A train heist is foiled!
A train heist is foiled!
Carrot Top sighed as she collapsed over the kitchen table. The morning light crept in from the dusty windows, glaring down on her aggressively. Derpy and Dinky were packing up for their monthly visit to Ponyville, leaving her alone for a couple nights with only herself to bother her. "You almost done there, Derpy?" she called out from across the tiny living space.
"Just a few more beats!" Derpy angrily yelled back from her room. "This stupid dress doesn't want to fit in my bag!"
"You still have that thing?" Carrot Top sighed back, drawing circles on the table dust. "I'm surprised you didn't throw it out."
Derpy busted through the door head first, her wings beating the air aggressively as she hauled her overstuffed saddle-bags. "I was hoping Rarity could fix it. She's not too expensive for these kinds of jobs unlike that bit-hungry fiend that I bought this thing from." She scrunched up her eyes in anger as she remembered the mare's indifferent face as she sold her the frilly abomination from the pinkest of realms, but brought with it a much more painful memory. She swayed down to the floor, wings coming to a rest at her sides.
"Mom, let's go." Dinky sat by the open front-door, disinterested with her mother's morning antics.
"I know, mature filly, I know," Derpy exhaustively replied. She turned back to Carrot Top, who hadn't budged an inch. "You know," she leaned in close, "without a filly in the house, you can do anything you want."
"Like what," Carrot Top sighed back. "My life is as dull as the dirt I look at all day."
"Mom—"
"In a minute!" Derpy growled back in frustration. She turned back to Carrot Top, trying to hold onto her last strands of patience. "Are you sure you'll be fine on your own."
Carrot Top let out a single dry laugh before dragging herself back into the air and flashing Derpy a sincere smile. "I'll be fine enough. Besides, I'm sure that a little time away from each other is exactly the thing we need."
"Yeah," Derpy happily agreed back.
Dinky tapped her hoof and sighed. "Mom, before the train leaves we should go."
"Your mother has wings, we're not going to be late," Derpy argued back. "Take care, Carrot Top."
"I will, Derpy."
Derpy Hauled Dinky onto her back and flew off towards that train station, leaving Carrot Top alone in the sad little hovel with no one to talk to but herself, and with the weekend upon her that was all Carrot Top could do. "I need a hobby... Derpy, wait for me!" she called as she galloped out the door.
Little Strongheart and Silverstar waited patiently, and the former eagerly while Braeburn and Apple Bumpkin hauled their large curtained wagon across the city. Neither of them knew about the contents of the apples other than that both of the ponies had expressed an unhealthy level of enthusiasm over it, to the point that Silverstar had become afraid of Braeburn.
"Hoooooooooooowdeeeeeeeeee Silverstar and Lil' Strongheart!" Braeburn whinnied with enough invigoration he could have moved the sun itself. "I bet y'all are just dyin' to know what's under this here curtain, aren't ya?"
Silverstar couldn't take anymore of the radiating happiness coming from the two apple ponies. "Braeburn, if you don't stop wasting my time I just might buck you into tomorrow. Now, quit wasting my time and get on with it."
"Someone's sour," Braeburn replied with little care to Silverstar's burning glare. "Well, you got a point. I think it's time to let the cat out of the bag. Sis, if you would please."
"Presenting," Apple Bumpkin chortled with unfamiliar happiness, "true golden delicious apples!" She yanked off the curtain of the car, revealing a stockpile of yellow apples that gleamed in the light of the morning sun, radiating good feelings to anyone who just might catch a sniff of its alluringly sweet smell.
"I don't see what's so special," Silverstar sourly spat back. "You've grown golden delicious apples before. What makes this batch so special?"
"Didn't you hear her? Get the wax out of your ears," Braeburn berated him. "These are true golden delicious apples. The skin on these foals is actual gold!"
"Wait, you can grow gold?" Little Strongheart stared at the pile incredulously. "How in all of Equestria did you manage to do this?" The glare of the sun hitting the apples reflected off her mystified eyes.
"There's only one true ingredient to growing true golden delicious apples: love and care," Braeburn answered her as he gently wiped a smudge off of one of the apples.
"But that's two," Silverstar groaned.
"Well, anyway, we're going to take this shipment to Canterlot to make some hard-earned bits. The bits we need to keep the farm going for months! But this is also some very precious cargo..."
"Which is why you wanted us to guard it, right?" Silverstar groaned again. "Get to the point already."
"There's been sightings of bandits on the road chasing and robbing trains. I just want to make sure this gets to Canterlot safely." Braeburn lowered his tone as he his mind crossed over to the worst case scenario. "We need this, and I'm really counting on you guys."
"You can count on me to keep your apples safe," Little Strongheart assured him. "I just so happen to know a few things about train chasing."
"Not something to be proud of," Silverstar groaned again. Recent events in his life had left him perpetually tired, but life had to go on and he still had a job to do. "Well, you can fetch me before the train leaves. I need to go finish my paperwork. Officer Strongheart, consider yourself on standby."
"I understand, Sheriff Silverstar." She bowed courteously and turned back to Braeburn. "I am ready to help."
"Uh, that's alright." Braeburn began to feel uncomfortable and turned to the one thing he was sure would protect him in life; family. "Me and sis' have got the loading all covered. You can go take some time to yourself if you like."
"Actually, Braeburn," Apple Bumpkin cut in, smiling deviously. "I think I left the shop unlocked. Why don't you and Little Strongheart take care of the cart while I go check it."
"What? But, Apple—"
"Sorry, can't hear you." Apple Bumpkin kicked up a cloud of dust as she galloped off. "Good luck!" she yelled back before she vanished under the horizon.
"Apple Bumpkin?" Braeburn weakly cried out. Little Strongheart moved up close next to him. He felt his heart beat away in his chest, wanting to break free of its weak cage and fly away. He turned and Little Strongheart was already strapped to the cart, staring at him with her fierce eyes and soft smile. It was such an odd combination. "Uh, I guess you're ready then?"
"Yes, I'm glad to help," she answered him happily. "To the train station, right?"
"Yeah, the train," Braeburn uneasily sputtered as he started his trot. "Why can't I be at ease around her anymore..."
"What was that?" Little Strongheart asked. "Are you okay, Braeburn?"
"I'm fine! I mean, I'm fine," he said with feigned calmness.
The two of them pulled the cart to the train station in silence. Braeburn didn't dare say anything, paralyzed with fear, but Little Strongheart was content. She beamed her tiny smile whilst next to Braeburn, who she was sure was none the wiser of her feelings. The moment was almost perfect. "Your golden apples are quite wonderful."
