Daybreak, in Pinkie’s opinion, was the most exciting part of the day. It represented a new dawn, full of new promises, new memories, and of course, lots and lots of fun. Today, Pinkie had a feeling in her gut that today was the day they would finally make it back home. She missed Ponyville dearly, and she was itching to throw another party again.
She looked up at her companion, whose bright green eyes were blazing with determination and optimism. There’s that weird feeling again. It was hard to describe, that warm feeling Pinkie had whenever she looked at Cheese. It was a fantastic sensation, but very dizzying at the same time.
Maybe that’s why Rarity makes such a big fuss about it all the time. Pinkie could practically hear the unicorn’s voice.
"You are in love, darling, I thought I’d never see the day! Why, I’ll make you a special dress for the occasion! You’ll need ribbons, and bows, and lots of lace…."
Thank you, Rarity, Pinkie thought smugly, silencing the voice in her head.
“We should be reaching the town in an hour or two,” Cheese told her. “And when we get there, we can get some breakfast and hop on the train.”
“Thus, ending our little adventure,” Pinkie smiled.
“It’s been something, hasn’t it?” Cheese grinned. “Who knew that all of this would start with a simple anniversary party?”
“The best adventures are the unexpected ones,” Pinkie pointed out. “And when we get to that town, I’m taking a bath! Wouldn’t want to reunite with the Cakes tracking dirt on the floor,” she giggled, ruffling her tangled mane.
Cheese gave her a wry smile. “I think you look terrific.”
Pinkie regarded him in surprise. “You really think so?”
“I know so.”
“Well, isn’t that sweet.”
Pinkie and Cheese gasped in horror. Prism and the rest of her team came out from behind nearby trees and blocked their path. Five more pegasi flew in from behind, preventing them from running. “Oh, no!” Pinkie cried.
Cheese looked around, dumbfounded. “B-B-B-But how?”
“It’s a good thing you stopped by at that hotel,” Prism smirked. “Our associate was a big help to us, but because of that note you left behind, we knew exactly where to find you. Thanks for that.”
“Citrus!” Cheese growled. “She was working with them the whole time!”
Pinkie gasped. “And we left Silhouette and Scarlet with her!”
“I wouldn’t worry about them.”
An icy chill shot up their spines when they saw Esme appear next to Prism. “It’s you we want.” She glared at them with pure malice. “You two caused me a lot of trouble, you know that? I don’t know how you escaped, but it certainly won’t happen again. Things will go as planned, whether you like It or not. You, Miss Pie, will be transported to Chrysalis, and I will escort you there personally.” She shifted her gaze to Cheese. “As for you, Mr. Sandwich, will come back with us and you will be put into solitary confinement and work in the furnace every single day, until we are absolutely sure you’re ready to join us.”
“No!” Pinkie shouted, standing protectively in front of Cheese. “No,” she repeated firmly. “Leave him alone. Take me instead.”
“Pinkie, no!”
“Take me instead,” Pinkie said again, more pleadingly this time. “Cheese doesn’t deserve any of this. He won’t tell anypony. I’ll go with you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just let him go.”
Esme rubbed her chin in deep thought. Obviously, she’d never make such a deal. Cheese would surely rat them out.
But Esme could see the burning passion and sincerity in the pink mare’s eyes. I could let him go a few miles and have a couple of ponies go around and bring him back. But for now, as long as Pinkie is willing... “Hmmm. You’ll do anything I’d ask of you?”
“Anything.”
Cheese quickly blocked Pinkie’s path. “You don’t mean that, Pinkie! You don’t know what Chrysalis might do to you! I won’t let you do that for me, Pinkie. I won’t let you!”
Pinkie stared into his eyes. “You have to Cheesie,” she whispered. “Equestria needs a super duper party pony to spread joy and make them smile. And that somepony is you. Ponies need you Cheese. I’ll be okay.”
“But Ponyville needs you too, Pinkie…I need you.”
“Listen to your friend, Mr. Sandwich,” Esme laughed. “She just might save your life.”
“No, please. Take me, let Pinkie go back home.”
“Take me, Esme.” Pinkie tried to keep her voice steady. “G-Go home, Cheese. Tell…tell my friends that I love them.”
Esme cackled over Cheese’s protests. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Miss Pie.” The circle of thieves closed in on them.
