Return of the Mare

by Victoria

Part IV - Chapter 20: The Manehattan Project

CHAPTER 20 - The Manehattan Project

“This is goodbye, then,” Twilight said as we descended the stairs.

I nodded. Just yesterday, we had saved the mare and her friends from Tartarus, and now we had to separate again. Twilight and four of her friends – except for Rarity –were going to the Crystal Empire, while the rest of us were going to hoof it to Manehattan.

The only chariot we had was given to Twilight to assure her safe journey. The scouts’ reports warned about chaos spreading in the north, while the agents we’d met earlier assured us that the way to Manehattan should be mostly safe for travel. I deliberately ignored the mostly safe part.

It was still better than having to endure another flight…

“It won’t take long,” Rainbow Dash assured everypony, waving her hoof. “Those crystal heads won’t know what hit them.”

“I dunno about any hittin’, but we sure are gonna get to the root of this,” Applejack stated solemnly.

Rarity sighed. “I just hate to miss the chance to see the Empire again.”

I threw a side glance at her, not saying anything. I was happy to have her along, but if she wanted to join her other friends instead… I wouldn’t be upset. Well, maybe I would be just a little, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“But I think that going to Manehattan is more important,” Rarity added, putting my mind at ease.

We continued our steady descent until we reached the cave’s floor. The chariot with the pegasi guards was waiting there already. I nodded to the familiar ponies, noticing Sturdy mingling among them. He smiled and waved in return.

Celestia had been told about the changeling, of course. The reason why he hadn’t been put in a cell for being a spy was Fluttershy and me. Together, we convinced the Princess that Sturdy meant well and the others, though reluctantly, confirmed that he’d never been anything but helpful.

“We’re leaving,” Twilight said to them like it wasn’t obvious anyway.

As the guards pulled the chariot outside, we faced each other one more time. After the final group hug, Twilight and the rest climbed into the chariot and it took off. I searched the sky for any signs of the enemy, but saw none. Although I doubted we were in a position to help, even if I had noticed something.

“Well, we should go too,” Starlight distracted me from my heavy thoughts. “It’s almost a week’s journey on hoof, you know.”

She threw a wistful glance at the chariot, which was barely distinguishable in the distance, and sighed. I stepped from one hoof to another — a week didn’t sound all that appealing to me either and, if it was really important, I could handle one more flight, but the decision had already been made.

Rarity groaned at the reminder.

“Well, at least I’m bringing along the bare necessities I need for the journey,” she said more cheerfully, flipping two big saddlebags on her back.

Starlight rolled her eyes behind her — she carried even larger ones and I knew for a fact that they were filled with supplies. Ruby and I helped to pack them for each member of the group, except for Rarity. She packed her own. As for their content…Well, for all her good qualities, Rarity just wasn’t a traveler pony.

Five minutes into our journey and the first problem had already arisen, although not with Rarity. My human friend just couldn’t keep up with our pace. We were going at a quick trot — a pony could keep it up for hours.

Marcus couldn’t do the same.

He jogged along at first, but soon it became painfully obvious that Marcus wouldn’t keep up with the rest for long. Even his larger size didn’t offer him an advantage. Soon, the whole group had to slow down because of him. The old saying about a group being only as fast as its slowest member was proven true once more.

“Sorry, guys,” Marcus said, panting. “I’m doing my best.”

I recognized the guilt in his voice. My friend just wanted to help, but I guess it just wasn’t going to happen... We weren’t far from the cave yet. The best way was for him to go back right now, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. I was hoping he’d come to the same conclusion himself.

“Too bad I’m too small to carry you like I did with Spike,” I said instead.

Marcus chuckled. “Yeah, though it would be weird to ride you like a real horse.”

I heard Rarity giggle behind me, but I pretended I hadn’t noticed that.

“I can carry you if you’d like,” Sturdy suddenly offered.

Marcus and I glanced at him in confusion, but I understood what he meant the next moment. In a flash of green light, Sturdy’s pegasus form changed into a larger version of himself, although without wings. He flashed a triumphant smile.

“How would it work?” Starlight asked, examining the changeling, “Even though you’ve gotten bigger, you shouldn’t have become stronger than you were. That’s how enlargement spells are supposed to work.”

“Changeling magic is different,” Sturdy said. “I can be however strong I want, but it requires me to spend more magic to hold the form. Thankfully, I was trained to be an infiltrator, so I can hold it for quite a long time.”

“Amazing,” Starlight shook her head. “Twilight would be thrilled to learn that.”

The others were watching the changeling with curiosity, although I noticed Rarity kept herself behind Ruby. Marcus examined Sturdy’s new form skeptically.

“I guess that could work…” he pondered, scratching his chin.

“Of course it could. Hop on!” Sturdy prompted him and lowered his knees.

He was the size of a human-world horse now, so Marcus struggled to climb onto his back. Sturdy didn’t seem to notice his weight. He went on a quick trot easily; it was our turn to keep up with his long legs.

At least we were making some good progress now.

Of course, if a stranger were to see us, they would probably think they’d gone crazy. Our group would be quite memorable, even with just Marcus alone, and with the giant pony Sturdy had now become… Nopony would forget us.

That was the reason why we avoided going through the village on our way, cutting instead through some open pastures until it was behind us. The less attention we got so close to Canterlot, the smaller the chance that Tenebris would send somepony after us. The rest of the day we spent on the move, stopping only for short breaks. So far, we had met almost no other travelers and I didn’t know what I thought about that.

“Well, I guess ponies prefer to be home at a time like this,” Ruby shrugged when I asked her.

The sun was already setting, so we had to consider a place to stay for the night. Ruby wanted us to set up camp near the road, but Rarity took one look at the grass and shuddered from the inside.

“I’m sure we would find an inn or something if we’d go further a bit,” she said, frowning at Ruby, who was already taking off her saddlebags.

“We’re not supposed to attract attention,” Ruby answered.

“I think we’ve gotten far enough from Canterlot for that,” Rarity waved her hoof. “Please, imagine how much better it would be to sleep on a real bed, rather than here.”

Some doubt flickered on Ruby’s face. She looked at the others for support, but we all liked Rarity’s arguments — nopony wanted to sleep outside if it could be avoided. In the end, Ruby sighed and put the saddlebags on her back again.

Thankfully, the next village was close. We stopped in the distance as soon as we saw the first lights. Marcus jumped off Sturdy, but stumbled and almost smashed himself on the ground. He groaned and rubbed his backside.

“Ohh… There is no way I’m gonna ride you without a saddle,” Marcus told to his steed.

“What?!”

“My legs are hurt all over,” he explained.

The changeling turned back into his pegasus form and stretched his wings with a crunch.

“Well, you’re not a featherweight either,” he retorted.

“Suck it up, you both,” Starlight interrupted. “It’s important we get to Manehattan as fast as possible.”

Marcus and Sturdy exchanged careful glances; none of them looked enthusiastic at the prospect.

“I don’t want to make you wait for me,” Marcus frowned. “I can run for a long time if I have to, you know.”

“You’ll get tired,” I said, knowing perfectly well the human’s limitations.

“I have an idea, dearies,” Rarity singsonged. I looked at her, annoyed. “Perhaps we can find a carriage for hire in this lovely village.”

I almost hit myself realizing that she was right. Why hadn’t anypony thought about it sooner? We continued to the village in elevated spirits.

When we got into the village itself, we had to spend some time looking for an inn. The street was badly illuminated at night; the lit windows from nearby houses was our only source of light – save for our glowing horns. Eventually, we found the right building.

As soon as we trotted in, all conversation there died and the ponies switched their attention to the new arrivals. Marcus in particular was the one who had caught their interest. He waved at them with a forced smile and they turned away, pretending to carry on, but I saw that some of them continued to watch us from the corner of their eyes.

Ignoring the stares, Rarity casually approached the bartender.

“How many rooms do you have available?”

***

“It would have been better if we’d set up camp like I wanted,” Ruby mumbled, chewing the freshly made salad filled up with a lot of mayonnaise.

After Rarity paid for three rooms, we decided to order some dinner. Our group took a whole table for themselves, but we couldn’t enjoy our meals in peace and quiet as we had hoped. Everypony who was in the tavern approached our table one by one, curious to learn more about Marcus.

At least, that was at first. Soon, the topic switched to the situation in the country.

All they knew was based on some wild rumors. Not that reality was any better, of course. As the newcomers, we were the source of fresh information for them. Thankfully, Rarity took it onto herself to entertain the listeners, while the rest of us were eating. She was clearly enjoying the attention.

When I finished my food, I looked around the place, admiring how nice it looked. Even though it wasn’t luxurious, the place gave off a warm, safe feeling. It was slightly ruined, however, when I saw a unicorn sitting in the corner. He had a big cup in front of him and was staring right at me. The pony turned his glance away when our eyes met.

“Who’s that guy?” I asked one of the ponies talking with Rarity.

“That’s Minty Fresh,” he answered. I raised my eyebrow because the name told me absolutely nothing, so the pony elaborated, “He’s a nice fellow. Used to live here, but left a couple of years back. He came back yesterday from Canterlot and has been spending most of his time here, drinking.”

I thanked the pony and considered his words. I knew that Tenebris had banned anypony from leaving Canterlot and if this pony had done so anyway, he had either found a way to escape unnoticed or… Was here doing something for her. I needed to know which.

I apologized and left our table. My friends looked at me in confusion as I approached the unicorn who’d gotten my attention. I knew he was aware of me approaching, but he was ignoring me, sipping from his cup. He glared at me when I stopped before his table.

