• Published 1st Aug 2017
  • 1,388 Views, 108 Comments

The Daughter Doo: Honorary Cutie Mark Crusader - Ponky



Dinky Doo joins the Cutie Mark Crusaders on their quest to help Ditzy, Daring, and Rainbow Dash save the Cake twins from Haissan. A side story to "The Sisters Doo".

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10 - Are We Getting Off or Not?

Chapter Ten
Are We Getting Off or Not?

The train was lengthy, and over the course of the night many passengers had found new seats or else reached their destinations. Two cars down from where Zoccolo waited, Dinky tread quietly through the central aisle, casting wary glances at the various sleeping ponies curled up like cats on booth benches. The windows on both sides were draped, though the eastmost glowed with the rising Sun.

Zuka’s tiny body balanced on Dinky’s little haunches. She kept an extra pair of eyes peeled for Dinky’s safety. She scurried up Dinky’s spine, swam through her mane, and leaned off Dinky’s forehead with one claw wrapped around Dinky’s horn while the other shaded her eyes.

Dinky giggled. “See them yet, Zuka?” she asked in a whisper so as not to disturb any sleepers.

Zuka looked straight down into Dinky’s eyes and shook her head before diving back into her mane and surveying the train car from her hindquarters again.

Dinky’s smile soon vanished under the weight of worry. As her eyes darted from pony to slumbering pony on both sides of the aisle, it was as if each of them bore some similarity to her mother: similar manestyles, grey coat hairs, a stern look of disappointment…

Dinky gasped and did a double take. Alas, there were no golden eyes peering down at her in shame… in fact, there were no eyes at all. She was staring at an empty booth.

Whimpering, Dinky briskly resumed her search. The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t in that car at all, so she carefully passed between railcars again and began her trot anew. There were even fewer passengers here than ever before. Nearly two-thirds of the seats were entirely empty. Dinky’s eyes wandered up the walls and across the ceiling, wondering if something in that car made it unpopular.

Zuka screeched and tugged on Dinky’s tail. The pony gasped and craned her neck to see the chameleon pointing back. In one of the booths they had passed, a single snow-white filly snored and shivered, brow furrowed in a fitful sleep.

Dinky spun around and clip-clopped back to the bench. She leapt up and snuggled Sweetie Belle immediately, stroking her bright, fluffy mane. “It’s okay, Sweetie Belle,” she whispered into the shaking pony’s ear. “Everypony’s okay.”

“N-no,” Sweetie mumbled without opening her eyes. “Not th-the foals… I can’t find the foals…”

“We’ll find them together,” Dinky said, briefly glancing around for help. “Wake up, Sweetie. You’re just having a bad dream.”

Sweetie Belle clenched her teeth for a moment. “They’re right… they’re both right…”

“Who?” Dinky blinked. “Apple Bloom and Scootaloo?”

“We can’t trust him,” Sweetie slurred. “He’s a bad guy. But he’s so cooool… and he can help us.” Her lower lip quivered. “I just wanna find the foals…”

“Oh, Sweetie Belle! Wake up!” Dinky shook the pony’s shoulders. “Wake up, you’re having a bad dream.”

“Wha!” Sweetie suddenly sat upright, bumping Dinky away. She gasped and blinked rapidly as her glossy green eyes swiveled to focus on Dinky. “Wha… Dinky? Oh my gosh!” She blearily wrapped her forelegs around her little friend and laid most of her weight into the periwinkle body. “You’re okay! I had this terrible dream… we were all lost and tangled in Apple Bloom’s bow and about to get crushed by Scootaloo’s new scooter scraps!”

“Huh?” Dinky wheezed.

Sweetie sat up and wiped her forehead. “Whew! What a relief. What time is it?” She looked across the train car at the golden-glowing windows. “Did I sleep all night? Yeesh, it feels like all I’ve done for the last three days is sleep.”

“And get chased by bulls,” Dinky added.

Sweetie’s eyes narrowed, then she gasped and sat up straighter. “Oh my gosh! That really happened?” She flung her eyes around. “Are we gonna get crushed!?”

“No, Sweetie, no!” Dinky couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You dreamed that part. We’re in a train going to Pelola to see Zoccolo’s niece in the hospital.”