"T-thanks," Braeburn stammered back. "Uh, we're almost at the train station... and— Miss Carrot Top!" he yelled out as loud as he could. Carrot Top stood still, dumbly staring back at him from the platform of the train station. "Miss Carrot Top, what are you doing here?"
"Huh?" Carrot Top turned to find Braeburn and Little Strongheart just a few yards away, hauling a cart full of something. "Oh, hey you two," she answered back weakly. "I was just seeing off Derpy and Dinky. And, what are you two doing, together?" Her eyes narrowed on Little Strongheart, smiling back at her innocently.
"We're just haulin' up a pile of true golden delicious apples! Perfect apples for ponies with deep pockets."
"True golden what apples?" Carrot Top trotted over to the cart, lifting the curtain and staring at the apples inquisitively. "They look like regular apples to me, maybe with a little bit more shine."
"That shine is real gold," Little Strongheart squealed exuberantly. "Isn't it incredible?" The look on Carrot Top's face was one of stoicism.
"Er, Strongheart, I can handle the loadin' on my own. Why don't you chat with Miss Top for awhile?"
"Are you sure?" Braeburn had the harness attached to Little Strongheart off in seconds and he had already started pulling the heavy cart to the loading dock through gritted teeth. "I guess he is..."
"Getting closer to him?" Carrot Top managed to say through her scrunched up and leering face. "I'm not envious or anything." Her flaring nostrils told a different story.
"I don't think it is like that," Little Strongheart sighed dejectedly.
Carrot Top was caught off-guard by the sudden melancholy of the normally steadfast buffalo. "H-hey, you don't have to get all mopey." She wasn't sure if it was common social conditioning that made her want to cheer up Little Strongheart, or that she had started to care about her like she does Derpy. "He's probably just overworking himself with those true golden apples or something. Once it's all over, we'll all come back and he won't stop yapping about apples or Appleloosa or something."
"That is a nice thought," Little Strongheart answered her somewhat brighter, "but I feel there is more to it than that. Well, maybe I will find out on the way to Canterlot?"
"What's that?"
"Oh, Sheriff Silverstar and I will be working to guard Braeburn's apples on the way to Appleloosa," she said cheerfully. Her eyes, bright with innocence, narrowed on Carrot Top. "I know, why don't you come with us? It would be fun, right?"
"Have you even heard of the concept of rivalry?" Carrot Top groaned in protest.
"Of course, but we are also friends, right?"
Carrot Top stood frozen for a moment. When she had finished collecting her thoughts, she drooped her head and chuckled weakly. "This is a really messed up dynamic."
"Train leaves in thirty minutes I believe."
Derpy and Dinky stepped onto the train platform inexplicably exhausted. Derpy briefly questioned why she didn't just fly the two of them, but dismissed it in favor of trodding on over to her now-dusty home to leave behind the terrible weight on her shoulders. "Let's go, Dinky," she groaned weakly.
"Yes, mom," Dinky stoically moaned.
The walk across Ponyville was uneventful, and when Derpy opened the door to their home she was met with a cold and dark hallway into a long-lonely house. She felt Dinky tug on her tail, growing more and more impatient. "You want to go to the park, right?" she asked her daughter knowingly.
"Yes, yes, yes! Tootsie Flute is over there waiting for me right now!"
Derpy dropped her bags at the doorway. "Alright, silly filly, let's go." She shut the door with a sweep of her tail.
"Don't call me silly filly," Dinky groaned as she giddily skipped by her mother's side all the way to the park.
Derpy let her mind wander as she observed the world around her. Nothing at all seemed to have changed one bit since she left. She knew she wasn't one of Ponyville's great pillars of community, but she liked feeling like she belonged or was useful in some special way. "Should have grown out of that years ago..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, silly filly," Derpy teased as she licked her hoof and smoothed a stray strand on Dinky's mane. "Did you brush your mane this morning?"
"No, you did," Dinky sighed. Her eyes brightened as she saw the park coming into sight. She gleefully kicked off the ground and broke into a jubilant gallop, almost flying off in the direction of a light-blue filly with a purple mane. "Tootsie Flute!"
"Aw, isn't that cute." Derpy fluttered over her daughter and her best friend, taking every bit of pleasure in Dinky's scrunchy little face. "Okay, Sweetie. Mommy will be back to pick you up from your wittle pway date in an hour. You and Tootsie have funsies!"
"Just go!" Dinky angrily snapped back.
"Bye bye!" Derpy looped through the air and lazily glided off towards Sugarcube Corner, unable to hide her own amusement. Her daughter was just such an easy target. She drifted past the doors of the sugar-shop and landed gracefully in front of the counter. "Is anypony here!?" she clumsily yelled out.
"One moment!" came an older womanly voice. A stout blue mare with a pink frosting-like mane emerged from the kitchen, covered in pink frosting. "Oh, Derpy, back so soon?! This is a nice surprise. Are you finally back from Appleloosa?"
"No, just visiting and bringing Dinky along, Mrs. Cake," Derpy replied contently.
"How precious," Mrs. Cake replied. "We don't have any muffins, but we still have plenty of other treats."
Derpy did a double-take as she meticulously scanned the content of the display case with two different focuses. As Mrs. Cake said, it was devoid of her most favourite treat. "I don't know, it just doesn't feel right unless it's a muffin."
"Cupcakes don't bite, Derpy. C'mon, try something, if only for my sake."
Derpy sighed and turned back to the display. "Uh, I guess I'll try that?" she said, pointing to an ugly clump of what looked like pieces of bread stuck together. She payed for her dish up front and retired to one of the tables with Mrs. Cake, choosing to forget about her ugly confection. "So how’s Ponyville these days?"
"It's the same as ever. I swear, when it's not being invaded by agents of chaos, swarmed by parasites, visited by the Princesses, or swept up in one of Twilight's possibly hallucination-induced panic sprees, this is the dullest place to live in all of Equestria."
"Yeah, sounds about right," Derpy oddly lamented.
"So, what has Carrot Top been up to?"
"Oh, she's pretty much the same. If it wasn't for me, she'd probably stay in all day stuffing herself."
"Carrot Top, are you okay?" Little Strongheart stared at the inhumane sight before her. She had never seen any one creature gorge itself on so much food, but before her, spitting on many notions of decency, Carrot Top managed to absorb food from the train's menu like a ludicrous black hole. It wasn't entirely beyond her to believe Carrot Top might be part dragon. "This is a rather scary sight, truth be told."
"Haven't you ever seen somepony use food as an emotional crutch?" Carrot Top snapped back, annoyed and spitting flakes of bread all over the buffalo. "Let me gorge myself in peace. That's what friends do," she said as she shoveled another helping of pasta into her infinitely gaping mouth.
