A FAIL-PROOF PLAN

The next day of school came and went for Applebloom. Before she knew it, the time to leave was a mere hour away. However, she had something else to do first...

“How much time do we have?”, Applebloom asked in the middle of kissing her lover passionately and running her hooves all over her body.

“Not enough”, Babs replied between kisses, running her right hoof down Applebloom's back and towards the base of her tail.

“Ya always say that”, Applebloom replied with a smirk between kisses, starting to fondle one of Babs' teats sensually and earning a moan from the city filly.

“No, really. We only have an hour before we have to leave”, Babs replied and gave yet another moan as she ran her hoof under Applebloom's tail and towards her prize.

Pssst! Hey! You two didn't fall asleep, did you?!

“Please tell me dat isn't who I think it is”, Babs remarked upon hearing that voice, which apparently came from outside the window.

She gave an aggravated sigh as Applebloom walked to the window and looked down. Sure enough, Silver Spoon was standing down below.

“We got a full hour before we have to go, come back later!”, Applebloom hissed with a glare, being as aggravated as Babs was to their interruption of love-making.

“We don't have an hour! Didn't you two read the train schedule? The midnight train leaves in thirty minutes!”

Applebloom's eyes snapped wide in surprise. She ducked back inside and quickly re-checked the train schedule paper she had picked up this morning before coming into school.

“I swear, that filly's timing is impeccable”, Babs remarked with an eye-roll as Applebloom continued to scan the contents of the train schedule.

Sure enough, Silver Spoon was right on the money with this.

“Horseapples! She's right! We need to get our rumps in gear!”, Applebloom exclaimed softly.

This made Babs give a shocked gasp of her own.

“What?! But I double checked it! The train doesn't leave 'till twelve-thirty in the morning!”

She hopped off the bed and lifted her saddlebag over herself, with Applebloom doing the same. Then the two quickly, but silently made their way down the hallway towards the stairs.

Suddenly, Babs gave a soft horrified gasp as her hoof stepped onto a creaky floorboard. Both fillies froze and looked behind themselves to see if anypony had heard.

“Watch your hoofing!”, Applebloom hissed softly after a few tense moments.

She then continued to sneak towards the stairs, only to soon step on a creaky floorboard herself. She turned to look at Babs with a sheepish grin, the city filly giving her an annoyed stare.

“Oops...”, was all the farm filly could whisper.

Babs gave a soft dejected sigh and placed a hoof on her head, shaking it gently before continuing to follow Applebloom to the stairs.

“Took you two long enough!", Silver Spoon said with annoyance as the two finally met up with her on the side of the house. "What were you doing up there? Having sex?”

The two fillies simply looked away from Silver Spoon, exchanging blushes.

“I should have known”, the silver-furred filly remarked, closing her eyes and slamming her hoof on her forehead. She gave an annoyed sigh.

“What about Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle? They still think the time is twelve midnight”, Applebloom pointed out after a few moments of silence.

“You told those blank-flanks about the plan?! Can you keep your mouth shut for anything?!”, Silver Spoon scolded in a hushed tone, glaring at Applebloom.

“We could just go right back upstairs and continue where we left off”, Babs countered with a glare at the silver-furred filly.

The latter opened her mouth to speak, only to close it a moment later and give an annoyed sigh.

“Alright, point taken. I'll try not to call your friends blank-flanks”, Silver Spoon conceded after a few more moments.

“Thank you”, Babs replied with a smirk. She then turned to look at Applebloom. “I would love to wait for them, cuz, but like you said, we don't have time.”

“Ah suppose we'll just have to leave 'em behind, then. They are gonna be so ticked at me”, Applebloom replied and broke into full gallop, followed by Babs and Silver Spoon.

The three made it to the train station with five minutes to spare, although galloping the entire way had left them gasping for air by the time they got there.

“Alright, let's go talk to that train conductor”, Silver Spoon said between huffs and puffs.

However, before she was able to go anywhere, the train gave a loud toot, which signaled that it's about to leave the station.

“Oh for the love of Luna and Celestia!”, Silver Spoon yelled at the top of her lungs and once again broke into a full gallop, followed by the other two.

“How the hay are we going to pay for our train tickets and make it to the train?!”, Applebloom asked as the three ran towards the platform.

