Small-Town Colt in the Big City

Tinker trotted through the industrial district of Manehattan, keeping an eye out as he pulled his cart behind him. This wasn't his first time in the big city, and he knew enough to keep his eyes and ears peeled, but apparently he hadn't yet learned where it wasn't safe to go.

Still, doing odd jobs like he did meant that sometimes you had to look in odd places, and some might consider wandering around the worst part of Manehattan of your own free will to be quite odd indeed.

{{Ah wonder if'n there's even any work t' be had here...}} he silently wondered as he wandered under the Manehattan sky.

Tinker heard the commotion, and stopped his cart, locking the wheel before he turns to the other stallion who looked like he was thinking of doing something stupid.

"You thinkin' of goin' in there, too?" he asked as he took a step towards the alley, his jaw clenched in determination. He clearly was not going to let the poor soul in there go unaided, or at least without someone to get them to the hospital.

Tinker followed the other Earth Pony into the alleyway. When the thugs asked what is was to them, Tinker glared and replied, "What it is t' us is that what y'all're doin' ain't right. Y'all need t' leave that pony alone 'fore we get mad. Don't think yer so tough 'cause y'all can beat up one pony what ain't fightin' back. Ah'll show y'all what we DO t' varmints like y'all out West. An' it ain't purty."

The thugs left the poor pony alone for a moment, approaching the two stallions at the end of the alleyway. "What's it to you? What the buck's wrong with ya colts?" other of them asked, "What do you care for a pony, you don't even know?"

Special Delivery had noticed some ponies watching the whole commotion above from the windows. He glared at the thugs.
"Two arseholes, laying their hooves on one guy while everypony else watches... And you want to know what's wrong with me?"
His face expressed nothing more than disgust, both at the thugs and to the ponies watching. "I would rather die, than to leave this poor sod alone here. So bring it on!"

"Glad to deliver." other thug said, and charged at Special Delivery and Tinker.

Tinker grinned at Special Delivery before turning back to the thugs, pawing the ground and snorting as the thugs started to attack.

He then turned, and met one of the charging thugs with a good, hard buck from his strong hind legs as he crowed, "Yee haw! Charge at me, buddy, an' Ah'll bust you like a bronco! You goons don't scare me none!"

Special Delivery got on his backlegs, pawing the air, as the thugs charged at them. He managed to get a punch at the other thug, while getting his chest headbutted.
"Argh!" he yelled, since the blow had hit him on the bone and nerve. This made him even angrier, and he smacked his own head at the thug he had punched first.

Other one of the thugs retreated a little, propably because of feeling dizzy, but charged again in a moment.

"You won't learn, do you?" Special Delivery growled and charged at the thug charging at him, smacking their heads together. He punched and kicked, even bit the other pony, now that he was on horrible rage.

[By the way, happy birthday!]

Tinker's kick landed solidly, though unfortunately the tough was a LOT bigger than he was, and it slammed into the other pony's shoulders. While the thug backed off a bit, he just glared at the puny Earth Pony who dared to stand on his way.

Tinker, however, did not back down, and just smirked, "Oooh, yer REAL scary-lookin' there. Ah'm def'nitely pissin' muh harness, here. Now why don't y'all jus' walk away before Ah have t' REALLY hurt ya?"

The thug grunted and swung a forehoof at Tinker's face, connecting solidly with the handypony's muzzle. Tinker stepped back a few paces and shook his head a bit, then grinned as he spit out a little blood, "Well well! Looks like you got some fight in you after all! This here's gonna be fun!"

With that, he charged the bigger pony. When the thug reared up, Tinker ducked under the flailing hooves before giving the thug a good headbutt in the gut.

{{Thanks! :D Since you didn't do anything with the other NPC, I figured it was OK for me to play 'im.}}

[Sure thing it was okay, allows a lot more freedom for the both of us.]

The messenger pony managed to get some kicks and punches at the thug, though in his rage he was getting hit as well. Nonetheless, it now seemed that he was to win the other thug, no matter how bruised or tired he was getting. The thug did not lead such a healthy life as Special Delivery, so he was less hardy.

"Screw this!" other one of the thugs, the one Spec had beaten up, snarled. He spat some bloody spit to the pavement, then running away.

At this point, the stallion managed to get a look around, and see, that the other earth pony was able to deal with the other one of the thugs. Anyway, Spec called out: "Need a helpin' hoof there?"

The tough grunted in pain and backed away, looking a bit winded as he glared at the small green Earth Pony before him. Tinker grinned and said, "Go on, git, ya oversized varmint. Before Ah REALLY rough ya up!"

The thug wisely decided to follow his fleeing comrade, turning and coughing, "I know your faces... you'll both get yours!", before disappearing around a corner.

