Indigo groaned, rolling off the rowing machine. Somehow, she still couldn’t reach her best time at the two kilometres distance; no matter how she tried, she was still thirty-sixth in her age group, according to the ranking available on the website of the company which produced the rowing machines.
She was just sitting and waiting for her heart rate to calm down, when someone patted her back. Indigo trembled and turned her head to see Muffins, who smiled at her.
“Found you, at last,” Muffins said. “I’ve been looking for you for the past two weeks.”
“You could’ve called,” Indigo replied. “Also, I was kinda busy training and stuff. We play the second match soon, remember?”
“Do tell,” Muffins muttered. “Everyone is throwing balls at me, except of those I’d actually want to.”
Indigo winced. “That’s not the mental image I needed.”
Muffins smirked, but her expression quickly turned serious again. “Well, about that, actually…”
“I’m not doing anything involving you and balls.” Indigo shuddered. “You know, you could learn too much about the way I shoot.”
“Pinkie Pie already made a video compilation of your shots,” Muffins said. “And an app. Anyway, I recently talked to Bulk.” She looked at Indigo and continued, “No, I’m not trying to get you back together, but I think you should talk and like… apologise to each other.”
“Maybe when he comes to me instead of you.” Indigo sighed. “I know you’re trying to help, but we don’t need it, really…”
“I’m sorry,” Muffins muttered, lowering her gaze.
“It’s fine,” Indigo replied. “Just don’t help us, okay? Sweet Leaf tried to help everyone and look what happened.”
“Yeah, that’s why I only take such photos with an analog camera and store the films in my basement, locked under–” Muffins cleared her throat. “You don’t need to know that.”
“I most certainly don’t,” Indigo muttered. “Anyway, I’m kinda done training, so if you wait for me, I can drive you somewhere…”
“No, thanks,” Muffins replied. “I finally took my bicycle for a ride.”
Despite Muffins’ claims, when Indigo went out of the gym, she found her next to the bicycle stand, staring at an empty space. She held a broken padlock in her hands and her face was slightly red.
“What’s up?” Indigo asked.
“That cunt…” Muffins muttered.
“Who, me?” Indigo raised her eyebrows. She tried to recall the last time she heard Muffins cursing, but she couldn’t.
“What?” Muffins turned to her. “You stole my bike?”
“No, of course not,” Indigo replied.
“Ah, good.” Muffins’ hand trembled. “Because someone just did!”
Suddenly, she unleashed a long-winded rant, filled with swears to the brim. Even Indigo, who was never really innocent when it came to cursing, felt the need to cover her ears. To her surprise, she found out Muffins could be really creative; she’d most definitely overtaken Sunny Flare in that department. Indigo decided that she had to include “butt-fucked kumquat twat” in her repertoire, if only for the phonetic challenge it presented.
“Okay,” Indigo muttered when Muffins was done. “How did your bike look like? Maybe we can find it.”
“Red, somewhat scratched, rear brake hardly working, white fringes on the handlebars, no rear suspension so it feels like taking it up the–” Muffins paused. “Well, it also has some stickers with jinxes.”
Indigo raised her eyebrows. “What jinxes?”
“You know, ‘may my bike carry you to hell if you steal it’ and so on,” Muffins replied. “There’s also one saying, ‘Property of Guðrún Múffinsdottir’.”
“Who?” Indigo asked.
“What?” Muffins shrugged. “I’m half-Icelandic. This half also includes the name, but don’t bother trying to learn it. No one does.”
“Okay,” Indigo replied. “I think your bike is distinctive enough for us to find it.”
“Oh, I’m sure.” Muffins produced her phone. “Actually, after the last time I had to kick some punk who stole my bicycle, I put a GPS tracker on it. It’s about two miles from here and moving.”
“This should be easy.” Indigo smirked. “We take my car, nail the thief, and get your bicycle back.”
