//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10: Give Us the Hope 
// Story: Friendship is a Quantum Infinite 
// by angelicoreXX 
//------------------------------//

	“Oh, I’m so brilliant! What a genius! A mastermind, a virtuoso, a brainiac! This is just perfect!” Discord pranced around his newly acquired Empire State Building in the bludgeoned depths of New York City.
“Oh! Wait a second, how will they know where to find me? Oh Discord, you old coot. You sent out all the invitations but you didn’t even bother to include an address!” He shook his head with a sigh, and then it hit him!
Every super villain has some sort of menacing dark castle, or at least some twisted tower with their name spelled out in bold all over it.
On thin air no less, Discord ice skated right off of the sky scraper and performed a dazzling figure eight until finally concluding his glittering performance with a pirouette. He glanced back at the building and at the flick of a wrist, the word ‘Discord’ exploded onto the side of tower. The font was roughly that of Brush Script, but he just wasn’t satisfied. With a few more turns of his finger, he photoshopped the text from Helvetica, to Impact, to Frank Ruehl, to Verdana, and every other posh swirl Microsoft Word had to offer, “Screw it, good old Gothic always does the job. Such power, such impact! Wait, no, not Impact, erm, oh right, such strength!” This went on for about another hour until he finally decided on simply using the letter ‘D’ instead of his full name. He didn’t want to come across as being too extravagant after all.
“Right then! This is perfect. The welcome mat’s set and now all I have to do is play the waiting game…” the chaos god could hardly contain himself before finally retiring upon his tattered veranda. He sat back over a makeshift lawn chair and crossed his legs as he gazed up into the careless sky.
His plan was essentially flawless, but it was that very same scheme that had finally begun to get to him. The more Discord thought about it, the more he began to question the resolve of those puny little humans. He honestly had no idea if they’d even be able to make it to his shindig at all. It wasn’t as if there was anyone else around to invite.

Regina stormed into the Carouselle Boutique with one arm filled with a tuft of fabrics and trimmings and the other balancing a basket filled with freshly cold-cut fruit, “Terribly sorry about the mess earlier, dear, but it appears that I’m about to create a new one for you.”
Rarity had barely held the mop in her magical glow for but a second. The last very thing she wanted to see was a batch of sticky wet fruit, “Oh my! Please don’t get any of that on the tile! I-!” Regina hadn’t exactly noticed all the spots of pineapple juice leaking out of the bottom of the hampered basket. She had far too much on her mind to worry about where the unicorn had put the napkins, which of course Rarity had already fetched and began shadowing the diva wiping up every dot she could find. 	The place was still a bit dirty but Rarity couldn’t stand the thought of adding to the mess. She had thought that a long how shower beforehand would’ve prepared her for a late batch of spring cleaning but her guest was only making things worse.
Regina had barely even noticed the desperate hotel maid before she finally brought the basket over to the kitchen sink, much to the unicorn’s relief of course. The celebrity unwrapped its plastic covering, which only seemed to add to the look of the bouquet rather than actually collect any draining fluids, and began preparing a bowl, “Here you are.” Served seemingly out of the Waldorf Astoria was a dish of perfectly sliced pineapple alongside a bushel of seedless grapes, trio of cut mango and citrus crescents, “Enjoy, darling.”
“Oh! Why thank you, b-but whatever is the occasion?” Rarity took the tiniest bite out of the tiniest grape in the bowl, “Oh, and how did your lunch with Twyla go?”
The questions seemed to float right over Regina’s head as she headed into the designer room to drop off a pile of linen stuffs. She returned a second later, “Nevermind this mess. Come with me for a second, dear.” She wiped up the world’s smallest droplet of moisture from the unicorn’s muzzle before picking her up like a piece of airline baggage and taking her into the boutique.
Rarity found herself plopped onto a small silk pillow, “W-What’s happening?”
“Oh, nothing. Just a few measurements and fixes here.” She could barely contain her giggles as she appraised every inch of hoof, haunch, crest and collar with a length of measuring tape.
“…Are you going to-?”
“Of course I am! What was the phrase now? ‘It’s the very least I could do’?” Regina gave a tiny titter before sinking in to meet the pony eye to eye, “You’ve done so much to accommodate my stay here, Rarity. I would’ve been stuck out on the farm covered in applesauce had it not been for you.”
Rarity turned the most divine shade of rose with a prancing giggle, “W-Well, it’s not that big of a deal really. Anypony would’ve done the same.”
“Don’t be so modest! Oh, and give me that hoof.” Regina passed just one more measurement over the pony’s elbow and forelimb, “I’m going to make something beautiful for you before I… before the day’s end, of course!” it almost slipped out right there and then. Regina hated goodbyes and even with all the time it took her to get back to the salon she still couldn’t think of a good way to say it.
Rarity had been so kind to her. It was going to be impossible to big farewell to her, at least not before doing something special for the pony. Even then, she still didn’t think she’d have a decent script written down in time.
Rarity picked up on the bump in tone right away and reeled her eyes away from the woman, “…Is anything the matter, dear…?” 
“N-No! Of course not! I-I just want to do something special to show my gratitude for all you’ve done for me, nothing more.” Before the unicorn could press through her obvious façade any further, Regina cackled off to the drawing board, “Give me a moment, darling. I’ll have something gorgeous for you by tonight!” Not even the keenest of detectives could pry another answer out of the woman. Her mind had disappeared into the textured charcoal scrapings of a canvas.
Deep down, Rarity was happy to see such fulfillment in essentially herself a world away. Why wouldn’t she have been happy knowing such creativity and taste had reached beyond her realm? But she could barely hold up that grateful smile of hers.
Regina didn’t have to say a word. As Rarity sat there watching the fashionista dart and doodle from end to end, she began to wonder exactly when she’d have to say goodbye to her big sister.

Raine groaned as she walked down the Ponyville Avenue. She had been moping around ever since she had left Twilight’s library.
“What’s your deal? Are you still down about having to leave?” Dash flutter over the girl’s shoulder like a squawking parrot, “Don’t you want to go home?”
“No! Of course not! I don’t have crud back home… and that stupid company is probably gonna’ send the debt police after me for sinking that awesome fighter jet of theirs.”
“So what? Just give them the boot. It’s your home isn’t it? They can’t tell you what to do.”
Raine was thankful that Equestria wasn’t burdened with an economy built around a faulty credit system, “It doesn’t work that way… You know what? Screw this! I’m not gonna’ spend my last day in Ponyville being all ‘Emo’.”
“Emo…?” Dash quirked, “Is that like some of kind of disorder?”
“Come on Dash!” Raine snapped the little Pegasus out of her flight path and wrapped an arm around her like a football, “There’s gotta’ be something fun to do today. What do you got for me, squirt?”
Rainbow Dash hadn’t exactly gotten used to being handled like a stuffed toy yet, but it was a fair trade for seeing her flight assistant ready to face the world, “Let’s see… Oh! I almost forgot! The annual Iron Pony competition’s supposed to be today! Want to enter together?”
“Iron pony? You mean like Iron Chef?”
“Iron Chef? No, no, no! Iron Pony!” Dash had to exaggerate the simple phrase, “It’s an athletic competition where ponies compete to see who’s the strongest, fastest, and most agile.”
It was music to Raine’s ears, “That sounds perfect! Finally we’ll see who’s at least the toughest out of the two of us, seeing as I’m already the fastest.”
Dash laughed, “Yeah right, girl! You’re on! Race you over!” and she shot off to parts unknown.
“H-Hey! Wait up…!”