"I do not think so." Little Strongheart bit down on Carrot Top's tail and hauled her away from the messy table effortlessly.
"No, come back." Carrot Top wiggled her legs in vain as she watched the plate shrink and vanish before her. "You're the only one that understands me!" She let herself be dragged along the train, uncaring, all the way towards the back to the cargo wagon where Braeburn and Apple Bumpkin paced around their precious pile of golden apples, tense. Silverstar watched them from the side, slightly amused.
"Stress yourself like that and your mane will fall out," he casually joked.
"Don't you dare say that!" both Braeburn and Apple Bumpkin barked back.
Silverstar stifled a chuckle and turned to Little Strongheart. "Found Carrot Top I see? Well, welcome to the rabbit hole. Don't even try talking to those two. They're on pins for their precious apples."
"Well we should be!" Braeburn snapped at Silverstar. "This time of year, with all the farmer ponies bringing their best work to Canterlot, train robbers take their chance to grab onto a train and take whatever they can get their grubby hooves on."
"Braeburn, you sound paranoid," Silverstar pointed out bluntly. The sudden jerking of the train sent him flying to the back of the wagon. "What the hay was that!?"
"Train robbers," Braeburn uttered quietly, one eye's iris shrinking into jittery dot." Apple Bumpkin, Lock her up!"
"Roger," Apple Bumpkin replied as she placed a board over the cart of apples and began nailing it shut. "Cargo is secured."
"Isn't this a bit much?" Silverstar badgered them.
"Better safe than sorry!" Braeburn cried back hysterically. "We lose this shipment and we might lose the farm!"
Silverstar sighed and turned to Little Strongheart. "Think you can put this fool's mind at ease?"
"Understood. Let's go, Carrot Top."
"What?" Carrot Top complained. "Why do I have to go?"
"We're friends, aren't we?" Little Storngheart asked innocently.
"Well... yeah... fine," Carrot Top whimpered in defeat. "Let's go."
Carrot Top followed Little Strongheart to the passenger carts. In the last one, a pink pony with a large hulking yellow pony behind her addressed the awe-struck passengers lividly, drinking in their horrified faces and the lime-light.
"listen up all y'all ponies," a pink earth pony with a lighter shade for her mane ordered to all the inhabitants of the cart, "this here train is now property of the Crabapple bandits. I'm their leader, Crabapple. So, we have a toll price. Would anypony like to guess how much our lil' crazy train costs?" No one dared to answer. "Well ain't you all about as much fun as a bag of angry manticores. Hands!"
The large earth pony stallion with unkempt yellow fur and mane stepped out from behind Crabapple. He grunted, snorted, spat, and glared at the inhabitants of the cart.
"Now, Hands got his name from how well he is at handling other ponies, Why he's as sweet as buttercups on the inside. Go ahead, Hands, pick one of them up."
Hands gingerly trotted over to a nearby yellow pony with a grayish-blue mane. Even though she was unicorn, she was too scared to do anything as he gently picked her up, turned her upside down, and shook all the bits out of her pockets.
"That should cover half her fee," Crabapple noted with humor. "I do hope one of y'all will be kind enough to afford the rest of her toll. You don't want to know what we do to all our passengers when just one can't pay up. Time to pony up y'all."
From their hidden alcove, Carrot Top watched the events with a sense of dread. Little Strongheart felt tiny as she watched Hands pony-handle the passengers. Carrot Top almost exploded with hysteria, only her common sense kept her from screaming out in terror. "What are we gonna do?" she whispered fervently to Little Strongheart. "That, they, we, us, what?"
"We should probably go back to Braeburn?" Little Strongheart insisted.
"Now, what do we have here?" came a high-pitched squeaky voice. Carrot Top turned slowly to find a tall bony blue stallion with some of the worst teeth she had ever had the horror of seeing. "I hope you paid for your tickets."
"I think I left my purse in my other coat," Carrot Top cried feebly. "I don't suppose you could let me go grab it?" She flashed the skinny stallion her most awkward and painful smile, just as Little Strongheart butted him into the next cart. "What did you just do?" she asked weakly.
"What's going on back there?" Crabapple strutted to the back of the cart where Carrot Top was shaking in fear. When she saw the both of them, a tiny and cold smile played across her lips. "Unaccounted for passengers, it seems. Well, anyone can ride on my little train of sweet love as long as they can pay the price."
"A-about that," Carrot Top grimaced. "We don't exactly have a lot of bits on us."
Little Strongheart dug her hooves into the ground and shot right into Crabapple. "You have the right to remain silent," she said with authority.
"Little Strongheart," Carrot Top squealed in fear, "behind you."
"What?" Little Strongheart turned around, and met with dozens of the grunts of the Crabapple gang. All of them wore pink bandanas the same color as Crabapple's coat. "Oh?"
"Assault costs extra, sugar," Crabapple calmly moaned as she bucked Little Strongheart's chest, sending the cow flying right onto Carrot Top. "Are you ready to pay up, one way or another?"
Little Strongheart bolted right back onto her hooves and grabbed Carrot Top around her waist. "Carrot Top, I have a new idea." She charged into the closest window, breaking right through it, and threw herself and Carrot Top onto the roof of the train. The sound of hoofsteps heading towards the front echoed over them.
"Well, this is really interestin' now," Crabapple remarked giddly. "Somepony go tell Wrench to get this thing goin' again, and why don't a dozen of you follow after that calf and her gal pal and bring them back here. Don't rough her up though, I get first dibs. In the meantime, it's time to pay some dear family a visit."
"Well, I'm happy to hear that you two have acclimated well to your new home," Mrs. Cake remarked as she took a bite out of a large piece of carrot cake. "To suddenly pack up like that and move out, I don't think Mr. Cake and I would have been able to go through that gracefully."
"Oh, we'll be back by the end of the year," Derpy chuckled. "I can't forget since Dinky keeps mumbling about it whenever she has to take a cold bath. Hot water isn't always available."
"I can't imagine Carrot Top taking that well."
"You should have seen her face when she saw the outhouse."
"Thank you, Derpy, for convincing me to never move to the frontier towns." Both of them laughed. "So, how is Dinky? It's been almost half a year since you all have moved away. I would hate to think the little filly is still having a hard time."
"Oh, Dinky. She..." Derpy's tone fell off, her thoughts becoming preoccupied with all the troubles her daughter has had. "She didn't like Appleloosa at all at first. Her sister visiting us helped her out and she's been trying to like the town." Derpy looked down at the untouched ugly mush she had bought moments ago. "I'm not a bad mother, right?"
