Things were quiet at the representative house as the group waited for Big Mac’s return. They were in the lounge. Trixie on the couch, practising card tricks to calm herself whilst levitating an ice pack against the side of her face. Silver Script and Raindrops were busy finding a good place to leave the gagged and restrained Parley. Caramel was watching the door while Ditzy was pacing back and forth.
“It’s taking too long.” The grey mare said. “They should have been back by now.”
“It hasn’t been that long.” Caramel said. “Trust me, Big Mac has everything under control. Most likely he’s already on his way back.”
“How can you be so sure?” Ditzy demanded.
“Because I know Big Mac, that stallion is unstoppable even when he’s in good mood but these thugs have managed to get on his bad side.” Caramel said reassuringly. “The only thing we need to worry about is Big Mac leaving enough of those scum bags for questioning.”
*THACK*
“HRMP!!”
Everypony turned to see the restrained Parley dangling from the ceiling like a piñata while Silver Script stood there with the L&T Bat. Realising that he was being watched he quickly hid the bat behind his back and pointed towards Raindrops in an attempt to shift blame.
Trixie stood up from the couch and went to stand beside Ditzy as a form of comfort. “Wait 10 more minutes and if they’re not here by then we’ll go looking.”
*THACK*
“HRMP!!”
“Enough, Silver!” Trixie scolded.
Before any more could be said there was a knock at the door. Ditzy bolted straight for it and swung it open in time for a small filly to tackle her which turned into a big hug.
“Momma!” Dinky said happily.
Ditzy responded with the hug and returned it with gusto. “Oh Dinky, are you okay? I was so worried?"
"I'm alright, Big Mac and Cheerilee saved me."
"I love you so much, Dinky.”
“I love you too, Momma.”
The two stayed like that, just hugging each other and being so happy to be back together. Single tear feel down Ditzy's cheek as tried to recommit every sound, touch and smell to memory. Her daughter was back and most important, safe. No more words needed said, their world had been made whole again.
Big Mac and Cheerilee then walked through the doorway, smiling at the scene in front of them. Caramel smirked as he went to stand by the crimson stallion.
“Times like these are what make this job so worthwhile.”
“Eeyup.”
Big Mac then got pulled into surprise hug with Ditzy and Cheerilee. “Thank you.”
The big stallion looked like he might have been blushing under his red as he shrugged off the hug. “No problem.”
After all the adults present had taken the time shower the returned foal in boat loads of affection. Trixie approached the farmer.
“Look, I don’t want to sound ungrateful, cause I am really grateful, but as a Night Court Representative I have to ask: What did you do with the thugs that had foalnapped Dinky?”
Big Mac gestured towards to the door.
Everypony headed outside and found what appeared to be a mail wagon.
“A mail wagon?” Trixie asked in disbelief.
“Not a real one.” Silver Script remarked. “The wagon's an outdated model and the paint job is too shoddy to be government issue.”
Big Mac open the back to reveal seven restrained and unconscious stallions. Trixie and Ditzy edged closer to examine them.
“Recognise them?” Trixie asked.
Ditzy pointed to Plata and Plomo. “Those two were working with Parley. I don’t know about the other five.”
“Ahem.”
Trixie turned to see Big Mac holding out a note. The Representative took it and examined it. It was hastily written but still legible and at the top was Big Mac’s name and Bounty Hunting ID number.
These seven individuals that have been captured and detained were in the process of foal napping a young filly.
The two earth ponies should be charged for attacking the school and for foal napping.
The five pegasi, while not involved in the attack on the school, were intending to transport the foal napped individual, known as Dinky Doo, against her will to Manehattan and as such should be charged for being accessories to a foalnapping as well as impersonating mail carriers and carrying stolen and/or illegal items.
Though these are the only charges I am aware of, all seven appear to be career criminals and will most likely have other crimes they can be charged with.
As the one with bounty hunting authority, I take full responsibility for the actions taken to apprehend these criminals.