“You have a wonderful day now, dear!”
“T-Thank you so much for letting me borrow your kitchen!” Fiona took the gift-wrapped box of muffins from Mrs. Cake with a nervous smile and scampered towards the door without really paying attention to where she was going. She had no time to contemplate and/or battle the peculiar fancies of Raine dancing around inside her heart. There was still a lot to do and eventually a ton of goodbyes to hand out and she wasn’t exactly looking forward to any of them. Fiona would’ve actually made it out of Sugar Cube Corner had Piper not barged in and opened the door for her.
With an insignificant yelp, Fiona stumbled backwards, though luckily enough Pinkie Pie was still available to provide some balance with a side of muffin support.
“Are you okay, Fiona? You almost lost your appetite!” Pinkie giggled.
“Oh, I-I’m fine, I’m just in a bit of a-”
“Pinkie Pie!” Piper didn’t even give her peripherals enough time to apologize to Fiona, “Are you off of work yet?” she repeated about seven times within the span of three seconds.
“Oh! Yes, I have the rest of the day-”
The cream puff wasted no time. She scooped up the little pink pony and scurried right out the door just as fast as she had entered, although she did return momentarily to finally apologize to Fiona for bumping into her before zipping back out again.
The animal hoarder darted her eyes about the room, as if looking for approval wherever she could find it, “Well, uhm, I-I should probably get going.”
Mrs. Cake gave a Wisconsin hoot and waved, “Goodbye, Fiona. Come again any time!”
She was about to reply with something along the lines of ‘See you later’, but knew that wasn’t going to be the case. She gave a weak smile, waved, and took her batch of muffins through the exit.

For the second time this week, every colorful little pony in town trotted about as if nothing had ever happened to them. Fiona would’ve noticed just how pretty the day was if she hadn’t been day dreaming.
It had felt like a lifetime as far as fanfictions went, though it had only been a week and apparently a week is all it took for Fiona to find out where she belonged. It was every little girl’s dream, especially Fiona’s since she had never really grown up, at least at heart anyway.
She cleared a pale curtain of hair so that at least one of her little curious eyes could get a better look of the shimmering rainbow glittering under the afternoon’s sun. The Pegasai had done a terrific job of clearing the blue sky framed by Bavarian rooftops made of straw and stick. They sheltered happy little ponies that galloped about going through their own little routines and daily chores.
Fiona sighed as she gazed down at her box of muffins. She felt like she was being dragged out of a toy store empty handed. She didn’t want to leave all of these adorable little creatures and their charming world behind, but she could never ever forget about the ones that she had held so dearest to her heart, even if they couldn’t all fit inside her tiny apartment. They might not have been made of colorful marshmallows or talked or had such innocent takes of the world around them, well, maybe they did, but either way they were her little babies. They depended on her for love and care. And where was she? In some adorably pixelated cartoon world?
Fiona felt guilty even mentioning how much she loved it here. It was times like this that she needed someone totally cool like Raine to pick her up and tell her that everything was going to be okay. 	She had hoped she’d never have to leave, but every vacation has its end and at the end of this rainbow sat far too many gravestones in the garden for her to ever get used to.
The person responsible was probably the only thing keeping her from bursting into tears right there in the middle of the boulevard. That Discord was just so, mean! You could even say that she downright disliked him. Maybe even hated? She didn’t have a very pessimistic vocabulary so it became quite difficult to describe her distain for the character. She’d have to think long and hard over what to say to him when the time ultimately came to discipline the chaos god.
A wall was about to smack Fiona right in the face, and before a gray little Pegasus could come up with enough depth perception to intervene, the girl bopped herself right into the structure, knocking herself onto her bottom. Thankfully the box of muffins in her arms had remained intact. At least those giant boobs of hers were good for something.
“Geez, are you okay? You should really pay attention to where you’re going!” the lecture felt especially hard to swallow coming from Ditzy of all ponies.
“Oh, I-I’m sorry, I was just so lost in-” and then Fiona noticed just who was fluttering over her shoulder. No one else had a smile as hapless as Ditzy’s, “Oh, hello there, Ditzy! I was actually just looking for you.” Fiona opened the sugary box of treats and whipped out a muffin.
The Pegasus gasped, “Gosh, are those muffins for me!?” Fiona was holding only one muffin but that didn’t stop her creative eyesight.
“Yup.” She smiled, “Here you go!”
Ditzy couldn’t help but snatch the Muffin out of the girl’s hands and took a massive chomp out of the blueberry swirled delight. Her petite body tingled in delicious giggles. She hadn’t had a muffin in forever, and by forever I mean all day.
Fiona squealed over Ditzy’s giddiness, “I would’ve waited for you so that we could bake them together, but I’ve kind of been in a rush all day…”
The Pegasus paused, “You made these?”
She nodded, “Remember? I told you I’d bake you some muffins.”
Ditzy’s eyes began to water, “Y-You didn’t have to do this for me…” she floated in and wrapped her hooves around Fiona.
“Of course I did.” Fiona held the little pony close, “That muffin you baked looked just scrumptious, and you lost it because of those bullies.”
“B-But that muffin was for you!”
“And these are for you, Ditzy.” Fiona handed her the entire box with a warm smile.
Ditzy was at a loss for words, “Y-You’re too kind, Fiona, b-but I couldn’t accept these!”
“Well, why ever not?”
“Well, I-I’m… ‘Derpy’. I’m just some dumb old pega-” she should’ve known better by now, and the poor look in Fiona’s eyes reminded her that she really had no reason to feel so sorry for herself. Just because a few bullies tried to tear her down didn’t mean she couldn’t keep flying high, “Erm, actually, I-I couldn’t eat all of these by myself. Would you mind sharing them with me?”
Fiona held the gray little pony close, “Only if you promise to never talk that way about yourself ever again.”

Piper ran through the streets of Ponyville without a care in the world. Her arms were holding the tiny pink legs dangling over her shoulders as Pinkie, who was doing her best ambulance impression, sat waving her hooves into the air as if she were on the bubbliest roller coaster she’d ever been on.
The ride eventually came to a halt at a cotton candy stand where Pinkie Pie did a flip and accidently landed right into the gunky aparatus of blue and pink spinning clouds.
Long story short, there were plenty of laughs, an angry cashier, and the two goofballs had to pay for far more cotton candy than they had originally intended. Though they weren’t exactly complaining about it.
Pinkie Pie had become the official cotton candy holder, since much of it had been added to her already very poofy mane. There were a few instances where Piper almost took a few bites out of the pony’s hair doo, hardly able to tell the difference. Thankfully the girl had plenty of cloud on her stick to last maybe a few minutes at best.
Pinkie snorted through a jolly giggle, “So, what’s next, Piper?”
“I dunno’, I kind of just wanted to go around town and have fun, maybe put a smile on face or two.” She had begun picking a few balloons off of nearby mailboxes and doorknobs from the party the night before. The party favors had lasted their stay but that didn’t stop Piper from wanting to regift them.
The pony came down with a case of the jitters, “That’s a great idea!”
Piper caught the sight of an eagle from afar, and then realized that it was actually a very familiar griffon. The pastry chef picked another red balloon off of a lonely light post and skipped over to the creature while Pinkie bounced along.

