• Published 4th Apr 2012
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Friendship is a Quantum Infinite - angelicoreXX



The Mane Six are introduced to human versions of themselves from an alternate reality.

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Chapter 5: The Last Gasp of Air

The quaint little Bavarian cottages of Ponyville soon found themselves at the closest that they had ever once stood against one another until they compacted and crushed into the running onslaught. One could only have speculated over the power a single droplet of water could hold once combined with the billions upon trillions of its brothers and sisters. Such a thought was one of the very last many ponies would’ve dared to venture as their screams for help were slowly chewed away between the cascading rubble.

Many were quashed between the churning debris and running mud storm of the flood. Much of the Pegasi managed to escape the tidal wave with the only instincts they ever knew. It was quite difficult to fly however under the regret of not being able to rescue the remaining overpowered unicorns that did their very best to save the Earth ponies with their frail magic. The sinking Earth below smelled of nothing but terror, shame, and bone.

Piper reached out her arm to the pink hoof just out in front of her, but couldn’t quite grasp it. It was all she could see of Pinkie Pie between the mire that was slowly pulling them both under.

She screamed and cried for help until all that filled her once sprinkle covered taste buds with sludge. Eventually, all she could see was complete blackness until finally the snapping agony of her cracking spine devoured her. Not even her tears were safe from the torrent’s hunger.

“Rarity!!” Regina gargled in possibly an arm’s length of air at the very top of white unicorn’s salon.

Rarity struggled to keep her mouth above the consuming water but her own horn which was caught against the oak ceiling stuffed her desperate wide eyed pants back down into the rising muck. Churning in the abyss beneath them were the little fashionista’s creations and dreams which were slowly being suffocated with every passing second.

Perhaps a few inches of air remained at the very peak of their diminishing hope before the Carousel Boutique violently collapsed into itself and disappeared into the stratum beneath the rest of Ponyville.

The fields of Sweet Apple Acres were covered in tumbling apple trees and dozens of helpless bodies of buffalo, many of which had ceased kicking up their hooves long ago.

Applejack had just watched from her floating barnyard roof top as her little sister’s normally bouncy red tail was digested by the eager filth. The little pony screamed and begged for the filly’s life through Aprile’s arms, unaware that her desperate attempts began to tip their only sanctuary.

Aprile had no words to console her little friend. Granny Smith had already become easy pickings for the tsunami and Big Macintosh had fallen so that his younger sisters may have had some chance at surviving the disaster. Not even Wynona, the beloved family pet had been spared.

The two farmhands held onto each other for dear life, trembling as pandemonium itself floated by. Applejack drenched her friend’s tangerine buttoned shirt in her agonizing moans, demanding her family be returned to her side, a demand Aprile could do nothing to relieve.

Suddenly the flagpole from Ponyville’s town hall punctured through the refuge and shattered it into slivers. Aprile cried out as the snapped splinter of the mast pierced her thigh and gnashed through muscle and bone alike. Applejack plummeted from the girl’s arms and vanished into the rolling mud that finally engulfed any last trace of Ponyville’s capitol. The only memory that still remained above water was a damp rodeo hat.

Fluttershy desperately struggled to maintain altitude while being covered with as many small creatures she could gather. Over her back, her head, her hooves, even the smallest split end of her mane and tail safeguarded the tiniest of innocent creatures. She would’ve placed them in the tallest trees and gone back for more but the tide had already swept every one of them away. She couldn’t bear to pick and choose between her pets. So many had slipped past her reach already and she had yet to find a spot to at least rest her beaten wings over the running depths beneath her.

She called out to Fiona in every direction, but could find no sign of life. The girl had originally scurried off with as many of the animals as her arms could carry, Fluttershy’s white bunny Angel being one of them, but had long since vanished under the grime.

Fluttershy frantically darted in every direction like a horrified mother searching for her lost children. A lifeless white ball of fur caught the corner of her eye and her wings nearly split under themselves in the attempt to reach the sullied puffball. The yellow Pegasus reached out one of the only empty spaces left over her hoof, and took the carcass into her feather built ark.

She winced as she held Angel’s limp body tightly, overwhelming his damp white coat in her muffled tears and moans.

In a bizarre attempt to comfort her, a set of sharp branches ran through her rustled pink mane while another gouged through one of her strained wings before she had time to swallow down her heartache. Fluttershy screamed and anxiously tugged and pulled to get away. In the panic, her few remaining companions were thrown overboard by the impaling tree and soon enough Fluttershy herself was skewered into the raging waters below and swallowed her up in a helpless gargle of terrified shrieks.

Ditzy fluttered about in the air completely indifferent to the carnage below her. She had been far too busy gambling on where she thought Lyra’s helpless body might’ve drifted off to underneath the muck. She had been given perhaps a few minutes to rescue the unicorn beforehand but dead or alive, the outcome would’ve been the same in her hobbled eyes, utterly and completely pointless.

In the grand scheme of things, or in her own opinion quite frankly, such a frivolous pony that had little to do with Ponyville’s real affairs in the first place served no purpose but to satiate a momentary boredom. And eventually even this game soon fell to the same futility as just about anything else.

Spike had just floated by on the world’s smallest book before eventually being overtaken. The query peaked Ditzy’s interest for possibly a second before realizing that Spike was but a dragon, barely half the worth of a pony, or at least this was the way she justified it.

For a moment, she even began to add her own personal value to the equation. Just how valuable was Ditzy herself? She ventured that since there was no longer a Ponville to deliver mail to that she’d have very little purpose otherwise. To be honest, she was no better than any of the drowning ponies below, but why waste the effort in getting one’s feathers wet she thought. Ditzy shrugged and chuckled softly, that is until a familiar cackle caught her contempt, “Oh, just look who it is.”

“Look who it is, indeed. Can you blame me? It’s such a nice day to go out for a ‘stroll’ in Ponyville.”

Ditzy couldn’t help but lazily snicker at the senseless paradox before her.

Seamlessly lounging within a bed of thin air above the murky uproar sat a rather elongated fellow wearing the dreariest of striped tuxedos topped in a thick scarf that did a terrible job at complimenting the man’s wardrobe, “This new ‘husk’ of mines has taken some getting used to, but I can see the benefits. At least those wretched humans know what ‘style’ is.”