"You've been a mother longer than I, Derpy. You're doing fine." She placed a comforting hoof on the crestfallen pegasus's side, but the outbreak of magnified infant cries erupting from upstairs was quick to bring both of them back to earth. "Oh goodness, what now."
"Mrs. Cake! We've got a problem!" a hyperactive girly voice called down to her.
"A mother's work is never done," Mrs. Cake sighed contently.
"And then some," Derpy added with a giggle.
"Mrs. Cake! I think it's alive!" the same girly voice screamed again, fearful for her life. "Help!"
"Coming, Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake hurried up the stairs swifter than her form would suggest. Leaving Derpy alone to stew with her thoughts.
Derpy looked down at the ugly treat again, wishing it were a muffin, or at least something else familiar to her. "I wonder what Carrot Top is up to," she lazily groaned to herself as she rested her head down on the table.
"AGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Carrot Top screamed at the top of her lungs as she raced along the roof of the train speeding away under her. "Somepony help! I don't want to die!"
"Get it together and jump!" Little Strongheart screamed back. On cue, the both of them jumped over an overarching sign that worked around the train. Behind them, their chasers followed suit. "Well, this is new, being on the other end of this scenario."
"Celestia! Luna! Even Discord I don't care! I just want off this crazy thing!" Carrot Top cried out in vain.
"Uh oh," Little Strongheart bleated, "tunnel."
"What the hay do you mean tunnel!" Carrot Top looked up and saw the offending opening coming into view. It wasn't very big. "Mommy!"
"On the count of three, duck!"
"I don't want to!"
"Three!" Little Strongheart and Carrot Top flattened themselves against the carts as darkness chewed right into them, knocking away their dimmer chasers. For Carrot Top, it was the single scariest minute of her life as she felt the rough roof of the tunnel claim a few strands of her untameable mane. "See, not too bad, right?" Little Strongheart chimed in.
Carrot Top started screaming again, all the way back into the light and even further. Not even the beautiful scenery of Canterlot's mountain could calm her down. "I want off!"
"C'mon!" Little Strongheart grabbed Carrot Top around her waist and hauled her into the window under them. They were back in the dining cart, and it was seemingly empty. "We finally got lucky, I guess."
"I'm going to lose my lunch," Carrot Top groaned as she flopped onto the floor. "I'm done, just leave me, Strongheart, I'll only slow you down anyway." Her pleas to surrender were not adhered to. Little Strongheart helped her up despite both their fatigue, despite all her wining, and despite all her struggling. "Didn't you hear the part where I said ‘leave me’?"
"I did," Little Strongheart replied, "but I thought you are not supposed to leave your friends behind?"
"Do you always have to be so nice?" Carrot Top sighed. "It makes me look so bad..."
"Carrot Top, are you well?"
"Not at all," she groaned. "This day can't possibly get any worse."
"Is that a challenge?" The same squeaky voiced stallion stood at one end of the cart, balancing the foulest, most disgusting pie that Little Strongheart had the horror of seeing. To call it a baked bad would have been an understatement. It was foulness incarnate and wrapped under a thin circle of dough. "I've got one shot, and pretty good aim."
"Is that a pie?" Carrot Stop bleated in confusion. "You're going to assault us... with a pie?"
"Get down!" Little Strongheart grabbed Carrot Top and threw them behind a table, kicking it over to act as a barricade.
"It's official, I'm dreaming."
"Little fillies want to play?" the squeaky stallion taunted as he trotted closer to the table. "I don't bite, much." He was a foot away from the table, grinning with all twelve of his dirty yellow teeth, savoring the idea of his helpless prey. He didn't see the brown and moustached earth pony sneak up behind him and smack him with a two-by-four. He flopped to the ground.
"It's safe now, you can come out," Silverstar called. He was surprised to see Carrot Top and Little Strongheart crawl out from behind the table. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I can imagine Strongheart getting away from these bandits, but you're tougher than expected, Carrot Top."
"I don't want to talk about it," Carrot Top gasped as she collapsed to the floor limp. "Can somepony please tell me what's going on?"
"Train robbers are trying to hi-jack the train for bits, loot, and the true golden delicious apples."
"Wait, Braeburn's true golden delicious apples!?" both Carrot Top and Little Strongheart said in unison. "We have to do something!"
Silverstar raised an invisible eyebrow, and sighed. "Well, they already got the apples. Got Braeburn and Apple Bumpkin all tied up. Girls, we've lost before the fight even started, and I'm just trying to find a way off this thing," he said solemnly. He removed his hat and held it against his chest.
"Surrender?" Little Strongheart stomped her hoof. "We can't surrender! It is not like Appleloosans to surrender when faced with just terrible odds."
"Then what do you propose we do?" Carrot Top groggily asked.
"Charge in!"
"And get surrounded?" Carrot Top pointed out. "Is charging something your answer to everything?"
"Most of the time," the strong-headed buffalo replied.
"We're doomed."
"Well, why don't you think of something if my ideas are no good?"
Carrot Top did a double-take. "What, me? I don't know, uncouple the carts to separate the bandits?"
"That can work," Silverstar replied in astonishment.
Mrs. Cake stumbled down the stairs. Whatever it was that she was called for, it had left her utterly drained. "Oh, Derpy, you're still here?" she groaned. "Unicorns sure are a handful at that age."
Derpy sat up straight and yawned. "Yeah. Have you gotten the magical toy act yet?"
"Once," Mrs. Cake recalled in displeasure. "Since then we've only bought plush toys for little Pumpkin.That will be the last time I have a wood block magically thrown at me."
"Dang! I wish I thought of that!" Derpy sighed and rubbed her head, remembering more wounds than she rightfully should.
"So, what happened with that nice stallion you were here with awhile back?"
The question caught Derpy off-guard, her concentration breaking and her eyes going off in two different directions. She felt the worst lump of her life, growing itself in her throat. "Oh, he's fine. I mean there's nothing between us. Nothing like that."
"That's a shame. I have yet to meet a stallion that ordered parfaits and turned out to be bad. A little food wisdom, you know," Mrs. Cake smirked.
"Oh he's, uhh, fine. We're just friends is all. Nothing serious or anything." Derpy shook her head carelessly, almost knocking away her untouched ugly lump of a treat.
"Odd, I saw you hitting it off last time. When I left to the kitchen and came back, you were both gone. I thought you had gone off to have some fun."
"Oh no, no, no. Just friends," Derpy insisted.
"Is that so? Well, I suppose it's not my place to pry. You're a grown mare after-all. Would you like me to put your bread pudding in a doggy bag?"