“We're not. Quickly, let's get to the back of the train and get into the storage car!”, Silver Spoon ordered, running alongside the train which was slowly beginning to leave the station.

“Oh great! Ah was hopin' to add train hoppin' and stow awayin' to mah criminal record today!”, Applebloom remarked sarcastically as they neared the back of the train.

“Ha, ha, you too?”, Babs asked with a grin.

This caused Applebloom to blink twice at her in confusion. She wondered for a moment what Babs had meant, but shoved the debate from her mind as they jumped onto the tracks and began to chase the back of the train, which was picking up the speed.

Silver Spoon was the first to make the jump, followed closely by Babs, who turned around to see Applebloom quickly trailing behind the train, which was gaining speed by the second.

“Come on Applebloom, you can make it!”, Babs called out to her lover when the train gave another mighty toot.

“Ah'm not gonna make it!”, Applebloom cried, feeling her legs burn from the amount of effort she was putting into catching up to them.

“Lighten your load! Drop the saddlebags!”, Silver Spoon ordered.

“No way in Tartarus!”, Applebloom shouted back. There was no way she was going to drop her saddlebags. The outfit she had planned on wearing for their anniversary was in them and she wasn't about to lose another one.

“Stubborn blank-flank isn't going to make it unless she lightens her load!”, Silver Spoon said to Babs.

The latter resisted the urge to slug the spoiled filly and reverted her attention to Applebloom, who was quickly trailing behind them. Babs looked around herself for anything she could use to reach out and help her lover onto the train, but only found a small handle which was used for emergency stops. After a short inner debate she looked at Silver Spoon.

“Hang onto something!”, she ordered and turned about, preparing herself to jump for the handle.

“Wait, what? You're not seriously going to--!”, Silver Spoon shouted when she realized what the city filly was about to do. “Oh Luna, you're crazy!”, she shrieked, wrapping her hooves around the railing in an attempt to anchor herself to it.

Babs gave a mighty hop and barely managed to clamp her mouth onto the emergency handle, due to the speed they were going at now. The city filly's weight was enough to pull it down, at which point the train began to screech to a halt, suddenly and abruptly jarring Silver Spoon and causing Babs to be flung from the handle into the air and towards the tracks, only to hit Applebloom on the ground when she landed.

“Dear Celestia, are you okay, Babs?! What happened?!”, Applebloom asked, wearily standing back to her all fours and rubbing her backside. Babs stood up next to her.

“I pulled the emergency stop handle”, Babs replied, rubbing her underside.

“You what?!", Applebloom asked in disbelief. "That was crazy! Ya could have got yourself killed or broke mah back when ya landed on me!”, she scolded, looking over her to make sure she wasn't hurt.

“I'm fine. Come on, let's hurry up and get to the train”, Babs suggested, running off towards the storage car, followed by Applebloom.

“You both are out of your minds! It'll be sheer dumb luck if the train conductor doesn't realize it was us who pulled the emergency stop handle!”, Silver Spoon remarked as the two hopped onto the back of the car and sat down.

As their sheer dumb luck would have it, the train conductor never showed up at the storage car and the train soon began to pick up speed as it headed towards Fillydephia.

And as the three calmed down, Silver Spoon eyed Applebloom when the latter scanned the contents of her saddlebag.

“What the hay was so important in that saddlebag of yours that you just couldn't give it up?”, the silver-furred filly asked curiously.

“Somethin' very special to me and Ah'll leave it at that”, Applebloom replied, effectively ending the topic.

“Whatever, as long as we get to Fillydephia and find Diamond Tiara, I could care less if you had a stick liquid rainbow dynamite in there”, Silver Spoon concluded with an eye-roll.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT TRAIN STATION:

“Where are they? And where's the train?”, Scootaloo asked in confusion, looking around herself.

“You don't think they purposely told us the wrong time, do you?”, Sweetie Belle suggested, looking around too.

“Of course not! They'll be showing up anytime, and the train too!”, Scootaloo replied confidently...

The train came to a slow halt in the Fillydephia's train station. The three fillies quickly sneaked into the crowd of ponies flooding from the train doors, attempting to blend in. Once off the platform, the three left the train station.

