//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 // Story: Sharing the Nation // by Cast-Iron Caryatid //------------------------------// — ∴ — “My sister is a dress!” Sweetie Belle bemoaned, spread out over the floor of the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse, high on the northern slope of sweet apple mountains. “We know!” came the simultaneous response from the other two crusaders. “It’s coming up on two weeks, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said. “You don’t have to keep tellin’ us.” “That’s easy for you to say,” Sweetie Belle whined. “The only thing that happened to Applejack is that she gives lousy hugs now!” Scootaloo attempted to speak up, but all she got out was a, “But—” “Do not ask me about Rarity’s hugs!” Sweetie Belle interrupted, making a show of shivering. “Yeah, well,” Apple Bloom said, leaning back in her simple wooden chair. “Don’t forget whose fault it is that Ah live all the way out here in the middle of nowhere on the top of a mountain now. It’s really nice of Rarity to hire us a pegasus carriage to take us around, but it ain’t exactly what Ah’d call an ideal arrangement.” The clubhouse drifted into silence for a moment before Scootaloo realized that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both looking at her. “What?” Scootaloo asked, somewhat oblivious. “Don’t look at me. None of my family turned into anything, Rainbow Dash is made of literal rainbows and lightning now and I get to ride around in a pegasus carriage every day just to go to school. I think things are fine!” “It doesn’t bother you that we’ve gotta use some other pegasus to get around?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo looked longingly back at her underdeveloped wings for just a moment. “I mean, yeah, I’d rather be able to do it myself, but flying in a carriage is still better than buzzing around on the ground, and I still get to do that when I want anyway.” Apple Bloom hmmed as she considered that. “Yeah, Ah guess Ah can see your point. There’s still no change?” Scootaloo gave a scoff and a shrug. “Not that any of the doctors can tell. I’m not some weird hybrid or a changeling or anything they can come up with. My magic is just weak, and it’s not getting better.” It was Sweetie Belle who had the idea. “I wonder what would happen if you got another star from Princess Twilight?” Suddenly, it was her turn to be the center of attention while the others blinked at her. “What? Don’t either of you know how Princess Twilight’s friends all became demigoddesses?” Apple Bloom was completely clueless. “All Applejack said about it was things Ah can’t repeat without getting my mouth washed out with soap.” Scootaloo wasn’t much better off. “Rainbow Dash said something about starbeasts and werewolves, but she didn’t really explain.” Sweetie Belle had to spend her one daily facehoof at that. Rarity had insisted that she cut back, stating that it had helped Princess Twilight a great deal, but given who Sweetie Belle’s friends were, she felt it was totally unfair. Sweetie Belle wanted to explain at length about Harmony, starbeasts and everything she’d heard from Rarity about why they were all immortal now, but decided they’d probably rather she get to the point, so she did. “Every pony in the world has a star inside of them, and that’s where their magic and cutie mark comes from,” Sweetie Belle explained. “And since Princess Twilight is the alicorn of the stars, when Rarity and the rest all lost the Elements of Harmony and were all… missing something, Princess Twilight replaced that something with a bunch more stars. Like, entire constellations of stars in the form of starbeasts like the Ursa Major that lived in the Everfree Forest before it became the Everfree Lake.” Short attention spans though they had, neither Apple Bloom nor Scootaloo were stupid, so they seemed to pick up on things almost immediately. Scootaloo was looking down at her chest, then back at her wings—no, actually she was looking at her bare, blank flank with a serious frown on her face. “But if you’re saying my star is too weak to let me fly… Does that mean that I might not get a cutie mark either?” Okay, actually even Sweetie Belle hadn’t thought about that and now she felt bad. “I… maybe?” “Well, that ain’t no good,” Apple Bloom said with a huff. “We’ll just go down to town and get her to fix it.” “Do you think she can?” Scootaloo asked, buzzing her wings as she got excited, though she failed to lift herself off the floor for more than a second. “Do you think she will?” “Well, sure,” Apple Bloom said. “Why wouldn’t she?” “I’m not sure how to tell you this, Apple Bloom, but… it’s us. If there’s a pamphlet welcoming all those new dragons to Ponyville, it probably says not to give the Cutie Mark Crusaders access to bees, power tools or phenomenal cosmic power.” “Aw, come on,” Apple Bloom said, unconvinced. “It ain’t like we’d be asking for anything much. All we’d want is to trade in Scoots’ bum star for one that works right. Right?