• Published 5th Feb 2013
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The Twilight Child - Detectivefish



A new pony arrives in town, and all she wants to do is leave. But why? And what's her connection to Twilight Sparkle?

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Completely Dull and Uninteresting Week

After the unfortunate incident between them, Midday noticed Twilight acting in a suspicious fashion. Or rather, the fashion of a Twilight trying desperately to make up for a mistake. Midday very quickly got tired of this when she was woken up the morning after the 'incident' by Twilight bringing her breakfast in bed.
She stared at the breakfast. She stared at Twilight, then back to the breakfast, then back to Twilight.

"Seriously, Twilight?"
She looked at the unicorn's eager face and wide apologetic smile.

"You really don't need to make this up to me."
"But, I insulted you."

"No, you asked me a rather personal question in an amazingly blunt fashion, which isn't anywhere near the same thing. But, you don't need to make it up to me, as I have already indicated five times by now. No mistake made, no lesson to learn."
Twilight blinked. "You're not mad?"

"Indifferent, perhaps. You've seen me mad, remember, the whole incident with Mare Do Well and me snapping about Rainbow Dash."
Twilight's face went grim as she remembered. Then she gave a very slight smile.

"If you're sure... Just let me know if you need anything."
"I need breakfast in bed" said Trixie from behind them. Both mares looked at her.

"You barely get out of bed anyway, Trixie. If you don't get up for breakfast, what hope is there?" Midday laughed. Twilight's horn glowed and the small, carefully prepared breakfast floated away.
"Hey!" Midday said. Twilight turned to look at her, and smirked.

"You barely get out of bed either, I would like to point out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go write a friendship report for the Princess" She smirked, as Midday stared in (mostly fake) slack-jawed horror at her vanishing breakfast.
And so, with apologies made, normality in the library sort of returned a bit, and the day passed in the normal Ponyville fashion. Aside from the occasional timberwolf howling, with Twilight having to reassure Trixie and Midday that the town had systems in place for the prevention of timberwolf rampages. And that only three of them involved Pinkie Pie.

And the delivery of the Cake twins.

*****

The corridor smelt like all other hospital corridors, and was still painted the same colour as Midday remembered it from the unfortunate incident with the camping trip, much to her unease. The others seemed incredibly excited about the whole thing, staring at the newborns, while Midday was only wondering how she was allowed in at all, considering the Cakes always seemed somewhat wary around her after the time she and Pinkie had baguette-fenced.

"Can you believe the new baby is finally here?" Applejack smiled.
"Cup Cake and Carrot Cake must be so proud" Twilight said.

"I wonder if it's a filly or a colt" Rarity said, apparently trying not cry.
"Filly and colt" Midday said before she could stop herself. Rainbow Dash turned to look at her.

"How would you know?"
Midday shrugged. "I'm just guessing, is all."

Rainbow Dash snorted dismissively at that, but made no retort, which allowed Pinkie the space to exclaim loudly her own excitement. Of course, this was after the nurses had specifically forbade Pinkie from singing about her excitement. Midday just smiled. She'd met the Cake Twins, but not enough to form any standard opinion on them, though Wisp had met them once or twice, and seemed generally ambivalent about them, which Midday supposed was progress for him. It was hard to form opinions about those two when they were surrounded by the Pies, who were a sort of pony shaped lighting-rod for attention.

Mr Cake soon appeared, looking like he'd been dragged through a hedge, and introduced everypony to a small cream colt, which Midday recognised (barely) as Pound, which made the small filly that followed Pumpkin.
Pinkie's attempts at celebrating the arrival of the twins were thoroughly quashed by the nurse, and poor Carrot Cake seemed to be utterly baffled at his children's mixed genes.

"That makes sense, right?" he asked when he was done explaining.
"As much as makes no difference." Midday said to herself.

Eventually the nurses gently yet firmly asked the mares to leave the premises, and of course all but Pinkie and Midday seemed alarmingly eager to talk about kids, Pinkie of course just muttering something about 'meanie-nurseys', though she quickly declared to nopony in particular that she was in charge of all celebratory parties for the twins.
Midday watch the mare rocket off towards Sugarcube Corner as Twilight and the girls were still talking about kids.

"Hey, Twilight, you gonna weigh in on this. You ever thought of having kids?" Rainbow Dash asked, causing the mare to stop dead in her tracks.
"Me?" Twilight blinked rapidly, "I don't know, I mean... that would require a lot of effort."

