//------------------------------//
// Old Friends and New 
// Story: Just Us Big Sisters 
// by GrassAndClouds2 
//------------------------------//

When Raindrops finally laid eyes on the field which Duke Blueblood had promised to every farmer in Ponyville, she saw that it was in even worse shape than Carrot Top had described. Dozens of rocks and boulders were nestled between thorns, rotting logs, and ancient tree stumps that were anchored to the ground with long, thick roots. There was even a rusting plow half-buried next to a boulder, and when Raindrops looked closer she saw that it was crawling with red war ants. All in all, it wasn't her ideal place to spend a morning.

But she was helping out a friend, and besides, it would be great to deal with a problem that she could physically subdue instead of the legal shenanigans Juggernaut had trapped her in for the past couple days. And so, when she turned back to her brother, Carrot Top, and the dozens of other ponies who  were watching her, she had a big smile on her face. "Ready!" she said as she flew back to the front of the field. "Let's do this!"

Carrot Top nodded and gave her a hug. "Thanks again for doing this. You're an awesome friend."

Raindrops blushed. "Yeah. I know."

"Good morning!" called Mayor Mare. Those gathered around the field, which included the Elements, most of Ponyville's farming community, and several foals, turned to see Mayor Scrolls walk up to the group. "Representative Lulamoon just contacted me. I understand that our contenders for this field have come to an agreement?"

Raindrops looked at Applejack. The apple farmer hadn't been happy to be woken up the previous night, but she'd cheered up when Raindrops explained the compromise. "We have," Applejack said. "We're gonna race to clear the field."

"Cheerilee's dividing the field into 100 equal blocks," added Carrot Top. The teacher in question, clad in a beekeeper's outfit to prevent her from being scratched by thorns, poked her head out from behind a boulder and waved. Several miniature flags were strapped to her back, and as they watched she pounded one into the ground to finish marking off another square. "Our helpers will start at the same time and clear as many squares as they can. When they're all done, we get to keep the squares our champions cleared."

"Who're your champions?" called Red Onion. "We've all got harvests next week! If you break your hooves and the Union has to bail you out--"

"Not a problem!" Carrot Top grabbed Raindrops' leg and held it high before she could do anything. "My good friend Raindrops will be my first champion. I know she's tough enough to take whatever this field's got. And my second champion will be her little brother Snails!"

There was some clapping, mostly from the Elements and Union ponies, as Raindrops trotted onto the field. "You're a very important part of this team," she called to her brother. "Get ready for when I call you!"

"Right!" Snails saluted, but though he was clearly trying to look serious, he was unable to hide his massive grin. "You got it!"

Applejack nodded. "An' my champion is Juggernaut." There was more clapping as the massive pony entered the field. "Although, I understand she's got somethin' to say first?"

Juggernaut looked nervous for a moment but then bowed her head. "I say sorry," she told them. "For bothering ponies. For distracting foals at school. And," she turned to Apple Bloom and Firelock, both standing near Applejack. "For making little fillies dizzy. I very sorry."

"It's okay!" called Apple Bloom, who was smiling brightly. "Just do a real good job clearin' the field an' all will be forgiven!"

Ponies laughed, and Juggernaut began to say something else, but then Pinkie Pie jumped out of the crowd. "And Gummy's champion is my super-duper big sister Maud!" she chirped. The gray-coated pony plodded onto the field as Pinkie grinned. "Don't forget her!"

Applejack and Carrot Top looked at each other, Juggernaut frowned, and Raindrops snorted to herself. Mayor Scrolls wasn't shutting Pinkie down, she thought, so apparently the rumor about Duke Blueblood having promised his field to Pinkie's alligator as well as Applejack and Carrot Top weren't entirely false. But ultimately Raindrops knew it didn't matter--just another competitor, nothing more than that. She'd fight hard, beat one or two or a hundred champions, and claim as much of the field as she could for her friend.