“Oh, this sucks,” Indigo muttered. After driving for a mile, they got stuck in the traffic jam – a typical consequence of all the people finishing work at the same time and trying to get back home. Indigo banged her fist against the steering wheel and groaned.
“Don’t worry,” Muffins said. “Seems that the thief stopped too.”
“Maybe they need to eat something. Or take a dump,” Indigo replied.
“We could catch them with their pants down, then,” Muffins muttered.
The traffic light changed to green and Indigo managed to drive a few metres closer to the intersection. Still, there was no sight of Muffins’ bike.
“So… Múffinsdottir,” Indigo said. “Your dad is from Iceland?”
“Yeah,” Muffins replied. “Múffin Cupcakesson is his name.”
“Wait, shouldn’t you also be called Cupcakesson, then?” Indigo asked. “We could call you Cupcake.”
“It doesn’t work like this in Iceland,” Muffins replied. “My name means that I’m Guðrún, daughter of Múffin. If I had a brother, he’d be called Múffinson.”
“Ah.” Indigo nodded slowly. “I’d be called Indigo Lightningson, then?”
‘“Lightningsdottir,” Muffins replied. “Unless you feel you’re a dude.”
“Hell no,” Indigo muttered. She pushed the accelerator and managed to cross the intersection. The traffic on the other side was somewhat lighter; at least she was able to drive without stopping every once in a while.
Muffins looked at her phone. “We’re getting close.” She raised her head. “Where is it?”
“I can’t see it.” Indigo pushed the brake, stopping the car in front of some kid who decided to run on the other side. “Besides, I need to watch out.”
“Over there!” Muffins exclaimed, pointing at the bus stop on the other side of the road. Indigo looked there and saw someone carrying a similar bicycle into the bus.
“Follow that bus!” Muffins shouted.
“Sorry for the tyres, dad,” Indigo muttered. Ignoring the horns of the cars behind and in front of her, she yanked the handbrake, turning the car around in place. Then she pushed the accelerator, trying to catch up with the bus.
“If someone calls the police on us, I’ll tell them it’s your fault,” Indigo muttered.
“Don’t worry, this old lady on the pavement liked it,” Muffins said. “Or not. She saluted us with her middle finger.”
“Screw old ladies,” Indigo muttered under her breath and took a sharp turn. “At the nearest stop, get out of the car and try to get on the bus.”
Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. It wasn’t, however, Indigo’s fault, but rather the town’s mayor, of all the people. A few years before, trying in vain to reduce traffic jams, the main roads were rebuilt, including bus lanes. Which meant that Indigo and Muffins were now stuck behind some old, decrepit car while the bus gained some advantage over them.
“You must be kidding me,” Indigo muttered.
“Yeah,” Muffins replied. “For someone who used to steal cars, you drive like a pansy.” She pointed at a car that shamelessly used a bus lane to overtake them.
“My sister stole cars, not me,” Indigo said, looking into the rear mirror. A moment later, she pushed the accelerator and rushed down the bus lane.
“What bus number is it?” Muffins asked.
Indigo sighed. “Can’t you look yourself? I’m busy not getting us killed.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m slightly cross-eyed.” Muffins blushed. "When I want to look that far, it gets a bit blurry."
“You are?” Indigo looked at Muffins. “Hmm, indeed. I think it’s number twelve.”
“Not good,” Muffins muttered.
“What’s not good?” Indigo asked. “I don’t use buses much.”
“Twelve turns right somewhere here,” Muffins replied.
“Oh shit!” Indigo turned the steering wheel. The car swerved to the right, barely managing to avoid crashing into a lamppost. Indigo took a deep breath, trying to catch up with the speeding bus. Slowly, she relaxed and smirked; they were directly behind it and there was a stop nearby.
“Go!” Indigo exclaimed when the bus stopped. She stopped her car too, in order to let the bus passengers get to the pavement, as well as to let Muffins out of the vehicle.