"All completely worth it though" Rarity sighed. Twilight just frowned.
"That's not really what I meant, if you think I meant what I think you thought I meant. Having children would require a partner, and I'm far too busy studying to do that. I don't have the time for children. I wouldn't even have time for a coltfriend, with my workload." Midday felt ever-so-slightly like she'd been kicked. And also embarrased at what Rarity had apparently been saying.

"What about you, Rainbow Dash?" Midday asked, "You planning on getting some foals, or would they 'cramp your style'?"
Rainbow Dash didn't even wait before giving her response. "Nah, any kid of mine would be born awesome, cool and radical. Duh. And if not, I can just teach them." The pegasus puffed out her chest at that, doing the mid-air version of a swagger.

"An' what about you, Midday?"
She blinked, slightly taken off guard by the question.

"I... well, I..."
"Oh, come on dear. We're all spilling out our secrets, join in the fun."

Midday frowned at Rarity's almost rogueish smile, though to her disappointment it didn't have any effect.
"Well, for a starter, I'm only eighteen, so I'm not really focused on having foals right now. Not that I'm against the concept of having them at all, I'd just like to get my life in order first. And, y'know, find a guy, all that stuff."

"Really? You're only eighteen?" Rainbow Dash gave Midday a suspicious glare. "You look older."
"So I've heard" she deadpanned.

After exhausting the secret desires topic, they switched to the daily routines, with Applejack beaming away at the fact that she was competing in a rodeo in Canterlot.
"Yup. Ah'm a shoe-in to win, what with being ten-time rodeo champion of Ponyville."

Midday made a small 'hmm'.
"Why the 'hmm'?" asked Rarity.

"Well, I wouldn't go saying you're sure to win, is all."
"What's that mean?" Applejack snapped.

"Well, is this a big professional rodeo, or just a bunch of ponies out in a small bit of Canterlot countryside?"
"Big professional one. They've even using the Canterlot Stadium and everything."

"That's where the Wonderbolts perform" Rainbow Dash chimed, "Like in their next big event next month. Wish I could go, but they ran out of tickets." Midday felt the slightest pang of guilt at that, and a slight bout of reassurance, as she thought of where she'd left those five tickets she bought while on her Help-Rampage.
"Anyway, ah've been practicing since... well, pretty every day for the last few months, so my chances of winning? Pretty good."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch" Midday smirked.
"Oh, that wouldn't do" Fluttershy said.

"What?"
"If you don't count your chickens before you hatch, you won't know how much food to buy, and you might feed the poor things too much. Or too little."

There was a moment of quiet as everypony exchanged uncertain glances.
"Really?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

The two trailed off into a long conversation about chicken-seed ratios, while Applejack walked off towards Sweet Apple Acres, and with that done, the day progressed normally, aside from Pinkie trying to invite ponies to parties for the newborn Cakes, which led Trixie to utter
"I feel very sorry for those two kids."

*****

The next day, however, something truly unexpected happened. Twilight and Midday were both in the middle of a truly intense game of Flashcard Quickdraw when Trixie burst into the room, and she looked both amazed and terrified.
"You've gotta come see this!" she bellowed.

"What is it?" Asked Twilight.
"No time to explain!"

Twilight and Midday looked at each other, shrugged, and followed Trixie outside. The showmare rushed through the streets, not saying a word.
"Are you sure it wouldn't be easier to tell us what happened?" Midday asked, after a few sharp corner turns. Trixie stopped and stared at her.

"No. I said 'no time to explain' and I stick by that!" Trixie retorted. She led them to the town hall.
What was left of it.

"Sweet Celestia's mane..." Midday breathed, earning her a split-second glance from Twilight.
The entirety of the roof was just gone, and several of the pillars on the outside were missing, and several holes seemed to have been punched through the walls at random points.

"What..." Twilight gasped, "Could have done this?"
Trixie shook her head.

"Not 'what'. Who." She pointed a hoof at a small cloud that was being circled by Rainbow Dash, and sitting on it was a blond-haired, grey-coated pegasus. Neither of them looked exceptionally happy.
"Ditzy?" Twilight and Midday both uttered.