Any and all actions I have done in the process of capturing these five ponies were done with the safety of Miss Doo as my chief concern as well as ensuring that she was returned to her mother as soon as possible.
I request that this be taken into consideration if charges are brought against me for actions not covered under the Bounty Hunting Act or the Civilian Arrest Act.
Trixie looked up from the note and stared at Big Mac who just shrugged in return. After not getting any further answer she turned to Caramel who gave a shrug of his own.
“He's a writer.” Caramal replied
After getting statements from them, Trixie sent Ditzy and Dinky home, saying that she would let them know if there was any trouble but that there wasn’t any need for them to wait for the authorities to arrive.
Silver Script walked them home, treating them to a late lunch and ice cream on the way. As was expected Silver Script got strange looks for still carrying the bat but he did get 10% off the meal. At last they arrived back at their apartment. Dinky went in first but Ditzy paused at the door to say goodbye to the post master.
“Thank you for everything.”
“No worries, like I said I take care of my own.” Silver Script replied. “Though you know, since the students are getting the day off tomorrow, why don’t you have it off too?”
For once Ditzy didn’t argue. “Thank you.”
Silver Script nodded and took his leave.
“Wait!”
Silver Script stopped and turn back to Ditzy.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while. Why did you name your bat ‘Love & Tolerance’?”
Silver Script smiled knowingly. “The same reason I named my sledge hammer ‘Gentle Persuasion’.”
At that he left. Ditzy walked into the apartment and then received another hug Dinky. The filly stayed like that for while, holding onto her mom.
“Momma” she finally said in a quiet voice. “Would it be alright if we stayed in for the rest of the day?”
Ditzy scooped up her daughter and held her close. “Of course we can.”
Big Mac and Caramel entered the kitchen. Big Mac was promptly tackled by Applebloom.
“Did you save her?”
The red stallion gave his sister a hug. “Eeyup.”
“Told you he would.” Granny Smith was sitting at the breakfast table. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, my grandson is the best bounty hunter Ponyville has ever had.”
“I just hope that ya taught them a good lesson of the physical kind.” Applejack had walked in to the kitchen when she heard Big Mac was back. “No good varmints think they can come into our town and attack Applebloom’s school like that. They’re probably the ones that messed with the train too.”
At that Caramel gave a nervous cough and tried to change the subject. “Hey Applejack, can I have Monday off?”
“No.” Applejack said flatly before raising a threatening hoof when she saw Caramel opening his mouth to argue. “Now don’t ya give me lip, yer already taking those two weeks off ta go visit yer family up north. Which is a pretty big favour considering that ya’ll be missing preparations for the Trottingham Farming Contest.”
“Oh come on, it’s just like every other farming contest you guys have been in.” Caramel argued. “What’s the worst that could happen?” Big Mac then whacked him on the back of the head. “Ow!! What was that for?”
“Tempting fate.”
At that Caramel left for home, while Applejack and Applebloom went out to finish their chores before night fall, leaving Big Mac and Granny Smith alone in the kitchen. The elderly mare smiled warmly at the large stallion. “Ya did yer folks proud today.”
Big Mac gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed it but Granny Smith knew him too well to be fooled.
“Still worried about them, aren’t ya?”
The red farmer sighed as he sat down beside her. “Eeyup.”
Granny Smith gave her grandson a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Look, I know you want to do everything in your power to make this world a safe place for the sake of your sisters but there are some battles that aren’t for you or me to face. I think you’re granddad said it best.”
“Do good...” Big Mac began.
“...and let fate worry if it was enough.” Granny Smith finished.
Big Mac nodded as he took an apple from the fruit bowl. He took a bite and winced in pain.
“What’s wrong?” Granny Smith asked, clearly concerned.
“Got bucked in the face.” Big Mac answered.