Gilda smiled and placed a talon’s worth of bits into the hoof of a fruit vendor. The mint pony gave a kind “Thankyou.” and picked the best apple she could find out of her cart.
“Thanks, take it easy.” Gilda took a chomp out of the red apple and went on her way. There was something pleasant about well, being pleasant for once. Her old ego may have considered it soft or even lame, but sacrificing ‘being cool’ was well worth the reward. She didn’t have to prove anything to anyone and she had been forgiven and even accepted by Dash’s friends. Gilda couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so relaxed, so at peace with everything.
The griffon swallowed what remained of the fruit in one gulp, “Now where did Dash say that contest was supposed to be again…?”
“Hiya Gilda!” Pinkie Pie was loud enough to have jarred the griffon out of a coma.
“Oh! Hey Pink. How’s it goin’?” Gilda bumped a talon with the pony’s hoof, “Really dug that party you threw by the way. It was totally legit.”
“Thanks! I’m glad you had such a great time, Gilda. I’ll definitely send you an invite the next time I throw a little shindig.” Pinkie’s simple words warmed Gilda’s heart. Returning to Ponyville was probably the best idea she’d ever thought of.
“Here you go!” Piper smiled like an idiot and handed Gilda a red balloon.
The kind gesture was lost on the griffon. Gilda didn’t exactly know what to do with the thing, but knew the human probably meant well. She was doing her best to assume as much anyway. With an awkward grin she took the string into her talon, “Oh, uhm, thankyou…! Well, uhm, I gotta’ go meet Rainbow Dash somewhere. I’ll see you two later okay?”
“Alrighty! See ya’ later, Gilda!” Pinkie Pie waved her hoof and Piper followed the motion.
Gilda put on the best smile she could and flew away dragging the tiny red balloon with her. She felt like a complete idiot so the quicker she flee the scene and dump the souvenir on some filly the better.
Piper was so relieved to see her little gift being put to good use. She wondered just how much farther Gilda would be able to fly with a balloon by her side.
Pinkie giggled over the poppycock, “Come on, Piper, we’ve got plenty more smiles to give out!”
“Right!” by now, Piper had amassed quite the collection of balloons and so she was doing what she could to keep her feet on the ground. Though to be fair, she did have many years of bounce-house experience so controlling her awkward steps seemed to come naturally.
“Uhm, I’ll take a few of those off of your hands if you want, Piper.”
The helium was getting the better of the girl, given that she didn’t exactly know when to stop collecting. Piper was practically tip toeing over the ground, “G-Good idea!” she managed to tie a few around Pinkie Pie, but underestimated just how bold the innocent little things still were.
The pony let out a wobbled yelp as her hooves left the ground. Luckily for her, she wasn’t exactly floating off into the clouds just yet.
Piper had never seen a half buoyant horse before and Pinkie’s fluttering hooves gave the girl a good old laugh before she helped rectify the little pony’s altitude, “I-I’m sorry but, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” she let out another snort.
A toothy grin stretched across Pinkie’s face as she continued flapping her hooves through the air, which was actually just enough to control her inept orbit, “This is pretty fun! You should try it, Piper.”
She might as well have been reliving her childhood all over again, as well as much of a birthday party a couple of weeks beforehand. She moonwalked her way down the street snatching up every forgotten balloon she could find until the Earth below left her sneakers completely. A burst of laughter left the pit of her gut as she began gracefully skipping over food carts and carriages alike.
With a squeaky giggle, Pinkie Pie fluttered through the air behind the girl like a clumsy clownfish, though the pony really wished she had brought along her red buttoned nose and clown shoes for the ride.

Elsewhere, a pair of boots proved their loyalty to the ground below. Aprile sprinted through the apple fields, clasping onto her hat lest it fall into the dust behind her. Every step felt like her legs were being broken and contorted given her shins had still barely healed, but she had gotten used to that brand of pain long ago. It couldn’t even compare to the agony dragging down her heart and if she was going to leave her newly found family forever, she was going to damn well make sure she thanked them first or at least made today the best day of their lives. She may not have had the spirit to pull it off, but she was going to try anyway.
Aprile finally came to a halt and rested an arm against a tree. She had run through the length of Ponyville on probably a quarter of a leg and desperately needed a breather, not to mention some ice or a set of crutches. She heard a swift knock shake up a tree just ahead of her, followed by the sound of a couple dozen apples tumbling into a wooden barrel and soon enough the cracking bites in her legs all but fell away, “A-Applejack…!”
The orange pony rested her hooves and turned about, “Oh, uh, Hey there, Aprile. Welcome back! Hope yer’ feelin’ better.”
Aprile stumbled from the tree, but overestimated the circulation in her legs and fell onto her knees with a bloody curse.
Applejack shook her head and ran over, “You know you shouldn’t be gallopin’ about on those sore legs of yours. You’re gonna’ hurt yourself!” The very last thing she was expecting was for Aprile to put her arms around her.
“I-I’m so sorry, Applejack! I’m so sorry!” Aprile’s hat was nearly about to fall off. She was a complete blubbering mess.
Applejack was a bit taken by the shower of emotions, “I-It’s alright, sweetie. I ain’t gonna’ say I told ya’ so, but you should really get into bed and rest those legs of yours. Now come on, no need for all this cryin’.”
“No! T-That’s not what I meant.” Aprile didn’t want to let go of the stubborn little pony, “I’m sorry for what I said… You and I really are sisters, and ya’ll have been more than just family to me. I-I can’t tell you how-”
Applejack put a hoof over the girl’s mouth, to which Aprile was suddenly thankful she had already known what dirt tasted like, “Now, now, what’s this all about? You know you don’t need to apologize to me, Aprile. I know what yer’ going through and I can’t imagine just how hard it must be on ya’.”
“I-I’m sorry, it’s just…” Aprile hesitated, “I’m…”
“No more of that now! It ain’t like you.” Applejack whistled over to the nearby red stallion, “Mind givin’ us a hand over here Big Macintosh? Aprile’s legs are a might bruised and she sure could use a ride over to the barn.”
Big Mac nodded with a “Nope.” and trotted over to provide the biped with some much needed assistance.
Aprile’s pride wanted nothing of it, not to mention the desperate news trying to beat its way through a locked down in her mind. She tried to get up but her legs were still numb, and with a few nags from Applejack she finally gave up and parked herself over the red stallion.
AJ chuckled, “Don’t worry, sugarcube. I’m gonna’ bake ya’ somethin’ delicious and then you’ll be feeling better in no time at all!”
No matter how scrumptious her apple pie, apple brown betty, or whatever manner of apple product she’d try, Aprile doubted she was ever going to feel the same ever again, especially if she ever managed the courage to tell that little pony the truth.

Meanwhile, Twyla and Twilight had both reasoned that efficiency was key to accomplishing as much as possible in the little time they had left together.
An early dinner and a movie were the two definite plans to start off the evening, and so the little unicorn had suggested, “Why not do both at once?”
Twyla hadn’t been to a dinner theatre since she was a little girl, and it was on a fancy vacation anyway so it seemed almost ironic to do the same here in Ponyville. A ‘vacation’ however was the last word she wanted to use. If not for the fact that her home and everyone she knew had been blown to bits and not having much say in the trip to begin with, she didn’t want to think of Ponyville as some resort. Her heart desperately wanted to call it home, but her brain couldn’t.
Call it some nerd’s ultimate fantasy or the happiest little distraction you’d ever lost yourself in. Either way, Twyla really did like it here in Equestria and she had made such a good friend in Twilight Sparkle. They had so much in common with one another, their discussions and comparisons between one another could last for hours. Everything was great. She had her cake, but simply couldn’t eat it. It was one of the most tearing and most depressing things she’d ever been through.
There had even been a point where she had regretted ever coming up with her ingenious plan in the first place. Perhaps playing dumb for once would’ve left room for a ‘plan B’ and allowed her more time to spend in Ponyville. Either way, with every tick the sun spent dipping into the horizon, the more miserable Twyla felt.
“Uhm, Twyla, have you decided what you’re going to eat? The movie’s going to start soon.” The girl was the easiest book Twilight had ever read and it was awful to see her so gloomy. So the unicorn put on the brightest smile she could, notched herself over within the dining booth and put a hoof over her arm, “Cheer up, Twyla. I don’t want to see you so mopey like that. Come on, something yummy is sure to get your spirits up!”
Twyla sighed, “I know, I know, it’s just…”
“Here! Try the Apple and Peanut butter Granola sandwich!” the pony dotted a hoof at a line in the menu, “It’s delicious!”
“That does sound pretty good.” Twyla had never actually thought of using apple slices as buns for anything before.
A waiter arrived just in time and promptly took their orders, “So that’ll be a Hayseed Sandwich and an Apple and Peanut butter Granola?”
The unicorn eagerly nodded for the both of them.
“Alright then, enjoy the show and your food will be out in a moment.” The lights began to dim as he left them with a basket of warm bread loaves. The restaurant hushed as a hazy projector began to crackle and reel a light over a wide screen.

