My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Reconstruction
Twilight Sparkle was bustling around the little villa, whirling this way and that as she levitated items out of drawers and cupboards and into the suitcase. The last two weeks in the Canterbbean had been amazing but it was now time to return to Ponyville and aid in its reconstruction. The little town had been burned to the ground during the war with the dark alicorn known as Shadow. She closed the lid on the case and sighed. Where was he? She slid open the glass door that was set in one wall of the room and stepped out onto the warm sand of the golden beach beyond. Down at the sea she spotted the golden and brown mane of her husband in the water. He broke the surface and waved to her as she approached.
“Come on! You have to get ready to go.” She called to him and he nodded. He slid from the water and she levitated a towel over to him. He smiled gratefully and began to dry his mane as she looked him up and down. His coat was red and his mane and tail golden with streaks of tan brown running through them, his eyes were the same colour of blue as the cloudless sky above them. On his flank was a cutie mark that depicted a yellow comet shooting past a white planet. He ruffled the feathers on his wings and turned so that she could see the right side of his face showing off the triple scar beneath his eye that had been caused by the claws of a griffin soldier two months beforehand during a battle in Los Pegasus. His neck, chest and legs were strong and muscular.
“Are you quite finished?” He asked and she snapped back to reality.
Almost.
“Uhhh.” She said and he laughed, flapped his wings and took off, darting towards the villa. Laughing Twilight followed him and found him packing away the last of his gear into the case. When he had finished he turned to her and grinned. She stepped close to him and pushed him back so that he landed on the sofa next to the case with a soft thump. Then she leaned down and kissed him.
“Twilight Sparkle.” He said simply when they separated and she looked down at him and told him his own name.
“Scotty Sparkle.” In Equestria the husband took on the surname of his wife not the other way round. He stared into her eyes for a moment more, his own full of affection before there was a knock on the door and Scotty went to it and answered. Outside were two pegasus ponies stood patiently. One of them looked at a small piece of card.
“Mr and Mrs Sparkle?” He asked and Scotty nodded.
“Yep, that’s us.”
“My name is Cloudracer and this is Stormrider. We’re here to take you back to wherever you wish to go on the mainland.” Scotty smiled and shook their hooves while behind him Twilight exited the villa and locked the door behind her. Stormrider stepped forwards and took the suitcase from her, placing it in the sky carriage behind him.
“Can you take us to the Ponyville construction site please?” Cloudracer grinned and nodded.
“That’s easy, if you’d like to hop aboard and we can be there in about four hours.” The couple nodded and climbed into the sky carriage.
They made good time and the little carriage landed on a hill that overlooked the old town in a little over three and a half hours. Twilight was the first out and as Scotty paid Cloudracer and took the suitcase from the carriage she walked to the crest of the hill and looked down on the construction site for New Ponyville. Ponies in high visibility jackets were bustling around the place, removing bits of rubble from the old town or putting in the foundations for the new town. Scotty joined her and motioned to a large camp set up on the west side of the building site. Near to where Sweet Apple Acres was. She nodded and they trotted over towards the camp. The first pony they met was Lyra Heartstrings who greeted them warmly and agreed to take them to their friends. At the entrance to a small campsite they were attacked by a small knee high creature in the form of Spike the dragon who hugged them both warmly. He led them to a tent in which they found Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie who all called their names in glee and ran to hug them. Once the greetings were complete Twilight became aware of an added weight to her shoulders and she turned to come face to face with Owlowicious the owl who hooted at her happily as she hugged him warmly.
“Where did you find him?” She asked her friends and they all pointed to Fluttershy who smiled bashfully.
“Fluttershy has been finding all of our pets since we got back.” Pinkie Pie told them and she motioned behind her to where Gummy the Alligator, Angel bunny, Winona the dog, Opalescence the cat and Tank the tortoise were all bouncing around merrily. Meanwhile Owlowicious had taken an all-consuming interest in Scotty. He fluttered up to the pegasus’ muzzle and said
“Who?” Scotty smiled warmly and pointed to himself with a hoof.
“My name’s Scotty, I’m going to be staying with you guys from now on. That is, if that’s Ok with you of course.” The owl stared unblinkingly into Scotty’s eyes for a moment more before becoming seemingly satisfied and hooting happily as he returned to Twilight’s shoulder. Scotty smiled and turned to Rarity.