Cheerilee had meanwhile finished setting up the grid. "We're good," she said. "100 squares, as equal as I could make them. If anypony wants to check--"

"I trust ya," said Applejack, and Carrot Top nodded her agreement. "No problems here." She turned to Mayor Scrolls as Cheerilee slipped out of the field. "If you'd kick us off?"

"Of course," said the Mayor. "On 3. One!"

Raindrops knelt, facing the big boulder right in front of her. She saw Juggernaut draw her sword next to her. From somewhere in the crowd, Trixie yelled, "Go Raindrops! Show that Rushkie what you can do!" The other Elements chimed in similar comments.

"Two!"

Time seemed to slow. Raindrops took a deep breath.

"Three!"

#

Raindrops blasted into the field and almost rammed into the first boulder. She stopped just short and wrapped her hooves around it, then heaved with all her strength and managed to start prying it loose from the dirt.

It was tough. The rock wasn't just big, but it was attached to the ground by decades of vines, long grasses, and other plants which had grown around it and held it down like a net. But Raindrops grit her teeth, put her back into it, and managed to yank it into the air. She staggered for a moment as the heavy rock bore down on her, but then reared back and managed to hurl it out of the field. It thudded to one side as ponies gasped and applauded, but before it had even stopped moving, Raindrops had charged at another. She glanced briefly to one side to see Juggernaut pounding a boulder into gravel, and to her other to see Maud Pie lifting a massive rock with a single hoof and casually lobbing it clear across town. The next moment, though, she reached the next rock and began pulling it up.

She moved four boulders before her first square looked like it was close to clear. At one point her hoof smashed against a rock which was hidden under the grass, and she yelped as she felt her horseshoe chip, but she shook it off and pulled up the rock before throwing it with the others. Then, wiping sweat from her forehead, she began working on the tree trunks. She glanced to one side and saw that Juggernaut was finishing up her first square; as she watched, the massive mare shattered another boulder with a well-placed sword stroke and then flung the shards away with her telekinesis. But then Raindrops brought her gaze back to her own task as she yanked at the last tree trunk in front of her and ripped it out of the ground, roots and all. She hurled it to one side with the other debris and then, as Cheerilee dashed out to plant a flag with her cutie mark in the center of the now-clear square, she ran to the next part of the grid.

The minutes bled into one another as she worked. Boulder after boulder flew from the field, some smashing into each other and cracking, others stacking in formations that she knew countless foals would later try to scale. She pushed those thoughts aside and continued to labor, ripping at rocks, dead trees, tangled vines, and even the occasional bit of trash. All went flying out of the field, with only pristine soil remaining by the time Raindrops moved on.

And--as she cleared her fourth square--she noticed that Juggernaut wasn't that far ahead of her. Raindrops glanced at the other mare and saw her lumbering from one boulder to another as she moved through a square where the rocks were sparser. That made sense, she thought; Juggernaut was blazing fast when she could build up speed--like when she'd given Apple Bloom, Firelock, and Scootaloo a pony ride--but there was no space for that in the field, and her body was too massive for her to be able to sprint every time she had to move a few feet to another rock. Raindrops was a relatively slow-moving mare, but Juggernaut seemed slower still, at least in the confines of the challenge. 

Of course, the mercenary was still stronger than Raindrops. Big Macintosh, who was keeping score for Juggernaut, had planted flags with the Rushian's cutie mark in the five squares she had already cleared; Cheerilee had only been able to plant flags with Raindrops' mark in four. But Raindrops knew that didn't necessarily matter. Raindrops had another advantage which she wouldn't hesitate to deploy as soon as it would be useful, and with that, she might be able to pull ahead and get Carrot Top the majority of squares.

That time came three squares later. She heard Juggernaut yelp and turned to see the massive mare slapping at herself while black and red ants ran over her coat. Raindrops snorted and then looked at the boulder in front of her, then realized that the bug-infested plow was next to it. She froze with her hooves inches from the debris as the ants all turned towards her. "Snails!" she called. "Help!"