The theme was fairly grim and the scene floated through some of the bluest depths of space. Twilight Sparkle couldn’t recognize a single one of the star systems and was even further bewildered by the oncoming triangle floating towards the screen.
The capsule appeared lifeless, almost hollow as a sheet of starshine reflected over every piece of hardware inside the ship.
Slumbering under a pane of futuristic glass lay a unicorn that looked as if she had seen better nights. A monitor blipped to life in a vain attempt to warn the comatose survivor of a proximity alert, but before another cold breath could escape her lips, a far larger ship entered the frame and absorbed the smaller vessel into its belly.
A violent clang shook the ship and a blistering laser began to cut through the hull’s door. A ray of sparks followed perfectly cut lines, too perfect for any pony to cut at least without some sort of guiding machine.
Just when the cabin had begun to fill with smoke, point A finally met point B and the door tumbled to the iron floor. Instead of a curious pony, the silhouette of an indifferent robotic arm took the frame of the door and soon fled back to its recharging station only to be replaced by a second drone. 	The newcomer floated into the ship and sprayed a length of blue sea ahead of it, scanning every single inch of dust it could detect. At the first sign of life the laser ceased and the robot was immediately withdrawn.
It was always wise to send in a parakeet in a cage, or at least a robot ahead of the actual crew to investigate. Luckily for the cautious ponies entering the derelict ship, there was probably nothing to fear. They’re only recognizable features were their quadruped shapes which were covered in hazmats and helmets. Contamination was not an option and anypony that may have come into contact with a foreign impurity may as well have been dealt with by the unforgiving switch of an airlock, especially aboard a military vessel.
A scout passed a hoof over the glass tomb and rubbed away a film of condensation. Inside napped the weathered pony, probably off in a far better place than where she slept at the moment, and in her lap snoozed the smallest of baby dragons. The crew had found their query and slipped off their helmets in relief. They probably weren’t going to die anytime soon, probably.

Twyla cupped her forehead. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. I mean, she did enjoy the reference and found it amusing and all, but it was almost too much to take in. It was like watching a parody of the Abyss but done with characters from Sonic the Hedgehog.
She nearly lost it over the next scene. The same dreary unicorn now in hospital whites was frantically fumbling about in her bed cornered by some sleaze that looked like a rookie lawyer and a RN barely out of space medical school. A glass of water shattered against the floor as the bed shuttered under the choking pony, desperate to reach out for any kind of release from the blood curdling agony cracking out of her ribcage.
“Please…!!” she barely managed the scream, but not a soul there knew what she begged for. All she wanted was the horrible thing out of her. Practically begging for death by now, she slowly lifted up her gown, and not a single doctor there could’ve prepared themselves for the bump rising out of the pony’s torso. The patient’s scaly little companion cried out in terror as a revolting face began to penetrate through the pale layer of skin and just as the tortured pony screamed for it all to end, she woke up.
Twilight had found herself quivering up Twyla’s arm. The unicorn may have been old enough to manage a Winter Wrap-up but she still had the constitution of a ten year old, or whatever that translated to in horses. The point is that she had basically lost her appetite.
It wasn’t exactly an appropriate dinner movie, at least in the classical sense, but Twyla could’ve eaten through it. She’d marathoned the entire franchise with a stuffed crust pizza and thing of Sake grabbed out of her nearest Weeaboo shop, (And by franchise we’re only talking about the first three movies, none of that other Jean-Pierre Jeunet crap or that ‘Versus’ trash, though at least Twyla considered Resurrection to be hilarious.).

“Bon-appetite!” a pink haired waitress, who did indeed pronounce that incorrectly, created quite the commotion sloshing over a few platters of pasta, hay fries, and something that probably shouldn’t have had any meat on it.
“We didn’t order-Piper! What’re you doing here!?” to which Twyla was hushed a few dozen times by the crowd. She repeated the question again in a much softer whisper.
“Oh hey guys! Watching a movie, huh?” Pinkie Pie balanced a tray of about a dozen cold drinks over her head as another slew of silences flew in from across the restaurant, which she barely paid any mind to. On a side note, she was wearing the cutest little suit! “We’re just waitressing for the night! Ain’t it fun?”
“But we didn’t order any of this. You two got the wrong orders!” Twilight had forgotten that a movie was still playing and so the exceedingly impatient audience had to remind her.
“Well it’s too dark in here. I can’t see whose eating what!” nor could Piper see the any of the angry ponies leaving their tables either, “They should really turn the lights back on.”
“But then how would they see the movie with the lights on?” Pinkie hadn’t taken the hint yet at all.
“Well they do say you should watch TV with the lights on, to protect your eyes I mean.” Twyla had all but given up by this point. She’d seen the movie a few dozen times by now anyway and she wasn’t about to have her opinion of James Cameron ruined by a bunch of stinking horses. Although she did feel pretty bad for the poor unicorn sitting beside her, whose introduction into the science fiction horror genre had been utterly spoiled.
With a helpless sigh, Twyla took a bite out of some other pony’s tomato sandwich.
“Go get us our correct meals already!” Twilight shouted, “You’re ruining the movie!”
“For who?” Piper asked, “Everyone’s already left, silly.”
Twilight groaned and planted her jaw against a hoof before helping herself to a biscuit off of a foreign plate. It was probably going to be thrown into the trash anyway so she figured what the hay?