“Where are Ratty and the others?” He asked and she pointed back towards the town.
“They’re helping to remove some ruined buildings near the edge of town.” Scotty nodded and headed for the door of the tent, behind him Twilight coughed softly.
“And where do you think you’re going?” She demanded and he turned to her.
“It’s still early in the day and those houses won’t remove themselves.”
“But we’ve only just got here.” His wife protested.
“Yes, and now we’re here to help with the building of New Ponyville. Twilight, you know what I’m like, I don’t like sitting around when I could be helping somepony and besides, it’s been almost three weeks since I got to hit anything.” Twilight smiled and kissed him on the cheek. He stepped out of the tent and turned back towards the building site.
Scotty reached the empty burned out shell of a house wearing a hard hat that he had borrowed from Time Turner who had scurried away, glad to be relieved from working for the day. As Scotty neared the house a rainbow blur smashed through its upper walls and its top floor flew off. An emerald green magical aura caught it and lowered it slowly to the ground. The nearest wall to him flew off of the rest of the building and slid along the ground to his hooves. The house gave a groaning sound and a yell went up from the rainbow blur he had seen.
“Get out!” As pony silhouettes leapt away from the house the three remaining walls collapsed inwards, throwing up dust, ash and bits of loose rubble. When the dust cloud cleared Scotty caught sight of an orange earth pony in a Stetson hat coughing her throat out. Applejack. Scotty smiled and moved to call out to her when something slammed into his side and bowled him over. Something cyan, with a rainbow mane and tail. Rainbow Dash stood over him and beamed.
“Well, well AJ.” She called as her friend approached. “Look who finally decided to turn up!”
“Better late than never.” Applejack laughed before turning back to the rubble pile.
“Ratty dear, we’ve got company.” From a pile of bricks and ash near the centre of the building a blue head popped up like a gopher out of a hole. Ratty pulled himself out of the hole and let out the loudest whoop Scotty had ever heard.
“That was awesome! Can we knock down all of the others like that?” Scotty looked his friend up and down. From the tip of his blue horn to the end of his golden tail which was in a new choppy cut style he was covered in a layer of slate grey ash that made him seem completely colourless. Indeed he would have been if it wasn’t for his grass green eyes that shone through the dullness. He quickly trotted to a nearby water spring and rolled in it, returning to his usual royal blue colour. As he rolled he revealed a scar across his belly that was the only indication of his being stabbed by a spear some three weeks before, a wound that would have killed him had it not been for the quick thinking of Princess Luna who granted him his own element of harmony – trust. The binding between the element and himself had caused Ratty’s wound to be healed and his energy to be renewed. Scotty had also been granted his own element – courage. Ratty walked up to his friend and hoof-bumped him.
“How was the Canterbbean Mr Sparkle?” He asked smiling. Scotty laughed.
“Soft beds, warm weather and good food. It was nice enough I suppose but really, give me a good war zone any day.” Ratty laughed and put his leg around Scotty’s shoulders.
“Good to have you back.”
“Good to be back, now what are we knocking down today?” Ratty looked at him as if judging whether or not he was serious. Evidently he reached the conclusion that he was.
“This little housing district needs knocking out before tomorrow and then we can begin construction on the western side of town and work our way towards the Everfree Forest. We’ve got sixteen houses left.” Scotty nodded and said
“Well then, let’s get started.”
Between the four of them they managed to knock down about ten houses in a couple of hours with Scotty and Rainbow Dash clearing the top floors off of them while Applejack and Ratty knocked the walls in. However, when they reached the eleventh house and knocked the roof off a huge swarm of parasprites shot out from the house.
“Ratty! Put the roof back on!” Scotty yelled as he flew in a whirlwind pattern around the bugs, surrounding them and forcing them back downwards into the building as Ratty levitated the roof back on top of them. Applejack released a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding as Scotty landed next to her and the others stood next to her, breathing heavily. Scotty looked at the others and said.
“Right, we need to get to the camp and let everyone else know about this little problem.”
“… Parasprites in the western housing district?” Mayor Mare asked, disbelievingly as her messengers stood before her.
“Looks like at least three of the remaining homes are infested.” Rainbow Dash told her. The mayor turned to where Pinkie Pie and the other three girls stood on the left hand side of the tent.
