Not Quite Romeo & Juliet [NaPoWriMo 2013]

Chapters

2 - Farewell, Ponyville
3 - Bad Dreams And Hallucinations
4 - The Big Apple
5 - Gumshoe's Investigation
6 - Trouble Adjusting
7 - A Diamond In The Big Apple
8 - Birds
10 - Friends In Need
11 - Filly Power!
12 - Tensions Rising
13 - Finale
Epilogue - Back To Normal
1 - Our Hatred Is Strong
9 - The Missing Fillies Are... Missing!

2 - Farewell, Ponyville

Diamond Tiara hobbled down the cobblestone walkway of her front yard, groaning and clenching her stomach with one forehoof. Her father had had to carry her this far on his back, but after they reached their home Diamond Tiara insisted on walking the rest of the way herself.

As they reached the front door, Diamond waited for her father to open it so that she could rush into their house and up the stairs the stairs towards her room. “Hold on!” Filthy Rich called out as his daughter ran upstairs.

“I just need to lie down,” Diamond replied in a weak voice as she stopped momentarily.

“Yes, of course, but I would also like you to take some medicine, too,” Filthy Rich said, making Diamond’s groans even louder. “Um, on second thought, you go upstairs and climb into bed, and I’ll bring you up some medicine and some warm milk in just a minute, okay?”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “‘Kay,” she replied in almost a whisper. As her father left towards the kitchen, Diamond Tiara continued her walk towards her bedroom, her pace picking up and her hobbles becoming less and less the more she walked. “I can’t believe it,” Diamond muttered to herself.

As she reached her bedroom door, Diamond Tiara opened it and made straight for her bed, ignoring the dolls that were still laid out on her floor from that morning’s games, and not even bothering to check that her mane was still neat in her little vanity mirror. Instead, she simply threw off her tiara – quite literally – and grabbed her little black sleeping mask which had the words ‘Best Filly’ embroidered in pink on the front.

Filthy Rich came into the room a few minutes later, carrying a tray with some hot milk and a cup of medicine, the latter of which made Diamond cringe. “Here you go,” Filthy Rich said as he set the glass of milk down. He opened up the cup of medicine and poured some of it into the lid. “Now just drink this up and you’ll be right as rain in no time.”

Diamond Tiara was beginning to question the finer points of her grand plan to escape dinner with Apple Bloom, but it was too late to back out now. She had started the act, and she was going to carry it through no matter-

“Blech!” Diamond gagged after she swallowed the medicine. “Why do they make stuff that’s good for you taste so bad?”

“I know it’s not nice,” Filthy Rich said as he poured more medicine into the lid, this time filling it only halfway. “But it certainly beats staying up all night with stomach pains and possibly throwing up all over you nice, expensive new bed, right?”

Taking the lid from her father and whining, Diamond Tiara slowly drank the last portion of the medicine poured out for her, and then immediately reached for her glass of milk. She downed the entire drink in one go, and sighed as she felt the unpleasant taste, for the most part, gone.

“Is there anything else you need?” Filthy Rich asked as he collected the glass and the medicine onto his tray.

“Just wanna sleep,” Diamond said, rubbing her eye and falling onto her back. She saw her father nod and lean down to kiss her gently on the head.

“Sleep well, my little Princess.”

Diamond Tiara waited until the door to her room was closed, and the sounds of her father’s hoofsteps disappeared. “… Ugh. Next time I’ll just pretend I sprained my ankle,” Diamond said in a groggy tone as she pulled her sleeping mask off and threw it aside. “I can’t believe daddy would sell me out like that to that blank flank! This is an outrage!

“Well I’m not going to stand for it! I’m going to give him a piece of my mind! I’m going to… Yeah right. He didn’t listen earlier, why would he listen now?” Diamond jumped out of her bed and paced back and forth in her room as she tried to formulate a plan. “I could try running away, like Snails did when his parents didn’t approve of that weird hobby of his. But where would I go? I don’t like running, so I wouldn’t get far.”

A light bulb shined in Diamond Tiara’s mind. “The train! I could catch a train and go wherever I wanted!” Diamond’s face fell as she recalled certain movies she had watched set in big cities. “But where would I go from there? I’d be all alone. What if somepony tried to kidnap or hurt me?

“… A bodyguard. But who? Silver Spoon is my friend. I can’t put her in that kind of trouble. And I doubt I could ask her anyway, with all that security at her house.” Diamond Tiara sighed as she realised that there was nopony she could ask to be her escort… “No, wait… There is one pony strong enough to defend me, but…” Diamond Tiara shuddered at the thought of asking Apple Bloom of all ponies to tag along with her as she ran away. “But then marrying her is even worse… I guess I’ve got no choice. I’ll have to… ask Apple Bloom to run away with me…”

Apple Bloom’s ears perked up as she heard the sound a train approaching and she turned her head to see that a train was indeed pulling into the station. “Guess that’s our ride,” Apple Bloom muttered as she got to her hooves. She glanced over in Diamond Tiara’s direction, only to find that the other filly was dozing off on her side of the bench.

At first, Apple Bloom had considered simply taking her ticket and boarding without Diamond Tiara, leaving her and all of her bags here at the station. Then she remembered that she needed Diamond Tiara along because she had all the money… in that little bag she kept strapped to her side…

Glancing around to make sure that nopony was watching, Apple Bloom slowly moved towards Diamond Tiara and reached for her saddlebag, stopping for a moment to consider her actions. ‘It’s not really Diamond Tiara’s money. Ah’d be stealin’ money from Mr. Rich… But Mr. Rich has so much money anyway, ah’m sure he won’t miss a few bits.’

As the first strap came undone, Diamond’s eyes fluttered open, and Apple Bloom hastily took a step back. “… What are you doing?” Diamond asked in a threatening tone.

“Nothin’,” Apple Bloom replied in a nonchalant manner. “Oh, train’s here by the way.”

Diamond Tiara turned to face the train, then back to Apple Bloom, and then down to the bag at her side. One of the straps was undone. “… Oh, I see,” she said, glaring at Apple Bloom. “You were trying to take my money and leave me, weren’t you?”

“Ah don’t know what ya mean,” Apple Bloom said, turning her head away.

Diamond Tiara fastened her bag shut and rose to her hooves. She approached Apple Bloom and pushed a hoof into her chest. “Now you listen here. I’m bringing you along to watch my back, and in return I’m giving you the money you need to run away from home. You leave me behind, and I’ll tell your family exactly where you went. Got that?”

Apple Bloom pushed Diamond’s hoof away and returned the other filly’s glare. “Ya wouldn’t, ‘cause then ya’d have ta marry me.”

“If I have to suffer, I’ll make sure you do, too.”

If anypony was watching the scene between the two at that time, they could have sworn that flames had erupted around them. Neither filly seemed to have any intention of boarding the train; instead, they simply stared each other down on the platform, daring each other to make the first move. That is, until the train conductor’s yell reached their ears.

“Final call! Anypony boarding the train to Manehatten, present your tickets and board now!”

Diamond Tiara huffed and turned her head away. “Just stay away from me while we’re on the train.”

“Don’t have ta ask me twice,” Apple Bloom said as she picked up all of the bags behind her and followed Diamond Tiara towards the train. She stopped at the conductor, and Apple Bloom had to wonder what lame trick she was going to pull this time.

“Miss? Are you parents not here with you?” the conductor asked Diamond Tiara, leaning down to talk with her at eyelevel.

“They’re on the train,” Diamond said. “My… cousin, wanted to get one last picture of the train before we left.”

“I see,” the conductor said. He was about to interrogate them further, but the whistle from the train behind him told him that it was time for the train to depart. “Well, make sure you ask a train attendant if you get lost finding you parents, okay?”

“I will,” Diamond said with a smile, running past the conductor and into the train. Apple Bloom walked after her, boarding just moments before the train began to leave. “Well, that was easier than I thought.”

“It’s gonna be an overnight trip,” Apple Bloom said. As she turned to look outside the train’s window, she realised that she was leaving everything she knew behind. Her friends, her school, her family… “Ah don’t feel too good.”

“You don’t look it, either,” Diamond remarked, followed by a loud yawn. ‘Argh. I shouldn’t have drank milk earlier,’ she thought as she rubbed her tired eyes. “I’m going to find an empty cabin and book it for the night. Come on.”

Apple Bloom shook her head, refusing to follow Diamond Tiara. “Ah’m not tired at all. If y’all wanna sleep, go ahead an’ do it on yer own.” Apple Bloom dumped Diamond’s bags onto the floor and turned to walk away.

“You idiot!” Diamond shouted as she quickly gathered her bags together. “Watch what you’re doing! Some of this stuff is more valuable than your life!” ‘Not that that’s very hard.’

“Like ah care,” Apple Bloom replied coolly as looked up at the train’s map. “Like ya said, ah’m gonna stay away from ya until we get there. Bad enough ah have ta deal with ya until we reach Babs’ place, ah’d rather not have ta put up with ya on the way there, too.”

Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth together and growled as she watched Apple Bloom walk away. “Fine! I’d rather you not know where I’m sleeping anyway! You’d probably try to sneak in there later when you get tired!”

“Like ah’d wanna sleep anywhere near you!” Apple Bloom shouted back. “Jus’ go, before ah lose ma patience.”

“What was that?” Diamond growled, but had to stop to yawn again. “Darn it, I’ll let that slide for now,” she grumbled as she picked up her bags, grunting under the pressure of the heavy load. Turning away, Diamond Tiara moved through the train in one direction, whilst Apple Bloom behind her turned and moved in the other direction.

“Ah can’t believe Applejack wanted me ta marry that filly.” Apple Bloom stopped for a moment as she remembered that family that she was leaving behind. “Applejack… Big Macintosh… Granny Smith…”

Granny Smith rocked back-and-forth in her chair, humming a tune to herself that she couldn’t quite remember the name or origin of, and watching as her grandchildren stared each other down in what was possibly the most intense game of trivial pursuit to date. Granny Smith had of course already won, so now it was down to the two siblings, and it was a close game at that.

Granny Smith’s attention was drawn to the clock above the fireplace. It was getting late. “Ah ain’t heard from half-pint fer some time now,” she said, turning to Applejack.

“… Ah’m sure Apple Bloom’s okay,” Applejack said, not taking her eyes off of the board. “The news was jus’ a shock for her, that’s all.”

“Ya didn’t tell her the full story, did ya?” Granny Smith asked. “That we need this in order ta keep from goin’ broke.”

“… She don’t need ta know that kinda stuff,” Applejack said. “She don’t need ta know the financial trouble we’re in, or that her marriage is practically a sell-out. She jus’ needs ta know that this’ll strengthen our bonds as a family an’ be happy that we got the perfect mate for her.”

“Ye’re still treatin’ her ‘sif she were a lil’ filly,” Big Macintosh said. “Ye’re pamperin’ her is what ye’re doin’.”

“An’ y’all remember what happened the last time ya did that?” Granny Smith asked. “Who was it again? Ze… Zelda what’sherface?”

“Zecora?” Applejack asked, and then sighed. “Ah get what ye’re sayin’, but if she thought that the farm’s future was in her hooves, who knows how she’d react? She might stay quiet an’ go along with it for our sakes, or she might try somethin’ drastic ta get the money another way.”

“Wouldn’t put it past that filly,” Big Macintosh said, wondering how such a cute, innocent little filly could cause such mayhem each and every week. “But she don’t exactly seem ta like Diamond Tiara that much.”

“Ah’m sure it’ll pass,” Applejack said. “Our families are good friends, there’s no reason the two of ‘em can’t get along. ‘Sides, Apple Bloom’s only a lil’ filly. She can’t really know what hate is at that young an age.”

“Ah wouldn’t be too sure,” Granny Smith said. “Back when ah was that age, there was this one colt up in Canterlot ah jus’ couldn’t stand. Ah’ll never forget the name of the first colt ah had ever truly wanted ta kick with all mah might: Grandpa Lou. It only lasted a week, but it was the most miserable, most detestable week of my entire life, and as we finally parted ways, ah was the happiest filly in the world. The thought of never seein’ that face of his again made me so happy ah was smiling for weeks.”

“… Even so,” Applejack said, “Ah’m certain the two of them will grow ta love each other over time. Their supposed ‘hate’ can’t last forever, after all.”

“True hate never goes away,” Granny Smith said with a sigh.

The three sat in silence for a bit, only the sounds of the ticking clock and the cackling fireplace filling the room. “… Maybe… Maybe ah should stop treatin’ Apple Bloom like a lil’ filly,” Applejack said. “Maybe ah should tell Apple Bloom the full truth. Yes, this marriage would bring our families closer together, but we also need it ta solve our money problem. An’ she deserves to know that… right?”

Granny Smith smiled. “It would be unfair ta leave her outta the loop like that.”

Applejack nodded and stood up. “Ah’m gonna go see if Apple Bloom’s awake, an’ if she is, ah’m gonna tell her the truth.”

“Ya want me ta come along?” Big Macintosh asked. Applejack shook her head.

“Ah’d prefer if it were jus’ a sister-sister talk,” Applejack said before heading up the stairs and making her way towards Apple Bloom’s room. She knocked on the door gently and called out to her sister. “Apple Bloom?” she asked, but there was no response. She knocked again, a little louder this time. “Apple Bloom, it’s me. Ah jus’ wanna clear some things up about this marriage arrangement.” Still no response.

Applejack reached for the doorknob and twisted it. The door opened slowly, and Applejack gasped as she peered into the room, only to find that it was vacant. ‘Maybe she’s in the bathroom?’ she wondered as she walked inside, deciding the wait for Apple Bloom to return in her room. However, something caught her eyes as she entered. It was a piece of paper on Apple Bloom’s desk. “What’s this?”

Dear family,

I tried to tell you earlier, but you wouldn’t listen. You tried to push Diamond and me together, but I’ve already told you, I hate her. You told me that it was just a phase, but that can’t be true. You told me that I didn’t know what I was talking about, but I do. There’s no way that I could hate somepony this much and for it not to be real. I hate Diamond Tiara so much that I want to puke when I think about marrying her. And she has more than proven her hate for me.

It is for this reason that I am running away. Please do not look for me, not unless you are finally willing to accept the hate that we both share towards each other.

Please know that I will always love you, for you are my family, and this will always be the place that I consider home. But I cannot live here, knowing that Diamond and I will be forever together because you are unwilling to accept our hatred for each other.

Once I’ve found someplace to stay I will send a letter to let you know how I am doing.

Goodbye, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Winona,

Apple Bloom.

Applejack stared at the letter as she finished reading it, her breathing heavy and her hooves shaking. “No… It can’t be…” A bang at the window startled Applejack and made her turn around. It turned out to merely be a tree branch banging against the glass, but it was enough to snap her out of her shock. With haste, Applejack ran out of the room to break the bad news to her brother and Granny Smith.

Apple Bloom downed her glass of apple juice in one drink and groaned as she felt her headache growing worse and worse the more she thought about her family back in Ponyville. She asked for a refill from the pony at the bar. Thankfully drinks for children were free in the foal’s car.

Apple Bloom opened her saddlebag and pulled out the framed picture of herself and the entire Apple family standing outside the newly-rebuilt barn, taken during the last Apple family reunion. It was her second-favourite photo, her favourite being the one that was buried beneath that in her bag.

A simple family photograph of the four taken one Hearth’s Warming Eve, all smiling together as they worked on decorating their Hearth’s Warming tree. Big Macintosh had Applejack standing on his back, and in Applejack’s hooves was a tiny Apple Boom, placing the star on top of the tree.

A tear fell from Apple Bloom’s eye and landed on the counter. She quickly wiped it away and put the photos back into her bag as her new glass of apple juice was placed before her. She downed that one quickly too, ignoring the tingly feeling that passed through her body as she did so. ‘It’ll be alright… It’s for the best, if Diamond and ah wanna make sure we never wind up together fer the rest of our lives.’

Author's Note

A shorter chapter to sort of (hopefully) clear some things up from last chapter, mostly why AJ would be so willing to marry off her sister without asking her about it first. I know in fanfic that sometimes OOC is unavoidable, but I feel that any OOC, however minor, still needs to be within reason, and hopefully I've provided sufficent reasoning here.

If not, well then I guess you'll just have to think of this as AJ's one flaw besides 'she works too hard' ^_^;; If it helps, just think of Apple Family Reunion and how she completely ignored everypony's feelings for the greater good of her family ;)

3 - Bad Dreams And Hallucinations

Popping sounds and confetti filled the room, followed by the sounds of cheers from her friends and family all around her. Diamond Tiara wasn’t sure what was going on. The last thing she remembered, she was in her room brushing her Lavender doll whilst pretending to be a hairstylist. Now, she was sitting in what appeared to be Sugarcube Corner, at a table filled with tasty snacks and cups of punch. There was cake, jelly, chocolate, jellybeans… Was it her birthday? No, not for another six months. Half-birthday, perhaps?

“Congratulations, Diamond Tiara,” Snails said. Diamond Tiara looked around at the ponies sitting at the table.

Her father, Filthy Rich, her teacher, Cheerilee, Silver Spoon, Snips, Snails, Alula, Berry Pinch, and Dinky Hooves on one side, and on the other… Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Now she was even more confused. What were they doing at her half-birthday party?

“Daddy?” Diamond asked, hoping to get some answers.

“Here she comes,” Filthy Rich said before she could asked anything. All eyes turned to something behind Diamond Tiara, and so naturally, Diamond herself turned to see what could possibly be more interesting than herself.

Diamond’s jaw dropped as the sight of her mortal enemy walked into the room, wearing a dress as white as snow, her usual pink ribbon replaced with a white veil and her hair done up into a bun.

Apple Bloom shot Diamond Tiara a filthy glare. “What?” she asked in a cold tone.

Diamond Tiara quickly regained her senses and turned to her father. “What is she doing here?”

Filthy Rich simply laughed. “Well you can’t have a wedding without both parties there, now can you?”

“Wedding?!” Diamond shrieked, before being pushed towards Apple Bloom by her father. “B-But I-”

“Diamond Dazzle Tiara,” Mayor Mare said, appearing out of nowhere between the two fillies. Diamond looked around, and found herself to no longer be in Sugarcube Corner, but rather Ponyville’s town hall, with flowers and streamers decorating the walls and ceiling all around her. “Do you take this filly as your lawfully wedded wife-”

“NO!” Diamond shouted.

“Through sickness and in health-”

“I SAID NO!” Diamond shouted as Mayor Mare continued. “I hate this filly! I’ll never marry her!” Diamond illustrated her point by turning to kick Apple Bloom, but a push from behind caused her to trip forward instead, pinning Apple Bloom down onto a bed that was suddenly there. “W-Wha-”

“Congratulations, you two,” Applejack said from behind Diamond Tiara. “The two of ya will make a lovely couple together.”

“No way!” Diamond Tiara shouted, her rage reaching its boiling point. Diamond raised a hoof to smack it into Apple Bloom’s face, but as she brought it down, she somehow ended up lightly hitting her with a bouquet of flowers.

“We’ll just leave the two of you alone,” Filthy Rich said. “Now that you’re a happy couple.”

“We’re not a couple!” Diamond Tiara shouted, pushing herself up off of the bed and trying to distance herself from Apple Bloom. She hit something behind her as she backed away, and when she turned around, Apple Bloom was there. “Get away from me!”

Diamond Tiara ran past Apple Bloom and towards the door she could see in the distance. As soon as she reached it, she pushed it open, only to see Apple Bloom there. “GO AWAY!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she slammed the door shut, only for Apple Bloom to be waiting behind her as she turned. Some mysterious forced pushed her into Apple Bloom once again, and as the two were forced closer and closer together despite her struggles, Diamond Tiara cried out: “I NEVER WANT TO SPEND MY LIFE WITH YOOOOOOOOU!”

“BLANK FLANK! GO AWAAAAAAAAY!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she bolted up in the small hammock in her rented train cabin. Sweat and tears stained Diamond Tiara’s face, and she took some time to work out where she was, the sounds of her heavy breathing filling the room. “Oh thank Celestia,” Diamond said as she placed a hoof to her forehead. “I thought I was stuck with her. Thank Celestia it was only a nightmare.”

Diamond Tiara glanced over at the clock in the room. It was still a long way to Manehatten, and much earlier than she usually liked to wake up in the morning. “I don’t want to have another bad dream like that,” she said with a shudder. “I guess I’ll go see if they’re serving coffee yet. Or at least something with lots of sugar to keep me awake.”

As the door to Diamond Tiara’s rented cabin opened, she heard voices coming from outside. Curious, Diamond poked her head out and focussed her attention on two stallions standing a few doors down from her.

“What do you want? Another scar ta match that one?”

“No. I’m not here for a fight.”

“Oh? Then what?”

“I… I came to tell you… this fighting, I just can’t take it anymore.” There was a brief moment of silence. “I… I think I’m starting to… like you.”

Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow, and almost retreated into her room as she saw the other stallion raise a hoof. However, rather than swinging it and striking the other in the face, he rested it gently upon his shoulder. “Well, that’s… A-Are you sure?”

“Y-Yeah. I’ve thought about it lots, and… the more I think about it, the more I realise, I don’t hate you the way I used to. I think I… want something else with you…”

“Well, I… I’m sorry to say this, but I can’t say that I feel the same. When I look at you, I still feel that I dislike you, no matter what. But… maybe, we could try to be friends and see what happens?”

“… I think I’d like that.”

It was at that point that Diamond Tiara had to suppress the urge to vomit and rushed out of her room before she was forced to endure anymore sappiness. She locked her cabin’s door and moved down the train car, slowing down briefly as she thought about those two stallions.

“… There’s no way that Apple Bloom and I will ever become like that,” she told herself with firm resolve. “We’ll be enemies forever. Nothing will ever make the two of us get along.”

Apple Bloom frowned as she looked around the huge playground, filled with fillies and colts playing numerous games, many of which she had never even heard of before. She saw one group playing with some kind of ball and some spiky-looking things. She saw another group running around in circles around one colt. She saw a group of three fillies scaring off a group of three colts with ‘cooties’, whatever they were.

Apple Bloom had never been around many ponies her own age before. Most of her relatives that paid a visit were much older than her, and hadn’t ventured out into the town much besides to accompany her siblings or Granny Smith on a business-related venture. Her only real friend to date was Winona, and she was a dog… and still technically older than her in dog years.

The only filly she’d really had many encounters with was Diamond Tiara, and that was only because Applejack offered to sit for her often. Whenever Diamond Tiara was at the farmhouse, she tried her best to ignore her and stay as far away from her as possible. Of course, it wasn’t easy when Diamond Tiara found the only entertaining thing to do around the farm to be ‘find as many ways to annoy Apple Bloom as possible’.

There was a lone filly, sitting on the swing set and kicking the ground with a hoof with a frown on her face. She looked to be the same age as Apple Bloom, maybe just a little younger, and she was an Earth Pony, just like herself. She wore glasses, which could be a thing to talk about.

Apple Bloom saw this as her chance, and made a move to talk to the lonely-looking filly.

Silver Spoon sighed as she watched all the different groups playing their own games on the playground, not a single one paying any attention to her or asking her to join in. There were several instances where Silver Spoon had found a chance to squeeze into a group and start playing with them, but each and every time she felt stage fright holding her in place, and eventually just decided to pass her time on the swing set.

The only problem with that was that she could not push herself, and she couldn’t leave now without doing anything, because anypony who might have been watching her might think she was weird. At least, that was the thought process running through Silver Spoon’s mind as she continually kicked the ground in a vain attempt to gain some lift.

“What’s wrong?” Apple Bloom asked as she approached Silver Spoon from the side, startling the filly and almost causing her to fall off of her swing. “Can’t ya push yerself up? Ah could help ya… if ya’d like.”

Silver Spoon regarded the filly with an awed look. Somepony was actually talking to her? And they were offering to play with her? Silver Spoon was not about to let this chance slip by, so she nodded and tried to say ‘sure’, but no words came out. Thankfully, it seemed that the nod was all that was needed as Apple Bloom rounded Silver Spoon and began to push her from behind.

“Ah’m Apple Bloom, by the way,” Apple Bloom said as Silver Spoon started to swing pretty high.

“I know,” Silver Spoon said. “I remembered your opening speech. You’re the one who hates Diamond Tiara, and earlier this morning, the two of you were arguing behind the school…”

Apple Bloom slowed down for a moment, but then continued her pushing. “Y-Y’all saw that?”

Silver Spoon simply nodded. “Um, my name’s Silver Spoon, by the way.”

Apple Bloom smiled. Things were going so well. “Well nice ta meet ya, Silver Spoon.” Apple Bloom gave another push, sending Silver Spoon higher into the air… and giving Apple Bloom a clear view of the filly approaching her. “Oh no…”

“What are you doing here?” Diamond Tiara asked she and the two fillies following her stopped at the swing set.

“What does it look like? Ah’m havin’ fun with mah new friend!”

Silver Spoon looked down at Diamond Tiara as she continued to swing. She looked mad. She then turned her head and saw the same look on Apple Bloom’s face. Sensing that things weren’t going to end well, she tried to ask for Apple Bloom to stop pushing her, but she couldn’t get a word out before Diamond Tiara began speaking again.

“Well we were going to use the swing set!” Diamond said as she walked closer to Apple Bloom.

“Well that’s too bad,” Apple Bloom said, putting a little more force into her pushes.

“It’s okay, Diamond,” Berry Pinch said in a nervous tone. “We can come back here next break and play then.”

If it were any other situation, Diamond Tiara would have agreed and simply let the offending party off with a warning. After all, there was plenty to do around the playground, and it’s not like she’s overly fond of the swings or anything. But this wasn’t any other situation. The offending party was Apple Bloom, and there was no way she was going to let her enemy think she had beaten her.

“I want to swing now, though,” Diamond said, nudging Apple Bloom to prevent her from swinging Silver Spoon any further.

“Hey!” Apple Bloom shouted as she nudged Diamond back. “We were here first! Go find yer own swing set!”

“I-It’s okay,” Silver Spoon said, attempting to slow herself down by kicking her hooves against the ground.

“You two gonna fight?” Archer asked, a smile on her face and her eyes twinkling with excitement.

“Only if she doesn’t get lost,” Diamond said, still glaring at Apple Bloom.

“Ye’re the one who needs ta get lost,” Apple Bloom responded. “Or ah’ll tell Miss Cheerilee what a pin ye’re bein’!”

The other three fillies gasped, whilst Diamond simply giggled. “You’re going to go crying to the teacher?” she asked, causing Apple Bloom’s face to turn red. “You gonna ask her to change your diaper while you’re there, little baby Bwoom?”

“S-Shut up!” Apple Bloom shouted, swinging a leg to sweep Diamond’s foreleg, tripping the pink filly onto her face.

Berry Pinch and Silver Spoon immediately backed away, though Archer remained where she was standing, adrenaline rushing through her body as the desired fight seemed to break out.

“Oh that’s it!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she pushed herself up to her hooves, wiping the mud and tears off of her face.

“Now look who’s a wittle baby,” Apple Bloom mocked with a satisfied grin.

Diamond Tiara screamed and lunged forward, pushing Apple Bloom over onto her back, but she didn’t stop there. She then reached out for Apple Bloom’s hair, only to be stopped as she felt a set of sharp teeth sink into her foreleg.

The fight went on for what seemed like several minutes, with hooves swinging about and a few bruises being formed on either filly’s faces, before the teacher, Cheerilee, finally came outside to break it up.

Apple Bloom groaned as she trudged through the long train car, a hoof pressed firmly against a wall to keep her balance and staggering slightly as she moved. “Ah think ah drank too much apple juice,” she said to herself as she felt another pain in her stomach. “Ah might have ta find a bathroom…”

As Apple Bloom rounded a corner, she stopped and gasped as an image of three green apples entered her vision. After quickly bringing her hooves up to rub her eyes, the image changed into three tennis balls, and Apple Bloom sighed as she passed the confused-looking mare and continued down the car.

“Excuse me,” a voice called out behind Apple Bloom as she moved through the dining car. Apple Bloom’s heart stopped as she was sure she had heard her brother’s voice, and she slowly turned around, only to find a brown stallion with a crew-cut mane smiling down at her. “I think you dropped this,” he said as he showed a pink hoofkerchief decorated with an apple pattern to the filly.

Apple Bloom turned to check her bag, and found that she must have forgotten to close it at some point. “Uh, thanks,” she said as she took the hoofkerchief, the apple pattern seeming to resemble her brother’s Cutie Mark for a moment, before going back to simply being a bushel of apples in a bucket.

“No problem. You should take better care of your things.”

Apple Bloom nodded and turned to continue walking through the dining car. There were a few ponies around her eating breakfast, the sight of which made Apple Bloom’s stomach rumble and reminded her that she still hadn’t eaten since dinner the previous evening.

Apple Bloom wondered if she could open one of those ‘tab’ things and have Diamond Tiara pay it later, before they leave the train, but it seemed that that wouldn’t be necessary. Because standing at the counter, looking through a menu with drool practically hanging from her mouth, was Diamond Tiara.

‘But if ah go over there, ah’d have ta talk ta her,’ Apple Bloom thought, shuddering as she turned around. ‘… On the other hoof, ah am pretty hungry. And it’d be her payin’, not me.’ As the thought entered her mind, a devious grin crossed Apple Bloom’s muzzle, and she turned back to approach the pink filly at the counter.

Diamond Tiara noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Apple Bloom approaching her. “What are you doing?” she asked. “I told you to stay away from me.”

“Ah know,” Apple Bloom said, “But ah’m hungry, an’ you’re the one with all the money.”

Diamond Tiara glared at Apple Bloom. “I’m not paying for your food,” Diamond said.

“Yes ya are,” Apple Bloom assured her, “Or else y’all will be flyin’ solo once we reach Manehatten, an’ ah wonder how long it’ll take before somepony finds out what a rich filly y’are an’ decides ta take all yer money, an’ perhaps even you.” Apple Bloom felt sorry for whatever poor fool would wind up kidnapping Diamond Tiara.

Meanwhile, Diamond groaned and clenched her eyes shut. “… Fine,” she said. “But nothing expensive.”

“Depends what’s on the menu,” Apple Bloom replied in a cool tone as she picked up one of the menus lying on the counter. “What’s the special today?”

“Marriage,” the pony on the other side said.

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened and she dropped her menu as she looked up at the mare. “What?!”

“Porridge,” the mare repeated, raising an eyebrow at the loud filly. “And please try to be more courteous to those who are trying to eat peacefully.”

“Oh. S-Sorry…” Apple Bloom picked up the menu that she had dropped and started to look through it. She scanned through all of the pages, licking her lips at all of the delicious choices she came across, until she reached her favourite page: puddings. An image of a tall wedding cake was the first thing that she saw, causing her to yelp and close the menu immediately.

“What is wrong with you?” Diamond asked.

Apple Bloom blinked a few times, before daring to open her menu again. She took a peek at the puddings menu, and found an image of just a regular sponge cake, topped with vanilla ice-cream. “… Hey, Diamond?”

“What?” Diamond asked in an annoyed tone. ‘Is it too much to just let me look through the menu in peace?’

“Are we… really gonna be able ta run away from this?” Diamond turned to look at Apple Bloom with a puzzled look. “Ah mean, they’re gonna find us eventually, right? An’ when that happens… we’ll be forced together, won’t we?”

“… What are you saying?” Diamond asked, placing her menu down and putting a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder, earning the filly’s attention in return. “So what if they find out where we are? We’ll just keep running. And no matter what happens, we won’t let them force us together.”

“But-”

Diamond Tiara gave Apple Bloom no chance to rebuke her statement. Instead, she backed up what she said by swinging a hoof across Apple Bloom’s face, earning a yelp from the filly. “We’ll never be forced together, because I won’t let that happen!”

Apple Bloom shook off the momentary shock and turned to face Diamond with her teeth gritted together. “… Ye’re right,” Apple Bloom said, calming herself down and turning back to her menu. “Ah hate ya, an’ it’ll be a cold day in Tartarus before ah let anypony force me ta marry the likes of you.”

“Exactly. Now just shut up and order. The longer I sit with you the more I feel your stink rubbing off on me.”

“Alright then. Ah’ll jus’ order one of everythin’.” Apple Bloom grinned as she placed the menu down and looked up at the mare on the other side of the counter. “An’ a round of drinks fer everypony in here.”

“Hey!” Diamond shouted.

“Ya wanna walk ‘round Manehatten by yerself?” Diamond Tiara had no response to that, other than to growl and then turn back to her own menu. “That’s what ah thought. Now make yerself useful fer once an’ pay the mare.”

