"Did..." Applejack winced, rubbing the back of her head. "D-did she refuse to pay?"
"Pffft..." The waitress before the Diamond District bar blew out the side of her muzzle before rolling her eyes. "Paying wasn't the problem. She could have paid a Saddle Arabian ransom and still it wouldn't have been enough for the trouble she caused."
Applejack shrugged. "So a pony decides to guzzle her passions down. I imagine that happens all the time."
"Yeah, well... most ponies don't try to start a fight with framed pictures on the wall."
A hard blinked rippled across Applejack's face. "Buh?"
"The first thing I know—this rainbow fruit basket is trying to go to war with an antique photograph beside the bar!" The waitress grunted. "She kept going on and on about 'how dare you rob from my friends!'"
"Uhhhhhhhhhh..." Applejack grimaced. Hard. "Yer sayin' she tried to take a photograph of yers to the woodshed?"
"Got pretty damn close to shattering the glass too! Look, property damage is one thing." The waitress huffed. "But when my other customers are threatened...?"
"Heh..." Applejack waved a hoof. "Big whoop. My friend's a little'un. What's the worst she could do?"
The mare's nostrils flared. "She threatened to suplex my manager. My boss weighs more than three of you combined!"
"Er... yeah... well..."
"Are you really her friend, ma'am?"
"Uhm." Applejack gulped. "Eeyup?"
"Then—for her sake—I hope you track her down and stop her." The waitress tilted her chin up and began trotting back into the establishment. "Preferrably with a crowbar!"
"Hey—wait!" Applejack stuck her hoof in the door. "Just one second, missy. Please." Her eyes narrowed. "You done shoo'd her out of here, right?"
"Tartarus, yes! That little spitfire is a menace!"
"Do ya happen to know where she flew off to?"
"Pfffft... probably Lickety Splits."
"Awwwwwww shoot." Applejack pounted, staring off into the Canterlot skyline against the stars. "That's probably plum across town."
"You're really not from around here, are ya?"
"Errr... no?"
The mare pointed past Applejack's shoulder with a bored expression. "Lickety Splits is across the street."
Applejack blinked. She turned around, glancing at the flickering neon signs. "Oh. Well... shucks. Y'all have enough drinks here to make a sea serpent drunk."
"Sea serpents, I'd be okay with." The mare growled, slamming the door shut. "Go find your friend before she punches a hole in the foundation of this mountain!"
Thud!
Applejack winced. "Well..." Tilting her hat back, she marched firmly across the street. "...at least she didn't go far."
Two surly—looking stallions stood side by side at the entrance to Lickety Splits, their forelimbs crossed.
"Yeah, we threw the crazy bitch out."
"Hey!" Applejack frowned. "My friend ain't crazy!"
"Says you!" One frowned. "She spilled cider all over the place, complaining it wasn't 'Sweet Apple Acres finest!'"
Applejack's ears drooped. "Awwwwww hayseeds..."
"Then she threatened an old wood carving in the corner of the bar! Blaming 'him' for 'starting the cruddy Barnyard Bargains' chain!"
Applejack's ears drooped harder. Her freckles turned rosy. "Awwwwww hayseeds."
One stallion sniffled momentarily, in spite of his frown. "Then she called me a 'melon fudge.'"
"Uh huh. Look, y'all..." Applejack leaned in closer. "Did ya turn her in to the local authorities or something?"
"Pffft. No. We tossed her into the streets like the gutter trash she is!"
"What?!" This time, Applejack was frowning. "Why the hay didn't y'all call the police?"
"Look, lady... we get touristy punks like this all the time, rolling in and spending their bits and getting tipsy-as-buck. It's just not worth the paper-work to get the police involved every. Single. Time." The stallion snorted. "We've got a business to run for the next few hours, after all."
"Yeah, well..." Applejack tilted her hat back angrily. "Where I come from, folk who act like this are just ponies who need help."
"Well, looks to me that—wherever it is you come from—you don't do that good of a job of helping your own friends."
Applejack blinked at that. She sighed long and hard. "Yeah... well..." She gazed heavenward, scratching her chin. "Ahem... I'm hopin' like heck to amend that..."
"You ask me, it's probably too late." The stallions backed up into the bar entrance. "The way this crazy mare was going on, she's liable to start a wrestling match with a dragon."
"Wouldn't be the first time."
"Heh. Then she really is hopeless."
Whud!
The door slammed shut.
"Sonuva... mrmmmnngh..." Applejack kicked at the cobblestone street of the Diamond District. "Mmmmmmgnhh—biscuit-eater!" A heavy sigh, and she began pacing wildly through the nearby courtyard. "What in Celestia's name am I gonna do now?"
She tapped her chin.
"The girls... I-I should go fetch the girls!" Applejack's eyes briefly lit up in the starlight. "Twilight knows her way around this place! And—if nothin' else—maybe she could curry favor with the Princess!"
Silence.
"Awwwwww shoot..." Applejack grimaced. "Poor Rainbow would never forgive me if I let the others see her in this state, though."
She thought of what the bartenders and bouncers said.
'Sweet Apple Acres finest...'
'Cruddy Barnyard Bargains chain... ...'
"This..." Applejack's eyes watered. "This is all my fault." A sniffle. "I shoulda been stronger. Openin' up dun help nothin'. Especially not with... not with..."
Her hooves trembled for only a second, and then she stood firmly once again.
"Ain't no time for that." A strong breath. "I gotta find Rainbow. Poor thang needs me. Me and me alone. But..." She looked all around. "...where in tarnation should I look? She could be anywhere—"
A drop of rain fell with an audible tap across the brim of Applejack's hat.
"Huh?" She looked up. "But there are no clouds—"
A second drop of moisture splattered across her freckles.
"Guh!" At first, the mare winced. But—just as she was wiping the substance off her muzzle—her nose got a very clear whiff. "Hmmmm... huh? Cider?" A blink. "But where—?"
She heard a hiccuping sound... followed by a voice-cracking giggle.
"... ... ...Rainbow?"
Applejack looked up.
A petite silhouette streaked across the sky, carrying a thick mug in its fetlock. Wings flapped. A tail flicked.
"Rainbow!!!"
Panting, Applejack galloped swiftly up the street, her head tilted up the entire time as she locked in on her target...