“Let’s take a look. Open up.” She ordered. Big Mac complied as she put on her glasses and came in for a closer look. “Hmm, nothing looks broken or loose.” She backed up and let him close his mouth again. “Give it a couple of days and if it still hurts we’ll take you to go see a doctor.” She then headed towards the fridge. “In the meantime, what you need is a big slice of apple pie.”
“With whipped cream?” Big Mac asked hopefully.
Granny Smith laughed as she put a slice of pie on a plate and then a bit dollop of whipped cream on top.
“Here you go.” She placed the plate in front of Big Mac. She then affectionately ruffled the part of his mane she could reach. “You big softie.”
Night time finally came for what had felt like one of the longest days Ditzy had had to date. And it seemed like her days had gotten a lot longer since Corona showed up. Still what mattered was that her little muffin was back where she belonged.
Dinky had gone to bed and Ditzy was just doing some cleaning up when there was a knock at the door. The grey mail mare opened the door to find Trixie standing there, levitating a tub of ice cream. “Um hi Trixie. What are you doing here?”
“Well firstly to tell you that it’s all been taken care off. Parley and company will be in Canterlot by now and can look forward to a personal one on one meeting with Princess Luna amongst other things. Secondly I wanted to know if you and Dinky wanted to help me eat this tub of Ice Cream.”
“Why?”
“Well I decided that after a day like today I needed ice cream but I couldn’t sit at home shovelling down a tub of ice cream by myself because that would be depressing, so I decided to come here instead.” Trixie explained. “I got double choc ripple.”
Ditzy eyed Trixie and the tub of ice cream. “Alright, but Dinky is already asleep so we’ll have to save some for her.”
After filling up a big bowlful and leaving it in the freezer for Dinky, the two mares crashed on the sofa with two spoons and started to dig in.
“So how’s Dinky doing?” Trixie asked.
“She’s doing okay. Better than she had last time.” Ditzy really hated the fact that there had been a ‘last time’. “But it’s hard to tell if she actually alright or if she’s just being brave for my sake. So are you sure they won’t be back.”
“Trust me, with the charges they're facing, those scum bags won’t be coming back.” Trixie assured her. “And the same goes for the lowlife who sent them.”
“Do they have any idea who it was?”
“Nothing definite but the going theory right now is that it was one of the Manehattan crime bosses hoping to make a fortune holding an element ransom.”
“Ransom?” Ditzy asked in disbelief. “We’re the one thing that can stop Corona and there are actually ponies trying to jeopardise that for money?”
“Well you see Ditzy. Everyone in Ponyville got a front row seat to what Corona can do and she also made her presence known in Canterlot. Everywhere else she is still almost treated like a myth granny’s tell their grandkids, as far as we know she has been keeping a low profile so some ponies find it hard to see her as a real threat.”
“So they’re idiots.” Ditzy surmised.
“Yeah pretty much.”
The two continued to eat the ice cream. A few more minutes Ditzy started to voice something that had been bugging her for a while. “Hey Trixie. If we’re the only thing that can stop Corona why hasn’t Princess Luna placed anymore protection in Ponyville to help keep us safe?”
Trixie paused and took a moment to make sure she worded her explanation right. “You know how as the Elements of Harmony Luna deemed us property of the people and can’t do us any special favours so that we can stay politically untouchable?” Ditzy nodded. “This is kind of the same thing. If Luna was to place extra guards or protection in Ponyville, just for our sakes, it would be like waving a big banner saying that the elements weren’t safe here.”
“And that would be bad.” Ditzy assumed.
“It wouldn’t be good.” Trixie answered. “If that happened then factions in the Night Court would argue that the elements should be moved to Canterlot for safe keeping.” She went on to explain. “That would then lead to arguments over where we should stay and who would be in charge of protecting us. It would be a political battle field and we would be in the middle of it.”
“That’s bad.”
“That’s politics.” Trixie knew that she was being brutally honest but this was one time when brutal honesty was needed. “Look I know it sucks that we have become targets just for doing the right thing but that’s how it is.”