From beneath the slender man’s head waved a cufflink and attached to it was a fairly ripe crab claw of considerable criminality. Although it certainly wasn’t his playful old cat paw, he definitely liked the feel of it. It seemed to perfectly represent his newest and most favorite thing – Power, and not just any power, but loud, obnoxious and flamboyant power. A type of fabulous power like a goblet that could be used to hold the very chaos he so thirsted for. He admired the bright pink pincer as he ran the leather reinforced talons of his dinosauric fingers through pale squirrel tale hanging from his chin.

“Beautiful isn’t it Derpy? Oh, no I don’t mean me, of course.” He laughed, “I mean all of this lovely nonsense. Funny how something as simple as the flick of a domino can cause such wonderfully delicious ‘Chaos’!”

“You!!” elegantly flying in from what seemed like the sun itself was Princess Celestia with an unmistakable look of horrid anguish, “I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re going to pay for what you’ve done!”

The foul spirit chuckled heartedly, “Forgotten about me already have you, Princess? Now here I thought I was your favorite trophy.”

She hadn’t quite prepared herself to handle such familiar words, and the reality of the situation began to sink in, dragging down Celestia’s heart along with it, “D-Discord…?! B-But how?”

Ditzy eyes rolled haphazardly, “Did it really take you this long to figure it out? Sheesh.”

The frail eel of a man leered his harlequin eyes at the princess, “I was beginning to wonder when you’d show up, my dear Celestia. I’ve had to adjust myself to a rather vile and disgusting background as of late. Your beauty was just the fresh air that I’ve needed.”

“Ditzy! Step away from him!” Celestia was covered in fright at what the demon might attempt next. Was the stone imprisonment no longer enough to keep him at bay? Or were the Elements of Harmony simply not as powerful as they once were?

The Pegasus shrugged, “Why? It’s not like you’re going to do anything to him without those gaudy Elements.”

Celestia gasped at the deceit from one of her very own subjects, and then she finally noticed just how gray Ditzy really was, “What have you done to her, Discord?”

“Oh come now, catch up with the times will you? I shouldn’t have to explain a word of it, my dear.” Discord sneered, “All I did was point out to her how horribly she’s been treated in your ‘harmonious’ Equestria. I thought this was an egalitarian society. Are not all your ponies treated equally?”

The Princess gritted her teeth. Her vehement hatred was the only release she had from the tumbling conveyer belt of grief that fell below. An eternity in stone was far too merciful for this vile demon, “I swear, Discord, upon the very last breath I take, I will punish you for what you’ve done!”

The chaotic spirit nearly spit up a laugh, “Cliché my dear, such dialogue is beneath me.” Discord threw up his scarf in dismissal, “But honestly now! Do you think ‘I’ am actually responsible for this? All I did was set the stage, maybe even the tone, if you will. All I’ve been doing ever since is watching your ‘loyal’ servants dance their hearts away. You should’ve seen it! I mean, those aerial maneuvers were simply to die for!” Discord let out a jolly old hoot.

“Enough! I’m going to bury you with the rest of Ponyville!” Princess Celestia bellowed.

“Oh dear, look out, Derpy. We have quite the ‘badass’ over here.” The demon chuckled to which Ditzy rolled her eyes with a tempting grin.

Princess Celestia’s regal horn shrieked with golden flames that seemed to harness the sun itself. The enormous blaze thundered until it finally shot a mighty beam of light straight at the chaotic spirit.

Ditzy ‘enthusiastically’ fluttered to right just a bit to avoid the firestorm. Having just seen the most lackluster genocide of her very own town, this affair already wasn’t worth mentioning.

A yawn escaped Discord’s breath and he limply held out his Neptunian appendage just in time to break the laser’s streak. Sparks rattled in every direction while the demon eventually got around to rubbing the stardust from his eyes, “Why thank you Princess, I feared this lovely thing needed a good manicure. It’s rather garish I know, but I think it suits me in a way.”

With the scattershot of light in front of him, it was a wonder how Discord even noticed the oncoming pink bubble approaching them, “What do you think, Twilight Sparkle? Too little or too much?”

The glowing sphere behind caught the corner of Celestia’s eye, and that was all the time Discord needed to wrap his claw around her neck.

Twilight was doing all she could to focus her magic on the bubble while Twyla laid unconscious beside her, “Princess!!”

Celestia coughed up cries for help as the vice grip slowly crushed her trachea, “Do you silly ponies have any idea what it’s like being confined in stone for so long, being released, and then frozen again for yet a second time?! Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?!”

The Princess gagged and kicked as her once gallant eyes began to reel into the back of her skull. She could feel small pops at the top of her neck as if her head was about to separate from the rest of her body.

“Stop it!!” Twilight shouted. She needed as much time as possible, but she couldn’t bear to sacrifice her Princess.

The demon batted a golden eye and cracked a smile, “I should have you to blame anyway, Twilight Sparkle.” He finally released his guillotine and tossed the helpless alicorn into the floodwaters below.

Ditzy suddenly had another distraction, and a far more exciting one at that. She made a bet with herself as to how long the Princess would last above water.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight winced through her tears. There wasn’t a thing she could do to save her mentor less she risked Twyla’s life as well. The unicorn glanced over at her slumbering friend who had fainted soon after watching Raine’s burning stunt plane drown.

“Twilight Sparkle… Did you miss me? It’s been ages since we’ve spent any time together. Do you remember our old chocolate rain parties?” He floated over and ran his green finger tips over the bubble’s edge, wondering just how much pressure it would take to pop.

“W-What?! Who are you?” It was only the seventh human Twilight had ever met.

“Oh please. Who do you think I am? Is this really so hard for you to figure out? Everyone else has already.”

Twilight bewilderedly gazed into the eyes of a harlequin fetus and began to tremble. For a moment she almost lost concentration and fell to her doom until finally the strange character in front of her made sense, “Discord…?!”

He gave a round of applause, “Bravo! That took far too long, my dear.”

“But you’re a-”

“A human? Oh please, don’t be so insulting. The only thing those filthy vile vermin were good for was making me home sick. I mean, I do look rather fetching in this get-up… but still!”

“B-But-”

“Yes, yes, I know, time for the villain’s explanation to it all. I’m sure you’re ever so curious as to how we all got here.” This was Discord’s favorite part of the story, “You see, while trapped under that stone for yet a second time, I all but lost my mind!” He let out another laugh that of Amadeus Mozart’s charm, “I rattled around in that tomb for quite some time until I managed to muster up all the power I could and then somehow found my mind tumbling into what I could only assume was another dimension!”