“Can you lead them out of town like you did last time?” Pinkie jumped up and down.
“Absolutely tootly! But I need all of the instruments again.” The mayor nodded.
“We can ask around and see if we can gather them up for you. Can you provide a list?” Pinkie nodded so vigorously that her head became a blur.
“Yeah I need aharmonicasomedrumsatubaafluteanacordion and a pair of cymbals.” She stared out over a sea of blank faces, smiling impartially.
“Uh-huh.” Rarity said while Spike hurried to translate the gibberish he had just written. Mayor Mare sighed.
“But we still won’t be able to start construction tomorrow.” She pointed out. “We can’t afford to fall behind schedule.” Ratty shook his head sadly.
“May I be excused Mayor? I need a moment to think.” She nodded and he walked slowly from the tent. Applejack turned to Scotty imploring him to follow.
“I’d best make sure he’s alright.” With that he turned and followed his friend out of the tent.
Ratty was stood at the crest of a hill, looking out over Ponyville when Scotty found him.
“What’s up?” The red pony asked, coming to stand next to him on the hill.
“We could get rid of those parasprites by tomorrow, you know that, it’s just that our methods aren’t exactly… safe.” Scotty nodded sadly.
“I agree, we can’t use our usual methods. Not without killing the parasprites.”
“Do you have the capability to use said methods?” Asked Mayor Mare from behind them and they turned to her quickly, Ratty dropping low into a defensive stance while Scotty shot up into the air in fright. When they saw who it was who had spoken they regained their composure slightly Scotty landed slowly and shook his head sadly.
“We’d need access to our bunker on the far side of town.”
“I can permit that, and I suppose on this occasion that the death of a few parasprites might be what is necessary for all of us. Stallions, get to your bunker.”
“Scotty, are you absolutely sure you locked the hatch?” Ratty asked again as he looked at the open hatch into the bunker.
“Yes, I’m certain!” Scotty told him irritably. “Somepony… or something must have opened it since we left it to go to Los Pegasus.”
“But how? They’d need an ESS passcode.” Ratty pointed out truthfully.
“Then maybe team five or six came in here for shelter during the war.” Scotty reasoned although he never truly believed it himself. They stepped inside the bunker and were immediately overcome by the smell. It smelled like dog. Ratty turned back to look out at the fiery orange sky behind them.
“Can we try to be back at camp by nightfall?” He asked and Scotty nodded an agreement. They descended into the main dining chamber where Scotty and Ratty had made the decision to go after the zebra lord White Stripe during the war and found a large mine-cart inside. It was filled to the brim with gems. There was a hole in the wall down here, it led through into a series of tunnels. Scotty stepped close to his friend and whispered into his ear.
“Diamond Dogs.” Ratty’s eyes narrowed and he looked around, alert for any sign of attack.
“Let’s just get the equipment and get out of here, I’d rather not start a fight today.” Scotty told him.
“What about all the gear here?” Ratty asked him, keeping his voice low.
“I destroyed all the important files before we left, just in case. And any gear left here can be rebuilt.” Ratty nodded and they headed down into the cavern in which Scotty had trained the six girls for combat against Shadow. On the far side of the room was a cage that contained all of the specialised ESS equipment needed by agents. Scotty crossed over to it and typed in a code that caused the cage door to swing open. He entered and began to search through the gear for their objective. Ratty found it at the bottom of a chest. Pulling out the spell scroll, he turned to Scotty, and found that he was held slightly off of the ground by a large diamond dog. Scotty looked his friend dead in the eye and shook his head. Ratty understood; don’t attack. Scotty croaked out.
“Stop, stop. We only want to get our stuff and then we’ll leave you in peace here.”
“Ze ponies shouldn’t be takin our things.” The dog told him but he still released him. Scotty slid to the ground, coughing. Meanwhile Ratty stepped up to the dog.
“If you had just let us know that you would be coming, we would have cleaned up a bit first.” The hound looked puzzled.
“What does ze pony mean?” He scratched absent-mindedly behind his ear and Scotty stood up.
“We mean that if you let us go, we’ll let you live here without any pony interference.” The diamond dog turned to its companions and they discussed quietly before the leader turned back to them.