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shared a look. “Well…” Scootaloo said, thoughtful. Sweetie Belle seemed to be of the same mind. “Actually… If a weak star can prevent somepony from getting their cutie mark, couldn’t a stronger star make it easier?” “Yeah…” Scootaloo said, starting to grin. “Yeah. And after all these years not even being able to fly, why shouldn’t I get an awesome bunch of stars like Rainbow Dash.” “Because Princess Twilight would say no?” Apple Bloom flatly reminded her. “Y’all just got finished pointing that out, or did’ja forget?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both deflated at that. “Oh. Right,” Sweetie Belle said, lifting her head up off the floor and letting it fall back down with a dull thump. “Who says we have to ask her, though?” Scootaloo said, perking up. “It’s not like they’re really hers, right?” “They are literally a part of her,” Sweetie Belle pointed out. Scootaloo didn’t think that counted. “Yeah, but it’s not like when you’re born your parents have to go to Princess Twilight and ask for a star.” “That would have been kinda hard to do, seein’ as she only just got it figured out last month,” Apple Bloom said. “Right!” Scootaloo said, starting to pace as she talked. “It’s like, Princess Celestia—” “The Princess Celestias,” Sweetie Belle corrected. “Or the princesses Celestia, or…” “Whatever,” Scootaloo said, huffing at being interrupted, but quickly gaining her steam back. “It’s like, the Princess Celestias technically own all of Equestria or something, but you can still pick a rock up off the ground and call it yours.” Apple Bloom thought about it for a moment, but Scootaloo wasn’t wrong. “Ah guess?” “Okay, but how do we actually get three more stars without asking the princess?” Sweetie Belle asked. Finally getting used to the idea, Apple Bloom spoke up. “Well, Ah heard granny tell a story about how a cowpony once went to the dream world by lassoing the moon.” “Does that work?” Sweetie Belle asked, dubious. Scootaloo shrugged and said, “Couldn’t hurt to try.” “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER STAR WRANGLERS YAAAY!” — ∴ — “Are you sure about this?” “Sure Ah’m sure. If we’re gonna have any chance of wrangling up some stars, we’ve gotta be as high as possible. That means the tallest tree on this here tallest mountain.” “Why are all of us up here, though?” “So that you can help pull.” “I’m not sure…” “Too late! Here goes.” Rustle. Fwip! Snap! “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Clatter. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Crash! “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Whump. — ∴ — “Well, that didn’t work,” Sweetie Belle said, rubbing a bruise on her sticky rump as she sat soaking in a large tub with Scootalooo while Apple Bloom stoked the fire. It was a setup they had lots of experience with after they’d been banned from clogging the indoor plumbing up with their tree-sap, and it was doubly necessary now since they didn’t want to have to explain what they were doing out and about at three in the morning during their ‘sleepover.’ “Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed as she lowered herself into the tub. “Ah guess whoever that story was about must’ve been a real strong cowpony to throw a lasso that far.” “Because that’s obviously what went wrong,” Sweetie Belle said, blowing a lock of messy hair out of her face. “Isn’t it?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle wanted to make a sarcastic comment, but… “Fine,” she said instead. “Technically, yes, the rope didn’t go far enough.” “What if we asked a pegasus to do it?” Scootaloo suggested. Sweetie Belle looked up to the sparkling sky, dubious. “I don’t think they’re close enough that just any pony can go up and take them.” Apple Bloom followed Sweetie Belle’s gaze, tapping her chin. “Come to think of it, Ah shoulda known it weren’t gonna be that easy.” “Well, who says we have to ask just any pegasus?” Scootaloo said, bouncing where she sat. “I bet Rainbow Dash could do it!” “Ah reckon she could,” Apple Bloom agreed. “But Ah ain’t so sure she would, on the same reasoning we ain’t askin’ Princess Twilight.” “Oh, right,” Scootaloo said, settling down. “You know…” Sweetie Belle said, thinking back. “The sky isn’t the only place that has stars.” “Sure, but Ah kinda doubt that’s gonna help us much,” Apple Bloom said while she went about scrubbing herself down. “At least, Ah don’t know how to get a star out of a pony and Ah’d really rather not find out what they’d do to us if Ah did.” “No, not that, you dolt,” Sweetie Belle shot