It was five thirty in the morning.
The sky was dark and filled with stars. If not for the clock, we wouldn’t have had any way of knowing what time it was.
Across from me, Vinyl Scratch was leaning back in her chair, eyes closed, a cider held to her chest in sparkling magenta magic. She was sleepy--had been for some time now--but trying to pretend she wasn't. Without shades to hide behind, her long blinks were obvious to all of us.
On my right, Lyra Heartstrings was similarly slumped back in her own chair, only she had her rear hooves propped up on the table. She was also strumming her guitar (an electric that wasn't plugged in, and had a tinny toy-ish sound) and mumbling the lyrics to wonderwell (which had been stuck in her head for about three days now).
On my left, an empty chair.
But that's only because Applejack was bustling around like a chicken without a head trying to provide us with food.
Every now and then, she poked her head out of the kitchen and said something like "hey, you girls like scones?"
And we’d all shout at her to come sit down already, to eat something herself, to listen to this story-- she’s missing it, and it’s really good! But she would shake her head and wave her hoof and keep on stuffing us full of food that stuck to our ribs like cement.
And that's how it had been all night long.
But now it was five-thirty in the morning.
The sun was coming up at six, and a new year would start with it.
That sting of anticipation hung in the air, a mix of utter elation at the idea of finally going to sleep and disappointment that the evening would have to end so soon. Both too long and too short.
There came a sharp sound from the back. Something being… dropped? Broken? Smacked? It was hard to tell.
I sat forward in my chair and tried to peer through the pickup window into the kitchen. Applejack’s silhouette seemed to be bending down to pick something up off the floor. I pricked an ear and tried to listen out for her voice, but could only make out some directionless muttering.
"AJ, for real, we're stuffed!" Vinyl shouted back into the kitchen, a slight slur hugging the ends of her words. "You're gonna miss the sunrise, and then what the hell are we gonna do?"
"I know, I know!" Applejack replied, bellowed over a magnificent clattering of metal trays in the back. "Oh, consarnit… I just want y'all to try a few more things!"
Lyra quickly muted the strings of her guitar with one hoof and looked over to me. "Sounds like she needs a extra hoof in there."
I blinked.
Lyra nodded into the back. A few more things seemed to fall to the floor, and Applejack began to swear under her breath.
I shook my head, pinning my ears against my head.
Lyra arched her eyebrows and mouthed "go help her!"
I shook my head again and mouthed back "no!"
"Twi's coming to help, alright?" Vinyl called into the back.
I put my face in my hooves.
Vinyl took a casual sip of her cider. As she rolled the liquid about on her tongue, she put the bottle down on the table with slightly too much force, and the sound drew my gaze for a moment.
That weird stallion on the label still tugged at the corners of my mind. Almost familiar.
Another clatter from the back distracted me once more.
"I-I'm alright!" Applejack replied, though she sounded uncertain.
I gave the girls one last, weary look, and pushed away from the table. The chair squealed uncomfortably along the floor as I dismounted and stretched out my stiff joints. I ran a hoof through my mane, sweeping my tickly bangs away from my face, and headed towards the door to the kitchen.
The doors made that soft whoosh sound as their rubber edges rushed past one another. When they parted, they revealed the mess Applejack had managed to make.
To the untrained eye, it seemed as if she had merely thrown several trays worth of baked goods in every direction. To my slightly-more-trained eye, it was clear that she had carelessly pulled a tray out of the case in a carelessly quick arc, and the force of it had pulled a good two dozen croissants off the low end of the metal dish and all across the tile floor.
Applejack herself was crouched at the center of it, putting the croissants back onto the tray one at a time with her forehoof.
“I hope you’re not planning on feeding those to us,” I said.
Applejack’s shoulders leapt up to her ears, and she whirled to look at me. “Twilight! For the love of--” She took a steadying breath, and returned to her task. “If y’know a better way to get ‘em to the trash, I’m all ears.”
I sighed lightly and lit my horn. A little cloud of magenta magic poured out of it, drifted lazily down towards the croissants, and settled atop a group of five of them which had skittered over to the door.
Applejack watched carefully as I clenched my magic around the croissants and lifted them shakily towards the industrial trash can beside me.
It took more concentration than I would have liked to admit. A little strained squeak may or may not have escaped me as I worked.
“Not bad,” Applejack said with a smile. “You’ve been practicin’ that, huh?”