“Welcome to the Annual Iron Pony competition!” if there was anything that was going to get Spike out of bed that day, it would probably have been a chance to play ‘announcer’ all over again, “We’ll be starting the matches this year between Rainbow Dash and our guest to Ponyville, Raine! The first event, the track race, will begin shortly!”
Scootaloo sat peddling her hooves against her spot on the bleachers. She was as excited as she’d ever been to attend anything involving her idol, Rainbow Dash. There was a donated red balloon tied around one hoof and a box of crackerjacks in the other, “She’s going to win! I know it!”
“Which one? There’s two of them now, you know.” Gilda joked.
“The one in the middle!” the junior speedster dropout cried, snacking out a bite of caramel crunch, “Or whichever one’s cooler!”
Gilda let out a laugh and soon enough the ding of a mild bell rang to signal the start of the competition. The mild ceremonies had long concluded and the crowd focused in on the two competitors.
Raine and Rainbow Dash braced themselves before a lengthy track that ran itself around the field. Hooves and feet alike arched over a set of starting blocks as they awaited a horn’s call.
“You’re going down, pipsqueak.” Raine joshed.
Dash snickered, “Puh-lease, I’ve already gone down in history more than once, kiddo.” She spit into her hoof and held it out to the human, who didn’t exactly know how to react to it seeing as humans didn’t have any hooves. Raine decided she’d ball a fist, spit onto her knuckles and bump the hoof with it. The awkward gesture was accepted and that was that.
The horn finally blew and the spectators exploded into cheers as the two runners left their marks, “And they’re off!” Spike felt really good shouting that through the microphone.
Time appeared to slow down for each of them. A sharp arm swung and a bladed wing arched and eventually time caught up with them carrying with it a wind of shouts and clops.
Raine’s body tightened, every muscle working in unison. As a step planted into the ground another arm swung forth. She glared down the bend of the runway focusing on shifting her weight for the upcoming turn. Raine used to run track in high school, though she mostly did it for the workout. Being held down by Earth’s gravity hardly lived up to that ‘Runner’s High’ by that old rush felt nice regardless.
The last thing Raine expected to see however was her flight navigator dashing past faster than her hooves could gallop. The track’s first bend certainly lent itself to the Pegasus. Raine could’ve probably called shenanigans on the fact that the pony was using her wings to boost her stride but the cheat only motivated her to push herself further. While Rainbow Dash might’ve been the first to complain, Raine had the heart of a jarhead in bootcamp. Pain was only a weakness leaving the body and if anything was gained too easily then you probably hadn’t earned a thing.
Raine choked down a grunt and kicked in her Vtec. She wasn’t going to let that little pipsqueak outrun her.
The sad thing was that Rainbow Dash wasn’t even running very fast, it was more of a carefree stride at best. With a smirk she slowed her roll and let the human catch up to her.
The taunt only distracted Raine from the race. She knew exactly what the Pegasus was trying to pull and was intent on strangling the little runt if she couldn’t at least win the race, “T-Take this… seriously… darn you!”
“Oh? You want me to actually race you? I was just trying to be fair.” Dash chuckled.
“Why you-!!”
“See you at the finish line!” They had barely completed the second straight away when the entire track practically shook right off the ground. The bleachers nearly tumbled backwards but luckily a bruticus-maximus of a white Pegasus held the stands together with a hefty call that may have put Macho Man Randy Savage himself to shame. (May he rest in peace.)
A slick rainbow painted the entire track almost twice over as Rainbow Dash caught up again with her track partner, “You still back here? You’ll have to do better than that, Raine.”
“Wow, folks! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rainbow dash so fast before.” Spike exaggerated, “This event goes to the Pegasus!”
Raine stalled her thrusters and came to a halt, resting her palms over her knees for a second to catch her breath. She was pissed, but proud, “…I-I guess I can’t have both the air ‘and’ the ground. Good game… pipsqueak.”
Dash threw up a laugh, “You and your pegassistance airplane! That didn’t count!”
“Oh yeah? Get over here you!” Raine grabbed the little Pegasus and grinded knuckle sandwich into her noggin as they both shared a laugh. The crowd loved it and applauded, or at least clopped for both of the competitors. Gilda was amused by the little orange filly practically flying out of her seat. Yup, she almost flew for once.
Featherweight had been put in charge of addressing points to the scoreboard, however he was a tad confused over which one of them had actually won the race. The pony clearly won over the strange bipedal thing so he went with that.
Dash stared up at her twin, “Ready for the next event?”
Raine pounded her chest with a fist, “I was built ready. Time for round two!”

The crowd’s cheers did little to help Rainbow Dash focus over the length of rope between her teeth. The object of the match was to throw the block of hay as far as you could. It was a contest of coordination as much as it was strength, which didn’t leave a lot of room for well, being speedy.
“Come on, Dash! You can do it!” Raine cheered on.
“Let’s go Dash!” Scootaloo chanted which got picked up immediately by the rest of the crowd.
Dash remembered her underwhelming performance at this part of the event last year. At least she had a rope this time, but it was now or never. Dash planted her hooves and began the first whirl, dragging the bushel of hay into the air. Soon enough the block was spinning wildly around the little pony to the point where Dash had almost lost track of where she was supposed to throw it.
She finally released her bite and the cheers dropped. Rainbow Dash had tossed the bale of hay in the complete opposite direction of the sandplot. Needless to say, there were plenty of hooves scratching itches on the back of their heads, “Oh drat…”
“Ouch… that’s going to cost Rainbow Dash.” Spike did his best to hide his laughs away from the microphone.
Raine walked over with a chuckle, “Nice shot there.” She could almost taste the salt off of the pony’s embarrassment, “Hey, it’s only a game. Don’t get all down about it.”
“I-I just hate…”
Raine rolled her eyes, “Losing?” She dropped down to a knee and wobbled the pony’s shoulder with a helping hand, “Everybody loses sometimes. How else are you going to get any better if you don’t lose every now and then? Here, pay attention. ‘This’ is how you throw.”
Her intent wasn’t to show up the little Pegasus, but she was going to end up doing it anyway whether she liked it or not. Raine gripped a line of rope and yanked over a batch of hay. What followed was probably a bit unfair, due to the fact that humans had hands and well, superior opposable thumbs, but we can blame the judges for not thinking very far ahead.
Raine swung that bale like there was no tomorrow, her pivoting footwork gave the bushel plenty of momentum. It almost seemed to reel back the crowd’s enthusiasm and soon enough not a single pony was sitting down. Her hands popped and gave new meaning to the phrase, ‘What the hay?’ as the bundle was sent flying clear into the distance. Applejack herself would’ve found her jaw dangling between her hooves had she been there that day. The audience went nuts. Finally there was someone besides the good old farmpony to take on the champion.
“I think it’s pretty obvious who took this event. That’s one point for Raine!” Spike cried.
Raine cracked her knuckles as Featherweight dawned a point onto her side of the scoreboard,“The point isn’t to spin like crazy, but to turn your body in the direction you want to throw into as you gain momentum, like a-”
“Yeah, yeah, moving on!” Dash wasn’t in the mood for lectures and fluttered over to the next event, along with the crowd’s anticipation.