“What?” Minty asked curtly.

“Hello, my name’s Sundae,” I introduced myself.

“I know,” he said and, after a pause, added, “I mean, I do now.”

I noticed the slip and I didn’t like it. It’s never good when a stranger knows your name. I sat down on the free chair close to him, ignoring his annoyed glare. My body was tense in case the unicorn became hostile towards me; I hoped I was wrong in suspecting him.

“I heard you’ve left Canterlot recently. How did you do that?” I asked flat out.

Minty squirmed in his chair and looked around. Levitating a cup, he gulped down what was left of it and put it back on the table. Then he shrugged. I observed his reaction carefully — he was clearly avoiding the question. My suspicion increased.

“Well, if you don’t want to say—”

“You’re right, I don’t,” Minty interrupted. “It’s none of your business.”

I flinched, taken aback at the sudden anger in his voice. I realized that there was no point in asking anything else. His reaction at my simple question was pretty telling — he was working for the enemy and obviously knew who I was. I had no doubt he would inform Tenebris of our presence in the village. Upon returning to my own table, I quietly explained to my curious friends what I’d deduced.

“That bastard!” Ruby exclaimed loudly enough to get the attention of the whole room.

Minty obviously heard it as well. He put away the cup and walked towards the exit with an unsteady gait. Ruby followed him with narrowed eyes, an angry frown on her face. When the pony finally left, she switched her attention back to me.

“We need to stop him,” Ruby said in a low voice.

“Do we really need to bother?” Rarity asked. “I mean, it would take him a day to get to Canterlot. By that time, we would be far away.”

“It’s out of question,” Starlight stated, moving her hoof in a slashing motion. “They’d be looking for us on the road. I don’t want anypony else to die in a stupid fight. This pony needs to be stopped.”

Sturdy looked from one face to another with a concerned expression.

“I’m not sure he’s Tenebris’ spy” Sturdy said, picking his words carefully. “I mean, it’s just some small village. What would a spy be doing here?”

The changeling’s words put some doubt in my mind. Now that I thought about it, I saw no reason for a spy to be interested in this place. No offense to the locals, but this small village had no value for somepony like Tenebris. Perhaps there was another, more innocent explanation for my suspicions that I hadn’t yet discovered.

I chided myself for jumping to conclusions so quickly. As the saying went: facts should suit theories, not theories — facts.

“I have a theory, darling,” Rarity said. “Tenebris has spent thousands of years in Tartarus. It’s reasonable that she’s sending ponies to villages around the country to be her eyes and ears.”

Rarity’s theory sounded pretty reasonable. I sighed, being torn between hers and Sturdy’s. I felt like the only way to be sure was to talk with Minty again. I shared my intentions with the rest.

“I don’t want to listen to his lies,” Starlight shook her head. “No, we should strike at him right now.”

I winced, instantly recognizing her intentions. She wanted to kill the pony. I didn’t like that my friend was becoming more and more prone to resorting to such drastic measures. Suggesting killing the pony without even offering him a chance to explain himself…

“We should talk to him first,” I repeated.

Ruby sighed, shaking her head. “You already have, Sunny. Let’s find him before he gets away.”

With no further ado, Ruby put a plate with a half-eaten meal aside and made for the exit. The others followed her and, though reluctantly, I did too. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were making a big mistake, but my friends just weren’t listening to me!

Once we got out on the street, it became clear that finding the pony wouldn’t be an easy task.

Darkness covered the main street. The moon was hidden behind clouds; an elephant could walk right past us and nopony would notice until we stumbled right into it. Starlight lit up her horn, brightly illuminating the surroundings. We looked around, but nopony was in sight.

“We need to know where he’s staying,” said Rarity. “He won’t leave emptyhoofed, so we can intercept him there. Wait here, I’ll ask—”

“No,” Starlight stopped her as she was about to enter the tavern. “Let’s not make it more complicated than it is. I don’t want a bunch of villagers holding me back.”

“Why would they?” Ruby asked. “He serves Tenebris. They’ll understand.”

“I’m not sure they quite know who she is yet,” I countered.

Rarity looked between both of my friends, confused. “Wait, what exactly are you planning to do?”

“What do you think?” Ruby asked grimly, half-drawing her blade.

Rarity opened her mouth in a sudden realization. I guess having missed all the action in Tartarus, Rarity wasn’t ready to face the harsh realities my friends had come to accept. However, I was with Rarity on this one. It was one thing to kill somepony in battle when your life depended on it, but to just do it in cold blood based on a mere suspicion…

For all I knew, we could be plotting the death of a completely innocent pony. Anger rose inside of me, giving me some new strength.

“We will talk with him first,” I repeated firmly. Ruby opened her mouth to argue, but I raised my hoof, stopping her. “That’s final. We have to be sure.”

Ruby just shrugged, seeming to be accepting my order.

It was easier to find the pony than I’d assumed. I knew that everypony left a trace of their aura wherever they went, but what I didn’t know was that you could use it to follow said pony if you knew the right spell. The trace of this pony’s aura was degrading quickly, since Equestria was brimming with magic, but there was enough left for Starlight to follow where it led.

Soon, we were standing before a house. The house looked no different from its neighboring ones — a typical pony dwelling. Some light was spilling from its windows. It must have been Minty’s old house before he’d left the village in the first place. It made sense that he’d still be living there... But it looked well-cared for, so it couldn’t have been abandoned for all that time.

I approached the door first and was about to knock, when Starlight’s magic blew the door off its hinges with a loud crack. I jumped back in shock, staring at her incredulously. I thought we’d agreed to talk to him first?! The others were confused as well, but followed her as she trotted into the gaping door frame.

Rarity and I exchanged a worried glance before hurrying after them. I hoped Starlight hadn’t done something irreversible. As I learned a moment later, she hadn’t, but she was pretty damn close. The scene unfolding before my eyes was quite dramatic.

Minty was standing in the middle of the room, his hooves set wide, while holding a sword with his magic. His face was a mixture of fear and rage. An old mare was standing between him and Starlight, screaming something furiously.

“…dare you break into my house?” I caught the ending of her tirade before Starlight muted her with a spell.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Minty yelled, pushing the old mare to the side and standing before Starlight himself.

“You’re Tenebris’ spy!” Starlight poked an accusing hoof at him.

“Well, I admit, I used to serve her for a short time,” Minty said, swaying his sword, “But I never wanted to!”

“Liar,” Starlight growled.

I saw red sparks in her usually green magic aura and frowned. It couldn’t be good. I trotted close to her and put a hoof on her back in an attempt to calm her, but I might just as well have touched an exposed wire instead. A vicious force stung my hoof and I was thrown back on my haunches. Starlight glanced at me in surprise, as Ruby and Marcus both rushed to me.

“Are you okay?” both asked at the same time.

I looked between my smoking hoof and Starlight with wide eyes. My heart was beating like crazy and my whole body was shaking from the aftereffects. What the hell had just happened?

Having seen that I was mostly fine, Starlight snapped her attention back to Minty, who had used the distraction to try to escape along with the old mare. He didn’t get far, however. Starlight levitated both of them into the air. She gently put the mare aside, but Minty received much harsher treatment.

He was brought before Starlight’s eyes, immobilized in her magical field. The unicorn gaped at her silently, unable to move a limb. Once again, I saw her magic begin to change its color to red. This time I knew what the consequences would be, so I just stood in front of Starlight without touching her; Rarity joined by my side a moment later, giving the mare a stern glance.

“I thought we were going to talk to this pony first,” I scorned her.

“I don’t want to hear it!” Starlight screamed at me, stomping her hoof. I took an involuntary step back, bumping my backside into the hovering unicorn.

“Go away!” the old mare screamed. She would have gone after Starlight, but she was immobilized just like Minty.

“I swear, I don’t work for Tenebris anymore,” said the stallion behind me. He talked with a struggle, like it was causing him pain.

Likely, it really was.

“My son has deserted Tenebris, you fools!” the old mare screamed from her place.

Starlight face was impassive. She just stared right through me and didn’t even blink. With dread, I noticed her eyes turning into two slits. An instinctive fear made me shudder from my ears to the tip of my tail — such predatory eyes weren’t natural on a pony.

“I think you’re going too far, dear,” Rarity said, I could hear her voice shaking.

I nodded to express my support.

“He’s going to get somepony killed, how could you not see it?!” exclaimed Starlight, shaking the pony in question in her grip.

“We don’t know that,” I said firmly. “We shouldn’t jump to conc—”

“Enough,” Starlight waved a hoof. “Step away, you two.”

Without waiting for an answer, she rather rudely shoved us aside with her magic. I yelped in protest, but she ignored me — her attention was at the pony who she thought served Tenebris. But I felt like she was making a huge mistake. I could feel it with every fiber of my being.

There was no way I’d allow Starlight to kill an innocent. I knew she’d never forgive herself….

I teleported out of Starlight’ grip and appeared right in front of her. Unfortunately, it was exactly at this moment that she unleashed her spell, intended to end the accused pony’s life. It hit me instead, and I shook from the waves of destructive magic passing through my body. My jaw clenched and I couldn’t even scream, despite feeling excruciating pain.

The last thing I remembered was the feeling of my bladder relieving itself.

***

I slowly came back to consciousness, experiencing a horrible ache throughout my body. I groaned and tried to move my limbs, but a pang in my muscles ceased any further attempts. Instead, I relaxed them as much as I could and turned my ear toward a voice.