“No!” I protested.
Applejack arched a brow.
“I mean… yes,” I admitted. “A little. I guess. Ugh, how do you do that?”
“Do what?”
I rolled my eyes. “You know. Get the truth out of me so easy.”
“You ain’t a very good liar,” Applejack said simply.
“Gee. Thanks.”
“That’s a good thing, stupid,” Applejack said, all serious. “Good liars never helped anypony but themselves.”
I scoffed. “What about spies?”
“You know what I mean.”
“What about… actors?”
“You gonna help me or not?”
I coughed and dropped to the floor. “Yes, ma’am.”
After the little show I’d put on earlier, I elected to use my hooves to pick up the scattered baked goods. It was slow going, but I could already feel the headache building after the strain of picking up five lighter-than-air puffs of dough, and I wasn’t eager to push it with a few dozen more.
Embarrassing.
Stupid.
I looked up at AJ.
A few days ago, if she’d dumped a whole tray of food on the ground, she would have been thrown into an internal emotional breakdown. But she seemed oddly… content. Or at the very least not furious, which was something of a miracle.
“Are you okay?” I asked carefully.
Applejack’s ear twitched. “Am I okay?”
“Yeah. I dunno. You seem…” I thought about how best to phrase it. “Different.”
“And that’s a problem, is it?”
“You seem not yourself,” I corrected. “Is something going on?”
Applejack sighed. “Well, first of all, you don’t know me well enough to say what’s like me and what ain’t like me,” she said, scooping a few more croissants onto the tray.
I waited patiently for her to finish the thought.
“And… second?” I prompted at last.
“Second… I dunno,” she mumbled, avoiding my gaze. “I want y’all fed. And taken care of. That a crime?”
“No.”
“Well, then, leave it be,” Applejack requested softly.
“Okay,” I agreed.
A single croissant was left on the floor between the two of us.
We both reached for it.
Our hooves predictably brushed against one another, lingering a moment as we each waited for the other to back off. When a moment passed and neither of us had moved, we both looked up.
Our eyes met.
And something happened.
It was like a lightning strike. But not really. It was sudden, and it was bright, but it wasn’t painful. It wasn’t loud. In fact, it seemed to have the gentle warmth of sunshine on a summer day, and it sounded like the rush of wind in the leaves, and it smelled like dirt and… and baked goods.
And apples.
“Soup’s on, everypony!” Applejack shouted, a hoof cupped around her mouth, a jovial smile playing across her freckled face.
Before I could get my bearings, a veritable herd--a crowd, a stampede--of ponies came rushing up from behind me. They all but picked me up off the ground and carried me along with them as they galloped in from across the farm. I found myself bumped and bustled and jostled over to a table in a small clearing.
I held a hoof to my head, eyes closed, trying to regain balance and focus.
Again, before I could, Applejack appeared beside me.
She was different, even though I recognized her. Her mane was long and shiny, like corn silk, and tied loosely together with a thin red ribbon. She wore a stetson kicked back on her head, leaving her face in full view as she beamed at me.
“Why don’t I introduce y’all to the Apple family?” she said, gesturing broadly to the newly-gathered crowd of ponies before her.
I blinked.
There were dozens of them. All of them looking at me, holding treats and snacks of all shapes and sizes-- yet all of them distinctly apple-scented.
A bird twittered in the distance. The sun shone more brightly on me. I squinted against it, but its power only seemed to grow, and I had to close my eyes entirely against it.
I fell back on my butt.
On the tile floor.
In the diner.
In the dark.
“What…?” I murmured, looking down at my forehooves in confusion and apprehension. “Where did…? How did…?”
“Twilight?”
I looked up at Applejack, chest heaving in shock.
She looked back at me, eyes wider than dinner plates. It was the first time I had truly caught it there: the recognition. She knew me. The same way I knew her. From somewhere else, or some other time or some… something. A dream, maybe.
“Did you see it, too?” I asked breathlessly.
Applejack’s brows furrowed. She said nothing.
“You gals okay back there?” Lyra called from the dining area.
That seemed to snap Applejack out of it, even as I remained stunned on the floor.
“We’re fine!” she yelled back, getting to her hooves. “Be out in a minute!”
I tried to say something, but my mouth only flapped open and shut without a sound.
“Throw those away,” Applejack ordered gruffly, pointing to the tray of croissants. “I’ve got another in the back.”