Snails scampered through the field, taking care to stay in the squares that Raindrops had cleaned of debris so that he wouldn't crack a hoof on a rock by accident, and skidded to a halt by Raindrops' side. Levi flew to the ground as Snails knelt and began to communicate with the bugs. Nothing happened for a few moments, but then Snails chirped, "Okay!" and Raindrops saw the ants dispersing into the grass. She gave her brother a high-hoof before ripping the plow from the ground and disposing of it. And, in the time it took Juggernaut to get the bugs off her coat Raindrops cleared three boulders and a tree trunk, almost halving the gap between them.

Time passed, but Raindrops barely noticed. She had to stop three more times for Snails to run out and deal with bugs, but Juggernaut had to stop just as often, and the larger mare took much longer to get started again whenever critters swarmed towards her. Snails also occasionally carried water or cider to his sister, as well as a hat when the sun began to move directly overhead. The Elements and farmers cheered her from the sidelines and Raindrops let that drive her, pushing thoughts of exhaustion or pain out of her mind. She also heard the Trust farmhands and most of the foals rooting for Juggernaut, as well as Pinkie squeeing Maud's name, but ignored them. There was only the field in front of her.

She felt the cooling presence of shade and realized that she'd made it to the Everfree's border and the last few squares of the field. She heaved a boulder aside and found herself looking at a timberwolf, which growled at her and snapped its jaws. She narrowed her eyes at it, then casually turned to one side, picked up a boulder, and hurled it away. The timberwolf blinked, then squeaked something and scampered away. Raindrops chuckled before continuing on.

And then, at last, there was nothing left to clear. She moved one last boulder and found herself staring at Juggernaut's bulk. The other pony was breathing heavily and sweating so hard that her coat was matted, but she seemed more excited than exhausted. "We done, da?" Juggernaut asked.

"Da," agreed Raindrops. Exhaustion began prickling up through her mind, but she shoved it away for a few moments longer. The field behind them was empty of everything but grass and dirt, and Cheerilee and Big Macintosh were already counting the cleared squares. "Good match."

"Indeed!" Juggernaut clapped Raindrops' hoof in a grip so hard that it hoof. "You worthy opponent! I glad we compete!"

Raindrops managed a smile as she extricated her hoof. "Uh, sure," she said. "Me too."

"Not like other pony." Juggernaut frowned back towards the front of the field. "She not do much. I not know why she here."

Turning, Raindrops saw that Maud appeared to have only cleared a few squares, after which she seemed to have dug some kind of pool and set up a picnic area. As Raindrops watched, the mare lifted a massive stone bench which she had apparently sculpted from a boulder using only her hooves and set it down. "I don't think the Pies wanted to grow crops here," said Raindrops. "They just wanted a nice picnic area for Gummy... or Pinkie did, anyway." Indeed, Pinkie was bouncing around and tossing flags with Maud's cutie mark all over the squares she'd cleaned up. "Maud is Pinkie's big sister, so when Pinkie told her she wanted a picnic for her alligator..."

Juggernaut slowly nodded. "I see," she said, and sounded like she did. Raindrops smiled to herself. Maybe, she thought, Juggernaut was making progress after all.

Cheerilee and Big Macintosh trotted up to Mayor Scrolls and conferred with her for a moment before they all nodded. The mayor turned to the crowd and raised her voice. "All the squares have been cleared," she said. "And the pony who cleared the most was..."

Raindrops tensed. In the distant crowd, she could see Carrot Top doing the same.

"Juggernaut, with fifty-two squares! Raindrops cleared forty-four; Maud Pie cleared four. As such, Sweet Apple Acres will be granted the 52% of the farm that Juggernaut cleared, Golden Harvest will take 44%, and Gummy the Alligator's owner Pinkie will take the remainder."