Diamond Tiara found it very hard to restrain herself from kicking Apple Bloom square in the face right there and then. But she had to endure. She was able to get away with a free kick to snap Apple Bloom out of it, but she wasn’t going to push her luck until she was sure that she was safe.

‘Hmph, whatever,’ Diamond thought as she opened up her bag and reached into it. ‘Joke’s on her anyway. I’ll just use daddy’s card.’

4 - The Big Apple

It was a peaceful day once again at the Ponyville Precinct. Berry Punch was sleeping off a nasty hangover in her privately-reserved cell, Fluttershy was outside tending to the birds that had flown carelessly into the very clean window of Detective Gumshoe’s office, and it seems the good detective had been spared the terror of the ‘Cutie Mark Crusader Detectives’ this fine day.

Things were looking up indeed, but they were also looking kind of slow. Berry Punch was the only pony locked up, and that wasn’t even because she was a prisoner. She just had a little too much fun at the bar the previous night and had locked herself out of her house. Her daughter was sleeping at a friend’s house, so there was no way for her to get in until she had sobered up enough to remember where her keys were, and until then Detective Gumshoe had offered her a bed inside the precinct.

“Well, it can’t really be helped,” Gumshoe said as he reached for a bottle of gin sitting upon his desk. He found that it was empty and clicked his tongue, moving his hoof over to the vodka sitting beside it. “It’s not like anything ever happens in Ponyville… Well, it does, but it’s always stuff where arresting the culprit isn’t really possible. Parasprites, strange ailments, the Princess’ student going bonkers. Hell, I was half-tempted to slap a pair of cuffs over that big dog just so I could actually be the hero for once.”

“You should be happy about that, though,” Gumshoe’s assistant, the sock puppet Mr. Doyle, said as Gumshoe shook his right forehoof whilst his left poured the vodka into a glass. “It means all is right in our beautiful town, and nopony is in trouble. And it’s not like you’re paid by how many ponies you bring in. You’re on government funding.”

“I know,” Gumshoe replied. “But there’s only so many times a crossword or a sudoku book can keep me sane while I sit here with only a sock puppet to talk to all day. It’s not like I can leave because on the off chance somepony does come in here, I’d be fired if I wasn’t here!”

“Maybe you should ask the mayor to install a TV in here.”

“Yeah right. Those things are expensive. Maybe if I’m lucky I can get a partner to take half of my shift for me, but of course Canterlot only funds one day and one night officer. Mayor Mare’s too busy throwing money around to appease the new Princess.”

Both Gumshoe and Doyle sighed. Gumshoe brought the vodka to his mouth and took a big drink, gulping the whole glass down in a matter of seconds. “Man,” Gumshoe said and he pulled the glass away from his lips, “Something interesting better happen soon. I don’t even care what it is at this point, just something to keep me from going craz-”

Before Gumshoe could finish his thought, the door to the precinct slammed open, almost causing the detective to drop his glass as he fumbled it in his hooves. He turned his head towards the door to see an orange blur running up towards him. “Well?!” the blur demanded.

Gumshoe waited for his eyes to scan the blur properly. A few seconds later, the object focussed and an orange mare with blonde hair and a brown stetson hat came into focus. Gumshoe tilted his head at the mare. “Uh… can I help you?”

“Ah came in here last night!” the mare shouted. “Ah filed a missin’ pony report, an’ yer partner said she’d look into it!”

Gumshoe’s eyebrows raised, and he promptly placed the glass onto his table and sat up straight. “A missing pony report?” The mare nodded. “This is the first I’m hearing of it.” ‘I swear, that mare is so useless!’ “Can you fill me in on the details?”

The mare, clearly annoyed by the way she bared her teeth and growled, nodded and took a seat opposite to Gumshoe and Doyle. She raised an eyebrow as the sock puppet came into view, but ignored it and began her report. “It was last night, when ah-”

“OFFICER!” a loud, male voice shouted from the precinct’s doorway as a brown blur rushed inside and slammed its hooves onto the detective’s table. “PLEASE HELP! MY DIAMOND IS MISSING!”

‘Missing pony and potential theft? Celestia, thank you.’

Apple Bloom took her first step into Manehatten as she departed the train, carrying a load of bags with her and feeling a chill down her back as cold air brushed against her coat. “Why is it so cold here?”

“Because it’s Manehatten,” Diamond Tiara said as she stepped off of the train behind Apple Bloom, wearing a long, frilly pink coat with a red heart embroidered onto the back. On her head, where her tiara usually sat, was a wool hat with a bobble sitting on top… and her tiara resting over it. “We’re further north than Ponyville, so of course it’s colder up here. Didn’t you pay any attention in Geography class?”

“More than you did,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah bet ya only know that ‘cause ya’ve been here before.”

“So what? At least I came prepared.”

“Ya coulda warned me.”

“Could have, but that wouldn’t have been any fun,” Diamond said as she began to lead the way forward. “Let’s see, we need to find a map to get our bearings.”

“A map?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah thought we were already in Manehatten.”

Diamond Tiara sighed and shook her head. “Oh, you silly, simply farm pony.” Diamond could feel the heated glare against the back of her head. She didn’t care in the least, and actually giggled and applauded herself for successfully riling Apple Bloom up. “Ponyville is small enough that you can navigate your way around without any maps. But Manehatten’s much bigger, and you’ll get lost if you don’t find out where you are and where you’re going beforehoof.”

Apple Bloom frowned as she followed as far from Diamond Tiara as she could into a nearby crowd of ponies. “Ah’m startin’ ta regret this, an’ not just ‘cause of you.”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby. I mean, for once.”

“Ah’m not a baby!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“Sure you are,” Diamond said with a smirk. “The way you’re always whining and crying over your lack of a Cutie Mark. You might as well still be in diapers.”

“At least ah don’t cry when I just get mud on mah hooves!” Apple Bloom retorted.

“I don’t cry!” Diamond shouted, looking over her shoulder and glaring at Apple Bloom.

“Yeah right! Ah haven’t even seen Fluttershy cry as much as you whenever there’s a ‘mean ol’ spider’ in the room!”

“You-” Diamond’s response was cut short as her vision went dark and she was met with sudden pain. The world shook around her and the voices of various ponies echoed. As the multiple images of grinning Apple Bloom’s converged into one, the sounds around Diamond Tiara started to become more clear.

“Have a nice trip?” Apple Bloom asked, unable to hide her laughter at Diamond Tiara’s unfortunate collision with a metal post. “Ya know what? Ah take it back. This trip ain’t so bad anymore.”

“Why you-” Diamond tried to confront Apple Bloom, but she found that suddenly pushing herself to her hooves after a nasty bump like that was not the smartest move. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed onto her rump again, the mocking laughter of Apple Bloom filling her ears and fuelling her growing anger. “Y-You’ll regret that!”

“Ya fell down on yer own, y’idiot,” Apple Bloom said as she watched Diamond Tiara climb back to her hooves once more, only much more slowly this time. Her attention was drawn to the big board behind Diamond Tiara and she gasped. “Hey, ain’t that what y’all were lookin’ for?”

Diamond turned around to look behind her and found that what she had walked into was indeed a map of Manehatten. Or rather, of the particular district that they were in. “This is it!” Diamond shouted as she jumped up-and-down, trying to get a more clear view of the map that was very high off the ground. “Darn it! I need a boost.”

Sweat dripped down Apple Bloom’s neck as Diamond Tiara turned to face her. “Uh… ah don’t suppose y’all packed a stool in here, right?”

“No,” Diamond said in a flat tone. “Come stand here. I need you to boost me up so I can see.”

“No way!” Apple Bloom said, shaking her head and crossing her forelegs. “Ain’t no way, no how, am ah lettin’ y’all use me like a steppin’ stool!”

“You are if you don’t want us to just be blindly walking around Manehatten, probably walking into danger as night falls!” Diamond told her. “Now stand here and let me stand on you already! Let’s face it, I already do that figuratively anyway.”

Apple Bloom growled and tried to find the right words akin to ‘go buck yourself’, but she simply sighed and nodded, walking hesitantly to Diamond’s side. “Fine. Jus’ find out where we need ta go an’ then get off.”

“Oh trust me,” Diamond said as she gagged at Apple Bloom’s messy coat, “I’m not looking forward to touching this filthy, manky fur of yours anymore than you are.” After building up her courage and her inner-strength, Diamond Tiara climbed on top of Apple Bloom’s back and stood on her hind leg so that she could see the map. “Now, where does that cousin of yours live?”

“T-The postcards s-said she lives in ‘Central’…” Apple Bloom’s legs shook and her teeth bit into her lower lip as she exerted every last ounce of energy that she had in order to keep herself from collapsing. “H-How much do y’all weigh?”

“Shut up!” Diamond shouted, raising a hind leg and stamping it down on Apple Bloom’s back.

“Hey!” Apple Bloom shouted. ‘She’s lucky ah’m down here… Hey, wait a minute.’ “C-Couldn’t we have jus’ asked somepony nearby ta help us out?” Silence followed Apple Bloom’s question for a length of time. “… Well?”

“S-Shut up!” Diamond Tiara shouted again, stamping her hoof three more times. “If I say this is the best way, then it’s the best way!” ‘H-How could this blank flank have outsmarted me?! Darn it, I won’t let you make a fool out of me!’ “Ah-ha! I found it!”

“G-Great! Now GET OFF ALREADY!” Apple Bloom shouted as she bucked Diamond Tiara off of her back.

Diamond screamed as she was sent soaring through the air, only stopping when she crashed suddenly on the hard marble floor of the train station. “That hurt!”

“It was meant to!” Apple Bloom shouted as she stretched her legs and arched her back. “Ah swear, the moment we find Babs, ah am through doin’ any more favours for ya.”

Diamond Tiara harrumphed as she rose to her hooves. “Better sooner than later. I’ll let this slide for now, simply because I am in desperate need of a bath after touching your filthy coat.”

“Then ya’d better lead the way,” Apple Bloom said in a low tone.

“It’s this way,” Diamond said as she led the way out of the station, Apple Bloom following behind her. “We’ll need to call a cab.”

“A what now?” Apple Bloom asked, giving Diamond Tiara a strange look as the pink filly whistled suddenly. She was surprised to see that nopony else found this strange. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a yellow and black chariot came into view before the two fillies. “Ooh. Y’all meant a taxi.”

“They’re called cabs here,” Diamond said as she opened the door. She saw Apple Bloom attempting to get in and pushed her aside, allowing herself to enter first. Apple Bloom entered after her with an annoyed grunt. “To Central,” Diamond said, pulling her purse out of her bag and offering some bits to the stallion. “And there’s a tip in it for you if you forget about us after you drop us off.”

The stallion raised his eyebrow as he observed the pile of bits in the filly’s hoof, but smiled and snatched them all the same. “Sure thing. Lemme guess, you two are elopin’ together?”

“NO!” both fillies shouted in unison, startling the stallion and sending cold sweat down his body as their glares burned into his skull.

“S-Sorry. My bad,” the stallion said as he turned back to face the road and started to walk. ‘Man, why do I get all the crazies? I swear, one of these days I’m gonna get outta this town and make it big somewhere. Maybe Los Pegasus. Dreams always come true there.’

“I swear, one of these days I’m gonna get outta this town and make it big a private investigator,” Gumshoe said to his partner as he poured some water into his glass. He decided not to have anymore alcohol whilst on duty. “Maybe Manehatten. I hear crimes and conspiracies are abundant there.”

“Man, what’re ya complainin’ about?” Doyle asked as he reached out towards Gumshoe’s chocolate bar, only to be slapped away by Gumshoe’s left forehoof. “We just got a big case, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, but still… Two missing fillies? I thought this ‘Diamond’ he referred to was an important treasure that had been stolen, but it’s just some kid that ran away, and honestly, how far could she have gone? And this ‘Apple Bloom’ is an Apple, right? I bet she’s just ran away to her family down south.”

“She has family up north too, y’know?” Doyle pointed out. “Distant family, but family nonetheless.”

“Even so, she couldn’t have gotten far. I’ll just send word the Royal Guard to look out for two fillies on the road, then-”

“Detective!” Filthy Rich shouted as she rushed into the precinct.

“You’re back,” Gumshoe noted as he sat up straight. “D’you get that picture I asked for?”

“Yes. I have it right here,” Filthy Rich said as he placed a small photograph of Diamond Tiara onto the detective’s desk. “It’s a school photograph from one year ago.”

Gumshoe nodded. “This’ll be fine. I’ll send this off to the printer’s to get some posters made. Chances are she hasn’t gotten far, so we should only need to spread them one town over in all directions.”

“That’… not all I found, though,” Filthy Rich said. “My wallet’s missing, too. It seems that Diamond took it, with the intention of catching a train out of here.”

Gumshoe leaned back in his seat and pressed a hoof to his chin. “Filly’s got some brains, but I wouldn’t worry about that. I mean, what kinda adult would let a child catch a train on their own.”

“Actually,” Filthy Rich said, “Just to be sure, I ran a check on the credit card inside my wallet, and found that it had been used earlier this morning.”

Gumshoe raised an eyebrow. “You managed to find that out already? That was fast.”

“There aren’t many ponies who use the new credit card system, so it is very efficient. Anyway, it will still take some time to narrow it down completely, but it seems to have been used from within a train.”

Gumshoe closed his eyes and placed his hooves together onto his desk. “I see… It seems a trip to the train station is in order here.” Gumshoe opened his eyes again and reached towards an empty glass on his desk. “But first, we must wait for Miss Applejack to bring us a photo of her missing pony. Until then, how about a drink? It looks like you could use one right about now.”

Filthy Rich shook his head. “Please, detective. I need to find Diamond Tiara. I need to know that she’s okay! She’s only a filly, she can’t survive out there all on her own!”

Apple Bloom bucked the stallion’s legs before he could retreat and held out her hoof. “Ah said, gimme back what y’all stole from us!”

The stallion shouted a few choice words that made Apple Bloom blush, before finally reaching into his coat’s pocket and pulling out a small tiara from within. Apple Bloom grabbed it and gave it back to Diamond Tiara, and the stallion quickly fled down the street.

“This changes nothing,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah still hate you. Ah jus’ don’t want ya makin’ this trip even more insufferable with yer constant whinin’. An’ fer Pete’s sake, stop wearin’ something so valuable in plain sight!”

“Well how else are ponies going to know that I’m superior to them in every way?” Diamond asked as she straightened out her tiara. “I guess it’s a good thing I brought you along after all[. Your brutish behaviour certainly worked to my advantage just now.”

“Who y’all callin’ brutish?” Apple Bloom shouted, bringing her face closer to Diamond’s and giving her a look that just dared her to repeat herself.

“I just thanked you, you idiot!”

“Mighty fine way ta thank somepony!”

“You should be grateful to get even that!”

An unknown rumbling stopped the argument between the two in an instant, and Diamond’s face turned red as she quickly turned around and feigned ignorance. “W-Well, it’s about time to eat something. Make yourself useful and keep your eyes peeled for a restaurant or fast-food place to eat at.”

“Y’mean like that?” Apple Bloom asked as she pointed a hoof at a building with a sign out in front that read ‘Dinner and a show’. The sign above it had a picture of what seemed to be ponies grabbing onto poles, and there was a large stallion in a black suit standing just outside. “Looks like there’s no line.”

“… I guess it’s fine,” Diamond said as she and Apple Bloom trotted across the road towards the restaurant. “Table for two,” Diamond said as she approached the stallion standing outside. “Or two tables for one, either’s fine.”

The stallion raised an eyebrow at the two fillies standing at his hooves. “Beat it kids. This ain’t a place for foals like you.”

“What? But it’s a restaurant, ain’t it?” Apple Bloom asked. “Please mister, we’re mighty hungry, an’ we don’t know where else ta-”

“I said beat it!” the stallion shouted in a threatening tone.

Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom both jumped back, their legs shaking and their eyes wide with terror. “A-Alright!” Diamond shouted. “There’s no need to be so rude! Good luck making any money if you just turn all of your potential customers away!”

Apple Bloom blew a raspberry at the large pony before following Diamond Tiara down the street. “Lesse, somewhere ta eat… There’s a ‘sushi’ place over there… What’s sushi?”

“I don’t know,” Diamond said, “But daddy said that’s a restaurant for griffons only, and that ponies can’t eat sushi. It’s… bad for them, or something.”

“Oh, well that’s not fair,” Apple Bloom said with a frown. “Now that ah think about it, ah think ah recall overhearin’ Spike sayin’ somethin’ ‘bout sushi tastin’ real good. Ah guess it’s okay fer dragons ta eat it, too?”

“How would I know? Do I look like an… animal-knowing pony?”

“Ya look like an idiot,” Apple Bloom muttered.

“What?!” Diamond shouted. “You’re the idiot!”

“Oh, nice comeback,” Apple Bloom replied in a sarcastic tone, slowly clapping her forehooves together once. “Come up with that all on yer own, or did y’all need help from Silver Spoon fer that one?”

Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth together, barely able to focus on her surroundings anymore. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear that, on account of you not talking right!” Diamond said. “Try speaking like a normal pony for once. It’s ‘for’, not ‘fur’! Fur is what we have over our skin, you moron!”

“Ah can’t help the way ah speak! It’s how ah was raised, an’ there ain’t nothin’ wrong with it!”

“Gah! I swear, I’d have better luck trying to talk that tomboy friend of yours into visiting the spa than understanding half the things you’re trying to say!”

“At least ah don’t act all whiny an’ pathetic jus’ ta get mah way! Seriously, it’s embarrassin’ jus’ ta watch ya.”

“You know-” Diamond Tiara stopped as the sight of a restaurant came into view. It was a small one, and didn’t look particularly clean, but it was food nonetheless, and there weren’t many people there at that point in time. “Finally, somewhere to eat. Count yourself lucky, blank flank.”

‘Lucky mah hoof,’ Apple Bloom thought to herself. ‘Ah bet she jus’ ran outta things ta argue ‘bout an’ doesn’t wanna admit that she lost.’

The two entered the restaurant together and were greeted by a cheerful pony in a white chef’s hat standing behind a counter. “Good afternoon!” he said as the two approached the counter. He raised an eyebrow at the two fillies. “My, shouldn’t the two of you be in school today?”

Apple Bloom bit her lip and tried to think up an excuse. “Um… Teacher trainin’ day, today?”

The chef stared at her with a blank look on his face, before smiling and nodding. “I see. So the two of you decided to spend your day off on a wonderful date togeth-”

“NO,” the two fillies said together in unison. At the same time, a fire erupted from the stove behind the chef.

“Mamma mia!” the chef shouted as he rushed to extinguish the fire. “How did this even happen?! The stove was turned off!”

“Look, just get us two plates of whatever’s the most delicious thing you’re serving,” Diamond said as she pulled out her father’s credit card. “And charge it to this.”

The chef, now calmed down after extinguishing the sudden mysterious fire, turned to Diamond Tiara with a smile. “Ah, a rich customer of exquisite tastes, I take it? Very well, two plates of Luigi’s finest spaghetti coming right up! But unfortunately, I am not equipped to scan these new ‘credit cards’.”

“… Fine then. Here.” Diamond pulled out a wad of paper money from her bag. “How much?”

“… F-Fifty bits,” the chef said, eyes wide at the sheer amount of money that lay before him.

“Here,” Diamond said as she handed over one of the notes to the chef.

“T-Thank you. I-I’ll just go and prepare your food right now…”

Five minutes passed in complete silence as the two fillies tried as best as they could to avoid speaking, or even interacting, with one another until they were finished eating.

“Apologies for the wait,” the chef said as he laid the two plates of spaghetti before them. “Enjoy your meals,” he added with a smile before he moved back into the kitchen. ‘Can I do it?’ The chef thought to himself as he stood over two empty glasses sat on the counter. ‘That filly was loaded! Just a hint of knock-out powder, and she won’t even know what hit her! Nopony else is in the store right now… I could pay off all my loans…’

With a gulp, the chef nodded his head. ‘I’ll do it.’

As they were eating their meals, the chef returned from his kitchen and placed two glasses of lemonade before the fillies. “These are on the house,” he told them. “For being the one thousandth and one thousand-and-first customers to my store.”

“Oh, thank you,” Apple Bloom said with a smile. She was about to reach for the drink placed before her, but decided that she should probably save it. After all, her spaghetti was very hot.

Diamond Tiara jabbed her fork into her own spaghetti and brought it up to her mouth. What she hadn’t realised, however, was that a stray strand from Apple Bloom’s own plate had somehow been tangled up among her own. The two fillies followed the strands of spaghetti in their mouth, but stopped as they realised they were chewing on the same piece.

Their faces mere inches apart, their eyes wide with shock and their cheeks red with embarrassment, there was only one thing that Diamond Tiara could think to do.

The chef gasped as Diamond’s hoof met Apple Bloom’s face, pushing the filly backwards off of her chair and leaving a nasty mark. “W-What do you think you’re doing, blank flank?!”

“OW! That’s mah line!” Apple Bloom shouted as she rose to her hooves and grabbed her plate, hurling what little spaghetti remained on it into Diamond’s face. “Since ya like takin’ other ponies’ food so much, ya can have what’s left of mine,” she said as she turned to leave the store.

“You…” Diamond said as her hooves trembled and tears began to spill from her eyes. Her brows furrowed and her teeth ground together. “You’ll pay for that!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she chased Apple Bloom out of the store.

The chef simply stood gaping at the mess that remained behind, and amazed at the fight that had just broken out between the two innocent-looking fillies. “… Mamma mia… I need a drink…” The chef absentmindedly grabbed a nearby glass of lemonade sitting at the counter and gulped the whole thing down. “… Oh, wait…” The chef saw the world turning dark as his legs gave out underneath him.

It was the end of the school day. Babs Seed, flanked by her two friends Flitterheart and Snowcatcher, exited the school building in a hurry, stretching her legs and taking a deep breath of the not-so-fresh Manehatten air.

“Man, the weekend could not have come any sooner!” Babs said as she reached towards her chest and unfastened the top button on her dark-blue uniform, breathing a sigh of relief at the comfort it provided.

“I know what you mean,” Flitterheart said. “Those teachers just drone on and on and on and on!”

Snowcatcher nodded. “Well then, I guess we’ll see each other later tonight?”

“You betcha!” Babs said with a smile. “Just come ‘round mine whenever. My folks know who ya are by now.”

“Cool! I’ll make sure to bring that game you wanted to try,” Flitterheart said as she and Snowcatcher turned to walk in a different direction to Babs. “Later!”

“See ya!” Babs shouted back as she waved goodbye to her friends. “Right, I’ve got some time. Guess I’ll stop by the arcade an’-” Babs took her first step outside of the school gates, and stopped as she saw a familiar yellow Earth Pony with a red mane standing outside, staring directly at her. “A-”

“BABS!” Apple Bloom shouted as she spread her forelegs and wrapped them around her cousin. “Ah can’t believe it’s really you! Ah thought fer sure somethin’ else would go wrong, but ye’re right here!”

“A-Apple Bloom!” Babs shouted as she managed to shake the excited and crying filly off of her. As she did so, another familiar face came into view. “Diamond Tiara?” A familiar face that was covered in something red. “A-Are you okay?! You’re bleeding!”

“What?” Diamond asked, placing a hoof to her face, only to be reminded of the sticky sauce covering her coat. “Oh, this. It’s just sauce.”

“S-Sauce?” Babs asked. “Why’re you… What’re you… M-Mind fillin’ me in, cuz?”

“No time!” Apple Bloom said. “It’s a long story, and ah swear we’ll explain it all later, but fer now, we really need a place ta hide!” A loud yawn escaped Apple Bloom’s mouth and she rubbed her eye with a hoof. “An’ sleep…”

Babs still had no idea what was going on, but the urgency in her cousin’s voice was all that she needed to know, for now. “O-Of course. I’ll asked ma parents ta-”

“No,” Diamond said. “We need you to hide us without telling anypony. That includes your parents.”

“What?!” Babs asked. “I-I can’t- T-They’re my parents, I-”

“Please, Babs?” Apple Bloom asked, eyes growing wide and lower lip quivering. “Ah’ll explain everythin’ later, honest, but we really, really need yer help. Please?”

“A-Apple Bloom…” Babs gulped and bit her tongue. “A-Alright… I’ll help ya…”

“Thank you!” Apple Bloom shouted, crushing her cousin in a hug one more time.

Diamond Tiara simply rolled her eyes. “What was that about me being pathetic?”

Author's Note

Apologies for the brief delay. I was having fun at Alcon 2013 from the 5th to the 8th (and spent the 9th catching up on what I had missed on the internet).

Anywhom, now that I'm back and all caught up, expect more frequent updates (... hopefully ^_^;;) :3

5 - Gumshoe's Investigation

It had been over one full day since Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara ran away from their homes in Ponyville. Over twenty-four hours, and neither Applejack nor Filthy Rich were faring too well. Whilst Applejack was still able to function just fine and help out around the farmhouse, she was in no state-of-mind for strenuous farm work, and Filthy Rich had to file for vacation time until Diamond Tiara was found. He couldn’t even think about paperwork while his daughter’s safety whereabouts were unknown.

Gumshoe had questioned the ponies working at the train station and had discovered that they had boarded a train bound for Manehatten together. However, the train had several stops along the way. Eight towns and twelve tourist attractions. Counting Manehatten, that was twenty-one locations that they could have departed the train from.

For the time being, Gumshoe had sent a request for every precinct along the line to spread the posters of the missing ponies, and to question the train station employees in their towns. He had also sent requests for anypony working at the twelve tourist attractions to send whatever information they may have had about the two fillies.

Whilst he was waiting for that, he decided to gather whatever information about the fillies he could in order to determine where they might head to. “Filthy Rich is in no mindset for answerin’ questions. That big red fellow at the farm isn’t easy to talk to, and neither is the old windbag.”

“Applejack seemed calm enough ta talk,” Mr. Doyle said to his partner.

“Yes, but I’d rather start here,” Gumshoe said as he looked up at the schoolhouse standing before him. “You’d be surprised at how much more kids tell their friends before tellin’ their families, and school teachers tend to be sharp when it comes to readin’ kids’ minds.”

“But y’know it’s the weekend now, right? School’s out today!”

“I know the teacher who works here,” Gumshoe said. “She likes to grade papers inside the classroom.”

“Really? School on a weekend? I guess it’s no wonder she’s a virgi- OW!” Doyle glared at Gumshoe, who had just smacked him with his left forehoof. “What was that for?!”

“Please try to watch that mouth of yours when we’re questioning her. It’s because of you I can’t find a marefriend.”

“Hey, I’m just tellin’ it like it is.”

“Just leave the talking to me,” Gumshoe said as he approached the schoolhouse.

Cheerilee hummed a happy tune to herself as she looked through Silver Spoon’s paper beneath her with a red pen in her hoof. “Correct, correct… Close, but you forgot to carry the three…”

A knock at her door startled Cheerilee. She wasn’t expecting any visitors today. “Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee?”

Cheerilee turned to the classroom door to find a tall, scruffy-looking brown stallion in a grey trenchcoat standing at her door. His mane was a darker shade of brown than his coat, and he stared at her with his right eye closed the entire time. “Y-Yes? Can I help you?”

“Possibly,” the stallion said as he entered uninvited. “Detective Gumshoe, from the Ponyville Precinct.” Gumshoe raised his right forehoof to introduce the sock covering it. “And my partner, Mr. Doyle.”

“Yo!” Doyle said with a bow. “Alright missy, spill the beans!”

Cheerilee seemed taken aback by the sock puppet’s sudden demand. Gumshoe smacked his partner once more. “I said to watch what you say.” Gumshoe turned back to Cheerilee. “Apologies ma’am. Please don’t mind him.”

“I-It’s quite alright,” Cheerilee said, scooting backwards a little bit in her chair as the stallion approached her further.

“I would like to ask you some questions regarding two missing fillies from your class.”

Cheerilee’s fear was replaced with concern in an instant and she shot out of her chair, towards the detective. “M-Missing fillies? You wouldn’t happen to mean Apple Bloom and-”

“Diamond Tiara, yes,” Gumshoe said, slowly gesturing with his hooves for Cheerilee to step back a bit. “I take it you noticed their absence yesterday.”

Cheerilee nodded. “I simply assumed that they were trying to avoid their detentions and was going to visit their houses today. I had no idea that they were missing! What happened?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Gumshoe said, pulling out his notebook and jotting down the new information that he had just received. ‘Applejack stated that the motive for leaving written in Apple Bloom’s note was to avoid her arranged marriage with Diamond Tiara, but Diamond herself never left anything to suggest the same.’ “What were the two serving detention for?”

“Oh, they’re usually such sweet fillies,” Cheerilee said as she sat back down in chair. “When they’re separated, that is.”

“Kids are usually a hassle when they’re together,” Gumshoe said.

“No, not like that,” Cheerilee saved with a wave of her hoof. “They can’t stand each other, and they always get into arguments when they’re together. Sometimes they even fight.”

“Oh. I see,” Gumshoe said, writing this new information into his notebook. “I was under the impression that they were close friends since their families are.”

Cheerilee sighed. “Unfortunately not. But I guess you can’t pick your enemies. It must be though for their families, being so close to each other when those two fillies are constantly at war.”

“Makes me wonder why they tried to marry ‘em together,” Gumshoe said. “I guess now I see why the marriage was the reason that Apple Bloom left.”

“Marriage?” Cheerilee asked.

“Oh, apparently the two families had arranged a marriage between the two fillies,” Gumshoe told Cheerilee, whose eyes widened at the news. “Not exactly modern-day practice ‘round these parts, but apparently both families are big fans of the old school traditions.”

“A-Are they mad?!” Cheerilee shouted as she once again shot out of her seat and invaded the detective’s personal space. “You can’t force two fillies who hate each other so much like that together!”

“H-Hey-”

“I don’t care how close their families may be, there’s no reason the children should be a part of it if they don’t want to be!”

“Miss, please-”

“And it doesn’t matter what you try with fillies who hate each other that much, they will find a way to stay apart!”

“Miss!” Gumshoe shouted, snapping Cheerilee out of her state.

“S-Sorry. I just-”

“It’s okay,” Gumshoe lied as he pushed Cheerilee away from him. “Thank you. I think I now have a better understanding of their motives for leaving, though I can’t understand why they would leave together given this new information.”

“They left together?” Cheerilee asked, receiving a nod from Gumshoe. “… I… I don’t know. I tried to partner the two up in Art class once, but that proved to be a mistake. The two just can’t work together at all.”

“Perhaps their friends might know something,” Gumshoe muttered to himself. “I’ll go and gather more information. In the meantime, I suggest you think up some kind of explanation to tell your students on Monday. We don’t want them panicking over their classmates’ safety.”

Cheerilee nodded. “Please, find them soon.”

“I will,” Gumshoe said as he turned to leave, striking a cool pose at the door. “That’s my job.”

“… Laaaaaaame,” Doyle said, before receiving a smack from Gumshoe’s hoof.

Gumshoe had to admit that he was jealous. He was a jealous of a filly, who seemed to have more in value in her bedroom than he had in his entire house. Her was no expert on perfume and jewellery, but what he could see on the filly’s vanity looked like it would cost more than his paycheck if he broke any of it. The carpet was incredibly soft under his hooves, and as if the sheer number of dresses in the filly’s closet wasn’t enough, many of them were encrusted with jewels, too.

‘Her room is bigger than mine, too,’ Gumshoe thought to himself as he sighed. ‘Some ponies really have it great.’

“Tea?” Silver Spoon asked as she sat down opposite to the detective, having finished sitting her stuffed animals around the table.

“Uh, sure,” Gumshoe said, not really paying much attention as his mind was more focussed on whether her bed was softer than his own. It certainly looked it.

“Here,” Silver Spoon said as she offered a small cup of tea to the stallion.

Gumshoe looked at the cup and picked it up. “Thanks.” He took a sip and had to repress the urge to gag. ‘GAH! Too rich for me!’ Swallowing what was in his mouth, Gumshoe lay the cup down and pulled out a small picture of Diamond Tiara. “Am I correct in assuming you are the Silver Spoon who is best friends with one Diamond Tiara?”

Silver Spoon nodded, a worried look on her face. “What’s wrong? Is Diamond in trouble? I’m sure whatever she did, she didn’t mean it! She just likes to prank ponies and sometimes goes a little far, but she’s a good pony at heart!”

“N-No. That’s not what this is about,” Gumshoe assured her. “… Right, well, there’s no easy way to say this… I’m afraid that Diamond Tiara is… missing.”