Derpy snapped back to reality and turned her attention back to the lump. "This is bread pudding... they make bread pudding! Wait, this is bread pudding?" The universe was a funny place after-all. "Yeah, sure, I'll take it to go." Mrs. Cake took the plate behind the counter and began wrapping it up to go. "Say, Mrs. Cake, what would you do if Mr. Cake disappeared?"
Mrs. Cake looked up, her eyes full of surprise. She had a feeling where this conversation was going. "Well, of course I would be distraught for months, maybe even years or decades. Raising two foals to boot? Well, I don't think I would be able to recover from something like that on my own."
"Yeah, that's for sure." Derpy nearly slid out of her seat as she stared at the ceiling dejectedly. "It would be a real shocker, huh?"
"But, I would need to move on eventually."
"Huh?" Derpy fell out of her seat. "What's that mean?"
"Well, I don't know," Mrs. Cake shrugged. "I just know I would have to move on at some point."
"Would you remarry? Or, I mean, replace Mr. Cake?"
Mrs. Cake finished putting the little bow on her bag, a little decoration to prove her shop put a little extra love in everything they do. Something about it didn't seem right this time. "Nopony out there could ever replace my precious Carrot Cake." She tightened the bow. "But, I also wouldn't want to be alone for the rest of my life."
"What?" Derpy pulled herself back up in a single beat of her wings. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, if life should manage to put a nice stallion in my way, why not take life's offer. Not to replace Mr. Cake, but to start a new life. Growing old alone can be a painful thing."
Derpy rushed to the counter, frantic and wings buzzing behind her. "And what if things go badly with the new stallion! What if your foals don't like him? What if Mr. Cake, after being gone for eight years suddenly appears again? What if the relationship just goes badly?"
"What if something wonderful happens, Derpy?" Mrs. Cake asked back. "I would have to at least try."
"Are you ready for this?" Little Strongheart asked Carrot Top as she grabbed onto her tightly.
"I'm beginning to have reservations about the credibility of this plan! Maybe we should reconsider?" Carrot Top begged weakly. "I mean, I don't think this is going to work!"
"But, this is your plan; how can you have self-doubts about your own plan?"
"Oh for the love of Celestia!" Carrot Top howled in vain. "Do you hear yourself sometimes?"
"Hit it!" Silverstar whinnied as he bucked open the door to the next cart and charged right in. His goal was to drive as many bandits to the front of the cart as possible, and he planned to revel in it. "It's been a long time since I've been in a real train heist!" He galloped right into the bandit-infested passenger cart, each one of them holding a rotten pie to a passenger's face. "Hey, pie for brains, try and catch me!" he taunted as he jumped over one bandit and bucked him upside the head on the way down.
"Get him!" one of the bandits roared, and the chase was on. Silverstar couldn't be happier.
Above the carts, Little Strongheart and Carrot Top galloped across the roof the train. Once Silverstar managed to gather as many bandits in the first four carts, they would uncouple the train. "Are you sure Silverstar will be fine on his own?" Carrot Top worried.
"He's a sheriff. This is his calling, at least that's what he always tells me." Little Strongheart expertly jumped from one cart to another. "Let's go!"
"R-right! Oh Celestia what am I doing!?" Carrot Top, with tears in her eyes and panic in her lungs, jumped from one car to another, following the crazy buffalo in her crazier plan.
"Wait right there, fillies!" came the condescending and squeaky voice of the yellow-toothed bandit. His eyes were wild and face stained with the terrible filthy pie. "Hold still, and maybe I'll go easy on you." He sneered fowley at them. "Any last words?"
"Yes, duck," Carrot Top answered him.
"What?" was all the bandit got to say as an overpass knocked him clean off the train from behind, sending him spiraling through the air and over the side of the mountain. His last remaining teeth flew off in every direction after him.
Carrot Top had to tear herself off the top of the train. She could scratch train-surfing off her list of potential hobbies. "Oh, Celestia, what the hay am I doing!?"
Below, the the train, Silverstar was having the time of his life as he danced through salvos of pies and bucking ponies intent on subduing him. "Got to do better than that if you even want to think about escaping the law!" He ducked under a charging pony, dug his forehooves in, and bucked the pony in the stomach as hard as he could. "C'mon, I'm just one pony!" The room was becoming so cramped that it was nearly impossible to move.
"Toss everything you have at him!" one of the bandits shouted, and another salvo of rotten pies were released.
"That's a dirty move," Silverstar laughed as he galloped back to the front of the cart. Seeing the entrance blocked by another pair of bandits, with too many holes in their wall. "Amateur!" Silverstar flipped over and skidded, back hooves extended up, and threw himself at the pair, shooting himself and them into the next cart. He bucked himself off the two and continued his gallop. Bandits streaming in after him. "Strongheart, do it!"
Strongheart hopped down to the coupling between the passenger carts and cargo carts. She tore off the spike holding them together and immediately the trains began to split. "Your plan is working, Carrot Top!"
"Great," Carrot Top groaned. "Can I go throw-up yet?"
"We still have to rescue Braeburn and Apple Bumpkin."
"Right, right, what was I thinking?" Carrot Top sighed sarcastically as she dropped down to the cart opening, landing right on her back. "Ow."
Inside the last cargo cart on the train, the pink pony Crabapple was surveying the contents of her heist, Hands behind her prying open boxes. "Oh this is going to make a killing on the black market, wouldn't you say, cous'?" she giggled at Braeburn, back to back and tied up with Apple Bumpkin. Only Apple Bumpkin was gagged.
"We're not cousins!" Braeburn roared back at her. "No true Apple family pony would resort to burglary to make a livin'?"
"Aw, still no fun," Crabapple pouted. She placed a hoof on the furthest crate in the hold. "And this must be where your precious true golden delicious apples are bein' all held up, right, cous'?"
"Don't you touch that! Your hooves are rotten and will spoil those apples in an instant!"
"Shall we test that? Oh, Hands? Be a dear and break this crate open like a dragon egg."
The hulking pony grunted in affirmation and lugged itself to the crate. It placed one hoof on it, ready to stomp down and split the crate like a twig, but the sudden attack of a little but strong buffalo knocked him into the adjacent well, imbedding him in a Hands-shaped hole. He slid to the floor, and bleated, "ow."
"What the hay is going on?" Crabapple turned and saw Carrot Top next to Braeburn and Apple Bumpkin, fiddling with the rope ties. She charged right at her. "Get away from them!" Crabapple barreled right into Carrot Top's side.
Oh, Celestia," Carrot Top moaned in mid-air. "I'm going to..." She landed on her back.
