Case Four, Chapter Ten: Cooling the Ashes
The red and blue lights of the gathered police cruisers, ambulances, and fire trucks lit up the entire neighborhood, summoning the ponies who had fled back towards the scene to watch the aftermath with a horrid fascination. The unconscious Tinderspark was bundled into the back of a cruiser and driven back to the precinct.
“I said I’m fine,” Daring snapped, yanking the oxygen mask off her face for the third time. “Worry about them.”
“We’re taking care of them,” the paramedic replied testily, holding out a hoof to keep her on the stretcher that she was sitting atop. “But we just want to make sure that you’re all right. You might’ve inhaled some smoke and poisonous vapors.”
“I feel fine, okay?” Daring said, getting off the stretcher. Shooting the paramedic a final glare, she walked over to Phillip, who was sitting on the stretcher opposite hers, holding out a limb as another paramedic bandaged the burns on his foreleg.
“Ow,” Phillip said dully as the medic tightened the wrapped bandages.
Daring extracted Phillip’s hat from underneath her shirt and gave it to Phillip. “You doing okay?” she asked.
“I’ll be apples in a couple days,” Phillip nodded, smoothing his hat out and placing it atop his head, fitting his ears through the holes in the brim. He sighed softly. “Should’ve stopped her sooner than that.”
Daring nodded. “I know you don’t like killing, and I don’t either, but you really should think about getting a gun,” she said.
“Can’t afford it,” Phillip grunted. “License and testing fees alone would be too much for me.”
“Still, would be a good thing to have,” Daring pointed out.
Phillip nodded and laid back down on the stretcher. “We’ll try to start saving up.”
“Good,” Daring said, stepping back as the paramedics loaded Phillip into the back of a waiting ambulance. She watched as two paramedics walked past her, carrying another stretcher into the ambulance. This one was carrying Prowl, wrapped up in a blanket and still unconscious. A brace was placed around her neck.
“Prowl?” Bee said, walking alongside her with more bandages wrapped around his forelegs. He gently shook her shoulder. “Prowl, come on, wake up.”
Prowl groaned and her eyelids flickered open. “Bee?” she whispered, looking up towards her friend.
“Hey, boss,” Bee said, breaking into a wide, relieved grin. “You’re gonna be okay now. Hey, maybe they’ll give us the same room as Flash. It’ll be like a sleepover!”
Prowl laughed softly and shook her head as the medics carried her stretcher into the ambulance and set her down next to Phillip. Bumblebee climbed in after them with a final wave to Daring. The doors were shut and the ambulance trundled away towards the hospital, lights blaring and siren wailing.
Daring walked over to Fluttershy, who had already been treated and released by paramedics. The yellow pegasus was sitting on the curb, staring off into the distance. Daring walked up and sat down next to her.
“You okay?” she asked.
Fluttershy didn’t respond. Following her gaze, Daring saw that she was looking at one of the burned-out homes. Smoke still rose from the blackened wood structure; the plastic skeleton that had been hanging from the porch was charred, making it look even more ghastly.
Two firefighters were exiting the house, bearing a stretcher between them. A silver-haired mare, her body covered in soot, laid across it, unmoving.
“Mama?” a small colt standing next to the porch cried, looking up at the body with wide, fearful eyes. The colt walked over to the stretcher and grabbed one of the mare’s dangling forelegs. “Mama, wake up. Wake up, mama!”
But the mare did not respond. “Mama?” the colt whimpered.
One of the firefighters gently picked up the colt and carried him away, allowing the little pony to sob into his jacket.
Fluttershy trembled and started to cry silently. “I was too late…” she whimpered.
“Hey, listen,” Daring said, draping a wing around Fluttershy and pulling her close. “It’s not your fault.”
“If I’d been faster…” Fluttershy sobbed.