Sweetie nodded… then nodded again. “Okay, yeah. Okay. I remember.” She stretched with a long yawn. “And then we’re taking a boat to Haissan or something?”

“I think so.” Dinky sighed. “I hope so.”

Sweetie Belle licked and smacked her lips. “Where are Apple Bloom and Scootaloo?” she asked.

“I was hoping you knew,” Dinky admitted. “I fell asleep before you left, but Zoccolo said you and Scootaloo chased after Apple Bloom and never came back.”

“Oh yeah…” Sweetie Belle winced. “Sorry for leaving you all the time. I guess I’m not a very good honorary sister.”

Dinky smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s okay. You’re a good sister because you care about me.”

“Awww!”

“And at least we learned that we can trust Zoccolo.”

Sweetie raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Dinky shrugged. “He’s had two chances to foalnap me, but instead he’s been really nice and helpful. Besides, he lent me Zuka!” Dinky gestured behind her, where Zuka clung to her rump.

“Yay!” Sweetie Belle clapped her hooves. “Hey there, Zuka! Who’s a pretty little girl chameleon?”

Zuka lashed out her tongue so far that it frightened Sweetie Belle into leaning away. Dinky giggled again.

Sweetie Belle composed herself, then smiled. “So you trust Zoccolo? That’s pretty great, actually.” She made a slanted face. “Did you learn something secret about him while we were all away?”

Dinky blanched. “What? No! Why?”

Sweetie shrugged and smiled. “I dunno! Just kinda hoping you’d remember where you know him from.”

“I’ve already told you, it’s not really that I remember him,” Dinky said with a frown. “It’s just that… something about him is familiar.”

“Well, here’s hoping you figure it out soon,” Sweetie said, hopping down from the bench. “The sooner we have empirical evidence that Zoccolo is on our side, the sooner we’ll stop fighting amongst ourselves, and the sooner we can work together to find the foals and go home and take a bath.”

Several questions ran through Dinky Doo’s mind, but the one that came out was, “Do you know where Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are?”

“Somewhere close, I’d guess. We, uh… well, things got pretty heated last night. They were yelling at each other and… I didn’t hear much of what they said because I was yelling at them to stop yelling. Guess that wasn’t helping very much.”

Dinky opened her mouth to say something, when suddenly the train car was filled with a loud voice that startled almost everypony awake.

Prossima fermata, next-a stope-a, Pelola!” A stout stallion shuffled through the aisle, shouting in a scratchy baritone. “Prossima fermata, next-a stope-a, Pelola!”

“Next stop Pelola?” Sweetie Belle repeated with wide eyes. “Oh no! Come on, Dinky, we gotta find the others!” Limbs flailing, she bounded into the aisle and followed the shouting stallion, scanning around grumbling passengers for any sign of her friends.

Dinky and Zuka gave each other one panicked look before following Sweetie’s lead.

{-DD-}

All the way down, in the very last car of the slowing train, there were very few ponies still seated. On opposite ends of the oblong car, and on opposite sides of the aisle, sat Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, as far from one another as they could be without being totally alone.

Neither of them were sleeping. Neither of them had slept much at all. The other’s angry words still bounced in both of their heads, and they wondered what might happen next and when they might go home.

When a stallion in a uniform burst in from Scootaloo’s side of the car, she jumped like a wet cat and backed up to the window.

Prossima fermata, next-a stope-a!” shouted the stallion in a loud, if bored, voice. “Pelola!”

With that, he glanced over the nearly empty car, sighed to himself with a breath of finality, and spun about, marching back to the front of the train. Sweetie Belle squeezed around him to enter the car, followed closely by Dinky and Zuka. Soon the conductor was gone, and they were alone with Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle guffawed as soon as she saw the little pegasus. “Scootaloo! What are you doing all the way down here? We’re almost to Pelola already and we need to stick together!”

Scootaloo clenched her jaw and hung her head where she stood on the nearest bench. “Nah. Let’s just stay on the train until we get to Vene-whatever. We’re better off without Zoccolo.”

Gaping, Sweetie Belle tilted her head. “What are you talking about? We’re right here! Zoccolo knows where to take us!”

“We’ll be fine on our own,” Scootaloo mumbled. “This is supposed to be about the missing foals, not us.”