“NOT ON YOUR LIFE!” a brash voice shouted.
Everyone looked up in surprise. A rainbow colored blur zoomed down from above and tackled a random Hench pony to the ground.
“Rainbow Dash,” Prism seethed.
Cheese blinked. “Then that means…”
Magic blasted ponies surrounding them, their colors violet and blue. Applejack bucked a stallion to their far left with her powerful hind legs. Starburst shrieked as Spike let loose a burst of green flame, disintegrating her gossamer wings.
“What is this?!” Esme roared.
“Girls! Spike!” Pinkie exclaimed as her friends crowded around them. “I knew you’d come for us!
“Of course, darling,” Rarity said in a kind tone while glaring daggers at Esme and her crew, her horn glowing it’s blue aura. “We can’t let these ruffians mare handle our friends, now can we?”
“Well,” Esme hissed as her team assembled beside her. “If it isn’t Princess Twilight Sparkle…” she glanced at the other mares and Spike, their muscles tensing in anticipation. “…and her entourage.”
Twilight frowned deeply. “You and these other ponies have committed many crimes. Rest assured, you will be charged in the highest court in Equestria by Celestia herself!”
Esme’s eyes took on a wild look as she sucked in air. “What makes you think I’d ever answer to your Princess’s rule? You forget, Twilight Sparkle, that I’ve created The Sinister Sixty. We are the best of the best! This group you see her is but a third of our empire! I HAVE AN ARMY!”
Rainbow Dash shrugged and simply said, “We have a Twilight.”
Esme growled menacingly. “You test my patience, young ponies.”
Twilight’s horn glowed. “Pinkie, quickly. You and Cheese go with Fluttershy and Spike and get to the village. We’ll hold them off!”
Pinkie opened her mouth to protest, but Fluttershy placed a firm hoof on her shoulder. “They've got this. Let’s go.”
“Ponies!” Esme screamed as the four made a break for it. “ATTACK!”
Rainbow Dash felt herself being knocked out of the air and hit the ground. She looked up and gasped when she saw her doppelganger standing over her. “Let’s finish this,” Prism whispered sharply. “Rainbow Dash.”
Pinkie, Cheese and Spike raced up the dirt path as the fight raged on behind them. Fluttershy flew just above their heads to make sure they weren’t followed. “There’s a train station just at the end of the village,” Fluttershy shouted in a silent way. “We can wait for the others there!”
Cheese looked up with a grin. “You have no idea how glad we are to see you guys!”
Spike smirked. “No need to thank us. All in a day’s work.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes and snorted. ”Thanks anyway, Spike.” They soon reached the village, which resembled Ponyville in an odd way, but there was no time to stop. The four raced right on through, smiling politely in return to the confused stares of the villagers.
Spike sniffed the air. “Man, that smells good.”
Cheese inhaled deeply and sighed. “Fresh bread. Hot out of the oven.”
Pinkie’s stomach grumbled. “Now look what you guys did!” she complained.
Flutterhsy’s head snapped up. “Incoming!”
Cheese gasped as two pegasi flew in straight for them.
Several ponies bowled over from Rarity’s magic. The unicorn shook her head in pity. “You know, for professional thieves, I expected much more from you.”
Applejack stood a few feet away from her, surrounded by five stallions. “I don’t wanna fight y’all,” she said to them.
“It’s too late for that, toots. We’ve got you outnumbered,” one stallion chuckled.
“Best give up now, little filly,” another taunted.
“Go easy on them, Applejack!” Twilight warned as she took out nine ponies at once.
But as soon as the words left the Princesses’ mouth, Applejack had a pile of stallions lying at her hooves. “What was that, Twi?”
“…Never mind.”
Prism screeched as she was knocked clear across the air and into a tree. Rainbow flew up to her, crossing her hooves. “What’s your problem with me, huh?”
Prism shook the stray leaves from her mane and scowled. “My problem, is that I look like you! The element of freaking loyalty! The do-gooder! I hate it! I HATE YOU!” She shot up from the tree and flew up to Rainbow’s face. “Seems to me that only solution is to get rid of you. And then? Then, I’ll get rid of your little friends. Every single one of them.”