"Why you!" Little Strongheart yelled out as she charged right at Crabapple, but the pink pony reared up and bucked Little Strongheart right in her face, sending her back to the other end of the room.
"Honestly, you think I've never fought a buffalo," she sneered in delight. "Oh, boys!" she yelled as loud as she could. "Get in here! We've caught ourselves some souvenirs at last!" No one came. "Boys! I said souvenirs! Get in here!" Still, no one came. "Oh for my sake, what are they doing!" Crabapple stomped and huffed all the way to the cart opening, and her eyes nearly bugged off her face. Nothing, there was nothing but the mountain. "Where the hay is the rest of the train!"
"We detatched it," Little Strongheart murmured. "It's just you and us!"
Crabapple spat. "Hardly. Hands!"
In a second, the hulking pony was back on his hooves. "Bring me the buffalo and the orange one. We're about to get sensual in here."
"What?" Carrot Top gasped. The hulking pony lifted her with one foreleg, and she had no strength to resist. Together with Little Strongheart, held tightly against Hand's smelly chest. "Oh, Celestia, I can't take much more of this..."
"Crabapple, stop!" Braeburn shouted at her. "You got my apples! Don't hurt them!"
"Aw, cous', I'm so jealous you care more about them than me." She placed a hoof on Carrot Top's stomach. "Well, maybe I can't blame you. I'm gonna have fun wringin' the life out of you."
"I'll do anything!" Braeburn begged. "Just don't hurt them, please."
"I don't know. These two are beginning to seem more appetizing than your squirming self." She pressed down on Carrot Top. "Are you ready for supper, sugar?"
Carrot Top reached her limit. "Hold that thought," she said, before throwing up everything she had eaten in the past few hours. A terrible stream of half-digested pasta, cupcakes, sandwiches, soups, salads, strawberries, breads and carrots rained down on Crabapple, coating her completely from head to hoof. When all was done, Carrot Top sighed contently and drooped her head back. "That feels so much better."
"Ew," Crabapple whimpered. "Ew! Ew! Ew! I need a bath! Or at least some water! Hands, give me your canteen!" she barked.
Hands, as dim as he was, let go of Little Strongheart and Carrot Top so he could reach for his canteen. With her hooves on the floor, Little Strongheart reared up and bucked him again, with enough force to shoot him out of the cart. She then threw herself at Crabapple, headbutting her back to the back of the cart where she flopped to the floor in a foul puddle of acid. "Carrot Top, what did you eat?" Little Strongheart asked as she tried to rub the gunk off her head.
"Everything," Carrot Top burped. "Got any mints?"
"This is the Canterlot pegasus police force!" came a magically enhanced booming voice. "Crabapple of the Crabapple bandits. You are under arrest for multiple cases of burglary. We have your gang firmly secured in Canterlot. Come out with your hooves up."
Crabapple limped out of the cart to find a squadron of pegasi ready to come down on her with all the power of the Princess's law. She had always hoped that when her time had finally come to be taken to the big house, she could do so with integrity. Fate did not give her such a chance. "I surrender! I surrender! Just, please, draw me a bath!"
Carrot Top ambled into the light and watched the troupe of pegasi take Crabapple away. "Is it over?" she groaned. "Can we finally go home?"
Mrs. Cake held out the tiny package to Derpy. "I'll see you next month, Derpy."
The anxious pegasus took the package and bowed graciously. "Thanks for the words, Mrs. Cake. See you around." Derpy flew out of the sweet shop, drifting over to the park and casting her motherly shadow over daughter, still enraptured in whatever games she had been playing with Tootsie Flute. She can feel her daughter's agitation, and nothing made her happier. "Oh, Dinky! Mommy's here!"
"Five more minutes!" Dinky yelled back.
"We need to go to Cheeriliee and collect your lessons for the month."
"I don't want to! You can't make me!" Of course, Dinky knew her cries were in vain as her mother swooped down and picked her up like a hawk with a field mouse. "Say goodbye to Tootsie, Dinky!"
"Goodbye, Tootsie," Dinky sighed. "Why me..."
Tootsie Flute giggled and waved back. "Bye Derpy, bye Dinky! See you tomorrow!"
Carrot Top bent down and kissed the Canterlot sidewalks. Solid, stable, unmoving ground had never been so delicious. "I'm never riding a train again, as long as I live! Not if there's a chance that will happen again!"
"That was the best train ride ever!" Little Strongheart cheered next to her. "I forgot how fun it was to run across the tops."
"You two," Braeburn sighed as he took a deep breath. "You two are amazing!" Carrot Top stood at attention. "If it wasn't for you two, I wouldn't have my shipment of apples to sell here, and then the farm would have been in dire straights, but you two saved my apples. Heck, you girls saved me. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
Carrot Top's eyes widened, her heart trying to flutter out of her chest. "W-well—"
"What about me!" Silverstar badgered him from behind. "You know what I had to go through on my end of the job? Ungrateful little punk."
"Aw shucks, you want a kiss too, Silverstar?" Braeburn teased.
"You know dang well that's the last thing I need!" Silverstar growled back. He threw his head up, scowling back at Braeburn who continued to beam at him with his trademark smile that could make a hundred mares knees wobble like Carrot Top's. Silverstar spat, and smiled back. "But Strongheart is right, this was the best dang train ride in a long time. Reminded me what I loved most about law enforcement. The payment is always a bonus though." He pulled out a bag of bits from behind him. "Quite a healthy reward on Crabapple’s head, and it's only fair that I split this with Strongheart and Carrot Top evenly. You girls like the sound of that?"
Little Strongheart shook her head. "Any bits I take would just go to bringing treats back to my tribe, something I can do fine as is. Actually," Little Strongheart turned to Carrot Top. "Silverstar, give my share to Carrot Top."
"What!?" Carrot Top cried in amazement. "Wh-what's this for?"
"I still owe you for all the tools I broke way back when we first met. I hope that with what I made from this, you can now replace them."
Carrot Top's eyes glazed over as she started doing a mental tally of her inventory, what she needed, what she could get. "Little Strongheart, I don't know what to say."
"Then say nothing. I was the one at fault anyway."
"Thanks," Carrot Top said, with all her heart. "It's more than I could have ever asked for."
"You sure are amazin'." Braeburn knelt over and kissed Little Strongheart's cheek.
Little Strongheart stumbled back, feeling light-headed and dizzy. All the adrenaline in the world couldn't help her now. "Th-th-thanks, Braeburn!" she said loud and rigidly. "I was just doing what any buffalo, and I'm sure any pony, would do!"