“My God, Starlight, what the hell?” Marcus asked.

Forcing my eyes open, I saw Starlight’s horrified eyes — normal pony-looking eyes — staring at me. The mare blinked and flattened her ears against her head. I heard fast hoofsteps from the side and Ruby’s face appeared in front of my field of vision. My marefriend looked scared.

“Sunny, are you okay?”

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t feel okay and probably didn’t look like it either. What was worse – I smelled a strong stench of urine, likely coming from me. How embarrassing… I opened my mouth to say something, but my tongue felt too heavy.

“What were you thinking?” Ruby asked in rage, turning to face Starlight.

“I… I wasn’t aiming at her…” Starlight muttered, backing up from the furious mare.

“You shouldn’t have been using such magic at all!” Ruby stomped her hoof. I winced from a loud noise assaulting my sensitive ear. “Sunny wanted to talk first!”

“I just… I felt so angry,” Starlight hung her head low under Ruby’s withering stare.

At some point, I fell unconscious again.

***

I jerked up and flung my eyes open. I blinked them a couple of times to see more clearly. A ceiling was above me. I was obviously lying on something, but I couldn’t feel on what. In fact, I was feeling nothing at all, not even pain. I tried to move, but no limb responded to my mental command.

A fear started to arise inside of me. Had I been hurt more than I’d realized?

I took a deep breath to quell the rising panic. At least, I could still breathe — that was something positive already. And I could move my eyes to look around. The room I was in was sunlit from an open window. But more importantly, Ruby was here as well.

She was sitting beside my bed. Noticing my activities, the mare leaned upon me to meet my eyes.

“Sunny, blink if you can hear me.”

I did as she asked and was rewarded by her smile of relief. “Starlight numbed the nerves in your body, so you wouldn’t feel any pain while you were sleeping. It’ll pass soon now that you’re awake.”

Having said that, she hugged me, though I didn’t feel a thing from our body contact. My head was dangling at her shoulder. I couldn’t express it, but I felt an immense relief learning that my condition was temporary. I think I could already feel a light tingling at the end of my hooves.

As my mind was taken off the immediate worry, some new issues took its place. Judging by the fact that it was day outside, I must have been unconscious for at least a full night. And the room I was in looked like it belonged to a house, not the inn we had chosen to stay in. More questions were on my mind, but I had to wait before I could ask them.

Ten minutes later the tingling I was feeling had become much more acute. It enveloped my whole body; it was like being pricked by tiny spears, wielded by a horde of angry lilliputs. Imagining such a thing made me chuckle. I realized that I had done it out loud — I could move again! I lifted my hoof, but immediately dropped it again, cringing from a sharp pain.

I tried to say something, but all I could manage was a groan and a coughing fit.

“You should rest some more,” she said, watching me in concern.

I shook my head stubbornly. Every second I wasted here was a second that Tenebris was spending on getting stronger.

“H-how…long have I been out?” I forced out the question I wanted to ask.

“Just a day,” Ruby shrugged like it was nothing.

I winced upon hearing this. The whole day had been wasted because of… I suddenly remembered why.

“What happened after I was hit?”

Ruby answered my question in detail.

After what she’d done, Starlight had been devastated. Everypony had been afraid that I would die, even though Starlight claimed she had canceled the spell before it could gain its full strength. The old mare, Minty’s mother as it turned out, had offered her guest room for me while her son had gone to fetch a local doctor. Sturdy had followed him just in case he’d try to escape, but the pony hadn’t.

“So while we were taking care of you, we had a long talk with Minty and his mother,” Ruby continued. “Even Starlight believes they’re telling the truth.”

I nodded, noticing the way Ruby was saying Starlight’s name. Despite of what had happened to me, I didn’t regret putting myself in harm’s way. An innocent pony had been saved — as well as Starlight’s soul. If she’d killed him in rage and would only then have found out the truth… I don’t think she would ever forgive herself.

On the other hoof, she must be blaming herself right now for almost killing me.

“I want to talk with Starlight.”

“Well, Starlight is staying in the tavern along with the others,” Ruby said, furrowing her brow. “The old mare only allowed me to stay here. I told her we’re marefriends.”

She leaned down for a kiss to prove her words, not that I needed any confirmation. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the kiss while it lasted. I noticed that a pony had a much longer tongue than a human, which led to some pleasant experiences… After the kiss ended, Ruby went to tell the others the good news.

While she was away, I got some time to reflect on what in Tartarus had happened. I noticed Starlight had been getting kind of harsh on our enemies, but now she had taken it to an entirely new level. Though it had been reasonable to assume the pony was working for Tenebris — and he had done so in the past — it didn’t mean he should be killed off with no chance to explain himself.

Everypony makes mistakes and what mattered here was that he had realized his mistake and quit working for her. Starlight’s own past should be proof enough of that. Maybe this pony deserved to be punished in some way when everything was over, but it wouldn’t be by death for sure.

The door opened, interrupting my thoughts, and a whole bunch of ponies trotted into my room. My friends surrounded my bed and looked at me so intensely that I began to feel very self-conscious. I forced a tiny smile.

“Sup.”

“Sunny, I’m sorry for what I did to you…” Starlight said, looking anywhere but my eyes. “If you want to hate me now, I understand.”

I waved my hoof weakly. “I don’t hate you. It was kind of my fault anyway.”

“No, it was mine,” retorted Starlight. “I was just so angry! I was so sure he was going to rat us out to Tenebris and somepony else would die. Like Detective Seeker…”

“Well, hopefully next time you’ll think before throwing your deadly spells around…” Rarity mumbled. Starlight nodded solemnly.

Even though I had almost died because of Starlight, I knew it had been an accident and I didn’t hold a grudge. I told her exactly that. However, Ruby was another thing. I noticed the menacing glances she was throwing Starlight’s way, and the anger in her voice when she had mentioned the mare’s name. I was afraid that Ruby wouldn’t be as forgiving as me.

I decided to talk with her later.

For the moment, I was more worried about our mission. Obviously, this accident had put our journey to Manehattan under a serious threat. As of now, I couldn’t even stand, let alone walk or trot. We had already lost a day while I’d been unconscious, and we’d lose a lot more if my friends were going to wait for me to recover.

“I think you should continue without me,” I sighed.

My friends exchanged glances, but no one raised an objection. I guess they had already discussed it while I’d been unconscious, and had come to the same conclusion. I still felt like crying though. It wasn’t just because I wouldn’t be able to continue the mission, but I also wouldn’t see my parents.

After I had reclaimed my memories, I still hadn’t found the time to visit them and now… There was no telling when I’d get another chance to go to Manehattan.

“I’ll carry you back to Canterlot,” Ruby offered. I nodded, resigned.

“That’s a bad idea,” Starlight said, flinching at a stare Ruby gave her. “I mean, the enemy knows our faces. They’re looking for us. If some random patrol finds you near Canterlot, you two won’t be able to deal with them.”

“I’ll go with them,” said Marcus, gripping the handle of his sword.

“No, Starlight is right,” Ruby said, throwing a side glance at the mare. “It’s too risky for us to separate.”

Rarity’s delicate cough brought our attention to her. She flashed a smile and said, “Hadn’t we planned to find a carriage in this village? Sunny and Marcus can both ride in it, while we all pull it together.”

I quickly considered her idea and, finding no immediate drawbacks, grinned. It seemed like a great idea! It would give me the time to recover without delaying our mission at the same time. According to Ruby’s earlier explanation, Starlight’s spell had done no permanent damage and its consequences should disappear without a trace in time.

How much time though depended on the pony, i.e. me.

The rest liked Rarity’s idea too. Without wasting any more time, everypony but Ruby and Marcus left to find a carriage, assuming there was one available in the village. While we waited, I made some small talk with my remaining friends. Soon, however, I realized that it was a good time to tackle the issue I’d noticed earlier.

“Don’t blame Starlight, please,” I said, trying to put a steel edge in my voice. Unfortunately, a coughing fit ruined my attempt. I forced a smile on my face and, ignoring Ruby’s frown, continued. “What happened was a tragic mistake.”

Ruby lowered her eyes. She was silent for a while and then finally replied, “I know she didn’t want to hurt you. But… I almost lost you anyway! How could I just forgive her?”

I shook my head. “If I hadn’t teleported right in front of her spell, it wouldn’t have happened. Why don’t you blame me?”

“Yeah, about that — you should be more careful, Sunny,” Marcus said, touching my shoulder. “It was a dumb idea to jump in front of a deadly spell. You’re not Harry Potter, for God’s sake!”

I chuckled, but I knew he was right. It had been dumb of me. But it wasn’t like I had been expecting it to happen. Who knew that the spell would have been released the moment I had teleported in its way?

“Everypony is to blame here,” I said in the end. “If I hadn’t gotten suspicious and talked with Minty in the first place, this whole mess could have been avoided.”

***

Starlight returned alone a few hours later. Ruby tensed up as she walked in, but I gave her a stern look and she forced herself to relax. I’d managed to convince Ruby to make peace with Starlight, but she wasn’t enthusiastic. I knew she was doing it only for me, but I had no doubt that in due time she would fully accept it. I raised an eyebrow, reminding her of what she’d promised to do, and the mare sighed.

“Starlight?” Ruby addressed her.

Starlight looked at her with a worried expression, her tail twitching slightly. She’d probably expected Ruby to say something nasty, having seen her attitude before, but the mare remained silent. I cleared my throat to show my impatience.