Rainbow Dash was genuinely shocked at the mare’s words. This was one of the rare times when she found herself speechless. She looked Prism square in the eye. It was time, Rainbow thought, that she let her hooves do the talking for her.
And she did.
As the pegasi charged, Spike released a burst of green flame that startled them, forcing them to veer to the left. Frightened villagers scrambled and hid under nearby carts and darted inside of their houses. “S-Stay back!” Fluttershy yelled.
One Pegasus, which Pinkie and Cheese recognized as Ice Water, flapped his wings irritatingly. “We don’t want to hurt you,” he said in a wanting-to-hurt-them-tone. “We just want the earth ponies. Tell you what. If you let us have those two, we’ll leave you, your little dragon friend, and the rest of your friends alone.”
Fluttershy narrowed her eyes at him. “No! I’d never do that! If you want Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich, then you’ll have to go through me first!”
Spike stood in front of the party ponies and pounded his fist on his chest. “And me!”
Ice Water and his companion looked at each other. “Alright then,” he shrugged. “Since all of you are close to Princess Celestia, any one of you will do.”
Fluttershy, Spike and Cheese gulped as the two pegasi charged at them again.
BOOM!
Confetti and streamers shot up at the pegasi and blew them backward. Fluttershy and Spike gasped as they watched the Hench ponies fly out of sight. They turned around to see a grinning Pinkie with her faithful Party Cannon. “Where…where did you get that?!” Fluttershy asked. She suddenly noticed Cheese wearing an army helmet. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “And where did you get that?!”
“No time to explain!” Cheese said, throwing Spike onto his back. “Let’s roll, ponies!”
Fluttershy forced herself to recover from her initial shock and followed the others from above. It wasn’t long before they saw the train station come into view. “Ahoy, maties!” Pinkie shouted jubilantly, giving her Party Canon an extra push. “Train station ho!”
Fluttershy squinted. There wasn’t a single train in sight. When they finally reached the station, Fluttershy landed on the ground and looked at the train schedule. “It says that the next train’s supposed to arrive at ten o’ clock.”
“Excuse me, miss?” Pinkie said to a pony sitting at the bench. “What time is it?”
The pony checked her watch. “It’s ten-fifteen,” she answered. “The train should’ve been here quite a while ago.”
“You mean it’s LATE!?” Spike exclaimed.
Fluttershy sighed. “Of course it is,” she mumbled. “What do we do now?”
Cheese swallowed hard. “Running would be good idea.” The others turned their heads. A couple hundred yards away, they could see Ice Water flying towards them. He brought more friends.
Pinkie frowned in annoyance. “Don’t those ponies ever give up?”
“Come on!” Fluttershy squeaked, pulling Pinkie along with her. They ran sideways along the tracks. “I wish we had a parchment and quill,” Spike said from Cheese’s back. “Then we could send a letter to Princess Celestia!”
“Oh, but who needs a Princess when you already have chaos at your disposal?”
Before anyone could process what was said, a rouge train came out of nowhere and crashed onto the tracks next to them. The small group stopped and stared at the train in awe. The door opened to reveal Maud, her expression as blank as ever. “We heard you were in trouble.”
Cheese immediately ran up and gave Maud a hug, causing Spike to slip off his back. “I love you!”
Pinkie joined in on the hug as Spike and Flutttershy stepped onto the train. “Maud! I’m so happy to see you!” Then she pulled back with a confused expression on her face. “But what did you mean by ‘we’?”
Maud stepped aside. There stood a familiar figure, grinning silently. He tipped his conductor’s hat. “Afternoon, all.”
“Discord!” Fluttershy cried, hugging him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Spike tugged on Pinkie Pie’s tail. “I’d hate to ruin the moment, but…” He pointed up at the approaching Hench Ponies.
Discord looked up at them indifferently. “Those, ponies, hmm?” He snapped his claw, and the thieves appeared at the back of the train, all wearing hoof cuffs. They stared at themselves in shock.
“Well, that takes care of that!” Pinkie giggled.
“The others are fighting more thieves beyond the village,” Fluttershy told Discord.
The spirit of chaos adjusted his hat. “Well, there’s no time to waste, then,” he said, closing the train door. “ALL ABOOOAAAARD!”
As it turned out, the mares didn’t need any help. By the time Discord and the rest arrived with the train, they found every single thief restrained and ready to be taken into custody. After everyone was on board, Discord had set the course to Canterlot.