“No, you can’t think like that,” Daring interrupted her. “If it hadn’t been for you, that fire would’ve spread even farther and more ponies would’ve died. Look.” She pointed off at a small cluster of other ponies that were standing off to the side. Some were bandaged, many were clutching blankets in obvious shock, but all of them were alive. A few were hugging each other, while others simply sat close to one another, holding hooves or draping forelegs around each other's shoulders; neighbors and friends and families gathered close together, speaking in hushed, relieved tones.
“Those ponies are alive because you were brave enough to help them,” Daring said. “Even that pony you pulled out of the way when this first started, he’s going be fine because of you.”
“But ponies still died,” Fluttershy said.
Daring sighed. “We can’t save everyone,” she admitted quietly. “You have to try to focus on the ones you can.”
Fluttershy just let out a quiet whimper. Daring gave her a gentle squeeze. “Look, talk to your friends, okay? I think...I think I’m the wrong pony to talk to about this, but they’ll probably be able to help you.”
“Okay,” Fluttershy nodded. Daring gave her one last hug, then stood up and walked away. She didn’t know where she was going, but standing here much longer, amidst the smoke and the stench of death and loss, was more than she could bear anymore. She just knew that she had to go somewhere else. Maybe Phil and the others were at the hospital by now…
“Daring.”
She stopped at the sound of the voice and slowly turned. A few feet away from her was a parked car with tinted windows, the headlights piercing the darkness and the engine rumbling quietly. The driver’s side window was rolled down. Inside was Bright Sparks, glaring at her.
“Get in the back,” Sparks ordered.
“Nah, I like walking in the rain,” Daring replied.
“That ambulance driver works for us,” Sparks replied shortly. “Get in or something bad happens to your friends.”
Daring froze, slowly turning towards the mare that she had once called sister. Sparks’ eyes offered no comfort, each of them as cold as the rain, giving nothing away.
She’s bluffing, the rational part of Daring’s mind whispered. She has to be.
But Daring’s hooves refused to move. You can’t take that risk, another voice whispered.
Slowly, her heart thudding hard against her ribs, she walked forward and opened up the back door to the car, sliding into the seat and shutting it behind her.
Sitting next to her was a unicorn mare. The mare had a light pink coat and long, flowing black hair with red highlights. Her cutie mark was a letter and a quill. She had dark brown eyes accented with red eyeshadow. She laid back in the seat, smirking at Daring, twirling a Prench-brand cigarette in a silver holder next to her. She wore a flowing single-strap dark red dress that hugged the curves around her hips.
“Good afternoon, Miss Do,” the mare said, her voice carrying a curious mixture of Prench and Crystalline accents.
“The fuck are you?” Daring snapped back, lightly gripping the inner handle of her door as the car began to move.
The mare laughed daintily. “Ah, you’re just like Sparks said you were, mon ami.” She took a light puff on the cigarette, filling the car with the heady aroma of the highly perfumed tobacco. “I am Scarlet. Scarlet Letter. Enchante.” She extended a hoof. Daring refused to take it.
“I’ve been looking forward to speaking with you since I heard about you, Miss Do,” Scarlet continued, unperturbed. She paused, looking over Daring. “You really should put on your seat belt, mon ami. It’s quite unsafe to not wear it.”
“Maybe I like flirting with danger,” Daring replied. And not having to waste time unbuckling my seat belt if I have to get out of here in a hurry.
“Ah! A mare after my own heart,” Scarlet smiled. “I like you, Miss Do, I really do. That’s why I want to try to get you to see things my way.”
Daring was silent. Scarlet Letter took another drag on her cigarette and continued. “I hate this city, Daring. I hate the corruption. I hate the police being helpless. I hate the citizens being too cowed and fearful to do anything to take their city back. And I know that deep down, you hate it, too.”
Daring offered no reply. “But I intend to change things,” Scarlet said. “Silvertongue, Monopoly, Whitestone, Coin Toss, all of those ponies who trod on these citizens...they’re going down and going down hard. I’ve already—”
“Spare me,” Daring coldly interrupted. “You don’t give a shit about the citizens. You think I forgot about Miranda?”