“But--”
“Go on, now,” Applejack encouraged. “Sun’s comin’ up soon. Don’t wanna miss it.”
I watched as she turned her back on me and trotted off, hunting for more baked goods, of all things.
My snout scrunched up as I held a hoof to the now throbbing base of my horn. I tried to slip my rear legs out from under me, but they seemed partly stunned by the way I’d fallen backwards. In fact, now that I thought about it, my whole back half--legs, plot, and all--seemed to be partly out of commission.
I managed to struggle to my hooves, rubbing my sore plot with one hoof and waiting for Applejack to return.
She had such a big family.
How was that possible?
She had spent so long insisting that she had nopony to spend the holiday with, when she had this enormous family out there somewhere.
Could they have--?
No. No way. They couldn’t have died, that didn’t make any sense! Maybe parents, maybe siblings, but not an entire extended family like that. Not unless there was a really big disaster. Something truly and magnificently awful.
But… I would have heard about something like that, right?
Why else wouldn’t she have anypony to spend the holiday with?
Unless--
“I told you to throw those out!” Applejack scolded, now balancing a new tray on one hoof. “Boy howdy am I lookin’ forward to some new help around here. No offense or nothin’.”
I managed to force a scoff. “Offense taken,” I muttered.
Applejack furrowed her brows and stuck her tongue out at me. “You do what I ask the first time I ask it, then you can take offense all you like.”
I sighed lightly. “Deal.”
It took a bit of finagling, but I managed to get the tray up off the floor and tip it into the trash.
Applejack spun herself about and backed out the kitchen doors, the new tray bringing up the rear. She had a funny way of bowing her head as she squeezed past the doors, as if anticipating that they might rush past and clip her ears. With the extraordinary broadness of her shoulders, that would be totally impossible, but the impulse was almost sweet.
“Alright, girls! I’ve got chocolate-filled croissants,” she announced. “Soup’s on, as they say.”
“For the twelfth time tonight,” Vinyl chirped.
“Hey, now,” Applejack replied. “You wanna go watch the sun rise in the street?”
Vinyl chuckled. “That wasn’t even close to being a complaint. I would hope you’d know that by now, AJ.”
I shook my head clear of my private musings and pushed out into the dining area once more.
The sky was still dark, but it was anticipatory darkness, now.
I guess that’s what it’s all about. That’s what this weird feeling is-- the one you get when you stay up all night in a diner with a few friends. It’s anticipation. It’s waiting for the big thing to happen.
Only I got the feeling I didn’t know what the big thing really was.
“Will you sit down now?” Lyra pleaded.
Applejack sniffed. “A’course I will. I ain’t missin’ the sunrise.” She pointed to the croissants again. “I need you to try one, though. New dough recipe.”
I wandered over to the table and slipped back down into my seat.
Vinyl snatched a croissant off the tray and took an animalistic bite off the end. “Hey, AJ-- I’ve been meaning to ask,” she said around a mouthful of chocolate and puff pastry. “Where’d you get the booze?”
Applejack arched her brows. “Pardon?”
“The cider.” Vinyl paused to swallow her bite of croissant. “Mm, good stuff.”
“The croissant?”
“No-- I mean, yeah. But the cider,” Vinyl corrected. “I wanna pick some up for my personal stash once I get settled. Where’d you get it?”
Applejack blinked. “Uh… Lyra, did you try the croissant?”
Vinyl made a face, and glanced over to me a moment before continuing. “Is the brewery around here?”
“No,” Applejack replied.
“Well, where is it?”
“It’s-- I’ve got a connection,” Applejack mumbled. “I ain’t s’posed to say more’n that.”
It was Vinyl’s turn to furrow her brows. “Uh. Okay. Should I be worried about drinking it?”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Land sakes, no.”
“But you said--”
“Shush.” Applejack pointed to the window. “We’re gonna miss it. Any second now.”
In unison, we all turned to look out the front window.
There it was. The anticipation.
There wasn't a true difference in the sky's color, but there was in the atmosphere which hung in the street-- as the clock ticked down, and we neared that fateful moment, it was as if the whole city held its breath. The resulting silence and stillness seemed to radiate through the building, and only the sounds of nature could be heard anymore. Being in the city, there weren't many to be had, but you could still make out the humming of insects and the rush of wind through the alleyways.
I had to twist myself around at the waist to see. After a few moments of waiting, I started to feel uncomfortable, and spun my chair around to face the window.