Carrot Top's eyes turned into saucers and her mouth hung open, gaping into the air. Her senses were slowly becoming numb.
Braeburn looked at the odd sight and chuckled. He bent over and kissed her on the cheek before trotting up next to Apple Bumpkin. "Ready to open shop?"
"Brother, you're an idiot," Apple Bumpkin sighed.
"W-wait!" Carrot Top yelled as loud as she could. She stumbled up to Braeburn, eyes wild and buggy. "Can I buy a true golden apple?" she asked meekly. Braeburn laughed and opened up the crate of true golden delicious apples. He held one out to her.
"On the house," he said.
"Th-thanks!" Carrot Top took the apple, closed her eyes, reached her head out, and with her mind still buzzing from a combination of exhaustion, adrenaline and nausea, she pecked Braeburn on the cheek. "For being a good pony," she said meekly.
"Aw shucks, it's not problem," Braeburn answered her with his warm smile. "I'll see you all back at at Appleloosa in a few days. See you then?"
"See you then!" Carrot Top replied giddily. She watched Carrot Top and Apple Bumpkin disappear into the bustling town, her mind screaming at herself and demanding to know what she had just done, until a hoof patted her on her back. She turned around and met an unfamiliar stallion.
"You're the one who dine and dashed at the dinner cart," he hissed unnervingly at her. "I hope you plan to pay for your outrageously large meal!"
Carrot Top blinked, and relinquished the last remnants of her stomach onto the pony. "Check please."
The end of the weekend had finally come for Derpy. She rode the train back with Dinky sleeping at her side, and her bag from the day before on the other. The train whistle announced that they had made it to Appleloosa. "Wake up, Dinky," Derpy whispered as she ruffled her mane. "We're here."
"Ten more minutes," Dinky groaned.
"Oh, alright, mature filly," Derpy teased, but Dinky didn't hear a thing as she slept away. Derpy carried Dinky and all their bags on her back. She felt nothing but bliss as she felt Dinky warm her face on her mane. She stepped onto the train station, and found Carrot Top instantly, waiting for her. "Hey, Carrot."
"Hey, Derpy," she answered back as she approached her. "Had fun in Ponyville?"
"Yeah," Derpy answered her. The two of them started on their way back to the little hovel. "How was your weekend? Same old, same old?" she teased.
"No, I did things I've never done before, and quite frankly never want to do again."
"Carrot Top, I've got impressionable filly sleeping on my back—"
"Nothing like that," Carrot Top interrupted her. "I'll tell you another time. It's a long story."
They reached the cozy little hovel, and Carrot Top opened the door for them. "You go first and put sleeping filly to bed."
Derpy smiled back and trotted into the warm home. Some rather odd new instruments littered the kitchen counter and the floor was covered in boxes. "Stuff from your story?" Derpy asked in astonishment.
"Yeah, kinda," Carrot Top sheepishly smiled back.
"I'm gonna have to hear it all later." Derpy carefully laid Dinky in her comfy little bed in their room. She was as sweet as can be when asleep, and her little sourpuss when away. She wouldn't have it any other way. She shook off her bags and grabbed the Sugarcube Corner bag with her mouth, trotting into the kitchen, dining room and living room and unwrapping the package.
"What's that?"
"My metaphor." Derpy revealed the parcel.
"Ooh! Bread pudding!" Carrot Top salivated as she started at the treat. "I can't remember the last time I had this."
"I've never had it before," Derpy admitted. "You know me, always going for the muffins at sugarcube corner. Well, they were out when I got there, and Mrs. Cake convinced me to try something new."
"Well you should. I love trying new things."
Derpy giggled and reached out and took a bite of the ugly but very sweet lump. "It's stale," she sighed regretfully. "My metaphor is stale, Carrot..."
"It's still sweet, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but, I wish I had given it a chance in the first place," Derpy cried. "I waited too long, and now I wasted my chance."
"Well, lucky for you, I'm an expert on this kind of stuff." Carrot Top took the dish over to the sink and sprinkled some water on it. "Now, we just put it in the oven for a few minutes and it will come out good as new," she explained proudly. "Do we have any sugar in the pantry?"
"Will it really work?"
"Of course." Carrot Top, with a mitten in her mouth, withdrew the plate and put it back on the table. "Try it now. I promise you won't be disappointed."
Derpy took a deep breath, and took another bite out of the desert. "It's good!" she squealed! "This is really good!"
"I told you."
"You said you haven't had some in awhile. Come have some with me!"
"Are you sure?" Carrot Top asked. "It's yours. You don't need to—"
"Friends share, right?" Derpy pointed out. She scooted herself and the plate next to Carrot Top.
"With all I know about friendship, who am I to argue?" she joked as she pulled up a chair right next to Derpy. "Thank you, friend." Carrot Top took a bite out of the bread pudding. "We've made quite a few friends since moving here, haven't we?"
"Yeah," Derpy sighed in contentment. "Makes for lots of fun on these dry days."
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I started this chapter half a month ago believing that, for once, I could get a chapter of this done with more than a few hours of wiggle room left! Apparently, my life in the suburbs told me otherwise. Still, this has go to be one of my favorite chapters to write yet! So I hope you all enjoy it.
Honestly I wasn't expecting The Silver Star x Derpy shipping pair. The ending was great and as always I look forward to more.
Great background music for a great action scene, good job!
Glorious
Is it strange that I feel proud I figured out is was bread pudding?
....I like bread pudding.
-Delta-
What a glorious chapter, well done. Characters are fleshing out nicely and I'm looking forward to more.
That was a great chapter. Action packed, and all the silliness you could expect from MLP.
This chapter was fantastic and did a great job moving along the story and fleshing out the themes and stuff. The "metaphor" Derpy purchases is a fantastic vehicle with which to illustrate Carrot Top's support of her. The scene in the kitchen between them is a great moment. Carrot and Strongheart have a dynamic that is increasingly nuanced. His chapter does well to continue that trend.
My criticism is the glaring tonal dissonance caused by some of the things said by the train robbers.
"Assault costs extra, sugar," Crabapple calmly moaned as she bucked Little Strongheart's chest, sending the cow flying right onto Carrot Top. "Are you ready to pay up, one way or another?"
Ambiguous, to say the least, but vague enough that you could assume Crabapple just means she will take the money by force or perhaps beat them up.
"Well, this is really interestin' now," Crabapple remarked giddly. "Somepony go tell Wrench to get this thing goin' again, and why don't a dozen of you follow after that calf and her gal pal and bring them back here. Don't rough her up though, I get first dibs."
Here, violent intent is implied, and the robbers seem to be cliche cartoon train robbers.