Discord turned about and lounged himself upon the bubble as if it were a beanie chair, “I really have the six of you to thank. You just don’t understand what that kind of hatred can do to an individual! But something very odd happened indeed.” He tipped his finger against his lip, “This wasn’t just a case of my mind separating from my body and escaping into another realm. Oh no. Apparently, if I understand it correctly, I seem to have caused a split between the fabrics of reality, and forged a whole new one with my chaotic powers. Amazing isn’t it? And I didn’t just get sent there, I apparently traded places with your delightful little friends there. Or what’s left of them anyway.” he cackled, “I suppose my terrible disgust for all of you was all it took to play musical chairs with the aspects of reality.”

“But why are you a human…?” Just a few more seconds of dialogue was all Twilight needed.

Discord raised an eyebrow, beginning to suspect the unicorn was up to something, “Well, obviously because I didn’t have a body, nor did I even have all of my powers which is why I needed to come back for them of course. Until then I was but a floating soul in a sea of filth. So I just possessed some random idiot walking down a street corner. At least he had some fashion sense.” The demon leaned over and faced Twilight eye to eye once again, “Have these miserable humans told you of their world yet? It’s such an awfully miserable place. It was hardly worth corrupting, at first anyway. It was already so darn immoral and crooked. I’ve never seen such a place filled with greed and selfishness! You can’t even walk down the street without some estranged lunatic attacking you!”

He glanced down at the murky waters below, “But I have to admit, those humans did rub off on me a bit. I’ve become quite… ‘deranged’ since visiting their world. Those humans surely know their way around some good old fashioned chaos. Do you know that they regularly kill each other over such petty things like ‘money’? It’s almost as if they didn’t even need me there! But you know how I am, Twilight. I simply couldn’t resist adding my two cents. I really hope their happy, now that I’ve gotten rid of all those… Nuclear war-bombs, whatever they call those delicious things. The lightshow was simply spectacular!”

Discord finally began to notice Twilight’s lack of attention to his rambling diatribe as well as the increasing intensity of light at the tip of her horn, “Are you trying to… stall?” he chortled, “What for, my dear? What could you possibly hope to do against moi’?”

Twilight clenched her teeth and focused every synapse of her mind on the one point ahead of her. The memories of Twyla beside her, the Princess, and all of her good friends who had been swept away swelled into the brilliant tip of her horn.

“Just what can an obsessive-compulsive little egghead like you hope to accomplish here? Your foolish friends are dead by their own hands and you can’t even wield your precious little Elements of Harmony anymore!” Discord let out another laugh for possibly the last chance he’d have for a while.

Twilight bit her lip just moments from pulling the trigger, “I don’t need the Elements of Harmony for what I’m about to do, jerk!”

The bare space around her horn began to bend and with a loud crack, a bright light blanketed Discord and every other shred of sunken timber and rubble for miles.

The spirit covered his eyes under the mighty radiance and soon found that he had lost complete control of both his body and mind. Utterly overwhelmed, he found himself repeating his entire introduction, his muscles twitching and convulsing, completely separated from every synapse.

Celestia zipped out of the water and back into the clutches of his crab claw, her snapped vertebra now reunited and a luminous beam of light shunned away her attacker and tossed him back beside the indifferent gray Pegasus before vanishing into the sun up above.

The flood that had completely trampled all of Ponyville had reversed flow altogether. Cottages began to reconstruct themselves all on their own will as each and every droplet of water soon evaporated.

Fluttershy was picked out of the mire by a gracious oak tree that was even generous enough to free itself from her small wing. Her little animals, as well as Angel himself, found themselves atop her back juggling for space.

Fiona, who had been swept up in the rushing rapids and slammed against a wall, had suddenly found herself careening away from it. The few animals that she had done her best to save had returned to her arms just in time for Fiona to catch her footing. Even her yellow sweater had begun to dry up.

Out of the water’s mercy, Aprile was tossed back onto the section of rooftop as a sharp splinter of mast dragged itself out of her leg with just before Applejack fell back into the farm girl’s arms.

Tears were absorbed into the little pony’s ducts and soon enough Applebloom returned to their little piece of floating sanctuary as well.

Before their terrified eyes, the rooftop attached itself back onto their barn and Big Macintosh arrived out of the water just in time to greet them.

Granny Smith Apple’s hip cracked itself back into place as a passing wave stationed her back against her feeble walker as if nothing had ever happened.

Hundreds of Apple trees planted themselves back into the freshly watered soil as the shores retreated. Dozens of friendly buffalo were gently placed back onto their hooves and the Apple family dashed in the most backwards manner imaginable from the top of their barn just in time to dry off.

A breath of fresh air finally reached Rarity’s lungs just as Regina was given some room to breathe. The Carousel Boutique swirled down with a satisfied deluge. Once utterly ruined gowns and fashion pieces were hung out to dry over mannequins that had rediscovered their pedestals while garments and fabrics became instantly organized by strand and color.

The door to the saloon fell back into its hinges and the two fashionistas graciously retuned back to their stools stapling, stitching and sewing away the latest order as if neither had just drowned in a horrible disaster.

A puff of soggy pink fuzz periscoped out of the muddy tides and the rest of Piper soon followed, gaining back the last breath of fresh air she ever took. Pinkie Pie’s hoof finally reached the girl’s hand and it wasn’t long until the blue eyed pony reached the surface as well.

Their screams for help were both escorted back to what was once the bakery by the waning mire with both Poundcake and Pumpkincake safety in hand. Soon enough even Sugarcube Corner itself buckled back into its foundation where it belonged. Cupcakes, muffins, and all manner of other sweet treats returned to their containers, not one sprinkle a miss while a thundering rumble soon disappeared into the distance.

Not a single home had missed its mark. Even the town’s hall was set back into place with half a dozen colorful flags waving proudly in the wind.

Not even the Pony Express could escape the miracle. The chaos that had once taken over the parcel station had soon unraveled itself. Like Hearth's Warming Eve gifts, the mummified ponies were released from their various packaged tombs and returned to their deliveries.

Ditzy eventually recanted her desperate entrance to the Pony Express with a far more brilliant shade of gray complete with an obliviously adorable smile.