Raindrops let out a long breath even as she heard Pinkie and Applejack cheering. She knew that even doing that well against Juggernaut--against the pony whom the Minister of War had judged to be the strongest in Equestria--was a great accomplishment, and that she'd managed to get Carrot Top over forty percent of a property she'd had no chance at acquiring otherwise. Still, she thought, it would have been nice to win.

"YAY!" Snails darted into the field and crashed into Raindrops, then threw his legs around her in a big hug. "We were awesome!" he cheered. "We did really really good! And now Miss Carrot Top's happy! And I made a whole bunch of new buggy friends!"

"Friends?" Raindrops blinked, then saw the hoof Snails waved in front of her. Hundreds of ants were running around it, with a dozen of them carrying Levi on their backs. Raindrops watched as the beetle gestured and directed the ants this way and that. "Uh."

Snails nodded. "War ants are really good at following orders! Me and Levi are gonna get them to do tricks!"

For a moment, Raindrops thought she should probably worry about that, but then she looked at her brother's smile and could only say, "That sounds great, squirt." She hugged him. "You did good."

The two embraced for a moment, and then Raindrops felt somepony big moving to her left. She turned to see Juggernaut sheathing her sword and looking around awkwardly, as if she wasn't sure what to do next. Which she probably wasn't, Raindrops thought. "Hey," she said. "Juggernaut, look."

When the other mare glanced at her, Raindrops gestured at the smiling Snails, who was giggling as he played with his ants. Then she pointed at Carrot Top and Applejack, who both looked much happier than they had in the past few days. Applejack laughed at something, then shook Carrot Top's hoof, and the other mare beamed as they spoke. "Isn't this better than if we just fought?" she asked.

Juggernaut looked puzzled but then considered for a long moment. Raindrops saw her eyes flick over the smiling ponies around her, and she watched as they relaxed and enjoyed themselves. "Da," she said at last as a smile crept over her face. "I think so."

"Great." Raindrops sighed in relief. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Before you leave town, want to go to the party?"

"Party?"

She nodded at Applejack and Carrot Top, who had turned to the chattering crowd. "Alright everypony!" called the apple farmer. "To celebrate this here contest, Carrot Top an' I'll be hostin' a big ol' shindig at Sweet Apple Acres. Gonna have some great apple an' carrot treats for all y'all. Anypony who wants some is welcome!"

Most of the crowd cheered and began to follow her, though Raindrops saw her friends approaching her instead. They reached her and began to congratulate her, with Trixie loudly proclaiming how the Strong and Mighty Raindrops was indeed the most powerful warrior to be found, and Lyra already working out how she'd turn the struggle into a ballad. Snails bounced around, growing more antsy by the moment, and eventually asked. "Can we go to the party, sis? Please?"

"Sounds good." Raindrops began to move in that direction with her friends. "Coming, Juggernaut?"

The big mare mostly looked confused. "Why I go to party?" she asked.

"Well, if you're hungry you can eat pie." Raindrops pointed at Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing towards Sweet Apple Acres with her sister by her side and a pie-laden wagon hitched behind her. "You can tell tell jokes. And you can play games." She saw another pony walking up behind Juggernaut and grinned. "For instance, you could offer to hoof-wrestle other ponies in Ponyville to see if you're the strongest pony here."

Juggernaut chuckled. "I beat you," she said. "I know I strongest pony in Ponyville!"

Raindrops glanced behind Juggernaut, and the gigantic mare turned to see Big Macintosh looking at her with a faint smirk on his face. "Eeenope," he said.

"Da!" insisted Juggernaut. "I strongest!" She trotted to the edge of the field and kicked a boulder, shattering it.

Big Macintosh followed Juggernaut and kicked the boulder next to hers. It burst into shards and disintegrated. Big Mac smiled serenely at Juggernaut, but a smirk tugged at his mouth as he repeated, "Eeenope."