“Starlight, I want to say that I’m not mad at you for what happened,” she finally said.

Starlight raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah, you’re just on edge. We all are,” she continued. “And as Sunny said, holding grudges would only make matters worse. We’re friends… even though what you did was pretty rotten.”

The unicorn chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah, I agree.” Starlight shuddered. “For a moment there, I thought that I had actually killed Sundae. I’ll never forget that feeling…”

I struggled out of my bed, cringing in pain when my legs were forced to hold my body weight. Marcus stood by closely, making sure I wouldn’t fall and hurt myself even more. But I managed to keep my footing despite the pain, giving Starlight a hug.

“Just don’t blame yourself,” I said quietly.

She mumbled something I took as a sign of agreement. The hug ended and I fell on my haunches, hissing in pain. My muscles hurt if I put some strain on them, but were fine when I kept them relaxed.

“Well, we’ve found a cart, by the way,” Starlight said, looking at me helplessly. “We want to move out right away. Rarity has also hired some ponies to pull it, so we all can rest at night while catching up with the time we’ve lost.”

I nodded. Then I made an attempt to stand again, but my hindlegs hurt too badly and I couldn’t hold back a groan. Starlight’s expression sunk even more as she watched me struggle.

“I’ve got it,” Starlight said and I suddenly felt weightless.

I gasped, thinking that something bad had happened to my senses, but then I realized that Starlight was levitating me above the floor. I looked at her and she smiled sheepishly.

“I hope you don’t mind?” Starlight asked. I answered with a shrug.

Keeping me in the air, she carried me out of the room. An old mare was waiting in the next one. The way she looked, I realized that she was happy to finally be rid of us. I tried not to feel upset — we had broken into her house and attempted to kill her son after all. Any hard feelings towards our company were totally justified.

“Thank you for your help,” I said anyway.

“Think nothing of it, filly,” she waved her hoof dismissively. “It’s everypony’s duty to help those in need.”

We passed through the damaged door that Starlight had blown up and got onto the street. The cart was waiting on the road by the house. It looked pretty shabby. It wasn’t the carriage Rarity had promised, but I guess we didn’t have much of a choice. Two strong-looking stallions were harnessed into it, ready to go. The rest of my friends were waiting close-by, while chatting with Minty.

They all turned to stare at me as one. I blushed, realizing how silly I must look right now — an adult mare being carried around like some foal with her limbs swaying uselessly. I endured their pitiful looks until I was put on the cart. Thankfully, there was hay on its floor, so at least it was soft.

“Thanks for saving my life, Sundae,” Minty said, putting his forelegs on the cart wall. “I’m sorry if I was rude to you in the tavern. I was drunk and kind of afraid of you.”

I raised my eyebrows, looking at him in surprise. He chuckled before explaining further.

“I mean, I was one of the guards in the manor when you had your showdown with Tenebris,” he said. “I guess I was afraid that you’d recognize me and go for revenge or something… Which is basically what happened anyway.”

My ears dropped when I heard an accusing note in his voice. But then I gave him a firm look.

“I’m sorry for what happened, but your pals have tried to kill us before. Our friend has just died by their hooves, just so you know.”

Minty looked away in shame. “Yes, I was told. But you should know that I’ve never killed anypony. I used to be a burglar in Canterlot, working for some small band. Sure, our boss made us train in some old armor quite a lot, but I had no idea what he was preparing us for. Then one fine morning he orders us to suit up and attack the Royal Armory. Turns out our band was much bigger than I’d thought. Had I known that our plans involved a coup, I wouldn’t have joined in the first place, I swear.”

“I see,” I nodded curtly. “You were still a criminal though, but I’ll make sure to put in a good word for you to Celestia, as long as you promise to change your life.”

“I will, I promise,” the pony said. “That’s why I escaped. Tell you what, though, a lot of ponies who were with me have no desire to fight for Tenebris. My fellow soldiers even helped me to escape. All I ask of you is to give them a chance to surrender.”

“Of course,” I said. “Unless there is no other way.”

“Fair enough.”

After that, he stepped back and my friends, who were standing further away to give us some privacy, climbed into a cart. The six of us laid down next to each other and the cart began to move, pulled by the two hired stallions. The constant shaking of the cart and soft voices of my friends talking with each other made me feel drowsy, so I succumbed to sleep soon after.

***

The first few days into the journey I was mostly sleeping. We were moving without stopping for breaks: whenever the stallions got tired, Ruby and Sturdy took their places to pull the cart while they rested on it. At this speed, we would be in Manehattan earlier than anticipated, even taking our delay into account.

On the third day of traveling, I finally decided that I wouldn’t recover if I spent all my time doing nothing.

“How are you feeling?” Starlight asked.

She walked beside me just in case I collapsed.

“Much better,” I answered honestly. I could see some relief washing over her face.

I took a full chest of air and then exhaled. It was a refreshing summer morning. The sky was clear and the sun had only begun to warm up the land. I briefly wondered if some pegasi were still watching over the weather with everything happening in the country. I hoped they were — otherwise we’d face some serious problems after this was over.

Speaking of pegasi, I noticed a silhouette of one in the sky. It was rapidly approaching. I squinted my eyes, but the pony was still too far to see in detail. However, I had a pretty good guess of who it was. A few minutes afterwards, Sturdy landed in front of the cart, breathing heavily, and I nodded to him in greeting.

I began to worry a little. Being so close to Manehattan, we decided that it was necessary for somepony to scout ahead, in case there were some troubles on our way. If he had returned this soon—

“Good news, everypony,” Sturdy announced, interrupting my thoughts. “We’re closer to Manehattan than we thought. I think we’ll be there before the evening.”

Happy yays and whoops were his answer. Just like me, everypony was tired of being inactive. I had a disturbing feeling that Tenebris was growing stronger, while we were here slacking off. Of course, I knew that we were doing the best we could, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling.

The changeling was right — we started seeing Manehattan’s skyscrapers on the horizon soon after his return. The familiar buildings reminded me of my childhood in the city. So many new — or, more correctly, old — memories were connected to them now… Not all of them were good as I had discovered, but I smiled thinking of seeing my parents again.

Unfortunately, we had to continue our journey on hoof as we got to the city adjacent to it. The stallions didn’t want to go any further, so after getting their payment they left, along with their cart. Without it, our advance was slowed down considerably. I couldn’t help but blame myself, even though I knew it wasn’t my fault that I’d been hurt.

Being so close to the city, there was plenty of pony traffic on the road. They weren’t the crowds I had been expecting to see here, but it was much more than we had seen on our way here. They were going around our group, as we crawled towards the bridge that connected Manehattan to the mainland.

We saw a blockade on the bridge from afar.

Even though we’d heard that the city remained under Celestia’s control, we didn’t rush to meet them. What if the situation had changed since we’d met Agent Clipper’s representatives? We had to be careful. From what we could see, it was clear that no pony was wearing the telling black armor associated with our enemy, but since we’d burned down their stash in the city, it couldn’t be a definitive sign.

“So, what do you think?” Ruby asked, nodding at the obstacle up ahead. “Are those our friends?”

I shrugged and shared my doubts with the rest.

“You’re right, we can’t know,” Starlight said and then chuckled grimly. “I promise not to blow them up before we find out for sure, though.”

Ruby frowned, but didn’t comment, being warned by my meaningful stare. I was relieved — I knew if Ruby made some angry jab, nothing good would come out of it. There was no need for my friends to fight in the face of a potential enemy. Nor at any other place, for that matter.

Despite Ruby’s earlier words, I knew that her relationship with Starlight was still shaky. They remained civil to each other, at least in my presence, but I could feel some tension between the mares. I hoped they’d resolve it eventually, but there was nothing more I could do to expedite the process.

“Well, what’s the problem?” Marcus shrugged. “Let’s just ask somepony.”

Rarity took his words as a call to action and approached a stallion coming from the city. We waited here while she talked to him, and soon she returned. By her smile, I could guess she had some good news for us.

“Manehattan is free from Tenebris.”

In elevated spirits, we boldly approached the barricades on the bridge. There was a line of ponies they’d let into the city, but it was moving pretty fast. They just exchanged a few words with each other, and then let them in with no further trouble. Soon, it was our turn to stand before them.

“Halt, citizens,” the lead pony warned us, glancing at Marcus. “State your business.”

“We’re visiting our friends in the city,” Starlight lied. I was surprised she didn’t just reveal the truth, but I guess it wasn’t wise to blab out our task to everypony we saw. Even our allies.

“I see,” the pony nodded and looked at Marcus. “And where are you from?”

“He’s from a faraway country,” Starlight answered before Marcus could open his mouth. “He doesn’t speak our language, but considering what’s happening in this country, he wants to return to his homeland.”

“I thought you were visiting your friends,” the guard said, narrowing his eyes.

“Well, we are going to do that, after we help him,” Starlight explained.

“Who are those friends? I need a name and address, please,” the pony asked, preparing to write something in his notebook.

Starlight shifted from hoof to hoof, stuck in her own lie.

Thankfully, Rarity came to the rescue. She stepped forward, her mane flowing in the wind. I openly admired it — she had found the time to keep it in pristine condition, even while we’d been traveling. Rarity named the stunned guards an address and named Coco Pommel as the friend we wanted to visit.

The guardspony gulped, scribing something in his notebook and then gave a sharp nod, gesturing behind him.

“Enjoy the city,” he said with a grin. “Sorry for all this. As you know, there was some fighting in the city. We have to check who’s going in and out.”

“No problem, darling.”