“Vee vill allow ze ponies to leave if zey promise to never come back here again.” Scotty looked at Ratty for a moment before turning back to the dog.
“Agreed.”
“… A diamond dog reserve on the far side of town?” Mayor Mare asked the two of them and Scotty nodded.
“Don’t worry though, it’ll be underground so it shouldn’t really affect the town itself much.” Mayor Mare nodded.
“We’ll still have to talk about that but anyway, back to our parasprite problem, did you collect your equipment from the bunker?” Ratty nodded and held up the spell scroll.
“One parasprite reversal spell. Ready for use by any unicorn available to help us out.”
“Parasprite reversal spell?” The Mayor asked.
“You remember the way that parasprites reproduce?” Scotty asked her and she nodded. “Well reverse that until there is only the one parasprite left and then poof! He disappears.” Scotty splayed his wings as he spoke, emphasising the “poof”. Twilight stepped forwards and wrapped the scroll in her magic.
“I’ll get to work on learning this before tomorrow morning.”
“Excellent, then its bed for the rest of us I think.” The Mayor said and the others all filed out of the tent.
Scotty didn’t really sleep that night, the little tent they were in was lit up by a constant magenta glow and he had to pull the covers over his head to get any darkness at all. Twilight practiced the spell for most of the night before she slid quietly into bed next to him and managed to catch a couple of hours sleep while he snored loudly. The two woke the next morning with messy manes and half closed eyes and they only just managed to scrape a breakfast before heading down into town. All of their friends were gathered around the house where they had first discovered the parasprites, waiting patiently. Good mornings were exchanged before the faces of the other ponies became serious. Twilight took a deep breath before stepping forward.
“I’m ready. Let’s do it.” Mayor Mare nodded and stepped up to a podium.
“Unicorn team, the roof!” At her words some twenty different colours of magical aura wrapped around the badly placed building top and it levitated slowly off the lower floors. As it raised off the ground parasprites swarmed out like a tidal wave of colour. Twilight strained, the magic glowing around her horn growing to the size of her head, and yet, she still couldn’t quite launch the spell. The parasprites became a colourful whirlwind that spun around the ponies, whipping their manes and tails around wildly. Seeing his wife’s struggle Scotty stepped up next to her.
“Twilight, you can do this, I know you can. Trust me, I love you.” And then he kissed her. Magic flared above their heads and hit one of the passing parasprites which promptly slid back into the nearest one’s mouth. That one slid into another’s mouth and another and another until the whirlwind slid down into a breeze before becoming a single parasprite that landed on Rarity’s nose just before popping out of existence. She wrinkled her nose and blew off the wings that remained. A cheer went up from the surrounding ponies as Scotty grinned at his wife.
Construction was soon back on track and before long the friends were toiling beneath planks, hammering nails and thatching roofs. Weeks passed without further incident and a new and revived Ponyville sprung up from the rubble around them. A long building became the library. The Cake’s new Sugarcube Corner was much larger than it had been before. Vinyl Scratch got the nightclub she desired, Rarity got a much grander boutique. Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi even built a cloud housing district above the town. Three weeks later the shell of a new town hall was stood in the centre of town with Scotty, Rarity, Rainbow and Spike inside. The others were all stood around outside when suddenly a horrible stench floated into the air around them. Nearly twenty timberwolves stepped into the clearing, surrounding the ponies stood there. Twilight and Fluttershy found themselves face to face with one and they backed up slowly. Ratty looked over his shoulder to Scotty who had about six wolves surrounding him and the others in the skeleton of the building. Ratty turned back to Applejack next to him and nodded. Then he punched the nearest wolf in the face, it fell apart quickly. Meanwhile Applejack kicked another in the face as everyone else dived at their nearest opponent. Inside the town hall Spike shattered a wolf from inside, Rarity broke one’s leg and caused it to collapse onto its face, Rainbow tripped one and uppercut another and Scotty ducked the claws of one before springing up and snapping its back. After about ten minutes all of the wolves were defeated although Fluttershy had a shallow scratch down her side. Pinkie Pie was stood panting in the background when suddenly her tail began to twitch crazily. Looking around she spotted a small crack in the support beams of the town hall and called out to Rarity.