The two ponies looked at each other, and smiles crossed their faces. "Okay," said Juggernaut, turning back to Raindrops. "I go party. And I hoof-wrestle this pony!"

Raindrops couldn't stop herself from chuckling as Juggernaut and Big Macintosh began to trot off. She felt herself grinning, and as she began to lead the Elements along the same path, she heard them laughing as well.

All in all, she thought as her brother hopped onto her back and she began to walk with her best friends towards a party full of her other friends, it was a pretty good day.

#

Raindrops hadn't thought she would want to return to Canterlot for months after she'd been trapped in the city by Fisher's inane declaration of martial law, but barely three weeks later, she found herself walking from a quaint cafe to the historic district on the north side of the Canterhorn. She smiled as a low-hanging cloud pushed around a building next to her, shedding a bit of water which dripped down and spattered over the ground. The entire city was wreathed in clouds, and it looked like a storm could break out at any time. A good day, Raindrops thought.

Bridlam Asylum had been built in an old mansion once owned by a prominent philanthropist, separated from its neighbors by spacious fields, elegant hedges, and enough magical wards to keep out an invading army. Raindrops reached the asylum at the far end of the historic district, made her way through the checkpoints, and reached the visitor's area only slightly behind schedule. She found herself in a bucolic conservatory which had couches and tables arranged in an irregular pattern. Except for the occasional bulky orderly stationed by some of the other ponies seated in the room, it looked little different from any large lounge.

"Raindrops!" The weathermare turned to see Juggernaut walking in. Behind her was another pony, this one almost as massive and with a horn that looked like it had snapped off at the halfway. "I glad you come!"

The other pony, Goliath, looked up and stared at Raindrops for a moment. Then he looked at his big sister with a nervous expression.

Juggernaut smiled and gently embraced him, then spoke several sentences in Rushian. When Goliath finally nodded, Juggernaut turned to Raindrops. "You come close? Say hi?"

Raindrops cautiously advanced. "Um. Hi," she said to Goliath. "Are you okay?"

Goliath slowly nodded, as if it was taking him a while to process the question. "Hurt me?" he asked in a labored voice, as if it was taxing him to even vocalize that much.

Raindrops shook her head. "No."

Goliath looked to his big sister, who nodded. "She tell truth," she said in Equestrian, which Raindrops guessed was for her benefit. "And if she lie, I stop her! I beat her in competition; I show how strong I am." She drew closer to her brother. "Nopony hurt you. I swear."

Her little brother smiled slightly and turned to Raindrops, who nodded. "It's true. She's stronger than I am. She would never let anything bad happen to you." She stuck out her hoof. "And I don't want to hurt you anyways. You won't hurt other ponies again, will you?"

Goliath tilted his head. Juggernaut quickly translated, and then Goliath shook his head no rapidly. "No!" he insisted. "No!"

Two orderlies began to approach, but Juggernaut hugged Goliath and he calmed. Raindrops smiled at him. "Then I not hurt you. Your sister not let me hurt you. Okay?"

Goliath slowly smiled as he understood. "Okay," he said, and then enveloped them both in a massive hug. Raindrops winced--it was a rare experience for her to be trapped in a bone-cracking hug, instead of being on the giving end of it--but she was strong herself, and she just smiled and squeezed back as hard as she could.

When the hug was over, Goliath looked from his sister to Raindrops. "Friends?"

"Raindrops and I friends," agreed Juggernaut.

"Yes." Raindrops smiled and pointed at Goliath. "And if you don't hurt ponies, then we all friends."

After almost a minute, Goliath smiled even more brightly. "All friends?" he repeated. "Good!"

They spoke for a few minutes more before Raindrops excused herself to let the siblings talk. Juggernaut and Goliath both waved goodbye to her, and she returned it, then exited the mansion and flew down to the warehouse district of the city. She made her way towards one particular building and flew inside through a broken window, ignoring the rusting pieces of machinery and half-rotten crates stacked against one wall. Instead she flew to the nondescript door on one side of the warehouse and then down the staircase beyond it. She reached the bottom within moments and then stepped into another world.