Esme thrashed in her bonds at the back of the train. “You’ll pay for this!” she screeched. “I’ll hurt you more than I’ve ever hurt anypony! I’ll get revenge! I’ll go after your families! I’ll—"
Twilight tightened the rope that immobilized Esme with her magic. “Give it a rest, Esme,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah, and keep it down,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk. “Or else we’ll have to get you a muzzle like Prism over here.”
Said pony screamed silently beside Rainbow.
Esme was fuming but stayed still. “You’ll pay,” she muttered quietly. “You’ll all pay.”
Near the front of the train, Cheese stared out of his window in thought. He smiled when he felt Pinkie sit next to him. “Hey, stranger,” Pinkie said, scooting up closer so that she could see out of the window too.
“Hey, little filly.”
“Whatcha thinking about?”
“Pepperonis.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened a little. “That is serious.”
Cheese nodded earnestly. “And I’ve been thinking about you and me.” He glanced at the mare beside him. “What do you think's gonna happen after this?”
Pinkie stared out at the open plain and withering trees as the train whizzed past. “I dunno,” she said thoughtfully. “I guess thing will go on back to normal.”
“…My friend’s Grandpa used to be in the Royal Guard back in the day,” Cheese said after a long pause. “He used to say that when a pony survives a traumatic experience, that pony has two choices. To try to forget the whole ordeal, push it in the far back corners of their mind…or accept it and live with the aftermath.”
Pinkie looked up at him with a sad expression, waiting for his answer. Cheese returned her look. “I don’t want to forget.”
Pinkie smiled a little and rested her head on his shoulder. “Me neither.”
At Canterlot, the Guards arrested every single thief on the train. Esme spewed curses as authorites dragged her away.
“Well done, all of you,” Princess Celestia said proudly. “Not only did you save Pinkie Pie and Cheese, but you also apprehended the most dangerous thieves in Equestria. Now that we know where their hide out is, Shining Armor and the rest of the Guard are making a mass arrest at the mountain as we speak. And the police have already taken care of Citrus. You’ve exceeded my expectations as usual!”
“Thank you, Princess,” Spike and the others chorused.
Luna turned to Discord and Maud. “And kudos to you two for the rescue, despite you stealing a train. Odd and unexpected, but surprisingly affective.”
Discord held his paw and claw up to his face. “D’aww, Luna, you’re making us blush!”
Maud blinked. “Thanks.”
Luna then turned to Pinkie and Cheese. “Are you two alright?”
“We’re fine, Princess,” Pinkie assured with a smile. “Thanks to our friends.”
“We were in quite a pickle,” Cheese agreed. “But hey…nothing that we couldn’t handle.”
Luna nodded. “Good.”
“And if there’s anything we can do for you,” Celestia added, “Please, do not hesitate to ask.”
Cheese looked at Pinkie, who nodded. “Actually, Princesses,” he said. “there is one thing…”
The train rolled in just in the outskirts of Ponyville. “Hold on to your hats, ponies!” Discord’s voice boomed over the P.A. “We seem to have a whole crowd out there! Ooh, and Paparazzi!”
“Paparazzi!?” Rarity gasped and quickly tried to fix her mane. “Why do they come now, when I’m so frazzled!”
Applejack stood up and stretched. “I’m just fixin’ for a good nap,” she yawned.
“Thanks again, everypony,” Pinkie said gratefully.
“You guys are the best,” Cheese chimed in.
"We're just glad that you're safe," Fluttershy said happily.
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, floating down to give them a hug. “Just don’t do that again, okay?”
Cheese grinned at her. “Deal.”
Everyone crowded in front of the door as the train pulled in front of Ponyville. Numerous ponies were there, cheering, shouting, waving. Pinkie’s heart swelled when she saw all of the pink decorations and banners. Confetti and streamers shot up from the crowd.
All of the familiar and friendly faces… the feeling of safeness and security…the triumph of coming back. The pink mare wiped away a tear.
Maud stood beside her and gave her a small smile, glad that her little sister was okay. Pinkie returned the smile and glanced behind her at Cheese. He gave her a nod.
The door flew open, and thunderous cheers welcomed them.
Pinkie hopped off the train and flung herself into her Parents’ loving embrace.