“Rarity! Twitch-a-twitch!” Rarity’s eyes widened in sudden fear as she realised what Pinkie Pie had just told her. Suddenly a massive crack sounded out and the beam split. Twilight caught sight of her husband as he began to run out of the building but she lost sight of him as with a final groan the building gave way and collapsed onto the group inside.
Scotty had to admit, a building was actually quite a heavy object to have lying on his back. As the air slowly began to leave his lungs and his vision began to darken he began to ponder where the timberwolves had come from, had they been lying in wait for the best time to strike against the ponies or had they simply seen some tasty pony morsels and had fancied a taste. He became aware of the fact that he was still fully conscious and his mind’s pondering soon moved onto topics such as the meaning of life as he lay there waiting to black out. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to become unconscious he groaned and attempted to stand up. He failed. The weight on his back lifted suddenly and he gasped as fresh, clean, glorious air filled his lungs. Hooves wrapped around him as his hearing struggled to make sense of the rush of noise that hit his ears. Ponies were screaming and Twilight was speaking to him forcefully. He strained to hear her.
“… Get you all to hospital in Canterlot.” Without the weight on his back he tried to stand and found himself unable to. He looked down at his legs and recoiled in shock. His right foreleg was bent backwards, badly broken and his left had a deep gash in it. He felt no pain, however, an after effect of the adrenaline from the fight with the wolves. He became aware of a warm liquid running around his hooves and he forced himself to look down again, past his damaged legs, to the ground beneath. It ran red and slick with blood. He beat his wings and lifted himself out of the foul liquid but it was already stuck in his coat and tail. From the air he looked around at the destruction. Rainbow Dash was sobbing violently, her wing was badly broken. Spike was running around, seemingly unharmed. Neither of them were the pony whom all of the blood had come from. No that pony was Rarity. She was on a stretcher, her friends around her, with a large chunk of wood sticking out of her side. A team of ponies gathered around Rainbow and gently lowered her onto another stretcher while another gathered in a cluster a slight distance away from Scotty, he flew down to them and allowed them to help him into the stretcher. They gently strapped him in and carried him to a sky carriage. Twilight ran over to them and gently placed a hoof on his shoulder as he got lowered into the carriage.
“I’ll see you soon. Okay?” She said, her voice shaking slightly and her eyes streaming with tears.
“Okay.” He told her as the ponies who carried him closed the doors and shut him away from her.
The accident and emergency unit in Canterlot hospital was busy with bustling ponies as the five ponies walked inside. Twilight led the way to the reception desk. A young white unicorn mare told them that their unicorn friend was in surgery and the two pegasi were stable and down the hall in a ward, they could visit now if they wanted. The group headed for the indicated ward and found Scotty and Rainbow sitting up and smiling. They were talking to an old greyed doctor and a green unicorn with golden eyes and a navy blue mane with scarlet red streaks. His flank bore the image of a flaring flame. Scotty’s old friend Sparky. Sparky chuckled at something the doctor said and caught sight of Twilight and her friends and waved. Ratty grinned and embraced his old friend warmly while Twilight leaned in and kissed her husband. Scotty himself was strung up as if he was being crucified, his hooves wrapped up in casts and hoisted up to either side of him. He broke the kiss and smiled. The others walked up to Rainbow Dash who had her wing strapped out to one side of her body. She smiled at them as they approached, Pinkie Pie placed a box of chocolates in her lap, Fluttershy placed a vase of flowers on her bedside table and Applejack placed a brand new book on her bed.
“Saw this as we came through the town. Thought you might want a read.” Rainbow Dash turned to look at the book.
“The new Daring Do book! Awesome!” She exclaimed, her face lighting up.
“Thanks AJ!” Applejack smiled as her friend picked the book up and became lost in it. They backed off slowly and left her alone. Meanwhile the others were all stepping away, allowing Scotty to get some time alone with Twilight. Fluttershy turned to the doctor.
“How is Rarity doing?” She asked him and he smiled.
“Her wounds are not fatal, although they would have been if it wasn’t for Scotty. He pushed her out of the way just enough so that the rubble didn’t pierce anything vital, she’ll have a scar but in a couple of weeks she’ll be back to normal.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Pinkie Pie asked him and he shook his head.
“The best that you can do for now is head back to Ponyville and finish the construction there.” The group nodded and headed for the door. Ratty turned to Sparky.