"Little fillies want to play?" the squeaky stallion taunted as he trotted closer to the table. "I don't bite, much." He was a foot away from the table, grinning with all twelve of his dirty yellow teeth, savoring the idea of his helpless prey. He didn't see the brown and moustached earth pony sneak up behind him and smack him with a two-by-four. He flopped to the ground.
Again, what he's saying seems to be fight banter, though it could be construed in others ways. During this part the strange threats the bandits make start to connect with the threat of those nasty pies they were throwing.
"Oh, boys!" she yelled as loud as she could. "Get in here! We've caught ourselves some souvenirs at last!" No one came. "Boys! I said souvenirs! Get in here!" Still, no one came. "Oh for my sake, what are they doing!" Crabapple stomped and huffed all the way to the cart opening, and her eyes nearly bugged off her face. Nothing, there was nothing but the mountain. "Where the hay is the rest of the train!"
I guess she meant the apples, but what happens next throws me off completely.
Crabapple spat. "Hardly. Hands!"
In a second, the hulking pony was back on his hooves. "Bring me the buffalo and the orange one. We're about to get sensual in here."
"What?" Carrot Top gasped. The hulking pony lifted her with one foreleg, and she had no strength to resist. Together with Little Strongheart, held tightly against Hand's smelly chest. "Oh, Celestia, I can't take much more of this..."
Okay, what the hell.
"I don't know. These two are beginning to seem more appetizing than your squirming self." She pressed down on Carrot Top. "Are you ready for supper, sugar?"
This gets an extra level of creepy because she is talking to Braeburn, her cousin. Unless supper means punching them in the face and appetizing somehow means how much she wants to hurt them. Knuckle sandwich perhaps.
I am pointing this stuff out because if you are trying to imply the the robbers are sexually harassing the protagonists, in particular that Hands was about to molest them or worse, it marks a distinctive shift in the tone of the story. Just dropping sexual predators into a story that hasn't gone that dark before isn't something you do lightly. Also, no one addresses it, and neither Carrot Top nor Strongheart are traumatized by it. If that means Hands just wanted a kiss, or Crabapple was trying to be witty, the story itself should make that more clear. Currently, it appears that the main characters are in denial or just completely clueless or naive. Braeburn in particular seems to have no grasp of how bad the situation was. Making villains vaguely scummy in understandable, but make it too vague and the readers may assume the worst. It is confusing and very distracting when writers do this.
By the way, the ratio of criticism to praise in that comment is not proportionate to or representative of my opinion on the story or this chapter. THis is one of my favorite stories on this site, keep up the great work!
843793
Thanks for the insight, and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. As far as Crabapple and Hands go, I wanted to give her a Femme Fatalle vibe that puts a strange level of seduction into everything, but just her. Hands is her dimwitted muscle that's as sweet as can be when alone (not original, but my focus was on fleshing out the characters in a more active way, not providing original recurring villains. Don't expect Crabapple to show up again. The rest of her posse aren't the brightest bunch either and only know how to throw threats and rotten pies). I wanted only her lines to be open to interpretation.
As far as what was going through Carrot Top's and Little Strongheart's mind, Little Strongheart thought she was simply going to get a hoof to the face, Carrot Top was assuming far worse, which only attributed to her growing nausea over the situation.
843793
It didn't really come off in the last post I put, but I would really like to thank you for telling me what you felt was wrong and that you still loved this little story I work on. It gets hard to write sometimes, so thank you, really, for taking some time on this story.
Baccano!
That scene had explosions and psychotic facial expressions in it thanks to the music.
good chapter
844345
I see, only Crabapple was meant to come off as projecting that subtext. I think what happened was, it leaked from her characterization and had an impact on those around her. Plus, "sensual" is a really awkward term when used by an antagonist. Somehow, I see a character like Hands failling to articulate himself and saying things he didn't exactly mean.
By the way, I wasn't trying to say the villains were wholly unoriginal, just that they had a lot of classic tropes in their behavioral arsenal. Crabapple is interesting in that she combines the black sheep archetype with the dastardly femme fatale trope. She makes a good foil for Braeburn's chivalrously optimistic ideals. How can the two have come form the same family? It opens interesting questions for consideration.
I suppose then, the purpose of the creepy subtext of the banter was to outline the difference between how the two heroines perceive the world. Little Strongheart being more naive and idealistic, while Carrot Top is savvy and pessimistic. The differences in their dispositions is shown to effectively justify their misunderstanding and conflicts throughout the story here. Carrot Top may judge others too quickly, while Strongheart is perhaps more easily surprised by foul play and dishonorable behavior. Ironically, Strongheart is more quick to action when she does identify shenanigans. Two such characters competing for the same pony makes for a great dynamic.
Awwwwww. nice ending
Ponies don't puke.
They're already in Appleloosa, it's to Canterlot.
She is a shade of green.
*parasPRites
Why should she call her own husband "Mr."?
This was pointed out in whichever chapter had all those mentions of it; her coat is YELLOW.
She couldn't watch herself walk off, should be Braeburn.
*awake
Doesn't need that exclamation after it if it's not been spoken.
Even with all that, still enjoyable to read.
2744411 Realise it's a cartoon universe in which they can and get over any technicalities.
You think this is an odd situation
But later in the future it will get even more crazier than ever but then again it's a regular thing lately in the small town of Ponyville lol
Apparently she's really even stressed out lately
Hey nice to hear from the other main six
That's probably another one that you should never say that's basically tempted faith
Oh wow that was a crazy chapter but pretty cool so Carrot Top was expecting to be having a relaxing day and just seeing off Derpy and Dinky but then it turns out that little strong heart Braeburn Silver Star and Apple Bumpkin showed up and told them about the Golden Delicious and how special they are and he's worried about Bandits trying to steal from them and little strong Hearts invited Carrot Top to come along despite she didn't want to meanwhile in Ponyville Derpy dropped off dinky to play with her friends and then went to sugar cube corner and basically talking with Mrs cake and how's everything going she was about to order a muffin but they ran out so instead bread pudding which she's been afraid to try something new and apparently Mrs cake kind of told her sometimes she just had to take chances and try something new even their ups and downs it's worth in the end and Derpy took it by hearts meanwhile at the train things was pretty quiet until the bandits invaded the train and tried to steal everybody's money and their stuff but thanks to little strong hearts Carrot Top and Sheriff's Silver Star they stop them before they cause any damage Braeburn thank both of them for their hard work and even giving them a kiss on the cheek and one to the Apple for Carrot Top after a long day she just decided to sleep until her friend showed up and they talked about how things should change