Applebloom gasped in awe of the site that beheld them. The entire city was jam-packed with ponies of different colors, some dressed in clothes, and some not; it that wasn't what awed the filly the most, though. The entire city looked as if it was lit up like a giant Hearth's Warming Eve tree.

“Wow! This place is huge and so bright! Ah've never seen so many ponies or lights in one place!”, Applebloom exclaimed in awe.

“Meh, Manehattan is better”, the city filly remarked, looking unimpressed by the sights. She then reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a tourist guide for Fillydephia.

“When did you pick that up?”, Silver Spoon inquired curiously when Babs laid it on the ground and began to look over it.

“Snagged it off one of the stands in the station”, the city filly replied nonchalantly.

This was met with a shocked gasp from both fillies.

“Ya stole it?!”, Applebloom asked in disbelief, seeming completely flabbergasted by this new set of information.

“Wow, I didn't take you for a criminal, Babs”, Silver Spoon remarked with a smirk, although she did look impressed.

“Babs ain't no criminal! Ya take that back, Silver Spoon!”, Applebloom ordered angrily.

“Don't worry about it, cuz. I'm used to it”, Babs replied, still scanning the contents of the tourist guide.

“U-Used to it?!”, the farm filly blurted out, her eyes snapping wide in shock. This was a side of her lover she had never seen before. Up 'till now she thought her cousin to be as honest and noble as she could.

“Ah-ha! Found it! The hotel is just down the street. We can't miss it”, Babs said after a few more moments, folding the tourist guide up and placing it back into her saddlebag.

The three walked down the sidewalk, paying close attention to the streets and making their way through the crowd of ponies that flooded the sidewalk.

“Ow!”, Silver Spoon hissed when somepony ran into her, quickly stood up and walked past the three into the crowd.

It was only then when Silver Spoon noticed that her necklace was gone!

“That pony stole my necklace!”, Silver Spoon cried, looking around herself for the thief. However, she couldn't see any trace of him.

“Welcome to the big city, Silver Spoon. Thieves like dat are all over the place”, Babs replied, seemingly unfazed by this turn of events as she continued walking down the sidewalk.

“Really? Is the big city that dangerous?”, Applebloom asked, suddenly feeling herself become paranoid of every pony they passed now.

“Nah. Well, unless you head to the slums. Though if you're headin' there, you're up to no good anyways. Not sure if Fillydephia has one though. I know Manehattan does”, Babs explained as the three passed several adult ponies, who gave them odd looks as they passed.

After a little while longer the three finally made it to the hotel.

“Okay, my turn. I'll get us a room”, Silver Spoon said confidently when the three walked inside and towards the receptionist counter. “Ahem, room for three please”, she said in a very prim and proper manner.

The male receptionist pony looked down at the three with a curious glance before he resumed writing into the guest book.

“Name?”, the hotel clerk asked in the same prim and proper tone as the filly had.

“Silver Spoon. Our family should have a standing credit line to use as a payment for our stay”, she replied calmly.

“Ah, let me check our records”, the clerk replied and began to scan the contents of his guest book for a few moments. “Oh yes, right here. But I'm afraid I can't check you in without authorization of your father. You see, it was a recent addendum to our records he added. Is he present?”, the clerk asked curiously.

“Um, heh, heh, yeah, um, let me go get him”, Silver Spoon nervously stuttered in response, her prim and proper tone nearly faltering on the spot. She then silently signaled for the other two to follow her out of the hotel. “Horseapples!”, she cursed once the three were safely outside.

“So much for stayin' in a nice hotel for the weekend”, Applebloom remarked dismally.

“It's not a problem. We'll just fine another and I'll pay for our room with the bits I have”, Babs said and reached into her saddlebag.

She pulled out the tourist guide, only for a dark red blur to overpass the three. It took a few moments for the two to realize, but Babs had suddenly been sent flying several feet away from them and had landed in the bushes near the side of the hotel.

“Babs! Are you okay?!”, Applebloom shouted, rushing over to her lover and helping her to her hooves.

“That buckin' pegasus swiped my saddlebag!”, Babs said angrily, pointing a hoof up towards the red pegasus, who was quickly making his escape.