Tinker shrugged, then turned to the thugs' victim, and the other pony who'd helped chase the thugs away. "Y'all all right? Anypony need a doctor?", he asked.

Tinker chuckled and said, "Ah hear ya. Heh, Ah reckon muh face is gonna smart fer a bit. That feller knocked me a good one. Still, Ah figger Ah gave better'n Ah got. Good t' hear yer all right though."

When he saw that the pony they'd rescued had vamoosed, he snorted, "Hmph. Figgers. We risk our flanks fer him, an' he don't even stick around t' say thanks. Well, Ah'm much obliged fer th' help, stranger. Th' name's Tinker, by the by. How 'bout yerself?"

Tinker chuckled, giving the offered hoof a bump as he said, "Heh, yeah, really. This here part o' town is a mite dangerous, as th' both of us know. So, Special D'livery, are ya from around here? Ah'm guessin' yer a mailstallion, yeah?"

While Tinker's jaw was indeed aching, he couldn't feel anything that had been knocked loose, himself. Which was a good thing. Having an honest, friendly smile was important when your primary source of income was getting strangers to trust you enough to do odd jobs for them. Granted, Equestria was peaceful enough that that wasn't particularly hard, especially in the smaller towns. Manehattan, though... If you could make it here, you could make it anywhere.

Tinker nodded, "Yeah, sounds like a good idea t' me. Let's skeedaddle before them fellers come back with friends."

He went for his cart, hooking himself back up quickly before saying, "Ah'm a bit of a traveler muhself. Ah'm jus' a wanderin' handypony, doin' odd jobs here an' there, ya know?"

He started to move towards the nicer parts of town, sticking with Special Delivery as he went. If those thugs DID come back, he'd rather be with the mail-pony than alone.

Tinker shrugged and said, "If it pays, an' it's legal, Ah'll do it. Ah may not be th' strongest Earth Pony in Equestria, but Ah've done mah share o' hard work, so Ah can get mos' jobs done easy enough. Pullin' plows, paintin' fences, puttin' in a new light... you name it, Ah've prob'ly done it. Ah'm what ya might call a handypony."

He then chuckled and said, "Ah'll hold ya to that, an' buy th' second round if'n yer feelin' up to it."

Sound of their hooves and the cart echoed in the alleyways, as the trotted in good pace away from the scene of fight. Special Delivery's ears twitched a little, as he noticed that something in the echoes was off.
He came a little closer to the green stallion and whispered, "I think we are being followed..."

There was a hint of certain tension in his voice. It was not necessarily fear, but he was alarmed about the steps following them. Could it have been, that the thugs had already returned with their gang to give the two stallions a beating?

[Kinda short, sorry. Also, do you wish to have another fight or move these to someplace else and prevent the beating?]

Tinker nodded, saying, "Ah hear 'em, too. This don't sound none too good. Think we can out-run 'em? If'n we get out inta the open, they may not be bold enough t' do anythin'. Ah dunno about you, but stayin' an' fightin' don't sound none too smart. A wise stallion once said "Ya gotta know when t' hold 'em, know when t' fold 'em. Know when t' walk away, an' know when t' run." Ah think this'd be 'when t' run'."

[You're good. And either way XD. A chase might also be interesting. Heck, we could even turn this into a 'Noodle Incident', where they enact some REALLY brilliant plan that doesn't happen onscreen.]

"Yeah, running sounds good. I run really fast." Special Delivery said, still sounding tensed and a trickle of sweat running down his neck. He did not dare to turn, but the instincts said there was quite group behind them. Now they only needed to get off this neighbourhood to prevent any fighting.

Looking ahead, he saw that there was much cleaner streets awaiting for them to arrive. Once in a neater area, the gang would not give them a beating. Who knew, maybe they would enter some other gangs' territory and therefore avoid getting their blood spilled on the pavement. "Think we can outrun the whole lot?" he then asked, taking a worried glance at Tinker's cart.

[I think we could go for the chase.]

Tinker noticed the worried glance and chuckled, "Don't you worry none about me, now. Ah can move plenty fast when Ah need to, an' Ah don't see any sharp turns. Besides, if they try t' get in front of us, this'll give me a bit'a extra momentum, maybe lemme crash through. Beats stayin' an' fightin'."

With that, he took off at a gallop towards the open streets, where hopefully the gang wouldn't keep chasing them. He knew he HAD to make it out of these back streets, otherwise he might not make it out of this alive. He might've been tough, but he was no one man army. There was no way they could fight off that many, not unless Special Delivery was secretly a ninja or something.

Tinker poured on the speed as best he could, though the gang ponies were starting to gain on him. One of the smaller, faster ones, pulled up beside him, and tried to ram him over to get him to stop. Tinker grunted and shoved back, saying, "Y'all get outta here, we're goin'! Quit gettin' yer socks in a wad!"