The following events were much of the same back and forth. Powerful kicking hooves launched Rainbow Dash clear over Raine in the long jump event while Raine’s superior biceps overwhelmed Dash in the arm wrestling bout. Dash may have had some help with her wings over the pole vault match but Raine definitely knew her way around Olympic curling, somehow.
There was also an Olympic chess match but it honestly took too long and Dash kept forgetting which piece did what, “Why are the little guys only able to move one space after they just moved two? Are they just tired? And why does the little pony dude have to move in an ‘L’? Are you trying to imply something here?”
Spike was ultimately forced to run over and call it a tie once a few ponies began to leave. It was kind of sad really.
Eventually, the rivals made it to the signature of the Iron Pony competition, “Alright everypony, this is our final match of the day – The Tug of War! Both opponents have been neck and neck throughout the entire event. Whoever wins this takes the trophy!”
“Come on Rainbow Dash! You got this!” Scootaloo stayed her allegiance, even between two clones.
“I don’t know, I think I’m gonna’ have to go with the human for this one.” Gilda wagered.
“Traitor! Dash is your best friend!” the filly pouted.
“Hey, I’m just saying! Upper arm strength versus a set of teeth, it’s pretty clear cut.”
The tiny Pegasus gave a ‘harrumph’, “Traitor.”
The two rivals stood across from one another over a crevice of mud. A length of rope with a red flag at the very middle was the only thing the two had in common.
Raine grabbed her end of the lock with her hands and prepared herself.
“Hey! No fair!” Dash cried, “She can’t use her hand-things if I’m using my teeth!”
Raine couldn’t believe how much nonsense she was putting up with today, “Well how else am I going to pull? Human teeth aren’t that strong.”
Dash called for the judge, which unfortunately for her was Spike. The little dragon waddled over as the crowd broke out into debate, “What seems to be the matter, guys?”
“How is this supposed to be fair if I’m using my mouth and she’s using her hands?” Dash stomped.
“Well, gee, I don’t know. Erm, can’t you use your mouth Raine?” Spike timidly asked.
“And risk getting some teeth pulled out? I’m not gonna’ look like some backwoods hockey player! Raine crossed her arms.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Dash.” Spike scratched his head, “I guess you can’t really use your hooves.”
“Of course not! I might as well-”
“How about this…” Raine interrupted, “I get to use my hands and I’ll let you use your wings. You won’t even have to be on the ground. How’s that sound?” she was giving herself a clear disadvantage, but by now the girl couldn’t have cared less.
Spike thought it was fair at least. He turned to the Pegasus, “Is that alright with you?”
Rainbow Dash sighed and crossed her hooves, “I guess that’s okay. Fine, let’s get this over with.”
Spike shrugged and picked up the microphone, “Alright, sorry about that, but it looks like we’re underway once again. This is it, folks. The last match to decide the superior species! Who will it be?”
Raine gripped the length of rope in her hands as she stared down the little pony before her. Dash gnarled the opposite end between her teeth and opened her wings like a falcon ready to strike. The sun had begun to plummet and it was high noon on the battlefield. Raine probably wasn’t taking it too seriously but Dash sure was, being her typical self of course.
“And… begin!” the horn sounded off and the red flag on the rope rocked into the air.
The crowd was on their hooves, cheering and clopping for their bets to be met. It was anyone’s game at this point.
Raine buckled and leaned as far back as possible, twisting a lock of rope around her wrist. Outweighing the pony was an obvious advantage and it sure did give Dash a run for her money.
No matter how strong her teeth were Dash couldn’t overcome the pull. Her stiff hooves practically dug canals right into the mudslide and she would’ve already been covered in the mud too had she not finally taken to the skies. Typically we’d call this cheating, plain and simple, and there were even a few voices in the crowd that agreed, but Raine was more concerned with the trial of it all. The challenge made things interesting and even if she did lose somehow, the fun was worth it in the end.
With the Pegasus in the air, Raine was practically playing limbo doing all she could to reel in the pony. She could feel the heel of her sneaker give an inch and she was determined not to move any further.
Dash flapped her wings as hard as she could. She may as well have been performing her Sonic Rainboom with all the wing power she was putting in. Like a game fish caught under a steel leader, no matter how much she tried, she could still feel herself being pulled in. She’d have to break on through her very limit if she had any hopes at all at winning.
The Pegasus turned about, allowing the rope to drape over her shoulder and under her beating wings. She gnarled that lock of rope like there was no tomorrow, which was hardly an expression given the circumstances, and for a second she actually began to surprise everyone.
Raine felt her body being pulled out of its groove. She swore she could see little colorful sparks beating out of Dash’s determination and before she knew it, Raine was standing flat on her feet again. Somehow she had nearly reached the pool’s edge and given another breath or two she was definitely going to get some mud in her eye.
With a big yank by the blue pony, Raine went for a spill. Luckily for her, the mud pool was built to pony specifications and so Raine was able to hold her balance with a split carefully tip toeing the edge of either side.
Pockets in the crowd may have argued that the human had already lost, but then again she had yet to get a spot of mud on her jeans. Either way, this tug of war was still far from over given that it had already reached an entirely different dimension.
Raine was still working the rope to her favor and as much as the grip had burned through her palms, she wasn’t about to give up just yet. She’d been through worse anyway and the majority of the rope dangling behind her was all the motivation she needed. She was determined to get to the other end of that rope one way or another but she’d have Dash to contend with first.
“Just a little bit more, Dash! Almost there!” Scootaloo was probably the loudest pony in the crowd.
“Almost where?” Gilda questioned, “They’ve gone vertical!”
“I don’t know! Whichever way that lets Dash win!”
Gilda shook her head with a goofy smile.
Just when things couldn’t get any more hairy, Dash actually managed to break through a third, or maybe even fourth wall.
Raine could feel her toes leaving the edges of the mud pool. First one foot left, and with her balance completely shifted, the second foot went as well. By some miracle, Raine was dangling precariously under the strength of a small little Pegasus. She couldn’t believe it, and neither could anyone in the crowd.
“This is unbelievable, folks! I’ve never seen Rainbow Dash put out so much power before!” Spike was indeed impressed but was definitely going overboard with the sell.
The match had gone from a tug of war to a one woman rope climb. Luckily for Raine, she had always been the first up the rope in middle school. It was like a careful but awkward trapeze act working off of all the efforts of Rainbow Dash and the growing impatience of Raine.
“Just fall already…!” was probably what Dash uttered through the knot of rope between her teeth.
Raine was practically there. She was less than a foot away from just grabbing hold of the little Pegasus and tossing her flight itinerary out the window, “If I’m falling, I’m taking you with-!” she suddenly noticed that tiny little glimmer in the sky. With a telescope she would’ve seen the sparkling little white ‘H’ but Raine didn’t need a fancy astrology degree to know what that little dot meant. I’m not actually confusing astrology with astronomy by the way, she just would’ve confused the two.
None of this really mattered in the end. It was all fun and games between two sisters who wanted to spend their last day together doing something worthy of American Gladiator. Raine recognized that unshakable determination to win more than anything. She knew it all too well. She had carried the sentiment for years and had learned to live with the bruises of every failure that came with it. A broken heart and even a few broken bones had made her a stronger each time. Not just physically, but as a person.
Learning to admit defeat and have a slice of your humble pie was an acquired taste, but above all else at that very moment, if losing one more time meant it’d put a smile on Rainbow Dash’s face then it was totally worth it.
Raine helplessly fell into the tiny mud hole, the momentum of which sent Dash soaring into a cloud high above. The crowd exploded, most of which were cheering for the Pegasus but there were still plenty that thought the human was just jobbing, which she was technically. Either way it was a pretty impressive show.
Dash spit the rope out of her mouth and adjusted her jaw before arriving to her victory ceremony, “Thankyou! Thankyou! No, really, thankyou! Yeah, I know, I am pretty awesome! Thanks everypony!” The crowd should’ve known better but they were still eating it up. Rainbow Dash was showered with her usual amount of pictures and autograph requests and that big fat golden trophy of hers only brightened that miserable ego of hers.
Spike sprinted over to the mud hole with a towel, “What happened? I thought you had that, Raine.”
Thankfully, the hole was pretty small, shin deep at best, “Oh, you know, she’s just a lot more talented than me is all.” She chuckled through her line of sarcasm with a satisfied smile.
Spike raised a brow, “You did that on purpose didn’t you?”
Raine took the towel as she climbed out of the mud bath. It didn’t do much to clean off her jeans but she didn’t mind the stains too much. It wasn’t like it was the first time she’d gotten herself dirty, “Come on, Spike. Just look at that happy smile.” She crossed her legs and sat down next to the little cartoon dragon, “I’d say that makes for a pretty nice going-away present, don’t you?”
Spike soured as he watched a cheering Gilda carry both Dash and Scootaloo on her shoulders as their fans rooted for the contender. He sighed and glanced over at a distant Raine, who looked like she was watching her daughter graduate Kindergarten, “…What’re you guys going to do when you get back?”

