"So then. How are you feeling?"
Rattle groaned and rolled over onto her hooves. She flexed her shoulder once, before trying to extend her wings. They shuddered as they spread out. "Still a bit stiff, but okay."
"Stiff is fine," Bullit told her. "We won't be going head to head with Rainbow any time soon." He paced around the room. "I've been quite busy relaying Dash's troubled past to some likely townsponies. Some of the schoolcolts, in particular, were very effective."
"Schoolcolts?"
"Yup. Think about it. Their parents get word from their kids, and it won't be about strangers hurting strangers anymore ," Bullit explained with a savage grin. "With their kids safety on the line, well, it's only natural they should turn on little Dashie."
Rattle licked her lips as she thought. "Uh... huh. I'd prefer to just rip that mane off her as soon as possible."
Bullit shrugged. "Well, we tried that, didn't we? And it didn't work. I think that our best plan is to get her sad, get her nervous, get her weak... and then we can take our souvenir from her." He stroked his chin. "But... there's only so much rumours can do. We need to hammer the point home."
Rattle raised her eyebrow. "How's that?"
"Well, this is the good bit. What do you think would happen if ponies found out that Rainbow was in charge of a gang, like in the 'good old days'?" He let the thought sink in. Rattle's eyes widened.
"You mean we'll finally show ourselves again?"
"Yup. I think it's about time that this town got afraid of the dark again."
Both ponies chuckled, causing a couple of the ponies around them to shift their gazes towards them. The Bartender rolled his eyes. He couldn't overhear them from this distance and he didn't care to. Whatever they were talking about didn't sound savoury.
The door to the bar opened. Bullit's eyes darted towards the newcomer. He recognized the slim build worried expression, and girly cutie mark in the shape of a flower. That was the pony that had been at the crowd not so long ago. Wallflower, Bullit remembered. He sneered. He remembered him from Cloudsdale, too. He had been fun, before he had tired of him.
"Rattle... let's go for a walk," he said. "We don't want our little cry-baby to recognize us. The jig is up if he does."
Wallflower turned his eyes onto the pair, but was only able to make out the backs of their heads. "Hey!" he shouted. "You were the pair Rainbow beat up earlier, weren't you?"
"Sorry, kid, we got places to be," Rattle retorted, holding the door open for Bullit. The two ruthless criminals escaped into the bright open streets of Ponyville. To Bullit, she said "How about we get some tools?"
Bullit grinned. "Tools, yes... and some paint."
Applejack yawned. Dinner was weighing her down, making her troublesome trek up the stairs more tiresome than she would have liked. Her hooves felt like they had weights strapped to them. It didn't help that the day had been particularly tiring, what with her and Rainbow's argument, Twilight's visit, and a day's worth of chores, and...
The welcome sensation of another pony's hoof on her own.
She stumbled into her room and sat down on her bed, the mattress creaking under her now considerable weight.
She supposed her and Rainbow would have to talk. Maybe even this evening? Applejack brushed her mane out of her eyes. Somehow, it didn't seem all that real.
"Hey there."
Applejack jumped, startled. Rainbow had poked her head through the doorway with a mischievous grin. Applejack huffed.
"Haven't you heard of knocking? And besides, I didn't hear the floorboards creak. How'd you—"
"Flew over it," Rainbow replied, and sat down on her own mattress, on the other side of the room. "So, uh..."
"Why?" Applejack asked, deciding to get straight to the point. Rainbow gave a little shrug.
"I guess 'cause you were always around, and I liked that. Except when you weren't, and then I just missed you," she explained as best she could. "I'm not all that sure, really, but when I got kicked out of Scoot's house, you were the first pony I thought of. I decided that couldn't be a coincidence, right? And I was right. You just... made everything better, the best you could." Rainbow's wings fluttered, a sign of anxiety. "And so I guess I kind of... blurted it out, and it felt normal-ish."
"Normal-ish?"
"Yeah. Like normal, but ish."
Applejack chuckled. "Ya'll sure have a way with words, sugarcube."
"It's one of my many talents," Rainbow declared, puffing her chest outwards. Applejack tried to hold back a snicker, but she couldn't. Rainbow laughed along with her. "Yeah, uh, I don't know how to explain it, really," she admitted. "It felt different, but okay."
"So then," Applejack began. "Where do you want... this... to go?"