“Did…” Sweetie blinked. “Where’s Apple Bloom?”

Scootaloo pointed down the length of the train car without looking up.

“APPLE BLOOM!” Sweetie Belle suddenly shouted, startling Scootaloo again. “This is Pelola! Are we getting off or not?”

“Since when am I the leader of this here group!?” Apple Bloom’s voice came thundering back. “Just ask Scootaloo what she wants to do!”

“I wanna do what’s best for the foals!” Scootaloo joined the yelling party. “And if that means leaving Zoccolo behind, then let’s do it!”

“Ye’r just sayin’ that ‘cause I don’t trust him!” said Apple Bloom’s distant voice. “It don’t matter, he clearly knows his way around these parts. We oughtta take all the help we can get!”

“What the heck happened to you two?” yelled Sweetie Belle. “Did you hit your heads really hard and switch bodies or something? Come on! The train’s slowing down, we have to make a decision!”

Indeed, the train’s brakes had kicked in, and a lasting squeak joined the volume of their voices.

Dinky Doo didn’t like the pressure. Her hooves wiggled uncomfortably in the aisle, and she looked from Scootaloo to Sweetie Belle to the other end where Apple Bloom’s voice was coming from.

“Hello!?” Sweetie Belle shouted. “All I know is that I’m certainly not the leader, so somepony needs to make a decision!”

“Do it together!” Dinky yelled. Even at its loudest, her voice did not match the volume of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Nevertheless, she did her best, aiming her head skyward to shout what she needed to say. “On the count of three, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, just say what you think we should do right now! One! Two! Three!”

Apple Bloom’s head popped up from behind a bench far away. Scootaloo stood on her hind legs as well, looking Apple Bloom directly in the eyes. Their voices matched up perfectly as both of them said:

“We gotta get off this train!”

All five pairs of eyes (including Zuka’s) blinked in unison. At that very moment, the train came to a jolting stop, and the ponies caught themselves before they fell over. Then, in a wordless scramble, they hurried to the train’s nearest exit and threw themselves onto Pelola’s singular platform.

“Ah, eccovi qua!” said a smooth voice nearby. “I was-a wondering where you ran off, little friends. Good-a to see you safe!”

Zuka scurried down Dinky’s hind leg and skittered across a few feet of the platform. With just as much speed, she climbed the long, grey leg the Zoccolo offered to her and disappeared in the thick purple waves of his mane. “Grazie for taking care of Zuka, Graziosa,” Zoccolo said, winking one peach-colored eye at Dinky.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo briefly glanced at each other, only to swiftly look away. “Right,” said Apple Bloom. “We’re here in Pelola, ain’t we? Let’s say hi to yer niece so we can get goin’ to Haissan.”

“Which way is the river?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“The River Pon is-a north of the city,” Zoccolo answered, pointing a hoof accordingly. He sniffed through his snout and grimaced. “Come then, little friends. Let’s-a get away from the station. There is a stink here, no?”

Scootaloo took a deep whiff and blanched. “Eugh! Is that pee?”

“Probably!” Zoccolo said, trotting happily away from the train. “Follow me to Pelola!”

“I thought we were already in Pelola,” Sweetie Belle whispered to Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom scanned the train station. It was small and mostly out in the open, although a long building surrounded by dense trees on both ends blocked their view of what waited beyond. It was into this building that Zoccolo trotted without looking over his shoulder.

“I reckon the city’s just yonder,” she said, gesturing after Zoccolo with a flick of her chin. “And if we’re really in Itaily, I’m hopin’ it gets prettier’n this.”

They trotted after Zoccolo on eager hooves, passing a few joyful reunions, several busy travelers, and ― unexpectedly ― dozens of zebras. The Itailian ponies seemed to stay far away from the zebras, though they were clearly friendly: a simple smile from Scootaloo encouraged happy shouts and enthusiastic waves.

“I didn’t know there were so many zebras in Itaily,” Scootaloo said out of the corner of her mouth. “I always imagined a bunch of chubby ponies with chef’s hats.”

“I’m surprised you imagined anything at all,” Apple Bloom admitted. “I’ve never given Itaily a second thought. They’re all about pastas and… blech... tomatoes.”