Silver Spoon gasped. “Missing?” Gumshoe nodded. “W-What do you-”

“On Thursday night,” Gumshoe began, “She seems to have snuck out of her home and boarded a train bound for Manehatten with another filly, Apple Bloom.”

Silver Spoon tilted her head to the side. “With Apple Bloom?”

“That’s correct.”

“That’s impossible,” Silver Spoon said. “She hates Apple Bloom.”

“So I’ve heard,” Gumshoe said. “The reason for her leaving seems to be that her father had arranged for her and Apple Bloom to marry each other.”

“Diamond’s getting married?!” Silver Spoon gasped. “Oh my gosh! Do you think she’d let me be her bridesmaid?!”

Gumshoe raised an eyebrow at the fill with stars in her eyes. “Uh, I don’t think-”

“Oh, I’ve got to find the perfect wedding gift for her! And a dress! I’d better have father make a call to Ms. Fleur’s Emporium!”

“They have no intention of marrying each other,” Gumshoe said, snapping the filly out of her dreamy state and bringing her back to reality. “I believe that they ran away to avoid the marriage.”

Silver Spoon’s face fell and her ears drooped. “Oh, right… I guess that makes sense. Still, why wouldn’t Diamond tell me anything?”

Gumshoe shrugged. “Perhaps she was in a hurry. Or else she had a reason not to. That’s why I’m here. I would like to ask you, her best friend, for your opinion on what she may be thinking.”

“What she may be thinking?” Silver Spoon asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“If we’re to believe that her motive for running away was indeed to avoid the marriage, then the obvious contradiction is that she fled with Apple Bloom. Why do you think that is?”

Silver Spoon lowered her head, placed a hoof to her chin, and closed her eyes. “… If she didn’t tell me… then she likely thought that she’d be getting me into trouble and wanted to avoid that.”

“That’s mighty considerate of her.”

Silver Spoon nodded. “She knows I’m aiming for a scholarship at Canterlot University, so despite the pranks we pull around town, she always pulls the really big pranks by herself. She probably left me in the dark about this because she didn’t want me to miss my important schoolwork.”

‘She’s thinking about her future at such a young age? Sheesh, what a little bookworm.’ Gumshoe scratched the back of his head in thought. “Okay, so that explains that, but why run away with Apple Bloom?”

“Well, I guess she needed somepony to escort her,” Silver Spoon said. “Despite the way she always acts tough around other, Diamond’s actually kind of a coward.”

“And going to an unfamiliar location would be pretty scary for a filly her age,” Gumshoe muttered. “She probably asked Apple Bloom because she was her best bet, since they were both in the same mess together… Any ideas where Diamond Tiara would go?”

Silver Spoon shook her head. “If she went to Manehatten, then all I can say is that she’d avoid her father’s business branches if she doesn’t want to be caught.”

Gumshoe sighed. Not much help, but it was better than nothing. “I see. Thanks… Can I ask you to keep quiet about the fact that Diamond Tiara is missing for now? At least to your classmates.”

“Why? Shouldn’t they know that their classmate is in trouble?” Silver Spoon asked.

“I would just like to avoid unnecessary panic for now,” Gumshoe explained. “Don’t worry. I will find her, and soon.”

Silver Spoon offered an uneasy smile and a nod. “Y-Yeah… Please do…”

Ignoring the tea still sitting on his desk, Gumshoe rose to his hooves and turned to leave the room. ‘Right, next stop, Apple Bloom’s friends.’

After an entire hour walking around all over Ponyville and asking questions, Detective Gumshoe finally managed to find the two fillies that he had been searching for. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom’s two closest friends. The three of them together were part of some kind of club called the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’, whose primary objective seemed to be ‘cause terror and spread chaos all across Ponyville’.

Thankfully, only two were present, so it would probably be easier to speak with them. “Well, I can always hope so, right?” Gumshoe asked himself as he approached the two fillies playing cards in the park.

“You got any threes?” Scootaloo asked.

“Go fish!” Sweetie Belle cheered with a big smile on her face. “I like this game!”

“Only ‘cause you’re winning…” Scootaloo muttered as she picked up a card from the deck. She noticed the shadow spreading over the cards and turned to her right to see a strange-looking stallion approaching them. “Uh… hi?”

“Hello there,” Gumshoe said as she crouched down to speak with the two fillies. “My name is Gumshoe. I’m a detective over at the Ponyville Precinct.”

“Oh yeah!” Sweetie Belle said. “You were the one who helped Rarity find her missing ribbon a few weeks ago, weren’t you?”

“… Oh. You’re Rarity’s sister?” ‘Celestia give me strength.’

“Yep! What’s up? Did something happen with Rarity again?”

“Are we in trouble?” Scootaloo asked, backing up a little bit and placing her cards down onto the ground. “I swear I had nothing to do with the broken water fountain! It was already like that when I-”

“Calm down,” Gumshoe said, reaching into his coat for the picture of Apple Bloom that he had brought along. ‘Actually, I’m the one who broke that water fountain.’ The detective pulled out the picture and showed it to the two fillies. “You are acquainted with this filly, are you not?”

The two fillies nodded. “Apple Bloom’s sick today, though,” Sweetie Belle said. “Granny Smith said she has a bad case of the chicken pox, which is strange ‘cause I thought you could only get that once?”

Gumshoe put the picture back into his coat and shook his head. “I’m afraid the situation is a bit more serious than that.”

Both fillies gasped at once. “More serious? Like what? Does she have some kind of new, unknown, incurable, deadly super-virus from playing around in the Everfree Forest too much?!” Sweetie Belle asked.

“No,” Gumshoe said in a flat tone.

“Was she kidnap by a dangerous mob boss who’s demanding the Apples hoof over their land if they ever want to see Apple Bloom safely returned ever again?!”

“N-” Gumshoe paused to think that over for a moment. A cold sweat dripped down his face. ‘Let’s just hope that isn’t the case.’ “No.”

“Then what is it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“… Well, on Thursday night, it appears that Apple Bloom, along with another filly, ran away together.”

Sweetie Belle gasped. “She’s eloping?!”

“E-whating?” Scootaloo asked.

“That’s not likely to be the case,” Gumshoe said. “The pony that she ran away with was Diamond Tiara.”

“Diamond Tiara?!” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Guys, what’s eloping?”

Gumshoe nodded. “It would seem that the two ran away together to avoid some sort of arranged marriage imposed upon them by their families.”

“But… that doesn’t make any sense!” Sweetie Belle said.

“What’s eloping?!”

“Apple Bloom hates Diamond Tiar-”

“Yeah, I’ve heard,” Gumshoe told her. “It is my belief that Diamond Tiara convinced her to run away with her for protection, and my current theory is that Apple Bloom agreed because Diamond Tiara has her father’s money, making running away much easier.”

“Guys-”

“Where did she go?” Sweetie Belle asked, a concerned look on her face. “Is she safe?”

Gumshoe shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s what I’m investigating now. I know that she boarded a train bound for Manehatten, but where she got off is still a mystery. I don’t suppose that you, as her close friend, might know where she would go to after running away?”

Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chin and closed her eyes. “Manehatten… Wait, isn’t that where Babs lives?” she asked Scootaloo, who nodded in confirmation.

“Babs?” Gumshoe asked, taking out his notebook and jotting the name down.

“Apple Bloom’s cousin,” Sweetie Belle explained, “And fellow Cutie Mark Crusader!”

“And what is her relationship with Apple Bloom like?” Gumshoe asked. “Are they close?”

“Welllll… it started out kinda rough, but after working some things out, she’s been a really good friend to us, and she keeps in touch with Apple Bloom with letters.”

“They’re penpals,” Gumshoe summarised, receiving a nod from Sweetie Belle. “Interesting…” ‘I’ll ask the Manehatten Precinct to look into this filly for me.’

“Hey,” Scootaloo said, gathering Gumshoe’s attention. “You’re gonna find her, right? And bring her back safe?”

Gumshoe nodded. “Of course,” he said as he rose to his hooves. “Thank you for your co-operation. I’d like to ask you don’t tell any of your classmates about the missing fillies. Just so that they don’t start to panic or freak out.”

The two fillies nodded. “Hey!” Sweetie Belle shouted suddenly. “Maybe we can help! We might find our Cutie Marks in finding missing ponies!”

“Good idea!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

‘Oh no,’ Gumshoe thought as he quickly turned around to leave. Unfortunately, the two fillies were already in front of him, blocking his path and staring at him with big, wide eyes and wide, innocent smiles on their faces. “E-Er… W-Well then, how about you start by, um… l-looking for clues? Like, away from here?”

The two fillies saluted. “Yes, sir!” they shouted in unison before running off into the town together.

“… Maybe some of those reports have come in. I should check back at the precinct.”

“Nothing,” Gumshoe muttered as he dropped the document onto the table and picked up the next one. “Five stations in, and not a single sighting. And I’ve only received ten reports so far. At this rate, they might not even be at any of the twenty-one locations by the time an eyewitness account turns up.”

“Why the hay hasn’t anything turned up yet?” Doyle asked. “That Filthy Rich guy’s offering a ten thousand bit reward for anypony who finds his daughter!”

“That’s something I could have done without,” Gumshoe said. “That’s just going to cause an abundance of reported sightings to start coming in, and it’ll be even harder to find the real ones buried among the fake or mistaken ones.”

“Still, the guy must be stinkin’ rich ta just be throwin’ ‘round money like that!”

“That’s his father,” Gumshoe corrected. “This is Filthy Rich.”

“No, I mean- Ah, forget it!”

Gumshoe read over the sixth document on his pile. “… Nothing.”

“By the way, when was the credit card used?” Doyle asked. “If we can determine the time, maybe we can cut down on the number of potential stations they got off at.”

“Unfortunately, this new credit card system is still a bit finicky. It’s quick to alert a pony when their card was used, but it’ll take some time to gather more detailed information, such as time and exact location.”

“Man, if only we had just one witness who could narrow down the number of places to search.”

“Hey Detective Gumshoe!” a cheerful young voice cried as the precinct’s door slammed open.

‘I need to put a sign on that thing, telling ponies not to slam it when they enter.’ Gumshoe looked over towards the door to find Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle running inside, followed by a nervous-looking stallion in a brown fedora hat and a grey sweater vest. “What is it, girls? I’m very busy at the moment.”

“We got a witness!” Scootaloo said.

“We found somepony who saw them!” Sweetie Belle added.

“… What?” Gumshoe asked, the disbelief clear in his voice and his face as he turned to face the stallion.

“Go on, tell him!” Scootaloo demanded.

The stallion nodded and stepped forward. “U-Um, the two fillies… They were only described to me, but they sound an awful lot like two fillies I saw departing the train at the Manehatten station yesterday morning.”

Gumshoe raised an eyebrow and placed the documents in his hooves down onto his table. “And how can you be sure?” he asked. “You interacted with them?”

“N-No…”

“Then what made them stick out so much that you remembered them so clearly?”

The stallion looked down at the floor and fiddled his forehooves together. “W-Well, they were an… interesting duo,” he said. “One was dressed like a Canterlot noble, and the other was carrying so many bags on her back, like a bellboy. And… I remember being startled by their raised voices as they started to argue with each other…”

Gumshoe put a hoof to his chin in thought. ‘It certainly sounds like them, but…’

“We did it! We found them!” Scootaloo cheered as she and Sweetie Belle bounced up-and-down behind the stallion.

Gumshoe reached into his coat and pulled out two photographs, placing them onto his desk for the stallion to look at.

“Oh, yes. That’s them alright,” the stallion said. “I remember thinking they were an usual couple of ponies to be travelling together. Like night and day, or something like that.”

Gumshoe nodded and reached into his desk drawer for a form. He scribbled something down onto it and then signed it at the bottom. “Here,” he said as he handed both the form and a note to the stallion. “Go to the address on there and show the form to Mr. Filthy Rich. This is proof of the information you have given me, and will ensure he offers you a reward for helping our investigation.”

The stallion read over the form. “A reward?”

“Not the full amount, I’m afraid, but if your information proves accurate then a sum of three thousand bits.”

“T-THREE THOUS-” the stallion seemed to choke for a few seconds, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed onto the floor. “Three thousand…” he muttered as his legs twitched.

Gumshoe rose out of his chair and grabbed his trenchcoat. “Well then, I guess I’d better ask Applejack to tell me more about this ‘Babs’ pony.”

Author's Note

Well, seems the investigation's going well. Don't worry folks! Seems good ol' Detective Gumshoe will have our two favourite fillies back in our town before you can say "Dat Tsundere" ^_^

Diamond Tiara: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NOT IN THIS CHAPTER?!"

Aaaaaaand that's my cue to leave! *Yukito uses Flee*

6 - Trouble Adjusting

A typical morning in Manehatten usually consisted of birds chirping in the air, the sounds of bells as papercolts passed by on their skateboards, a little yelling from the arguing couple next door or the mother and son down the street, and of course, if it was a Sunday, the loud ringing of the church bells just down the road that made Babs bury her head beneath her pillows until all was quiet once more.

“Who needs alarms?” Babs asked herself with a smirk as she dragged herself out of bed. She stumbled about on her hooves for a bit as she tried to right herself and waited for her eyes to adjust to the light. Unleashing a loud yawn, Babs turned around to face the nearby mirror, snickering at her messy appearance in the reflection. “Wow. I look like I jus’ lost a fight with a sparkplug.”

Taking off her nightgown and tossing it carelessly onto her untidy bed, Babs walked sluggishly towards her desk and picked up the brush that was laying there. She ran the brush through her mane a few times and then checked her efforts in the mirror. Still a mess, but at least now her fringe was the way she liked it. “Good enough,” she decided as she placed the brush back down and turned to leave the room. “Wonder what’s for breakfast today?”

As Babs left her room and made her way downstairs, her mind slowly started to recall the events of the previous day. In particular, two fillies who had come to her asking for a place to stay. ‘Oh shoot! I totally forgot about them! I’d better eat fast an’ go make sure they’re okay.’

“Good morning,” Aunt Orange asked as she heard hoofsteps entering the kitchen behind her. “Sleep well.”

“Well enough,” Babs responded coolly as she sat down at the kitchen table. Moments later a bowl of fruit bites was placed before her, making her cringe at the healthy, not-so-tasty breakfast cereal her mother was so proud of. Before she could complain about the cereal, though, her mother had managed to sneak behind her and began working on the mess of a mane on Babs’ head. “Hey, quit it!”

“Honestly, your mane’s always such a mess, you leave your clothes just lying on the floor, and you always come home absolutely covered in mud.” Aunt Orange sighed and shook her head. “Sometime I wonder if you aren’t just a colt in disguise.”

“Maybe I am,” Babs said, squirming to try to discourage her mother from messing with her mane. It was not successful.

“So, what’s this I hear about the clubhouse being infested with bugs?” Aunt Orange asked.

Babs stopped her squirming and gulped. The lie she had told her friends the previous day to keep them away from the clubhouse was that it was suffering from a serious infestation problem, and that a couple of exterminators were cleaning the whole area for a few days.

“Ah, it’s nothin’,” Babs said. “Flitterheart’s dad’s already called in some guys to take care of it.”

“Well, I don’t want you going anywhere near it, not even after it’s been cleaned out. I want your dad to check it out first before you risk getting too close yourself.”

Babs rolled her eyes. “Mum, seriously! I’m not afraid of a few bugs!”

“I never said that you were. It’s just that I know how reckless you can be. Like the time you brought that snake home and asked us if you could keep it?”

“At least I asked,” Babs muttered.

“After we caught you,” Aunt Orange added.

“I was gonna ask anyway!” ‘Probably…’

“Sure you were,” Aunt Orange replied in a disbelieving tone. “So, what have you got planned for today? Earning a Cutie Mark in scraped knees? Or seeing who can make the most holes in their brand new school uniform?”

“I’m just gonna hang out and Flitterheart’s and play some games, that’s all,” Babs answered. “The weather forecast for today is rain, right?”

“That’s right, but it will be stopping at around five. Are you going to be having dinner at your friend’s house today?”

“Nah. I’ll be back by dinner,” Babs said. ‘After all, I gotta make sure those two eat something. Speaking of, I’d better hurry and go check on ‘em.’

Babs walked through the streets of Manehatten with a plastic bag containing some snacks and some drinks in her mouth. The secret clubhouse that she and her friends used was some distance away from her house, but not too far. The three of them had decided to use an abandoned warehouse that was once owned by Flitterheart’s family as their secret base, as it was an equal distance apart from all three of them, and wasn’t easy to get into. The entire section was blocked by a fence with barbed wire, but there was a small hole where a foal could sneak into the site. Of course, their parents had no idea where their ‘clubhouse’ was, just that it was in a secret location.

As Babs neared the particular room in the warehouse where all of the club meetings took place, she heard noises coming from inside.

“Stupid!” one voice shouted, followed by the sounds of bodies rolling around.

“Idiot!” the other voice shouted, followed by a battle cry.

Babs sighed and braced herself as she pushed the door open quickly. She found Diamond Tiara lying on the floor, her tiara having fallen off of her head and her mane a complete mess. On top of her was Apple Bloom, whose leg was raised in the air whilst Diamond’s own forelegs were covering her face.

“Seriously?” Babs asked. “You’re going at it this early in the mornin’?”

“She started it!” Diamond shouted as she crawled out from underneath Apple Bloom.

“No ah didn’t!” Apple Bloom protested. “Y’all kicked me, an’ it was definitely on purpose!”

“Where’s your proof?!”

“Ah’ve got yer proof right here ya-”

Babs grabbed Apple Bloom’s hoof before she could kick the pink filly and asked her to calm down. “Honestly,” Babs said as she backed away. “I know you two hate each other, but try to control yourselves a lil’ bit. What if I’d walked in while you were throwin’ kicks around an’ got caught up in it?”

“… Sorry,” Apple Bloom said quietly.

Babs simply shook her head and sighed. “… I got you both some food an’ stuff,” Babs said as she dumped the contents of her plastic bag onto the floor. “I had to buy it off of my allowance, so it’s not much.”

“Ya didn’t have ta do that!” Apple Bloom gasped. “Diamond has lots of money on her!”

“It’s cool,” Babs said, blowing her fringe out of her face. “You’re ma cousin, an’ I said I’d help ya out. And Diamond’s… well, we were friends at one point.”

Diamond harrumphed and turned her back to Babs. “Sorry, I don’t think I was ever friends with any traitors.”

“Why you little-”

Babs stopped Apple Bloom by extending a hoof in front of her. “It’s fine, cuz,” she said with a frown on her face. “I guess… there’s no chance we could go back to how we were before, huh?”

Diamond Tiara didn’t say anything. Instead, she simply reached out towards one of her bags and opened it up, taking out a bag of sweets from inside.

“So what’ve ya got planned anyway, now that you’re here?” Babs asked Apple Bloom, deciding to leave Diamond Tiara be for the time being.

“Well… ah kinda wanna send a letter back to Ponyville ta let mah family know ah’m alright,” Apple Bloom said.

“Are you crazy?” Diamond asked, snapping her attention to Apple Bloom. “If you do that, they’ll know where we are!”

“Not necessarily,” Babs cut in. “I know a colt who uses carrier pigeons ta talk with his fillyfriend in Canterlot.”

“Carrier pigeons?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Lil’ pigeons that are trained ta fly to certain places and back. You attach notes to their feet an’ the pony on the other end takes ‘em and attaches their own note.”

“Seems a little complicated just to talk to somepony,” Diamond said.

“Have ya seen the price for sending post ta Canterlot from here?” Babs asked. “Not ta mention there’s no guarantee it’ll even reach these days.”

“So ya think he’ll lemme use his carrier pigeons ta send a letter back home?” Apple Bloom asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

“I don’t see why not. He’s a pretty nice guy,” Babs said.

“Alright!” Apple Bloom cheered, jumping into the air with new-found energy and excitement. “Then what’re we waitin’ for? Let’s go see ‘im!”

“First, ya might wanna eat somethin’,” Babs said. “It’s a long walk.” Babs turned to Diamond Tiara, who was already snacking away by herself. “You wanna come along too? Send a letter to yer dad?”

Diamond shook her head and turned away with a huff. “I have nothing to say to a dad who would try to sell his daughter out like that.”

“He’s yer family!” Apple Bloom scolded. “Family should treat each other with respect an’-”

“Leave it,” Babs said, placing herself in-between the two fillies. “If ya change yer mind, Diamond, jus’ say somethin’ before we leave.”

Diamond Tiara didn’t respond. “Why’re ya defendin’ her?” Apple Bloom asked. “Don’t y’all remember how she made fun of us the last time ya met her?”

“I’m jus’ tryin’ ta keep you two from killin’ each other, that’s all,” Babs said as she sat down on her haunches. “Besides, it’s not like she was all that bad. Not ta me, at least.”

Apple Bloom joined Babs in sitting down and reached for one of the cartons of juice on the floor. “Well, whatever. ‘Least ah won’t have ta walk ‘round with her all day.”

“What’s wrong? Afraid my talent might rub off on you and finally grace you with a Cutie Mark?”

Apple Bloom clenched the juice carton in her hoof, willing herself not to instead throw it at the back of Diamond Tiara’s head. Babs looked between the two fillies and sighed. ‘This is gonna be a long day…’

“Can ya believe the nerve of that pony?!” Apple Bloom shouted as she walked down the street alongside Babs Seed. “Jus’ demandin’ ta use yer shower like that!”

“It’s not a big deal,” Babs said. “Ma folks aren’t in today.”

“That’s not the point! She didn’t even say ‘please’ or ‘thank ye’.”

“Well she was a mess, after you spilled those noodles on her,” Babs pointed out.

“She started it by makin’ fun of mah friends,” Apple Bloom said. “Callin’ Scootaloo a chicken an’ Sweetie Belle a cry-baby.”

“Don’t you call Scootaloo a chicken all the time though?” Babs asked.

“That’s different! When ah do it it’s a joke, but when Diamond does it, it’s mean!”

“Er… If you say so… So, how’re ya likin’ Manehatten? Pretty different from Ponyville, huh?”

Apple Bloom nodded, looking around the street at all of the ponies passing by. “There are so many ponies. Ah bet Pinkie Pie’d have one heck of a time memorisin’ all these names.”

“Some of ‘em are jus’ passin’ through, or are jus’ here on business,” Babs told her. “If ya look real close, ya can tell who lives here an’ who’s jus’ here for a bit.”

“Really?”

Babs nodded. “Fer example, that stallion over there.” Babs pointed a hoof toward a stallion wearing a thick black cape and a black fedora hat on his head. He was carrying a suitcase and standing in line for a cab. “He’s wearing hot clothes like that even on a warm day like this. He’s probably from down south, like you, so he’s not used to the cooler weather up here.”

“Now that you mention it,” Apple Bloom said as she shivered, feeling a cool breeze brush against her coat. “How can y’all walk ‘round like that an’ not feel anything?”

“Like I said, we’re used to it up here,” Babs said. “That stallion’s also got a briefcase, but not much else, so he’s probably just here on business.” Babs noticed Apple Bloom shivering more and smiled. “Maybe we should stop an’ get you a coat or somethin’.”

“T-That’s-” Apple Bloom was about to reject the kind offer, before remembering that she had some of Diamond Tiara’s money on her in case of an emergency. “… Yeah, let’s do that. A real expensive one, too.”

Babs rolled her eyes. “We’ll jus’ get you somethin’ ta keep ya warm. That money’s for in case somethin’ bad happens.”

“Oh come on. What could possibly happen to us in the middle of the day?” Apple Bloom asked. She stopped as she caught sight of a clothing store further down the street. “Hey, race ya there! OnetwothreeGO!”

“Wha- Hey!” Babs immediately began chasing after her cousin down the street. “Cuz, wait up!” ‘Darn it! This isn’t Ponyville! It’s more dangerous ‘round these parts!’

Diamond Tiara stepped out of the shower feeling refreshed and significantly calmer than earlier that morning. “Finally,” she said as she ran a hoof through her mane and sniffed it. “I thought I’d never get the stains out of there. That blank flank is going to pay for this.”

Picking up her brush and walking towards a nearby mirror, Diamond Tiara started the task of brushing her mane so that it was as elegant and as regal as its owner once more. “Can’t believe I’m living in some rundown factory in downtown Manehatten. It’s so dusty and filthy, and I have to share a room with that blank flank!

““I’ll clean it tomorrow, an’ it’ll look jus’ great!” she said. Bah! Like a pony who spends all her time playing in the dirt would know how to clean. It’s her fault I’m even in this mess! Well, hers and daddy’s! I can’t believe daddy tried to sell me out like that! Well, I’ll show him! I bet he’s worried sick about me now. Just a few weeks, and he’ll be begging for me to go back home.

“Not that I will. Not until he calls off that stupid marriage…” Diamond Tiara’s eyes fixed upon a photograph hanging on the wall behind her in the mirror’s reflection. In it was Babs Seed, looking just a little younger than her present state, and a yellow stallion with a tidy green mane. Both of them were smiling together, and looked so close…

“… Does daddy… even care about how I feel?” Diamond muttered as her brushing slowed down. “He tried to marry me to somepony without even asking how I felt. What if… What if I’m just an asset to him? Just a child he had on standby so that he could use me to boost his business?”

Diamond quickly shook her head, looking into the mirror with a determined look and speeding up her brushing once more. “What am I saying? Of course he loves me! I’m his little Princess! His…” Diamond cringed and lowered her voice as she muttered her next line. “His ‘perfect little cupcake’… He buys me all the toys I want, and takes me out to my favourite restaurant when I’m upset, and takes care of me when I’m sick!

“… And then makes promises he can’t keep because he’s ‘too busy’, and tells me he’ll be up to tuck me in then never comes, and forces me to apologise when I’ve done nothing wrong…”

Diamond Tiara threw her brush onto the floor with a tormented cry, huffing and panting as she tried to quell the raging storm in her mind. “… I need some air,” she told herself as she grabbed her coat and fastened it up. “I’m going out for a bit, daddy!”

Diamond Tiara was met with silence. She reminded herself where she was, and let out a small chuckle at her own absentmindedness. “Right. He’s not going to answer me…” Diamond took in a deep breath, willing herself to remain calm and trying to ignore the sinking feeling growing in her stomach. “I just need some air. I’ll be alright after a walk.”

“C’mon Apple Bloom,” Babs said as she looked up at the ticking clock hanging above her. “It’s getting’ late.”

“Ah’m not sure what ta say,” Apple Bloom said as she stared down at her letter-in-progress. “Ah… Ah wanna let them know ah miss ‘em, but ah don’t want ‘em ta feel sad or anythin’.”

“Then just tell them you’ve found somewhere ta stay and you’re doin’ fine!” Babs said.

“It’s not that easy!” Apple Bloom shouted. “I can’t tell them ah’m with you, but they’re mah family! They deserve ta know ah’m safe-an’-sound, but how do ah convince ‘em without tellin’ ‘em too much?!”

“Okay, okay!” Babs said as she hugged her hyperventilating cousin. “Jus’ calm down, cuz. It’s alright… I’m sorry for trying ta rush ya like that.”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “No, ah… ah jus’ don’t know what ta do…”

“… Jus’ take yer time,” Babs said. “Jus’ let ‘em know you’re alright, an’ tell ‘em how you feel. That ya don’t wanna get married, that ya miss ‘em, and that still hate Diamond Tiara. Jus’ write it all down, and I’m sure they’ll understand. They’re our family, after all.”

Apple Bloom turned to Babs with an incredulous look on her face. “F-Family…Yeah, ye’re right…” Taking a deep breath, Apple Bloom steadied her shaking hooves, and brought the quill slowly down towards the paper beneath her. “Okay, ah’m ready now.”

“… And, could ya mention that Diamond’s alright, too?”

“What?!” Apple Bloom asked. “Why should ah-”

“C’mon, cuz,” Babs said, almost in a pleading tone. “Her dad must be worried sick. Don’t ya think he deserves ta know how his daughter is doin’?”

“… Alright, fine,” Apple Bloom said as she returned to her letter. “But only for her dad’s sake, not for hers.”

Babs nodded and turned to the colt sitting behind them. “You’re sure these will reach Ponyville fine?”

The colt nodded. “I got a friend down there who I also communicate with. I’ll just ask him to pass these letters on to Apple family.”

“Okay, it’s ready,” Apple Bloom said as she read over her letter one final time. With a nod, she handed the paper to Babs, who rolled it up and gave it to the colt. “… Ah hope they’re doin’ okay…”

Diamond Tiara was in the midst of sorting through her third bag when she found it. Something that she had packed away, thinking she would need it. But now, it was causing her so much pain, so much grief, that she was biting her lip to the point of drawing blood.

A small photograph in a frame of herself, her mother, and her father. All three of them, gathered around a fireplace one Hearth’s Warming Eve, smiling towards the camera as Diamond Tiara was opening her present.

Her father was holding her up so that she could be seen by the camera’s lens, and he was smiling. He was holding her so close, and she was smiling, too.

A water droplet fell onto the picture, followed by the sound of the door opening behind her. Diamond Tiara gasped and quickly wiped her face clean.

“Why’s it so dark in here?” Apple Bloom asked as she walked inside.

Diamond hurriedly stuffed the photograph into her bag and lay down into her sleeping bag. “Because I was about to get my beauty sleep,” she said as she reached for her sleeping mask and shut off the small lamp sitting beside her. “What took you so long?”

“… Ah wasn’t sure what ta say,” Apple Bloom answered as she approached her own sleeping bag. “It took me a while before ah could finally write the letter.”

Diamond Tiara harrumphed and rolled onto her side. “You know they probably don’t care about you anyway, right?”

“What was that?!”

“They tried to marry you off to somepony you don’t even like, and wouldn’t listen to how you felt at all.”

“That… That might be true, but… but they still love me!” The witty comeback that Apple Bloom was expecting from Diamond Tiara never came. She stayed silent for a more moments more, but nothing. “… Ah’m goin’ ta sleep,” she said as she threw herself down onto her side, closing up her sleeping bag and rolling around to get comfortable.

Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara had already rolled onto her front and buried her face into her pillow, hoping to muffle the silent hiccups escaping her lips. ‘R-Right. Daddy still loves me. Of course he d-does…’

7 - A Diamond In The Big Apple

“Girls, ah did it!” Apple Bloom shouted as she ran up towards her two friends waiting for her in the park. “Ah did it! Ah finally got mah Cutie Mark!”

“No way!” Scootaloo shouted. “For real?”

“For real!”

“That’s so cool!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Ah know, right? Ah can’t believe I never tried it before! It’s so obvious, after all.”

“So what is it?” Scootaloo asked. “Lemme see!”

“Sure! It’s-” Apple Bloom turned her head to look over her shoulder, only to be met with a sharp pain.

“OWWWWW!” Apple Bloom cried as she held her forehead in her forehooves, curling up into a ball and biting her lip to hold back a flood of curse words as she rubbed the sore spot on her head. “Wha’ was that?”

Opening one eye slowly, Apple Bloom found herself lying on the floor inside the abandoned warehouse she had been staying at for the past two days, half of her body still inside her sleeping bag and the other half hanging out.

She looked down at the floor and guessed at what must have happened. “Ah guess ah was rollin’ around in mah sleep… again…” Apple Bloom crawled out of her sleeping bag and took a moment to yawn and let her eyes open completely. As she did so, she recalled the dream that she had just been interrupted from and gasped, snapping her head over her shoulder to check her flank.

“NO!” she cried as she found nothing there. “No no no no NO! Ah was about ta find out what mah special talent was! Darn it!” In her tantrum, Apple Bloom grabbed her pillow and threw it across the room. It landed on Diamond Tiara’s sleeping bag and the yellow filly readied herself for a fight. However, Diamond Tiara did not say a thing.

“Guess she’s a heavy sleeper,” Apple Bloom muttered as she trotted over to retrieve her pillow. She grabbed it in her teeth and pulled it away, revealing an empty sleeping bag underneath it. It was tidied up, and the bag beside it was missing, along with the coat hanging on the wall behind the pillow. “Where’s she gone off to?”

Not even a second later, a knock came at the door. Apple Bloom turned around in time to see the door opening, and smiled as her favourite cousin entered the room. “Good mornin’,” Babs said as she returned Apple Bloom’s smile. She looked over to Diamond’s sleeping bag, only to find that the pink filly was not there. “Diamond?”

Apple Bloom simply shrugged. “Ah guess she went ta use the lil’ filly’s room.”

“I guess so. The public restroom’s just outside, so she should be back soon.” Babs watched as Apple Bloom examined herself in the nearby mirror and started brushing her mane. “We should be gettin’ a response from Ponyville later today.”

“Already?” Apple Bloom asked with an incredulous look on her face.