Scarlet’s smirk vanished, replaced by a look of cool disdain. “You’ll forgive me if I do not mourn for the employees of a thoroughly corrupt organization who worked to keep the mobsters out of prison and in control. This is war, Miss Do.”
“You’re no great hero,” Daring replied icily. “I bet the citizens love you for shooting up a bunch of ponies with illegal weapons.”
“Just as they love a former thief and a killer even as she defends them from their enemies.” Scarlet took a longer drag on her cigarette, ignoring the death glare that Daring gave her. “Vous ne pouvez pas faire une omelette sans casser des oeufs,” she replied flatly.
Daring scoffed, trying to ignore the stabbing pain of the cursed brand. “Those eggs are ponies with families,” she snapped back. “You can have your blood omelette if you want, but I don’t want any of it.”
Scarlet sighed. “Miss Do, one day you’re going to find that if you want things to change, you can’t play by the rules that other ponies have made.” She paused for a moment, then smiled. “But let me give you an offer, s'il vous plait.”
“You already did, and I said no,” Daring answered.
“I’ll make you a better one,” Scarlet answered. The glow of a red light filtering through the windshield cast her face in a crimson tint.
“We shall pay you,” the mare offered. “Provide you with weapons, intelligence, money, such as that book we so generously offered. Whatever you need, whenever you need it. We are both on the same side of this war, mon ami; we both want Silvertongue and Monopoly gone with minimal casualties. It is only logical that we help each other, n'est-ce pas?”
“What’s the catch?” Daring asked.
“No catch,” Scarlet shook her head. Daring glared at her. Scarlet laughed quietly. “All right. Call it a quid pro quo: you scratch my back, I scratch yours, oui?”
“You scratch my back, I steal and kill for you, you mean,” Daring snapped.
“And how is that different than what Phillip Finder makes you do? Or what you did before?” Scarlet replied. When Daring didn’t answer, she smirked at her. “Admit the truth, Miss Do.” Her chocolate brown eyes went to Daring’s right hoof, which instinctively pulled away from her gaze. “You are a thief because it’s what you are good at. It’s all you’ve known, it’s all you’ve ever done, it’s all you want to do, deep down.”
Daring breathed heavily through her nostrils, glaring at the other mare, barely aware that the car had stopped and was idling.
“Let me make you a counteroffer,” she finally declared. “I’ll give you the flying feather.” She extended her wing and held out her primary feather in the universally recognized traditional pegasus manner of declaring “fuck you.” Scarlet’s eyebrows raised, but her smirk did not waver for a moment.
“And you leave me and my friends alone,” Daring declared, opening the door and stepping back out into the rain.
“Miss Do,” Scarlet called back to her. Daring paused and turned back to face her. Scarlet reached underneath her dress and extracted a necklace. The chain of the necklace pierced several golden coins, each of which had an arcane symbol embossed on it. Dangling from the necklace was a carved jade fox. “Recognize this?” she asked.
Daring did: it was the necklace that Shifting Tone had stolen from Silvertongue’s gallery. For a brief moment, Shifting Tone's terrified screams and desperate sobs echoed in her ears.
"You saved Miss Tone's life; an act for which you have my gratitude," Scarlet said in a quiet tone, her expression slightly softer than before. "Had it not been for you, an innocent who put herself at risk for my cause would have died, while I was unable to save her. But had she fallen, she would have fallen to save this city." She gave Daring a hard look. “I always get what I want in the end, Miss Do. No matter what it costs. And if getting what I want out of you comes with your friends as the price tag, then so be it.”
White-hot anger flashed across Daring’s spine, lightning racing down her limbs. She glared at Scarlet, gripping the sides of the doorway. There was a click as Bright Sparks half-drew and cocked a pistol hidden beneath her seat, but Scarlet stopped her with a raised hoof.
“If you hurt them—Phil, Flash, Twilight, Prowl, Bee, any of them,” Daring snarled. “I will kill you.”
“Really,” Scarlet said, her smirk growing wider. “So you aren’t that different from us after all.”