The hopelessness of dozens of Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies alike soon turned to desperation, then to worry, and finally to little more than a thought. Every pony picked up where they had left off with their quaint routines of the day.

The only reminder of the gushing torrent lay at the bottom of a stein of Apple Cider that Lyra had just shared with her good friend Bonbon.

The tidal waves receded returning the raging river back to its original size. Hundreds of trees found their roots and even more forest creatures remembered their little homes.

The massive gaping hole across Ponyville Dam began to shrink, bit by bit every chunk of rock returned to complete the vast safeguard. With the very last puzzle piece in a place, a deafening uproar found itself bottled with every inch of smoke until a fiery peak assembled a small rainbow colored stunt plane and sent it barreling back from where it came.

A mighty firestorm of indigo magic was still flaring into the barren time space from Twilight’s horn. She clenched her eyes shut, hoping the next thing she’d see was at least some pony carrying on with their normal day. If the ‘Once in a Lifetime’ spell hadn’t worked, then she may as well have just let herself join the others in the terrible cascades below. Far too much had been invested and sacrificed for her to fail now. She shuttered and held her breath, just a few more merciful seconds now and she’d be able to rest.

Twilight batted an eye, and to her greatest relief darted by a small aircraft flying completely in reverse. She could see Raine and Rainbow Dash quarreling back and forth within the cockpit. She had no time to wonder just what sort of contraption they were piloting but knew it was the key to everything.

She smiled and finally let go of her spell with a grateful sigh. Time space fractured back into place until every clock finally began to tick forward again. Twilight had but a split second to react as the fighter jet soared towards her.

“I said not to touch anything, damnit!” Raine shouted, having not missed a single thing.

The stunt plane wandered aimlessly for a few more moments before changing direction. It made a soft pitch to the left and swooped down almost plowing itself into a nearby river path. The cockpit filled with buzzing lights and blared warnings. What lay ahead filled the two with dread.

Dash was about to stammer through a few warnings over the ever approaching dam, when out of nowhere a pink bubble appeared within their crosshairs, “Wait a second. I-Is that… Twilight?”

Raine took her attention away from stubborn console for just a moment, “What’s she doing up here? And why is Twyla with her?!”

They might have just missed the enchanted little pony and her unconscious assistant by a split end hadn’t Twilight spread her magical expertise like a net and caught the little Mig-15. The aircraft went for a few spins about the pink sphere until Twilight finally managed to bring the machine to a gradual stop as the engine finally gave up.

Both Raine and Rainbow had glued their faces to the fiberglass canopy from the carousel ride, but they were at least relieved to see that their flight had been canceled.

Nearly on the verge of having a heart attack, Twilight gently lowered the airplane into the middle of a green pasture.

Raine tried her best to unlock the canopy but it was sealed shut. Dash banged her hooves over the fiberglass in an attempt to escape the terrible contraption, but there was Twilight Sparkle, canceling out yet another of Discord’s snares. The two dare devils jumped out of the aircraft as if it was already on fire ironically enough. Never in their lives had they been so happy to have their feet and hooves on the ground.

With a deep breath of fresh air, the unicorn finally unveiled herself from within the bubble, softly landing on the good old Earth below with the napping Twyla in tow.

“Twilight! You saved us!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, zipping over to hug the little unicorn, “I thought we were goners for sure!”

“I’m so sorry, really! It wasn’t our fault! The plane just went all weird and wouldn’t respond to my controls at all. And thanks by the way, I don’t know what I would’ve done If you hadn’t shown up.” Raine dusted herself off, “What’s up with Twyla? It’s not like her to sleep during the day. Is everything all right? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Twilight had never been more relieved in her life, everything had gone perfectly according to plan. She really wanted to hold Dash and all of her friends as tightly as possible, but she couldn’t quite process the commands to the rest of her body. She trembled and her jewel colored eyes began to quiver.

“You alright, Twilight?” Dash waved a hoof in front of the unicorn’s glazed eyes.

Twilight swayed back and forth and a few random sparks ejected from the pony’s horn before she finally toppled over.

“Twilight!!”

The brave little unicorn had been strapped into a hospital bed with all manner of fixtures, tubes, and wires monitoring every sensory pulse within her mind.

Twyla, with us once again, sat by Twilight’s side stroking her mane with the most anxious look in her eyes. What actually had occurred that day was still somewhat of a mystery. One thing was for sure, she knew there was no possible way that that airplane could’ve been standing in one piece, nor could either Raine or Rainbow Dash be sitting in the same room with her, not to mention the most bizarre canard of it all being the very state of the town.

There had clearly been an enormous flood tumbling through Ponyville. She had seen it with her own eyes, yet they had spent the last half an hour getting the unicorn through a spotless town to a hospital that looked like it hadn’t even been touched.

She starred down at Twilight’s parcel of many manuscripts and tomes. Could today’s events have all been some sort of hallucination? More than likely not, any question of all this being some sort of contrived nightmare had been resolved almost a week ago now. Besides, the timeline’s seemed to match up with what she had remembered not to mention her eyes were still flushed from all of her grieving. There was even a bit of residue in her palms from the snapped railing over the Dam’s bridge. That memory at the very least was crystal clear.

Twyla definitely remembered being lifted into the air by the unicorn’s sorcery just after Twilight had seemingly memorized what might’ve been Hawking’s theory of Quantum Gravity for all she knew. Shortly thereafter the lights had gone out and the rest was a blur.

She did her very best to connect the dots. Why were these two friends still alive? And why wasn’t Ponyville at the bottom of a lake? There could’ve only been one possible explanation. Such a notion would’ve been something out of a science fiction novel, but once again at this point she might as well have been inside one.

Although ponies probably had no idea what a Delorean was, the model fit perfectly. Twyla shuddered at such premise. The little unicorn had risked her own life in order to save not only all of her friends, but Twyla’s friends too, and even the rest of Ponyville! Twilight Sparkle was the very model of selfless compassion and friendship. Twyla wondered if she deserved such mercy, let alone to know such a remarkable friend. It could easily have been her gasping for air earlier that day, and yet Twyla herself was supposed to be some sort of duplicate of this kind-hearted pony. Hairstyle aside, she couldn’t quite make the connection. When was the last time Twyla had done anything so generous?

The door suddenly opened, “Alright, so how are you guys holding up in here?” a unicorn in pink hospital scrubs greeted.

“Who cares how we are? How’s Twilight?!” Dash barked.