Muffins ran to the bus and jumped inside, the door closing behind her. Indigo expected her to come back soon after a brief fight, but then the bus drove away, with Muffins still on board. Indigo shrugged and followed it slowly, trying to see what was going on inside.
After a minute or so, Indigo became slightly disappointed. It didn’t look like there was a fight inside, no one was thrown out of the window, and Muffins didn’t triumphally jump out of the bus on her bicycle, surrounded by flames and explosions. In fact, the bus just stopped on the next stop and Muffins got out of it. Without her bicycle.
“We messed up,” Muffins said after joining Indigo in the car. “It’s either the wrong bus or the thief got off when we were busy trying to follow it.”
“Damn,” Indigo muttered. “What are we gonna do now?”
Muffins looked at her phone. “Seems that my bicycle is moving towards the park now.”
Indigo looked around. They were surrounded by tall, brick building of former factory that were either changed into clubs or lofts or were slowly falling apart. She was pretty sure they weren’t far away from the place where Lemon Zest lived. However, it meant they were rather far away from the park. Not that it was an obstacle.
“Which side of the park?” Indigo asked, turning into a side street in order to turn back.
“Near the northern entrance,” Muffins replied.
Indigo winced. “What is near it, then?”
“Remember Halloween? It’s that stage,” Muffins replied.
Indigo smirked, remembering last Halloween, but her smirk quickly faded. Muffins looked at her and shrugged. “There’s also a farm near there, on the other side of the river.”
“I know, I was just thinking,” Indigo replied. “As for the farm, when we were kids, we tried to steal apples from there, but a big, sexy guy told us that his grandma would shoot us.”
“Big Mac?” Muffins smirked. “Sandalwood was right, then. You do have a type.”
“He was happy to inform me of that last time we went bra shopping,” Indigo deadpanned, taking a quick left turn. “No, it doesn’t make more sense in context.”
“I know,” Muffins replied. “It’s Sandalwood, after all.”
“Yeah, I guess him and bras doesn’t seem that out of place.” Indigo looked around. “Hmm, seems that we’re close to the park. I actually know a parking lot here.”
“Oh, I bet you know,” Muffins said. “After Halloween…”
Indigo froze, looking at Muffins, who raised her eyebrows. “I mean, you came here by a car, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Indigo sighed with relief. She parked the car and gazed at the trees surrounding them. “Where’s your bike now?”
Muffins tapped the screen of her phone. “Somewhere near the stage, actually.”
“Good.” Indigo put her hand under the seat of her car and produced a collapsible baton. She got out of the car and swung the baton, opening it. “Let’s get it back, then.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.” Muffins took one of her socks off and grabbed her wallet, putting the coins inside of the sock. “Do you have any spare change?”
“Nah, I’m somehow always out of cash.” Indigo shrugged.
“Okay.” Muffins smiled. As they walked slowly towards the stage, crouching through the mud and last year’s grass, Indigo noticed that she was picking stones on their way to put them in her sock.
“Don’t you think it’s too much?” Indigo whispered, pointing at the sock.
“Maybe.” Muffins shrugged. “I hit the last guy who stole my bike in the thigh and he limped for a week. But I apologised.”
“Shh,” Indigo whispered. They were behind the scene; Indigo stood by its wooden wall and started to slowly crouch along it, followed by Muffins. A layer of mud was muffling their steps. Indigo took a peek behind the corner and showed one finger to Muffins, along with a gesture she hoped looked like a bicycle. Muffins responded with something resembling a rabbit hand shadow.
Indigo rolled her eyes and showed Muffins to walk around the stage to attack the thief from both sides. Muffins responded with raising her eyebrows. Indigo shook her head and waved her fingers, imitating steps. Then she made a wide, round gesture. Muffins nodded and walked behind the stage to circle it.
Only after she left, Indigo realised her mistake. Sure, they could approach the thief from both sides, but synchronising the attack without revealing themselves too early was impossible. Sure, Indigo could call Muffins, but she wasn’t sure if her phone was on mute. She was just thinking whether she should start mimicking some bird noises to alarm her, when she heard a shout.
