"Alright Scootaloo, where do you live?"

"Just head over to the other side of town. I'll tell you when you get close."

"Alrighty then. Hop on", I take off for the other side of town not noticing the filly becoming more skittish. "Hey Scootaloo, Are we getting close?"

"Y-Yeah, it's just down there 3rd house on the left."

"Alright, cool." Landing in front of the nondescript 2 story "cookie-cutter" home, the filly jumps down from my back and seems to try to hide behind me. "Hey, is everything alright? You seem to be scared. Do you not want to go home?"

"I don't want to go home. I hate it there."

"What? why?"

"They always yell and they're always mean to me."

"It can't be that bad."

"I don't want to go back. They'll be mad at me for getting into trouble not to mention how mad they'll be that I got attacked by Timberwolves."

"Why would they be mad about that?"

"They just are. They're always mad at me no matter what I do. I don't think they care about me anymore."

"Scootaloo, Your parents care about you. They love you very much. You should know that."

"No they don't. They hate and they always have. Please don't make me go in there."

"I can't in good conscience leave a young filly like you outside unguarded."

"I could stay with Applebloom or-or Sweetie Belle but not here, please", she looked up pleadingly at me.

"Scootaloo they probably got in some trouble so they can't have friends over. What would you normally do?"

"I mostly stay at Ms. Doo's place when my parents are out of town or can't deal with me."

"I think it would still be best if you stayed in your parents home." As I say that I hear a loud ruckus and raised voices from inside the house. "Maybe Ms. Doo would be willing to look after you tonight. Where does she live?"

"She lives right down there", she says motioning to the end of the road.

"Alright then lead the way."

Arriving at the unimposing house, I say to her "Now do you understand what you did? And why it was so dangerous for you?"

"Yes... "

"Good", I say as I knock on the door.

"Why can you do those things and I can't though?"

"Well, for one, I know what I'm doing and can protect myself if I get into trouble. You have not had the training I have. Two you're still just a filly."

"Hello? What can I help you with?" A grey mare with a yellow mane and tail asked.

"Uh Yes. I was wondering- Hey you're that mare from earlier. I'm sorry we never got properly introduced. My name is Mongoose. And you are?"

"Oh hello again. Sorry for earlier. My name is Ditzy Doo but most everyone just calls me Derpy."

"It's nice to meet you Ditzy. I was wondering if Scootaloo could stay here tonight. I just wanted to make sure she got somewhere safe after the events of today."

"Oh it would be so nice to have her over I'm sure Dinky will love it."

"That's great. Well goodbye then. And Scootaloo stay safe this time."

"Thanks for not making me go home."

"It sucks having crappy parents. I understand it but you should understand that they truly do care about you."

"I doubt it."

"Just trust me. Goodbye."

"Bye."

Taking off for the Everfree I finally get some time to myself. "It's been 2 days so far and so much has changed. Escaping from that hell-hole, finding a ruin, meeting Princess Celestia, nearly dying throughout it all, what else will happen? I should get back to the camp and figure out what to do next." The rest of the flight was nice, nothing too terrible. A little wind, a couple of clouds, all in all a very pleasant flight to end the day. "Hey guys, miss me?"

"What took you so long? I thought it would be a simple return the fillies to their parents", Boxer says.

"I'm sorry they don't live closer together."

"What's the plan?" Jules asks interrupting us.

"Well she wants to see all 3 of us so I'm assuming that she probably wants a chance to examine our stuff without us there. My thoughts are lock everything up in the lockboxes and disable the electrical temporarily somehow", I say.

"We could mess with the battery or power distributor", Boxer says.

"But can we do it discreetly so as to not arouse suspicion?"

"We could work through the night and install switches to make it work", Boxer says.

"Anything else?" I ask.

"And keeping the keys with you won't work because?" Jules asks.

"Because unicorns can lock pick and the difference between a car ignition and a door lock isn't much", Boxer says.

"If they can pick locks then what good is putting stuff in lockboxes?" Jules asks.

"Good point, we should remove the firing pins and store them in the glove box", Boxer says.

"Looks like switch idea it is. Do we have any switches?" I ask.

"Umm no, we don't."

"Ok, then exposed wiring it is. This will be easier than initially thought", I say. "Let's get started."