Silly as it might sound, I tried to force the other ponies in the diner out of my mind.
This was my chance! A new year, a fresh start… just me and the sun.
Just me and Celestia.
I waited.
We waited.
And… nothing happened.
Lyra sort of leaned around me, searching for a wall clock to double check her timing. Whatever it said, it seemed to confuse her, and she settled back into her seat.
Vinyl, having been poised for a cheers when those first rays peeked over the horizon, gave in and had a drink.
Applejack tapped her hoof impatiently on the tabletop.
I waited.
The city couldn't hold its breath anymore, and sucked in another quick one. Unnoticeable.
"Um…" Lyra cocked her head. "The clock says it's two minutes after. Do you think--"
"It ain't fast, if that's what you're thinkin'," Applejack said, her tone dark. "Did y'all get the time wrong?"
"No way," Vinyl replied. "And I resent the implication that we're the primary mistake-makers here."
Applejack made some sort of weary and huffy sound, and turned back to the window.
We waited.
The anticipation was dissolving, now. Falling apart like crepe paper in water. It was the feeling of a roller coaster car chugging up that first hill, pausing… and then gently clicking back down to home base. Worse than anticlimactic, it was undoing the climax itself.
We waited.
"Do you think something's wrong?" Lyra asked softly.
Vinyl scratched her temple. "I mean… what could even go wrong?"
"That's not a question I like askin'," Applejack grumbled.
She stood, kicking her chair out from under her and lumbering towards the counter. With one hoof, she reached around the countertop and pulled out a small radio-- the sort with a very long antenna and a set of dials with faded labels.
This didn't seem to slow Applejack down in the least. She used her teeth to tug the antenna out to its full length, and began to manipulate the dials with ease.
The radio hissed to life. Little snippets of songs and shock jocks buzzed through the static, somehow both softened and sharpened by it. Applejack twisted the dial slowly, ears twitching as she listened out for her goal station.
And then--
"--word that somepony has staged a takeover of the festivities in Ponyville," announced a slightly frazzled mare. "The intention is currently unclear. We are waiting on reports from our field reporters covering the event, but have yet to receive anything conclusive. Please stay with us."
"Did she say Ponyville?" I asked.
Where had I heard that name before?
Applejack seemed almost entirely unresponsive. She stared into the radio with a frightening intensity.
"Event coordinator Fluttershy, the mare responsible for organizing Ponyville's Summer Sun Celebration, has not yet been located for comment," the mare continued. "There appears to be a-- a media blackout of sorts in the small town. The responsible party has still yet to have been identified. We are asking our listeners to contact us with any information regarding the events in Ponyville."
"Ponyville…" I repeated.
It was right there, right on the tip of my tongue.
Lyra sat forward. "I don't understand-- what's going on?"
"Shush," Applejack hissed.
"For those of you just joining us, Princess Celestia appears to have lost control of the sun," the reporter said matter-of-factly.
Lyra drew in a sharp gasp.
Vinyl seemed to go rigid.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the news, trying to make sense of it and coming up empty.
Applejack didn't move.
"The sun was scheduled to rise on this, the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration, mere minutes ago-- however, it seems that something has prevented Princess Celestia from participating in this historic event."
Without thinking about it, I got out of my chair and wandered towards the radio, coming to stand beside Applejack as she grimaced at its speaker.
"In keeping with tradition, Princess Celestia randomly selected the town of Ponyville to host her for the festivities. For security reasons, this fact was revealed to very few ponies. The royal guard is currently moving in to detain said ponies for further questioning."
"The royal guard?" I repeated. "Oh, my gosh-- that's where Shining Armor is stationed!"
"They're arresting ponies?!" Vinyl exclaimed, leaping out of her seat to join us.
"Quiet!" Applejack barked.
She upped the volume.
"For our listeners in Ponyville and the surrounding area, we recommend staying in place. The nature and purpose of this upset is not yet clear, and you could be placing yourself at serious risk by attempting to enter or vacate the area on your own."
Lyra seemed to be glued to her chair. Her gaze was fixed on the street, watching as ponies left their buildings to stare up at the sky in a state of shock and horror.
The mare on the radio took a long pause. "Okay…" she mumbled. "Okay, we've received audio from within the Ponyville event. I… I'm not sure how to describe what I'm hearing. Can we roll it?"
The sound cut out.