back. “Do you remember back when there was night leaking out of that sinkhole in the Everfree? And how there are craters in Las Pegasus and Baltimare now? Rarity told me there’s a bunch of stars underground.” “Well, shoot,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah can dig a lot better than Ah can lasso, and there ain’t even no tree-sap underground!” “Alright, but even if there are a bunch of stars down there, how do we find them?” Scootaloo asked, wary for several reasons, not the least of which being a dislike for small spaces that was common to pegasi. “Hey, yeah,” Apple Bloom said, pausing in her scrubbing for a moment. “If there are stars down there, how come ponies aren’t finding them all the time?” “Don’t they?” Sweetie Belle asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. “That seems like the kind of thing Ah’d’ve heard of if it were true,” Apple Bloom said. Sweetie Belle scrunched up her face trying to remember. “But… aren’t all the well-known gemstones things like ‘The Star of Equindia’ or ‘The Black Star of Beansland?’” “…Are they?” Apple Bloom asked, looking to Scootaloo for confirmation. Scootaloo shrugged, only a little more sure than Apple Bloom. “It sounds right?” Sweetie Belle nodded along with the confirmation. “I’m pretty sure that the stars in the ground are how gemstones grow without earth ponies and rock farms, too, so all we need to do is look for the biggest concentration of gemstones, and we should find some stars!” “Okay,” Apple Bloom said and then asked, “How are we gonna do that? Because Ah don’t know if you remember, but Cutie Mark Crusaders Gemstone Miners didn’t go too well.” “Er, w-well…” Sweetie Belle stammered. “Maybe I’ve gotten better with magic since then? I’m sure Rarity’s gem-finding spell will work this time!” “Well, I suppose I ain’t got any better ideas,” Apple Bloom said and followed it up with a shrug. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER STAR MINERS YAAAY!” — ∴ — Filthy and exhausted, the Cutie Mark Crusaders crawled out of the old abandoned Diamond Dog mines with full saddlebags and great big smiles on their faces. “Ah can’t believe that actually worked!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, holding in one hoof a round sapphire with a sparkling star. “How do we get the stars out?” “I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle admitted. “But I’m sure Rarity will!” “Well, come on then!” Scootaloo shouted, rushing ahead. “Let’s go ask her!” — ∴ — Rarity was doubly busy with preparing for the upcoming coronation, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders were able to catch her in her workshop in the Carousel Boutique, so it wasn’t long before she was able to make time for them. “Oh my,” Rarity said, holding one of the gemstones up to the eye of the lifelike fabric doll wearing the dress that she actually was. “Yes, these are some splendid star sapphires, girls. Very nice indeed. I must say, it is gratifying to hear of one of your little excursions going well for a change, and I’m especially proud of you for getting that spell to work, Sweetie. I know it can’t have been easy.” All three crusaders were practically vibrating in place. Apple Bloom, as the most composed of the three, was the one to finally ask, “So, how do we get the stars out of them?” Rarity’s doll looked up from the gem and blinked. “Pardon?” “We tried just breaking some of the smaller ones open back at the mine,” Scootaloo explained, fishing some broken pieces out of her saddlebags. “But all we got is gem dust. No stars at all.” The Rarity doll’s ear twitched, and her bifocals slipped askew. The crusaders were all sitting excitedly, leaning forward on the figurative edges of their seats with anticipation as they waited for the answer. It was a while before she removed her bifocals and finally spoke as she busied herself cleaning them. “Girls, I’m not sure how to tell you this…” — ∴ — It was a much more subdued trio of girls who found themselves at Sugarcube Corner fifteen minutes later. “I can’t believe we did all of that for nothing,” Scootaloo said, incredulous. “Ah can’t believe star sapphires and star rubies ain’t got no stars in ’em,” Apple Bloom grumbled. Sweetie Belle took a long draw of her milkshake, then said, “I can’t believe we actually managed to get out of there without her asking what we wanted stars for.” That got Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s attention, their disgruntled faces turning to dawning horror. “Oh, mare,” Scootaloo said, pushing her milkshake away and sitting back in her seat. “I didn’t even think of that. The whole point was to not have to ask them.” The small table rattled as Apple Bloom expressed her opinion of that particular instance of boneheadedness quite appropriately. She rested like that for a moment, then drew herself back upright and took a breath to say, “Girls, maybe we should just ask them after all. For Scoots.” “What?” Scootaloo balked. “No, come on,” she wheedled, looking back and forth between her friends. “There’s gotta be a way where we all end up with awesome stars. There’s gotta.” Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo a helpless shrug and picked her milkshake back up. “Sorry, Scoots. Ah’m out of ideas. Sweetie?” “Too busy dying of mortification and dread over here,” Sweetie Belle whimpered. “This isn’t over. She’s gonna know.” Apple Bloom shared a ‘what can you do?’ look with Scootaloo and moved on. “So, yeah, unless you’ve got an idea…” “I’ll think of something,” Scootaloo insisted, proceeding to tap her hoof on the ground anxiously as she attempted to do just that. “At least it ain’t all bad,” Apple Bloom said, trying to look on the bright side. “We did what we set out to, we got paid for them gemstones and we didn’t even get covered in tree-sap. That’s gotta count for something, right?” “Yeah, but…” Scootaloo sighed. “I just know there’s something we’re missing. It’s just stars. They were all over the place back when Princess Twilight was fighting that other alicorn.” “Wasn’t that just stardust?” Apple Bloom asked, pretty sure that it was. “Stardust is still little bits of stars, right?” Scootaloo said. “It shines like stars do, and I don’t mean like those gems did. You can see a speck of stardust in the dark from a long way off.” “Ah guess,” Apple Bloom conceded. “But that stuff all just drifted off back up to the sky. It’s gone now.” “Yeah, but it came from Twilight to begin with,” Scootaloo said. “Oh hay no,” Apple Bloom swore. “No way no how are we gonna try and steal stars right from the source. Ah’d be grounded until Applejack is old and gray.” “I thought Applejack was immortal?” Scootaloo said, confused. “Doesn’t that mean she’s never going to be old and gray?” “Exactly,” Apple Bloom exclaimed, throwing up her hooves. Scootaloo wasn’t going to let it go that easily, though. “Look,” she said, lowering her voice so she wouldn’t be shouting things to all and sundry. “We already decided it wasn’t actually stealing, right?” “That was before you started talking about actual literal treason,” Apple Bloom hissed through clenched teeth. “Woah woah woah,” Scootaloo said, holding her hooves up in front of her. “I’m not saying that we should attack her or anything. Doesn’t she do that thing where she turns into stars and back pretty often?” “Not since the thing with ‘that other alicorn,’” Sweetie Belle said, reentering the conversation. “And her name was Astri. Rarity said that Princess Twilight changed something about how she was manifesting back then, and now she can’t do it during the day.” “Are you sure about this one?” Apple Bloom asked, wary. “Because we’ve been basin’ a lot on these things ‘Rarity said’ and it ain’t gotten us very far.” “I swear, there really are stars underground!” Sweetie Belle insisted, crossing her forelegs over her chest and puffing her cheeks out in a pout. “Just… Probably really far underground. They power our dreams.” “Riiight…” Apple Bloom said, drawing the word out and glancing at Scootaloo to see what her reaction was. Scootaloo, though, refused to be distracted. “Okay, so maybe waiting until she does her sparkling thing isn’t a great option. What about her mane and tail?” “Ah don’t think the stars in her mane are actually stars,” Apple Bloom said, doubtful. “No more than the moon in Princess Luna’s mane is the actual moon, anyway.” “No, I mean… we know that any part of her that’s split off turns back to stardust,” Scootaloo said, getting excited again. “So we just sneak up to her and pluck a few hairs! We keep them in jars so the stardust doesn’t escape, and then we skedaddle!” Apple Bloom let out a slight groan and took another long sip of her milkshake, just about finishing it off before she could bring herself to respond. “Okay. Well… that’s a plan,” she allowed. “But here’s the thing… do you even know if it’s actually possible to pluck… or cut or do anything at all to her mane?” Scootaloo looked away. “Uhh, well…” “That’s what Ah thought,” Apple Bloom said. She turned to Sweetie Belle to get her opinion, but she just mumbled something about bodies of starlight around her straw and clearly wasn’t cooperating. Apple Bloom didn’t quite understand how, with Sweetie Belle abstaining, she still apparently lost the vote. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER STAR BANDITS YAAY!” — ∴ — Once they were done finishing their milkshakes, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders stepped out of Sugarcube Corner onto the moderately busy streets. It was hard to believe that only a short time ago these streets had been wide open and fairly empty for most of the day. Now, while they were still nowhere close to the packed clutter of cities like Manehattan, the roads had all been re-cobbled with flatter, more regular stones, sidewalks and storm drains had been put in and buildings in every direction were in various states of being remodeled with additional floors. It was amazing, the feats of industry and ingenuity ponies were capable of. “So, uhh,” Scootaloo said, looking down the street each way. “How do we actually find Princess Twilight, again?” KRAK-A-THOOM! Every pony, dragon, griffon and donkey on the street all flinched and recoiled, turning in the direction of that incredible, deafening boom of thunder. Immediately afterward, there was a clattering of hooves and claws as they all hurried off to be anywhere in the opposite direction of whatever that was, leaving the crusaders alone on a quickly emptying street. “What in tarnation?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, rubbing at her stinging, ringing ears. Sweetie Belle was similarly indisposed, but Scootaloo hardly seemed bothered. In fact, she suddenly had that look in her eyes. “You guys!” she shouted excitedly. “I bet that was Rainbow Dash! We should go see—I bet Princess Twilight is even with her!” “Ah don’t know if you noticed,” Apple Bloom drawled. “But every sensible person on the entire street just went away from the ear splittin’ thunderous crash. Even the griffons. Even the dragons.” “So?” Scootaloo said, hopping and buzzing her wings. “When has that ever stopped us?” Apple Bloom looked to Sweetie Belle for support, but she just shrugged. “She has a point, and Princess Twilight probably will be there if she wasn’t already.” “Sometimes Ah wonder what it must be like to have a quiet life,” Apple Bloom reflected. “So does everyone else in the city right now.” — ∴ — By the time the Cutie Mark Crusaders were able to find the location of the lightning strike, all that was left was a small patch of cracked and melted road and the overwhelming scent of ozone and burnt meat. “Well, that’s a bust” Apple Bloom said as she circled around the small pitted crater and kicked a loose fragment of rock. “Ah suppose we could ask around, see if they know what happened and where they went if it was Rainbow Dash and Twilight?” KRAK-BOOM! The sound was much further off this time and not nearly as much of a danger to anyone’s hearing, but it still made all of the crusaders jump and cringe. “You know…” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m beginning to think that maybe this isn’t the right time to—” KRAK-BOOM! “…So, tomorrow?” Sweetie Belle squeaked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both nodded rapidly. “Tomorrow’s good.” — ∴ — ‘Tomorrow,’ it turned out, was the day of the Celestias’ coronation. Normally this would be considered a good reason to put off plans for some other day. Scootaloo, however, thought that this was instead the perfect time to get some of Princess Twilight’s tail hairs. “Explain this to me again?” Apple Bloom said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She’d had to get up before dawn in order to make sure that she made it down the mountain on her own in time to meet up with the other crusaders and still catch the train to Canterlot. “Think about it,” Scootaloo urged as she dragged Apple Bloom along to the train station with Sweetie Belle following blearily along behind them. “There’s no way we can get close enough to grab a few hairs on any normal day. We don’t even know where she disappears to at night!” “Funny how you didn’t think any of that was important yesterday,” Apple Bloom said. “Today, though?” Scootaloot continued on, ignoring Apple Bloom’s comments. “Today, we know exactly where she’s going to be all day and she’s going to spend a lot of that time in crowds and public places.” While Scootaloo was extolling the virtues of her brilliant plan, however, Sweetie Belle was appreciating someone else’s ‘virtues.’ “Woah,” she blankly remarked, stopping in place where she stood in order to get a better look at… “Wait, is that Spike?” Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked to see what had caught Sweetie Belle’s attention. “No?” Apple Bloom said. “That dragon’s way too tall to be Spike.” “Really?” Sweetie Belle challenged, quickly backing off and dragging the other two behind a trash bin. “Then why is he talking to Princess Twilight and introducing all those other dragons to her?” “Ah still don’t think it is,” Apple Bloom said, lowering her voice. “Why would Spike be introducing a buncha dragons to Princess Twilight? It’s not like he knows any other dragons, right?” Scootaloo agreed. “Yeah, that dragon is way too cool to be Spike. Can you imagine Spike having all those girl dragons with him?” Soon enough, though, the dragons and the ponies all