"I dunno," Rainbow replied. "Somewhere, I hope. Like, when all this nonsense is sorted out, we could do something official." She smiled. "I'd like that."
Applejack wished she hadn't eaten quite so much. This conversation was already setting her insides a-flutter without the added trouble of being over-full. She felt like she had swallowed a whole bucket of butterflies, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her breathing steady.
"I'd like that too," Applejack told her. "When were you thinking—"
"Well, tomorrow, right, I could meet you while you're working..." Rainbow began. She gave Applejack a mischievous smile. "I could steal you away with my spectacular flair, and we could have an awesome afternoon looking down on Ponyville."
Applejack picked at her hoof. "Well, I'm supposed to do chores tomorrow, an'..."
"That's why I said steal," Rainbow explained. "You can't feel guilty if I steal you away from work, right?"
"I might have to put up a fight," Applejack warned, eyebrow raised. Rainbow grinned.
"I'm very persistent."
As if on cue, Applejack felt her jaw drop down, and a yawn escaped her. "Well... I'm very tired," she said, "So I'm going to hit the hay."
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah." She threw herself into a horizontal position, and closed her eyes with a broad, childish smile. "Good talk."
She knew exactly what she wanted to do tomorrow. She just had to find somepony to give her directions.
Bullit and Rattle both stood, concealed in darkness, outside a small store not a few blocks away from the centre of town. There were no ponies in sight: they were alone.
"You ready?" he asked his partner. Rattle nodded in response.
"Are you certain that this'll get ponies to turn on her even more?"
Bullit nodded. "Positive. We won't make it hard for them to figure out, after all," he said. "And besides, what do we stand to lose?"
"They could come after us," Rattle replied. "I'm still not at one-hundred percent..."
"They won't. We'll stay hidden, after all." He darted out of the shadows, grasping a heavy metal pipe between his teeth. "C'mon!"
Rattle was after him quicker than a flash. She was balancing three cans of paint on her back, each containing a different colour. Bullit threw the pipe right at the large glass windows of a store, grunting as he put all his strength behind the throw. Glass showered the produce the store sold as the window caved in under the blow. He grinned, and gave the cans of paint a hefty kick.
All three soared towards the wall, where they landed with a clunk and a splat. In the gloom, it was impossible to make out what colours they were, and Bullit was in no mood to stick around and find out. He already knew, after all.
"Let's scram!" he exclaimed, and the pair both flew back into the darkness as the ponies inside scrambled to see what the noise had been about.
Then they escaped, as invisible as they had arrived.
"O...kay..." Twilight replied, unsure where Rainbow's sudden request had come from. The pegasus was hopping from hoof to hoof, eyes glistening with barely contained energy.
"Flowers! I need some," she repeated. Twilight raised an eyebrow.
The castle was bathed in late morning sunlight, and Twilight had been in the middle of receiving a large package of books. Her library was only a quarter full but she was certain that with her new-found political pull, she could have a fully functioning library again. That is, if she was able to work free of interruptions... which she apparently couldn't.
"Why?"
"For, uh, Applejack," Rainbow replied. Twilight smirked at her failed attempt to conceal the truth. Rainbow had the endearing tendency to blurt out the truth whenever she was under pressure.
"O...kay..." she repeated, this time more sly than confused. "Have you considered Rosethorn's Bouquet Palace?"
Spike, lounging not far from the pair, nodded. "It's a very respectable establishment. Rarity always says so. She goes there all the time."
Rainbow tapped her chin, pondering the issue. "Rarity says so, huh?"
"Always."
"I thought you'd just use some kind of summoning spell or... do you have one of those?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, I don't use magic for everything..."
Rainbow shrugged and laid an understanding hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "It's okay... we can't all be awesome twenty-four seven."
"You're welcome," Twilight deadpanned. Rainbow leapt out the door as fast as she had entered, bouncing almost as playfully as Pinkie. Twilight wiped her forehead. "I hope she doesn't get in trouble."
"C'mon, how hard can it be? For AJ, right?" Rainbow said to herself as she cantered through the streets of Ponyville. She began garnering suspicious looks wherever she went. Rainbow felt the hairs on her back stand on end, and became progressively more nervous. "O...kay, maybe harder than I thought... heh..."
Still, she made a point of never staying in one place for too long, and she was determined to get what she needed. Flowers. Everypony loved flowers, right? All her books said so. She had even brought up the matter with Tank earlier, and he had been more than supportive, if a little quiet.