“This just keeps getting better and better!", Silver Spoon shouted in frustration. "First my daddy freezes my assets pretty much, and then the only money we have gets snagged by a flying pegasus thief! Is anything else going to go wrong today?!”, she roared.

A passing carriage took this moment to knock up a small wave of water, which soaked her from head to hoof. The filly spit out a stream of water from her mouth and sighed dejectedly.

“I had to ask...”, she said.

“This place is worse the Manehattan! At least there we didn't have flying pegasus thieves!”, Babs yelled and sighed.

“So we're broke and lost in the middle of a big city, am Ah gettin' the picture correctly?”, Applebloom asked, looking more worried by the second.

Babs gave a look about her surroundings and then looked back at the two.

“Looks that way. Anyways, let's head this way.”

“Why that way? Didn't you lose your only map?”, Silver Spoon asked, shaking her hind hooves and front hooves in an attempt to dry them off.

“Yeah, but it looks like the slums are in this direction”, Babs replied, continuing to walk in the direction she chosen.

“Wait, what makes ya think that? Also, isn't the slums a bad place to be goin'?”, Applebloom asked this time, not liking the idea to head directly to the place that according to Babs was a place where ponies go if they are up to no good.

“That pegasus was heading off in this direction, and if there are thieves, there's a slum where they all hang out”, Babs replied.

“This is crazy!", Silver Spoon said in disbelief. "You can't be suggesting we walk right into the place where all the city's criminals hang out, can you? We're only three fillies for Luna's sake! And you two don't even have your cutie marks yet!”, she pointed out, starting to sound hysterical.

“What do you suggest then?!", Babs shouted back with a glare. "We're flat broke, lost, and most likely going to be mugged and raped before the night's out at this rate!”

“Yeah, and you're suggesting going to the one place in town where that will most likely happen!”, Silver Spoon retorted, her panic quickly being replaced with anger.

“Enough! Both of ya! Arguin' like this ain't gonna get us some shelter!”, Applebloom interjected, standing between the two fillies who were looking as if they were ready to beat each other senseless.

“Excuse me?”, a voice asked suddenly, which caused all three fillies to snap their gaze in the direction of a single unicorn colt, who had walked up to them without them realizing it.

“Oh Luna, it's another thief! Quick, somepony buck him upside the head!”, Silver Spoon ordered and slumped into a cowering position.

“Don't worry about dat", the colt tried to calm them down. "I'm not a thief. I was just on my way home from the store and I happened to overhear you three need someplace to stay?”, he asked, setting his sack of food down next to him and looking at the three.

“We aren't puttin' out if that's what you're suggestin'”, Babs replied with hostility and giving a glare to the colt, only for Applebloom to shove her hoof into the city filly's mouth.

“Eh-eh, don't mind them. Ya said somethin' about a place to stay?”, Applebloom asked politely.

“Yeah, me and my dad run a homeless shelter for ponies who need a place to stay in town. Oh, where are my manners? My name's Swift Hooves”, Swift said, extending a hoof to the farm filly.

“Pleased to meet ya, mah name is Applebloom, this is Babs, and that's Silver Spoon”, Applebloom replied with a cheerful smile.

“You don't sound like you're from around here. Your voice has a country accent to it, you live out in sticks?”, Swift asked curiously.

“Um...”, Applebloom replied, not sure what the colt meant by the word 'sticks'.

Babs yanked Applebloom's hoof out of her mouth and sighed.

“He means out in the countryside, and yes. But dat's all you're gettin' from us”, Babs replied and ushered Applebloom off to the side. “Ya can't be tellin' everythin' about us to anypony who seems to be acting nice! Ponies like him are the prime suspects to kidnap fillies like ourselves!”, she whispered to her lover.

“There's somethin' about him”, Applebloom whispered back with a brief glance at the colt. “Ah can't really explain it, but Ah really think he means to help us. And Ah reckon we could use all the help we can get. Without a map we're lost, and besides, we can ask him where the address on Diamond Tiara's letters is at, so we can reunite those two.”

Babs gave the colt a glance now as well.

“Are you sure 'bout this? If this colt turns out to be a low life, we're gonna be in a heap of trouble”, she whispered.

“If it comes to that, Ah can give him a taste of mah apple-buckin legs. But Ah don't think it will”, Applebloom answered back before walking up to the colt. “Okay, we'll take ya up on that offer.”