“Yep. ‘Course we can’t send another letter for a few days. It’s not our pigeon, after all.”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah understand. Jus’ as long as mah family know ah’m alright…”

“A letter from Apple Bloom?!” Applejack shouted as she grabbed Shady Daze’s shoulder. “Y’all are tellin’ the truth?!”

“Y-Yeah,” the colt said, sweating as he backed away from the wide-eyed mare leering down at him. “I-It came in from a friend’s carrier pigeon…”

“Where from?” Detective Gumshoe asked, pulling Applejack away from the colt and motioning for her to calm down.

“I… I can’t say,” Shady Daze told him. “He asked me not to tell, so…”

“Now you listen here!” Applejack shouted, only being prevented from grabbing the colt again by Gumshoe’s foreleg. “D’ya realise that two fillies are out missin’ somewhere, Celestia only knows where, an’ that their families are worried sick about them?!”

“Miss Applejack, please calm yourself,” Gumshoe instructed. “Big Macintosh, a little help.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said as he put a hoof on his sister’s shoulder, giving her a calm, reassuring glance. “Applejack, gettin’ all worked up like this isn’t goin’ ta solve anythin’.”

“But-”

“It’s fine,” Gumshoe said, taking the letter from the colt. “Can we at least send a reply?”

Shady Daze nodded. “Yeah. The letter actually asks for a response to be sent. I’m supposed to wait here for it.”

“I see… Well then, let’s not make the good colt wait.” Gumshoe opened the letter and held it out so that himself, Applejack, and Big Macintosh could all read it together.

“She’s safe!” Applejack shouted, giving a relieved sigh.

“She’s got food an’ money ta last her,” Big Macintosh said as he read further down the letter. “An’ shelter.”

‘She could be making all this up,’ Gumshoe thought to himself. ‘But then, she was able to send a letter via carrier pigeon. I guess she has friends wherever she is… Or perhaps even family.’

“Diamond Tiara is with her!” Applejack shouted as she read the final line at the bottom of the letter. “Somepony should tell Filthy Rich! He’s been a mess ever since Diamond ran away!”

“Ah’ll go,” Big Macintosh said. “Y’all send a reply to Apple Bloom asking her to come home!”

“… Will that really be enough?” Applejack asked herself as she stared at the letter before her. “If simply askin’ her ta come home was enough, then she wouldn’t have run away in the first place.”

“Do it,” Gumshoe said. “It’s worth a try. Better than nothing, at any rate.”

“… Y’all know why she ran away in the first place, right?” Applejack asked.

“I do,” Gumshoe said. “But I’m not going to butt into family affairs. Decide for yourself how you’ll convince her to return. My job is simply to track her down and bring her back, against her will if that is the case.”

“But-”

“It’s a family issue,” Gumshoe said. “I have no authority there.”

“… Alright… Ah’m gonna go write up a reply.”

“One second,” Gumshoe said as he turned around to followed after Applejack. “Attach this to the paper that you use,” he whispered as he reached into his coat, pulling out a small, metallic object. “If you roll the paper up before giving it to the colt, he shouldn’t notice it.”

“What is it?” Applejack asked as she took the strange object from the detective.

“It’s a transmitter,” Gumshoe said. “It’ll only work short distances, but if we prepare a chariot before the letter is sent, we can follow the carrier pigeon back to its owner.”

Applejack gasped. “An’ that’ll lead us to Apple Bloom!” she whispered.

“Exactly. Now hurry. We really don’t want to keep the good colt waiting,” Gumshoe said with a wink. Applejack returned the wink and ran into the farmhouse, more energy in her movements than moments ago. ‘I’d better go with Big Macintosh to Mr. Rich’s manor. Rich as he is, he should have plenty of chariots to spare.’

Apple Bloom scratched her chin as she glared down at the board below her, her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed as she reached a forehoof over the pieces, hovering it for a second before finally grabbing her knight piece.

She moved the piece forward three squares and knocked over Babs’ pawn piece with such force that it also knocked over the bishop behind it. “Take that! Two for the price o’ one!”

“… There’s no way we’re playin’ this right,” Babs said as she frowned at the sight of Apple Bloom’s army dwarfing her own. “So what does the Queen do again?”

“Uh… ah think it can move any number of squares at a time. It can also turn, until it kills somethin’.”

“… So I can do this?” Babs asked, picking up her Queen and sending it onto a merry journey across the board, eventually killing Apple Bloom’s final rook and positioning it just a few squares away from her King. “Check.”

Apple Bloom stared at the board with a look of utter disbelief on her face. “… Darn it, that was a good move.”

Babs gives a satisfied grin and reaches to her side for her drink. As she does so, she realises how quiet it had been during the past ten minutes and glances around the room. “Diamond Tiara’s still not back yet?”

“Who cares?” Apple Bloom asked as she hovered a hoof over the board. “She’s probably out tryin’ on clothes or whatever she does fer ‘fun’.”

“But it’s not safe for a filly like her to be alone ‘round here,” Babs said. “An’ what if she can’t find the way back?”

“Her fault fer goin’ out there by herself,” Apple Bloom said and she moved her pawn two squares to her right. “Yer turn.”

“… I’m gonna go look for her,” Babs said as she rose to her hooves.

“What?! But what ‘bout our game?” Apple Bloom asked.

“We’ll finish it later. C’mon cuz, we can’t jus’ leave her alone out there without knowin’ where she is. What if it was the other way around?”

Apple Bloom put a hoof to her chin. “Diamond would pay you not ta look for me.”

Babs wanted to argue against that, but actually couldn’t find any fault with that reasoning. “Well, maybe…” Babs said. “But that’s why you have to help me find her!”

“… Come again?”

“I mean, if you don’t help me, then it’d mean that you’re the same as her! But by helping me, you’re proving that you’re better than her. Get it?”

“… Darn it. Why’d ya have ta go an’ use yer city-smarts on me?”

Babs smiled as her cousin stood up. “Alright, let’s go! She couldn’t have gone too far!”

“How d’ya intend ta find her?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Same way ya find anythin’ in this city.”

“Hey there,” Babs said as she approached the florist tending to her flowers outside of her shop. “We’re lookin’ for somepony. Pink filly, about my cousin here’s size. Wearin’ a coat and a tiara on her head.” Babs pulled out a packet of cookies and offered them to the mare.

“I’m sorry Miss, but I can’t say I’ve seen anypony like that today,” the florist said as she reached for the cookies.

However, Babs pulled them away and stuffed them back into her bag before the mare could grab them. “That so? Sorry ta bother you then.”

“So lemme get this straight,” Apple Bloom said as she and Babs continued to walk down the street, “Ya find things ‘round here by offerin’ cookies fer information?”

“Not jus’ cookies,” Babs corrected. “But yeah. Money, jewellery, sweets, clothes, information… Pretty much the only way ta find somethin’ ‘round here is ta ask other ponies, and the only way ta get the answers ya want is ta trade for ‘em. Nopony ever gives free info ‘round these parts.”

“Why not?” Apple Bloom asked, a sad look spread across her face. “Don’t the ponies around here like helping their friends?”

“We only live together in the same neighbourhood,” Babs said. “That doesn’t exactly make us all friends. Most of us don’t even know half the ponies we live near to. We jus’ happen to catch glimpses of ‘em walkin’ ‘round every now and then.”

“That’s so sad…” Apple Bloom said.

Babs simply shrugged. “That’s the way it works here. We’re not a small community village like Ponyville is. Crime is an issue here, so we have ta take care with who we make friends with.”

“… Well, ah guess when ya put it that way,” Apple Bloom said. “Still kinda sad though.”

“Excuse me,” Babs said as she approached a colt stacking papers onto a pile. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a pink filly with a frilly coat and a tiara ‘round here, have ya?” Babs asked, pulling out the packet of cookies from her bag.

The colt examined the cookies and smiled. “Actually, I have,” he said as he reached for the cookies. “Right pretty one she was, though a bit of an attitude problem.”

“Couldn’t be her then,” Apple Bloom said. “Diamond’s ugly as a mule, an’ has a major attitude problem.”

Babs ignored the comment and gave the cookies to the colt. “Sounds like the right pony. Where’d ya see her?”

She was walkin’ into the arcade just ‘round the corner last I saw her,” the colt said. “I tried talkin’ with her but she jus’ gave me ten bits and told me to shut up.”

Babs raised an eyebrow and then turned to Apple Bloom, casting a suspicious look on the filly. “You sure you two weren’t fightin’ this mornin’.”

Apple Bloom, looking just as confused as Babs, shook her head. “Not that ah can recall. Unless ah was fightin’ her in mah sleep.”

“Honestly, the way you two fight, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Babs said with a sigh. “Well, we know where she is now. I’m gonna go look for her.”

“You have fun with that,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah’m gonna go on ahead an’ see if a response has come in yet.”

“Can you remember the way?” Babs asked.

Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah’ve got a pretty good memory when it comes ta directions. Take a left down the end of this street, skip two turns then go right, go up to the water fountain then left, and it’s the big house with the blue roof.”

“… Y-Yeah…” Babs considered if she should really let Apple Bloom go alone or accompany her. “I still think we should go together…”

“Ah’ll be fine! Trust me.”

“Well…”

“C’mon Babs. Ya know me. Ah can take care of mahself without yer help for at least a few minutes.”

“… Alright then,” Babs finally conceded. “But wait for me when ya get there! I want us ta at least walk back together.”

“Sure thing,” Apple Bloom said as she took off down the street. “Ah’ll see ya later!”

Babs waved her hoof after Apple Bloom, stopping when the yellow filly turned around a corner and left her sight. “… Alright, to the arcade then…”

Following the colt’s directions, Babs soon found herself at the arcade that he had described. It wasn’t a big one, but it had a lot of games inside, and it was pretty cosy, too. Babs made a mental note to herself to visit this particular arcade more often, but in the meantime, there was a certain filly that she had to look out for.

Scanning around the arcade, it didn’t take Babs long to find her target sitting at the bar at the back. She walked though the arcade and towards the pink filly, who was sitting on a stool with a depressed look on her face, spinning a strawberry milkshake around in her hoof.

“Hey there,” Babs said as she neared her. She glanced at the milkshake and noticed that it was perspiring and seemed to be melting. “Uh, you okay?”

Diamond Tiara looked up at the filly sitting beside her. “What do you want?”

“Jus’ makin’ sure you’re alright,” Babs said. “Y’know you shoulda left a note if you were goin’ out.”

“… I’m fine. Now go away.”

Babs frowned. “You don’t sound fine.”

“And you don’t sound like you’re going away.”

“Look,” Babs sighed, “I’m worried about ya, alright? Did ya have a fight with Apple Bloom again?”

“No,” Diamond responded.

“Did ya wet the bed and are ashamed ta admit it?”

“No!” Diamond shouted, her face turning red at the mere thought.

“Are ya homesick?” Diamond Tiara hesitated in responding. “I see…”

“No you don’t,” Diamond muttered. “You don’t know anything. Just go away and leave me alone.”

“I can’t do that,” Babs told her.

“And why not?”

“Because like it or not, we were friends once,” Babs said, catching Diamond Tiara off guard and causing her to almost spill her warm milkshake onto the counter. “An’ I don’t know ‘bout you, but those few days we hung out together were fun.”

“… But we’re not friends now.”

“No, but I’d like it if we were,” Babs said. “And I’m gonna put the effort into that, startin’ with this. Findin’ out why you’re so upset an’ helpin’ ya out.”

“… It’s…” Diamond started. “… It’s just that… you know… about the arranged marriage, right?” Babs nodded her head. “… Why did daddy set up that stupid marriage without asking me?”

Babs tilted her head to the side. “I… I’m not very good with business stuff, but-”

“I mean, why did he not take my feelings into consideration?!” Diamond shouted, snapping her head to the side and glaring at Babs. “Doesn’t her care about me at all?! Does he think I should just do whatever he says because he’s my dad?!”

“I-I don’t think it’s anything like that,” Babs said, motioning with her hooves for Diamond to calm down.

“Then what is it?!” Diamond asked, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. “What if he hates me for running away? What if he’s upset with me for not going along with the arranged marriage?”

Babs noticed the tears and acted quickly, reaching a hoof out and placing it gently on Diamond Tiara’s shoulder. “Is that something you think he’d do?”

“… I don’t know,” Diamond said. “I… I thought that daddy loved me. I still think that, but he… After everything that’s happened, I just don’t know…”

“Do ya wanna go home?” Babs asked. Diamond quickly shook her head.

“I can’t! I can’t go home now! If daddy’s angry, he’ll just yell at me and ground me for life, then find a new partner for me to marry!”

“And if he misses you?” Babs asked. “If he’s just worried about your safety, and wants nothing more than for you to go back home?”

“… I…” Diamond’s tears began to flow faster, and she quickly turned her head and covered her face from Babs’ view. “How would I know something like that? Even if that were the case, he’d still force me to marry somepony I don’t want to marry.”

Babs reached a hoof out and gently held Diamond Tiara as she tried to calm her sobs. She remained silent for a few minutes as she allowed Diamond Tiara to think it out for herself, but also so that she herself could think of a way to help her out.

“How about,” Babs began. “… How about sending another letter by carrier pigeon?” Diamond, her crying now slowed down to simply hiccups, turned to give Babs a questioning look. “I mean, I could ask my friend to send another letter down to Ponyville, asking your dad how he’s feeling… What d’ya think?”

“… I… I still don’t know what I want to do…”

“Well, it’s better than doing nothing, right? And while you’re waiting for a reply, you can think it over.”

Diamond Tiara thought it over a few seconds more, and then nodded. “Y-Yeah… I guess so…” The two slid off of their stools and turned towards the arcade door, walking side-by-side together as they left. “You know… for a blank flank, you’re not half-bad…”

“And for a prissy lil’ rich kid,” Babs said, blowing her fringe out of her face, “You’re actually half-cool.”

8 - Birds

A cold wind blew across Diamond Tiara’s fur. Even with her thick coat on, she still felt the chill from the blowing wind and shivered as she slowed her trot. “It’s not even winter yet,” Diamond said as she tried to pick up her speed again. “I’d hate to come here for Hearth’s Warming. It must be below zero then.”

“Below zero?” Babs asked with a raised eyebrow. “That’d kill ya!”

“What do you mean? Below zero would just be-” A thought crossed Diamond Tiara’s mind. “Oh, that’s right. You use Fahrenheit here, don’t you?”

Babs nodded. “It’s not that cold. You’re just exaggeratin’.”

“You can’t be serious,” Diamond said in a flat tone. “I feel like I’m gonna freeze if we stay out here any longer!”

“Ah, stop bein’ such a baby,” Babs said with a wide grin on her face. “C’mon, we’re almost there.”

“That’s what you said ten minutes ago!” Diamond whined.

“We’ve only been walkin’ for five minutes,” Babs pointed out. “An’ that was just ta shut you up. But this time I mean it. See that house there?” Babs pointed towards a house just a little further down the street that they were walking along, with a blue roof on top of it. “That’s the house we’re goin’ to.”

“Well it’s about time,” Diamond said. “They’d better have some hot chocolate there, because I really need a break from all this walking and something to warm me up. I can barely even feel my hooves at this point.”

“It’s somepony’s house,” Babs said, “Not a café.”

“Well they should at least be courteous to their guests.”

“We’re usin’ the guy’s pigeons to deliver messages free of charge. If anythin’, we should be doin’ stuff for him.”

“…”

Babs sighed as she watched Diamond pouting whilst she walked beside her. “… I’ll ask him if he could warm up some tea, alright?”

“With lots of sugar,” Diamond said. “I woke up early today and I’m pretty tired.”

Babs rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she also smiled. ‘Alright, seems like she’s doin’ better now,’ she thought to herself. “Just remember that these are the pigeons he uses to talk to his fillyfriend, so ya might have ta do a bit of beggin’ ta use ‘em again on such short notice.”

“Obviously you’ve never seen me around daddy whenever I see a new dress that I want,” Diamond said with a grin. “I can be so adorable, nopony can resist giving me whatever I ask for.”

“Sure you can,” Babs asked, the scepticism clear in her tone. “Let’s see it then. The face ya use ta get your way.”

Diamond Tiara took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and concentrated. When she opened them again, they were wide, they were sparkly, and they were focused directly on Babs’ own eyes. Diamond’s ears stood up tall and the smile on her face was angelic to the point that Babs could have sworn there was a wreath of flowers forming around her neck and a choir singing around her.

“That’s… good…” Babs said, not entirely sure why any adult would fall for it. It was certainly cuter than her ordinary appearance, but not to the point that she felt compelled to give her whatever she asked for.

“Just ‘good’?” Diamond asked, a disappointed edge in her tone. Her eyes fell to the floor, her ears drooped to the sides of her head, and her smile fell into a frown. She remained silent as she continued walking in this state, staring at the ground the entire time.

Babs felt a pit deep within her stomach as she stared at the depressed filly, and felt like she had committed some kind of great wrong against her. “I-I mean, it was great!” Babs said. “Y-Yeah, it was so… cute, I almost couldn’t believe it was the same filly!”

“…” Diamond didn’t seem to brighten up any at that.

“I mean it!” Babs shouted, stopping to put a hoof on Diamond’s shoulder and turn her so that they were facing each other. “That was the most adorable face I’d ever seen, and-” Babs stopped when she saw that Diamond Tiara was no longer frowning. She was grinning. And laughing. “Y-You…”

“HAHAHAHAHA!” Diamond couldn’t help it. The laughter just burst out of her and wouldn’t heed to her wishes for it to stop. “O-Oh my gosh! I didn’t think it would work that well! You’re so easy to fool!”

“Y-You were jus’ pretending?!”

“Pretty convincing, huh?” Diamond asked as she wiped a tear away from her eye. “So what was that about me being ‘adorable’?”

A blush spread across Babs’ face. She quickly turned around and checked both sides of the road before crossing it. “N-Nothin’! I knew you were actin’, an’ I was just humourin’ ya.”

“Yeah, sure,” Diamond said as she followed after Babs, giggling as she walked across the road. “You know, your reaction was even better than Silver Spoon’s. Your face was just too much.”

Babs harrumphed and blew her fringe out of her face. “You jus’ caught me off guard, that was all. Anyway, we’re here now.” The two fillies stopped at the front door of their target house. Babs raised a hoof and knocked. A few moments later, the door opened and a mare’s face peeked outside. “Is Birds home?”

The mare smiled and opened the door further. “Ah, it’s you again, Babs. Please come in.” The two fillies entered the house whilst the mare walked to the base of the stairs and shouted up: “Teddy sweetie, your little friend is here!”

“Muuuuum!” a voice called down from the top of the stairs. “I told you, my name’s ‘Birds’!”

“Of course, sweetie!” the mare shouted back. She turned back to Babs and Diamond Tiara. “You two go on up. I’ll bring you some snacks.”

“You don’t have-” Babs started, but was cut off by Diamond Tiara.

“Could you bring us some hot chocolate too?” Diamond felt a foreleg nudge her side, and turned to see Babs frowning at her. “… Please?”

“If it’s not a bother,” Babs quickly added.

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” the mare said. “Thank you for being such good friends with my son. I was beginning to worry his only fascination was with birds…”

Diamond raised an eyebrow. “What kind of pony is this colt, anyway?”

“… You’ll see,” Babs said as she started her ascent up the stairs. “He’s a nice guy, but a lil… out there. Come on.”

Hesitantly, Diamond Tiara stepped a hoof forward and followed Babs up the stairs.

Diamond Tiara wasn’t quite sure what to say, or even think. Of all of the mental images that had crossed her mind whilst wondering what this friend of Babs’ would look like, this was certainly not one of them. It certainly did explain why her preferred the name ‘Birds’, though.

“You gonna stare all day or you gonna come in?” Babs asked from her seat inside of Birds’ room, with seven different types of birds all perched on her at once. “Don’t worry. They’re tamed, so they won’t hurt ya.”

“Well, the ones that aren’t in their cages won’t, at least,” Birds added as he poured some birdfeed into a number of cages in the back of him bird-infested room. “I also clean them regularly and take them to the vet for regular checkups, so no health risks.”

“See? Totally fine,” Babs said as she held out some birdfeed on her hoof to a number of birds, all of which happily accepted the treat.

“What… I… I don’t even know where to start with this,” Diamond finally said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose with a forehoof.

“I know it might seem a lil’ weird,” Birds said.

“A ‘little’?” Diamond asked with an incredulous look on her face.

“But birds are my passion,” Birds continued. “I love looking after and studying birds of all kinds, and I find it easier to talk to birds than I do ponies.”

“Maybe that’s ‘cause you’re a cuckoo?” Diamond said with a grin.

“Diamond-” Babs started, but was interrupted by Birds.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Birds laughed, before turning around to reveal his flank, upon which was a Cutie Mark of a silhouetted bird flying through the air. “But hey, we don’t choose our special talents, and I’m certainly not gonna waste mine by lamenting over it. I enjoy what I do, and that’s all that matters.”

Diamond was quiet after that, until she took one step further into the room and was assaulted by a colourful bird that decided to sit on her head. “AH! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!”

“Marlene,” Birds called, holding out his hoof. The bird took flight off of Diamond Tiara’s head and flapped over to Birds’ hoof. “Sorry ‘bout that. She likes pink surfaces, you see.”

“This is great!” Diamond shouted as she attempted to tidy her mane with her hooves. She looked around for a mirror, but could only find the small ones inside of various bird cages. She decided to simply hope she had straightened her mane out enough and sat down with a grumble. “How do you even sleep in a room like this?”

“Oh, I don’t,” Birds said, pointing a hoof up towards the ceiling. “This was my bedroom originally, but ever since I started collecting and studying my precious birds, I started to sleep in the attic.”

“… Your friend is weird,” Diamond whispered to Babs. “Like, Pinkie-level weird.”

“I don’t know what this ‘Pinkie’ is,” Babs whispered back, “But it sounds weird alright.”

“So, like, do you like Pegasi too, or something?” Diamond asked, keeping her eye on all of the birds around her to make sure that none of them tried anything funny with her mane again.

“… Pegasi?” Birds asked in a solemn tone, turning to the two fillies with a bitter look on his face. “Pegasi killed my pa…” Diamond’s eyes widened, her face started to drip with sweat, and she swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. “… Just kiddin’!” Birds cheered as he finished feeding the last of his birds and placed the birdfeed down. “Nah. To me, a Pegasus is just a pony with wings. Last I checked, that doesn’t make ‘em a bird.”

Diamond Tiara couldn’t take her eyes off of the colt as she stared at him with an equal mix of surprise, wonder, and bemusement. “… I… You… That…”

“Right, well, before you break Diamond even more,” Babs said, “… Wait, where’s Apple Bloom?”

“Apple Bloom?” Birds asked. “Oh, the filly who came here yesterday? She dropped by not long before you two did. Oh!” Birds ran across the room and towards a desk that was covered with birds. They all moved out of the way for him and he picked up a letter that was sitting on the desk. “That’s right! My carrier pigeon came back while she was here.”

“It did?” Babs asked. “So what happened? Did she leave? Tell me she didn’t leave!”

“W-Well…” The look on Birds’ face told it all.

“She left!” Babs shouted in complete disbelief. “I told her not to leave! Why would she leave on her own when I specifically told her not to-”

“Babs,” Birds said, stopping the filly’s rant as he held the letter and a small object up in his hooves. “There was something attached to the letter.”

“There was?” Babs asked. “What?”

“… I’m no expert, but it looks like one of those transmitters they use in the movies.”

“A transmitter?” Diamond asked. “What’s that?”

“In the movies,” Babs started, “They send out a signal so that you can follow somepony without being seen…” Babs gasped as the implications hit her. “For example, ya could follow a bird back to its nest without it catchin’ ya!”

“Right,” Birds said with a nod. “She ran out of the house as soon as I told her that. Said she had to find the two of ya.”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?!” Babs demanded as she grabbed a hold of the colt’s shoulders.

“I-I thought she met up with you already! You mean she didn’t?”

“No, she didn’t!” Babs shouted. “Which means she out there on her own!”

“What’s the big deal?” Diamond asked behind Babs. “I’ve been through enough fights with her to know she can fight back if somepony weird approaches her.”

“Maybe in Ponyville!” Babs told Diamond. “But this is Manehatten! If ya don’t keep your wits about ya then you’re dead!”

“… Well, guess we’ve lost her then, if she needs wits,” Diamond said with a shrug.

“Now’s not the time for jokes! Ya have ta help me find her!”

“Why should I?” Diamond asked. “You know I don’t like her. You know that we totally hate each other’s guts, and you know that we always fight together.”

Babs gritted her teeth together and turned towards the door. “Fine then, be that way! I’ll find her on my own!” Babs said as she ran towards the door.

“What?! But you just said it’s dangerous out there when you’re alone!” Diamond called after her.

“I know this place! I’ll be fine!” Babs shouted back. “You jus’ stay here if that’s what ya want, but don’t count on us bein’ friends anymore!”

Diamond gasped and was about to call back when she saw the door slam shut. She simply stared at the closed door as she heard the sounds of stampeding down the stairs, followed by a door slamming shut beneath her. “… W-We were friends?” Diamond asked finally as she placed her outstretched hoof back down on the floor.

“… H-Hey, don’t take it too badly,” Birds said. “I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”

Diamond Tiara wasn’t paying attention though, as she instead focussed on the sinking feeling in her chest as she continued staring at the closed door standing before her. Her breathing became heavy, and she felt confused as unknown feelings started racing through her mind.

‘Darn it! This is just like the time she turned on us back in Ponyville!’ Diamond Tiara gulped as she took a step forward. ‘I’m not your friend anymore? … I-I’m Diamond Dazzle Tiara! I choose when we’re not friends anymore!’

“You got that?!” Diamond shouted as she raced towards the door, slamming it open and charging down the stairs outside. She opened the house’s front door and ran outside, ignoring the shouts and pleas to stay from Birds behind him.

“I’m only doing this because you want me to! It’s not for her sake! You got that?!” Diamond Tiara shouted as she raced down the street, taking the first right she came to but stopping as she saw no familiar landmarks.

“… T-This isn’t right,” Diamond told herself as she panted on the spot. She turned back and took the next right she saw down the street instead, only to find herself in an alleyway of some kind. “Darn it! Wait, I’m supposed to turn at that fountain.”

As Diamond Tiara turned around once more, the sight of a grey blur filled her vision, and moments later she found herself pinned to the wall behind her as a large grey hoof forced itself over her mouth. Try as she might, she could not break free of its hold, and her screams would only come out as mere muffled cries.

“This is the one,” a stallion’s voice said. “The ten thousand bit kid, no doubt about it.”

“That’s Rich’s kid,” another stallion’s voice called out. “I reckon we can get a lil’ more, if we negotiate.”

“What’ll we do?”

“Don’t hurt her yet. Use the chloroform.”

“You got it.”

As the hoof removed itself from her mouth, Diamond Tiara tried to scream for help, but before she could act a blue hoof stretched out and covered her mouth again, this time with some sort of white cloth.

“Sleep,” the second voice called out. “When she’s out, tie her up like you did the other one.”

“You got it.”

Diamond’s vision became blurry as she saw a silhouette moving closer towards her. As she fell to the floor, she could just about make out the shape of a tall stallion towering over her, his laughter echoing through her ears as her eyes fluttered shut.

10 - Friends In Need

“Attention!” Scootaloo shouted from her miniature podium, Sweetie Belle standing up tall and straight to her side. “This secret meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their VIP guest will now begin!”

“‘Secret meeting’?” Silver Spoon asked with a raised eyebrow. “What’s so secret about it? You put a sign up outside saying ‘important meeting, do not interrupt’. Heck, you even told your dad that you were going out to hold a secret meeting!”

“Silence!” Scootaloo ordered. “Us allowing you to be here in our top-secret headquarters is a privilege, not a right!”

“You asked me to come here,” Silver Spoon said. “And what secret?! Everypony knows about this place! Diamond and I took it over once, remember?”

“We’re workin’ on it,” Scootaloo said, leaning to the side to whisper into Sweetie Belle’s ear: “How much progress have we made into building our secret underwater castle?”

“None at all,” Sweetie Belle reported.

“Look,” Silver Spoon began, “I don’t have time for this. The two of you said that you had something important to discuss about Diamond Tiara’s disappearance, so either get on with it, or I’ll simply have to leave.”

“We’re getting to that!” Scootaloo cleared her throat and shuffled a few papers on her podium. “… So, you know that Diamond’s gone missing, right?”

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle scolded. “We’re supposed to pretend she’s ill!”

“Yeah, I know,” Silver Spoon said, surprising Sweetie Belle. “I guess that detective spoke to you too, huh?”

“Yep. And we’ve been helping out with the case ever since.” Scootaloo turned her attention to Sweetie Belle, who was simply standing in one spot and staring into space. “… Sweetie Belle?”

“Oh, right!” Sweetie Belle turned around and grabbed a nearby piece of paper lying on a stool behind her. “This letter was delivered the Apple family earlier this morning, by Shady Daze. It was addressed from Apple Bloom.”

“He wouldn’t tell the adults where it came from, but using the right ‘persuasion methods’, we were able to get a definitive location!”

“NO! LEMME GO!” Shady Daze pleaded as he struggled against Scootaloo firm hold pinning his forelegs to the floor, whilst Sweetie Belle weighed his body down by cuddling against him. “STOP IT! THIS IS GROSS!”

“Tell us where that letter came from!” Scootaloo demanded.

“I WON’T! I WON’T RAT OUT A FRIEND!”

“Admirable.” Scootaloo nodded to Sweetie Belle. “Do it.”

“Pucker up, Shady!” Sweetie Belle said as she closed her eyes and moved her face closer to the colt's, her lips mere inches away from his cheek before he finally cracked.

“OKAY, OKAY, I’LL TALK!”

“Colts are so easy,” Sweetie Belle said with a giggle. “Thanks to our interrogation, we were able to ascertain an exact location of the letter’s origin!”

“An address, in other words,” Scootaloo simplified. “We have the exact address of ‘Birds’, the colt who sent the letter. If we go there, we should be able to find Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara!”

“Okay…” Silver Spoon said, raising an eyebrow at the two. “And this has to do with me, how?”

Sweetie Belle gave Silver Spoon a confused look. “Don’t you want to go see Diamond Tiara?”

“Well, duh,” Silver Spoon said. “But isn’t this a job for the police? Just give Detective Gumshoe the address and let him take care of it.”

“… Are you some kinda idiot or somethin’?” Scootaloo asked, earning a scowl from the grey filly. “Think! Why did they run away in the first place?”

“Because they were being forced to marry each other, right?” Silver Spoon asked, shuddering as the words left her mouth and reached her ears. “Still can’t believe their families were making them do that.”

“Right,” Scootaloo said. “So if they come back…”

“… They’ll be made to marry each other,” Silver Spoon finished. “But maybe they can talk to their families about it?”

“If it were that easy, d’you think they’d have run away in the first place?” Scootaloo asked.

“Adults are stupid and selfish sometimes,” Sweetie Belle said. “They do things they say are good for us, but never take our feelings into consideration! I’m sure it’s the same here.”

“But if we can band together, we might be able to help them,” Scootaloo said. “If we can find them first, we can help them hide long enough while we talk some sense into their families!”

Silver Spoon put a hoof to her chin and thought about it. “… Do you really thing that would work?”

“Probably not,” Sweetie Belle admitted. “But at least they’ll be free to hate each other, and this way, we can see and talk to them again, even if it’s just one last time. And we can make sure that they’re okay, and let them know we’re there to support them, no matter what.”

“So what d’you say?” Scootaloo asked, approaching Silver Spoon and extending a hoof forwards. “You in?”

Silver Spoon stared at the hoof for a few seconds and, with a sigh, lifted her own hoof off the floor. She shook Scootaloo’s hoof, wiped her hoof against the floor, and gave the two other fillies a grin. “So, how were you planning to get there?”

“Actually,” Sweetie Belle said, “That’s where you come in.”

“We need somepony with lots of money to get us some train tickets to Manehatten,” Scootaloo explained.

“That won’t work,” Silver Spoon told them. “I don’t know how Diamond managed it, but I don’t think I could get away with sneaking all three of us onto a train without an adult.”

“Blast!” Scootaloo shouted as she kicked the floor. “Then what do we do?”

“Now now,” Silver Spoon said. “There is a way to get there, but I’ll need you two to put on a convincing performance for my father.” Motioning for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to move in closer, Silver Spoon began relaying her exact plan to the two of them.