A garden stretched before her that was as big as a city block. Flowers of all kinds grew in riotous patterns, apparently chaotic but somehow flowing so smoothly from one patch to the next that it could only be the result of some intricate design. There were bushes, shrubs, even a few short trees heavily laden with fruit, and interspersed with them were a couple of open spaces for resting and a small water feature. It was a little slice of paradise buried under the grime of Canterlot's dingy warehouse district, and Raindrops had to admit that--as much as she disliked the pony who tended this garden--he was undeniably good at his job.

"Ah, Raindrops! Hello!" Duke Greengrass, a brown-coated stallion with a garish red mane and a red 'X" for a cutie mark, trotted out of a small closet set in one of the walls. He was balancing a potted rose on his back and had a spade clipped to his saddlebag. "So glad you allowed Snails to take me up on my offer. He's truly been an invaluable help today."

Raindrops looked around and saw Snails kneeling down by a patch of flowers which seemed a little duller than the others. He was examining some bugs, bee-like creatures that had purple instead of yellow stripes and flew upside down, with a magnifying glass. The big field guide that his mother Shutterbug had gotten him for his birthday was on the dirt to his left. After a moment, though, he looked up and waved. "Hi Raindrops! Look!" He stuck out his hoof and two of the upside-down bees flew to it, flipping over just before landing. "Zaldian inverted bees!"

"They're supposed to be perfect for that kind of daisy, but they haven't been working out," said Greengrass. "So Snails, after first saying hello to as many bugs as he could find, has been helping me learn why." The Duke nodded. "And he's made excellent progress."

"Uh huh!" Snails nodded vigorously. "They need mango juice in their diet to keep their energy up. And these bees say that the juice Mr. Greenie is giving them doesn't have enough sugar, so they're tired." Snails beamed as he put the book away and trotted over to Raindrops. "I also helped sort out the ants on the west wall so they aren't feuding anymore, and before lunch I cheered up a bunch of sad worms so they can dig more tunnels and let more water into the soil!" His face was as bright as Raindrops had ever seen it. "Mr. Greenie said I did great!"

Raindrops nodded. "I'm glad to hear it--but you do have to go soon." Snails sighed, but Raindrops just chuckled and said, "Go get your things together and I'll take you home."

When Snails ran to find his bags, Greengrass turned to Raindrops. "Incidentally, I appreciate you looking past your dislike of me and allowing your brother to take advantage of this opportunity. You won't regret this."

Raindrops shrugged. "I didn't want to let him do this," she said in a frank tone. "But let's just say I've been reminded how it's important to consider other ponies besides myself. He really wanted to do this, and I'm his big sister--I'm supposed to support him, not just make him do what I want." She chuckled. "You might think about that sometime."

"Why else do you think I would do this?" Greengrass watched as Snails stopped and knelt to talk to a bug poking its head out of the ground. "I might not have much power in the Court anymore, but I'd rather like to do something more with my life than just tend a garden nopony sees. If I can help encourage a few colts and fillies to develop their talents... nurture them, as I would any flower..."

Raindrops snorted. "You know, Baron Max told us about your silly garden metaphors."

"My dear Raindrops, if I didn't make silly gardening metaphors, I might never talk at all. And then where would we be?"

Raindrops considered. "Paradise?" She hoped to annoy Greengrass, but instead the Duke just laughed, and she rolled her eyes. After verifying that Snails was still talking to the bug, she added, "How is Max, anyways?"

"Quite well," said Greengrass. "The Princess provided him with a small corps called the Special Investigative Unit, which is basically a few investigators and detectives under his direct command. It seems Duchess Posey was growing concerned that her 'secret' coltfriend can't go six weeks without charging head first at some nasty criminal, so she prevailed upon Luna to give him a few ponies to handle that sort of thing on his behalf."