Fiona hunched over a bit at the doorstep of Fluttershy’s cottage holding a small box holding a simmering apple pie she’d just picked up from Sweet Apple Acres.
“That apple pie looked delicious! Oh boy, Fluttershy is going to love it!” Ditzy hoped she’d get a slice too, “I wonder what was bugging Aprile though. She looked kind of sad.”
Fiona had no idea how to fill the little Pegasus in on the tragedy, “Oh, uhm, she just hasn’t been feeling very well lately.” She had underestimated just how low Aprile’s self-esteem could’ve fallen. Aprile was always the big sister of the group. She was always there to grab something off of a tall shelf or apply a bandage to a scraped knee, always willing to help. Seeing Aprile so silent and lost in thought was chilling to say the least.
“You alright Fiona?” with Fiona’s constant day dreaming, Ditzy had finally begun to wonder if something was actually bothering the girl.
“Oh, uhm, sorry about that.” She shook her head and finally knocked on the door.
The door opened and out came an overwhelming torrent of adorable bunnies, rabbits, kittens, puppies, and all manner of cutesy wootsy pets. The tide took the poor girl off of her feet and even dragged an enthusiastic Ditzy along for the ride.
Eventually the delightful deluge stopped after maybe twenty feet. A pale head popped out of a bushel of curious meowing kittens, most of which had already tangled themselves in her pink hair. Fiona couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so full of squealing joy and she immediately began cuddling each and every little pet she had nearly drowned in. It was like having a Christmas morning in a ball pit at a Discovery Zone except the balls were replaced with, well, cute little animals.
For argument’s sake, none of the animals were harmed of course.
Ditzy fluttered over the silly girl with a laugh and was soon joined by a shy giggle by Fluttershy who had finally poked her head out of a nearby tree, “You planned that didn’t you Fluttershy?”
“Well, maybe a little bit.” The yellow pony whispered.
It was the happiest they’d ever seen Fiona. She was practically making snow angels in the furry bliss. Again, these were cartoon animals so they weren’t harmed at all, “I-I don’t know what to say, t-this is wonderful… Thank you!”
“I couldn’t think of anything else, and so I gathered all of my little friends to give you an adorable… tackle!” Fluttershy giggled, “I ran into Rainbow Dash earlier, and so I figured I’d do something big for you, well, uh, since you were… leaving and all.”
“What!?” Ditzy cried. She darted over to Fiona, “Since when are you leaving? Where are you going!?”
Fiona hadn’t yet thought of a very good way to break the news to either of them, and yet both of them were at least a chapter ahead of her in the script, “I-I’m sorry Ditzy, but it’s true. I gave you those muffins earlier because I wanted to do something nice for you before I left… I’m going back home soon.”
“H-How soon?”
Fiona could hardly face the gray little pony, “T-Tomorrow…”
“B-But…! That’s too soon! Why didn’t you tell me sooner, Fiona!?” Ditzy’s heart was ready to crack.
“I-I’m sorry, Ditzy! It was honestly kind of sudden… I really didn’t have much say in it.”
For once in Ditzy’s pathetic misery filled life of ignorance, failure and cinnamon swirled bliss, she had made a good friend. Perhaps they weren’t exactly of the pony ilk, but at least this person gave a damn about her. Fiona was kind hearted and generous, and most of all, she took the little gray Pegasus seriously. She’d only known her for a week at the very best, and now she was going to lose one of the only rays of hope she’d ever known.
She couldn’t help herself and before a tear could hit the dirt road Ditzy flew away.
“Ditzy! Wait!” Fiona lifted herself out of the pile of bunny fuzz, but before she could carefully find a flat surface to plant her feet on the Pegasus had fled the scene. No matter how far she reached her hand, she’d never catch that pony now.
Fluttershy hovered over, “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know that, well…”
“It’s okay. It isn’t your fault, Fluttershy.” Fiona sighed, “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you either. I have to leave so soon and I really wanted to spend some time with the two of you.” She picked a battered box of apple pie out of the clutches of a half dozen rabbits and puppies, “I brought this for you. I wanted to say thank you for taking good care of me while I was in Ponyville.” She opened the box. The pie had a couple of lumps in it from the tidal wave but it was definitely still edible.
“Oh my! Why thank you, Fiona. This was very kind of you.”
“I wanted to share it with you, maybe on a picnic or something...” Fiona’s words began to shake, “I-I really don’t want to leave, but…”
Fluttershy planted her hooves over Fiona’s shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes, “I know you don’t want to go back, Fiona, and believe me, I’d love for you to stay, but your babies could be seriously hurt! Discord’s done something terrible to your world and they need you! You can’t give up and stay here, you have to stand up for your home!” It was times like these that Fluttershy’s ‘assertiveness’ did more good than she ever really knew, and believe me, it had nothing to do with Fluttershy just wanting this crazy chick out of her hair. She genuinely cared about the girl.
The images of all of Fiona’s little darlings ran through her mind. She didn’t really know if they were alive or dead, but she knew she had to do something, “You’re right, Fluttershy…! You’re absolutely right. I love Equestria, but I love my home and all of my little babies too. I can’t stay here wondering what Discord’s done with… them.” Her inspiration buckled.
“It’s okay, Fiona. We’ll just take one step at a time. You still have some time left.”
“I-I know… I’ll be leaving tomorrow, but I’m not going anywhere until I find Ditzy…” her eyes began to water, “And give her a big hug…!”

Piper and Pinkie Pie were tossed out on their bums having been the worst waitresses the establishment had interviewed, let alone even noticed in the first place. The manager hadn’t forgotten to bat Pinkie Pie over the head with a balled up bill totaling the restaurant’s losses from the viewing.
It was a pretty nasty scene, one that Twilight almost felt guilty over, “What were you two thinking? Do you even know how many zeroes are on this bill?”
“Why would they bill us zero dollars? Like, what would be the point of that?” It would appear that having fed on mostly sugar during her journey to Equestria, Piper’s mind had begun to deteriorate.
Twilight had wondered if such a diet could explain the connection to Pinkie Pie’s eccentric goofiness, but Twyla reminded the unicorn that her friend had always been that dim, whether it had been intentional or not.
Twyla lifted her stupid friend off of the ground and brushed the fiddle out of her bouncy pink hair as if she were some autistic child that had fallen into a ditch, “I’ll never understand how you get yourself into such trouble, Piper.”
“You know me! I’m just trouble with a capital ‘Smile’!” Piper giggled as Pinkie Pie latched onto the idiot’s head with an even more obnoxious laugh.
Twilight joined in the awkward gas, looking for the nearest exit, “Well, uh, we should probably get going. Twyla and I have plans tonight and it’s already starting to get late.”
“Okie-dokie! We’ll see you two around then!” Pinkie leapt off of Piper’s head like a diving board, however that was supposed to work, I don’t know, “So, where do you want to get thrown out of next, Piper?”
Piper had half a dozen suggestions but Twyla and Twilight didn’t stick around long enough to hear the list.
“Well, that went well.” Twilight groaned.
“It was kind of funny though, and we did get a partial meal out of it, for free might I add.” Twyla was being unusually optimistic, “Hey, here’s an idea! How about we turn our stargazing night out into a picnic also.”
Twilight gasped, “That’s perfect! Come on, let’s go grab my telescope! We can prepare some snacks and sandwiches. It’ll be great!”