Silver Bullet slumped down into his favourite reclining chair and sighed. Another long day at work, and another day where nothing exciting happened. Of course, he couldn’t simply call in sick and take the day off. Patrolling the border of the Everfree Forest and taking down any threats that move in too close to the town was an important duty, not that creatures ever came near the border of the forest during the day. Or at all in the last century.

Still, at least the town was able to feel safe with him and his team around, and it was thanks to his efforts that his daughter could sleep at night without fear that a timberwolf or a pogre would snatch her away and gobble her up.

“And now to continue from where I left off,” Silver Bullet said to himself as he reached for his copy of Much Ado About Everything and opened it up to its bookmarked page. He managed about two paragraphs before he heard the front door open and then close.

“Father?” his daughter’s voice called out. “Are you back yet?”

“I’m in here, Spoony.”

“Spoony?” an unfamiliar voice asked, followed by the sounds of giggling, and then a yelp. “Hey!”

“It’s kinda cute,” another unfamiliar voice said, followed by yet another yelp. “It’s not a bad thing!”

“Shut it,” Silver Spoon’s voice said. Finally, his daughter’s bright-red face came into view as she entered the parlour, followed by two fillies both rubbing their forelegs.

“Spoony, you should have told me you were bringing friends over,” Silver Bullet said with a sigh. “I was planning to take you and your mother out for dinner tonight.”

“Actually, father, we have a favour to ask,” Silver Spoon said, climbing up onto the side of her father’s chair and looking him in the eyes with a sad look on her face.

“Oh? What is it?”

“It’s about Diamond Tiara,” Silver Spoon began. “She’s ill. And it’s pretty bad, too.”

“The doctors said she needs surgery,” Scootaloo said, her ears and her face falling as she turned her attention towards the floor. “They said the chances she’ll make it aren’t that high…”

“We were planning to get her a get-well present,” Sweetie Belle said, “And we know there’s this certain item she’s wanted for a long time now, but it’s not sold here in Ponyville. The only place we can get it is Manehatten.”

“So we were wondering,” Silver Spoon continued, “If you could take us to Manehatten, and we could put our money together to buy Diamond’s present?”

Silver Bullet looked over the three sad little fillies standing before him and frowned. Lowering his book, he reached a hoof out to touch his daughter’s cheek. “Sweetie, that’s a nice gesture and all,” he said, “But Manehatten’s so far away. If we leave now, we would be arriving late at night, and wouldn’t be home until the afternoon tomorrow.”

“But the surgery is tomorrow!” Silver Spoon shouted, tears in her wide eyes. “Please daddy. If we show Diamond how much she means to us, she might pull through.”

Scootaloo had to resist the urge to gag as she pretended she cared that much for the spoiled pink filly. ‘Just remember, it’s for Apple Bloom’s sake,’ she told herself.

“Please!” Sweetie Belle pleaded, her ears pinned to the sides of her head and her lower lip quivering as she made eye contact with the stallion.

“… Please?” Scootaloo asked, her wings stretched but hanging low as if they were hurt. A common sign that a Pegasus was distraught.

“… B-But what about your parents?” Silver Bullet asked, desperate to hang onto whatever control over the situation he may have had left.

“They said it’s okay,” Silver Spoon assured him. “We already asked them, but none of them have the money for all of us to go. Only you do.”

“B-But it’s a school night-”

“Who cares about school if our best friend isn’t there to enjoy it with us?!” Sweetie Belle screamed, tears flying through the air as she turned her head dramatically and cried into her foreleg. Scootaloo held her as she sobbed, and Silver Spoon gave her father one last pleading look.

“… O-Okay,” he conceded. “I’ll go… grab my wallet…”

Silver Bullet climbed out of his chair and slowly made his way to the kitchen, stopping as he passed Sweetie Belle to think of something he could say to cheer her up. ‘Who am I kidding? I’m no expert when it comes to crying children…’ Giving up, he simply wandered into the kitchen without a word.

“… Wow. That was good,” Scootaloo said after the stallion was gone. “How’d you-”

Sweetie Belle held up a bottle of eye drops and gave her friend a sly grin and a wink. “From Rarity’s room. I’m sure she won’t miss ‘em.”

Scootaloo gave an appreciative whistle. “Dang, I never knew you could be so… cool.”

“Hey, he’ll be back soon,” Silver Spoon told them.

Sweetie Belle nodded and put the eye drops away, slipping back into her façade of a child whose heart was being torn in two.

“Okay, are we all ready to go?” Silver Bullet asked as he returned to the parlour. The three fillies nodded, and Scootaloo helped Sweetie Belle to her hooves. “Right. You know where to find this… present of yours, right?”

“We got an address from the animal-lady by the forest,” Silver Spoon said.

“Animal-la- Ah, Miss Fluttershy.” Silver Bullet nodded. “You understand that this will just be a simple ‘get there, buy the present, and leave’ trip, correct?”

“Yes,” the three said in unison, Sweetie Belle’s voice partially muffled by her hoof.

“We understand,” Silver Spoon said. “We’ll just get what we need and then we’ll go.”

“You ready?” Scootaloo asked Silver Spoon as their escort, Silver Bullet, checked the station’s map for a false district name given to him by his daughter.

“Ready,” Silver Spoon confirmed, turning to Sweetie Belle, who nodded to show that she too was ready.

“Let’s go!” Scootaloo whispered as she led the way out of the station and towards a nearby line of cabs. “I’ve been here once before. We can use those ‘cabs’ to get where we wanna go quickly.”

“Wow, that’s cool,” Sweetie Belle said. “So they’re like that taxi thingy we have in Ponyville?”

“Only you gotta pay,” Scootaloo said. “Silver Spoon, get yer money out.”

As Silver Spoon rooted through her saddlebag for her purse, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle climbed up into the cav. “You know where this place is?” Scootaloo asked as she showed the written address to the cab driver.

“Sure do,” the stallion said.

“Silver Spoon!” The three fillies jumped at the sound of Silver Bullet’s voice. They turned their heads to see the stallion trying to push through a crowd of ponies in order to reach them. “What are you doing?! Get back here!”

“Get in!” Scootaloo instructed, pulling Silver Spoon into the cab before she could say anything. “Drive drive drive!”

“Pay me first,” the stallion said.

With a groan, Scootaloo snatched Silver Spoon’s purse, opened it, pulled out a hoofful of bits and dropped into stallion’s tray at the front. “Now go!”

“… With pleasure!” the stallion said as he grinned at the generous tip the fillies had given him. With a whinny, the stallion galloped down the street, no stranger to the whole ‘cat-and-mouse chase scene’ that was playing out at that point in time.

“He’s coming after us!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she watched Silver Bullet board a cab behind them. A cab that soon began following after their own.

“Darn it! He’ll catch us if we keep going at this speed!” Scootaloo thought for a moment, and then turned to the cab driver. “Hey, when we get close, drop your speed and we’ll jump off!”

“What? Are you mad?”

“I’m from Ponyville!” Scootaloo told him.

“Oh. Fair enough. Just don’t blame me if ya cripple yer wings.”

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Scootaloo shouted, moving forward the kick the stallion in the back of the head, only to be held back by Sweetie Belle. “LEMME GO! I’LL CLOBBER HIM!”

“He didn’t mean it!” Sweetie Belle assured her.

“LEMME GO! LEMME AT ‘IM!”

“Calm down!” Silver Spoon said. “Remember we’re here for Diamond and your blank flank friend!”

“Her name’s Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle shouted to Silver Spoon.

“I’LL TEACH HIM NOT TO MAKE FUN OF DISABLED PONIES!”

“Shut up!” Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon both shouted to Scootaloo in unison.

“He wasn’t making a jab at you!” Silver Spoon told her.

“Don’t tell my friend to shut up!” Sweetie Belle scolded Silver Spoon.

The stallion in front of the fillies sighed. “First those two fillies that got into a hooffight with each other an’ now this. Why me?”

After a long and awkwardly silent cab ride, the three fillies finally reached close enough to their destination that they had the driver slow down enough to jump out and escape into an alleyway, evading the pursuing Silver Bullet for the time being. After some twists and turns, and raised voices, the three at last found the house of the one named ‘Birds’. Who turned out to be a colt who appeared no older than they were.

“Wow, my son is more popular than I thought,” the mare at the door said as her son climbed down the stairs behind her. “Don’t be too long now. It’s well past Ted- I mean, ‘Birds’’ bedtime.”

Birds sighed as his mother retreated back into their house, leaving her colt alone with the three cute fillies outside. “Let me guess: you guys are Babs’ friends?”

“Hey!” Scootaloo shouted. “You know Babs?!”

“… I guess that’s a ‘yes’, but if you’re surprised by that then that must not be why you’re here,” Birds deduced.

Sweetie Belle nodded and pulled out the letter sent to them by Apple Bloom. She gave it to the colt, who shook his head with a groan. “As if the transmitter wasn’t embarrassing enough, now three little fillies have been able to track me down.”

“Apple Bloom was here, wasn’t she?” Scootaloo asked, narrowing her eyes at the colt and giving him a suspicious look.

“Yeah, she was,” the colt admitted. “But she left some time ago. Babs and Diamond were also here, but you literally just missed them.”

“They’re with Babs?” Silver Spoon asked. “Where? Where can we find them?!”

“Why should I tell you?” Birds asked. “I don’t even know who you all are.”

“We’re their friends from Ponyville is who we are!” Scootaloo told him.

Sweetie Belle stretched a hoof out to stop her friend from making any advances towards the colt. “Please, we just want to make sure that they’re okay. We think that somepony’s on their way to take them back home, but they can’t go back yet. Not under these circumstances!”

“The arranged marriage, right?” Birds asked, surprising the fillies. “Apple Bloom told me all about it. Frankly, the idea that somepony’s future can be decided by another disgusts me… If you three are really their friends, then… I guess I’ll help.”

The colt took the letter from Sweetie Belle, grabbed a quill pen from beside the door, and wrote something onto the back of the paper. “Here are some directions for reaching Babs’ house. It’s a little dangerous out here for outsiders though, so perhaps I should go with you.”

“Then why bother with the directions at all?” Silver Spoon asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“… J-Just follow me… Mum! I’m going out for a bit!”

“This late at night?!” Birds’ mother called out.

“It’s just to escort these fillies home safely!”

“Oh! Well in that case, don’t take too long!”

Birds closed his house’s front door and moved past the three fillies. “Mum… really admires gentlestallionly behaviour,” Birds told them as he led the way down the street. “She lets me get away with anything so long as it’s for the sake of chivalry.”

“Even getting into fights?” Scootaloo asked.

“Well, I tend to avoid fights really. Not much of a fighter.”

“Hey,” Sweetie Belle said, “What’s up with this arranged marriage thing anyway? We don’t really know all of the details.”

Birds shrugged as he turned to look at the filly behind him. “Neither do I. According to Apple Bloom, it’s some kind of ‘family politics’, and also a way for the two families to become closer together. The way it sounds, though, is that they never even gave her a choice in the matter.”

“That’s terrible,” Sweetie Belle said.

“It’s actually pretty common,” Silver Spoon said, surprising the other three ponies. “In the past, arranged marriages were the norm in rich families, often as a way of securing relations with other wealthy families or to marry into a lower-class family that they saw potential in. Of course, families that were close to each other also arranged to have their children marry. It was sort of a tradition.”

“What was wrong with just goin’ to the park and playing hopscotch?” Scootaloo asked.

“Of course, these days arranged marriages are only big in a few places in Equestria. Canterlot is the biggest city to still enforce the tradition. It died out quickly in Ponyville.”

“Why’s that?” Birds asked.

“Ponyville is a town made up of families that migrated from all over Equestria. It’s a town of mixed cultural ideals, and the least popular ones like arranged marriages and racial discrimination died out quickly.”

“Oh? Yet there’re still at least two families that-” Birds stopped as he noticed something in front of him. “Hold on,” he told the fillies, kneeling down and picking up the yellow feather on the ground at his hooves. “… This is one of Marlene’s feathers.”

“Uh… Who?” Scootaloo asked.

“Marlene. One of my pet parrots,” Birds explained. “What’s it doing here? … Oh, that’s right. Marlene landed on Diamond’s head…”

“Hey, can we hurry this up please?” Sweetie Belle asked, shiver and dancing on the spot. “It’s so cold out here!”

Birds nodded and stood up straight, only to find another yellow feather in the distance. Only, it was the wrong way to Babs’ house. “What the?” Birds ran up to the feather, and found a third underneath a lantern some distance away. “This is bad,” Birds said. “I think Diamond may have taken a wrong turn and got lost!”

The three fillies gasped. “You gotta be kiddin’ me!” Scootaloo shouted. “As if things weren’t complicated enough!”

“We’d better go look for her,” Birds said. “When I said it’s not safe out here, I wasn’t kidding!”

Silver Spoon gulped. “T-Then what are we waiting for? Diamond could need our help!”

The four foals began running down the street, occasionally finding a yellow feather that would tell them that they were heading in the right direction. Eventually, they found their way towards what appeared to be an abandoned factory. An abandoned factory, with a huge hold in the fence blocking the entrance.

“Look!” Sweetie Belle whispered as she pointed a hoof towards two stallions entering the factory. On the back of one of them, was Diamond Tiara.

“This is bad,” Birds whispered, his breathing heavy.

“We gotta go help her!” Scootaloo said, preparing to enter when a hoof stopped her. “We can’t just-”

“We have to be careful!” Birds said. “These guys might be dangerous!”

“We’ve handled danger before,” Scootaloo told him.

“Look,” Birds said, “This is what we’re gonna go. I’ll go inform the nearest police station of the foalnapping here, an’ you three just stand guard to make sure they don’t go anywhere. Got it?” After a few seconds with no reply, Birds tried again. “Got it?”

“Yes…” the three fillies mumbled together.

Birds hesitantly nodded, and then left.

“So we’re gonna do something, right?” Scootaloo asked.

“Hold on!” Sweetie Belle said. “They’re coming out!”

The three fillies ducked behind the nearest bush that they could find and peeked out through the leave as they watched the two stallions conversing in the distance.

“Ewwww,” Silver Spoon said. “This bush is filthy.”

“Quiet!” Scootaloo scolded. “One’s comin’ this way.”

One of the stallions climbed through the hole in the fence and looked around, before turning and moving down the street, away from where the fillies were hidden. After her turned around a corner, the three of them waited for a few seconds, before jumping out and looking towards the second stallion.

“So what now?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Silver Spoon looked around her surroundings, both inside and outside of the fence. Her eyes fell upon a coil of rope sitting on the table beside the sitting stallion. “Hey, look,” she said as she pointed the rope out to Scootaloo.

“… I think I’ve got an idea,” Scootaloo said, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

“After that, it was a simply matter of taking care of the guy out front an snatching his keys!” Scootaloo explained to Apple Bloom as she finished untying the rope binding her hooves.

“You three took out a grown stallion on your own?” Diamond asked in honest amazement. “How?”

Silver Spoon poked her head out of the bush she was hiding in and looked towards the stallion reading a book before her. At the stallions hooves, Sweetie Belle was nodding her head to tell her that she was ready. Above the stallion, on the tree branch hanging over him, Scootaloo was doing the same.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Silver Spoon took a deep breath, and charged out of the bush, heading towards the factory door. The stallion jumped up as he noticed the grey filly moving and called out to her as she banged against the door twice.

“Open!” Silver Spoon shouted, before turning to the startled stallion with a look of horror on her face.

“Hey-” the stallion started, but didn’t have time to finished before something heavy dropped down on him.

Scootaloo screamed into the stallion’s ear as she pinned him to the ground, her forelegs wrapped around his neck to keep him from moving.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle had grabbed the length of rope from the table and was already circling around the stallion, wrapping the rope around his hind legs.

Silver Spoon hurried to assist Scootaloo in holding the stallion down as Sweetie Belle wrapped the rope around his forelegs, eventually tying the rope into a tight knot when she was finished. “What do you know? Those Filly Scout classes were useful!” Sweetie Belle cheered when she was done.

“I got the key!” Scootaloo announced as she held the key she had taken from the stallion up into the air in a triumphant pose.

“Let’s just say that we’re resourceful,” Scootaloo said, grinning towards the other two fillies as they finished freeing Diamond Tiara.

“Resourceful, huh?” a voice called out, startling the five fillies as they jumped and turned their attention towards the door. Two tall stallions in black trench coats were standing there, grinning towards the fillies as one of them held a knife in one forehoof. “Or maybe you just got lucky. Either way, you made a mistake in coming here.”

Author's Note

A little rewind into the past to see just how in the fluffy unicorn those fillies not only managed to get to Manehatten, but then find our two heroines in the first place.

Next chapter, the big showdown! Filly five vs. the Sticky Band- I mean, vs. the two mean foalnappers who will in no way resemble two cat burglers from a movie about a kid who gets left at home while his family enjoy a nice vacation during the holidays ^_^;;

11 - Filly Power!

Fear and panic filled the fillies’ minds as they stared off towards the two stallions blocking the only exit out of the dark, cold factory. One was a tall, dark-red stallion with a slim figure and a long grey mane, who’s mere presence sent chills down the fillies’ spines, whilst the other was a shorter, bulkier light-red stallion with a crew-cut black mane whose face was still scary, but gave off more of a henchpony vibe to the fillies. Both were wearing black trenchcoats.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stood their grounds, firm and strong, if only to look strong for the other three in their group who were shaking behind them. Of course, their own legs were shaking, too, betraying whatever hope they may have had of convincing the two stallions that they weren’t afraid.

“How about you all stay right there and let us tie you up?” Fury suggested as he took a step forward. “The pink one is the only one we really need, but we’ll let you all live if you behave yourselves. Of course, you’ll be our hostages, but at least you’ll be alive.”

“Stay away from us!” Scootaloo shouted.

“M-My daddy will have you locked away forever if you so much as lay one hoof on me!” Diamond Tiara told them.

“Hence the need to take you in alive,” Fury said. “You aren’t at all valuable to us dead, so we would appreciate it if you made this easier on us, and-”

“RUUUUUUN!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she sprint away from the group, towards a nearby flight of stairs heading up into what appeared to be an office room. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara followed after her quickly, though Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were a little reluctant.

“H-Hey!” Apple Bloom shouted after the three fleeing fillies. She felt something tugging her foreleg and, before she knew it, was being pulled away by Scootaloo in the opposite direction to Sweetie Belle. “W-Wait!”

“We’re gonna scatter!” Scootaloo told her as they reached a ladder leading up to a catwalk. “Up here! Hurry!”

“But Sweetie Belle-”

“She’ll be fine! We have to hide!” Pushing Apple Bloom up the ladder, the farm filly eventually got the message and began to climb on her own. Scootaloo started to climb after her, looking back down momentarily and gulping at how high they were going.

“So, it’s a game of hide-and-seek they want, is it?” Red asked as he shifted his eyes to his right, resting them upon a long, metal girder laying in a pile of rubble. Rubbing his hooves together, Red approached the girder and leaned down, grunting and groaning as he slowly lifted it up and pulled it out of the pile.

“What are you doing?” Fury asked as he watched his partner pull the girder towards the door, eventually dropping it in such a way that it would prevent the door from opening enough for anypony to move through it.

“There. Now there’s no escape,” Red said as he dusted his hooves off against his coat.

“Good thinkin’. Now, you go after the three up there,” Fury said, motioning his head towards the office. “I’ll take care of our two brave friends. Remember, the pink one must not be harmed too much, but a few cuts and bruises might help get our message across to her father.”

“Got it,” Red said with a grin as he reached into his coat and pulled out a small taser from within. “This’ll knock ‘em out for a good length of time.”

“We’re changing our location when we’re done here,” Fury said. “Don’t forget to wipe your prints off of anything you touch.”

With a nod from Red, the two split up to pursue the hiding little fillies in the factory. As he neared the stairs leading up to the office, Red noticed a small white head poking out for a moment to look down at him, only to retreat back in a moment later. “Guess they’re at a dead-end,” Red mutter to himself as he placed a hoof upon the first step of the rickety stairs. “This’ll be quick, then.”

As he continued to ascend the stairs – slowly, due to his weight – he heard panicked whispers and whimpers from up above. Red chuckled to himself as he held up his taser, ready to teach these fillies just who was in charge here.

Suddenly, a white body jumped out in front of Red at the top of the stairs, glaring down on the stallion as she held a metallic cylinder above her head. ‘A paint can?’ Red thought to himself, before he realised what she was doing with it. A look of horror spread across his face and he barely had time to scream as the paint can was thrown towards his face, landing a direct hit and pushing the stallion back down to the bottom of the stairs.

“… Ow…”

As Fury reached the ladder leading up the catwalk, he glanced up momentarily to find the two fillies cowering behind a couple of barrels at the top. They must have thought that they were well-hidden, not realising that the catwalk’s floor could be seen through underneath.

A stallion’s voice echoed throughout the factory, prompting Fury to turn towards the stairs leading to the office just in time to see his partner picking himself up off of the floor. “Idiot. I’ve told him before not to run up stairs.”

Ignoring his partner for the time being, Fury placed his knife back into his coat and grabbed a hold of the ladder with his forehooves. “I’ll not bother taking these two alive. Too much work, and neither is that important,” Fury muttered to himself as he climbed. “They’ll just be examples for the other three not to try anything funny.”

A whistle at the top of the ladder drew Fury’s attention. He found the orange filly standing at the top, smiling down at him. The filly leaned her head back for a moment, and then moved it forward again. A trail of clear liquid shot out of her mouth and landed in Fury’s eye, startling the stallion and causing him to bring both hooves to his eye as he screamed out in pain.

Realising that gravity’s hold was brining him down, Fury quickly tried to grab a hold of the ladder once more, only succeeding in grabbing the sides and slowing down his fall before he could hit the floor, at the cost of friction’s divine wrath.

Fury quickly let go of the ladder and blew onto his steaming hooves, desperate to cool them down. Above him, he could hear laughter followed by hoofsteps along the metal flooring of the catwalk.

Grinding his teeth together, Furry grabbed a hold of the ladder once more and began his ascent again, ignoring the pain of his still-burning hooves against the rusty metal. “I’ll make sure to kill that one second!” he grumbled to himself as he climbed.

Red directed his attention to the top of the stairs, glaring at the spot that the white filly was occupying moments ago and cursing under his breath as he held a hoof to his aching head. “You bitch! Forget taking you in unharmed! I’ll cut off your horn and sell it to some pervert in Los Pegasus!”

Climbing the stairs once more, a little faster this time in his blind rage, Red was surprised to see the white filly jump out yet again, carrying another paint can in her hooves. She threw the can down at the stallion, only this time, he was able to duck in time to avoid it.

“You’re gonna have to do better than-” Red gasped as he watched the white filly jump to the side, and behind her, an office chair was pushed down the stairs and sent hurtling towards him as he turned around to run away. He felt the chair bump into him from behind and trip backwards into it. A spring poking out from the worn-out cushion impaled his flank, making him tear up as the chair reached the bottom of the stairs and continued to sail forward towards a pile of empty boxes.

“Strike!” Silver Spoon cheered as she and Sweetie Belle retreated back into the office.

“… I’m gonna kill ‘em!” Red shouted as he slammed a hoof against the ground, only for the vibrations to cause the boxes piled above him to fall onto his head.

Fury was almost at the top of the ladder once again. His hooves had stopped burning by this point and his eye was all better, but his temper had yet to cool down.

“Look here, are three little ponies!”

Fury looked up to find the two fillies standing at the top of the ladder. The orange one was holding a megaphone and singing into it.

“Ready to sing for this crowd!”

Fury wasn’t sure what was going on, but they were making fools of him, and that was unforgivable. Climbing faster, he was just a short distance away when the yellow one grabbed the megaphone and began to sing instead.

“Listen up, ‘cause here’s our story!”

As Fury reached the top, the megaphone was shoved practically into his face, and both fillies sang together, in unison: “I’m gonna sing it very LOOOOOOOOOOOUD!”

His eyes shut and his hooves pressed against his ears, Fury was cursing the two fillies’ attempts to deafen him and was reminded of why he chose to never have kids. As he opened his eyes again and found the ladder moving in front of him, he also remembered why one should never let go of a ladder when they were climbing it.

This time, however, Fury had managed to grab a hold of the ladder’s rungs as opposed to the sides. Though this proved to produce far less burning than his previous fall, it did not produce far less pain, and Fury had to take several moments to collect himself before he could even think of climbing again.

Red grumbled angrily under his breath as he slowly ascended the stairs once more, this time crouching low and grabbing onto the hoofrail, preparing himself for any flying paint cans or falling chairs.

An annoying sound drilled itself into his brain. It was like somepony was sawing logs right beside him early in the morning, and it was driving him crazy as he was trying to concentrate on not losing his hoofing on the stairs.

“What is that?!” Red finally snapped as he turned his attention upwards, his ears drooping as he spotted the grey filly running a saw against the top of the wooden stairs. “… No,” he said, continuing to walk up. His pace increased as he watched the filly continuing to saw. He was almost there.

Red gasped as the saw made the final cut, and Silver Spoon pushed the stairs, causing them to topple over slowly to one side. With a mighty leap, Red managed to grab a hold on the office floor at the top of where the stairs once lay.

“What’s this?” Silver Spoon asked as Diamond Tiara approached her with what appeared to be an old feather duster.

Red looked up at the pink filly standing above him, staring down at the stallion with a devilish grin on her face. Red shook his head, an almost-pleading look on his face, whilst Diamond Tiara simply nodded her own.

The filly leaned down and ran the duster against Red’s hoof. It didn’t take long for the stallion to start laughing, but he still hung on for dear life. That is, until Diamond Tiara grew tired of tickling him to no avail and simply kicked the hoof off, sending the stallion down into the wreckage below him with a scream.

Third time was the charm for Fury, as he finally managed to reach the catwalk with no further interruptions. Unfortunately, the fillies were nowhere to be seen. There were three possible directions that they could have taken…

“No matter,” Fury told himself as he decided to take the path to his left first. “If they try to move, I’ll hear ‘em. And the door’s blocked, so there’s no way out for ‘em.”

The left path took Fury to what appeared to be a control room for the machinery down below. Lots of good hiding places in there, and there was a hole at the bottom of the door just big enough for a foal to crawl through.

Fury reached a hoof forward and twisted the knob, but the door wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked, eh?” Fury grinned and took a few steps back, preparing to charge the door in order to bring it down.

“Now!” Scootaloo whispered to Apple Bloom, who nodded and unlocked the door from the inside, before opening it and jumping out of the way.

As the door opened, a confused-looking Stallion charged into the room and crashed into the filing cabinet inside, falling onto his back in a daze.

The fillies watched as the tall metal cabinet leaned over and fell into a heap on top of the stallion, both wincing at the sight and covering their ears from the loud noise.

“Ooh. That’s gotta hurt,” Scootaloo said as she and Apple Bloom galloped out of the room and along the catwalk. Scootaloo glanced back to see the stallion crawling out of the mess, and not looking amused. “Uh-oh. I think he’s mad.”

“We gotta meet up with Sweetie Belle an’ get outta here!” Apple Bloom said as she and Scootaloo turned to take the middle pathway at the three-way intersection on the catwalk.

After many painful minutes cracking his spine and stacking up pieces of junk he found lying around, Red finally had a climbable pile with which to reach the office, and throttle the fillies hiding up there until their necks snapped. Well, all with the exception of the one they needed alive, of course.

“Damn, little monster… When I get my hooves on ‘em, I swear they’re all dead!”

As Red finally reached the office, taking care not to be ambushed by any more paint cans, furniture, or cleaning implements, he looked around to find… nopony there. “Where are they?” he asked himself as he scanned the office once more, his blood boiling as he found no sign of the fillies anywhere…

Until his eyes landed on a pathway to his left. A catwalk leading out of the office, at the end of which was another small hut. And poking out of that hut, was a familiar silver tail that neither he nor his partner had. A grin spread across Red’s face as he pulled out his taser and charged. He wasn’t going to let them get away this time.

CRASH! SMASH!

The next thing Red knew, he was on his back on the floor, stars flying around his head and glass digging into his skin.

“Nice work polishing that old mirror up, Silver Spoon,” Sweetie Belle said, genuinely impressed with how fast the filly could work on such short notice. “I still can’t believe you carry cleaning polish with you wherever you go.”

“But of course she does,” Diamond Tiara said. “What if my tiara gets dirty? Somepony would have to clean it.”

“Why not you?” Sweetie Belle deadpanned.

Diamond Tiara simply laughed, as if the very idea of her cleaning her own jewellery was a blatant joke. Sweetie Belle simply frowned.

“Guys,” Silver Spoon called out from the ladder opposite to them, “Come on, this way.”

Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara turned their attention to Red, who was picking himself up off of the floor slowly. Without wasting any more time, the two hurriedly joined Silver Spoon in climbing the ladder to the catwalk above them.

Fury was furious. He wasn’t about to let a couple of fillies make him look like a complete mule and get away with it. He was going to make sure their deaths were not quick and painless, and he would start with that Pegasus that spat into his eye.

Fortunately, he had seen which path they had taken this time, and was proceeding with much more caution than before. As he rounded a corner, he came across what appeared to be an old break room, judging from the coffeepot and the pool table that were still present inside.

However, that wasn’t all that was in there. Despite the darkness of the room, Fury could just about make out all of the mousetraps littering the floor inside, all of which were armed and ready to snap.

With a grin, Fury moved forward. ‘Too bad. I’m on to your little game this time.’ Fury took great care with each and every step that he took, stepping in-between the mousetraps so as to not set them off. “I won’t be made a fool off that easily,” Fury said as he neared the middle of the room.

“Psst!” Fury turned his head towards the other side of the room slowly, seeing the yellow filly standing at the doorway with an innocent smile on her face. “Sorry, we missed one. Y’all don’t mind if we add it now, do ya?” Without giving Fury a chance to answer, Apple Bloom revealed in her hoof one more active mousetrap, and threw it into the room.

Time seemed to slow down for Fury as he watched the mousetrap soaring through the air closer and closer towards him, eventually falling down and landing on top of another trap, setting it off. This triggered the traps around it to also go off, starting a chain reaction that was quickly making its way towards the stallion.

“Oh, f-”

Continuing to run as they heard the stallion’s pained screams and loud curses behind them, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo rounded a corner on the catwalk, and stopped as they ran into their three classmates.

“Guys!” Sweetie Belle cried out in surprise.

“Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom shouted as she reached out and hugged her friend. “Ye’re alright!”

“Yeah! And so are you!” Sweetie Belle said as she returned her friend’s hug.

“What’s down that way?” Scootaloo asked as she glanced past the three fillies.

“The stallion chasing us,” Silver Spoon said. “And down there?”

The filly’s question was answered by a hoof stomping onto the catwalk behind Scootaloo, startling the group as they turned their attention to Fury, pulling mousetraps off of himself as he slowly approached the five fillies.

“Not good,” Scootaloo said as she turned around, only to find the other stallion reaching the top of the ladder at the end of the catwalk. “We’re trapped.”

“No way…” Apple Bloom said as she and Sweetie Belle held onto each other tighter, tears forming in both their eyes.

“W-What now?” Silver Spoon asked, her voice trembling and her knees shaking as she turned to Diamond Tiara for support. However, her friend was faring no better than her.

“Hey,” Red called out to his partner as he made his way towards the fillies, “Leave the grey and white ones to me. I wanna see how they like a cracked spine.”

“That’s fine,” Fury said as he pulled off the last mousetrap, and continued his own approach. “Just leave the Pegasus to me. I’m gonna show her the pain of having your face slammed into solid steel at twenty miles per hour.”

“What now?” Apple Bloom parroted Silver Spoon’s question, looking around desperately for some method of escape.

Scootaloo bumped into something as she was backing up, and found a bunch of black barrels standing behind her. Not sure what else to do, Scootaloo ran behind one of the barrels and attempted to lift it… only to find that it was too heavy for her, and only succeeding in toppling it over instead.

This, however, caused the catwalk to shake rather violently, stopping the approaching stallions in their paths. Moments later, the shaking stopped, but only before the catwalk seemed to drop down lower than it was before.

Fury looked up to see the supports holding the catwalk up were coming loose. “Fuck! Red, get down!” Fury shouted as he turned around and started to run.

Red was confused for a moment, but didn’t have long to question what was going on before the catwalk began to shake again.

The fillies were also confused, and scared, as the catwalk made loud rumbling noises and shook violently beneath their hooves. With one last shake, the platform that they were on started to fall, and the fillies all screamed as they felt themselves hurtling down towards the ground at high speeds.