Daring froze, feeling as though she’d been slapped in the face with a shovel. The pain of the cursed mark had faded into a cold numbness that was somehow worse than the regular burning. She slowly stepped back, feeling Scarlet’s smirk drilling into her with every step. Scarlet closed the door with her magic and, with a final glare from Sparks, the car pulled away, disappearing around the corner.
Turning, Daring saw that she was standing in front of 221 Honeybee Bakery. She stared at the house for a moment, then slowly walked inside. Unlocking the front door, she stepped into the hallway, switching on the light. Hanging her dripping vest and helmet on the rack, she walked into the living room. Everything was just where it had been left: her Jules Vanner novel was still laying on the coffee table, the jars from Phil’s experiments were all securely closed and laid in ordered rows on the experiment table.
Her limbs and head heavy with exhaustion and her cursed foreleg still aching dully, Daring dragged herself up into her room and flopped down on the bed, pulling the covers over herself. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, but it would be many long hours of tossing and turning before she was able to ignore the cold, empty silence of the house and drift off into the land of ambiguous and unmemorable but unpleasant dreams.
The hospital waiting room was bare bones: a few small, very uncomfortable chairs, flickering, humming lights, a couple vending machines and an old water dispenser and coffee machine, and a small foal’s area with some toys and books. Daring paced up and down along the line of chairs; though she’d only arrived at Ponyville General twenty minutes prior, she felt like she’d been waiting for a week.
“How long does it take to heal some burns?” she huffed to herself. She had already waited an entire day that she had spent in the quiet and silence of her empty home. To wait much longer was like having a cheese grater slowly rending her belly.
The nurse at the desk sighed and shook her head. “As I told you before, Miss Do, we held your friends overnight to make sure that there was no lasting damage while we applied potions and spells to accelerate healing,” she explained in a testy tone. “We’re doing some final checks on them to make sure that they are ready to be released. We will let you know once we have news. For now, you need to be patient.”
“I hate patience,” Daring grumbled, going back to pacing.
“Excuse me,” a voice asked. Daring turned around to see a thestral stallion walking towards her. He had a dark brown coat with two-toned purple hair, reddish-brown eyes, and the cutie mark of a red maple leaf. He was wearing a baby carrier around his chest that had a thestral filly inside it. The filly had a light-gray coat, blue-white hair, and blue eyes. She gurgled happily as she chewed on a bright green rubber teething toy.
“You’re Daring Do, right?” the stallion asked.
“Yeah,” Daring said slowly, subconsciously drawing her branded hoof away from him.
The stallion smiled and extended a hoof. “I’m Maple Leaf, Prowl’s husband. She speaks pretty highly of you.”
“She...does?” Daring asked dumbfounded, barely realizing that she was shaking his hoof.
“Yeah, you and Phillip Finder!” Maple Leaf grinned. “I heard about how you two helped take down that terrorist yesterday, that was awesome!”
The filly in the carrier blinked and tilted her head to the side, staring at Daring. “Oh, this is our daughter, Skysong,” Maple Leaf introduced her.
“Hey, kid,” Daring smiled at the family. Skysong cooed and tried to wiggle her nose at her. Daring laughed.
“Right this way, pastor,” another voice said. Daring looked up to see a nurse guiding Pastor Joyful Sound into the waiting room by the foreleg. Pastor Sound tapped the ground before her with her red and white cane with every step; she had a contented smile on her face, her eyes staring straight ahead of her blankly.
“Hello, Pastor,” Maple Leaf greeted her happily.
“Good morning, Maple Leaf,” Joyful Sound smiled. “And is that Skysong I hear?” Skysong babbled happily and reached out towards the pastor. Maple Leaf scooped up his daughter with a wing and held her out towards Joyful, who carefully took her in her forelegs and cradled her.
“I heard that Prowl was injured in the terrorist attack last night,” Joyful said. “How is she?”