“Dash! I-I’m sorry, Ma’am. We’ve all just had a long day.” Twyla added, knowing there was far more to that statement than anyone in the room really knew.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. I understand what you all must be going through.” The nurse floated over an enchanted clipboard and stuck it into pocket at the end of the bedframe, “We’ve run a series of tests and we haven’t really come up with anything. This pony’s completely fine to be honest.”

“She clearly isn’t just ‘fine’!” Raine interrupted, “There’s gotta’ be-”

“’Thankfully’, I already know what’s wrong with her.” Countered the nurse, “Being a unicorn and all, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of this sooner. It’s not really common knowledge for you ‘laymen’s’ since it’s so extremely rare, once almost thought mythical, but apparently it’s possible. The only question now is how it happened to begin with.”

“What did you call us…?” Raine growled.

“Relax, she said ‘laymen’s’ as in laymen’s terms, not lamer.” Twyla chuckled, trying her best to ease the tension, “P-Please, do go on, nurse.”

The nurse cleared her throat and smirked, “Anyway, what our little filly here has is simply a case of ‘Magic Overload’.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that.” Dash remarked.

“And you probably wouldn’t have. There hasn’t been a single case of it in almost a century!” she trotted over and analyzed the computers monitoring Twilight’s brain, “I had to sit down for a while and do some heavy research just to familiarize myself with the medical details, but it’s as the term implies. A unicorn suffers ‘Magic Overload’ when they overexert themselves, usually from performing magic that’s far too powerful for their own good. I’m talking about serious supernatural magic here, the kind of magic that could’ve fried her brain completely. Luckily for her though, she’s going to be fine. She just needs a couple of days to rest her head and recharge.”

The nurse turned to eyeball the friends of her patient, “Do any of you know if Twilight Sparkle here did anything ‘irrational’ today?”

Rainbow Dash wondered for a moment, “Well, we were in a bit of ‘turbulence’ earlier and Twilight did bail out our flanks, but those spells just seemed like normal levitation techniques. She does that sort of thing on a daily basis.”

“She was floating in the air pretty high up in that pink force field of hers.” added Raine, “Though
I guess that would count as ‘levitation’ also.”

The nurse then brought her attention to the only other human in the room, “What about you? Did you see Twilight perform any extraordinary magic today?”

Something was clearly bothering the girl. Twyla just wasn’t sure what to say, let alone how to explain her wild theory. She really wanted to shout out to the world how Twilight was a heroine, but would it have been appropriate to mention that she’d just seen everyone around her perish in the town’s ultimate destruction? Would they even believe her if she did? All she wanted to do was forget the nightmarish thought. Even running the words over her lips was far too painful, but they needed to know the truth. Ponyville needed to know that there was more to the catastrophe that had almost claimed the lives of hundreds and she knew deep down that this was no accident.

Twyla took a final deep breath and sighed, “I did.” She really had to drag out the words from the very pit of her stomach.

“Well…?” the nurse prodded.

Twyla glanced over at the little purple unicorn lying comatose on the hospital bed, and ran her fingers through the pony’s mane one more time, “I saw something… pretty awful today.” A tear ran down her cheek and she looked up at Raine and her little flight assistant, “I thought I lost you guys forever…”

Princess Celestia shook her head, wondering how she had gotten to the balcony of her tower. The last thing she recalled was dining for an early dinner in the middle of the ballroom. She was listening in on the dull happenings of Canterlot from her assistants all the while trying to figure out who could possibly be impersonating Discord.

She checked the time from her Big Ben clock upon the wall, “Now that’s odd.” She had lost about ten minutes in time, and she had clearly been in a rush to go somewhere but couldn’t quite place the occasion. She tipped her armored hoof to her lip and glanced from side to side, wincing over an odd knot in her neck that had never been there before. Somewhere something uncanny had happened and she knew it.

The Princess trotted about her lounge for an answer before a scroll fell to the marble floor out of a pocket in her golden armor. She hesitated to even pick up the message Twilight’s assistant had apparently sent her. She searched every crevice of her mind but simply couldn’t remember ever receiving it. Whatever text dared to ink that scroll filled her heart with fear.

“Princess! Princess!” a scribe had entered the room, pausing for a moment to breathe from the dozens of staircases he had traveled, “I-I’m terribly sorry to interrupt your study, Princess. But is everything alright? You suddenly flew off in the middle of the day’s affairs report. N-Not that they were very important.” He chuckled nervously, “I might have don’t the same thing had I thought they were that boring!”

“I-It’s quite alright. I’ll return in a moment.” A golden flame covered the daunting message and lifted it into the air. Slowly Celestia raised the scroll and unfurled it before her eyes.

“Is anything the matter, my Princess?”

The Princess couldn’t believe what she saw, or the lack thereof to be precise. Spike’s message was completely blank. There was no reason that he would send an empty scroll in days of such uncertainty. The little dragon could be a bit naïve at times but he was no prankster, at least to this extent. A message had definitely been written on this very scroll and she had most certainly been on her way to investigate the matter. Whatever that matter had been exactly frustratingly escaped her. The world could’ve been crumbling under her very hooves and she would’ve been the very last to know.

Discord found himself lurking literally within the very shadows of the Pony Express station suffering under a very real sensation of Déjà Vu. Thankfully, having been recently inducted into the realm of the Timelords, the sands of the hourglass hadn’t escaped his keen eye, “Curse that Twilight Sparkle. Why didn’t I see that coming? That little brat is always ruining my fun…!”

He scrutinized each of the little courier ponies within the room, ponies he had just finished tormenting in a very deliberate setup all to seduce that little wall-eyed Pegasus that would’ve wandered through the door mere minutes from now. The chaos he had filled within her heart was absolutely priceless. That bitter indifference was so hard to come by these days and he’d be damned if that nerdy little unicorn was going to take that fun away from him.

Ditzy soon skipped into the Pony Express lobby, this time without any frightened Pegasi darting around outside for a rescue mission, “Hi everypony, how’s it-”

“Derpy! Where were you yesterday?!” a scruffy old mountain of a stallion approached her.

“Oh, uh, was I supposed to work yesterday?” Ditzy chuckled anxiously, “I thought I was supposed to work the day before that instead.”

“You didn’t show up then either… That’s two strikes Derpy.”

“B-But I had a good reason! A good friend of mines was in the hospital, I couldn’t just leave her there-”

“You know what? If this was the first time I’d actually care. Now get to work, you got two routes to cover today.”