Fury opened his eyes with a powerful headache running through his brain, rubbing his head and groaning as he surveyed his surroundings to find out what was going on. He was on the factory’s ground floor, and it seemed that the catwalks had all – or mostly, at least – collapsed as part of some chain reaction. There were also black patches in many parts of the room, all connected to barrels like the one the filly had toppled over moments ago.

“I see,” Fury muttered to himself as he stood up straight. “Those barrels contained oil. The supports were weak so all it took with the seven of us up there was a slight tremor to bring it all down… Hm?” Fury gasped as the sight of an orange glow entered his vision. As his eyes adjusted, he could tell that the orange glow was actually…

“RED!” Fury shouted, galloping towards the door as quickly as he could. “RED, FORGET THE FILLIES! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!”

“F-Fury?” Red asked as he picked himself up out of rubble near the factory’s door. “What’s goin’ on?”

“See for yourself!” Fury shouted as he reached the door, leaning down to move the girder blocking it. “One of the machines must have caused a spark! This entire place is going to go up in flames!”

“D-Damn! We have to get out of here!” Red said as he quickly joined his partner in moving the girder out of the way. “Wait, if the fillies survive-”

“They won’t,” Fury told him. “We’ll block the door from the outside so that they burn to death. By the time anypony can identify them, we’ll be long gone!”

After a marginal amount of effort, the two stallions at last succeeded in pushing the girder aside just enough so that they could open the door and escape the burning factory. Fury left first, but stopped before he could get far.

“H-Hey,” Red called out as he pushed past Fury to get out of the factory. “Why did you- Oh buck…”

Standing before the two stallions, armed with spears and crossbows, was a small army of ponies dressed in the uniform of the Manehatten Police Department.

“Diamond!” Diamond Tiara groaned and rubbed her eye. “Diamond, come on! We have to go!” Diamond Tiara groaned again, but this time her eyes opened.

“Sweetie Belle, wake up!” Scootaloo shouted as she and Apple Bloom shook their friend.

“What’s going on?” Diamond asked as she sat up straight. “Why is it so hot in here? … Ah!” Diamond Tiara gasped as her eyes opened completely, and the sight of a raging fire entered her vision.

“F-Fire!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she jumped to her hooves. “W-Why is there fire?!”

“Talk later, run now!” Apple Bloom shouted. The other fillies nodded in agreement and all began charging towards the door, where they saw a stallion dressed in a dark-blue uniform walking inside.

“I found ‘em!” the stallion shouted to somepony outside, before turning his attention back towards the fillies. “Girls, hurry!”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were the first two to reach the door, climbing over the girder in their path and being escorted out by the stallion waiting for them. Silver Spoon was just a little farther behind them, but Diamond Tiara – whose athletic skills paled in comparison to the rest of her classmates’ – and Apple Bloom – whose leg must have been injured during the fall – were some ways behind the other three.

“C’mon! You can make it!” the stallion encouraged them, before a loud sound crashing sound from above directed his attention to the falling catwalk making its way down. With a yelp, the stallion jumped backwards out of the way.

Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara stopped as they witnessed the huge pile of metal blocking their path, making escape impossible for them at that time. “Diamond!” Silver Spoon’s voice called out from the other side.

“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle cried out.

“We’re fine!” Apple Bloom assured them.

“We’re trapped,” Diamond Tiara said quietly as she backed away. “W-We’re trapped!”

“We need ta find another way out!” Apple Bloom told Diamond.

“There isn’t one!” Diamond shouted. “Those stallions said that this door was the only way in our out!”

“Well we’re not gonna get out jus’ standin’ here! Help me look!” Apple Bloom’s words seemed to have no effect, though, as Diamond Tiara simply remained standing where she was, watching in horror as the mess before her started to catch fire.

Running off to the side, Apple Bloom bit her lip and prayed to Celestia that there was another way out of this. She searched high and low for something, anything, that might help them escape.

The sight of something metal on the ground caught her eye, and Apple Bloom hurriedly moved closer to see what it was. Gasping as she realised what she was looking at, Apple Bloom wasted no time clearing the few pieces of rubble out of the way and looking over at Diamond Tiara. “It’s a sewer grid!” Apple Bloom called out. “Ah can’t open it with this injured leg! Get over here an’ help me!”

Diamond Tiara was snapped out of her daze by the revelation that there was another way out. She turned to where Apple Bloom was kneeling down and ran over towards her, finding the sewer grid that she was talking about. “But I don’t have the key for i-” Diamond’s eyebrow raised as she pulled on the grid, finding out that she didn’t need a key as it was already open. “What?”

“C’mon, let’s go!” Apple Bloom shouted as she started to climb down the ladder.

Diamond Tiara shook off her confusion and climbed down after Apple Bloom, holding her breath as the nasty smell of the sewers below assaulted her senses.

12 - Tensions Rising

“DIAMOND TIARA! APPLE BLOOM!”

Whilst Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon called out for their fellow classmates to answer them, the rescue team around them, aided by a desperate Scootaloo, were tearing away the rubble in the hopes of finding at least one of the fillies alive and well. The fire had taken a long time to extinguish, though, and most of the factory had been horribly burned in the process.

“Excuse me,” a stallion with a blue cap on his head called out to the two fillies. “It has been fifteen minutes now. I realise that this must be hard for you, but I must insist that-”

“We’re not leaving without our friends!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Diamond! Apple Bloom!”

“ANSWER US!” Silver Spoon called out.

The stallion behind them sighed, his patience starting to wear thin. “Look, I feel for you, I really do. But my men are doing all that they can right now, and we really need you to be at the station where it is safe, and where you can fill in a report against the two foalnappers.”

“Sir!” The stallion turned around to face one of his subordinates racing towards him. “We found something, sir!”

“One of the fillies?” Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon stopped their shouting and faced the stallions with hopeful looks.

“N-Not quite.” Their faces fell, but not for long. “However, we did find what appears to be an open sewer grid, at the top of which was a small tiara.” The stallion produced said tiara contained inside of a plastic bag, and the fillies gasped at the sight.

“That’s Diamonds!” Silver Spoon said. “No doubt about it! It’s hers!”

“Then they’re probably in the sewers then,” the capped stallion surmised. “What would a sewer grid be doing in a factory? Aren’t they usually out in the streets?”

“Sir. This factory was once home to an organised crime front that were charged with the manufacture and selling of false goods.”

“I see. An escape tunnel from back then, huh?” The stallion put a hoof to his chin. “I don’t suppose they’re still down there?”

The subordinate shook his head. “Unfortunately, the rubble from one of the blasts filled in the hole. There’s no way down or up it now.”

“Where’s the nearest manhole?”

“Just a few blocks from here,” the other stallion reported. “However, without any way to open it, it’s possible that they’ll simply press on instead.”

“I want a team to investigate that manhole ASAP, and I want a map of the underground tunnels on my desk before I return with these fillies to the station.”

“Yes, sir!” As the one stallion turned and ran off to perform the tasks assigned to him, the other turned back to the two fillies beside him.

“As you’ve heard, your friends are alive and well.” ‘Or at least one of them is. Probably.’ “Now, will you please come back to the station with me where it is safe and let us handle the situation ourselves?”

“But…” Sweetie Belle began to protest, but took a moment to consider the circumstances. If the two of them were really out there somewhere, then the Manehatten Police Department stood a better chance of finding them than three fillies did. And even if they could outrun Silver Spoon’s dad like they did earlier, they couldn’t escape an entire precinct’s grasp quite as easily. “… Okay.”

“As long as they’re alive… I guess that’s enough for now,” Silver Spoon said, reaching the same conclusion as Sweetie Belle. “You’ll definitely find them, right?”

“Of course we will,” the stallion said. “I’ll have precinct in the city be on the lookout for them. Sooner or later, they’ll be back home safe and sound. For now, let’s just pray they’re not doing anything stupid.”

“This place is disgusting, and it stinks, and it’s wet, and it’s leaving a foul taste in my mouth!” Diamond Tiara gagged as a particularly nasty scent wafted into her nose and turned to see what it was. “I-Is that a dead rat?!”

“What d’ya expect? It is a sewer, after all,” Apple Bloom said, glaring daggers at the pink filly beside her who would not stop complaining for even a single second.

“Only an idiot like you would think to come down to a place like this!”

“Y’all would prefer ta be burned to a crisp?” Apple Bloom asked, earning simply a huff from the other filly. “Then again, maybe ya would like that. Get yerself a healthy tan. Maybe then ya’d stop whining so much.”

“Stupid. You get tans from UV light, not from fire! And I never said I would rather burn to death, but that doesn’t change the fact that it stinks down here!”

“Ah get it, it stink! An’ ah’d appreciate if y’all would stop callin’ me stupid!”

“But you are stupid, so of course I’m going to call you stupid! After all, I brought you here so you could watch my back, and what happens? You run off on your own into the night and get yourself foalnapped, which gets me foalnapped!”

“If y’all call me stupid one more time-”

“Stupid.”

Apple Bloom stopped and stamped her hooves against the ground, growling angrily as she bared her teeth at Diamond Tiara. “Oh, ah’m the stupid one?! Who was it that said we should run away in the first place?! Who’s the genius that said we, two lil’ fillies who have the lowest grades in our class, should try to run away without so much as a plan of where to go or what to do when we get there?! If it wasn’t for my idea of trackin’ down Babs, we’d probably be lost and sleepin’ out in the rain right about now!”

“At least I had the drive to do something and not just let our families push us around into marrying each other! You should be thanking me for bringing you along! Otherwise you’d be staying with a family that doesn’t even care for you!”

Apple Bloom’s face turned red at the accusation. “Mah family does too care for me!”

“Oh please! Then why’d they try to marry you without asking you first?!”

“What ‘bout yer family, huh?!”

Diamond flinched at that. “T-That’s different!”

“How so?!”

“I… That… S-Shut up, blank flank!”

“Goin’ ta yer default? Guess that means yer out of smart things ta say! An’ if y’all hate blank flanks so much, maybe ya should stop tryin’ ta brainwash Babs into joinin’ yer lil’ circle of spoiled brats!”

“I’m not brainwashing anypony!” Diamond shouted, pushing Apple Bloom with her hoof. “Babs is my friend, whether you like it or not! I look past her blank flank because, unlike you and your lame friends back there, she’s not a stupid, clumsy, annoying idiot!”

“Don’t talk ‘bout mah friends that way!” Apple Bloom shouted as she pushed Diamond Tiara back into a wall behind her. Diamond responded by lunging forward and tackling Apple Bloom, pushing her backwards towards the filthy sewage water behind her.

Apple Bloom managed to land her forehooves on the stone pathway on the opposite side of the water, arching over the water beneath her as Diamond Tiara quickly jumped back, afraid to get her coat anywhere near the nasty, murky water.

“W-Watch it!” Apple Bloom shouted as she nimbly pushed herself back to her hooves. “What if ah’d fallen in?! Ah coulda got an infection!”

“You are an infection!” Diamond shouted. “An infection on my life! I’m lost, I’m hungry, and I’m done in a filthy sewer and it’s all your fault! If you didn’t exist, daddy would never have tried marrying me to you!”

“Ah’m not the problem here! You are!”

Diamond Tiara unleashed a battle cry as she stepped forward and swung a kick, only for Apple Bloom to dodge it by ducking and kick back. The kick forced Diamond Tiara to fall to her haunches and groan as she held her hooves to her stomach.

“D-Darn it… I hate you so much,” Diamond said as she tried to rise to her hooves.

“Ah hate ya too,” Apple Bloom said, “But right now, ah’m tired, an’ ah jus’ wanna go home. I’m gettin’ outta here. You wanna stay here or go yer separate way, go ahead.”

With that, Diamond Tiara glared as she watched Apple Bloom leave down the sewer tunnel. There was really only one path to take, but perhaps she could wait for her to leave a bit before going down it.

A howling wind down the tunnel shattered Diamond’s resolve in an instant. She was cold, she was hungry, and now, she was scared. Grumbling under her breath, Diamond began to follow after Apple Bloom, though she made sure to keep as much distance as she could without losing sight of the filly up until they had finally found a manhole that wasn’t locked.

Apple Bloom pushed up against the loose manhole cover with one forehoof, the other one holding onto the ladder leading up for dear life. The cover was heavier than she thought, and was hard to push with just one hoof, but with some effort and some grunts and groans, she managed to lift the grid up and push it to one side.

“Finally. Some fresh air,” Diamond said as the moonlight outside shined down onto her face, and the scent of the big city air entered her nose. “… I miss Ponyville’s air.”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes as she climbed up onto the surface. “Do ya jus’ have ta complain ‘bout somethin’ at all times or what?”

“Well excuse me for being a little homesick.”

“Ah’m homesick too, but we can’t waste all our time complainin’ right now,” Apple Bloom said as she watched Diamond Tiara climb out of the sewer and stretch her legs. “We gotta find our way back ta Babs’ place an’-”

“… And what?” Diamond asked after Apple Bloom stopped. The yellow filly was simply staring into space with her jaw hanging open. “What?”

“… They know where we are,” Apple Bloom said, her voice trembling as she lowered her head towards the ground. “Birds said they put a trans… somethin’, on his pigeon. They know where to find us now.”

Diamond thought back to her own meeting with Birds earlier that day. “That’s right…”

“What do we do now?” Apple Bloom asked. “They’re definitely gonna be waitin’ fer us at Babs’ house.” Apple Bloom gasped as the implications hit her. “Babs is gonna get in trouble, an’ it’s all our fault!”

“… W-Well, maybe not,” Diamond said, her stomach churning at the thought of Babs’ parents scolding her for harbouring the two fillies. “Maybe she can convince them she had no idea we were here. Maybe she-”

“You deal with maybes! Ah’m not gonna let mah cousin an’ friend get in trouble ‘cause of somethin’ ah did! An’ if you were really her friend like ya claim, you wouldn’t want her to get blamed either!”

Diamond Tiara grimaced at the sharp accusation directed her way. “Of course I care, but what can we do?!” Diamond shouted. “If we go back, we’ll be caught, and forced to marry! We’ve got to think of ourselves in this situation!”

“How incredibly self-centred of ya,” Apple Bloom said.

“I’m just thinking logically. Wanna try it?”

“We’re goin’ back ta Babs’,” Apple Bloom said sternly.

“You can go if you want, but I’m leaving,” Diamond Tiara said. “I’m not going to just give up so easily.”

“An’ jus’ where d’ya plan on goin’, exactly? D’ya even know where we are?”

“… W-What about you? How do you even plan on getting to Babs’ house from here?”

“Ah…” Apple Bloom thought it over for a bit. “… Darn it, ah don’t know! Now we’re not only cold, hungry, an’ without food or money, but we have no idea where we even are! Darn it, ah should have never listened ta ya!”

“I should have never brought you along! You’ve been nothing but a pain in my flank my whole life, so I should have known it would be a bad idea!”

“Everythin’ that goes wrong in mah life is yer fault! It’s ALL YOUR FAULT!”

The small hand struck the eleventh hour on the grandfather clock. Fry Laurence took a deep breath, and exhaled it in an exhausted yawn. “I guess it’s time to hit the hay for tonight.” Laurence put his hooves together and closed his eyes. After a short moment of silence, he reopened his eyes and climbed to his hooves, reaching out for his candle beside him.

Walking out into the church’s hallway, Laurence looked around and scanned every bench to make sure that there were no loose possessions or sleeping ponies around. All seemed to be well. “Just make sure that everything is locked up, and then-”

“AH’LL KILL YA!”

Laurence’s ears twitched at the sounds of shouting outside. It wasn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence in Manehatten. Ponies fought all the time, and voices would often get raised around this time at night. However, this one sounded… odd.

“I’LL RIP YOUR TAIL OFF!”

It sounded like… two fillies.

“It is two fillies,” Laurence told himself as he peered out of a nearby window. Just outside of the church, in the middle of the road, were two fillies on the ground together, throwing kicks and pulling at hair. “Oh my.”

As fast as he could, Laurence made his way through the church and dash outside, approaching the two fillies with the hopes of stopping them before teeth were lost.

“YOU STUPID BLANK FLANK!”

“FRIEND STEALER!”

“Children, children!” Laurence called out as he rushed out through the church’s gate. The fillies didn’t seem to acknowledge his presence at all. “Children, please-”

“PLOT HEAD!”

“APPLES FOR BRAINS!”

Laurence stamped both of his forehooves onto the floor. “CHILDREN!” At his ‘request’ both fillies stopped their fighting. They were now both paying attention to the stallion they hadn’t realised was standing over them, looking down at the two with the same disappointed look they often saw from their teacher. And it had the same effect of sending chills down their spines.

“That’s better,” Laurence said, ushering the two fillies apart with his hooves. “Children should not be fighting each other like this. Or using such language.”

“It’s none of your business,” Diamond Tiara said as she released Apple Bloom’s tail and stood up straight.

“It’s her fault we’re lost out here, after all,” Apple Bloom spat, glaring at Diamond as she straightened out the bow on the back of her mane.

“You’re lost?” Laurence asked, receiving nods from Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara. ‘Oh dear. I should find take them over to the nearest precinct and-’ Laurence’s thoughts were interrupted as a yawn escaped the pink filly’s mouth, followed by the other filly’s after. “… It’s late,” Laurence said as he turned to face the church behind him. “For now, you two should spend the night here, and we’ll get you both home first thing tomorrow.”

“No!” Diamond shouted. “We’re not going home!”

“You may not be, but ah am!”

“Enough!” Laurence scolded, sensing another fight about to break out. “We’ll discuss this tomorrow, but for now, it’s time for little fillies like yourselves to be in bed!”

“You’re not my daddy!” Diamond Tiara told the stallion.

“No, but I am the only adult here, which makes you my responsibility for now,” Laurence said, giving the filly a stern look. The way she flinched told him that he was winning the battle of wills. “Now let’s go.”

With a little hesitance, Diamond Tiara gave in to her need for a warm, comfy bed and found herself following the stallion into the church before them. Apple Bloom followed not long after, her own mind too tired to contemplate the situation or argue against the idea of shelter for the night.

13 - Finale

The early morning sun peeked through the stained-glass windows of the church’s congregation room and bathed Diamond Tiara in its radiant light, resulting in her eyes closing tighter together in an attempt to fight off the intruding light and gain a few more hours of shuteye. Unfortunately, that proved to be much too difficult a task for the young filly as her eyes fluttered open to the sight of a strange stallion eating from a bowl beside her.

“Whuh?” was all that the sleepy Diamond Tiara managed to get out as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“Oh. You’re awake now, child.” The stallion placed his bowl down onto the bench he was sitting on and picked up a second bowl beside him, offering it to the filly. “Eat up. You must be hungry.”

A growl from the direction of Diamond’s stomach confirmed the stallion’s theory, and she had no reluctance in taking the bowl and spoon offered to her and digging into the… “Blech! What is this?”

“All natural oats and berries,” the stallion told her. “What it lacks in taste, it more than makes up for in nutritional value.”

“Don’t you have any cocoa-balls, or FlimFlam sugar bites?” The stallion shook his head.

“Sorry. This is all that I have.”

“… Got any sugar at least?”

“No such luck. Today is my scheduled visit to the market, where I had planned to pick some up.”

Diamond’s stomach growled once more, reminding her that she was hungry and demanding she eat something fast. “Well, I guess it’ll have to do.”

“Well that’s a mighty fine way ta say ‘thanks’.” Diamond’s ears lowered and she leaned forward with a frown, looking past the stallion sitting beside her and laying her eyes on the filly sitting on a bench at the opposite side of the room to her. “Would it kill ya ta use some manners once in a while?”

“Would it kill you to stop giving me a headache with your lame voice? Especially so early in the morning.”

“Now, now,” the stallion said, surprised to see the two going at it so early. One of them had only just got up, yet she seemed to be full of energy the moment she directed a glare at the other filly. “Please, no fighting, children. You are in hallowed grounds, after all.”

“I’m not a child,” Diamond said to the stallion, her tone sharp. “My name’s Diamond Tiara.”

“An’ ah’m Apple Bloom,” Apple Bloom said to the stallion, who nodded at the two of them as he picked his bowl up again.

“My name is Fry Laurence,” he said, looking down into his cereal and stirring it about with his spoon. “I am the head priest here… Or rather, I’m the only priest here. Everypony else left when crime started to escalate around here, claiming that Manehatten was a lost city, abandoned by our Princesses.”

“I didn’t ask for your life-story,” Diamond said.

“Well maybe he wasn’t tellin’ it fer your sake,” Apple Bloom told Diamond. “Maybe sometimes ponies say things that don’t have ta be about you.”

“No, she’s probably right,” Laurence said as he turned his direction to Apple Bloom. “Right now, I would much rather hear about your story.”

“Our story?” Apple Bloom asked. Laurence nodded.

“Two fillies, out by themselves at such a late hour, fighting and practically biting each other’s heads off. To top it off, you both – and I mean no offence by this – but you both smell like rotten apples mixed with manure.”

Diamond brought a hoof up to her nose and sniffed it, then pushed it away and gagged, her face a slight shade of green. “Ew.”

“You said that you were lost,” Laurence continued, “But I’m willing to be that there is more to the story, isn’t there?”

“… It’s kinda complicated,” Apple Bloom said.

“And personal,” Diamond added before taking a bite of the cereal given to her. She gagged again, this time over the taste and the texture in her mouth. “Gross…”

“I assure you, there is no need to tell me anything that you would feel uncomfortable sharing,” Laurence told the two fillies, which seemed to relax them at least a bit. “However, if there is something bothering the two of you, something big that you may not know how to handle on your own, then perhaps talking about it with somepony might offer a fresh insight and reveal some answers? Of course, anything you tell me will be strictly confidential.”

“Confi-what now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“It means that I will tell nopony. Nothing that you say here will leave these walls. You have my word.”

Both fillies remained silent as they seemed to contemplate this for some time. Laurence, glancing over at the nearest clock and deciding that it was still early, decided to give them some time to think it over before taking them down to the police station and hoofing them over to the police.

“You… really won’t tell anypony?” It was Apple Bloom who spoke up first, her voice quiet and ringing with uncertainty.

“Only myself and Lady Faust herself will hear any word of what you tell me,” Laurence assured the fillies once more. “Even should you confess to a grave sin, my lips will be sealed. I aim only to offer guidance that may put you on the right path.”

“… Well, it’s like this…” Apple Bloom inhaled a deep breath, and the priest leaned forward to listen to what she had to say. “Ourfamiliesaregreatfriendsbutthetwoofusaren’t, infactwefightsomuchallthetimebecausewereallyrealllyreallyhateeachother, butdespitethatourfamiliesaretryin’tamakeusmarryeachothersoweranawaytogethertomakesurewewouldn’thavetomarryan’mycouinhelpedusbutnowshe’sgonnabeintroubleforthatandwe’relostanddon’tknowwheretagoan’ahjus’wannagohomebutDiamondsaysweshouldkeeprunnin’an’…” Apple Bloom inhaled once more. “… Ah jus’ don’t know what ta do…”

Laurence could only offer a blank stare at the breathless filly as a sweat drop trickled down the side of his head. “… Eh?”

“What she was trying to say…” Diamond Tiara recounted their story to the priest. Every last detail about their lifelong feud, their hatred for each other, the fact that their families are so close, and had tried to marry them to each other, and the events that led them to their current situation, lost in Manehatten with only each other, which surely would not last seeing as one would surely kill the other before long.

“I see,” Laurence said as soon as Diamond Tiara was finished. A few details of her story he felt were biased, but he now had a rough picture of just what the two fillies had been through. “That’s quite a predicament the two of you have on your hooves.”

“What should we do?” Apple Bloom asked, a worried look on her face. “Ah don’t wanna marry Diamond Tiara, but ah’m plum tired from all the runnin’, an’ ah got Babs involved in all this, too.”

“… Well, you could always pretend that one of you is dead,” the priest suggested. “That way, the marriage is off!”

…

“Not it!” Diamond shouted, touching her hoof to her nose.

“Not- Darn it!” Apple Bloom cried, her hoof touching her nose a mere second too late.

Diamond Tiara blew a raspberry, whilst Laurence looked between the two with a concerned look on his face. “N-No. I was joking,” he said, which was met with silence. “I was… just trying to lighten the mood…” More silence followed.

“Well we don’t need jokes!” Diamond shouted, glaring up at the stallion beside her.

“We need advice!” Apple Bloom told him. “Y’all said ya were gonna help us, didn’t ya?!”

“I-I… My apologies,” Laurence said, bowing his head in penitence. “But really, my children, there is only one clear piece of advice that I could offer you.”

“Well, what is it?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Spit it out already!” Diamond Tiara demanded.

“Well,” Laurence began, starting to feel like he was being bullied by the two fillies and sweating nervously, “It’s to simply say ‘no’.”

“Say… no?” Diamond asked.

“Yep.”

“Yes?” Apple Bloom asked.

“No!” Laurence corrected.

“Don’t say no?” Diamond asked.

“N-No. Do say no.”

“So we just say no…” Apple Bloom mused.

“Yes,” Laurence said with a nod.

“Yes?” Diamond asked. “I thought it was no.”

Laurence pressed a hoof into his face and counted to ten inside his head. “… Let’s start again,” he suggested. “When your families tell you that you are to marry each other…”

“We run to Los Pegasus!” Diamond Tiara said.

“No!” Laurence said. “You just look them in the eyes and tell them that you refuse!”

The fillies remained silent as they regarded the stallion with a look of awe, as if they had just witnessed him perform the impossible. As if he had just taken down a mighty beast of the Everfree Forest all by himself.

“… Say ‘no’… to my dad’s face?” Diamond asked.

“Applejack would ground me fer life!” Apple Bloom told him. “Granny Smith would have me workin’ the pig pen ‘til I’m old enough a move outta the house!”

“Daddy would cut off my allowance and not buy me any new games!” Diamond Tiara said.

“I think that might be a bit of an exaggeration,” Laurence said with a laugh.

“No, really,” Apple Bloom said. “Granny Smith says that ya should respect yer elders, an’ Applejack’s mah ‘legal guardin’, so whatever she says goes!”

“While it is important to respect your elders,” Laurence began, facing Apple Bloom with a warm smile, “It is also important that they respect you. Just because you’re younger, it does not make you any less of a pony than them. And every single pony born into this world is gifted with something called ‘free will’. It is a precious gift, given to us by the Holy Mother herself, and it is not ours to take from others.”

“But-” Diamond began to protest, but the priest was not done just yet.

“You must not run from your problems, children. They will follow you, and it will only be a matter of time before they catch up to you. Why, if Princess Celestia had run from Nightmare Moon instead of fighting her, we would all be living in a land of perpetual darkness right about now. But she fought, because she had to. And so must you. You must stand up for those who would try to take away what is essentially a part of you, even if it is your own families.”

“But what if we get in trouble, or what if they don’t listen?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“… That is the choice that you must make, I am afraid,” Laurence told them in a solemn tone. “Do you fight for your freedom to hate each other, at the risk of upsetting your families, or do you simply bow your heads and surrender to their will?

“There was once a dragon who was much in the same boat that you are in right now. A young, still-growing dragon, who was once servant to a powerful fiend. However, he never once found thrill in the suffering of others, and wished only to fly free. The only thing keeping him bound was his fear of his ‘master’, but ultimately, he made his choice: ‘If I am to be shackled forever to the whims of another, then for what purpose do I still carry on? I will be free, or I will die trying.’”

The fillies were clearly enthralled in the tale from the looks on their faces as they both stared at the priest. “But our situation is a bit different from that,” Diamond pointed out. “Our lives aren’t exactly on the line here…”

“True,” the priest said. “I wasn’t trying to draw an exact comparison, just merely point out that, unless you fight for your freedom, it will never come. And as things stand now, running away whenever your past catches up to you, can you honestly claim that you are at all ‘free’?”

“… I guess not,” Apple Bloom muttered.

“I’d rather be grounded than spend one more night in a filthy, mucky warehouse with no shower,” Diamond Tiara said, staring down at her half-eaten cereal.

“Ah’d rather be yelled at by Granny Smith than have ta spend one more day in a city where ponies don’t love each other an’ the weather is freezin’ cold,” Apple Bloom said.

“… Please excuse me,” Laurence said as he climbed out of his seat. “I must ring the bells soon. When I return, shall we depart towards the police station?”

The fillies nodded. The priest, making as little sound as possible, made his way out of the aisle he was sitting in and left to give them some time to think about what they wanted to do. Upon his return a few minutes later, he was surprised to see both fillies waiting for him with determined looks on their faces, and newly-kindled flames in their eyes.

“Well then,” he said as he approached the two, ushering for them to rise and follow him, “Let’s be on our way.”

Fry Laurence dropped the fillies off at the nearest police station to the church, leaving them with two final words of encouragement before making his way back: “Be strong.”

The police recognised their faces from the reports they had received the previous day and acted swiftly to send a report to the police station that the reports had come from to let the families know that their fillies had been found and were safe. A full two hours passed, though to Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara it felt like half-a-day. Neither one made any sound outside of answering some questions that the police had for them regarding the foalnapping incident, and the two had to take some time to fill out eyewitness reports, but other than that, they simply sat at opposite ends of the witness lounge and waited.

“Excuse me,” a stallion’s voice called out from outside of the room, “I’m Detective Gumshoe. I’m here for the-”

“APPLE BLOOM!” Apple Bloom gasped as her sister’s voice reached her ears.

“DIAMOND TIARA!” Diamond shook as her father’s voice called out to her.

“They’re here,” Apple Bloom whispered.

“Yeah…” Diamond Tiara raised her head towards the door connecting the witness lounge with the reception area. “No going back now.”

“We’ll tell ‘em how we feel, an’ if they don’t accept it…”

“We’ll just have to worry about that when it happens,” Diamond said. “But I’m not going to run away anymore. I hate you, and if they can’t accept that, then that’s too bad.”

“… Fer once, ah agree with ya,” Apple Bloom said, shuddering as the words left her mouth. “Might as well get it over with then.”

With an exchange of nods, the two jumped out of their seats and Diamond Tiara led the way towards the door, reaching up to twist the knob when it opened suddenly, slamming into her and sending her sideways into the wall.

“DIAMOND!” Silver Spoon shouted as she burst into the room, frantically searching it until her eyes fell on the pink filly stumbling about dizzily on the spot. “Diamond! You’re okay!” Silver Spoon shouted as she grabbed her friend and held her tight. “Thank Celestia! Thank Luna! I swear, when we get back to Ponyville I am sending so many offerings to the palace!”

“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed into the room after Silver Spoon. Apple Bloom opened her forelegs for a joyous reunion, but instead found herself tackled to the floor by her two friends.

“Are you alright?!” Sweetie Belle asked.

“That’s totally cool that you survived!” Scootaloo said.

“You didn’t get ill walking in the sewers right?”

“You are like officially the coolest filly in Equestria now! After me, of course.”

“Guys!” Apple Bloom cried as she writhed and managed to get one of her hooves free. “Guys, I’m fine. There’s no need to worry ‘bout me.”

“Worry?” Scootaloo asked. “Who’s worrying? I’m not worrying!”

Sweetie Belle giggled and leaned in to whisper to Apple Bloom: “She was crying last night, wondering if you were still alive.”

“I was not!” Scootaloo shouted, causing Sweetie Belle to flinch.

As Scootaloo tried to defend herself against Sweetie Belle’s teasings, Apple Bloom laughed. ‘It’s just like bein’ at home,’ she thought to herself. ‘Suddenly, ah don’ know what ah was so worried about.’

Unfortunately, that mindset only lasted until Applejack and Filthy Rich walked in behind the three fillies. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quieted down upon seeing the two adults walk in, and Silver Spoon released Diamond Tiara and allowed her to breathe again.

“A-Applej-” Apple Bloom was surprised, to say the least, to see her sister launch forward, to feel the older mare’s hooves wrap around her gently, and to hear her light sobs coming from her mouth.

“You’re alright,” Applejack said, brushing her cheek against Apple Bloom’s gently to confirm it wasn’t an illusion. “You’re safe. Oh, Apple Bloom, thank the stars that you’re safe.”

“Diamond Tiara,” Filthy Rich said as he dropped to his knees and pulled his daughter into a hug. “Please tell me that you’re alright.”

Diamond closed her eyes slowly, sinking into the warm embrace of her father that she hadn’t realised she had been missing over the past few days. “I’m alright, daddy,” she said softly. She suddenly became aware of the audience watching them as she heard a ‘d’awww’ from the direction of the other two Crusaders. “D-Daddy, you can let go now,” Diamond said, trying to push her father away with a blush spreading across her muzzle.

Filthy Rich, however, shook his head and held on tight. “Not yet,” he said. “Just a little longer.”