“You don’t like tomatoes?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Not at all.” Apple Bloom shook her head in quick, choppy motions. “And I’d thank ya kindly not to bring it up no more. Those things gimme the willies.”

Sweetie giggled, but didn’t press the issue.

The fillies passed through the surprisingly busy train station and emerged on the other side in the bright light of a Pelolan morning. They froze in a line on the top step of the station’s small staircase and looked over the city with sparkling, swelling eyes.

“Whoooaaaa…” the four fillies said in unison.

Pelola was breathtaking. Its widest road zigzagged downward from the steps of the station, surrounded on both sides by bizarrely steep, lusciously green hills. Built into the feet of both hills, descending with the valley and yet somehow climbing up the slopes, were intricate mazes of tall, colorful buildings. Cobblestone streets ran like rivers between the structures, and earlybird ponies trotted them confidently. Far below, where the valley leveled off, a red-stone castle stood bravely in the midst of a small moat. A column of smoke rose from one of its towers, joining much smaller streams of light-colored smoke from all over the city.

“This… is amazing,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t even care about pretty stuff, and this is freakin’ amazing.”

“I’m really glad we got off that train,” Apple Bloom mumbled.

Zoccolo wasn’t far from them, standing at the bottom of the short staircase. He lifted his long head and breathed deeply through his nostrils, smiling with his eyes closed. “Ahhh! L’aria pulita dell’Icodalia!” He opened his eyes, moist and focused. “I’m home-a.”

Sweetie Belle took in a deep breath, too. “Wow! It smells amazing! Like… like fresh bread and satin!”

“That’s a weird combo,” Apple Bloom said with a raised eyebrow, “but I’d be lyin’ if I said you were wrong. Smells dang good.”

“What’s that castle down there?” asked Dinky, eyes locked on the marvel.

“Hmm?” Zoccolo followed her gaze. “Ah! That’s-a the hospital! We’re going there to see Nipota!”

“Eeee!” Sweetie Belle clapped. “I love castles!”

A consistent, low buzzing noise reached the group and Scootaloo’s ears perked adorably. “Hey… what’s that sound?”

“Kinda sounds like yer wings when ye’r cartin’ us around town,” Apple Bloom noted.

Zoccolo beamed. “Ah! You speak of your Itailian-a namesake, yes?” He pointed down the slope where a teenaged stallion zipped across the main road on a bright blue vehicle with two wheels. “Ecco la Vespa!”

“Echo la what?” Apple Bloom muttered.

Scootaloo stared in awe until the motor scooter vanished into another cobblestone sidestreet. “Vespa…” She bounded down the steps and stood next to Zoccolo. “Is that why you call me Vesparay?”

“Yes, esatto! The Vespa is a popular type of-a scooter here in Icodalia. Your name sounds a lot-a like ‘scooter’ with a little added on the end, so I did-a the same with-a Vesparé.”

Scootaloo grinned. “Heh. Awesome.” Unbeknownst to Apple Bloom, a wicked smile curled across her face.

{-DD-}

A bell rang overhead when Zoccolo opened the bakery door. “Buongiorno,” he said casually while entering.

Buongiorno a voi!” said a thin stallion with a swept-back mane and small eyes. “E presto, pure! Cosa volete stamattina?”

Sweetie Belle stole a quick glance at Apple Bloom, but refrained from asking anything.

The door shut behind them with another jingle and Zoccolo smiled down at the four wide-eyed fillies. “Welcome-a to my favorite panificio. Tell-a me what you want, and I buy the breakfast!”

“Shouldn’t we be seein’ Nipota fir―” Apple Bloom’s words were cut off by her own growling stomach. “Yeah, okay, breakfast first.”

“Oooo!” Sweetie Belle approached the counter in the tiny, natural-lit bakery and stood on her hind legs, planting two hooves on a pane of glass that separated her from rectangular baskets of fresh baked bread. “Wow! It looks amazing!”

The baker behind the counter looked nervous. “Parlate icodaliano?” he asked.

Io, ,” said Zoccolo, gesturing to himself with a hoof. “Aspetto che queste scelgano la colazione.”

“Is something wrong?” asked Scootaloo with a grimace.

But the baker only smiled. “Bene! Fammi sapere quando siete tutti pronti.”

Grazie.” Zoccolo smiled expectantly at Scootaloo. “Go on, then, choose-a your bread!”