“T-Two, sir…?” Ditzy stammered, “But it’s the middle of the day.”

“You want a third? Now get your crap and go! I don’t have time for your nonsense today, and you better not drop any of it out of the sky or you’re fired!” the supervisor stormed off, taking back his enormous shadow over the gray little pony.

Ditzy sighed and meekly fluttered over to her courier’s desk. She would’ve needed to make at least three trips today with all of the letters and packages thrown all over her counter. Looks like there wasn’t going to be any time for a muffin break today.

She filled her little saddle bag with as much mail as the sack would allow until a pony galloped by and dropped off an even greater amount of parcels at her desk.

“W-Wait a second! I-!”

The clerk was too busy sorting mail between each of the carriers to listen to any petty grievances and was already at the next desk with another load.

Ditzy gave another heart wrenching sigh, brushing the blonde hairs out of her eye. She’d probably have to work past nightfall yet again, but hey, at least her good friend Fiona was happy and okay, and that was good enough for her.

Ditzy slipped on her saddle bag with an optimistic smile on her face and flew out the front gates. Ponyville’s townsfolk needed their mail after all and she was their gal!

Discord silently darted from shadow to shadow completely undetected by the busy little mail handlers below and finally escaped the facility.

As if made up of a pool of oil, he slinked up a pole and puddled into the rim of a gutter. Discord grinned as he watched a contrail of letters lead up to a precious little Pegasus as she floundered about through the air with the heart of five Freddy Mercurys, “Go on and run along now, my dear. I’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Wow…! It’s like some kind of Renaissance festival!” Piper ogled the dozens upon dozens of bustling carts parked throughout the market square, each of which were filled with a luscious variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and all sorts of other tasty treats.

“A Rena-what?” In between Pinkie Pie’s typical greetings to just about every pony they passed, she managed to sneak in an explanation, “Sugar Cube Corner’s getting a bit low on goods, so we need to restock!”

With a cheerful smile, Pinkie lined through her checklist, “It looks like all we need now is some cinnamon. I wonder why!” The two snorted a laugh.

“Didn’t Mrs. Cake also mention something about grabbing some Mangos?” Piper recalled.

Pinkie Pie nearly leapt out of her hooves, “You’re right!” The little spaz couldn’t help licking her lips as a cart of delicious leftovers from her welcome party traveled through her taste buds, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Piper had already plundered through that very food cart at least twice by now, “You’re killing me over here, Pinkie.”

“All at once now!” Pinkie prepared shaking her hooves in Piper’s hands.

“And –a-one! And-a-two! And-a-!”

“Mango Mousse cake!” “Mango and Yogurt Chiffon cale!” they guessed all at once.

“Oh... that’s not what I was thinking at all.” Pinkie pondered.

“Hmm.” And then a stroke of genius hit Piper like a pie in the face, “Who says we can’t have both… at the same time?”

The little pony nearly exploded into a flurry of streamers and balloons, though by the standards of modern science it may have seemed as if she was having a seizure. Pinkie didn’t mind it though, it was the happiest seizure she'd had since probably last week.

The two bakers scampered off carrying everything on their list, including everything that fell far out of their budget. Sugar Cube Corner was soon filled with giddy laughs border lining on that of a drug fiend.

Far too much citrus splattered across the kitchen table and like ravenous zombies Piper and Pinkie went right to work.

A few hand’s worth of flour caked into a wooden bowl with a pinch of salt while a hoof began skinning packets of gelatin mix into a bowl of boiling water. It wasn’t long until the dial of an antique radio flipped to life and sent the freshest Jazz from Charles Manegus himself moaning through the air, “This here’s my jam!”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Piper cried as she beat a few eggs in her bowl. The angry yokes soon hued into a sunny yellow broth before being joined by a fine yogurt puree with a dash of sugar and a hint of vegetable oil. A whisk took them all up into a warm typhoon until there was no hint to tell them each apart from a tempting golden blend. A batch of cream tartar awaited their arrival.

Pinkie had just bubbled up a bowl of orange gelatin and while the glazed stage sat, she began to rinse a few beautifully red mangos before unloading them into an over pot set to just past medium heat over the dial. The ecstatic pink pony watched with a bitten smile as fruit’s skins began to crack, which was her sign to toss in a few pinches of sugar.

She could hardly contain herself and passed the time whipping up some fresh whipping cream until a ding dragged her back to the pot. It was time to rescue the mangos from their caldron. Their liberation was short lived however and as soon as the mangos had shed their skin and birthed their seeds Pinkie had sent them off to meet their doom at the bottom of a blender. She watched the bloody cyclone hurl fruit chunks under the spinning blades until all that remained was a fine pulp.

A hoof and a sneaker tapped in perfect unison as a trumpet, an uppity piano, a consistent cymbal, and the angriest saxophone ever kept their imaginations in sync.

Piper had rolled her mixing spoon through her batch for long enough and finally spread the mix over a tube pan. The placement had to be perfect for the finale but she could already taste the mango mousse dripping over the chiffon. Her brain literally had to pause for a moment to take in the sweet splendor until she finally shook herself loose and clanged the pan into a preheated oven below.

Meanwhile, Pinkie had already returned the shredded Mango frappe to its heated pot. The pulp fizzled and sent quite the alluring aroma of snapping citrus into the jazzy air. The pony’s mouth watered while she drowned the now hardened gelatin into another boiling pot to meet its eventual dissolve.

A few more minutes passed before the two batches of jelly and fine pulp were eventually introduced to one another and by the hand of another dollop of sugar they were wed. The cooling ease of the refrigerator would’ve made the perfect honeymoon.

Piper was far too emotionally invested in the recipe and eventually helped herself to a spare mango as she watched the minutes tick by on her easy bake oven. Oh, how that crisp tangy taste satisfied her in ways most women had only ever dreamed of, and yet this was only an appetizer.

The buzzer ringed before she could take another bite of the sinful fruit. She took a couple of oven mitts and removed the bare cake from its furnace. The scent was almost too much to handle. Piper anxiously placed the pan onto the kitchen table and immediately snatched back her half eaten mango for another bite, less she take a mouthful out of the cake itself. It needed to cool for a short while before the dressing could begin.

Pinkie Pie probably exposed the polished orangey mix too soon for it to have properly cooled, but she couldn't stand to be apart from her deliciously darling little bowl for a second longer.