We crowded closer around the radio.
Applejack twisted the knob even louder.
The sound suddenly broke back in with a clamor. Somepony shrieked in surprise and fear.
There was also a dark, sparkling, twinkling sound-- the sound of unicorn magic from deep in a well, or inside of a cave. Unmistakably menacing.
Then the disrupter spoke:
"Oh, my beloved subjects!"
I cocked my head in confusion. It didn't sound the least bit like Celestia's voice. At least not as far as I could remember it.
Applejack scowled at the radio.
"It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces," the voice spat, quite clearly seething with a ferocity that made me shiver.
"What did you do with our Princess?" somepony demanded.
The voice began to chuckle, a deep and throaty sound that somehow rang clear and true through the tiny radio. "Why, am I not royal enough for you?" she teased. "Don't you know who I am?"
There was a long quiet. I thought I could make out some mumbling as the crowd tried to unravel the mystery.
"Does my crown no longer count, now that I've been imprisoned for one thousand years?" she continued, frustration building. "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"
"We did!" replied a feminine, if slightly nasally, voice. "We know who you are! You're the mare in the moon: Nightmare Moon!"
Applejack put a hoof to her mouth.
I could hardly find it in me to react. As the realization bubbled through the crowd on the radio, I tried to breathe, and practically choked on my throat.
“No way…” Vinyl breathed.
"Well, well, well," the voice mused. "It seems some ponies still remember me. Then you also know why I'm here!"
"You're here to…"
I looked at Applejack, though she could not draw herself away.
Vinyl wrapped a leg around the back of my neck and pulled me in close for a comforting squeeze. As soon as Lyra spotted us, she skittered over to join the embrace, as well.
"To…"
The voice laughed again, a hint of urgency and power sneaking into it now. "Remember this day, little ponies" she said, villainous lightness lifting the ends of her words. "For it was your last."
Lyra squeaked softly beside me.
"From this moment forth, the night shall last forever!" the voice bellowed.
She then began to cackle.
Somepony shouted "seize her!" before the audio dropped out for good.
For a moment, only dead air rang through the diner.
We couldn't hear to move or even breathe.
I closed my eyes and, for once in my life, I prayed that Celestia would dazzle the world by raising the sun.
No such luck.
"Again, W.E.N.R. warns our listeners to avoid Ponyville and its surrounding areas at all costs." The reporter's voice was much more even, now. A faux sense of calm which only barely masked the terrified trembling of her words. "Those inside of Ponyville, please do everything in your power to comply with the orders of the royal guard. Residents are being evacuated as we speak. Stay with us for more details."
Applejack turned off the radio.
The three of us looked up at her, waiting for her to react. She only stared at the radio. Emotionless.
"Applejack?" I whispered softly.
She sniffed. "I gotta go."
"What?!" Vinyl pulled away from our hug and stared, dumbfounded, at Applejack. "Go where?"
"Ponyville," she answered simply.
With that, she turned on her heel, circled the counter, and disappeared into the kitchen.
Those of us remaining looked at one another, then wordlessly scrambled after her. I ran headfirst into the kitchen doors and skidded to a halt on the tile.
"Are you crazy?!" I shouted. "You heard the mare on the radio: nopony in, nopony out!"
Applejack stalked to the back of the room. There was a short row of coat hooks by the back door, upon which hung an apron and a small knapsack. For the first time I'd seen, Applejack removed her mane net and hung it beside the apron.
Her mane was just like corn silk, fine and shiny as it spilled down her shoulders.
She looked back at me. "Sure is a good thing I know one of the guards, then."
I squinted at her as she took down the knapsack and walked it over to the fridge, which she popped open with a precise kick to the side.
"You… do?" Lyra cocked her head.
Applejack dropped a few bottles of water into her knapsack, shut the fridge, and looked at me.
I looked blankly back at her.
She raised an eyebrow.
I raised mine back.
The fridge hummed quietly, like a lone cicada.
Oh.
Oh.
"Wait-- you want me to get my brother to--" I cut myself off, shaking my head. "Mm-mm. No way."
"Yes, Twilight," Applejack said as she calmly swung her bag over her back. "I'm not askin' for anything illegal, just--"
"It sure sounds illegal!" I shot back.
Applejack clenched her teeth. I watched her temple pulse with the motion. "You remember the talk we had about bein' rebellious?" she asked softly.
I paused.