"Plus, AJ's a mare, right?" she said. "Come to think of it, I'm a mare, too, and I'd like them!" She slowed down for a fraction of a second. "Even if I wouldn't ever admit it..." Shaking her head, she continued her canter.
Rainbow knew that it would be lunchtime soon, given from the height and angle of the sun. She'd have to hurry if she wanted to get to Rosethorn's shop, or Flower Boutique of Frilly-ness or whatever it was called, before he closed down for lunch. Even shopkeepers had to eat, right?
"Yes, of course they do," Rainbow told herself.
She slowed down as she approached the building she needed: a tall, elegant looking... wait a minute...
As Rainbow got closer and closer, she noticed that the windows of the show had been smashed inwards. Several ponies crowded around the place. Rosethorn himself, a small, bulky pony sporting a magnificent moustache, was shooing the crowd away.
"Go on, get! I have produce to sell!" he exclaimed as Rainbow finally came within earshot. "It's just a bit of broken glass and a new paint-job, nothing spectacular!" When Rosethorn saw her, his expression darkened. "Oh. It's you."
Rainbow swallowed. "Uh, hi. What happened here?"
"We were hoping you could tell us!" shouted one of the ponies in the crowd. Rosethorn grumbled angrily and turned to the mob again.
"I said get!" he exclaimed, his bushy eyebrows alone scaring off more than a few ponies. He returned his attention to Rainbow Dash. "Small act of vandalism," he said, his cool returning. "What do you want?"
Despite his unnerving calm demeanour, there was something in Rosethorn's attitude that intimidated Rainbow. She cleared her throat: no way was she going to wimp out.
"Flowers. Like, a bunch."
"A bouquet."
"Yeah, a bunch of those."
Rosethorn nodded and trotted inside. Rainbow followed, the few remaining ponies outside keeping their eyes fixed on her.
"Okay... what do you want?"
"Flowers."
Rosethorn rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know that, but which kind?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes, as if it were an eye-rolling competition. "The best kind."
"That's highly subjective."
"Fine," Rainbow replied, squaring her stance. "I'll have a dozen of your Highly Subjectives."
Rosethorn didn't reply instantly, and opted to stammer, confused. "Wh-what?"
"It was a joke," Rainbow explained with painstaking deliberation. Rosethorn gave her a token chuckle. "Like, uh, what flower is best to get a really cool pony for a..." she hesitated. "...meeting."
"A romantic rendez-vous," Rosethorn replied. Rainbow's face lit up.
"I've never heard of those! Are they pretty?"
Rosethorn frowned. "It's called a date."
"Oh," Rainbow replied, thoroughly confused at this point.
Rosethorn waved his hoof. "Never mind. I had a couple of good ones, but they got damaged last night," Rosethorn said with a slight grimace.
Rainbow frowned. "Yeah... what exactly happened here?" she asked. Rosethorn swallowed.
"See for yourself," he muttered, and leant his head outside the broken window, gesturing at the wall outside his house. Rainbow followed suit.
The walls were covered in crudely applied paint. Rainbow could quickly recognize three separate colours: blue, yellow, and red. In that precise order.
"That's my cutie mark's colours..." she muttered, her ears flattening against her head. "Oh, horseapples."
"I think you can guess what ponies have been thinking," Rosethorn told her. "A lot of ponies are taking this to be some kind of signature." Rainbow whirled around, holding out her hooves defensively.
"Hey, I had nothing to do with this! I was someplace else entirely!" she exclaimed. "It was Bullit!"
Rosethorn leaned in closer, his voice lowering to a whisper. "Listen, girl... I've known miss Rarity for a good long while, and I know for a fact that she'd never associate with any ruffian. But do yourself a favour and avoid letting other ponies know you're on first name terms with the vandals that did this, okay?" He stepped away silently. "Some ponies might come to some wrong conclusions."
Rainbow hung her head. "I... right, yeah."
Rosethorn nodded, and looked around his store for anything his customer might appreciate. "I have a few good ones... just give me a second to find them... the place is a bit of a mess right now..."
Rainbow did her best to follow him, careful not to step on any broken glass. It was a shame, she thought. Those had been some very pretty flowers.
"What's your beau like, then? What do you think he'll enjoy?"
"Uh, she."