“D-Daddy…”

“We heard about what happened ta ya,” Applejack explained to her sister as she pulled away from her own hug. “When we heard y’all went missin’ after that buildin’ burnt down, well, we were all jus’ so worried.”

“Diamond, sweetie, I’m so sorry,” Filthy Rich said as he pulled back to look his daughter in the eyes. “I’m so, so sorry. Please, come back to Ponyville. I’ll be a better father, I swear. I’ll take more time off, I’ll read you more bedtime stories, I’ll-”

“That’s not it!” Diamond said, suddenly cutting her father off. “Well, not entirely,” she added quietly. “I didn’t run away for attention. I just…” Diamond turned to Apple Bloom, who was staring back at her. The two nodded. “Apple Bloom and I… we’re not getting married.”

Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise, and Apple Bloom spoke up next. “We don’t love each other. In fact, we hate each other! … We’re not gonna run away no more, but we’re also not gonna let y’all decide our fates, jus’ ‘cause ye’re older.”

“We don’t care what history our two families have, or how close together you are with each other. We hate each other, and if you can’t accept that…” Diamond Tiara gulped as she prepared herself for her next line. “If you can’t accept that… then I won’t run, but I won’t submit, either. You’ll just have to live with it…”

“Same here,” Apple Bloom said. “Ya can try whatever ya like, but it won’t change how ah feel. It won’t change how much ah wanna kick Diamond’s arrogant face whenever she… Well, you get the idea.”

The air was heavy for the next few seconds. The three fillies in the background held their breaths as they watched and waited for the adults’ responses. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara were both tense, but they stood their grounds firm and strong. They had made their decisions, and they going to see them through no matter what.

“Y’all… really feel that strongly ‘bout it?” Applejack asked, receiving a nod from Apple Bloom.

“You really hate her, more than anything else in the world?” Filthy Rich asked.

“I’d sooner give away every last worldly possession I own than marry the likes of her,” Diamond Tiara responded.

The two adults turned to each other for a brief moment, and sighed in unison. “It’s a shame,” Filthy Rich said.

“It sure is,” Applejack agreed, turning back to Apple Bloom. “… But, we really should have seen the signs sooner.”

“They were kinda obvious,” Scootaloo whispered to Sweetie Belle.

“Ah’m sorry, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said. “Ah… Ah shouldn’t have tried ta force ya into this marriage without runnin’ it by ya first. Ah just, ah thought ah was doin’ ya both a favour.”

“The same goes for me,” Filthy Rich said to his daughter. “I thought that I was giving my daughter away to a strong, dependable filly who would treat her right. I thought that I could rest easy knowing you’d be settling down with such a nice filly, but I… I guess that wasn’t my decision to make.”

Both fillies’ eyes shone with a glimmer of hope. “Does that mean-” Apple Bloom began, only to be cut off by a nod from her sister.

“If yer feeling’s are so strong, then how can we force ya together?” Applejack asked. “… Mr. Rich, the deal’s off.”

Filthy Rich nodded. “Regrettably, I must agree. Diamond Tiara, you may be a filly, but… No.” Filthy Rich shook his head. “You’re hardly a filly anymore. You’re almost a full-grown mare. This is… This is a decision that you should be making about your life, not me.”

Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara were too stunned to say anything for a while. They simply stared up at the adults with jaws agape, and eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Breaking the silence in their stead, were their three friends, all of which were still present in the room. “YEAH!” Scootaloo cheered as she wrapped a hoof around Apple Bloom’s neck. “Ya did it!”

“Way to go!” Silver Spoon told Diamond Tiara.

“Now you can be free to fight whenever you want!” Sweetie Belle told Apple Bloom, a cheerful smile on her face until what she had just said reached her ears. Then, it became a look of confusion. “Wait.”

“Jus’ make sure ta take it easy, you two,” Applejack told the two fillies as she rose to her hooves. “No gettin’ too rough, an’ keep it out of school hours!”

Filthy Rich nodded his head in agreement. “You are free to hate each other, but keep it clean and safe.” He turned his attention towards Apple Bloom. “Otherwise, you’ll have to deal with me.”

Apple Bloom flinched at that, and found herself nodding her head unconsciously.

“Well then,” Applejack said, stretching her legs and giving the loudest yawn of her life, a result of staying up the entire night worrying about her sister, “Let’s go home. Ah’m dyin’ ta hit the hay.”

The five fillies found themselves agreeing with her, all yawning themselves before following Applejack out of the room.

“Looks like we’ll have enough room for everypony in these two chariots,” Gumshoe said as finished counting heads to make sure that everypony was present. “Adults, please make sure none of the fillies run off on the way back. If necessary, put a leash around them.”

“We’ll be just fine,” Filthy Rich said, smiling as he lifted his daughter into the chariot. “That reminds me. I still need to pay you for your services.”

Gumshoe shook his head in response. “I’m paid by the government up in Canterlot. There’s no need for you to-”

“But I insist,” Filthy Rich said. “If it hadn’t been for you, I would probably still be in Ponyville, wondering about my daughter’s whereabouts and worrying so much that I couldn’t sleep.”

“… Fine then. Tell ya what. You buy me a drink sometime, and we’ll call it even.”

“I can pay you much more than-”

“Just a drink is fine,” Gumshoe said, staring Filthy Rich down. The other stallion simply nodded, and Gumshoe smiled. “Great. Lookin’ forward to it.”

Filthy Rich watched as Gumshoe climbed into the chariot, a bewildered look on his face. He felt something tugging at his tail, and turned around to face his daughter.

“You were worried about me?” Diamond asked, bringing a frown to her father’s face.

“Of course I was,” he said, leaning down to nuzzle his daughter’s cheek. “How could I not be? You were out there somewhere, and I had no idea where, or if you were even alright.”

“Told ya so.” Both Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara turned to see Babs Seed approaching them, a smug grin on her face. “Of course he’d be worried about ya! He’s family, after all.”

Filthy Rich nodded, whilst Diamond Tiara simply turned her head away. “… Hey. I-I guess you’re here to see Apple Bloom off, huh?”

“Well, her too,” Babs said, scuffing her hoof against the ground. “… Look, about what I said before. ‘Bout us not bein’ friends anymore? I didn’t mean it. I was just… I was worried ‘bout my cuz, y’know?” Diamond Tiara didn’t seem to respond to what she was saying at all. “I, uh… I heard about what you did. How you went out of your way ta help me find her.”

“I only did that for your sake,” Diamond told her.

“And I appreciate it,” Babs responded. At last, Diamond turned around to face her, though it was with a frown, not a smile. “Uh, look, what I’m tryin’ ta say is… we’re cool.” Babs reached her hoof forward, pointing it towards Diamond Tiara.

Diamond hesitated for a moment, but then, with a smile, raised her own hoof and extended it, bumping it with Babs’.

“Oh, we’re friends again?” Silver Spoon asked as she watched the two from the other chariot. “Cool!”

Diamond and Babs both laughed nervously as they shied their eyes away from each other.

“So, we’ll keep in touch, right?” Diamond asked Babs.

“Of course! Though, not though carrier pigeon,” Babs joked, causing Diamond to giggle.

“… Friend-stealer,” Apple Bloom mumbled as she glared at the two sharing a laugh before her.

Diamond rolled her eyes and groaned. “You’re still going on about that? Seriously, get over it. She chose me over you, stop dwelling on it already.”

“Uh, actually,” Babs said, “I didn’t choose anypony over the other.”

“See that? She didn’t choose you at all, so stop actin’ so close ta her.”

“N-No. I meant that I’m friends with both of y-”

“You need to just open your eyes and face reality. Babs wants to hang with the cool ponies, not a lame lil’ farm pony like you.”

“G-Guys?” Babs asked, watching nervously as the two glared each other down.

“Or maybe you jus’ need ta get yer own friends, instead of takin’ others’. Oh, that’s right, ya can’t. ‘Cause ye’re such a pain.”

Babs sighed. ‘Aaaand I’ve lost ‘em.’ As the two battled it out verbally in the chariot, Babs simply turned around and walked away. ‘… Well, on the plus side, I’ve got two ponies fightin’ each other over me.’ Babs blew her fringe out of her face and grinned. ‘I must be really somethin’, huh?’

“Alright, everypony,” Applejack called out, clapping her hooves and motioning to Filthy Rich to break up the fight. “Let’s mosey on outta here!”

“To Ponyville!” Sweetie Belle cheered, wearing a pirate hat she had acquired from somewhere and pointing a stick forward in the Silver Bullet’s chariot.

“Wake me when we get there,” Gumshoe said, pulling his hat over his eyes and holding his socked hoof up.

“Anypony know any good knock-knock jokes?” Doyle asked. “No? Guess I’ll start.”

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom looked up to her sister, and gulped as she tried to work up the courage to ask a question that had been bothering her since their reunion at the police station earlier that day. “Applejack?”

“Hm?” Applejack smiled down at her sister.

“Um… W-We’re not in trouble fer runnin’ away, are we?”

Diamond’s ears twitched, and she turned her attention towards her father and Applejack, who were both laughing together.

“Oh, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, roughing her sister’s mane playfully. “‘Course ya are!”

“What?!” Apple Bloom asked, her eyes widening at the news.

“Same goes for you, missy,” Filthy Rich said to his daughter. “We’re happy that you’re back, but what you did was very irresponsible. Also, I believe somepony used my credit card to order over five hundred bits worth of food?”

Diamond’s ears flattened against her head, and she giggled nervously as she backed away in the chariot. “I-It was the blank flank who ate it, though. Well, most of it, at least.”

“Even so,” Filthy Rich said, “You can expect a lot of chores when we get home.”

“An’ don’t go makin’ any plans with yer friends fer the next week, either,” Applejack said, causing her sister to moan and lower her head with a frown. “… But before that, how ‘bout we stop at Sugarcube Corner on the way home?”

Apple Bloom’s face lifted up immediately, as did Diamond Tiara’s ears. “Diamond sweetie,” Filthy Rich said, “How would you like to have dinner at Fine Dine’s restaurant tonight?”

Diamond gasped. That was an expensive restaurant in Ponyville, and they usually only went there for special occasions.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Filthy Rich said, smiling and chuckling at the huge smile on his daughter’s face.

Both fillies gave their answers in the form of hugging their respective family members in unison. Filthy Rich and Applejack couldn’t help but be amused. Whilst Filthy Rich lowered a hoof to stroke his daughter’s mane gently, Applejack removed her hat and placed it over Apple Bloom’s head.

“Y’all better rest up now,” Applejack said. “It’ll be a long trip back.” ‘Back home, with yer families, where y’all belong.’

Author's Note

Epilogue chapter coming tomorrow, and that'll be the end of this fic.

Word-wise, though, I've already reached the goal with the addition of this chapter. Woohoo! :D

Thank you to everypony who read, liked, faved, and commented on this fic. It's been a fun journey, and I hope to have just as much fun for NaPoWriMo next year! ^_^

Good luck to everypony else who's participating this year, and to anypony who's writing their own fics in general :pinkiehappy:

Epilogue - Back To Normal

The following day at school, Diamond Tiara walked into the classroom expecting to be swarmed by students asking her about what had happened when she ran away. News spread relatively fast in a small town like Ponyville, after all, and it was only natural that everypony would be super worried if a pony as great as Diamond Tiara were to suddenly go missing. That was the logic she had cooked up last night, and so she had prepared herself for the inevitable crowd that was sure to greet her as she opened that classroom door…

“I’m so glad you’re okay! Don’t ever scare me like that again!”

Diamond froze. Before her was her teacher, Cheerilee, on her knees on the floor with her forehooves around Apple Bloom, a puddle of tears on the floor as the yellow filly clearly tried to break free of their teacher’s hold.

“M-Miss Cheerilee, really, ah’m fine.” Apple Bloom’s eyes shifted to Diamond Tiara and she grinned. “Hey, look! Diamond Tiara’s here!”

Cheerilee’s attention snapped to Diamond Tiara, who did not have enough time to flee before the teacher released Apple Bloom and imposed on Diamond’s personal space with a vice-like grip. “DIAMOND, YOU’RE OKAAAAAAAY!”

“Y-Yeah!” Diamond said, pushing Cheerilee whilst attempting to squirm out of her hold. “L-Let go! Isn’t class supposed to start?!”

“I was so worried! I thought I had lost two of my precious pupils!”

“LET GO!”

As Diamond continued to struggle against her teacher’s hold, the rest of the class simply watched in confusion, wondering if this was the way their teacher felt about all students that fell ill.

It took a full five minutes for their teacher to pull herself together and release her student. The lesson started a little late as a result, and despite her attempts to maintain a professional atmosphere, she couldn’t help but blush whenever she heard her students whispering about her earlier behaviour.

When recess came along, the Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered around and planned to join some of the other fillies for a game of hoofball. However, something that somepony said nearby caught Apple Bloom’s attention.

“You got a letter from Babs?” Silver Spoon asked Diamond Tiara as the two walked out of the classroom door. “What did it say?”

“It said she didn’t get in much trouble for hiding us back in Manehatten,” Diamond told her, “And she said the next time I go I could visit her. She also said that you’re welcome, too.”

“Ah bet ye’re makin’ that up.” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stopped and turned around to find the Crusaders approaching them, Apple Bloom at the head of the pack. “Yer jus’ gonna force yer way in there an’ start makin’ fun of her, aren’t ya?”

Diamond Tiara scowled at the farm filly. “I don’t do that to my friends, blank flank.”

“An’ she’s not yer friend,” Apple Bloom told her.

“Wow. You’re even more delusional over this than the fact that you have no special talent.”

“What was that?!”

“You want me to say it slower so you can understand?!”

Apple Bloom took a step forward and butted her head against Diamond Tiara’s, forcing the arrogant filly back as she held her forehead in pain. In response, Diamond Tiara jumped forward and threw a kick towards Apple Bloom, which was dodged and countered by the farm filly’s own kick.

As both fillies broke into their first fight since returning home, their friends around them simply backed away to a safe distance and watched, cheering on their respective friend as more foals either came to watch or simply ignored the commotion and continued to play.

“Break it up! Break it up!” Cheerilee shouted as she ran towards the two feuding fillies, separating them and casting them each a hard glare. “You two, with me, NOW!”

“But she started it!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“No, she-” Apple Bloom started, but was interrupted by her teacher.

“NOW!”

Both fillies were stunned into silence at their teacher’s raised voice, and without any further argument, save for the angry mumbling under their breaths, they followed their teacher’s directions towards the classroom.

“… Well,” Silver Spoon said, adjusting her glasses as she watched the three ponies enter the classroom, “I guess that confirms that things are back to normal.”

“Looks like it,” Scootaloo said, Sweetie Belle nodding her head in agreement.

“Sweetie Bellllle!” Sweetie’s ears twitched and she turned around to find her father, Magnum, approaching her. “Hey they, kid! You forgot your lunch,” he announced, holding up a brown paper bag in his hoof.

“Ah!” Sweetie Belle jumped up and grabbed the bag. “Thanks, dad!” she said with a smile.

“No problem. Actually, as long as I’m here, I’ve got some good news to share with you.” Magnum pulled out a piece of paper from inside of his shirt, but stopped as a grey hoof placed itself upon his shoulder.

“Indeed we do!” Silver Bullet said as he approached the group from behind, a smile on his face as he looked over both Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon. “Silver Spoon, this concerns you, too.” Silver Bullet pulled out a similar-looking paper from his jacket, and both he and Magnum exchanged excited grins with each other.

Meanwhile, a cold chill passed down Sweetie Belle’s spin as she looked up at the two papers, and sweat dripped down Silver Spoon’s face as she adjusted her glasses and tried to maintain her cool.

‘It can’t be,’ Silver Spoon told herself.

‘There’s no way,’ Sweetie Belle thought.

“It totally is,” Scootaloo said with a sigh. ‘Here we go again.’

Author's Note

Cheesy ending is cheesy. I intended for this to be longer, but I felt a short but sweet ending was more appropriate.

Anywhom, that's it for this fic. Hope you've all enjoyed! ^_^

1 - Our Hatred Is Strong

From behind a thin layer of glass, Filthy Rich watched with a smile as the nurse on the other side carried his new bundle of joy wrapped in a blanket, and placed her gently down into one of the open cots. The filly lay there, wide awake and staring back towards the stallion watching her, stretching her hooves out as if trying to touch him.

Filthy Rich simply waved at his daughter as she tried and struggled to reach him. “She’s a cute one,” Mr. Apple said as he approached with a red, teenage colt walking by his side, and slightly younger orange filly sleeping on his back. “My wife’s was jus’ delivered an hour after yours.”

“I heard,” Filthy Rich said. “A healthy young filly, just like Diamond Tiara.”

“That’s what ya named her?” Filthy Rich nodded. “We’re still tryin’ ta decide between Apple Blossom, after ma great grandma, or Nature Bloom, after Granny Smith’s favourite aunt.”

“Daddy,” the colt said, tugging at his father’s leg, “This place is borin’. Can’t ah go wait at the arcade?”

“Don’t ya wanna see yer new lil’ sister?” Mr. Apple asked. He turned to the glass and pointed to the cot that housed the small yellow filly with a tiny patch of red mane. “There she is, sleeping peacefully next to Mr. Rich’s daughter.”

“So that’s her?” Filthy Rich asked as he shifted his attention to the sleeping filly. “They’re both the same age. I’m sure they’ll be good friends in the future, just like you and I.”

Diamond Tiara stopped trying to reach forward and turned her head to the side. Next to her, she found something small and yellow, its eyes closed and a smile on its face as its body moved up-and-down gently. She turned back to the stallion behind the glass, and back to the small yellow thing beside her.

Filthy Rich and Mr. Apple gasped in unison as they watched Diamond Tiara swing her leg and smack the sleeping filly’s nose, waking her up and causing her to start crying. It wasn’t long before Diamond Tiara joined in, and soon every single filly and colt in the room was wide awake and wailing.

“… In a few years, that is,” Filthy Rich added, laughing nervously alongside his friend.’

It was a late night down at Sweet Apple Acres. Usually by this time of night, the Apples would all be turned in the for the night, ready for an early morning of apple bucking – or school, for one little filly – the following morning. Tonight though, candlelight flickered in the farmhouse’s kitchen as Applejack spoke with their guest about important business.

Filthy Rich smiled as he and Applejack shook their hooves, reaching an agreement together on the matter at hoof. “As for location…”

“It has ta be the farm,” Applejack said. “Old family tradition. There’s no way Granny Smith would back down, and neither will ah.”

“That is fine,” Filthy Rich said. “The farm will be suitable, but it will have to be… prepared, to my daughter’s liking.”

“Alright, tell ya what. We’ll set a spot down in the west orchard aside an’ on the day, ah’ll leave the preparations ta you.”

“Agreed.” The two shook hooves once again. “I do believe that is everything taken care of.”

“Ah believe ye’re right,” Applejack said.

“This arrangement will bring our two families even closer to one another.”

“Ah’ll drink ta that. In fact…” Applejack turned around to face the red stallion sitting in the living room behind her. “Big Macintosh, could y’all fetch some o’ that cider from the cellar? The good stuff we’ve been savin’ for special occasions.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said as he placed his book down and climbed out of his seat.

Applejack turned back to Filthy Rich and looked down at the papers on the table beneath her. She sighed. “If only ma and pa were here to see this day.”

Filthy Rich could only offer a solemn nod. “They were a great loss, to be sure.” He pulled the papers towards himself and gathered them up, arranging them in order and making sure that they were all straight. “But let’s not dwell on such matters right now,” he said with a warm smile. “Today is a day of joy, after all.”

“Ya darn tootin’!” Applejack said. Big Macintosh entered the kitchen and approached the two a bottle in his mouth. He set it down and offered two glasses to the conversing ponies. “Ya ain’t gonna join us?” Applejack asked as she poured out two drinks.

“… Eeyup.” Big Macintosh grabbed a third glass from a nearby cabinet and pulled up a chair at the table, helping himself to a serving of the cider from the bottle.

“To family,” Filthy Rich said as he held up his glass.

“To family,” Applejack and Big Macintosh repeated. The three all downed their drinks and gave pleasant sighs. That cider was good.

“Ah can’t wait ta tell Apple Bloom the good news,” Applejack said. “She’s sleepin’ over at Rarity’s with her friends tonight, so it’ll have ta wait until tomorrow.”

“I doubt Diamond Tiara will even hear me if I tell her tonight,” Filthy Rich said with a laugh. “I’ll bring Diamond Tiara here after school tomorrow, and we can tell the two of them together. How does that sound?”

“Ah reckon that’s a swell idea!” Applejack said.

Filthy Rich nodded and pushed his chair back. “Well then, I suppose I shouldn’t keep you up any longer. I’ll be on my way now.”

“It’s no trouble,” Applejack said. “But perhaps we should part ways for the night.”

“I’m truly happy, though,” Filthy Rich said as he allowed Big Macintosh to help him with his coat. “Thank you. I’ve been worried about what sort of pony would one day try to take advantage of Diamond’s wealth and naivety… but your sister Apple Bloom seems like a perfect partner for my little girl.”

“The two will make a great couple,” Applejack said. “Ah jus’ can’t wait ‘til they’re old enough so that we can throw the perfect weddin’ for ‘em.”

The following morning, at the Ponyville schoolhouse, the sounds of cheering and laughter filled the air as fillies and colts of all ages played together on the school’s playground. The sounds stopped momentarily as Cheerilee stepped outside of her classroom, but picked up again when they realised that the school’s bell had not yet rang.

Cheerilee, her brow furrowed and her eyes focussed, took her first step into the fun-infested playground. She walked past several students who were playing, singing, or just talking to each other, but she did not cast her attention on any of them. Her eyes remain focussed on the large oak tree on the other side of the playground, just past the unoccupied swing set.

Two little fillies came into view as she left the playground and neared the large tree. Her eyes caught fire and she took in a deep breath as she stopped at the foot of the tree, where the two fillies, Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara, were in a heap together on the floor, their hooves pulling at each other’s manes.

“Just give it up already, blank flank!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“Apologise ta mah friend!” Apple Bloom demanded.

“It’s not my fault they’re such lo-”

“APPLE BLOOM, DIAMOND TIARA!” Cheerilee shouted, freezing the two fillies immediately and causing their eyes to slowly shift towards their very angry teacher looming over them. “A-hem!”

The two fillies realised that they were still grabbing each other’s manes and quickly let go, scrambling to their hooves and standing at attention before their teacher. “She started it!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“Did not!” Diamond Tiara said quickly, tears in her eyes. “I was just walking by and she misheard what I said, then got violent all of a sudden!”

“Oh please!” Apple Bloom scoffed. “You told Twist, to her face, that her candy taste like dirt!”

“That’s a lie!”

“Enough, both of you!” Cheerilee snapped, silencing the two fillies at once. “I don’t care who started it! The fact remains that the two of you were fighting on school grounds, again!” Cheerilee sighed and brought a hoof to her face, feeling a headache coming along. “I know that the two of you hate each other, but I’ve told you, time and again, that you must show restraint. Otherwise, you’ll get in trouble, like right now.”

Neither of them had anything to say to that. They simply turned their heads so that they wouldn’t have to look at each other, and remained silent so that they wouldn’t anger Cheerilee any further. “Both of you will serve detention after school tomorrow.”

“What?!” both fillies squeaked.

“Tomorrow’s Friday!” Apple Bloom pointed out. “Why not today?!”

“Because of that exact reason,” Cheerilee said. “I’ve had it with constantly catching the two of you fighting and having to break it up. Hopefully this time, you’ll actually learn your lessons.”

“But-”

“No buts!” Cheerilee said. “Class will be starting in five minutes. Diamond Tiara, why don’t you come along and help Silver Spoon with setting up the chairs in the classroom? That way I can be sure there’ll be no further fighting between the two of you.”

Diamond Tiara lowered her head and grumbled as she followed Cheerilee across the playground and towards the schoolhouse. Many students were watching the scene from afar, but as soon as the situation seemed to be resolved, many of them lost interest. The exceptions were Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who were now approaching Apple Bloom with wide grins on their faces.

“What?” Apple Bloom asked, seeing her friends smiling her way.

“Another fight with Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo asked. “That makes, what, three times this week?”

“… Four,” Apple Bloom corrected.

“You two just can’t keep your hooves off of each other, can you?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“That’s cause ah hate her!” Apple Bloom said. “An’ she hates me!”

“We know,” Scootaloo said. “But I told you before, you can’t just start fighting like that in public. You should find somewhere where nopony will see you, otherwise you’ll get in trouble.”

“It’s not like we plan our fights,” Apple Bloom said. “They jus’ sorta… happen.”

“Well, just try to control yourself a little more in school,” Sweetie Belle said. “That time in the classroom bothered a lot of the other students.”

“Ah’ll try,” Apple Bloom said, though whether she meant it or not was a different matter altogether. “Ah know one thing for sure, though: ah hate that filly, an’ ah wish I could just spend everyday not seein’ her smug face ever again.”

“I don’t get why you let her get under your skin so much,” Scootaloo said as she and her friends began to move back onto the playground. “I mean, sure she’s kinda annoying, but why do you let her tick you off so much?”

“Ah…” Apple Bloom thought about it seriously for a moment. “… Ah can’t help it. Everythin’ about her jus’ annoys me so much. Her stupid, snooty voice, that annoyin’ hitch-pitched giggle, that grin she always has whenever she’s bein’ condescendin’. Everythin’ about her jus’ drives me crazy an’ makes me wanna kick her!”

“Wow. Sounds like you really hate her,” Sweetie Belle said, receiving a nod from Apple Bloom.

“Ever since we first met as lil’ fillies, ah knew she was the one ah’d hate forever.”

The school’s bell rang and Scootaloo wrapped a foreleg around her friend as they made their way towards the schoolhouse. “Well, let’s just go inside and forget about Diamond Tiara for now.”

“And after school, we can go over to Fluttershy’s and try to get our bird feeding Cutie Marks,” Sweetie Belle suggested. Apple Bloom shook her head, however.

“Ah can’t,” she said. “Ah have ta go back home right after school. Applejack said she had something important ta discuss with me.”

“Oh. Bummer,” Scootaloo said. “Well, hey, we’ll be at Fluttershy’s anyway and you can just drop by whenever!”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Eeyup! Ah’ll be there!”

Despite the minor incident in the playground that morning, which became the talk of the day very easily during the first period that day until Cheerilee told everypony to quiet down, the day went by quickly and without any more fights breaking out.

Occasionally, Apple Bloom would cast a deathly glare towards her archenemy and vice versa, but Cheerilee used her quick wit and judgement to separate the two fillies before it could grow beyond that. Apple Bloom was allowed to sit with her friend Twist for the day, and even though that resulted in Cheerilee constantly having to remind them not to talk in class, the teacher felt that it was a fair trade.

As the final bell rang, alerting everypony that it was the end of the school day, Cheerilee finished her lesson on a cliff-hanger by leaving a question unanswered until tomorrow. She encouraged everypony to have a think about it until, and had little doubt that only one or two ponies in the class would actually do so.

“Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara, I would like to see the two of you before you leave.”

Apple Bloom groaned, but then remembered something that might be able to save her. “Miss Cheerilee, ah have ta go home right after school today. Applejack said she had something important ta tell me.”

“Daddy wants me to get home as quickly as possible, too,” Diamond said.

“You liar!” Apple Bloom shouted, not believing her for a second. She knew that Diamond Tiara always had an excuse or two prepared for skipping detention, but she couldn’t believe she would copy Apple Bloom’s legitimate excuse.

“It’s true this time!” Diamond argued, before quickly slamming her hooves over her mouth at the notice of her slipup.

Cheerilee didn’t care though. She knew that most of Diamond’s excuses were false. After all, she was terrible at forging her father’s signature, and her father knew not to spell daughter as ‘dorter’. “This will only take a second,” Cheerilee assured them. “I need to give you two your detention slips anyway, so your families will understand why you were late returning home.”

“Good luck,” Silver Spoon whispered to Diamond Tiara as she threw he saddlebag onto her back. “Remember, puppy eyes reduce grounding sentences.”

“Shut up,” Diamond Tiara muttered, though repressing a smile as Silver Spoon giggled.

“Well, we’ll be over at Fluttershy’s then,” Scootaloo said to Apple Bloom. “If you manage to avoid being grounded, come join us later!”

“Don’t worry Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said. “Compared to the last fifty-seven fights you two have had this year, this one was the least destructive, so you should be fine.”

“Gee, thanks,” Apple Bloom said in a sarcastic tone.

“No problem,” Sweetie Belle said with a smile. “Just remember, treat any extra chores as a chance to earn a Cutie Mark!”

“Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle,” Cheerilee called out, signalling for them to leave the classroom.

“Later!” Scootaloo said as she ran out of the classroom.

“Bye!” Sweetie Belle said as she followed.

“Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara.” Cheerilee pointed to the spot in front of her desk. “Stand here, both of you.”

The two fillies sighed and placed their bags down before approaching the indicated spot. As they arrived, they tried to stand as far apart from each other as they could without disobeying their teacher and moving away from the spot they were told to stand.

Apple Bloom gagged as the scent of Diamond Tiara’s rich perfume entered her nose. It was the unique scent that only this filly in all of Ponyville wore, and it had easily made the top spot in Apple Bloom’s most repugnant smells.

Their tails brushed against each other momentarily, and they both shuddered as a cold chill descended their spine. Diamond wanted to vomit as the thick Country smell from Apple Bloom assaulted her nose, and as she glanced to her left she cringed at the messy, untidy hair that clearly hadn’t been washed that morning. Diamond Tiara couldn’t fathom how any filly in their right mind could go without washing their hair properly every day, but then, she was certain that Apple Bloom wasn’t in her right mind.

All-in-all, just being close to each other was enough to make either filly feel sick to their stomachs and to feel their bodies grow cold as they heartbeats slowed down.

“You two,” Cheerilee began. “You two are always fighting with each other, and it has to stop. Now.” Neither filly responded. They knew by now that it would be useless to argue against anything that their teacher said. “I know that the two of you don’t like each other,” Cheerilee said.

“Hate,” Apple Bloom corrected.

“And that’s alright,” Cheerilee said. “Not everypony can become friends so easily, and it’s unreasonable to expect somepony to get along with every last pony that they met. There will be times where you meet somepony you simply can’t stand, or who you simply don’t agree with, and it’s perfectly natural. And you can’t control who you dislike.

“I won’t force the two of you to like each other, however, you also have to realise that there is a right and a wrong way to approach this rivalry of yours. Hitting and kicking each other is simply not acceptable, and all of these arguments on school grounds is just disruptive to the other students. I’m sure that many of them would rather not see two fillies argue so passionately whilst they are trying to work.

“You understand what I am saying, right?” The two fillies nodded, but Cheerilee wasn’t done with her lecture just yet. “The two of you are at that age where you’re beginning to feel new things. Things that you’ve never felt before, and it must be very confusing for you. Your dislike towards each other is only going to get worse, but you simply must control yourselves. And if there’s ever a point where you feel you need somepony to talk to, or that you just need to take a few minutes to calm yourselves down, you know that my door is always open.”

“Yes Miss Cheerilee,” both fillies replied in unison.

Cheerilee sighed. She knew that they weren’t really paying attention, and that they were just saying whatever they could to get out of there as quickly as possible. “Here are your detention slips,” Cheerilee said as she pulled out two thin strips of paper from her desk and handed one to each filly. “Remember, if you don’t hand these to your families, you will be in even more trouble. I expect to see the both of you here tomorrow after school.”

“Yes Miss Cheerilee.”

“Can ah go now?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Not before you apologise for hurting Diamond Tiara,” Cheerilee said. She turned to Diamond Tiara. “And the same goes for you. You may dislike whoever you wish, but violence is never acceptable.”

The two fillies turned to each other with glares so hot they could melt ice. “… ‘M srry,” Apple Bloom muttered though clenched teeth.

Diamond Tiara was visibly sweating as she tried to force the words out of her mouth. “… S-Sorrrrrrrrr… y…”

Cheerilee slammed a hoof into her face. ‘Just take it. It’s the best you’ll get out of them.’ “You may leave now,” she said. Since Apple Bloom was the closest to the door, she left first. Diamond simply waited for Apple Bloom to be out of sight before she also left, leaving Cheerilee alone in the empty classroom as the teacher rubbed her forehooves against the sides of head and groaned. “Honestly, how do their families get along so well together?”