“Flash burns and a mild concussion, but they said she should be fine,” Maple Leaf replied. “They’ll probably tell me to keep her in bed for a day or two.” He laughed. “That’s gonna go well with her.”
“Yes, I imagine that would be difficult,” Joyful said, allowing Skysong to suck on her hoof. “I am glad that she’s all right. I wanted to express my gratitude to her for helping save my son.”
“Your son?” Daring cut in. “Wait...Flash Sentry is your son?”
Joyful turned towards Daring. Even though she knew the elder unicorn was blind, Daring got the impression that her clouded blue eyes were fixed right at her heart.
“You’re Daring Do,” Joyful Sound said. “Yes, Flash is my son. He thinks very highly of you and your friend.”
“Well…” Daring said slowly, rubbing the back of her neck.
“So do I,” Joyful Sound continued, still smiling. “I believe I owe you and Phillip thanks as well.”
Daring was silent, her mouth hanging slightly open as her brain attempted and failed to come up with a suitable response to this unforeseen praise.
At that moment, there came a distraction in the form of four ponies entering the waiting room. Prowl and Bumblebee were both dressed in their uniforms, Flash had his hoodie on, and Phillip was wearing his vest and trilby. Bumblebee was walking with a spry spring in his step, Prowl was holding an ice pack to her forehead, and Flash was leaning against Phillip as they walked, but all of them were free of any marks or visible injuries.
“Ma!” Skysong squealed, reaching out towards her mother. Prowl instantly smiled and sped up to approach the group. She scooped up Skysong with a wing and hugged her close as her husband draped a wing around her. The two thestrals kissed.
“Mom,” Flash sighed in a relieved, tired tone, getting up off of Phillip and walking over to his mother. He paused in front of her, put off by the suddenly stern expression that crossed over her face.
“Mom, I’m sorry,” Flash said, hanging his head. “I just wanted to help—”
Joyful’s face broke into a wide smile and she extended her forelegs. Flash hugged her tightly, smiling in relief.
“I’m just so glad you’re safe,” Joyful whispered. “Praise the Holy Mother.”
Phillip walked up to Daring. “You okay?” she asked.
“I’m apples,” Phillip said, giving her a small smile. “Can’t wait to go home though. Food here isn’t worth a zack.”
Daring laughed. “Well, no one comes to the hospital for the food.”
Phillip looked past Daring towards Joyful, who turned towards him as if somehow feeling his gaze upon her. “G’day, Joy,” he said softly.
“Good morning, Phillip,” Joyful Sound smiled. “I’m glad that you’re safe.”
“Me too,” Phillip said. He glanced at Flash. “Your boy's grown into a strong one.”
“He has,” Joyful said with a proud smile, tousling Flash’s mane. “He’s his father’s boy through and through.”
“Mooooom,” Flash whined, blushing. Prowl, Maple Leaf, and Bumblebee all snickered.
“Wait,” Daring said. “You two know each other?”
Joyful Sound nodded. “You remember that neighbor I told you about?” Phillip said quietly. “When I was thirteen?”
“When you got your cutie mark?” Daring asked. Her eyes widening, she slowly turned towards Joyful. “You?” she gasped.
Joyful looked down for a moment. “That was...not a time of my life I’m proud of,” she admitted.
Daring turned to Flash. “And that’s why you…?”
“Yeah,” Flash admitted. “I just...mom told me about it, and I feel like...if it hadn’t been for you, Phil, I might not be here.” He shuffled his hooves awkwardly and half-smiled. “So, I guess, I’ve been trying to say...thank you.”
Phillip was silent for a few moments, then a smile crept up half of his face. “Guess I do some good after all,” he said quietly.
“Awww, it’s a perfect Kodiak moment,” Bumblebee said, watching with Prowl and her family.
“Bee, shut up,” Prowl replied, not looking up from her embrace with her husband.
Daring looked back and forth between the stallions again, a question forming in her mind. “So,” she finally asked. “Is he your—?”
“Wh-what?! No!” Phillip cried, his ears turning bright crimson. Flash blushed furiously as well, stammering in shock. Joyful laughed loudly.