Her face was… I don't know. Uncharacteristically calm, but in a way that seemed almost entirely forced. As if she were holding back whatever threatened to break through the surface.
I swallowed. "What do you mean?"
"I told you that being rebellious is about doing," Applejack said.
I scoffed. "You also said that you weren’t trying to be a rebel,” I argued.
Applejack rolled her eyes and pushed past me. She added in a rude little shove as she went.
“Hey!” I shoved her back. “You also told me that rebels are supposed to rebel for something!”
“I don’t recall that bit at all,” Applejack muttered.
“Do you disagree?”
Applejack hesitated. “Now, hold on just a--”
“Do you disagree?” I pressed.
She set her jaw and looked down at me.
I looked back up at her, puffing out my chest to try to make up the size difference.
Because she was enormous. A wall of freckled, peachy fur, unshorn fetlocks, and cornsilk hair. Green eyes flashing as she glared at me, dared me to push more. Betting I wouldn’t have the guts.
“No,” she said simply.
“Then why the hay do you wanna get into Ponyville so bad?” I demanded. “What’s so important?”
Applejack looked up at the ceiling. She took a long, steadying breath that shivered as she released it. “My family.”
I took a small step back. "But… your family's here in Manehattan."
"My cousins are here in Manehattan," Applejack corrected. "My family is in Ponyville."
I blinked. “But-- but I thought--”
“Whatever you thought, you were wrong,” Applejack muttered. “It’s complicated.”
“If it’s so complicated, then why--”
“Because they’re my family, Twilight,” Applejack said. “Okay? They’re my family.”
I set my jaw. “My family’s in Ponyville, too,” I said sternly. “You don’t see me rushing off to throw myself into danger.”
“You know darn well the royal guard can’t do a thing to fix this!” Applejack argued. “Buncha meat-headed--”
“Watch it,” I spat.
“You know what I mean.” Applejack drew in a deep breath. “I ain’t gonna sit here in my cushy apartment waiting to hear about how Ponyville was wiped off the gotdang map. If somethin’ goes wrong, then… at least I know I tried to stop it.”
As the sky slipped back into its midnight darkness, and the starlight began to once again fill the diner, I caught the ghost of a tear glimmering at the corner of Applejack’s eye. She didn’t bother to wipe it away, likely because that only would have served to draw more attention to it.
I searched for any sign of doubt in her face. But, if there was one thing I knew for certain about Applejack, it was this:
She is an abysmal liar.
I closed my eyes and sighed. “Fine. I… I get it,” I admitted.
“Twilight, you can’t be serious,” Lyra chirped in my ear.
I gave her a look, but said nothing.
Applejack nodded sternly. “Alright. Y’all can stay here if you want,” she said, withdrawing a key from her knapsack. “Just keep the doors locked and the lights low.”
She tossed the ring of keys to Vinyl, who caught them in her magic. “You kidding?” She shook her head. “Just how were you planning on getting to Ponyville from here?”
I looked up at Applejack, and she looked back down at me.
“Train?” we suggested in unison.
“Yeah, right.” Vinyl threw the keys back at Applejack. “Don’t be stupid. I’ve got a van.”
Applejack shook her head. “No. Twilight’s enough, I ain’t draggin’ you two into--”
Vinyl held up a hoof. “Hey, it’s like we said: we’re a package deal.” She nudged Lyra. “Right?”
“Uh…” Lyra threw Vinyl a look of concern, then cleared her throat. “R-right. Totally. All for one, yeah?”
“And one for all,” Vinyl finished.
For a moment, Applejack seemed to consider the consequences of saying yes. A brief slideshow of possible endings to this little excursion flashed in her eyes as she stared down Vinyl and Lyra, waiting for either of them to back down.
Neither of them were swayed.
“Oh, for the love of--” Applejack put a hoof to her cheek and pulled it down towards her jawline. “Fine! But only because I ain’t wastin’ any more time arguing about it.”
“Deal,” Vinyl said quickly before taking off like a shot from the kitchen.
Lyra was hot on her heels, losing traction as she galloped over the tile floor.
Applejack and I lingered in the kitchen a moment, listening as the bell above the door tinkled softly and the van began to struggle to life outside.
“We’ll get ‘em,” Applejack said softly.
I coughed lightly. “Uh… yeah. I-I know.”
“C’mon, now.” Applejack walked to the door and held it open with her hoof. “After you.”