After a long trek through Ponyville, which was made even longer by Apple Bloom’s paced walking speed in an attempt to delay the inevitable scolding, the farmhouse finally came into view for the disheartened filly. “Ah guess there’s no way around it,” she said to herself as she walked up the dirt road leading towards her house. “Might as well go on in and get it over with…”

On her way down the road, Apple Bloom found her brother Big Macintosh working the fields. Not bucking the trees as one would imagine him doing. That was actually a stereotype that Apple Bloom and her family didn’t much care for. They did far more than just kick apple trees each and every day, and right now, Big Macintosh was simply pruning the trees to keep them healthy.

“Welcome back,” Big Mac said as he stopped for a moment to speak to his little sister. “Applejack’s waitin’ in the livin’ room for ya. Y’should hurry up.”

“Yeah…”

Big Mac raised an eyebrow at the filly’s sluggish movements and the depressed tone in her voice. “Somethin’ wrong?”

“Ah jus’… had a bad day is all,” Apple Bloom replied.

“Ya wanna talk about it?” her brother asked, though she simply shook her head.

“No…” ‘Applejack’s gonna have a few words ta say, anyway, when ah show her this detention slip.’

Big Macintosh simply shrugged. “Well, when y’all hear the news Applejack’s got for ya, ah reckon you’ll be right as rain in no time.”

‘News?’ Apple Bloom looked back towards the farmhouse and picked up her pace a little bit. ‘Ah wonder what it is? Maybe if it’s good enough she’ll look past me gettin’ detention tomorrow!’

As Apple Bloom neared the farmhouse, she caught sight of Granny Smith sleeping on the porch outside, rocking back and forth in her favourite rocking chair and mumbling something about the world’s largest zap apple pie in-between snores.

Apple Bloom slowed down as she approached and crouched down so that she could sneak quietly up the porch steps, taking care not to make any sounds that could wake the old mare up.

“Apple Bloom!” Apple Bloom jumped and turned to face Granny Smith with a startled look on her face. “Ah told ya… not ta leave those darn toys lyin’ ‘round… Somepony’ll break their back one’f these days…”

Apple Bloom let out a breath of relief as she realised it was only the ramblings of a dreaming pony, and resumed her mission to enter her house without alerting the sleeping mare. Slowly, carefully, she opened the door until there was a space just big enough for her to squeeze through.

Once she was inside, Apple Bloom pushed the door gently until it had shut, and then turned around to search for her sister. The search didn’t last long, as her sister was already standing before her with a big smile on her face. Apple Bloom yelped and took a step back, startled by her sister’s sudden appearance.

“Well welcome back lil’ sis’!” Applejack said as she reached a hoof forward and roughed her sister’s mane up with a playful laugh. “Have a good day at school today?”

“A-Applejack!” Apple Bloom whined, squirming her way to safety and straightening out her mane. “Er, not exactly…”

“Oh?” Applejack asked. “What happened?”

Apple Bloom didn’t say anything. Instead, she opened up her bag and reached inside, pulling out a slip of paper and showing it to Applejack.

Applejack leaned forward and examined the paper. Apple Bloom braced herself for the shouting that was sure to follow… but it never came. Instead, a soft chuckle escaped Applejack’s mouth and the older mare simply patted her sister on the head. “So ya got a lil’ detention. It happens, no need ta let it get ya down.”

Apple Bloom was confused now. And scared. ‘What’s going on?’ she wondered to herself. ‘Since when did Applejack of all ponies not care about me behavin’ in school?’

“C’mon,” Applejack said. “Let’s go into the livin’ room. Ah’ve got somethin’ important ta tell ya.”

Apple Bloom nodded hesitantly. ‘Is it a changeling?’ she asked herself. ‘Or did she hit her head or somethin’?’

As the two reached the living room, Apple Bloom noticed a tray on the centre table with a teapot, and four cups of tea. “Are Big Mac and Granny Smith gonna come in, too?”

“Not quite,” Applejack said. “We’re expectin’ company. They’ll be here soon, so why don’t y’all jus’ take a seat an’ ah’ll go put the tea on.”

Apple Bloom nodded. She took a seat on the couch and stared at the tea set wondering who could be coming over to talk about something important whilst they drink tea. ‘If ah’m one of the four that cups are set out for, then ah don’t think ah’m in trouble. And she let the detention slide so easily. Did ah do somethin’ good on one of our last crusades an’ ah’m bein’ rewarded for it?’

Three minutes passed before a knock came from the front door. “They’re here,” Applejack said as she carried the now-full teapot back into the living room. “Apple Bloom, could y’all pour out the tea for everypony?”

“Sure,” Apple Bloom said as she lifted the teapot and carefully began to pour the hot tea into all four cups, taking care to make sure that all four had equal amounts and stopping briefly after each pouring to wipe up the tea that had spilled. When she was done, she placed the teapot down and checked her flank, but her hopes were dashed as she found no tea-related Cutie Mark there. “Darn it.”

“Ugh! It’s dusty in here!” Apple Bloom’s hair and fur stood on end at the voice that had come from the hallway. “And smelly.” Her ears drooped against the sides of her head and her stomach began to churn. There was no way it could have been her. “Daddy, can’t I just wait outside while you-”

“Sorry, Diamond Tiara, but this concerns you,” a male voice replied. “Besides, I’m sure you’ll be ecstatic when you hear the news that we have for you.”

Apple Bloom continued to watch the doorway between the living room and the hallway, still hoping beyond hope that she was mishearing things. Sure enough, her sister walked into the room, followed by Filthy Rich and his daughter, Diamond Tiara.

“What is she doin’ here?” Apple Bloom asked as she pointed a hoof at the pink filly.

“Like I want to be in this dusty old house,” Diamond Tiara said.

“Take a seat, you two,” Applejack said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. Diamond Tiara decided to take a chair opposite to Apple Bloom, which left her father with one of the open spots on the couch. Apple Bloom didn’t mind Filthy Rich at all. Unlike his daughter, he was a pony she didn’t mind being around, so she had no problems with sitting beside him on the couch.

“Now then,” Filthy Rich began, “I’m sure you’re both wondering why we’re all here?”

“An’ why we’ve decided ta let yer detentions slide fer today?” Applejack added.

Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara both nodded. “Is it because we’re buying out the farm and evicting Apple Bloom and her family?” Diamond Tiara asked, almost half-serious.

“Not quite,” Filthy Rich said.

“Is it ‘cause you an’ Diamond Tiara’re movin’ far away an’ all never have ta see her again?” Apple Bloom asked, half-hopeful.

“Eenope,” Applejack said.

“Then what is it?” Diamond asked.

The two adults shared a grin, before Applejack turned back to tell them the great news. “Well ya see, Mr. Rich an’ ah decided that it’s time our two families joined together.”

“Our families have been such good friends since my father and Granny Smith formed a partnership back in the day,” Filthy Rich said. “And for a long time now Apple Bloom’s father and were discussing our two families joining together.”

“Last night, ah decided ta continue where pa left off with those talks,” Applejack said. “Unfortunately, old family traditions don’t allow jus’ anypony ta become family.”

“It was discovered that there are only two ways for our families to join together,” Filthy Rich explained. “Either somepony from my line must have Apple blood, which sadly is not the case, or else a marriage is the only way to do it.”

“To that end,” Applejack said to Apple Bloom, “It’s been decided that y’all will take Diamond Tiara on as yer fiancé!”

Filthy Rich picked up his cup of tea and smiled into it as he stirred it about in his hoof. “Truly a joyous occasion! I’m sure the two of you are as excited as we are.” He took a sip of his tea and placed the cup back down.

The two adults turned to Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara, who were both staring back at them with equal parts shock and confusion. “Hold on,” Apple Bloom said after a long moment of silence, “By ‘fiancé’, y’all mean that-”

“That you and Diamond Tiara will one be married,” Filthy Rich explained.

“You…” Diamond Tiara backed up in her chair, a horrified look on her face. “You can’t be serious!”

“We sure are!” Applejack said in an excited tone. “Ah tell ya, today’s a great day! We should all go out an’ celebrate!”

“B-But hold on!” Apple Bloom pleaded. “We hate each other!”

“That’s right!” Diamond Tiara agreed. “We can’t stand to be together for even one second!”

Applejack waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh, come now, what do y’all know about hate?”

“You’re growing fillies,” Filthy Rich said. “You’re feeling new things and being confused by them. You may think what you have is hate, but you’re just mistaking it for something else.”

“But-”

“Ah’m tellin’ ya, you two are jus’ right fer each other,” Applejack said. “A nice, charmin’ young filly with lots of imagination.”

“And an honest, hard-working filly who’s not afraid to get her hooves dirty,” Filthy Rich added.

“But-”

“Now, Applejack, I believe you said something about going out to celebrate?”

“Ah know this great lil’ restaurant down near Roseluck’s flower shop.”

“Ah, I know the place. A perfect spot to celebrate our new family union.”

The two adults finished off their cups of tea and rose out of their chairs. “Y’all comin’?” Applejack asked. “Or would ya prefer ta celebrate yer marriage on yer own?” she asked with a coy grin.

Apple Bloom stared up at her sister with her eyes wide and her jaw hanging wide open, words failing to escape her mouth as a thousand thoughts danced around her head, one in particular reigning dominance over the others: ‘This can’t be happenin’.’

Thankfully for young Apple Bloom, dinner with Diamond Tiara and her father were cancelled after Diamond Tiara came down with a bad stomach-ache, and had to be rushed home by her father. So not only did she get out of having to spend time with Diamond Tiara, but she was in pain, too, which was just a bonus.

But there was still the matter of what Applejack and Filthy Rich had decided on without asking either filly. “There’s no way ah’m marryin’ that stuck-up filly,” Apple Bloom said to herself as she lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling above her. “How could Applejack jus’ decide somethin’ like that? It ain’t fair.”

A knock came from somewhere in the room. Apple Bloom bolted upright and looked around quickly, her eyes falling on the window, where a pink filly was looking into the room from outside, tapping her hoof against the glass.

“What the?” Apple Bloom jumped off of her bed and approached the window, opening it and coming face-to-face with Diamond Tiara on the other side. “What’re y’all doin’ here?! Haven’t ya messed up mah life enough fer one day?!”

“Ssh!” Diamond Tiara placed a hoof to Apple Bloom’s mouth to silence her. “Quiet,” she hissed in a whispered voice.

Apple Bloom pushed the hoof away, but decided to keep her voice down. “Wait, ah thought y’all caught some kinda bad ache earlier.”

“It was an act, duh.” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “Like I would waste my day eating with you and your stupid family.”

“Mah family ain’t stupid,” Apple Bloom said with a glare. “What’re ya here for? Ya jus’ lookin’ fer a fight?”

“Idiot,” Diamond Tiara said. “I’m running away from home!”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened with surprise. “W-Wha’?”

“You heard what they said earlier. They’re trying to make us marry each other!” Diamond Tiara gagged at the very thought. “Well, I’m not just going to let them do that! I took daddy’s wallet when he wasn’t looking and I’m going to catch a train before he notices I’m missing!”

“So why’re ya tellin’ me this?” Apple Bloom asked. “Jus’ go an’ get outta mah hair already.”

“… I…” Diamond Tiara looked down and grumbled something.

“Beg pardon?”

“I can’t go on my own!” Diamond Tiara blurted out, almost losing her balance on the ladder she was standing on. “What if I get lost, or attacked, or I need to ask for directions from somepony but they smell? I need somepony to come along and watch my back! And… to carry my stuff…”

Apple Bloom gave the filly a curious look, and then moved forward to look out of the window and at the ground below. Her jaw dropped at the sheer number of bags that she found there. “What did ya pack, the whole house?”

“It’s everything I need!” Diamond insisted. “Makeup, hairdryer, mirror, brush, backup brush, emergency brush, perfume, shampoo, my five favourite dresses, ten spare tiaras-”

“Okay, okay. Ah get it, an’ quite frankly, don’t really care,” Apple Bloom said. “So, why d’ya think ah’ll help ya out? If y’all are gone, ah don’t have ta worry.”

“You think so?” Diamond asked.

“What d’ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Your sister tried to make you marry me without asking how you felt about it, who’s to say she wouldn’t do the same again?” Apple Bloom didn’t respond to that. She simply bit her lip and turned away. “Only if that happens, you’ll have to run away on your own. But you don’t have much money, do you? You won’t make it far before they find you, and then what?”

Apple Bloom hesitated for a moment before giving her answer. “A-Applejack would never-”

“Never what? Make you marry your archenemy?”

Apple Bloom’s face fell, and she gave a woeful sigh. “Ye’re right,” she whispered. A few moments of silence passed before she walked over towards her desk. “Alright, ah’ll come with ya. Jus’ lemme write a note or somethin’ first.”

“Well hurry it up,” Diamond Tiara said. “I’m starting to lose my balance here.”

Apple Bloom was half-tempted to write slowly at that. She picked up the pen and started writing. “… Dear family…”

The two fillies neared the station at long last, the cover of darkness hiding them from the few ponies that were still out so late at night. Apple Bloom was panting as she carried almost every bag that Diamond Tiara had brought along, as well as her own.

Diamond Tiara, however, was just fine carrying only one of her owns bags as she approached the ticket stand and looked over the scheduling. “Next train is Manehatten,” she observed.

“Manehatten…” Apple Bloom gasped as the image of a certain filly entered her mind. “Babs! She lives in Manehatten!”

“Then we can’t go there,” Diamond said, confusing Apple Bloom. “If they find us, they’ll tell you family, and we’d be forced to be together.”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “No way. Babs said that if ah was ever in trouble, ah should catch a train ta Manehatten an’ go to her. She’d help us out an’ not tell a soul, not even her parents!”

“… You sure?” Diamond asked. Apple Bloom nodded.

“Ya got any better ideas?”

Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth together. “I guess not…” She walked a little further down the station and hopped up, grabbing a hold of the ticket booth’s ledge and pulling herself up. “Two tickets to Manehatten, please,” she said, placing some bits down.

The stallion on the other side raised an eyebrow. “Uh, Miss? Aren’t you a little young to be riding the train on your own?”

Diamond Tiara gasped, and her face and ears slowly feel, her eyes widening as tears began to form. “B-But daddy said… I’m a big filly now…”

The stallion saw the filly starting to cry and panicked. “N-Now hold on, I didn’t mean to-”

“DADDYYYYY!” Diamond Tiara cried out. “YOU SAID I COULD BUY MY OWN TICKEEEEEET!”

“O-Of course you can!” the stallion said, taking the money and hastily producing two tickets for the filly. “There, see? You are a big filly, so please don’t cry!”

Diamond’s tears gradually slowed to an eventual stop, and she gave the stallion on the other side of the booth a big, bright smile as she took the two tickets. “Thanks!” she said as she hopped back down and made her way back to where Apple Bloom was watching with a deadpan look on her face. “… What?”

“That’s just…” Apple Bloom shook her head and sighed.

“It got us our tickets, didn’t it?” Diamond asked as she passed Apple Bloom, giving her a shove in the process. “Train will be her in five minutes. Don’t talk to me until then.”

Apple Bloom was more than happy to oblige with that, but the fact that it came as an order from Diamond Tiara pressured her into disobeying it as much as possible. “Ah’ll talk whenever ah want to, thank you very much.”

“And just so we’re clear,” Diamond said as she took a seat on a nearby bench, “I’m only bringing you with me because you’re in the same boat as me. We’re not friends.”

“Hear hear,” Apple Bloom replied as she took a seat at other end of the bench. “There’s nothin’ ah hate more in this world than you.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” Diamond said as she scooted as close to her end of the bench as she could. “As long as we live, we’ll never be together.”

“In a perfect world, we’d be forever apart,” Apple Bloom said.

The two nodded together in agreement, and waited together in silence for the train to arrive, both looking in opposite directions and doing their absolute best to forget the other’s existence.

9 - The Missing Fillies Are... Missing!

“Hey, show me how this freakin’ camera’s supposed ta work.”

Diamond Tiara groaned and moved her forehooves up to her ears to plug them. “Shut up…” she muttered in her sleepy state, her eyes clenched tightly shut and her little body curled up into a ball for warmth.

“Why is there no film in here?!”

“I said shut up,” Diamond said slightly louder, her eyes fluttering open ever-so-slightly. She realised that her hooves hadn’t actually followed her orders to cover her ears and wondered why. She looked around at what was supposed to be her bedroom, only to remember that she was currently staying at an abandoned warehouse… and that this wasn’t it.

“I’m going out to buy some film,” a nearby voice said. Diamond tried to push herself to her hooves, but found that she couldn’t move her legs at all. Turning her head to look down at herself, she found that both her forelegs and her hind legs had been bound by some thick rope. She struggled to try to break it, but it was fruitless. “Check on the kids, will ya?”

Diamond gasped as she heard hoofsteps moving her way and acted on instinct by resting her head upon the cold cement floor and closing her eyes. She breathed lightly and made every effort to ignore the horrible smell around her as the hoofsteps grew louder and louder.

“Still asleep!” another voice called out. “Told ya they’d be out for longer since they’re kids!”

“Just stand guard outside until I get back! If you hear any noises from inside, knock ‘em out again!”

“Got it!” Diamond Tiara heard a door open and then close. “Not like they can do much anyway with their hooves all tied up. Guess I’ll finish that crossword while I wait.” The hoofsteps sounded again throughout the room, this time moving further and further away from Diamond Tiara. The door opened and closed again, this time followed by a click.

Diamond Tiara quickly opened her eyes and looked around, her heart racing as panic overtook her system. “W-Where am I?” she asked herself in a whisper. Her surroundings were very much like the abandoned warehouse; filthy concrete floor, dark brick walls, moss and fungus growing all around, and only a few patches of light filling the room from the windows high above her. The difference between this place and the warehouse was all of the menacing-looking machinery instead of stacks and stacks of empty shelves.

“A factory?” Diamond thought aloud as she squirmed to try to move. “How did I get here? I thought I was sleeping in that warehouse… Wait, I remember going to the arcade… I met Babs, and then…” Images of a colt covered in birds entered Diamond’s mind, and she shuddered. “That’s right. Babs went out to look for the blank flank, and then I got attacked…”

“Ow… Mah head…”

Diamond gasped at the familiar voice behind her. “… Blank flank?”

“Really? First thing in the mornin’?” Apple Bloom asked as she tried to move her hoof up to rub her head, only for it to not move at all. She opened her eyes and looked over at the tied-up filly lying in front of her. “… Diamond?”

“What?”

“Why are y’all tied up?”

“Because of you,” Diamond said in a bitter tone. “Because you didn’t stay at that creepy colt’s place and I had to look for you. Then I got foalnapped when I was all alone.”

“Creepy colt? Oh, ya mean Birds? He’s not creepy, he’s just a… a lil’ enthusiastic.”

“Don’t use big words like you know what they mean,” Diamond said with a roll of her eyes.

“Ah know what it means!” Apple Bloom shouted back. ‘Kinda.’

“Ssh!” Diamond hissed.

“Don’t y’all be shushin’ me! Ah can talk whenever ah darn well-”

“One of our foalnappers is outside!” Diamond told Apple Bloom in a loud whisper. “If he finds out we’re awake he’s going to knock us out again!”

Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “Well why didn’t ya say so? We’ve gotta get outta here!”

“Wow, you figure that out all by yourself?” Diamond asked in a sarcastic tone. “How’d you even get captured anyway? What kind of idiot would want an unattractive farm pony like you?”

“Ah’m not unattractive!” Apple Bloom retorted. “Granny Smith said ah’m the spittin’ image of her when she was a filly.”

“Not exactly proving your point,” Diamond muttered.

“As fer how ah was foalnapped… ah think ah was runnin’ down the street when ah saw two stallions havin’ problems with their cart. They asked if ah could help ‘em hold it up while they fixed it, an’ the next thing ah remember is wakin’ up here… Oh! They said somethin’ ‘bout me ‘bein’ with the ten thousand bit kid’.”

“I think… that’s what they called me before they knocked me out.”

“What’s that mean?” Apple Bloom asked. “You got ten thousand bits inside you or something?”

“Blank flank, for once, use that brain of yours,” Diamond Tiara said, hearing a growl behind her in response. “They obviously mean to sell me for ten thousand bits. Quite frankly, I’m appalled. I’m worth at least a hundred thousand.”

“Ah’d certainly pay that much jus’ fer ya ta shut up,” Apple Bloom said. “But then if they’re after you, why take me as well?”

“Who should I know?! All I know is that it’s your fault that we’re in this mess!”

“Mah fault?! Nopony told y’all ta come lookin’ for m- Wait, why were you lookin’ for me?”

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Diamond spat. “I wasn’t looking for you for your sake. It was for Babs. Because she…” Diamond hesitated for a moment before continuing. “… She said I wasn’t her friend if I didn’t help her.”

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Since when did you an’ Babs become friends again?” Diamond Tiara was about to respond, but Apple Bloom cut her off. “Oh, ah get it,” Apple Bloom said. “Y’all are tryin’ ta lure Babs over ta your side again, jus’ like ya did last time.”

“What? No I’m n-”

“Don’t deny it!” Apple Bloom gritted her teeth together as she felt her blood start to boil. “Y’all are tryin’ ta take mah family away, jus’ like before! Well it ain’t gonna happen! Babs is smart enough ta catch onto yer tricks, an’ there ain’t no way ah’m gonna let y’all-”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Diamond asked. “You’re right about Babs being smarter than she looks, and maybe that’s why she can see that I’m much cooler than you’ll ever be.” Diamond grinned as she tried but failed to look over her head at Apple Bloom’s surely furious face. “Maybe that’s why she chose me over you. Maybe she just thinks I’m a cooler friend than you’ll ever be.”

“Come over here an’ say that!” Apple Bloom challenged.

“Idiot! If I could I would!”

BANG!

Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom gasped and both turned towards the direction of the loud banging sound that still echoed throughout the room. “W-What was that?” Apple Bloom asked.

BANG!

“The door!” Diamond shouted. “Somepony’s banging on the door!”

A few seconds of silence passed, before a different sound came from the direction of the door. The sound of something clicking.

“T-They’re coming!” Diamond Tiara whispered as she lay her head down and closed her eyes again.

“Horseapples!” Apple Bloom cursed under her breath as she followed Diamond’s lead and pretended to be asleep. “Applejack… Please help…”

The sound of the door opening slowly filled the room, and both Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom had to force themselves not to make a single sound as the sounds of hoofsteps echoed throughout the room.

Aunt Orange couldn’t believe her ears. She simply couldn’t believe a thing that she was hearing. To think, her own daughter, Babs Seed, would do such a thing as hiding two runaways without telling anypony, one of whom was the daughter to who was by far the family’s biggest investor.

“Aunt Orange, please calm down,” Applejack instructed as she provided her aunt with a paper bag to breath into. “C’mon now, deep breaths.”

The mare grabbed the paper bag and held it over her muzzle, breathing in and out very rapidly. Beside her, Uncle Orange was doing his best to maintain a calm and diligent appearance to their three guests. “Officer, you must be mistaken,” he told Detective Gumshoe as he held his wife’s hoof. “Our daughter may be reckless, but she’s still a good child. She would never partake in such delinquent behaviour.”

“Not even to protect her favourite cousin?” Gumshoe asked. “I’m given to understand that you daughter and Apple Bloom have had a rock relationship in the past. And Miss Applejack here has informed me that your daughter told Apple Bloom, and I quote: ‘I owe you one for all the trouble I gave you. Whenever you’re in trouble, come find me and I’ll help you out’.”

“T-That’s…”

“Where is your daughter, out of interest?” Gumshoe asked.

“She’s at a friend’s house,” Uncle Orange told him.

“This late at night?” Applejack asked, a worried look on her face.

“It’s just around the corner,” Uncle Orange told her.

Gumshoe rose to his hooves and turned towards the door. “Please show me the way. I would like to question her.”

“She would never-”

“If she’s innocent, then there’s nothing for you to worry about,” Gumshoe said. “However, right now there are two families that are both worried sick about their missing fillies.”

“Please,” Filthy Rich pleaded from his seat opposite to Uncle Orange. “I just want to see my daughter again. I’m begging you… please help in any way you can…”

Uncle Orange gulped at the sight of Filthy Rich, one of the most influential ponies in Manehatten and one of the Apple Family’s biggest investors, practically on his knees and begging for help from him. “I…” Uncle Orange sighed. “Of course. Of course I’ll help.” Rising out of his chair and walking past the detective, Uncle Orange opened the door and motioned for the others to follow him. “I’ll lead the way.”

Babs was panicking like never before as she ran through the streets of Manehatten with little regard to what was in front of her. Her legs were tired, her breathing was heavy, and her hooves felt like they were on fire, but she wasn’t going to stop until she had found them and knew that they were safe.

‘Stupid Diamond Tiara!’ Babs thought to herself as she rounded a corner. After failing to find Apple Bloom at the abandoned warehouse, she had gone back to Birds’ house to collect Diamond Tiara, only to find out that she had gone out after her despite being specifically told not to leave the house. ‘Now they’re both missin’, and I have no idea where else to look!’

Babs stopped for a moment to take a breath, but continued running again not long after. ‘I can’t stop! They’re both out there somewhere, and they’re in danger! I have to find them! I have to-’ Babs collided with something as she was running, her blurred vision preventing her from seeing whatever it was she had ran into before it was too late. “Ow! …”

“Babs?!” a mare’s voice called out.

Babs gasped and looked up at the ponies in front of her. Two of them she didn’t recognise, but the other three were… “A-Applejack… and mum and dad…”

“Babs!” Aunt Orange cried as she reached her hooves forward and grabbed her daughter’s shoulders. “What are you doing out here on your own?! I thought you were at your friend’s house!”

“I…”

“Miss, please,” the stallion in the grey trenchcoat said as Uncle Orange pulled his wife to the side. The stallion knelt down and met Babs’ eyes. “You’re Babs Seed?” Babs simply nodded. “My name is Detective Gumshoe. I’m looking for-”

“You’re a detective?!” Babs shouted, startling the group of older ponies. Gumshoe nodded. “T-Then you can help! You can help me find ‘em before it’s too late!”

“‘Find them’?” Gumshoe asked.

“What do ya mean?” Applejack asked, her face contorting into horror as a particular thought crossed her mind. “Y-Y’all aren’t sayin’ that Apple Bloom is…”

“W-Where’s Diamond Tiara?” Filthy Rich asked, looking past Babs only to find nopony else there. “Where is she?! She’s with you, isn’t she?!”

Babs swallowed hard and slowly shook her head, sweat pouring down her head and slight sobs starting to form in her throat. “T-They were… with me… b-but we got separated, an’ I can’t find ‘em… anywhere…”

“You WHAT?!” Filthy Rich demanded, taking a step forward, only to be stopped by Gumshoe’s foreleg. “What do you mean you lost her?! You mean that she’s out there all on her own?! My daughter is lost in the big city, and night, with nowhere to go?!”

“Please,” Gumshoe said, pleading for the stallion to calm down. He turned back to Babs, a stern look on his face. “When did you last see them?”

Babs took a deep breath to calm herself down. “I-It was earlier today that I last saw Apple Bloom… Sometime in the afternoon… And I was with Diamond until about half-an-hour ago. Oh, but Birds said that Apple Bloom was with him until a few minutes before Diamond and I got there, so-”

“Who’s Birds?” Gumshoe asked.

“A friend of hers,” Uncle Orange answered for his daughter. “He lives a few blocks from here. It’s quite a trek…”

“Detective,” Filthy Rich said, “We don’t have any time to lose. We have to find my daughter before something happens to her!”

“We will,” Gumshoe assured him.

“Apple Bloom too,” Applejack said. “She’s tough, but she’s still only a filly! We have ta find ‘em before-”

“We’ll find them!” Gumshoe repeated, silencing the two panicking ponies. “… For now, I want you to take your daughter home,” he told Aunt Orange, before turning to Uncle Orange. “Do you know the way to this ‘Birds’’ house?”

Uncle Orange nodded. “Yes. I’ve been there a few times before.”

“Alright then, lead the way,” Gumshoe instructed. “We’ll look out for clues along the way, and question anypony we see about if they saw anything.”

“Um, excuse me,” a voice called out to the group. Everypony turned around to see a grey stallion with a short, tidy white mane approaching them. The stallion stopped and gasped as he laid eyes on Filthy Rich. “Mr. Rich?”

“Silver Bullet!” Filthy Rich cried in surprise as the sight of his friend graced his vision. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same,” Silver Bullet said, “But I have more pressing matters. I’m looking for my daughter and her friends.”

“Silver Spoon’s here too?” Filthy Rich asked with a gasp. “And she’s missing?”

Gumshoe put a hoof to his forehead. ‘Be careful what ya wish for, eh?’

Silver Bullet nodded. “Yes. My daughter, Silver Spoon, told me about how Diamond Tiara was feeling sick, and asked if I could bring her and her friends here to buy a get-well gift for her.”

“At this hour?” Applejack asked with a sceptical edge in her tone.

“… She… gave me that look,” Silver Bullet said with a solemn bow of his head. “Anyway, I looked away for one second and they were all gone! Please, you have to help me find them!”

Gumshoe sighed and shook his head in his hoof. “Great. That’s just great… Out of interest, how many friends did she bring along, exactly?”

“Just two,” Silver Bullet said. “Not her usual kind of company, but they said that they were just as worried for their friend, so…”

“So that makes five missing fillies,” Gumshoe summarised. “… Alright then. Filthy and Uncle Orange-”

“I prefer ‘Rich’,” Filthy Rich said.

“-You two come with me. Applejack, you accompany Silver Bullet to the nearest police station and file the report for three missing fillies.”

“But Apple Bloom-” Applejack began.

“We’ll find her,” Gumshoe interrupted. “Just trust us. But for now, there are another three fillies that also need ta be found. Okay?”

Applejack was silent for a few seconds. She then nodded. “Alright then. Ah’ll catch up once the report’s been filled in.”

“Please don’t,” Gumshoe said in an exasperated tone. “Last thing I need tonight is a missing mare to find on top of five fillies.”

“It’s alright,” Uncle Orange said. “I’ll head back home after I show you all the way. After that, I can escort Applejack when she’s done with the report.”

‘It’d be pointless to argue,’ Gumshoe thought to himself, ‘And we’re losing precious time…’ With a nod, Gumshoe turned to Filthy Rich. “Alright then,” he said, turning back to Uncle Orange. “Lead the way.”

Diamond Tiara begged her heart to stop beating so loudly. She lay down on the cold floor as still as she could, which wasn’t very still when her entire body was shaking from both fear, and the cold air all around her. ‘Wait… where’s my coat?! Oh, those no-good dirty-’

“Diamond!”

Diamond gasped. That wasn’t a stallion’s voice. It was a filly’s, and a familiar one at that. Diamond Tiara slowly opened her eyes. She saw a grey hoof mere inches in front of her. She opened them completely and stared up at the three fillies standing before her.

“You’re okay!” Silver Spoon cried as she lunged forward and hugged her friend. “Thank Celestia!”

“S-Silver Spoon?” Diamond asked.

“Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked from behind Diamond. “Sweetie Belle? W-What-”

With dual grins on their faces, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle bumped flanks together, striking heroic poses behind Silver Spoon, and declared in unison: “Cutie Mark Crusader Missing-Filly Finders!”

“Plus one,” Scootaloo added, glancing down at Silver Spoon. She turned her attention back to Apple Bloom and ran up to her, examining the rope and wasting no time in trying to undo it. “We’re here to rescue you!”

“B-But what about the guy outside?” Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged knowing grins. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him,” Sweetie Belle said. “He’s a little tied up at the moment.”

On the cold grass outside, Red stared up at the beautiful night-time scenery flying above his head. He had to hand it to the Princess of the Night, she sure knew how to make a peaceful, serene night sky that one could easily get lost in.

Of course, it would have been easier to enjoy it had his hooves not been tied up by no less than three crazy fillies that had assaulted him from out of nowhere.

“… What are you doing?” his partner’s voice called out to him.

With some effort, Red managed to sit up straight and smiled sheepishly to his partner. “Oh, hey there. Uh, lil’ help?”

Pulling out a switchblade knife from his belt, Fury held the blade to his partner’s neck and glared down at him. “You wanna explain to me what’s goin’ on here?”

“H-Hold on!” Red pleaded. “This wasn’t the cops’ doin’! It was just three lil’ fillies who ambushed me from outta nowhere!”

“… Three fillies did this to you?” Fury asked. Red nodded his head quickly. “And where are these fillies right now?”

Red motioned his head towards the factory beside him. “They went in there not too long ago.”

Fury turned to the factory door and smiled. “That so? Well then…” Lowering his knife, Fury cut the rope binding his partner’s hooves and allowed him to stand up. “It’s been a while, but let’s go exterminate us some pests.”