"Ah, a belle, then." He went back to his work, still waiting for Rainbow's answer. She coughed.
"Well, uh... she's hardworking..."
Rosethorn picked up a handful of delilahs.
"... kind of tough..."
Rosethorn frowned, and put them back down again.
"...really brave..."
Rosethorn listened intently, testing out different arrangements. To Rainbow, it seemed like he was picking and choosing them at random, but he had a look of intense concentration on his face all the while. They couldn't be coincidences, Rainbow thought.
Eventually, he finished, and presented her a highly distinctive and colourful bouquet of flowers. Many of them Rainbow couldn't even recognize, and they were all arranged perfectly... or at least, as perfectly as Rainbow could tell. She didn't know how Rosethorn had done it, or what the science was behind the flowers, but they were comfortable and stimulating to look at, as if they were moving somehow.
"There you go, miss."
Rainbow beamed. "Heh... all right!" She took the bouquet and stored it under her wing. "You're the best!"
Rosethorn grinned. "Do spread the word: I hear my niece Roseluck's getting delusions of grandeur again."
"You bet!" Rainbow replied, and tossed the older pony a handful of bits. "That should cover it, right?"
After counting the coins, Rosethorn nodded. "This'll do. Nice doing business with you."
Rainbow sidestepped the broken glass and made her way towards the door, a happy smile plastered to her face. With ponies like Rosethorn around, maybe things wouldn't be half as bad as she thought.
"Look out!"
Rainbow widened her eyes as she heard the older pony's voice again as she stepped out the door. Her pupils darted across the street, surprise and panic tensing her muscles.
"Wha—"
Her reflexes kicked in just in time: her wings spread and she darted to the left, dodging a small stone that had been flying towards her. She even felt the displacement of air against her fur as it passed her by. Her sudden acceleration kicked up a small dust-cloud, and her equally sudden deceleration caused her to stumble a little. Once she got her bearings again, she scanned her surroundings, but to no avail.
"Did somepony... throw a rock at me?!" she gasped, shocked.
Rosethorn rushed outside, panicked. "Ponyfeathers, that was a close one. I saw somepony throw that at you and I..." he looked down. "Oh, dear..."
Rainbow followed his gaze down to the ground where she had just been standing. To her dismay, she saw the precious flowers she had bought scattered across the pavement.
She must have dropped them when she flared her wings to dodge, she realized. And now they were ruined, every single one. The arrangement was broken, dozens of petals had been torn off, and one or two had been squashed when Rainbow had tensed up earlier.
All because somepony threw something that probably wouldn't even have hurt her...
"It's all right," Rosethorn muttered. "I'll get a new one made for you in a jiffy... Oi', wait!"
To his dismay, Rainbow stormed off, her mane covering her eyes as she flared her wings. "I... I don't want them anymore," she replied, her voice trembling. "I'll find my own."
"Miss..."
"Don't bother. If the town doesn't want me to have nice things, then I guess I won't." Her muscles were shivering and shaking with frustration. Rosethorn swallowed, unsure what the pegasus was going to do.
Rainbow took off into the sky, desperate to get away from Ponyville before she lost her temper, despite her best efforts.
"Not again," she muttered to herself. "Not again..."
Bullit was on his back, laughing himself breathless. Rattle sneered at the departing pegasus. "Ah, that was priceless," he managed to say once he had caught his breath. "Too bad I missed."
"Yeah, although let's face it, it was a pretty small rock."
"It'd have bruised, at least," Bullit replied. He peered around the corner. Rainbow had almost gotten out of sight. "Well, that's one 'romantic rendez-vous' ruined. I bet she won't get over that in a hurry." He clenched his hoof, his eyes firmly locked on Rainbow as she disappeared over the horizon. "Just a little more, little Dashie... just a little more, and you'll be all over the place. And then," he snarled, "That mane is mine."
He turned towards Rattle.
"Where next?" she asked.
"I'm thinking... yeah, I'm thinking we step up our game. Maybe a few broken bones will get her run out of town," he suggested, much to Rattle's apparent delight. "Still, there's only two of us. Might as well play it safe: we'll target single ponies for a while... at least until you're back at full strength."
"Single ponies, huh?" Rattle replied, her lips parting to reveal glistening, shark-like teeth. "Sounds like a plan."
Bullit nodded to himself.
"Then there's only really one question to ask, isn't there?" he said. "Who's next?"