"You sounded really alike just there" Trixie stated.
"How the... how in the name of all that is plausible did Ditzy, of all ponies, do this to the town hall?! She's a mailmare, not some... walking disaster area!" Midday asked in alarm. Trixie just shrugged.

"Don't look at Trixie. She just performs here."
A small crowd gathered as the mayor appeared, apparently not noticing the damage, or just not caring, though Midday noted the ponies nearest the building looked really, really nervous.

"And, I want to thank Applejack in advance, for generously offering up her prize money to help fix town hall."
"What." Midday said, her gaze shifting rapidly from the mayor to the... husk of the town hall. She looked at Twilight.

"Does the average rodeo hand out disaster relief money? That building's a wreck. Hay, I'm amazed it hasn't caught fire or just exploded! How is Applejack supposed to pay for that?" she was shushed by an orange-maned pony, one of Applejack's neighbours from the looks of her.
She remained amazed as the crowd walked off back to their daily routine. She stood there, and gaped at the building, as another support beam fell lose, though fortunately it didn't hit anypony. She sighed.

"Pinkie!" she declared.
"Yuh-huh?" The bright pink party pony smiled into her face.

"Where do you keep your emergency hard hats?"
Pinkie rushed over to a conviniently placed letter-box.

"Right here, in case of hard hat emergency" she smiled, producing one plastic yellow hard hat.
"Thank you, Pinkie." Midday said as she took it, placing it on her head. She walked into the building, casting a slight shielding spell, just in case. She reminded herself of the times she'd teleported to safety out of mortal peril, but a small voice in her head reminded her it wasn't sure to happen every time she was in danger. She found a unicorn wearing a similar hard hat, and a bright orange jacket investigating the town hall. Large earth ponies were helping to move furniture and the like away.

"How's it looking?" she asked. The unicorn looked up from the clipboard he was carrying at Midday, then he looked around the room.
"Well" he said calmly, giving the room another look, "It's not going to get any less safe." He shrugged.

"I see." Midday said, eyeing the room and listening for creaking sounds.
"Good to know" she smiled, before rapidly turning about face and heading out into the winter chill as calmly as possible. She stood there for a moment and decided to find Apple Bloom.

Finding the filly had been easy. Convincing Big McIntosh that Apple Bloom had expertise she needed was not, though she did eventually manage to compromise, on her word that no harm would come to Apple Bloom.
"But you're gonna need a hard hat."

"Why do you need me?" The red-headed filly asked.
"Something I want to check out, and I think you're the right pony for the job."

"Can we help?" squeaked a voice belonging to a pony-shaped marshmellow, which on closer inspection was in fact Sweetie Belle (Midday realising at that point she was somewhat hungry). Scootaloo was standing next to her, wearing an incredibly suspect grin which was mirrored on Sweetie Belle's.
"I don't know. Are you good at design and architecture?"

"... Perhaps." Sweetie Belle said, eagerly.
"Well, I suppose you can help a bit." She braced herself for the noise. There wasn't one.

"You aren't doing the cheer" she pointed out when her eardrums remained un-assaulted. Three confused fillies exchanged glances.
"We don' know what we're supposed to be cheering."

Not wasting any time in seizing upon a golden moment, Midday quickly refused to clarify what they were supposed to be cheering about, and led Apple Bloom to the remains of the town hall.
"You want me to go in there?" Apple Bloom asked, incredulous.

"Yes" Midday said.
"You feelin' all right, miss Midday? Not taken any hard knocks to the head lately?"

"Apple Bloom, I assure you, I only need you for a few minutes, and if anything happens I swear, on my life, I'll make sure you get out safely."
"Pinkie Swear?"

"I already promised."
She looked up to see Big McIntosh staring at her, his eyes dispassionate.

"Apple Bloom, you'll be fine" Midday smiled. Apple Bloom stood there for some time, her eyes moving from Midday to her brother, before finally she just nodded.
So Midday led Apple Bloom into the building, making sure to stay near her. She thought of the Apple Bloom she knew, who was physically a near-match for her older sister, save for the colour of her mane and coat, and how utterly different the filly she was keeping a close eye on was.

"Hey! What's that kid doing in here?" somepony yelled. Midday quickly waved a hoof.
"She's with me."

This failed to have the mollifying effect she hoped it would have, but the pony didn't press the issue any further before Apple Bloom called out.
"Miss Midday, can ya take a look at this?"

