I expect a full explanation later."

Nothing smiled and nodded.

Rena couldn't believe that this was getting so out of hoof. Then again, it was Blue. "Blue, you know it's you that I would be in the court room for. Put the wrench away and lets go inside and enjoy some tea."

She turned to Talon and pointed a hoof. "And you! You go about your business. You lay a hoof on my friend and I can guarantee seeing you in a civil court, being sued so hard for beating on an old mare that you will have to sell your clothes and kidney to afford it." While her words were angry and harsh, it was more a bluff than an honest threat. She couldn't stand civil courts. Let alone take money from a pony that may not have much if any at all.