"Thank you SO much!" exclaimed the Alpaca King. "You have managed to thwart the uprising of the giant gingerbread spiders AND restored the sacred softball of righteousness to its rightful place: atop the throne of Great Justice!"
"Ah have no idea how we even did that," Applejack shook her head in exhaustion. There were bags under her eyes and her mane looked as though it hadn't been brushed in a week. It was still also resolutely blue: the sap hadn't washed out yet.
Pinkie shrugged. She looked just the same as ever, apart from the eyepatch over the left eye. "Neither do I. We started this chapter on the aftermath. Not even I know how we pulled it all off."
"Maybe somepony will write it down one day," Spike suggested.
"Or maybe we will never speak of it again," growled Rarity, as she continued to pull the leaves and twigs out of her mane.
"Eh, that too."
"But..." continued the Alpaca King, "...I AM going to have to pin the whole bread roll poisoning on somepony...and so, I'm going to have to rather conspicuously chase you out of town now. I do hope you understand."
"Wait, what about that whole lesson in friendship thing? You know, THAT!?" Applejack exclaimed.
"Well, nothing like a common enemy to put petty differences aside. How about that one? Now then, please get them, if you would," said the Alpaca King, motioning to the guards. "I do hope you all enjoy the exercise."
"AJ, grab the diamonds and run!" Pinkie grabbed Spike and pelted out of the hall.
"Oh sure, leave the heavy lifting to the exhausted pony. That'll go well," grumbled Applejack, as she hauled the sack onto her shoulder.
"Leave it, it's not worth it!" shouted Rarity.
"Actually," pointed out the Alpaca King, "I'm willing to give each of you a fifteen minute head-start as a courtesy. So it's actually totally worth it."
Rarity paused. "Oh...well, that's very courteous of you. Thank you." She then watched Applejack finish getting the bag over her shoulder before slinging her front hoof over to support her friend. "This changes nothing!" she shouted as they both hobbled out.
-
The group of four were chased away from the stronghold that was the Alpaca Village for quite a distance, with the pursuit never relenting, not even until nightfall, and then they had to light the last torch they brought with them. By Rarity's best estimate, the pursuers were still at least fifteen minutes behind, judging by the lights of the torches she could make out behind her.
"There's the bridge! Up ahead!" shouted Pinkie, pointing the torch left. "C'mon slowpokes!"
"Oh thank Celestia, my shoulders are killing me. Even more," Applejack sighed. the four gathered together at the start of the swaying, wooden bridge. It was directly over a 2,000 foot drop (as the signs on both sides liked to cheerfully announce to tourists), which meant one misstep and an unfortunate victim would wind up flatter than Sugarcube Corner's sweet crepes.
"It's so dark," Spike narrowed his eyes. "I can't even make out what's in front of me without the torch."
"Well, that's clearly not a problem for our pursuers, evidently," Rarity huffed. "The good news is we should be at least 17 minutes ahead of them..."
"How'd you figure?" asked Applejack.
"Heavy armor. It weighs them down. But that's beside the point." She turned to the group. "Does everypony think they can get across in time?"
"Just give me a minute!" Pinkie replied happily. "...I'm being literal here. It really is exactly a minute. I counted the first time we crossed this."
"Eh, I'm not as fast, but still pretty fast. I mean, for someone who's only got little legs," Spike answered. "I can't take your giant strides, but I'd probably catch up to Pinkie in a minute, though."
"I'd need a few moments to keep my nerves," Rarity admitted.
"C'mon, Rares! We don't have time for a fear of heights now!" Applejack was now watching the growing sea of lit torches and the faint shouts of the mob in the distance.
"Not heights, FALLING, darling. And I didn't say I wouldn't cross. But I'd need five minutes."
"Well, Ah've still got this sack of gems over mah shoulder," Applejack motioned to the brown burlap bag. "Ah'd need what, eight minutes to get across, tops."
"Well, then that just leaves plenty of time to cut off the bridge once we're all across and lose the mob, so what's the problem?" Spike asked.
"That," said Pinkie, pointing to a small wooden sign right at the start of the bridge. The group huddled round. Rarity raised the torch, and there in the light of the flames, it read:
WARNING: NO MORE THAN 2 AT A TIME WHEN CROSSING
"Oh yeah," Spike gulped. "Forgot about that."
"...and thus as always, fate conspires to make everypony involved unnecessarily exercise the frontal lobes as well as the muscles. Because it always does," Rarity sighed. "So, how are we doing this then? We've only got fifteen minutes before the mob catches us..."