We hurried between the barricades as there was a small line of ponies waiting behind us. We passed another barricade on the opposite side of the bridge — I saw a lot more ponies leaving the city than going in. The guards here were letting anypony pass with no questions. Only those wearing clothes were stopped and checked, I guess in case they were carrying some concealed weapon. Those ponies were searched and, usually, allowed to pass as well.

“Why didn’t you just tell those guys the truth?” Ruby asked Starlight accusingly.

Rarity interposed herself between the two and answered herself, “It would only cause us trouble, darling. Imagine if someone told you they were looking for some old ingredients to give to a dangerous criminal locked in Tartarus, so he’d make you a magical stone you would use against Tenebris, who’s currently taking over Equestria?”

“Yeah, when you put it like that, I would think that pony was insane…”

“Exactly,” chuckled Rarity.

At first glance, Manehattan seemed as active as ever, but if I looked closer, I could see some signs of trouble. A lot of ponies were wearing a gloomy expression, and though that was to be expected from a typical Manehattanite, it wasn’t to that extent.

Rarity took the lead, trotting with a steady pace through the crowds. After some time, I began to pant, as her speed was too much for me. I tried to keep up, even though my muscles were hurting from such a strain, but was falling behind further and further.

“Everypony, stop,” Marcus said, finally noticing my struggle. “Sunny can’t keep up.”

My friends looked at me, ashamed. Ruby hastened towards me and gave me a sudden, but nonetheless pleasant, hug. For a moment, I was lost in the delicious smell of her fluffy green mane.

“Oh, Sunny, sorry,” she chattered. “I got too caught up in my own thoughts. We need to find a cab, everypony!” she announced to the others.

I nodded gratefully, sitting on my haunches. Everypony looked around in the hopes of finding a cab. With a sudden shriek, Rarity dashed forward and jumped into an open carriage before a slower competitor. She forced an apologetic smile to the unfortunate mare and said something I didn’t hear.

The mare turned curtly and left as we approached the cab Rarity had gotten us. The cab driver gave Marcus a short glance, but didn’t say anything when we all climbed inside. As we settled, however, the driver warned us that we would have to pay double for him to pull such a heavy weight.

“Of course, dear,” said Rarity, levitating the bits out of her purse and giving them to the stallion. “To the Central Bank, please.”

***

I was watching out of the window.

The city looked undamaged by the fighting that had taken place here, but I guess Manehattan was a large city — the battle would have had to be truly monstrous to leave a noticeable mark. From what I knew, the enemy had struck surgically at the important areas of the city, such as the guard’s headquarters and police buildings.

Thankfully, Agent Clipper had somehow learned about the attack in advance and set up an ambush for the enemy forces. However, they had still managed to do a lot of damage, which had resulted in the death of the city’s mayor and some important figures all over the city. The remaining city council had appointed Clipper as the temporary mayor with emergency powers, until the situation had normalized.

It seemed like the city was functioning normally to an outsider’s point of view, though the closer we got to the center, the emptier it seemed. There were armed ponies patrolling the streets, each of them had a special band just like the ponies on the bridge. Each group like that had a police officer who appeared to be in charge, but for most of the ponies it looked like it was their first time holding a weapon.

So far, I hadn’t seen anypony who resembled a soldier.

Soon, the cab stopped in front of the large and imposing building. The rest and I stepped out, admiring this feat of architecture. The building had an impressive colonnade at its front that dwarfed a pony. The Bank was made out of gray rock and looked much older than the rest of the buildings in the neighborhood.

Judging by ponies going in and out, it was still open, even though the sun was about to set. It was my guess anyway, as I couldn’t see it behind the skyscrapers right now. The lamp poles had already been turned on though, brightly illuminating the streets.

“Are you sure it’ll work?” Marcus asked yet again. He’d been asking the same question for a while now.

With a condescending smile, Rarity assured him that it would and he shouldn’t worry.

“Well, if it’s anything like a bank in Britain, it won’t,” he said, frowning.

“I have to admit, he’s right,” I sighed. “Though I’ve had no experience with Equestrian ones, even before my memory loss, so I can’t speak for them.”

“I can,” Ruby stated grimly. “They’re heartless bastards.”

Rarity cringed at such a blunt statement and trotted up the stairs without saying a word. Having exchanged glances, we followed behind her. A security pony at the entrance let everypony pass, but as Marcus and I attempted to enter, he blocked our entrance with a raised hoof.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, keeping the annoyance out of my voice.

“You’re free to go, ma’am, but this creature here is a security risk,” the pony said evenly. “I cannot allow the entry of a rare creature, unless you have some papers proving their good intentions.”

“I’ve never heard of a law like that,” I said, feeling an anger rising inside of me.

“That is because rare creatures are…rare,” the pony explained. “I’m sorry, but it’s just how it is. I’d get fired if I let this creature in. For all I know, it might possess some dangerous abilities that would be a threat to the Bank’s property.”

“I’m not a bank robber, dude,” Marcus spread his hands. “And I’m not an it. But sure, I’ll just wait outside if that’s what you want…”

I opened my mouth to protest, but at that moment Ruby returned to see what was the problem. I quickly explained and she gave the pony an evil stare, which he simply ignored. However, I’d already realized that it was pointless to argue, and it would save everypony’s time if we just accepted his demands.

Nuzzling Marcus’ leg apologetically, I walked inside the Bank with Ruby. Once there, I took a moment to examine my surroundings. We were in a large hall, which was probably around the size of a baseball field. The lines of tables with bank workers were standing along the hall’s walls, though more than half of them were empty. The rest looked like they were drowning in work. Lines of ponies stretched almost all the way to the entrance.

It seemed like a lot of ponies wanted to withdraw their money after the recent events.

It couldn’t be good for the Bank, but it was even worse for me. I groaned when I imagined just how long I would have to stand on this insanely long line for us to finally have our turn. I knew that my muscles just weren’t up to the task yet.

“I hope this place works round-the-clock,” I commented. “Would be sad to learn that it’s closing for the night, after we’ve spent a couple of hours waiting.”

Rarity assured me that it wasn’t the case.

“I don’t know if Sunny can endure so much standing,” Ruby said, throwing me a pitiful glance. “We should have booked a hotel room first for her.”

“Well, my parents’ apartment is not very far from here,” I said, suddenly lighting up with an idea. “I can spend a night there and you’ll find me there after you finish your business here.”

“I’ll go with you.” Ruby’s reaction was predictable. “The others will do just fine without us.”

Rarity and Starlight both nodded, looking determined. The changeling, however, was clearly worried. He looked between us and finally asked, “What about me?”

“I think he should go with you,” Starlight said in a quiet voice. “Who knows, maybe they have some security measures against changelings.”

“I sincerely doubt that, darling,” Rarity said. “He’s been in the Guard for — how long — a few years, right? Nopony ever figured him out, so I doubt that a bank, even one as powerful as the Central Bank, would do so.”

Sturdy still widened his eyes in alarm at the very idea, looking around like he was expecting to be revealed at any moment. While I agreed with Rarity, I didn’t think Sturdy would be too happy now. Even worse, his nervous behavior would get the attention he’d prefer to avoid. But did I trust the changeling enough to introduce him to my parents? So far, he’d been on our side, so…

“Fine, but we should keep your nature a secret,” I nodded in the end.

Ruby made her disapproval of my decision pretty clear. She wasn’t at all enthusiastic about the prospect of a changeling being at our little family reunion, but since it was my family we were talking about, my marefriend had to accept it in the end.

“I’m sorry for causing trouble,” Sturdy said, drooping his ears.

“Don’t mind Ruby, she’s just a big meanie,” I grinned, poking Ruby’s side.

She growled something unintelligible, but then smiled herself.

“Just don’t make me regret it and we’ll be fine, okay?”

Sturdy nodded and we went on our way there at once.

I didn’t envy Starlight and Rarity who had stayed behind, and not just because of the long line. According to the alchemist from Tartarus, he’d left the ingredients in a secure bank vault under a false name. He paid up a big sum of money to assure it would be kept for centuries, so it should still be there.

The problem was that the cell required a key and a codeword to get access to. The codeword was not the issue, but the key was another matter entirely. Having spent centuries in Tartarus, the alchemist obviously had no idea where the key might be now. I didn’t know how my friends would convince the Bank to grant them access with just the codeword, but they were smart ponies; I was sure they’d come up with something.

For now, I concentrated on the more pressing matter that was on my mind – how my parents would react to my relationship with Ruby.

***

The apartment building hadn’t changed since the last time I was here. I exhaled in relief. Even though I knew the city hadn’t been damaged in the fighting, there were always exceptions. I saw one on my way here — the building had been burned down. I didn’t know if it had happened because of the fighting, but I was glad my old home had avoided the same fate.

I tried to predict my parents’ reaction to Marcus. I had explained everything about him on my previous visit, but now would be the first time they saw him in person. I was certain about one thing however — they wouldn’t judge him based on his appearance. After all, living in Manehattan gave a pony a special mindset.

Marcus didn’t attract nearly as much attention here as he had in Ponyville or even Canterlot. I guess that made sense, considering Manehattan’s status as the biggest international port in Equestria. The ponies here were used to seeing different creatures from all over the world; Marcus was just another one of them.

We entered the building and began climbing the stairs. It was quite a challenge for my poor legs. Despite all my attempts to struggle through the pain, they simply gave up on the third floor. I groaned when I recalled that the right apartment was near the top. There was no way I would reach it on my own.