At the first chance she got, Pinkie sprawled the gooey batter over a mixing tray and desperately submerged as much whip cream as she could into the golden paste. With a large spoon, she dazzled the fluffy clouds into the orange sunrise until the cheerful star itself had made it out of the horizon. A tint of vibrant shinning gold which somehow retained its puffy charm became the ultimate reward.

Pinkie almost lost herself in her reflection waving through the orange molasses. Somewhere the recipe had called to let the mixture cool for at least a day, but who had that kind of time on their hooves? She bit her quivering lips and it took all of Piper’s restraint to keep the little pony from devouring the syrup before reminding her of the fluffy chiffon. Ten minutes may have been just enough to wait for the most mouthwatering of tropical delights.

With a duo of unsteady and incredibly impatient spreading knives, the Chiffon became utterly overwhelmed under the tangy mousse which thanks to Pinkie Pie’s insatiable gluttony had retained some of its more soggy fluidity. The two bakers tried their best to keep any saliva from dripping all over the cake, as if it would’ve mattered in but a few minutes.

A few sliced Mangos later and at last the cake creation had finally reached its completion. Drenched at the center of a rather messy kitchen sat the most gorgeously glazed Mango Citrus Chiffon caked covered in a capsule of Mango mousse topped in a collection of golden Mango slices. Points may have been detected from the display’s exhibition as one of the slices slowly began to sink down into the buried chiffon but if any tears were to be had by now, they’d be that of sheer jealousy.

“I-It’s so beautiful…!” Pinkie dreamed with her mouth overflowing.

Piper was nearly ready to cry, “I’ve never been so in love before…!”

Not one more beat of Swing music had bounced before Pinkie and Piper leaped onto the golden creamy cake, nearly fumbling the entire thing off of the table as they filled their mouths with pure Caribbean ecstasy.

Little Poundcake and Carrotcake might’ve been heard crying for milk or whatever sort of moral support they had needed upstairs, but the two little brats would’ve had to wait their turn.

The bell to the Carousel Boutique chimed as Fiona attempted to enter before meekly allowing two far more sophisticated ponies to exit the parlor with their orders in hoof, “Oh, uh, hi Rarity. You said you wanted to see me?”

The white unicorn had finally been given a break from her busy schedule, “Oh, yes dear. It was actually Regina that wanted you to-” She couldn’t believe Fiona had actually traveled through the town in the tattered and stained yellow sweater she had worn out of the Everfree forest, “…Y-You’re still wearing that?”

“Well, I don’t really have anything else to wear, I-”

“Not another word!” Rarity lifted the girl out of her slippers with her magic and tossed her behind a fitting curtain. The poor thing looked like she had been raised in some sort of filthy third world country that hadn’t yet discovered the wonders of high fashion. How dare anyone be allowed to foolishly wander about in such rubbish!

Fiona shrieked as the pony tore away not only the raggedy sweater from the girl’s shoulders but even stole her stained capris as well. The only shred of dignity the human had left besides her cringing naked arms and legs was the blotch of red across her face, “W-What’re you doing?!”

“Oh, hush dear. They’re only garments, and you simply cannot allow yourself to be seen in such rags!” Rarity caught a racy glimpse of the girl’s underwear, “Oh, what’s with this humble two-piece you’ve got on under there? Some sort of bikini?”

“Don’t you dare!!” Fiona shouted.

“Alright, alright, dear. No need to get feisty. I mean, it’s a bit tacky but I suppose it isn’t as dirty as the rest of your ensemble. Now, where did I put those… Ah-hah! Here we are!”

Rarity managed to uncover a golden hanger in the mess of posh thrown about the boutique, and hanging from it sat the cloudiest of Easter Off-shoulder comforters. The sweater was probably a size too long leaving just enough room for a few fingers below the cuff, but it easily suited the shy little girl before her. With a smile, Rarity floated the creamy saffron number around Fiona’s anxious arms and over her pale pink skin. The sweater ended in a cloudy white puff that hung just below her shoulders that really complimented her collar bone and neck.

“And don’t forget about these!” Rarity waved a pair of rich magenta colored Capris which ended in delicate ruffles.

Fiona’s eyes shined crested by a perky smile as she slipped on the pants one leg at a time, her blush replaced with giddy excitement.

“Regina whipped this up herself as soon as she got back from the hospital. I was quite impressed with what she was able to do with my scrap pile on such short notice.” Rarity giggled, “Regina really wanted to give this to you personally but we’ve been so busy with the orders lately. She had to run out to get some shopping done for me just so we’d get these bridesmaids outfits started in time!”

“I-I don’t know what to say. This is just beautiful! T-Thank you so much! Now I have two cute outfits to wear while I’m here in Ponyville.”

Rarity staggered momentarily, “No dear, you only have one.” She quickly tossed Fiona’s previous mishap into the trash just as Fiona fumbled out her wallet, “Oh, no, no, no darling. This is absolutely gratis’! Anyone who’s a dear friend of Regina’s is a friend of mines.”

“B-But it’s-!”

“Not another word! If you want to give your regards to anyone you’ll have to come back when Regina’s here, now off with you!” Rarity insisted as she shoved Fiona out of her salon, “And make sure you travel through the market square on your way home!”

Fiona had nearly been thrown out of the Carousel Boutique when the Salon’s trestles began to shake.

“What in Equestria?” the unicorn had just nearly dodged a falling flower pot.

To Discord’s ultimate disappointment, the buffalo had done all they could to replant and repair the damage they had caused to Sweet Apple Acres. How or why they had found themselves so far away from their home in Appaloosa had remained a puzzling impossibility, but at least they had made amends with the Apple family and had ended the impromptu occasion with a warm batch of apple pies.

“Take care ya’ll!” waved Applejack as the herd stampeded off into the sunset, “And say howdy to my cousin Braeburn, will ya’?”

Aprile tossed the last bone of an apple pie crust down her hatch, “They weren’t so bad! Bunch of nice ol’ fellas’.” She was surprised to see such mammoth beasts that she would’ve otherwise avoided outside of a rodeo show act so civilized and friendly. Although Equestria was about as cartoony a world as you could find, at least the folks were pleasant.

