//------------------------------//
// 9 - The Rat Race 
// Story: The Apple Falls Far from the Tree 
// by David Silver 
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The butler led them through the large manor. "Mind your step." The reason for his warning became clear as debris began to appear on the ground. "I've long since abandoned trying to clean this portion of the manor. Dreadful, really."

Apple Bloom hopped over some fallen rock with a frown. "They're really tearing up things, huh?"

Applejack nodded as her eyes wandered over the cracked walls and empty furnishings. "Reckon so. We'd best fix the issue before tha house comes down on everypony."

The butler gestured down an unlit corridor. "The hole they enter through is directly ahead. I must return to my other duties. Should you require my services, you have the bell."

Sweetie gave it a soft shake, making it ring out clearly. "Thanks mister!"

With a nod, the butler departed back towards the cleaner portions of the house. Sweetie put the bell away and drew out a dagger in its place.

Scootaloo tilted her head. "When'd you pick that up?"

Sweetie shrugged. "'Bout the same time you got yours? Why should you have the only one!"

Applejack huffed out as she returned to the two. "Now's not tha time for feudin'. Sweetie, put that away. That's no way ta start talking, waving weapons around."

Sweetie tucked the dagger away before she released a few soft notes, releasing balls of light into the air to zip around and cast back the shadows. They could see a large gash torn in the wall at the end of the hallway. Taking the lead, Applejack walked carefully towards it. With an intonation, she conjured the hovering disk of force that floated around her protectively. 

Apple Bloom suddenly dashed out between Applejack's legs and threw out her forelegs wide. "Stop right there!" 

Applejack came up short, rearing in surprise. "What? What is it?"

Apple Bloom moved carefully to the right and pointed. "Look, a trip wire!"

Scootaloo shook her head as she advanced to peer at the thin, nearly invisible, wire. "Good job! Now we can just step ov--" She moved to proceed and tripped on a rock, falling over onto the wire. An arrow shot out from the side, aimed far too high to strike the small Scootaloo. It landed in the opposite wall with a disquietingly powerful thunk. "Oops..."

Sweetie tilted her head. "You don't have much luck with arrows."

Scootaloo quickly gathered herself up. "I guess not, but it's all clear now!"

Applejack let out a breath she only just became aware she was holding. "Please let me go first, alright?" She proceeded towards the hole only to pause a few steps forward as metal glinted in the darkness.

"Put the mockers on right there," came a high-pitched squeak of a voice. "'oo are yer, eh, mate? Yer don't 'ave a look like cats."

Sweetie Belle moved up beside Applejack with her charming smile on display. "Hello! I'm Sweetie Belle. Can we talk?"

"We'z talking right now." There was shuffling in the darkness. Sweetie sent one of her balls of light into the darkness, revealing a rat-like biped that was barely taller than the Crusaders. It held a crossbow in its hand, and it wasn't alone. Two others skulked behind it with short swords drawn and ready. "Wotcher want?" demanded the crossbow wielder. "Better be good, right, or yor copping a belly full of wood." The skulkers in the back nodded in agreement with the words, but appeared in no rush to advance.

Applejack tipped her head forward slightly. "Y'all're making a big mess."

Sweetie glanced up at Applejack before looking back at the ratfolk. "What my, uh, associate means is that we'd like to find out what you want so we can both be happy!"

The crossbow wielder trained the weapon at Sweetie directly. "Yor usin' fancy words. Yor just about the right size for a few fings I bet we could make out of that wite pelt of yors. Go oray."

Apple Bloom leaned closer to Scootaloo, whispering quietly, "She's being super brave right now." Scootaloo bobbled her head in agreement.

Sweetie wasn't feeling as brave as she might look, her heart pounding wildly as the deadly weapon leveled at her. "We, uh, don't want to bother you, uh, mister..."

"Thomas," said the rat as he held the weapon steadily on her. "Now wot can yer do for us, since yer seem so eager ter make us 'happy'?"

Sweetie relaxed faintly. He had asked a question, a sign that she had made progress, however small. "Why don't we start with why you moved here, specifically? Are you looking for something? Did something happen to your old home?"

One of the rats hiding in the back seemed to become agitated. "Why are yer goin' on wiv the bloody wee fluffball?! Kill them all and cop it over wiv! Right!"

Thomas turned his head slightly, "Shut yor North and South! Don't mind 'im, right, he's a wee nervous. Yer want ter hear? Not so bad. We 'ad a not so bad nest gahn in the sewers. Only place in this damned city yer can cop water wivout payin' for it, do wot guvnor! The bleedin' cats took offense ter it and drove us out, right? They called us dirty wile they sell their own children for a few coins. Fat lot of 'ypocrites if yer ask me, right, wich yer did."

Sweetie nodded lightly as she considered the words. "Well that's awful! But the lady that lives here is nice."