“But it isn’t just us. It’s our loved ones too.” Ditzy replied. “How are we supposed to handle that?”
“By working smart and more importantly working together.” Trixie replied. “Look I know that you were worried about finding Dinky but there were better options than what you did. I could have contacted Luna for help. She can’t do us special favours but she doesn’t turn a blind eye to foal napping. Or least we could have gotten help from our friends. But instead of being able to do any of that I was stuck chasing after you and trying to make sure you didn’t get hurt and was knocked out for my troubles.”
Trixie looked at Ditzy sternly.
“We got lucky today, as-in-Sweet-Luna-I-wish-Ponyville-had-a-lottery-so-I-could-buy-a-ticket lucky, but we can’t afford to rely on luck and we can’t afford to fly off the handle.”
Ditzy looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry.”
Trixie realised she may have done too good a job at getting her point across. “It’s alright, the important thing is that we got both you and Dinky back.”
“No it’s not alright!” Ditzy shot back. “You were trying to help and I punched you. Then I completely lost it at the train station.”
“Come on, I wasn’t too fond of you punching me but that slime ball deserved it.”
“Deserved it?” Ditzy repeated. “I almost killed him.”
“You wouldn’t have killed him.” Trixie said dismissively.
“I dropped him from cloud height.” Ditzy shot back. “There is no way he would have survived that.”
“You caught him before he hit the ground.”
“I didn’t know that I’d be able to do that!”
Trixie paused. “What?”
“You know how bad my depth perception can be, especially when I’m flying. I have enough trouble sticking a safe landing let alone trying to catch anything that was falling too.” Ditzy said. “I took him up there knowing that if I let go he would most likely die before I could get to him... and I didn’t care.”
Ditzy leaned on the armrest and curled into a ball. “I was so angry...I didn’t care about what I did. I just wanted to hurt him.” She looked back at Trixie through teary eyes. “What sort pony does that make me?”
“It makes you a good pony and a great mother that’s had a really bad day.” Trixie put the ice cream on the coffee table and scooted closer to Ditzy. “You know, my mother once told me that if you weren’t willing to shed blood for the sake of your children, you didn’t have the right to call yourself a parent.”
Ditzy sat up and looked at Trixie. “Your mother said that?”
“Well technically she was my Aunt. That said she raised me like I was her daugher and yeah, she did say that. A little psychotic I know but still I used to think that she was the greatest mother in the world.”
“Used to?”
“Yeah a funny thing happened,” Trixie took a moment to feign sadness. “I moved to Ponyville and, as much as it hurt me to do it, after meeting you I was forced to move her to the number two slot.” Trixie then smiled Ditzy. “and guess what? The rankings still haven’t changed.”
Next thing Trixie knew, Ditzy was giving her a big hug. “I’m lucky to have a friend like you.” She whispered
“I’m the one who’s lucky." Trixie whispered back. "Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
Finally the two disengaged from the hug. “So how about we get back to the ice cream?” Trixie suggested
“Ok but first.” Ditzy stood up and pulled Trixie to her hooves. “I want you to hit me.”
“What?”
“I hit you so it’s only fair that you hit me back.” Ditzy explained.
“Ditzy, this isn’t the playground. You said you’re sorry so let’s just leave it at that.”
“No, I won’t feel alright about this until you hit me.”
“I’m not gonna hit you.”
“Hit me!”
“I don’t see how this...”
“HIT ME!”
*THACK!*
“OW!”
“You okay Trixie?”
“No I’m not ok!” Trixie snapped as she clutched her hoof in pain. “You the one that got hit! Why am I the one that’s hurting?”
“Maybe you didn’t do it right.” Ditzy suggested. “Did you want to try again?”
“No I don’t want to try again! I want to go back to doing the thing that wasn’t causing me pain.”
Trixie sat back on the couch and scooped up a big spoonful of ice cream and stuck it in her mouth. She then clenched her teeth in agony as she experienced a massive brain freeze.
“Why do I even bother?”