"Did that work?" asked Raindrops.

Greengrass chuckled and passed Raindrops a newspaper from his bag. Raindrops opened it and immediately saw a picture of six ponies, all wearing red coats, big hats, and badges labeled 'SIU', standing in front of a banner labeled 'FASHION FAIR.' Three shackled ponies stood between the SIU investigators, and other ponies with fancy outfits and relieved looks--including Rarity, Raindrops noticed--were scattered about. She began to read the article aloud: "The Spring Fashion Fair was attacked yesterday by Popped Stitch, a clothes designer who had been disqualified for stealing designs from her competitors, and who planned to spatter all the models with paint and destroy her competitor's clothes in revenge. Fortunately, the new Special Investigation Unit was able to intervene and capture these malcontents just before this attack took place. According to Silverstar, a former sheriff who now runs an orphanage and volunteers with the SIU part-time, if Stitch had succeeded she could have ruined literally dozens of dresses and the hopes of twenty-five designers, many of whom had traveled to Canterlot from distant provinces just to showcase their wares in front of the Court." The weathermare snorted. "Where was Baron Max when this happened?"

"Left side of the picture."

Raindrops looked and quickly saw the mountain-themed cutie mark which let her identify the hapless stallion with the overturned paint bucket on his head. "Baron Mounty Max of Nulpar was on hoof to supervise the first investigation of his new unit, and he personally saved the dress of the Zaldian ambassador by jumping in front of Stitch's last paint can. When Duchess Fragrant Posey, who was in the area for unclear reasons, asked him if he had anything to say for himself, he tugged at the can and told her, 'It's stuck.'" Raindrops couldn't help but laugh as she lowered the paper. "You have strange friends."

"I try." Greengrass hesitated. "Speaking of friends, and gestures thereof, I can have one of my staff personally escort Snails to and from Ponyville when he comes to work in my garden if you wish. You don't need to personally chaperone him."

"Maybe eventually," Raindrops said. "But today he wanted me."

"Oh. I thought perhaps you feared I might try to abduct him--"

"If I was afraid of that, do you really think I'd have left him with you for the afternoon?" Raindrops shook her head. "Max says you've reformed. And you did save Snails' life instead of sell him out to the mob. So even though I don't like you, I'll tentatively trust you, and I'll let him work in your garden if he really wants. But if you harm one hair on his mane..."

Greengrass sighed melodramatically. "You buck me off the Canterhorn. I know."

"Glad we understand each other." Raindrops smiled at him, then turned to Snails as her brother finally approached. "So long as that's true, I'm sure Snails will be able to come back here... oh, at least once every two weeks or so." Snails grinned, and Raindrops chuckled and continued. "Maybe more in the summer when school's out."

"In the summer I'll be starting work on some above-ground plots," said Greengrass in a light tone. "I'll probably need more helpers, perhaps even enough that I won't be able to watch them all myself. So, Snails, when that time comes, I might put you in charge of some of my other assistants--if you do a very good job now. I trust that's acceptable?"

Snails' face brightened even further until it was practically alight with energy and Raindrops realized that she was smiling too. She turned to the Duke and said, "I think he's okay with that."

Raindrops had Snails wave goodbye to Greengrass and left with him. No sooner had they stepped into the street than Snails embraced Raindrops. "Thanks again for letting me help Greenie with his bugs!" she said. "You're the best big sister ever."

"I know." Raindrops lifted Snails onto her back. "And don't you forget it." 

She steadied him with her wings, then called, "Hold on!" and took off. He whooped behind her as she flew towards the train station, and she couldn't help but grin. She'd made some new friends, and she'd helped out Carrot Top, but most important of all was that she'd fulfilled her duty as a big sister and done right by her brother. 

That was what mattered.