turned to enter the train together and the Cutie Mark Crusaders got a good look at their faces. “Told you,” Sweetie Belle crowed. “Forget about Spike.” Scootaloo pointed in the direction the group of dragons and ponies were going. “We need to get on that train!” It was a bit of a hustle, but with the money they’d gotten for the gems they’d dug up yesterday they were able to buy some tickets and make it onto the train with all the other ponies, dragons and others heading to Canterlot to see the coronation. Scootaloo had been right about one thing. There were definitely crowds, but Twilight’s large group of ponies and dragons was not among them. “Well, they didn’t just disappear,” Apple Bloom insisted. “They must’ve gone to one of the other cars. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Scootaloo said, pushing her way through the crowded aisle in the middle of the car. “Let’s go find them.” Fortunately, finding them turned out to be fairly easy. They weren’t even ensconced away in a private car or anything, just a run-of-the-mill open passenger car with sets of alternating front and back-facing seats going down each side. “So, uhh, Scoots?” Apple Bloom whispered as the three of them hid at the front of the car. “Exactly how are we supposed to get close enough to snag some hairs offa that there alicorn? ’Cause it seems to me that there’s an awful lot of ponies and dragons over there who know us and we ain’t supposed to be here.” “Technically, we’re not not supposed to be here,” Sweetie Belle piped in, in a better mood than she was after their failed attempt to mine stars the day before. “You really don’t think anypony is gonna have anything to say about us just hoppin’ a train to Canterlot?” Apple Bloom asked. “We literally left town to dig around in an old abandoned diamond dog mine just yesterday and got praised for it,” Sweetie Belle reminded her rather flatly. “I doubt leaving town to go to another town for a ‘once in a lifetime educational experience’ is really that big of a deal.” “It doesn’t matter,” Scootaloo said, ending the discussion as she took another peek at the ponies and dragons filling the train car. “Either way, Apple Bloom is right. We still don’t want to be seen.” “Alright, so what’s the plan?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo puffed herself up to respond, but nothing came to her. “I have no idea.” “Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom hissed in annoyance. “Quiet!” Scootaloo hissed back. “Just—um—give me a second. I’ll think of something.” “Uh, Scoots?” Sweetie Belle said. Scootaloo turned around and said, “I said I’d think of something!” before she realized that they weren’t alone. There was a large uniformed stallion standing over the three hiding fillies. “Tickets?” the conductor asked, raising an eyebrow at the three. “I—uhh—we… left them in our luggage?” Scootaloo stuttered, trying to come up with some excuse. Apple Bloom whapped her upside the head. “We have tickets, Scoots,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Here you go, sir,” Sweetie Belle said, levitating the three tickets up to the stallion with her mint-green colored magic. The stallion looked the tickets over, nodding as he did so, then frowning. “Everything seems to be in order,” he declared in a kinder tone, much to the relief of all three fillies which was immediately stifled by his next statement, “Except for one thing.” The crusaders all gulped. “These are first class tickets,” he noted. The girls didn’t see what the problem was. “Yeeeees?” Sweetie Belle said, drawing the word out in question. She knew that since she had been the one to buy them, after all. The conductor handed the girls back their tickets and said, “First class is towards the front of the train. You’ll want to hurry before you miss the meal you paid for. Come on, I’ll help you get situated.” — ∴ — First class, it turned out, were fairly spacious booth-style rooms with plush seats and a minibar that had had the alcohol removed and replaced with soft drinks. Sweetie Belle was enjoying a delicate prench omelette with cheese and mushrooms, topped with chives on her own fairly robust fold-down table. “This is nice,” she said, sitting back and taking a sip of ginger ale. “Yeah, it is,” Scootaloo agreed, appreciating her own fruit salad and oatmeal, which rattled as she banged her hooves on her table. “But Princess Twilight is on the entire other end of the train from here!” “Sure,” Apple Bloom said. “But on the other hoof, Ah got hashbrown waffles, so Ah’m fine.” “You have hashbrown waffles of failure,” Scootaloo shot back and took a bite of oatmeal. It was fairly difficult to angrily chew oatmeal, she found. “Nah,” Apple Bloom said through a mouthful of hashbrowns that she was thoroughly enjoying. “These’re definitely a success.”