“Oh!” She nodded, then joined Sweetie Belle in observing the many options. Some were golden slices with crumbly exteriors, others were dark rolls pocked with bits of fruit.

“Do they got any apples?” Apple Bloom asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Or muffins?” Dinky asked with a squeak.

“Hmmm…” Zoccolo rubbed his chin and rattled off something in Itailian to the baker. After a smile and a bit of scrambling, the baker returned with two white paper sacks which he hoofed to Zoccolo over the counter.

“What’s that?” Dinky asked.

Una torta di mela for Fiore,” Zoccolo said, offering one sack to Apple Bloom, “and il pane all’uvetta for Graziosa.” The other bag went to Dinky.

Dinky peeked at her breakfast. It was one of the rolls, infused with dark bits of wrinkled fruit. She squinted. “Um… are these… raisins?”

“Yes!” Zoccolo’s expression fell. “Do you not like-a the raisins?”

Dinky winced and shook her head slowly.

With a soft smile, Zoccolo said, “You do not-a need to eat it, little friend. But it comes-a highly raccomandato.” He winked.

Dinky lifted the roll out of the bag and held it close to her snout. She sniffed. “Hmm… I guess it’s kinda like a muffin…” With a brave nod, she bit into the roll and chewed. Her eyes widened as a flood of sweet flavor splashed across her tongue, boldly accompanied by the robust, honest flavor of the bread itself. She nearly gasped and ended up swallowing before she had chewed even five times. “Oh my gosh…”

“It’s-a good, eehhh?” Zoccolo encouraged her, smiling widely.

Dinky ripped off another bite and nodded up at him. “It is! It’s so good!”

“One of my favorites,” Zoccolo said proudly. “Itailians know how to raisin the grape.”

Dinky giggled and continued munching into her breakfast.

The others picked delicious choices as well, grinning delightedly at each other as they ate in the tiny parlor of the store while Zoccolo dropped a few silver coins into the baker’s hoof.

“Nn I fot Shugnkyu Kohna wush gud!” Sweetie Belle said with her mouth full to bursting.

“Holy crap, Itaily is awesome!” Scootaloo shouted. “I had no idea!”

“All right-a, come now, little friends,” Zoccolo said, holding the front door open for them. “Bring-a your food. Nipota she waits!”

Happy, giggling, and of one accord, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their honorary member marched out the bakery with shouts of “Thank you!” to the skinny baker. They pranced shoulder to shoulder down the angled stretches of Pelola’s main street. Zoccolo trotted behind them, drinking in their glee. By the time they reached the castle-hospital’s moat, their breakfasts were gone and their spirits were high.

“The moat’s not as big as it looked from the train station,” Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom took a better look at the water. There were short rows of stone circling both sides of the moat to discourage a misstep: the water itself was low, several feet below the pavement, though the trench itself was quite deep. Its width was uneven, as there was something like a pond to the left of the castle while an athletic pony might be able to jump over its narrowest parts. Still, the message was clear, and a narrow wooden drawbridge was standing straight up against the castle’s gate.

Apple Bloom squinted at the raised bridge. “How do we get in?”

“Hmm?” Zoccolo frowned at the drawbridge. “Che strano... it’s usually open at this hour!” He looked to the east; the rising Sun hadn’t lifted enough to shine over Pelola’s hills, though the sky was bright and blue as a morning could be. Zoccolo peered curiously back at the castle. “I wonder if something is wrong…”

“What do you mean?” asked Dinky.

Zoccolo snorted through his nostrils as his eyes darkened. “Signore Cricciero…”

“Seen-your-eh Creech-arrow?” Sweetie Belle repeated, syllable by syllable. “What does that mean?”

“He is the lord of this-a land-a,” Zoccolo said in a low voice. “That is, his-a family was once in great power here. Icodalia is different now, but some-a refuse to accept that.” With a heavy sigh, Zoccolo sat on his haunches and rubbed around his eyes. “Signore Cricciero is a very bad stallion. Worse even than Fiore thinks of me.”

Apple Bloom listened, ears drooping.

Zoccolo’s voice took on a quaver of emotion. “The castle once belonged to his-a family, but his good-a father gave it to the city to use as a central ospedale. I have not been to Pelola in many years, little friends, and I fear that ― in the time I was-a gone ― Cricciero may have closed-a the hospital.”