In an instant she was next to the filly, staring intently.
"What?" Apple Bloom silently showed her to a massive crack on one of the support beams.

"Yeah, so what?" Midday asked. Without a word, Apple Bloom's hoof moved up the wall. Up, and up, and up, and up, and along.
"Oh... that's not good."

"Ah think it's a pretty one. Heck, ah think ah can see daylight through it." Midday leaned in towards it.
"You're right." She looked around the room.

"I probably should have brought a quill and parchment or something. Taking down notes would've been useful at this point." She sighed.
The two progressed through the rooms they could, noticing odd cracks and dents, and bulges in the ceiling, and one occasion where they found several floorboards in one corridor had no nails holding them down, the nails having long since rusted away.

After ten minutes Midday turned to Apple Bloom.
"You know what, Apple Bloom?"

"What?"
"I think we should vacate the premises, right now, if not sooner."

"Good idea."
They did. And once outside they quickly moved very rapidly away from the building.

"That was unbelievable" Midday said as she removed her hard hat.
Apple Bloom scratched her head. "Ah don't get it. Why'd you ask me to look around that place?"

"Because. If you noticed all of this, why didn't the mayor? Some of those problems didn't start because of Ditzy doing... whatever it was she did. Some of those problems have been around for a while."
She sighed.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have been terrified out of my mind, so I'm going to go eat something, then complain at the mayor, if she can fit me in."
One relaxing brunch salad later, she went to find the mayor and complain at her. She found the mayor sitting in the same restaurant, enjoying lunch.

"Hey, Mayor Mare, I need to talk to you."
"Oh, hello, Midday Eclipse." She smiled warmly, "What's the problem?"

"The town hall is the problem."
The mayor chuckled slightly. "The damage caused by Ditzy's... mistake will be easily fixed" she said, in a tone that Midday presumed was meant to be reassuring.

"That's not what I'm concerned about. I had Apple Bloom look around the place." She paused to let the mayor look alarmed at that, "And, well, she noticed tons of signs of months, if not years, of disrepair. Why hasn't anything been done about that?"
"Where did you find these 'signs of disrepair'?" the mayor scoffed.

"Everywhere. Massive cracks in the wall, window panes held up by glue, ceilings beginning to fold and crumble, trust me, that thing should have been condemed."
The mayor waved a dismissive hoof.

"That's quite the over-reaction, miss Eclipse. I'm sure you ponies in Canterlot have your own way of doing things, but here in Ponyville we take pride in our long-lasting buildings. Why, that town hall has stood tall for over fifty years, and it's never lost so much as a single brick before."
Midday stared in shock at the mayor's remark.

"Could... could you repeat that?"
The mayor looked at Midday with concern.

"That town hall has stood since the days of my great-grand-" Her eyes went wide in shock.
"... grandmother." The grey-haired mare finished. She looked down at her plate, and then looked everywhere but at Midday.

"Oh my."
In the distance, Midday was certain she could hear another loud crash.

"I think" Midday said calmly, once the echoes stopped, "Ditzy just speed up the problem, or called it to light. There weren't many ponies in there when it happened, were there?"
"No." The mayor said quietly, and it didn't sound like she was actually responding. "No, no. I don't think so."

"Pretty sure Applejack's rodeo winnings aren't going to be very helpful with fixing it." Midday said.
"No" the mayor whispered. Her face had gone remarkably pale, impressive given her already pale colouration. She looked up at Midday.

"Excuse me, won't you?"
Midday waited a good few minutes after the mayor left, then went to find Ditzy, who was still sitting on the raincloud with Rainbow Dash hovering nearby.

"Hello, Ditzy" Midday smiled.
"Hello, Midday Eclipth."

Midday blinked. She looked down then up at Ditzy. Her voice sounded a lot different.
"Are you alright? I mean, in a general sense, not an immediate sense?"

The mare nodded. "I'm thine. But I might havth bit my tounge, and it kinda hurtth, and ath you may hath notithed, I'm lithping." She gently floated down to the ground, Rainbow Dash just watching, saying nothing.
"Not been my day today, got to thay." The mailmare said, glumly.

"I wath jutht trying to help clear away a thunderthtorm, and... well, thith all happened. I can't really explain it. And I thried to thit down, and that jutht made things worth."
"You know, I've got a spell that could clear up that lisp, if you want?"