"So?" Thomas scowled at Sweetie. "She's a cat. She's a rich cat. She probably 'elped pay for the ffugs that kicked us out."

Applejack suddenly spoke up, frowning a bit. "So yer gonna prove them right? Be as bad as the cats say you are? Is that it?"

Thomas' weapon turned sharply over and up to aim at Applejack's center of mass. "Yer don't cop to rabbit and pork ter us like that! Honest guv! Yer don't know us."

Sweetie shook her head quickly. "She didn't mean offense, but she isn't entirely wrong. You're just playing into their bad words. Uh, what if we find you a better home, that's not part of somepony else's house?"

Thomas snorted softly, but lowered his crossbow. "I'll believe that wen I spot it. Go on! Struth! Come hammer and tack wiv good news, or don't bovver comin' hammer and tack at all."

One of the others scowled. "Yor lettin' them go, eh, mate? They'll just brin' more ter attack us wiv! Honest guv!"

Thomas was unmoved by the words of his inferiors, just staring levelly at Sweetie and the others.

Sweetie nodded her head at Thomas. "Alright. We'll do that, but I'll be back, good or bad news. You deserve to know." She turned and rejoined the other Crusaders. Her gait was stiff with barely restrained fear and relief.

Applejack tipped her hat, but remained in place until the others had moved further away. She backed away slowly, facing the rats the entire time. They all regrouped around the corner and a short distance away. "That coulda gone worse. What's yer plan now?"

Sweetie sank to the floor. "First I'm going to sit here."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo moved in on either side of Sweetie and sandwhiched her in their warmth. "You were great!" said Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo bobbed her head. "I've never seen you braver before! Uh, so what are we doing now?"

Applejack considered a moment, then shrugged. "Well we promised ta help, so we should try that. Let's talk ta Lady Longtail and see if we can't work a compromise to tha problem." Applejack leaned in and grabbed Sweetie by the scruff, depositing the still-overwhelmed filly onto her back.

Sweetie pulled out the bell and gave it a soft shaking. The bell quivered in her mental grip dangerously and she put it away quickly afterwards.

Apple Bloom frowned up at Sweetie. "It's OK Sweetie. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore." Sweetie did not appear entirely comforted by the words, though she gave a wan smile.

Scootaloo slid up alongside Apple Bloom. "We should get her something special after this."

The butler arrived shortly. "Is the problem taken care of already?"

Applejack shook her head, "'Fraid not, but we may have a solution. Can ya bring us to Lady Longtail?" They were soon following the human through the halls, to arrive in a sitting room where the Lady was enjoying a cup of something dark, almost black.

She looked up at the lot of them. "Back so soon? Oh my." She rose to her feet and approached Sweetie and Applejack. "You have the face of someone who has seen death for the first time."

Sweetie Belle trembled a little bit, then the dam broke and she wailed piercingly. Lady Longtail reached to carefully pick Sweetie Belle from Applejack's back and stroked over Sweetie from head to tail with old and withered fingers. "There there, let it all out... What happened?"

Applejack sighed softly as she tossed her head to indicate back where they came from. "We talked ta tha rats. They were kicked out of their nest by city guards fer taking sewer water." She made a face. "Do they really do that?"

The Lady settled back in her chair, still holding and petting Sweetie Belle. "I wouldn't put it past them. Even if they don't want it, giving things away for free is against the modern purrsian way. It wasn't always like that, I'll have you know."

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were beside the Lady, staying close to Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo spoke with curiosity, "What was it like before?"

The Lady smiled thinly. "Once, we were creatures of the air. We were grace incarnate, moving through life like a dance. Now we have fallen to the earth, many too fat with laziness or greed to even bother with their wings. We were nomads, like our cousins, the sun cats. We valued art, grace, and speed, not the size of a coinpurse." She teased over Sweetie's ear, making the filly start to giggle, showing signs of recovery.

Applejack smiled gently. "That sounds like a right better time. So, uh, whataya want to do with the rats? They seem more desperate than outright bad people."

Sweetie sat up in the Lady's lap. "I promised to find them a new home."

The Lady's face contorted with a bitter thought. "I have far too many buildings I don't use. Tell them to stop being brutes and they can rent one of the smaller ones." She sank back into her chair. "I miss the days the manor was filled with the voices of my children, and their children. If they're capable of being civil, I will find room for them." She looked to the butler, who had hovered there so silently as to be forgotten. "Show them to the Oak building if they agree, then hire some contractors to repair the damage. Be careful in hiring."

The butler bowed and moved off. Applejack raised a brow. "Trouble with hired help?"

The Lady scowled a moment. "I trust the rats more than I do my kinsmen, and that breaks my heart. I pray every day that the Sun King will show my people back to the path of grace. I'm too old to dance, but there is no excuse for living a life of thuggery."