“No, Daring,” Joyful said, shaking her head as she recovered herself. “Flash’s father was an Army officer, by far one of the bravest and kindest stallions I have ever known.” The joy suddenly left her smile, leaving behind a weary sadness as Flash shifted uncomfortably. “He was killed during the Crystal War.”
“Oh,” Daring said, feeling like somepony had corner kicked a soccer ball into her chest. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Joyful Sound said. “He gave me one of the best things in my life: my son.” She hugged and kissed Flash, tousling his mane again.
“Mooooom!” Flash protested, his blush deepening as the others snickered again.
“Much as I hate to interrupt a good moment,” Prowl cut in. “We have work to do.” She gave the other officers a hard stare. “Monopoly is going to pay.”
Flash buckled his duty belt back on and tilted his cap down low over his eyes. “How do I look?” he asked, turning back towards his partners.
“Like a badass,” Bumblebee said, grinning.
“Let’s get to work,” Prowl declared, turning and leading them out of the locker room. The trio exited and rejoined Phillip and Daring, who were waiting outside.
“We’ll talk to Trace and Red, tell ‘em what you told us,” Phillip said to Flash. “Tinderspark said Monopoly gave her the Spark. And from what I’ve heard, she’s been screaming and ranting about getting revenge on him since she woke up.”
“We’ll nail that fat bastard to the wall,” Daring said with a smug grin.
“Excuse me,” a familiar voice said. Everypony looked up to see Monopoly himself looming over them, his bulk blocking off most of the hallway.
“You were saying something about nailing me?” Monopoly asked, glaring at Daring. She returned his stare evenly.
“You are under arrest,” Flash Sentry declared, stepping forward and extracting his hoofcuffs from his belt. “You have the right to remain silent, any—”
“Hold your horses, rookie,” another familiar voice laughed. Night Waltz stepped out from behind Monopoly, smiling indulgently at Flash.
“Ah, kids, so eager,” he laughed to Monopoly.
“What are you doing?” Prowl growled at the detective.
“Is that any way to speak to someone of a higher rank, bloodsucker?” Night Waltz asked smarmily. Prowl’s eyes flashed dangerously and she spread out her leathery wings with an angry hiss, but Bumblebee quickly stepped in front of her.
“I simply asked Monopoly to come down here to give a brief statement regarding his possible connection to Tinderspark’s activities. He assured me that he had nothing at all to do with her,” Night Waltz said.
“Bullshit!” another voice yelled. Red Herring and Trace Evidence stomped up to Night. Trace was glaring in silent, stony fury, while Red was beside himself.
“His alibi is full of holes and you damn well know it!” Red continued. “You heard Tinderspark’s testimony same as we did, you read Flash’s statement. He’s got a lot to answer for!” He pointed at Monopoly. “Twenty-five ponies dead because this asshole thought he could get rich by giving a maniac a Class 1 artifact! And look how well that turned out!”
“Gentleponies, please,” Night Waltz said laughingly. “This is all conjecture. What’s your evidence? The testimony of a lunatic and the word of a young, inexperienced officer who, no offense, went through a traumatic experience.” Waltz smiled at the group around him, seemingly unaffected by the fact that everypony except Monopoly was trying to murder him with their eyes. Flash was shaking rather hard, partly out of anger and partly out of shock.
“Besides, what would I do without my number one informant?” Waltz added.
“Informant?” Trace asked coldly.
“Indeed,” Monopoly replied, looking at his manicured hoof as though it interested him far more than the conversation. “Alongside donating a hefty amount of money to this department over the years, I have also informed to Detective Waltz on a number of vice cases.”
“You mean ratted out ponies that didn’t want to work with you,” Red Herring growled. Monopoly shrugged disdainfully.
“Now, now, that’s just conjecture and rumors, detective,” Night Waltz said placidly. “Unfounded ones, I might add. Now, if you’ll excuse us.” Night Waltz idly brushed some lint off his suit and gestured. Monopoly sniffed and walked ahead of him. The two of them headed down the hallway and turned a corner.