“Alright, follow me”, Swift replied, lifting the bag back up with his magic and starting to lead the three down the road to the left, instead of the direction to what Babs assumed were the slums.

“Well, it sure as hay ain't the Canterlot Ritz, but it's better than nothin'”, Applebloom remarked upon following the colt to what looked to be a well-kept, but old-looking building among the rest of the newer looking ones of this city.

“I'll let you guys grab one of the vacant apartment rooms and let you get a night's sleep. Then tomorrow we can talk to my dad about seeing what you three can do to pay for the room and board, okay?”, Swift said, putting the key into the door and opening it for the three and leading them upstairs.

“I knew there was catch. I already told you we ain't putti-mmmph?!”, Babs began to say, only for Applebloom to once again shove her hoof into the city filly's mouth.

“What kind of work are we talkin' about?”, Applebloom asked curiously as the three followed him upstairs and stopped next to him.

“My dad runs a local club, it's next door actually. Ya couldn't miss it", Swift replied. "We walked right past it on our way here. Everypony who lives here works there usually. Some do the dishes, others clean the floors, and even some sing on stage for the club goers at times. 'Course, we've been havin' a serious lack of singers lately”, he remarked while unlocking the door for the three and motioning for them to enter.

The apartment was far from being in the best of conditions, but it was nowhere near the worst conditions either. Dust was caked on just about everything in the apartment, from the kitchen counters to the stove.

“We try to keep all the apartments in the best conditions we can, but it's a really big apartment complex. If you want I could come over tomorrow and help you clean up”, Swift suggested.

Babs was about to object when Applebloom stood in front of her.

“Of course! That would be swell!”, the farm filly said.

“Okay then. Oh, I almost forgot! How long do you plan on staying here? Normally my father would ask, but this will save him a little work if I pen in this place as occupied for him”, Swift replied looking at the three.

The three looked at each and back to Swift.

“We don't really know", Applebloom said. "Ya see, we planned on comin' here only for the weekend to help mah friend here see her fillyfriend, but then the bits we brought for the train ride back and the hotel got stolen”, she explained and sighed dejectedly.

“Yikes, tough break. Well, I'll see you three tomorrow then”, Swift replied and closed the door behind him.

“If my daddy knew of the condition of this place, he'd have it torn down! There's no way I can sleep with all this... this.... ah-choo!!!”, Silver Spoon began to say, only to trail off and give a mighty sneeze, which sprayed dust off the counter she was looking at into the air.

“Suck it up and deal with it, ya spoiled filly”, Babs replied coldly and then walked up to what looked like a single bedroom. The only thing in the room not caked in dust was the bed, which looked to be in the best condition of the entire apartment. “We got dibs on the bedroom!”, the city filly called out, broke into a sprint and jumped on the bed, which gave a loud groaning sound as she landed.

Silver Spoon walked into the bedroom and her jaw dropped.

“B-B-But that's the best looking thing in this entire scrapheap of an apartment! You can't expect me to sleep on that dust-covered couch, can you?!”, the silver-furred filly asked, looking outraged by this.

“I suppose you could sleep with us. After all, I love havin' an audience when I make love to Applebloom”, Babs replied with a smirk.

This caused the farm pony to blush crimson, together with Silver Spoon.

“On second thought, the dusty covered couch doesn't sound so bad”, the latter concluded in a slightly higher pitched voice than usual and promptly left the room.

Babs broke into a giggle-fit at this. Meanwhile, Applebloom jumped onto the bed.

“Just what did ya plan on sayin' to her if she didn't fall for that little joke of yours?”, the farm filly asked with a smirk after she curled up next to her lover and laid her head on the pillow.

“Who said it was joke?”, Babs replied with a cheesy grin, only to get a playful hoof to head.

“Not even in yer dreams, Babs”, Applebloom replied drowsily with a smirk and slowly drifted off to sleep, shortly followed by Babs.

“Ah-choo, ah-choo, ah-choo! I swear, those blank-flanks better...better... ah-choo! Better help me find Diamond Tiara soon... I don't think I can take living in this....this... aaahhh-chooooo!”

I hate this place!

Author's Note

Proof read by zutheskunk