"That'd be nithe."
Midday focused, and her horn glowed and then Ditzy's head glowed slightly. Midday looked up to see Ditzy looking unresponsive.

"Tounge feels better. And I'm not lisping. That's something, at least. Though, I still helped total the town hall." Ditzy said, lowering her head.
"Actually, it was in pretty bad repair anyway." Midday said. Ditzy looked at her.

"It was?"
"Yeah. It was gonna fall apart anyhow. You just... well... in a way, your string of awful luck was also good luck, since there weren't as many ponies in there as there could have been, and nopony's been seriously injured, right?"

"So I've been told. A few cuts and bruises, but nothing extremely bad. As Rainbow Dash has been trying to say."
Midday looked up at the pegasus, who seemed to be distracted by something else and not paying the conversation any mind, even if her ears kept twitching.
"And here I though she was angry with you."

Ditzy laughed, though it didn't sound very mirthful.
"No, no." Ditzy stopped and sighed, "Well, she is a bit, but she's trying not to let it show. She's mostly spent the last while trying to make me feel better."

"Please tell me she's doing better than I can?" Midday smiled mirthlessly.
"The important thing is she's trying." Ditzy smiled back, "Even if she's not very good at it. Her words, not mine."

Ditzy looked around.
"Anyway, I should probably go. I can't sit around distracting other ponies when I've got work to do." And with that she slowly took off into the air.

"See you around, then." Midday smiled.

*****

The rest of the day proceeded slowly, save for Twilight (and everypony else in town) getting summoned to take part in a discussion about replacing the town hall, which met with a heated opposition, until the mayor calmly pointed out that it was outright impossible to fix the town hall, which managed to calm almost everypony. Strangely enough, Ditzy's involvement wasn't mentioned, which Midday felt strangely comfortable about. With noticable reluctance, the ponies of Ponyville all agreed to the motion.

The group quickly gathered together, Midday walking up to them.
"Shouldn't we tell Applejack she doesn't need to win the prize money?" Fluttershy pointed out.

"Oh, hey, yeah." Pinkie Pie beamed, "She's right. Applejack can keep the prize money, isn't that great? I bet she'll be really excited about that, I know I would even though I don't go to rodeos a-" Pinkie was cut off by Rainbow Dash's hoof getting stuck in her mouth.
"Too late in the afternoon for that, Pinkie" the multi-coloured mare sighed with all the air of somepony who had just woken up from a really good nap.

So a letter was sent to Canterlot to inform Applejack of the change in plans.
"I hope she isn't upset by the news" Fluttershy said.

"Upset? Why would she be upset just because of putting in all that hard work and then being told that it doesn't m-..." Midday stopped when Twilight jabbed her in the ribs.
"I see your point" Midday said, "but all we, by which I mean you, can do now is wait."

"Wait and prepare a surprise 'Welcome Back, Winner' party!" Pinkie cheered.
"That too."

*****

Which lead to Midday standing in one of the Apple family barns some days later as everypony prepared the surprise welcome / victory party for Applejack. For some reason, Midday found herself being glared at by Granny Smith.
"Hello?" She said to the elderly mare, nervously.

"You that Midday Eclipse what went and upset my grandson some months ago?" She shifted nervously. She wasn't quite sure why, but as the Apple family matriach looked at her she felt like her very soul was being examined. She presumed the fact that she was still alive meant that the mare didn't have any objections to what she was seeing.
"Yes." she said. Granny Smith just looked at her. "But I had perfectly logical reason to do so" she said hurriedly.

"An' I'm sure you do. But you made things up with him, right?"
"I think so?"

Granny Smith nodded in approval.
"Good. Life shouldn't be wasted on grudges, should it?"

For a moment, Midday wondered if her dislike of Applejack was that transparent, and was about to consider giving Applejack a fair chance when Granny Smith spoke again.
"You know, for me it's only been a few years since I just had a grandson and one granddaughter. Ah got some of Applejack's baby photos around, somewhere."

Midday's blood froze. She recalled Apple Bloom once telling of how the most feared Apple had pictures of all her nearest relatives, careful stored and organised in a system that was so carefully categorised it would make perfectionists like her mother fall down and weep in awe. She wasn't sure whether or not Apple Bloom was being flippant or not, and she wasn't in any hurry to find out either.