“Oh my God, she just ran in,” Indigo muttered, running in front of the stage.
The bicycle stood there, propped against the barrier. The thief, a teenage girl wearing an oversized sweater, was sitting on the stage, smoking a cigarette. Or rather, she was doing so just a minute earlier, because Muffins just smacked her in the calf with her sock, causing her to get on her feet, howling in pain.
“Ruby?” Indigo asked. “Long time no see.”
“Ah, Bulk’s girlfriend…” Ruby smirked. “Tell this weirdo to get out. What is wrong with her?”
“You stole her bicycle, that’s what,” Indigo replied. “But it’s your lucky day: we’ll take it and forget about the whole thing, okay?”
Ruby scratched her head, looking around. “Well…”
Suddenly, she jumped off the stage. Her landing was far from graceful; her injured leg bent under her weight and she fell into the mud. She recovered quickly; Muffins only managed to graze her back with her sock when Ruby ran past her, rushing towards the bicycle. Indigo chased her, but Ruby managed to get on the bicycle and ride away, leaving Indigo slipping in the swamp.
“That inbred little shit!” Indigo exclaimed, grabbing a handful of mud and throwing it at Ruby. “Normal people give up if they have no chance to win…”
“It seems she at least had a chance to run,” Muffins replied. She ran past Indigo and chased Ruby down the narrow, slippery path running across several hills. Indigo got up and ran with her.
“You can’t be serious,” Indigo muttered, panting. “She’s too fast!”
“Yeah, and she’ll go faster…” Muffins smirked and spun her sock like a shepherd’s sling, throwing it at Ruby. It hit her in the back, causing the bike to swerve. Ruby, however, managed to regain control over it. She looked back and started pedalling harder.
“That’s no use…” Indigo took a deep, laboured breath. “She lives in the trailer park. We can go there. She’ll get back home eventually.”
Muffins slowed down. “No need to. The road goes down from there and it’s pretty wet, so she’ll probably try to slow down.”
“You think we can catch her with that head start?” Indigo asked. Suddenly, she heard a scream and the sound of something heavy hitting wooden sticks and breaking some of them – something akin to a drunken elephant collapsing into a straw hut.
“Oh, I forgot to mention that rear brakes are rather bad,” Muffins said. “You have to be careful with the front one and use both of them.”
Her words were followed by a loud splash.
“Seems that you also forgot there’s a river nearby,” Indigo muttered.
They found the bicycle in the first cluster of bushes growing on the steep river bank. Aside from a new scratch on the frame, it was mostly intact. Muffins, however, shuddered, seeing the skid marks in the mud, as well as a path of broken and torn bushes leading to the edge of the small cliff. “Do you think she died?” she asked.
Indigo shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Carefully, she walked towards the edge of the cliff. She found a few pieces of Ruby’s greenish sweater on the branches, as well as a pack of wet and squished cigarettes. Then she leaned over the edge and looked down.
“What a surprise,” she muttered. “If you’re born to hang, you’ll never drown.”
“Oh, you can just go and fuck yourself,” Ruby replied. She was hanging from a branch of some decrepit weeping willow growing just above the river, a bit away from Indigo. It seemed like she fell into the water, but managed to catch the branch before getting carried with the stream. Her clothes were dirty and ragged; she also lost a shoe and her face and left hand were covered in bleeding scratches.
“I should go and leave you here now, but I’m not a total bitch,” Indigo said. “Hang in there, I’ll get some branch to pull you up.”
“Come on.” Ruby shuddered. “I can’t feel my legs.”
Indigo froze. “Did you hurt your spine?”
“No, it’s fucking February and I just took a bath in the river.” Ruby groaned. “Hurry up, you moron!”
Indigo turned to Muffins. “Can you see any long sticks here?”
“I got one!” Muffins replied, walking towards the edge of the cliff with a stick.
