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// Interlude: Refills Are Free 
// Story: The Locals 
// by Leoshi 
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Four of the six friends remained at the rounded tables. Of the two who were missing, one had needed to excuse herself for nature's demands, and the other simply went back for a second helping of everything on the menu. As the group waited, they chatted among themselves about the new stories they were just told.

"Broke?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You seriously went broke for a while?"

Rarity nodded, but looked away as she did. "It wasn't exactly one of my proudest moments. But it did lead up to one!"

"Y'all should'a heard her when she told that story the first time," Applejack said. "It took me almost ten minutes to get the truth outta her, and all the while it was nothin' but darlin' this, darlin' that."

Both Twilight and Rainbow laughed aloud. Twilight had the good sense to give Rarity an apologetic look, which Rarity accepted beneath Rainbow's continued chuckling. Twilight repeated the look for her sake.

"I wish I had known it would get so bad," Rarity explained. "But, as I said, I don't regret any of it. Struggle leads to success!"

"Or a messy kitchen," Applejack said.

"Was it true that your sister was wearing a bow at only a year old?"

"Younger. Ah think we actually got the first one from you."

Rarity paused, her mouth dropping. "Really?"

"Sure! It would'a been the winter after that one strange pony visited...what was his name? Doorknob?"

Twilight swallowed too much of her drink in surprise. She banged on her chest to help ease the pressure of so much juice going down at once. Rainbow Dash helped by reaching over from her table and banging on her back at the same time. As Twilight fought against a coughing fit, Rainbow looked to her other friends. "Doorknob?"

"Er, yes," Rarity answered. "That's not his real name, but I don't know if anypony knows him by a different name."

"I think I've heard that story. Earth pony, wore a big hat, was a huge hit with the schoolponies?"

"The very same."

Twilight recovered enough to speak. "W-what kind of silly name is that?"

Both Applejack and Rarity shrugged. "Beats me," said the former, "but everypony in town knows that name. It was a really interestin' festival, lemme tell ya."

Rarity sat up straight. "I want to be the one to tell it!"

"Aw, c'mon, Rarity. You wanna waste your turn on that story?"

"Who better to tell it? I can get all of the details right. You weren't even working at the festival."

"O' course Ah was! Where do ya think all the snacks and cider came from?"

"Oh! Oh, ahahaha!" Rarity laughed. "Darling, you don't honestly think that all of the ponies there only ate apples, do you?"

Applejack wasn't disturbed. "All that Ah honestly know is that somepony had to stick around and clean up after your little disaster on the stage."

Her friend flushed red for the second time that day. "Don't say a word!"

Applejack grinned in victory. She turned and glanced to Rainbow and Twilight. "Lemme tell ya—"

"Not a word, Applejack!"

At that moment, Pinkie Pie returned, partially hidden behind the mountain of treats she held with one hoof. "Not a word?" she asked from behind the pile. "Is it a sound instead? Wooo! Wooo!"

Fluttershy returned as well. She didn't say anything, she simply nodded to her friends and took her seat again.

"Wait a moment," Twilight said. "All of these stories so far have been about each of you."

"Eeyup."

"That's correct."

"Right. But they've been about each of you separately. When did the two of you meet and become friends?"

"The festival," they answered in unison.

"And we weren't friends," Applejack added. "Not at that point, anyway. In fact, Ah'm pretty sure we did everythin' we could to become enemies."

"You started it."

"Ah finished it, ya mean."

Rainbow Dash rapped on her table for attention. Pinkie Pie didn't seem to notice, preoccupied as she was by diving neck-deep into cotton candy. "That's it! One of you has gotta spill the beans. What happened at this festival? Which festival was it, anyway?"

"Was it fun?" came Pinkie's voice from within her mountain.

"I think we're all curious by now," Twilight said for the group. She looked at each of the locals in turn. "What happened?"

Applejack sat back in her seat. "It was a festival for Ponyville Days. Some of us wanted a simple night of fun. Some others wanted to make a spectacle of it."

"Harrumph. Look, if you insist on dragging my efforts through the dirt—"

"How funny you should say that!" Applejack said in high-pitched sarcasm. "Ah guess you remember the details after all!"

"Well, I never!"

Twilight leaned forward and waved her hooves in a downward motion. "Easy now, girls. It's just a story, right?"

Both Applejack and Rarity relaxed in their seats a little bit. Even with the space between them, everypony saw the sparks fly between their glares. Neither of them spoke; they seemed to have made a contest over who would be the first to blink.

Rainbow Dash eventually ruined that contest. "I'm getting bored, here! Somepony, hurry up and spill!"