I had to agree to Ruby’s offer.

It was slightly embarrassing for me to be carried on her back like a foal, but I endured it all the way up. Thankfully, we met no pony on our path. As we reached the top floor, I couldn’t help but be amazed at Ruby’s earth pony strength — she was only slightly winded by all her hard work! If we’d switched roles, I would likely have been crushed under her weight.

When we arrived in front of the right door, I stood on my own legs. My parents didn’t need to know about my injuries. I intended to tell them about the rest of my adventures, however, so I imagined they’d have their share of worrying without details like that.

Who knows, they may even attempt to ground me.

I knocked and only then suddenly remembered the state my mane was in. I tried to fix it up feverishly, when my mum opened the door. Her eyes widened upon seeing me.

“Hi, mum,” I shot rapidly, ceasing my activities.

A big smile bloomed on her face and she rushed towards me, crushing me into a bear hug. I couldn’t hold back a groan of pain as she squeezed my sore muscles. She released me at once, an obvious concern on her face.

“What’s wrong, Sundae?”

“You’re stronger than you look,” I tried to hide a lingering pain behind a forced smile.

I knew better than to think my mum would be so easy to fool, however. She pursed her lips and didn’t inquire any further, but I was expecting a serious talk later, once she got my father on her side. Dreading their combined assault, I introduced her to Marcus and Sturdy, hoping to distract her from myself.

Sturdy simply nodded, while Marcus bowed his head and even kissed an outstretched hoof like a true gentleman.

Mum smiled politely, “Thank you for bringing my daughter back.”

“She did it mostly on her own, but you’re very welcome, ma’am.”

We proceeded inside only to see my father on his way to see what was going on. Taught by earlier experience, I took a step back to avoid his hug. He folded his ears at such a rejection and I felt rotten for making him feel this way. I couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Sorry, it’s just that I’ve had an accident… My body is all sore,” I explained.

It couldn’t be helped since it was out in the open anyway. Trying to hide the obvious would only make my parents needlessly suspicious and worried, which was exactly what I was trying to avoid in the first place. I was still going to keep out Starlight’s involvement, though.

“Oh sweetie, what happened?” mum asked with wide eyes.

Before I began my story, we went into the main room, where I laid down on a couch; my legs were comfortably spread to the side. It took some time to share everything and I was careful to avoid the most questionable parts. My friends helped to fill in the gaps, but I was speaking for most of the time.

“Whoa, I knew that something bad was happening out there, but I didn’t know how bad it really was…” my mother mumbled after I finished. “And worst of all, you’re right in the thick of this.”

“Yeah, she’s a hero, my Sunny,” Ruby said, gently leaning on me.

Mother and father both gave us a puzzled glance and I realized that I had somehow failed to mention the exact nature of our new relationship. Well, at least that was something I could happily share with an open heart.

“By the way, Ruby and I are marefriends,” I announced with a large grin.

***

Such a large revelation sparked a whole set of reactions. Thankfully, positive ones. My mum jumped off her chair and ran towards me. I recoiled slightly, but she was careful to hug me very gently. Then she switched to Ruby and this time didn’t hold back her enthusiasm. Ruby grunted, but returned the hug with an equal force.

I rolled my eyes. Those earth ponies’ competitiveness…

Then it was my father’s turn. He was more restrained, but I could tell he was no less happy than my mum.

“I thought I’d never see that moment,” he said, glowing from the inside.

“Sunny is a big girl now,” my mum added. “I didn’t know she was into mares though, but it’s not a problem!”

Dad shot her a stare and she chuckled nervously.

“Anyway, I think this calls for a celebration.”

Having said that, she went to the kitchen and returned, carrying a few dishes. My face fell when I laid my eyes upon them. The portions were so small! It wasn’t that I was particularly hungry or something, but knowing my mum, she would never treat her guests like that. Something must be seriously wrong.

“Sorry, but the city has been having some food troubles lately…” she apologized.

“Oh,” I said, lowering my ears.

If Manehattan was having problems with food, it was a serious issue indeed. Hundreds of thousands of ponies lived in the city, and quite a lot of food was delivered from the neighboring regions to feed them all. If those supply lines had been disrupted because of the fighting… We were looking at the face of a true disaster. The whole city would starve.

That hadn’t happened in Equestria since its foundation.

But right now, I didn’t want to ruin my mood, so I shoved those concerns to the back of my head. Tomorrow, there would be plenty of time for worrying, but today I just wanted to celebrate with my parents, however scarce the food might be. The rest seemed to think along the same lines.

“You’ve always been so cute together,” my mum suddenly said, patting me and Ruby on our heads like some little fillies.

I blushed, noticing Marcus and Sturdy’s grins in the corner of my eye.

“No, you haven’t,” my father countered, his eyes twinkling. “Remember that one colt in third…”

“Shush!” mum waved her hooves at him.

Ruby giggled by my side and then gave me an unexpected kiss on the lips, probably to demonstrate that she was a much better choice than some random colt. I lost myself in her tongue, forgetting all about my parents and friends watching. When I finally remembered where we were, it was too late.

“That’s my girl,” dad grinned, making my cheeks flush in embarrassment. Ruby giggled again, seeing my reaction.

We spent the rest of the evening exchanging jokes like that. At some point, Sturdy joined the conversation, seeming slightly drunk for some reason, but honoring our deal, he never mentioned that he was a changeling. We came up with a story that he was a guard, appointed by Celestia to help us and it wasn’t even that far from truth.

However, it was getting too late. We didn’t know when Starlight and Rarity would return, but I assumed that we’d have to leave early, so it was important we’d get some shuteye no matter how much I wanted this beautiful evening to last forever.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel tired,” I announced.

My parents’ apartment was small, but we managed to find a place for everypony. Ruby and I got to share my old room, obviously. The bed in there was single-sized, but I didn’t mind getting in close quarters with my mare. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Marcus and Sturdy had to settle for a couch in the main room. Since the couch was also single-sized and they, unlike us, did mind the intimate closeness with each other, the two had to settle the issue the old human way.

Rock, paper, scissors.

While mum and dad were both in the kitchen, Marcus quickly explained the rules to Sturdy and the changeling, much to my distress, transformed his hoof to resemble a human hand. Seeing a pony with a human hand was pretty disturbing, so I volunteered to distract my parents in the kitchen, while the boys played games with each other.

Marcus won, but it was a hollow victory. The couch was pony-sized, so Marcus’ legs freely hung from the opposite side. Sturdy grinned maliciously watching his struggle to find a good position, until Marcus threw a pillow at his face. The changeling just thanked him and tucked it under his own head, settling to sleep right on the floor, while Marcus swore under his nose.

I chuckled and, having wished them both a good night, went to my own room. Ruby was already lying on my fillyhood bed. As soon as I saw her there, all my adolescent fantasies came back randomly. More than once did I imagine another pony sharing this bed with me, though at the time they were always stallions… I tried to imagine one of them in Ruby’s place and cringed involuntarily.

“Huh?” Ruby asked, drooping her ears.

“Oh, sorry. Just remembered some bad episode from the past,” I lied.

“Well, I’m here to listen,” Ruby relaxed and patted a small patch of the bed beside her.

I grinned and climbed towards her eagerly. We were leaning so close to each other — it was the only way on such a small bed. Ruby looked at me expectantly, but I wasn’t in the mood to come up with some cover story and telling her the truth would definitely sour the mood.

Instead, I climbed on top of Ruby and kissed her. This time, nopony was here to stop us.

***

The next morning, I was having breakfast with my family and friends, when somepony knocked. My mum went to open the door as per usual, and soon Rarity and Starlight joined us in the kitchen. Both of them looked like they hadn’t slept since yesterday, with heavy bags under their eyes. They likely hadn’t, I realized.

“They refused to give us anything!” Starlight announced, hitting her hoof at the wall in frustration.

“Even though we showed them the letter from the Princess, I might add,” Rarity said more calmly.

“Well, it was only a request, not an order,” I sighed. “The Princess has no authority over the Bank.”

Before we had left, Princess Celestia had warned us that the Bank would likely make things difficult. Only the High Court’s decision would make them release the content of a client’s locker on demand. It wouldn’t be a problem to get it with enough evidence, but the High Court wasn’t functioning at the moment, for obvious reasons.

“What should we do now?” I said, looking at my friends.

“Rarity and I were thinking about that on the way here,” Starlight began.

“And we hoped that you would help us to decide,” Rarity continued. “I think I know how we would get the key that the Bank is demanding, but Starlight thinks that it’s a waste of time and we should just ask Agent Clipper for help, so that he can force the Bank to give it up.”

Starlight nodded. “That’s right. We can’t afford to go on a wild goose chase right now.”

“Well, somepony here owns a business and would prefer to have her relationship with the Bank intact, thank you.”

Starlight blew a raspberry at her instead of answering. I looked between the two of them, raising my eyebrows.

“I like Starlight’s idea more,” Ruby said. “It would be a good lesson for those rich bastards, who think they can hide whatever they want in there.”

Rarity gave my friend a hurt look. “I have a locker there myself. Am I one of those rich bastards too?”

“N-no, I didn’t mean it like that,” Ruby flustered, shaking her head. “I mean ponies like that alchemist!”

“What was your idea, Rarity?” I interrupted to prevent any further arguing.

“Oh, it’s a stretch, really,” she said, turning her attention towards me. “But it shouldn’t take too much of our time. You see, according to the alchemist, the key was in his house when he was arrested. And as I know, the police should have notes about what happened to all of his possessions.”