"I should probably help somepony..." she said, weakly, looking around the room, noticing only Pinkie destroying some fireworks that Trixie had probably been planning to use. Granny Smith briefly glowered at her with a glare that would probably have made the average diamond fall to pieces. Then she smiled the sort of smile only the evilest and craftiest of evil old ladies could manage.

"Oh, stay an' keep an old mare company. You know, you look an awful lot like one of my granddaughter's friends." There was a sinister edge to her voice. And Midday didn't want to be seen as rude, or at least more rude than was necessary. And she was fairly certain if she said no she wouldn't make it more than a few steps anyway.
"You mean Twilight Sparkle?"

"That's the one. Now she was very polite when she came to Ponyville. You could learn a bit from her, ah reckon." Midday looked at the smirk on Granny Smith's face.
"Are you implying something?" she asked. Granny Smith just kept smiling.

"Me? I'm just an old mare, and my mind isn't what it used to be. Oh, to be fair, I have my moments of lucidity, but they're getting far an' few between." Midday stared at her.
"Don' stare."

Was the old mare psychic? And if this was what her mind was like now, what had it been like in her prime?
"Ah, Apple Bloom, could you be a dear and fetch old granny one of her photo albums." The yellow-coated earth pony quickly rushed over to a table where a photo album was sitting unattended, and brought it over.

"Ah." Granny Smith smiled, "This one'll do nicely."
Midday had, since the Hearth's Warming Eve play, been wondering about Applejack's origins, with her parents never around and the mare's strange lapse into a Manehattan accent during the play. She considered this, and wondered whether it was an idea to ask Granny Smith.

"I was wondering..." She stared. Granny Smith turned to look at her.
"It's just, about Applejack." Granny Smith's grin returned. Midday suddenly decided not to say anything.

"Tell you what, I'll tell you a story, if you help old Granny look at some photos."
Midday weighed her options. Politely accept the invititation or... Politely accept the invitation.

"Alright" she said.

*****

"Oh." Fluttershy said as she helped set up party decorations alongside Rainbow Dash, "I hope Applejack is surprised by this surprise party."
"Well, that is the point" Rainbow Dash retorted, rolling her eyes.

"I know" Fluttershy smiled, "But I hope she isn't so surprised she's startled, because while being surprised can be nice, being startled can be... well, startling."
"What if it's a good surprise?" Said a mad looking earth pony stallion wearing a strange red felt hat on his head. Fluttershy yelped and leapt into the air.

"Sorry. You startled me."
"It's alright, I do that a lot, I think."

Fluttershy stared at the stallion, whom she recognised as the pony who had destroyed her shed.
"I didn't know you were a friend of Applejack."

"Neither did I. Thought I'd pop in anyway, say hi, dance a bit." He motioned for Fluttershy to come closer.
"I only came for the dancing." He whispered. Fluttershy stared up at the hat.

"What is that you're wearing?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound rude.
"It's a fez" he said, as if it were the plainest thing in the world. "I wear a fez now. Fezes are cool. Provided nopony shoots them, which does keep happening. A lot."

Then Pinkie Pie appeared in between them.
"Hey, Fluttershy. Hey, Doctor. Ooh, nice fez. You ready to welcome Applejack back?" Pinkie beamed.

"Yes." Fluttershy nodded. She noticed almost everypony was hidden, and that Pinkie was staring at her.
"Oh, right, right." She quickly hurried up into the rafters. They waited. There was the sound of hoofsteps. There was a knock on the door, which flung open.

"SURPRISE!" Everypony yelled.
At a gangly mail-stallion, who looked thrilled.

"Wow, this is the best surprise ever!" he beamed, "How did you guys know it was my birthday?"
Midday watched as without a word, Twilight took the letter he was delivering and then slammed the door in his face, though Pinkie thoughtfully opened it again and handed him a slice of cake. Everypony gathered around as Twilight opened the note.

"Who's it from, Twilight?" Apple Bloom chirped, "What's it say?"
Twilight's face sank as she read. She cleared her throat.

"'Family and friends, not coming back to Ponyville. Don't worry, will send money soon."
There was a small chorus of rapidly alarmed gasps. Alarmed conversation quickly filled the barn, and Twilight and Midday exchanged concerned glances.

Author's Note:

Next time on Pony Trek: Let That Be Your Last Roundup!

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