It didn't take long to find a way to get the power wire into the cabs so all we had to do was disconnect it once we were done driving. With that out of that way I finally noticed how hungry I had gotten in this late hour. "I'm getting hungry. Anyone else?"

"Ah guess mah timin' is better than Ah thought", Applejack says.

"How did you find us?" I ask.

"Applebloom told me where ta find y'all. I brought some Apple family apples since y'all didn't seem ta have any food."

"Well thank you for the food. It's greatly appreciated", I say.

"Ah can't thank ya enough for saving mah sister's life from those Timberwolves. Ah don't know what Ah would've done if she got hurt."

"We were just doing what anyone else would have done in our position."

"Why do y'all talk like that?"

"Like what?"

"Saying anyone instead of anypony or the species y'all are referring to."

"We found it's easier on everyone in the community to refer to each other as one body. It makes everyone seem equally as valuable and important to the good of everything. Whereas referring to a specific race while speaking might subtly make one species feel superior or inferior. That could overall cause strife among the population and lead to more rebellions or uprisings. Overall it could cause more harm than good for such a secluded community so it was easier to fix it in schools early", Boxer says.

"Ah never thought of it like that before. It sure is surprising to see how much y'all thought about in this Community y'all speak of."

"Well we didn't think of it. The Boss and his right hand did", I say.

"Anyway Ah hope you enjoy them apples."

"Oh don't worry", I say taking a bite. "We will. These apples are delicious by the way."

"Thank ya kindly. Ah've gotta get going. Ah just wanted to drop off these apples and thank ya once again for savin' mah sister and her friends."

"It was no trouble. Anyone in our position would've done the same. Before you go, can you tell us the way to Canterlot?"

"Just go to the train station and take the train north."

"Ah, very good. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. See y'all later."

The night went pretty well since we didn't have to hunt anything and it was pretty calm, nothing unexpected happened. Waking up the next morning to the sun is extremely relaxing. That feeling of refreshment can't be matched if you get woken up by an alarm. "Are you guys ready for today?" I ask.

"Ready as we'll ever be. You know, if you told me 6 months ago that I'd not only be meeting a princess but also having lunch with her and her sister, I'd think you had gone mad", Boxer said.

"Does it look later than normal to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean does the sun look higher in the sky than it normally is when we wake up?" I ask.

"We have been living underground for all our lives. Maybe the day is a different length than we are normally use to?" Jules suggests.

"Maybe that's it. Uhhhm, I know this is a non-problem problem but since time is relative, how will we know how much longer or shorter their day is from ours?"

"I don't really know but we will just have to adjust to it", Boxer says.

"Since it looks later than planned let's go ahead and start heading over there. Do you know where the train station is?" I ask.

"Why would I know where the train station is? I'm just as new to this town as you are", Boxer says.

"Well it was worth a shot. Let's just head that west into town and hope we find tracks. I'll lead", I say.

Driving into town at 10 am whilst riding in motorized carriages draws a lot of unnecessary attention. To say we were the most noticed thing at that moment would be about right. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at what was making so much noise. The vehicle's engines aren't what I'm talking about those make noise but aren't obnoxiously loud. Boxer listening to his music at full blast with his windows was making everyone look at him. And while I like listening to music like that most of the time, there are times when I prefer to try to blend in as best as possible. It didn't help that it was probably music that they haven't heard before by the looks on their faces. Luckily the market wasn't too much farther away from the train station. "Hey guys, I think I see the station up ahead. We should turn off here and follow the tracks north."

"Alright brosef", Boxer says.

"Hey dude," I start "do you think we can beat the train to Canterlot?"

"I think we can but it all depends on the terrain. I mean if we come to a water crossing or a tunnel we'd be screwed if we got stuck on either side of it. We should go for it", He replies.

"You aren't really considering this, right?" Jules asks.

"Come on Jules, it'll be fun. Besides it's just a harmless race. It's not like we're trying to cross the tracks before a train gets there. It's a harmless endurance/drag race, of sorts", I reply.

"Alright, just don't say it was my idea later", she relents.

"So when the train starts moving, we go", I say.

Author's Note

So starting next week, I'll start posting these chapters on Friday because I'll need the time to work on them with school picking up.