The last slice of apple pie on the garden table reached out an alluring invitation to Applebloom. It called out to her, welcomed her to take a bite. Everypony else already had tummy’s filled with apple crisp it wasn’t as if any other pony would mind if the littlest filly on the farm snatched the last morsel. These were perfectly good excuses.

Applebloom skipped onto the stool at the empty table, a pan with last slice of warm apple deliciousness before her all for the taking. She licked her lips and scooped up the last piece into her hoof, just a few more uninterrupted seconds and she’d be sent tumbling back into a paradise of warm flakey crust cupping a cavalcade of crispy apple delight.

The dirt tasted nothing like apple pie and the bump to her tooth was far less satisfying. With a violent splotch the guilty pleasure spurted across the ground to Applebloom’s ultimate teary eyed chagrin, and it was around that time that she finally noticed the tremors coming from the ground beneath her.

“N-Now what?!” Applejack struggled to keep her hooves on the ground.

Aprile held her hat over her head, “Apple-pickin’ ain’t supposed to be this dramatic!”

The day had been filled with miracles, one of them being the fact that any of the apple trees still had any apples attached to them, but one could probably pose that it was simply due to good old fashioned Apple family ingenuity.

The two farmers, along with the flustered little filly, managed to make their way to the gate of Sweet Apple Acres where Big Mac and Granny smith Apple stood utterly shocked.

“What the buck is that thing?” Applejack couldn’t quite wrap her head around the mechanical monstrosity that took up triple the dirt road’s width.

The machine was part locomotive part two and a half bulldozers. For every few meters it had dug a hole in the ground, planted a rather peculiar seed and covered it up again with a final douse of water all in one efficient sweep. In almost far too fanciful a manner, even by Equestrian standards, giant apple trees instantly thundered out of the ground one after another covered in some of the largest apples the Apple family had ever witnessed. Even the veteran Granny smith Apple herself had to lift her denchers off of the ground.

The enormous contraption finally came to a halt after nearly knocking over a fence post to the old timer’s irritation, “Just what do ya’ think you’re doing plantin’ them crazy trees around these here parts! This here’s Sweet Apple Acres country!” and finally, it dawned on good old Granny Smith about just who had arrived on her farm.

“Missed us, Apples?” who else would have sat as luxuriously behind the throttle of such a gargantuan contrivance but the notorious Flim-Flam brothers themselves, “I don’t think we need another introduction do we, Flim?”

“Maybe we should, Flam! It seems these simple old apple folk have forgotten about-”

“You two had better not start yer’ dang singing again! And get yer’ big heapin’ wagon off a’ my fence ya’ varmints!” the Granny shouted.

“Yeah! Take your big giant ‘whatchamacallit’ and hit the road!” stomped Applejack.

Flam tipped his straw hat as he leaned over the railing of the machine, “You mean our ‘Super Speedy Apple Seedy Planter Seven Thousand’?”

“Quite the modern marvel, isn’t it Flam?”

“That it is, Flim. That it is.” Flam curled his red moustache, “Why, with our Super Speedy Apple Seedy Planter Seven Thousand, we can plant an entire fully grown apple farm in no time at all!”

“Just look at these remarkable apples, brother!” Flim picked a red delicious off of a freshly planted tree. The apple could barely fit within his two hooves, “Just one of these apples could feed an entire family!”

Aprile had never seen anything so ridiculous in her entire apple farming career, “Now those ain’t even real apples! Real apples take time and hard work to grow! Those apples are clearly just genetically modified trash ain’t fit for selling!”

Flim took a snip out of the enormous apple with a satisfied moan, “Certainly tastes like the real deal! Want a sample, Flam?”

“Don’t mind if I do, Flim!”

“But this here’s Sweet Apple Acres land! You can’t plant those trees here!” Applebloom shouted backed by a “Yup!” from Big Macintosh.

“I say, my little Apples, how insulting!” Flim threw a hoof over his head in shock.

“My, my! No need to accuse us of such fraudulence! We paid for this land out of these poor old pockets of ours!” Flam pointed not at the Apple family farm itself, but to the rows of freshly paved down Timberwolf forest, which had only been the beginning of their latest endeavor, “We have every right to be here! Right next to Sweet Apple Acres… which we’ll simply just take over as soon as we run you folks out of business!”

Fright washed over Applejack’s eyes, “But why would you do that? What have we ever done to you?!”

“It’s simply the beauty of the Free Market I’m afraid.” Flim starred at their deeds and documents with a grin, “Although we may have been reckless last Cider season, we still know a thing or two about apples!” he gave a light chuckle, “We’ll see how well the Apple family can handle a second round of competition, this time at the peak of the season!”

With a villainous scoff, the giant apple planter throttled its engine and continued its thunderous campaign down the road starting with the rest of Granny Smith’s fence post.

“They can’t just come in here and buy up land like that!” Aprile was in total disbelief. To think that even such a colorful utopia wasn’t without its own hard lined corruption. She turned to the terrified Applejack, “We have to do something! Can’t we take this up to the town hall?”

“That’s a great idea! They’ll throw those scoundrels out of our manes for sure!” Applebloom hollered, “Right Granny?”

“It ain’t that simple youngin’.” Applejack couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen such a troubled look on her Granny’s face, “Appealin’ a case could take days, weeks, maybe even months! And unless them Flim-Flam brothers are lying through their teeth, we might not be able to stop em’. Especially if it’s unmarked territory outside of our farm like that…” The old timer shook her head with a sigh as if she had already given up hope.

Aprile threw rodeo her hat to the ground, “This just ain’t right! There’s gotta’ be a way to save the farm!”

Applejack gazed out at the precious little hills of Sweet Apple Acres as the golden sun began to set. Their farm had stood the test of time ever since Granny Smith Apple was but a filly herself. If not for such a humble little apple farm Ponyville might not even be where was today.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a little bit scared. It wasn’t the first time those meddlesome Flim-Flam brothers had threated to run their farm out of town and once again Applejack would gladly walk right into a glue factory before giving up even a single apple without a fight.

Her green darling eyes narrowed with determination as she picked up Aprile’s hat off of the ground and dusted it off, “The quality of our apples speak for themselves, and there’s no way we’re going to be outdone by some cheap surplus imitation. We’ll show em’ what a real red delicious tastes like! Right, partner?” Applejack darted a smirk over to her deputy and handed the girl back her moxie.

The line was enough to bid a toothy grin out of Aprile as she swiveled her hat back over her noodle, “Hell yeah…!”