“He gets away with it?!” Flash shouted as soon as he was gone. “All that, and he gets away?!”
“Calm down,” Phillip said, laying a hoof on Flash’s shoulder. Flash was silent, but his trembling did not abate for several seconds.
“He’ll make another mistake,” Phillip said. “And when he does, we’ll be ready for him.”
“Don’t worry,” Daring added, laying a hoof on Flash’s other shoulder. “He’s a big figure in the crime world, so he’s way too large to hide behind Waltz for long.”
She grinned around at the others, who all groaned in response.
“Maybe I could invite Waltz down to the range,” Red commented to Trace as the two walked off. “I could arrange a little accident involving my gun and the back of his thick skull…”
“Red,” Trace cut him off.
“I was kidding,” Red replied.
The three officers started to walk off as well, looking forlorn. Daring looked after them, then got an idea. “Hey, how about you come down to the Apple Pie tonight after shift?” she called.
Flash, Bumblebee, and Prowl all looked up at them for a moment, then looked at each other and nodded. “Sounds good!” Bumblebee said.
“Cool,” Daring nodded. “See you later, then.” She waved goodbye, then turned to exit with Phil. They walked through the hallway down into the lobby, then out the revolving door into the street. The rain had thankfully stopped that morning, though the streets were still wet and puddles lay everywhere. The sky was still partly covered in clouds, but through the gray came the faint glow of a rainbow.
“What d’you wanna do now?” Daring asked Phil as they walked down the street, Daring hopping into every other puddle.
“Still got that experiment at home,” Phil said, keeping a wide berth from her to avoid getting splashed.
“And you need me there to make sure you don’t kill yourself,” Daring stated, landing in a particularly large puddle.
Phil paused as the cold water drenched his forelegs and sighed. “I’d like that,” he admitted.
“Ah, you just can’t stand to be away from me, can you?” Daring teased, bumping her flank against his. His ears turned red and he didn’t reply verbally, but he couldn’t hide a small smile creeping up his face.
Hailing a passing trolley, they climbed into the vehicle and found seats next to each other. As the vehicle started to trundle up the street, Daring felt eyes upon her. Looking up, she spotted a stallion looking at her from further down the aisle. The stallion, a tall green unicorn, made eye contact with her, then casually looked back down at his newspaper.
Daring’s curse mark stung, accompanied by a shiver down her spine. She suddenly smelled heavily perfumed tobacco and imagined Scarlet Letter’s mocking grin in front of her face.
“Daring?” Phillip asked. “You okay?”
Daring shook herself out of the reverie. She was silent for a moment of contemplation, then sighed and grasped Phil’s hoof.
“We need to talk when we get home.”
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Ah, there it is, and quite well deserved I think. Great chapter PJ, and it seems the stakes have been upped.
I do. The hospital in my town has the world's best pancakes!
I was angry, then happy, then angry, then concerned. Goodness
8729883
You're lucky, then. But I still don't think one should necessarily want to go to the hospital, even for pancakes!
8729902
Ah, okay. That makes a lot more sense. (Honestly though, it kinda makes me crack up a bit to picture a small stallion or mare just running around Ponyville, XD)
8729889
Yeah
Finally caught up and holy hell, this is an absolutely amazing story!
8732795
Warhammer 40,000 reference, pay no heed to it
8732515
So glad that you think so!
Awww yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't remember this story
10478916
His cutie mark story back in 1.4.
She lost me at Omellete.
10743482
"You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs."
If that's wrong, blame Google Translate.
YES!
Always The Man trying to keep the little man down!
See, profiling clearly works. Scarlet Letter from Blueblood: Hero of Equestria was also a bitch!
What? No, that's not the same at all.
You can just write as exposition what the person said previously without making them repeat themselves
Oh no, even more brown and purple!
Which really is all backwards: proper food is obviously essential to good health, and properly fed patients heal faster which saves money.