“It’s too short!” Ruby exclaimed. “But you can throw it here. A few more and I’ll make a fucking raft out of them!”
“You can always climb higher,” Indigo said while Muffins started to search the nearby bushes for a bigger stick.
“This fucking tree will break if I try!” Ruby shouted.
Muffins walked to Indigo, dragging a large tree branch. “This should do.”
“We’ll see…” Indigo grabbed the branch and lowered it down the cliff. “Try to catch it and we’ll pull you up.”
Ruby muttered something under her breath and reached for the branch, swinging the one she was on. After a few attempts, she grabbed the branch, clinging to it.
“Okay now,” Indigo muttered, pulling the branch up. Muffins grabbed it too, helping her. Ruby rested her feet against the cliff’s side, climbing up.
Suddenly, the branch snapped in half. Indigo gasped, falling on her back. A loud splash caused her to immediately jump to her feet. She leaned over the edge of the cliff to see Ruby swimming against the stream, still holding a piece of the branch and screaming. Despite her attempts, the river was carrying her away.
“Shit,” Indigo muttered, turning to Muffins. “Get on your bike and try to keep up with her. I’ll get the car.”
Muffins nodded and hopped on her bike. “Near the farm, the river is not as deep. I’ll try to catch her there.”
“Okay.” Indigo ran towards the car park while Muffins rode along the river bank. She was on her last legs when she reached her car. Adrenaline left her and her hands shook, making it hard to start the engine.
Indigo took a deep breath and finally managed to put the key in the ignition. She pushed the accelerator and left the parking lot with screeching tires. Her hands were still trembling, but at least she was now able to think; for some reason driving a car was always calming her down.
Speeding towards the farm, she realised that Muffins and her alone may not be able to pull Ruby out of the water. She reached for her phone and stared at it for a long while, trying to think who to call.
The sound of a car horn nearby snapped her awake. She pushed the brakes, seeing the back of another car in front of her. Luckily, the car drove away, but it was enough to make Indigo’s heart race again. She pulled to the side of the road and picked the number.
“Fire brigade?” she asked, taking a deep breath. “My friend and I saw a girl who fell into the river. She was alive last time I’ve seen her, but we can only catch her near the farm…” Suddenly, she realised she forgot the name of the farm. “Something with apples. I’m driving there.”
She waited until the dispatcher ended the call and drove towards the farm. On her way, she heard the sirens and sped up, seeing the orchard in the distance.
After coming out of the forests and the park, the river surrounding Canterlot City was getting wider, flowing slowly across the plains, marshes, and polders. They were often at least partially flooded in the Spring, with the exception of the higher areas, such as the orchard placed on the top of the hills on the other side of the river.
Indigo didn’t pay attention to it. She drove as close to the bank as she could before her car got stuck in the mud. Then she got out of it and saw Muffins pulling unconscious Ruby across the polder. Indigo opened the trunk – she remembered there were some old blankets there.
The sirens grew louder and a fire engine drove across the plain, followed by an ambulance.
“Over there!” Indigo waved her hands, pointing at Muffins and Ruby. The ambulance skid to a halt next to them. Several firefighters and paramedics surrounded them, taking Ruby from Muffins.
Indigo walked to them, the world spinning around her. She barely had time to drop the blankets on the ground before falling on them. “I’m fine,” she said to the nearby paramedic. “I just went out of the gym when she told me to look for her bike.” She pointed at Muffins. “I’m a bit tired, that’s all.”
“We’d better take you to the hospital too,” the paramedic said. “You don’t look well.”
“Thanks…” Indigo chuckled before turning to Muffins. “Is Ruby okay?”
“She told me to fuck off before passing out,” Muffins replied. “She seemed rather cold, though.”
“It’s hypothermia,” the paramedic said. “She was lucky you’ve seen her…”
“Lucky… Sure…” Indigo got up and looked at the two paramedics approaching her. “Seriously, I’m fine…”
Suddenly, the world spun around her again and disappeared in the darkness.