“I just can’t believe I’ve been thrown out of my own boutique! Well… at least Regina had good intentions. I’m sure whatever design she’s working on is simply fabulous!” the sky had begun to rust and so Rarity eagerly returned to her salon, “She’s had plenty of time. Oh dear, I hope she hasn’t turned my mess into a nightmare…” Her impatience outweighed her caution, and so eventually Rarity worked up the nerve to open the door.
She gasped, “My word…!” The lobby of the Carousel Boutique was absolutely impeccable. Garments and fabrics hung in neat but posh symmetry. There was even a scent of hotel soap in the air, and not that cheap stuff either, the kind from those fabulous high quality hotels that actually had towels and soap worth stealing before you checked out.
Rarity gazed around her salon. It had been quite some time since she’d left it so clean. Probably since the day she opened it up. Her hooves were shaky, as if worried that she’d dirty the tile with her marginally lesser percentage of cleanliness.
Eventually, she made it into her work room. If she hadn’t been convinced before that her twin sister had come such a long way to visit her, she’d been made a believer by now.
Rarity had always walked a fine line between organization and chaos within her shop. A mess of strings and stuffs which may have appeared to be ‘extras’ to some were actually the early machinations of a masterpiece soon to blossom.
Somehow, in some way, Regina had organized each pile in accordance to its potential. The human was able pick apart each and every idea the unicorn had been currently tinkering with just by analyzing a simple pile of rubbish. Rarity searched throughout the seemingly spotless room for a missing item, but everything went exactly where it needed to go. Not a single project had been muddled and yet the shop was as logically structured as it had ever been.
It was as if Regina had done the little pony’s taxes, balanced her books, and done inventory all on a whim. No, wait, that’s not even a good enough metaphor. It was more along the lines of going into a trash dump site and alphabetically organizing every piece of garbage, and then organizing them again by color, and then by size, and doing so out of boredom at very best. Regardless of the comparison, Rarity was impressed, and then her eye finally caught the cherry at the top of the strawberry shortcake.
The dress almost brought the faceless mannequin it had been draped over to life. Woven through what must’ve been the misty dew of night itself were curls of bright indigo caressed in much deeper traces of lavender and purple. The shimmering violet streaks bathed in a sea of the blackest emeralds. The background finish was a true evergreen but the texture was so dark and vivid that it hued into an almost pure blackness behind the tresses of warm magenta and indigo that were lined in thin stiches of plum and thistle.
The combinations of colors were a batch of eye candy if she’d ever tasted it. The gown was practical but elegant, simple but a sight for sore eyes. Something you could wear around the town to dinner or to the theatre. The ensemble even came with a matching wide brimmed bonnet adorned with a rose made of curled trimmings on one end.
Rarity could only have ever dreamed of designing such a piece in her next lifetime, fortunately of which that beautiful soul had arrived seemingly to grant her that very bite of inspiration. To say she was at a loss for words would’ve been the understatement of the century.
Regina appeared just behind the unicorn, “I feel like it came out a tad darker than I wanted-”
“Silence!” Rarity cried, “Don’t you dare ridicule this… this masterpiece…! It’s absolutely beautiful! You did such an amazing job with it and in such a short amount of time as well! I-I just don’t know what to say…!”
“You don’t have to say anything, dear.” Regina countered with a smile, “Now then, how about some real fun?” unbeknownst to the little pony, Regina had also prepared an entire stock of oils, muds, creams, and chopped cucumbers.
Rarity’s suspicions of what the lady was up to were quickly quashed under such a tempting, and mind you absolutely gratis spa treatment. There was probably plenty of time to say farewell, but there was never enough time to exfoliate your pores.

Sweet Apple Acres was unusually tranquil, especially inside the family kitchen.
“Come on, Aprile. You’ve hardly touched your sweet apple cobbler!” Applejack rubbed the girl’s shoulder. She may have had half a spoonful, whereas beforehand she would’ve been finishing up fourths by now.
Aprile danced with the silver spoon over the cold plate, “I’m sorry, Applejack. I just don’t have the appetite…” She felt so stupid. This wasn’t at all what had she ran all the way back to the farm for. She wanted to thank the Apple family and spend some quality time with them before she left, yet she hadn’t even worked up the nerve yet to tell them that she’d be leaving forever the next day.
“That does it!” Applejack tossed the plate of crumble against the wall, “You’ve been apologizin’ all day and I’m plum sick of it!” the farm pony actually jumped onto the family table which was usually forbidden, and got right up inside Aprile’s face, “I’m sick of your mopin’ and you not tellin’ me nothin’! I know you’re going through a lot right now but I ain’t dumb, I can tell that somethin’ else is botherin’ you. Now what is it?”
Aprile bit her lip and went right out with it, “I’m leaving tomorrow…!”
It was the last thing AJ had expected to hear, “Leaving? Oh, come on now, Aprile. You know you don’t have to move anywhere. I already told ya’ that you can stay with us for as long as you’d-”
“No, Applejack! I’m leaving… we’re all leaving, tomorrow.” Aprile hid her face underneath her cowpoke hat, “I-I was running back because… I wanted to spend some time with ya’ll before I left. I wanted to show my thanks, but I just don’t have the drive… I-It’s like I’m lost or something, like I don’t care about nothin’ no more.” Aprile stared down at her trembling palm. She was tough as nails and carpal tunnel had nothing on her, but her nerves were completely shot.
The only thing that duster of hers seemed fit for these days were hiding those soggy eyes of hers. Aprile stood up and excused herself from the table. She was just too ashamed to show her face, “I-I miss them so much, Applejack, and I don’t want to go yet, I don’t want to lose ya’ll either, you’re all I got left…”
Applejack didn’t know what was worse, losing her big sister who had herself already lost everything, or the idea that she could get herself hurt in the process, “B-But how? You guys can’t go back! You’re gonna’ get yourselves killed, Aprile!” she leapt off the table to chase after the retreating apple farmer, “Please, just stay here. You don’t off fightin’ our battles!”
“I’m sorry, AJ, but I… I just don’t know of anythin’ else right now.” She turned to the pony, “I love you to death, Applejack. I love you and your whole family. So much so that it hurts to even look at ya’ll, you remind me some much of Big Mike, little Abbie, and ol’ Grandma. I-I almost can’t stand it, and that’s why I have to go back. I have to stop Discord, for my family as much as for yours. I don’t know what I’m going to do or what’s going to happen. I don’t even really care what happens to me, ‘cause I can’t go on livin’ like this anymore, I just can’t, Applejack. I-It just hurts too much…”
There was no way Applejack could argue with any of that. She reached deep down for a counterargument, but knew she’d feel the exact same way in Aprile’s boots. There was no way she could bring herself to talk the cowgirl out of it, she just didn’t want to lose her, “Here…! Take this!” it was the first thing AJ could think of. If Aprile really was going to leave forever, then she wanted to send Aprile back with the world and the closest thing she could offer was her own western duster. Applejack was willing to give up the one lucky charm she’d worn on her noggin for years, but in her desperation she’d completely forgotten that Aprile had already had a hat of her own.
The charming gesture was just enough to draw a smirk out of Aprile, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, the little lady chuckled, “Thanks, Applejack…”
The pony realized just how silly her gift had been, “Guess ya’ already got one of those.”
Eventually, the two worked up a laugh. It was stupid, but it was just the sort of gem they needed to lift their spirits.
Aprile wiped a tear from her eye. For once, she wasn’t afraid to show her face in public and it did feel kind of nice. She knelt down to meet the little pony at eye level, “Well, if you really want to, then here.” Aprile couldn’t really remember where she’d picked up her farm hat, but it felt right to put it on the pony’s noodle. She then took Applejack’s awkward little token and popped it onto her own head. The fit was different but she’d wear it in eventually.
Applejack might never be able to wear the hat as casually as she preferred to, at least not before a couple of damp trips through the washer. Either way the smile on her face showed just how much the fit really mattered, “Thanks, big sis’.”
Aprile leaned in and gave her a tight hug, “I should be the one thankin’ you, AJ. I don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for you.”
Applejack held her sister close. Seeing Aprile smile again was gift enough, but she’d be damned if a hat was all she was going to send Aprile off with, “Alright, alright, enough with this mushy stuff. Come on, sugarcube. I got a jar of Zap-Apple Jam I’ve been savin’ for just the right occasion!”