Rarity smiled triumphantly.

“Wait a second,” Marcus raised his arm in the air. Everypony looked at him. “If they had the key for the bank locker, wouldn’t they have checked what was inside themselves?”

I opened my mouth. It was actually a valid concern. Celestia had never mentioned that, but what if the police had emptied the locker a long time ago? After all, even she couldn’t know everything. If that had happened, then our journey would have been a big waste of time. Judging by my friend’s concerned faces, they had the same worries as me.

“No, they wouldn’t,” my mum, who’d been sitting quietly before, suddenly stated.

All heads turned towards her in surprise. She smiled, basking in attention, before elaborating.

“The Bank used to be much more exclusive and powerful in the old times,” mum said. “It belonged to the Griffon Kingdom and it still does. The richest and most powerful nobles and merchants in Equestria would often hide their money or illegal possessions there to avoid the authorities. Celestia had to tolerate it because she didn’t want to ruin the relationships between the kingdoms. Only when the Griffon Kingdom basically fell did Equestria make the Bank submit to Equestrian laws.”

I gaped, astonished at the revelation. Not about the Bank’s nature, but my mum’s knowledge about that. It was at a level of detail I would expect from Twilight, but my mum had worked in some small office her whole life! How could she possibly know all that?

She noticed my stare and her face took on a smug expression.

“Wow, miss Milkshake, I can see now where Sunny got her interest in archaeology from,” Ruby said.

“Actually, it’s the other way around,” my mum said, drooping her ears slightly. “When my little Sunny had disappeared, I tried to find some hobby to cope with it. The local history club was a good way to do that while also honoring her memory…”

She blinked a few times and her smile returned in full force. “Thankfully, Sunny is alive.”

I sniffed, struggling to contain my emotions — I didn’t want to become all sappy in front of my friends and, especially, my dad. He always cried when I cried, and I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of our company.

“Anyway, I think we should ask Agent’s Clipper advice on the matter,” I concluded, switching the topic back to business. “We’ll need to meet him in any case. Last I remember, the police chief didn’t like us much. I don’t want to end up in jail again.”

“Again?!” mum and dad both exclaimed.

Oh.

I guess I’d forgotten to mention that part of our adventures the last time I’d been at my parents’ home. I quickly shared the story with them — it wasn’t like it was any worse than some of the stuff I’d shared last night.

“What else haven’t you told us?” my father narrowed his eyes.

I gulped. I really did skip over a few dangerous moments to spare my parents’ feelings. I didn’t want them to worry needlessly, but I couldn’t bring myself to outright lie if my father was set on getting the full truth…

“Nothing, that’s all,” I squeaked, shaking my head vigorously. “I swear.”

Dad gave me a suspicious look, but thankfully didn’t press the issue.

Rarity and Starlight joined us for breakfast, while we discussed the best course of action. Both options had their benefits and drawbacks.

As for me, I was more inclined towards Rarity’s plan. On the one hoof, finding the key would grant us the access we wanted. But on the other — there was no guarantee that we would actually find it in the first place. It could cost us a lot of time.

Starlight’s plan was more straightforward. She wanted to ask Clipper to threaten the Bank. There was no guarantee he would go for it, however, and even if he di, becoming enemies with the city’s most powerful bank would cause some serious problems for the city in the long run. I would choose this option only if we had no other choice.

In the end, the group was split in half between the two choices, so everypony eventually agreed to wait until we’d heard Clipper’s opinion on the matter.

“Well, let’s go meet the pony, then.”

***

As much as I wanted to spend more time with my parents, I went along with my friends. The meeting with Clipper was too important for me to miss. Besides, I was having serious concerns about the food issue and I wanted to know firsthoof if something was being done about it.

My parents were far from poor, but their situation left much to be desired. I was sure that plenty of others were doing much worse. Even if we were to defeat Tenebris, it wouldn’t automatically make everything peachy — the ponies would have to work hard to return Equestria to its former glory, so the earlier we started, the better.

The cab we’d taken delivered us to the city’s Capitol in a good time. We were hoping to find Agent Clipper there, but when the building met us with empty windows and black stains on the walls, it became painfully obvious that we wouldn’t find him here.

The building had been burned down, for Celestia’s sake!

I guess the cab pony had “forgotten” to mention that little fact when he had received his payment. I should have guessed that asking to be paid in advance was fishy… I turned around, but he had already vanished in the heavy traffic. I sighed — I missed the simple life in Ponyville.

“What a crook,” Ruby stomped a hoof on the pavement.

Rarity, on the other hoof, accepted it in stride. She just waived it off as some minor issue and approached one of the ponies passing by.

“Excuse me, sir, do you happen to know where the city administration has been moved to?”

“Heck if I know, pretty,” the pony drawled, ogling Rarity over. “Tell you what, have a date with me and I’ll find out for ya.”

“No, thank you,” Rarity rebutted him.

As his pick-up line had failed, the pony simply shrugged and walked away.

Unperturbed, Rarity trotted up to the next pedestrian. That mare was more cooperative and told Rarity where the city administration was temporarily residing. Luckily, it wasn’t even far from where we already were. There was no reason to take another cab — even my legs would be able to make such a short trip.

I couldn’t go fast, so it still took us twenty minutes of walking, but finally we were there. At least, I assumed it was the place. It was a small brick building three storeys high, just like the rest of its brethren in the neighborhood. The only thing different about it was a constant flow of ponies going in and out.

We walked inside and for the first time in Manehattan I saw the armored guards. They weren’t wearing the golden-colored armor of the Royal Guard, but it made them look even more menacing. The guards didn’t allow us in further, until we gave up our weapons.

It was a reasonable request, so we complied with it with no complaint.

One of the guards told us to talk to the secretary if we wanted to schedule a meeting with Clipper. I let out a long sigh when I saw a line of ponies stretching to the secretary’s table. It was hot inside with all the ponies being in such a cramped space, so it wasn’t a pleasant wait. Thankfully, the line moved pretty fast and soon we were standing in front of the secretary.

“We would like to meet Agent Clipper, please,” Rarity said, showing her a polite smile.

“Why?” the mare behind the table asked in a detached voice.

“The Princess has sent us here to do some important business and Clipper can help us,” I said bluntly.

The secretary mare looked us over doubtfully and then her gaze stopped at Rarity. Her eyes widened slightly.

“Miss Rarity,” she said in a more lively voice. “I’m so glad to see you here. Are the rest of the Elements also here to help us?”

“I’m afraid not, dear,” Rarity shook her head. “They’re on a quest of their own. But we’re here on behalf of Princess Celestia, so it’s important that we meet Clipper right away.”

“Of course, Miss Rarity, you can go immediately; the boss is not meeting anypony at the moment.”

Rarity nodded regally and trotted in the indicated direction. The rest of us followed her. There were another couple of guards outside of Clipper office, but they allowed us to pass freely when Rarity demonstrated a written note from the secretary.

Together, we walked in to face the famous agent.

A blue-coated pegasus was sitting behind a table. He gave us a nod, acknowledging our presence, and returned to writing something. We exchanged confused glances and then Rarity stepped forward, clearing her throat. Clipper raised his hoof, signing her to be quiet.

We spent the next minute in uncomfortable silence.

“Hello, ponies and a human,” the agent finally said, putting a scroll away. “You were right about the Doctor.”

“Eh, thanks?” I shrugged. “The Doctor has kind of switched sides, by the way. Tenebris is our main enemy now.”

“I’m aware of that, Sundae. I’ve received the reports.”

I drooped my ears for a moment, but then straightened them again.

“We’ve found a way to defeat her, but we need your help,” I continued.

“I’m listening,” Clipper said, offering us a seat.

In the following minutes, my friends and I laid out everything about Tenebris, the Void Stone, the alchemist from Tartarus and the rest. We finished with the two options we were struggling to choose between. Clipper remained silent throughout the whole story. I had no idea what he was thinking — his face remained impassive.

“I see,” Clipper said in the end.

Silence hung over the room again. Clipper looked past us at the wall, deeply thinking about what I’d just said. I exchanged glances with my friends and then cleared my throat to get the pegasus’ attention back to us.

He looked at me with narrowed eyes.

“I was thinking,” he explained. “The Bank is a powerful organization. It would be unwise for the city to make enemies with them. I will order the police to help you search the evidence archives. However, if you don’t manage to find the key by the evening, I will make an ultimatum to the bank.”

“Can’t you make the ultimatum now?” Starlight asked. “Every second we waste—”

“No,” Clipper interrupted her.

Starlight was silent for a few seconds, being thrown off her trail of thought, and then asked, “Why?”

“I’ve already said everything.”

“Well, okay then,” Rarity chuckled nervously, “I guess we need to start looking, right?”

Clipper nodded, watching us expectantly. My friends turned around to leave, but I wasn’t ready to go until I’d asked the questions that were on my mind. I approached the table under Clipper’s impassive stare and gathered up my resolve.

“Excuse me, Mr. Clipper, but I need to know something,” I paused for a moment before continuing, “How bad is the food situation in the city?”

Clipper dipped his head down.

“The situation is grave,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve already given orders to introduce a card system to distribute the food, but it’s taking too long. If we don’t restore the trade route from Fillydelphia within a week, the city will begin to starve.”

I wasn’t at all shocked by the news as I’d already had my suspicions, but hearing the confirmation from the city’s current leader made it so much worse to bear. My friends, however, had been taken by surprise.

“Damn…” Marcus mumbled under his breath.