Sweetie Belle’s jaw dropped. “What!? That’s horrible! Why would he do that?”

“Power?” Zoccolo said, shrugging. “He feels it is-a his birthright? Who knows?” He shook his head. “Where could my sweet Nipota be?”

“Ain’t there another hospital?” Apple Bloom asked. “Where’re ponies s’posed to go if they get banged up?”

“Yeah!” said Scootaloo. “You can’t let ponies ride around on m-m-motorized scooters…” She shuddered with a smile before continuing, “And not have someplace for them to crash after they’ve… well, crashed!”

“There are local dottori, I suppose,” Zoccolo said. “Housewives and medicine mares. But my Nipota? With her-a disease?” His head drooped slowly. “I do not-a know.”

“Well, can’t we find her parents?” Apple Bloom asked. “You know where they live, right?”

Zoccolo perked up. “Yes! Yes, of course! Let’s-a find my sister, quickly!” He galloped around the moat, leading the fillies deeper into the city of Pelola.

But the apartment building where they arrived was abandoned. Zoccolo trembled on his hooves, staring at the dark, dirty windows and unkempt trees around it, their branches scraping into graffiti-covered brick. “Non ci credo...” he murmured at the sight. “Sorella… dove sei andata?”

“Uh oh, he’s talking to himself,” Sweetie Belle whispered to Apple Bloom. “This is bad, right?”

But Apple Bloom was focused. “This is where they lived?” she asked, eyeing the old building with concern in her eyes.

“For years and years,” Zoccolo answered, nodding. “What happened?”

“Somethin’ weird’s goin’ on here. I can feel it.” She heard sniffling behind her and turned to see Dinky in tears.

“I’m so sorry, Zoccolo,” Dinky said in a breaking voice. “This is terrible.”

Zoccolo hurried to her side and lifted Dinky’s chin. “No, little friend! Shhh! Don’t-a cry.” He caressed her cheek and smiled. “We know nothing-a yet. Perhaps all is well in another city! They may have-a gone to Pondova or Ancornia! I will find them.” His eyes lingered on her beading tears. “And you will find-a your foals, and any other souls you seek.”

Dinky burst into tears, leaning into Zoccolo’s hoof while she sobbed.

Sweetie Belle watched on, dabbing at her own eyes while her lower lip trembled.

Scootaloo leaned toward Apple Bloom and whispered, “I don’t get it.”

“Dinky misses her momma, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said in a tight voice. She sniffled. “This ain’t fair. We gotta help out.”

Scootaloo beamed. “Really?”

Apple Bloom nodded and blinked several times. “Yeah. Let’s, uh… let’s ask around, help Zoccolo find out as much as he can about what happened here and where his family’s gone. Then he’ll go get ‘em and we’ll find the foals in Haissan.” Zoccolo looked at her, and she managed a smile while she said, “Maybe we can even meet up back here on our way home to make sure everypony’s okay.”

“Fiore…” Zoccolo said with an earnest look in his eyes. “Grazie. Why the sudden change of heart, little friend?”

“Yeah, Bloom! Holy crap!” Scootaloo laughed. “I mean, I’m thrilled, believe me, but… what happened to doom-and-gloom Apple Bloom?”

“Fightin’ like we did on the train really got to me,” Apple Bloom said. “I realized that if we can’t stick together as a team, we ain’t good fer nothin’ out here.” Timidly, she looked into Zoccolo’s eyes. “And while I can’t rightly approve of your methods, Mister Zoccolo… you’ve been nothin’ but good to us. Least we can do is help ya figure out what’s goin’ on.”

Zoccolo clapped his hooves together at his chest and briefly smiled at the sky. “Benedetta Dea, grazie infinite.” He rose to his hooves and gazed proudly upon Apple Bloom. “Thank you, Fiore. It means-a very much to me.” He looked behind them, back toward the hospital. “The first-a thing we must-a do is ask Signore Cricciero, like honorable ponies. We must-a give him a chance to tell us what-a happened.”

Apple Bloom nodded resolutely. “Right. So… how do we get in and see him?”

Zoccolo smirked. “Perhaps… honorable wasn’t the right-a word.”