//------------------------------// // An Unwelcome Arrival // Story: Guarded Emotions: Burying the Past // by Alabenson //------------------------------//             Rolling Stock, Ponyville’s station master, looked over Ponyville’s humble train station and puffed out his chest in pride as the Canterlot-Ponyville expressed pulled in. Just a few short years ago Ponyville was considered so unimportant that they didn’t even have regular service to Equestria’s nearby capital, just an occasional stopover once a day if they were lucky. Now, however, passenger trains from Canterlot stopped at Ponyville several times a day ferrying the well-to-do of Canterlot back and forth. Today, the disembarking passengers appeared to be mostly the usual mix of tourists coming to try and catch a glimpse of the Princess of Friendship, along with a smattering of high society mares who had decided that they absolutely had to purchase their next dress directly from Rarity’s original boutique.             “Stop blocking the door! Move it!” A gruff voice snarled out from one of the passenger cars, grabbing Rolling Stock’s attention. Glancing towards the source of the commotion, Rolling Stock saw that the voice belonged to an aging, ash-grey unicorn stallion with a bone-white mane. “Bunch of lazy, useless – get out of my way!”             “Alright now, what seems to be the problem?” Rolling Stock said as he quickly moved to try and defuse the situation.             The stallion let out a snort of irritation. “The only problem is ponies won’t stop blocking my path,” he irritably snapped as he pushed pass Rolling Stock and hobbled his way across the platform. Noticing the crutch encasing the stallion’s front right leg, Rolling Stock felt a small twinge of pity.             “I suppose if I had to move around on only three legs like that I’d be pretty grumpy too,” Rolling Stock thought to himself. “Well, with any luck he’ll meet somepony who can cheer him up. They don’t call Ponyville the friendliest town in Equestria for nothing, after all.” *********             “Stinking, peasant-infested backwater,” the stallion muttered darkly to himself as he made his way through Ponyville. Occasionally a townspony would offer him a smile or a friendly wave, but invariably the stallion would either ignore them or respond with an angry glare. The townsponies soon all decided to give the stranger a wide berth, which suited the unfriendly unicorn just fine. Of course, there are certain downsides to being universally shunned, as the stallion discovered when his crutch caught in a small hole in the ground, tripping him and sending him crashing to the ground in an undignified heap. Nopony moved to try help as the unicorn tried to pull himself back to his hooves however, not wanting to get too close to the foul-tempered stranger. Nopony, that is, with one notable exception.             “Omygosh, are you alright?” Pinkie Pie asked as she rushed to pull the stallion to his hooves. “You must be new in town because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before and I know everypony in Ponyville! My name’s Pinkie-“             “Don’t touch me, you filthy mudhoof!” the stallion hissed at Pinkie Pie as he pulled away from her. “I don’t need any help from your kind,” he added as he quickly hobbled away, leaving Pinkie Pie sitting by the side of the street.             “That wasn’t very nice,” Pinkie Pie said to herself. “He didn’t even give me a chance to sing my ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ song. Well, if he’s going to be a big meanie mean-pants than maybe he doesn’t deserve to hear my welcome song! No, no,” Pinkie quickly admonished herself, “don’t you be a judgy judgmental-pants now. Maybe he’s just grumpy from having a bad day. I wonder why he said I had muddy hooves though?” Pinkie Pie sat on her rump and proceeded to examine her front hooves. “They don’t look all that dirty, but maybe I’d better wash them before I meet the girls for lunch just in case.” With that, Pinkie Pie bounded off towards Sugar Cube Corner, putting her encounter with the stallion largely out of her mind. *********             “So, how much longer is Twilight gonna be gone?” Rainbow Dash asked as she slumped in her chair. “I mean, it’s been three days already, how long is this trip she’s taking supposed to be?” A thought suddenly crossed Rainbow Dash’s mind as she leaned back over the table with a wicked grin. “Hey, do you guys think Twilight’s, y’know, going the extra mile to comfort Moonwhisper?”             “Rainbow Dash!” a thoroughly scandalized Rarity exclaimed.             “Dang it, RD, would y’all drop that already? It weren’t that funny the first time and it sure ain’t funny now.” Applejack added. Fluttershy, meanwhile, simply stared down at her coffee cup while allowing her bangs to fall over her face to hide the fact that she was blushing furiously.             Looking around the table and seeing she didn’t have any support, Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of resignation. “Alright, fine, I’ll stop making jokes about Twilight and Moonwhisper doing it.”             “Thank Celestia for that,” Applejack said. “Call me old fashioned-“             “Sure thing, Old Fashioned,” Rainbow Dash quipped without missing a beat.             “Really, RD?” Applejack said as she gave Rainbow Dash a look of disgust.             “Come on, you left yourself wide open for that one and somepony had to say it since Pinkie Pie isn’t here yet,” Rainbow Dash replied with a grin.             Before Applejack had a chance to comment as to the wisdom of basing one’s actions on what Pinkie Pie would do, Rarity spoke up. “Speaking of Pinkie Pie, where in Equestria is she? It’s not like her at all to be late for one of these get-togethers.”             “Pinkie Pie? I just saw her heading this way from Sugar Cube Corner,” Silver Streak said as she landed next to the four friend’s table. “You guys mind if I sit down and join you for a bit? I just got finished with my morning patrols and I could use a break.”             “Sure thing,” Rainbow Dash said as she motioned for Silver Streak to sit next to her. “I’m a little surprised you’d get tired out after a patrol, though. Aren’t you supposed to be one of the top fliers in the guard or something?”             “Watch it, Cloudsdale,” Silver Streak fired back, “I’ve been in the air since before sunrise today, and unlike you Wonderbolts I do my flying in full armor.”             While Rainbow Dash fell back chuckling Applejack gave the two pegasi an odd look. “Cloudsdale, huh? Well, Ah guess as nicknames go Ah’ve heard worse, ‘specially seein’ how Rainbow’s from there originally.”             “Well, that and she’s a flying Cloudsdale stereotype,” Silver Streak added, much to the confusion of the rest of the table.             “What d’ya mean I’m a stereotype?” Rainbow Dash demanded angrily as she slammed both front hooves onto the table.             “Loud, hypercompetitive, kind of full of yourself,” Silver Streak responded calmly. Upon hearing thus Rainbow Dash spent a few seconds opening and closing her mouth before slumping back into her chair.             “Ok, yeah, that does kinda sound like me,” Rainbow Dash admitted.             “Only ‘kinda’?” Applejack teased. “Funny, though, Ah can’t say Ah’ve ever really heard of that ‘Cloudsdale ponies bein’ fulla themselves’ thing before.”             “Well, I think it might be more of a thing among pegasi from outside of Cloudsdale,” Silver Streak replied. “And anyway, as far as stereotypes go Cloudsdale doesn’t even have it all that bad. Sure as hay beats the stereotype my hometown gets.”             “Now that y’all mention it, Ah don’t think y’ve ever mentioned where yer from,” Applejack mused.             “Las Pegasus, where depending on who you ask we’re all either money grubbing, two-faced cheats or insane party animals. Sometimes both at once,” Silver Streak added. “And hay, speaking of party animals…”             At that moment Pinkie Pie came hoping up to her assembled friends. “Hi girls! Oh, and hi Silver Streak!” Pinkie Pie added as she seated herself. “Sorry I’m a little late.”             “Yeah, what kept you?” Rainbow Dash asked.             “I have to admit I’m a touch curious about that myself,” Rarity added. “Usually you’re one of the first to arrive at these little get togethers.”             Pinkie Pie glanced around the table and looked at the curious faces of her friends before taking a deep breath and rapidly describing her mourning. “Well, I was on my way here when I saw this pony I had never seen before trip and fall so I decided to help him up because that’s the nice thing to do and then I could make friends with him but it turned out he was really grumpy and kind of mean and he said my hooves were muddy but they looked clean enough to me but it did rain last night so I went back to Sugar Cube Corner to wash up again before I came here. And that’s why I was a little late,” Pinkie Pie concluded as she picked up a menu. “Ooh, does anypony want to split an order of jalapeno poppers?” When nopony answered Pinkie Pie looked up to see her friends all staring at her with a mix of shock and concern. “Wait, did Applejack’s family have a huge feud with a family of jalapeno farmers and now she gets upset whenever she sees a jalapeno? Applejack, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know!”             “Pinkie,” Applejack began, cutting Pinkie Pie off before she could continue. “Ah need y’all to be absolutely clear about this. What exactly did this pony say to y’all?”             “You mean when I went to help him up? I think it was something like ‘don’t touch me you filthy mudhoof’?” Pinkie said, lowering her voice into a rumbling growl in a rough impersonation of the unpleasant stallion. “Like I said, though, I’m pretty sure my hooves weren’t all that – Applejack, are you ok?”             Applejack, whose face had turned almost as scarlet as the apples of her cutie mark, exploded out of her chair. “YER SAYIN’ SOME ROTTEN SON OF A TIMBERWOLF ACTUALLY CALLED Y’ALL A MUDHOOF?” Applejack roared, her face contorted in fury.             “It’s really not that big of a deal, Applejack,” Pinkie Pie whimpered. “I mean, maybe my hooves were a little dirty.”             “That guy wasn’t talking about her hooves, Pinkie,” Silver Streak said as Rarity and Rainbow Dash tried to calm Applejack down. “Mud – that thing he called you is a really nasty slur against earth ponies.”             “I just cannot believe somepony would actually use such a horrid term,” Rarity added. “And to encounter somepony like that in Ponyville no less.”             “Honestly I’m kind of shocked myself. I mean, I’ve met my fair share of tribalist jerks, but most of them are at least smart enough to keep it to themselves in public.” Silver Streak paused and glanced over to Applejack, who had finally calmed down enough to return to her seat. “So, Pinkie, you’re sure you’ve never seen this mystery jerk around Ponyville before? What did he look like?”             “Well, he looked kind of old, but not really Granny Smith old, more like my dad old. He had a white mane, a greyish coat…Oh! And his front right leg –“             “Had a big crutch strapped to it?” Silver Streak asked.             “Yeah! Wait, how did you know that? Were you following me around earlier today?”             Silver Streak, however, didn’t answer. Instead, Silver Streak started to twitch in her seat as a look of utter rage and horror descended over her features. “Rut! Of all the rutting – that rutting rut – RUT!” Silver Streak continued to sputter profanities for a full minute as the rest of the table (and the ponies at several neighboring ones) looked on in confusion.             “Lieutenant Silver Streak,” Rarity gasped. “I understand that this situation is upsetting but there’s no need for that sort of language.”             Applejack, however, waved Rarity off. “Just hold on there, Rarity, it sounds to me that Silver Streak might know who this mystery stallion –“             “Penumbral Dusk,” Silver Streak said before muttering a few more choice profanities under her breath.             “Whoa, hold on, you mean Penumbral Dusk, as in Moonwhisper’s dad Penumbral Dusk?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously. “The same twisted jerk who tortured Moonwhisper and beat his wife?”             “The very same. What I don’t get is what the hay that scumbag is doing in Ponyville? From what I know about Penumbral Dusk, he can’t stand interacting with non-wealthy ponies, rural ponies, earth ponies, or any combination of the three. And honestly, that pretty much describes almost the entirety of Ponyville’s population,” Silver Streak said, having evidently exhausted her vocabulary of expletives.             “Well, I realize that Penumbral Dusk is a really, really, really not-nice pony, but Moonwhisper is still his son, so maybe he came to visit Moonwhisper,” Fluttershy suggested.             “That’s not particularly likely; the Captain’s never made any secret of the fact that he hates his father’s guts and as far as I know Penumbral Dusk has never really cared. I mean, Penumbral Dusk never tried to visit the Captain while we were still stationed in Canterlot, and Penumbral Dusk actually likes that place.”             “That may be true, but Moonwhisper wasn’t romantically involved with a princess in those days,” Rarity said. “Everypony in Canterlot has been gossiping about Twilight and Moonwhisper’s relationship for weeks now, so I have to imagine Penumbral Dusk must have at least heard rumors about it.”             “Oh rut me, news like that would definitely grab his attention,” Silver Streak groaned. “Alright, if that’s the case Penumbral Dusk is probably going to head straight for the castle. I’m going to try intercepting him before he gets there, with any luck I can discourage Penumbral Dusk from trying whatever the Tartarus he thinks he’s going to do. In the meantime, somepony should probably head to the castle to give Starlight and Spike a heads up as to what’s going on.”             “Are y’all sure y’ don’t want any help with the discouraging’?” Applejack growled.             “As much as I’d probably enjoy watching you ‘discourage’ the tar out of Penumbral Dusk I’m going to have to decline. It’s my job to uphold the law regardless of my personal feeling and while being a raging plothole isn’t technically illegal beating the hay out of one is. Right now my main concern is keeping Princess Twilight from coming home to find Equestria’s worst houseguest waiting for her.”             “But what if he’s already made it to the castle?” Fluttershy asked.             “That I’m not too worried about,” Silver Streak said as she rose out of her seat. “Penumbral Dusk can’t exactly move terribly fast with that gimped leg of his and given his attitude towards earth ponies he’ll probably try to circle around the town center to avoid the crowds. Combine that with the fact that Penumbral Dusk won’t be familiar with the town’s layout and I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that he won’t be able to find his way to the castle for some time. At least not without somepony guiding him, anyway,” Silver Streak added.             “Yeah I don’t really see too many ponies being interested in helping that jerk,” Rainbow Dash snorted.             “Probably not, Silver Streak admitted, “at least not any earth ponies or pegasi. Supposedly Penumbral Dusk is actually capable of being pleasant when he’s dealing with other unicorns, but I can’t even imagine the sort of narcissistic moron you’d have to be to not see right through him.” *********             “- and that is how the Great and Powerful Trixie rescued the captured princesses from the clutches of Queen Chrysalis!”             “Bravo! Miss Trixie, I must say that I’m humbled to be in the presence of an accomplished unicorn such as yourself,” Penumbral Dusk practically gushed as the two made their way through the streets of Ponyville towards Twilight’s castle.             “You’re too kind, Count von Umbra,” Trixie replied with a blush. “Trixie does have to admit that she couldn’t have managed such a daring feat without the help of her friends Starlight Glimmer and Thorax.”             “Powerful and modest,” Penumbral Dusk cooed. “For the life of me I can’t understand why you weren’t one of the Elements of Harmony instead of one of those…lesser ponies.”             “Well, being an ‘Element of Harmony’ doesn’t really mean what it used to and between you and me Trixie has never been all that fond of Princess Twilight,” Trixie added in a conspiratorial whisper. As far as Trixie was concerned today was turning out rather well. True, Trixie seemed to be receiving more disapproving stares from the local townsponies than usual, but she wasn’t going to let a little thing like that ruin her day. Especially when she had had the good luck to encounter a high-society unicorn stallion who actually appreciated real talent when he saw it. Granted Penumbral Dusk was a bit too old for her, but it never hurt to have friends in high places. “So, if you don’t mind my asking, why are you so interested in visiting Princess Twilight’s castle anyway?”             “I’ve come here to visit my son, who happens to be the captain of the local guard. I’ve heard some rumors floating around in Canterlot about the nature of his relationship with Princess Twilight and I intend to learn the truth of the matter,” Penumbral Dusk said, a smug grin hovering over his lips.             “Oh, if you’re asking about whether Twilight Sparkle and Moonwhisper are dating each other I can tell you they definitely are. For the first few weeks after they started it was all anypony around here would talk about. According to my friend Starlight Glimmer, Princess Twilight’s personal protégé, those two are completely head over hooves for each other. I don’t really get the attraction, but I guess being an alicorn princess counts for something at least.”             If Penumbral Dusk heard Trixie’s final comment, however, he didn’t show it. “So, the little bastard finally managed to do something right,” Penumbral Dusk muttered to himself.             “What was that?” Trixie asked.             “Oh, nothing, I was just saying to myself how happy I am that my son finally found a special somepony,” Penumbral Dusk replied with a warm smile. “So, about how much further is it to the castle?”             “I think we’re almost there.” As Trixie spoke the pair emerged from a side street onto Ponyville’s main thoroughfare near the edge of the town proper. Twilight’s castle could be seen rising up over the rest of the town only a few dozen yards away, sparkling in the midday sun. “Well, let’s see if Princess Twilight is home,” Trixie said as she led the way to the castle.             “What do you mean? Why the Tartarus wouldn’t the princess be home at the castle?”              “Well, she might be out on some sort of friendship mission or something like that. You know, doing the whole ‘official Princess of Friendship’ thing. But, if she isn’t here than my best friend Starlight Glimmer will definitely know where she’s gone,” Trixie added. Penumbral Dusk let out a harrumph by way of acknowledgement as he followed along. Pushing the castle doors open Trixie confidently trotted inside. “Hello?” Trixie called out. “Twilight? You have a visitor.” When nopony answered, Trixie apologetically turned back to Penumbral Dusk. “Twilight might be in the library or someplace and can’t hear me, this place is huge after all. Ooh, you can wait for her in the map room.”             “The map room?” Penumbral Dusk repeated skeptically.             “Yeah, it’s where Princess Twilight prepares for her…friendship missions and stuff,” Trixie replied as she tried to recall what it was exactly that Twilight Sparkle did, besides unjustly hog the public’s adoration.             “Very well then, show me to this map room,” Penumbral Dusk said somewhat haughtily. Thankfully, Trixie had become sufficiently familiar with the layout of Twilight’s castle that she had no difficulty leading Penumbral Dusk there. To Trixie’s relief Penumbral Dusk seemed impressed with the room, completely circling the map table once before seating himself in the chair bearing Rarity’s cutie mark. Once Penumbral Dusk was situated Trixie darted out of the room and began rapidly searching the castle for anypony who might be there.             After several minutes of looking, Trixie finally found Starlight Glimmer and Spike in the castle kitchens hard at work chopping, seasoning and roasting a truly prodigious amount of cauliflower. “Starlight, thank Celestia I managed to find you!” Trixie exclaimed as she looked around the room. “Wait, what are you two doing in here?”             “Right now I’m helping Spike test some of his revised cauliflower bite recipes,” Starlight said as she popped one of the aforementioned snacks into her mouth. “Mmm, Spike, I think this latest batch is the best one yet!”             “Awesome! I knew that smoked paprika would do the trick, these are gonna blow Twilight’s sweet potato muffins out of the water!” Spike gleefully exclaimed.             “Ooh, so these are going to help you show up Twilight?” Trixie asked, suddenly interested before quickly shaking her head. “Maybe later. Right now, I need to know where Twilight is.”             “Twilight? She’s still in Trotsylvania with Moonwhisper,” Spike said as he resumed whisking together a bowl of seasonings.             “Moonwhisper wanted to revisit his old home where he grew up, something about dealing with his past, and Twilight decided to go along with him as moral support,” Starlight added. “I think they should probably be back some time later today. But why in Equestria are you looking for Twilight, anyway?”             “Well, I ran into this older stallion who was trying to get to the castle to meet Princess Twilight and it turns out he’s Moonwhisper’s father…what?” Much to Trixie’s confusion Starlight and Spike had both gone completely silent and were now staring at her in abject horror.             “Trixie, are you seriously telling me that Moonwhisper’s father is here in Ponyville? Right now?” Starlight asked.             “Um, actually he’s waiting in the map table room,” Trixie replied hesitantly.             “You let him into the castle? Trixie, do you have any idea what kind of pony that stallion is?” Starlight demanded.             “Well, he seemed nice to me,” Trixie replied defensively. “And I mean, really, how bad could he possibly –“             “He beat his wife and literally tortured Moonwhisper when he was just a foal.”             “He did what? How the hay was I supposed to know that, it’s not like anypony ever told me that. All I really even know about Moonwhisper is that he’s Twilight’s grumpy looking coltfriend.”             “Alright, look we’re not going to get anywhere by arguing with each other. Right now we need to figure out a way to get rid of that…pony before anypony else finds out he’s here,” Starlight said as she paced around the kitchen.             “Find out who’s here?” Pinkie Pie asked as she popped a cauliflower bite into her mouth.             “Penumbral Dusk, obviously,” Starlight replied irritably before performing an abrupt double take. “Gah! Pinkie, when did you get in here?”             “I came in through the other door while you and Trixie were arguing about Moonwhisper’s dad being in the castle,” Pinkie said as she ate another cauliflower bit. “Mmm, Spike these are really good. Anyway, we all came to the castle to warn you and Spike that Moonwhisper’s dad was in Ponyville and was probably headed here, but I guess you already know that by now, am I right?”             “Wait, what do you mean be ‘we all’?” Starlight asked with a sinking feeling in her chest.             “She probably meant all of us, sugar cube,” a familiar voice answered. Starlight spun around to see Applejack, Silver Streak and the rest of Twilight’s friends crowding the doorway into the kitchen. “Like Pinkie said, we were hopin’ to get here ahead of Penumbral Dusk and give y’all a heads up, but Ah guess it’s a bit late fer that now.”             “How the hay was I supposed to know who he was?” Trixie continued to protest.             “Nopony’s blaming you for the situation, miss,” Silver Streak said authoritatively.             “I kinda am,” countered Rainbow Dash, eliciting glares from the rest of her friends. “What? She is the one who led the guy here.”             “Pointing hooves isn’t going to solve anything right now,” Silver Streak countered. “Our top priority at the moment should be trying to figure out a way to get Penumbral Dusk out of the castle, and ideally out of Ponyville entirely.”             “Ah’ve got a few thoughts on how to do just that mahself,” Applejack said menacingly.             “Applejack, for the last time I can’t let you beat the hay out of Penumbral Dusk. First of all, there's the fact that as a member of the guard I’d be obligated to defend him and I would really appreciate if you didn’t make me protect that creep. And besides, Penumbral Dusk is infamous for being the sort of spiteful, petty bastard who will throw huge sums of money around trying to get back at anypony who’s slighted him. The last thing the Captain needs to deal with when he gets back to Ponyville is finding out that his father is trying to put Sweet Apple Acres out of business. Or, that he’s planning to start pressuring the Wonderbolts to have you tossed off the team,” Silver Streak added as she turned to Rainbow Dash.             “You really think Penumbral Dusk could actually pull something like that off?” Rainbow Dash asked skeptically.             “Do I think he’d succeed? Probably not,” Silver Streak admitted. “But he’d absolutely try and I can pretty much guarantee he’d cause a ton of collateral damage in the process.”             “And I’m guessing somepony like that wouldn’t be the sort to just leave if we asked nicely,” Starlight said.             Silver Streak opened her mouth to respond, but closed it without a word as she was struck by a sudden thought. “Normally, no, Penumbral Dusk would probably refuse to budge unless Princess Twilight herself told him to get lost. But you’re the princess’s apprentice or something, right? If you ordered him to leave there’s at least a chance he might listen.”             “And if he doesn’t you can blast him with that mind control spell you used on us that one time,” Rainbow Dash quipped before noticing the rest of the room glaring at her yet again. “Oh come on, I was joking! Well, mostly anyway. Besides, Penumbral Dusk is a jerk, so he’d deserve to be brainwashed.”             “Actually, we might want to keep that in mind as our plan B…or maybe plan C,” Silver Streak said thoughtfully. “I could probably pass it off as an approved security measure. Something along the lines of ‘application of nonlethal magical force to secure the castle premises’. It’s technically within my power to authorize something like that and the Captain would probably think it was hilarious. Although, that being said I think there is something the rest of you could do that would really help as another backup plan.”             “Of course, darling, what is it that you need us to do?” Rarity said.             “Well, while Starlight Glimmer and I try to evict Penumbral Dusk from the castle I’d like the rest of you to see if you can track down Lieutenant Sharpshooter. With the Captain gone, Lieutenant Sharpshooter is the highest ranking unicorn guard in Ponyville, so there’s a decent chance that even if Penumbral Dusk won’t listen to us he might listen to him. And if he doesn’t, the fact that we went to the trouble of having both local lieutenants and Princess Twilight’s student tell him to get lost means he won’t have a leg to stand on if he tries getting vindictive later.”             “Ah don’t mind doin’ this if it means gettin’ rid of that lousy varmint, but Ah just gotta say it doesn’t feel right that we gotta jump through all these hoops to get him to someplace where he ain’t welcome to begin with.”             “Believe me, Applejack, I get where you’re coming from,” Silver Streak assured here. “Think of it like dealing with a dangerous wild animal. It’s not that we’re accommodating him because we like him, it’s that we respect the amount of damage he’s capable of.” Silver Streak’s rationale seemed to satisfy everypony present, though Applejack and Rainbow Dash continued to mutter under their breath as they left to search for Lieutenant Sharpshooter. *********             “I still say Silver Streak should have let us toss the jerk out on his rump,” Rainbow Dash groused as she scanned the Ponyville crowds.             “Ah know what y’all mean, RD, but Silver Streak knows what she’s doin’. Besides, Silver Streak had a good point when she talked about not wantin’ to give Penumbral Dusk any excuses to come after us,” Applejack said as she trotted through the crowds trying to keep pace with her friend.             “Come on, Applejack, don’t tell me you’re actually scared of that guy.”             “Ah wouldn’t say Ah’m afraid of him,” Applejack protested. “But…well, y’all’ve heard what he’s capable of and there ain’t all that much Ah’d put past somepony like that.” Applejack let out a sigh of resignation. “And to be honest, as much as Ah’d like to buck that filthy varmint’s teeth in Ah don’t think Ah’d want to risk Sweet Apple Acres over it.”             Rainbow Dash grumbled but appeared to concede the point as they continued their search. “Gah, this is so stupid!” Rainbow Dash complained after several more minutes of searching fruitlessly passed. “What do you wanna bet Pinkie Pie has already found Sharpshooter and we’re just wasting our time wandering around?”             “Y’all might have a point there,” Applejack admitted. “Let’s try searchin’ fer a few more minutes just to be on the safe side and then we’ll head back to the castle to see if the others have had more luck.”             “Come on, Applejack, let’s just head back now. It’s not like we’re just going to run into anything important,” Rainbow Dash protested. Even as the words were leaving her mouth, however, she and Applejack heard a familiar voice coming from a nearby café.             “-and that’s when Ah realized Ah didn’t even know how to teach a pig how to do the backstroke!” The air was quickly filled with the sounds of laughter as Granny Smith finished her anecdote.             “Hahaha, Frau Smith, you’re too much! It’s a shame we never had a chance to meet before.”             “Y’ ain’t so bad yerself. So, how long do y’ recon y’ll be stayin’ here in Ponyville anyway?”             “That mostly depends on how long it takes my liebchen to get tired of me. But in all seriousness, I’m sure Twilight wouldn’t mind if I decide to extend my visit a few days. She’s the Princess of Friendship after all, I’m pretty sure she’s required to be understanding about that sort of thing.” Upon hearing Granny Smith’s companion mention Twilight’s name both Applejack and Rainbow Dash came to a screeching halt. Rushing over, the two found Granny Smith seated at a café table having tea with an equally elderly unicorn mare, while a large diamond dog sat patiently nearby.             “Granny? What the hay are y’all doin’ here?” Applejack asked.             “Ah’m havin’ tea with mah new friend Starry Night, what’s it look like?” Granny Smith replied.             “I take it this is your granddaughter Applejack then?” Starry Night said. “Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Starry Night, and from what I understand you’re good friends with my granddaughter Twilight Sparkle.”             “Yes ma’am,” Applejack affirmed. “Actually, if y’all wouldn’t mind, there’s somethin’ of an issue up at Twilight’s castle that we could really use yer help with.”             “Really? I can’t imagine what liebchen would need my help with.”             “Well, y’ see, we were kinda hopin’ to get this particular problem settled before Twilight and Moonwhisper get back from Trotsylvania,” Applejack said somewhat hesitantly.             “That…may be something of a problem. You see, Twilight and her stallion arrived in Ponyville on the same train I did. By now they’re almost certainly at the castle already.”