“Unfortunately, Fillydelphia is in chaos,” continued Clipper. “I’m gathering a sufficient force right now to send there and restore some order, but I don’t really have anypony I can trust to put in command.”

“How about your pal, Agent Broom?” Ruby asked.

A slight frown appeared on Clipper’s face. “She’s dead.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, my assistant will show you to the archives.”

Having said that, Clipper quickly wrote something on a piece of parchment and stamped it, “Those are the orders. My secretary will explain how to find him.”

I grabbed the parchment in my magic.

“One more thing,” I asked before leaving, “Is Chief Iron Cuffs still in power?”

“No, she’s not.”

I asked to elaborate and Clipper briefly explained what had happened.

Turns out the mare had been working for the Doctor’s organization. Of course, it wasn’t hard to imagine, given that she had done everything she could to cause problems for our investigation. She was going to play a big part in the rebellion and her arrest had been one of the reasons why it had failed in Manehattan.

Unfortunately, she had managed to escape custody. The prison she’d been put in had been raided during the riot and every criminal there had escaped into the city to spread chaos. Some of them had already been caught, but a lot more remained, including the ex-chief herself.

“Well, it’s one silver lining in this whole situation,” Rarity concluded.

***

The archives were in a different part of the city, so we called a cab to get there. Since Clipper’s assistant was a pegasus, he went ahead of us and had already been waiting there by the time we arrived at the place.

“The police archives,” the pony announced, nodding at the big gray building with no windows. It looked like some old warehouse from the outside and likely from the inside too, considering its purpose.

Once in the lobby, we were greeted by a lone officer. Clipper’s assistant showed the written orders and we were granted access to the archive itself.

“I think it’s a waste of time,” Starlight whispered to the rest of us, while the officer was opening the secure door. “If Clipper had given the Bank an ultimatum, we would have been on our way to Tartarus right now.”

“Totally agree,” Ruby nodded.

I didn’t say anything — there was no point when everything had already been decided on.

“It will go like this,” the assistant said, walking into the room first. “We will search the boxes from year to year. Does anypony know the exact date when this alchemist of yours was arrested?”

We exchanged glances, only now realizing the problem. Nopony obviously knew such a thing. All we had was just a rough estimate. I was sure Twilight would know, but she was in the Crystal Empire, so her knowledge was useless for us at the moment..

Well, at least we knew the alchemist’s real name.

“Sorry, no,” I said to the assistant, drooping my ears under his disappointed glance.

But there was nothing to be done about that. As I walked inside the archive, I stopped and gawked at the sheer amount of stuff inside the big, spacey hall. Row upon row of boxes were standing there, collected from hundreds of years of crime fighting. We would be spending months going through all that…

“Well, dive right in, everypony,” Starlight offered with a false cheerfulness in her voice.

I sighed and went in a random direction. I looked at the shelves, looking for the year closest to our estimated date of the alchemist’s arrest. I was about 500 years off and only going further away, so I retracted my steps and went into a different row that I hoped was closer to my goal.

In the end, it was Sturdy who found the shelf from the right time period. Even so, we had to go through each box there searching for the right one. Thankfully, we had seven pairs of eyes and hooves among us, it took us less time than I had feared to find it.

“This is it!” Ruby pointed at a large wooden crate at the back of the shelf.

Rarity moved it closer with her magic and opened it. We all greedily looked inside. One by one, Rarity took out the various items, carefully setting them on the floor nearby. There was a journal, a collection of slightly disturbing pictures of fillies, a dry bone that I hoped belonged to an animal and a lot more.

“Finally!” Rarity exclaimed in exhilaration, holding the small key with the locker’s number in her magic.

***

Having completed his orders, the assistant left us on our own. We didn’t need his help any longer, however, so we said our goodbyes to the officer in charge of the archives and were on our way back in no time.

“And you thought it was a waste of time,” Rarity chided Starlight, as we were riding in another cab.

Starlight shrugged. “Well, as long as it works, I don’t care much…”

We arrived at Clipper’s residence just a couple of hours after we’d left for the archives in the first place. This time, we didn’t have to stand in line and cut straight to the pegasus’ office. The secretary warned us that he was having a meeting, but our mission was arguably more important.

Rarity opened the door first and trotted inside, wielding a key. “We found it!”

Clipper and the young mare he was having a meeting with turned to us. The mare wore a surprised expression; however, the Agent’s face remained impassive at the news.

“Who are you?” the mare asked, raising her eyebrows.

“They’re on an important mission from the Princess,” explained Clipper. “We shall continue our talk later,” he added in a dismissive tone.

The mare frowned, but left without any arguing, throwing a curious glance in our direction as she walked out. With her gone, Clipper turned his full attention to us.

“You’ve succeeded,” he concluded, looking at a grinning Rarity. “Good. I’ll personally go to the Bank with you to ensure their full cooperation.”

For some reason, I felt a slight chill in my belly as he said it.

True to his word, Clipper quickly gathered a small group of guards to accompany him and, leaving some orders to the secretary, was ready to go with us to the Bank. I was a little surprised at such readiness for action, but I guess he just wanted to get away from all the administrative duties that had fallen upon him lately.

We rode to the Bank together in a government carriage. Clipper sat close to us and didn’t say a word for the whole duration of our journey, but I was enjoying the ride too much to pay any thought to that. The interior was much more comfortable than a typical taxicab. The seats here were so soft, they rivaled the beds in the royal palace!

Sadly, I didn’t get to enjoy them for long — we arrived at our destination shortly.

The same security pony who had caused Marcus trouble in the past met us at the entrance. This time, however, he was quickly silenced by Clipper’s heavy stare and we all proceeded into the building.

I sighed, expecting a long wait upon seeing the long line, but Clipper had a different idea. We simply followed in his wake as he cut through the crowd, ignoring the sounds of complaints.

The ponies shut up pretty quickly when they saw the guard’s armored bodies.

“It’s me again,” Rarity gave a sweet smile, approaching a clerk at one of the tables.

The poor stallion in a white shirt looked up in surprise and opened his eyes wide in recognition. I wondered what had happened yesterday that would make him react that way… The stallion forced an obviously fake smile on his face in return.

“How may I help you, Miss Rarity?”

With a triumphant smile, Rarity demonstrated the key to him.

“You told us we needed to have a key and here it is.”

The clerk grasped it and examined it closely for quite some time.

“This… appears to be genuine,” he admitted reluctantly.

Rarity’s eyes flashed dangerously and the pony leaned back.

“Well, of course it is,” she waved her hoof, grabbing the key back. “Did you think I was lying? You’ve wasted enough time as it is, mister. Now give us the pass, please.”

I noticed a flicker of a smile on Clipper’s face that may have been my imagination.

The clerk practically threw a small card at Rarity. She caught it in her magic and, having said her thanks, left. Everypony but Clipper was giggling openly when we’d gotten far enough from the clerk.

“What was that?” Ruby asked, chuckling.

“This pony caused us a lot of trouble yesterday,” Starlight answered instead of Rarity. “Honestly, I wanted to bite his head off.”

We turned serious when we approached the large enchanted door at the far end of the hall. The door was guarded by two tough-looking griffons. They watched our big procession with some concern, but their attitude was professional.

“Your pass, please,” one of them asked.

After Rarity demonstrated the card, the griffon pushed a button and the big, steel door opened without a creak.

“Be aware that there are special enchantments in place, so we will know if you try to open the wrong locker. The door will be sealed automatically and the whole place is magic proof, so be careful, please.”

Rarity nodded solemnly and walked in first. I hesitated a little, looking at the heavy door and imagining what would happen if something broke. Ruby pushed me on my flank and I trotted forward, dismissing my silly concerns.

After all, hundreds of ponies had been here before me and no one had died, as far as I knew.

The room was pretty large, but smaller than the main hall. It had several catwalks layered over each other along the walls to access the higher placed lockers. Thankfully, they were numbered in order, so we found the one belonging to the alchemist pretty fast.

We stood in front of it for a few moments, wondering if what we were seeking was still inside.

“Well, open it, lady,” Clipper said with a note of impatience.

Rarity nodded and finally turned the key, opening the locker and pulling out the container inside. Everypony held their breath as she slowly lifted the top of the container.

“Ew,” Ruby scrunched her muzzle, when she saw the content.

I had the same initial reaction, but at the same time I was happy.

We had found the ingredients.

Now all we had to do was to bring them to Tartarus.

Author's Note:

This was quite a long chapter, whoa.
I hope you liked it, though.
The fanfic is coming to the end now, I think 2-3 more chapters and the story is done.
I can't wait to finish it as I already have the new one planned for you, my loyal readers.

Comments

[PurpleSmart2]

Finally a new chapter is out! Yay!

[Vortex Clipper]

Nice.
Clipper in the Bank: "Fucking morons can't even deal with this number of client. No wonder These riot can cause that much damage."

[Detsella Morningdew]

Good chapter. I'm very slightly disappointed that it's almost over, because that has implications for the resolution of the story and what form that will take.

I could be pleasantly surprised, though.

(I did mean slight disappintment - either way probably won't be terrible.)

[PurpleSmart2]

9420622
We've never seen any ponies eating meat, though. Feeding meat to animals and actually eating it themselves is another matter entirely, especially since Fluttershy would know that some of the animals she takes care of are obligate carnivores, so they absolutely require meat in their diet.

And don't forget that Fluttershy is very much an exception in this regard. Most ponies don't come into contact with meat on a daily basis, so of course they'd be disgusted by it.