“I guess this is goodbye for now.”
Sparky smiled.“Oh, I’m coming with you.”
“What?”
“I figured you could use a helping hoof. Besides, I’m tired of sitting around in Canterlot feeling sorry for myself.” Ratty nodded and Pinkie Pie jumped up and down.
“Yay, building site party!”
Over the days that followed the ponies built up the town hall and finished off the last of the housing districts. Scotty and Rainbow Dash returned as the houses were opened up for ponies to live in them. Twilight had immediately asked to borrow Rainbow’s new book and hadn’t been seen since. Pinkie Pie was the first to move into a new house. It was a pleasant little two storey detached that lay about five minutes’ walk from the new Sugarcube Corner. She decorated the outside with flower pots and hanging baskets containing flowers in seemingly every colour of the spectrum. When you walked in the door you were greeted with a living room that comfortably held two sofas, two armchairs and a coffee table. Pinkie Pie had made the area her own by adding a couple of bean bags in the blue and yellow of her cutie mark’s balloons to it. The kitchen held a dozen or so cupboards, at least half of which contained baking ingredients, two baking ovens, a sink and a cage in which Gummy the Alligator spent his nights if Pinkie Pie was out, or too drunk. The basement held the expected washing facilities but its main function was as a soundproofed party room. Pyramids of heaped up deflated balloons lay in the area along with bags of confetti, assorted party games and, lying in the corner still in plastic wrappings, a brand new party cannon. Upstairs in the house was a bathroom in which were all of the usual facilities, in bright pink. The bedroom was upstairs as well, various party outfits hung in the wardrobe for Pinkie’s use while a double bed with magenta sheets and a mattress like a trampoline took up the centre of the room.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t able to start living in her new home until her flight returned but when it eventually did she moved into a grand cloud home on the edge of town that rivalled her old home for sheer grandeur. Rainbows fell from its sides like waterfalls and small garden was even growing on the top of the cloud itself. The kitchen was well stocked with ready-made meals and other snacks, Rainbow didn’t really make much from scratch, instead preferring to buy ready-made meals or order takeaways. The living area wasn’t as well prepared as Pinkie’s as Dash never really had anyone around to visit, mostly on account of the fact that many of her friends couldn’t stand on clouds. Upstairs in the house contained a large bedroom with a large bed that had a duvet emblazoned with the emblem of the Wonderbolts and a bookshelf with every Daring Do novel ever released. Another room contained a boxing ring, trophy cabinet and walls coated in Wonderbolts memorabilia.
Rarity’s house was in her new boutique. The lower floor was dedicated to the making and selling of dresses and other outfits. The upper floors held two bedrooms; one for Sweetie Belle and one larger one for Rarity herself, it contained a large four poster bed and a small living area. There was also a small kitchen and a separate bathroom.
Fluttershy had her cottage repaired and expanded, it now held enough space for nearly twenty animals to live in. The garden was set out for growing vegetables while inside the cottage was a small kitchen along with an equally small bedroom and living area. Fluttershy officially started up a pet shop from the garden.
Twilight and Scotty’s home was in the library. The main room’s book collection was received and overseen by Sparky while Twilight and Scotty set up their living area. The main bedroom was pretty basic, the main feature that wasn’t part of the usual set of a bedroom was a telescope on a balcony. Besides the usual kitchen and bathroom, there were two other rooms; Scotty’s office which contained everything he needed for his work with the ESS as well as several photos from different places. One of him, Ratty and Sparky at Celestia’s school in Canterlot, another of him, an orange pegasus named Jocky McJock and a grass green unicorn called Fii wrapped in desert camouflage gear in Saddle Arabia. A photo of him, Twilight, her friends and the other members of his ESS strike team on the night of their wedding in Canterlot. The second room held piles of paper, quills and books along with a small bed for Spike.
The only family that still wasn’t able to move into their new home was the Apple family. Sweet Apple Acres had taken a back footing while Ponyville was being built but now it had taken the full priority of the friends. A water tower was built and filled by Rainbow, Scotty and Fluttershy. The barn was raised by Applejack, Ratty and Rarity while Sparky, Big Macintosh, Pinkie Pie and Twilight put up the farmhouse. The Apple’s move into the house was soon finalised and they became the final family to move into a home in the new Ponyville.
Two weeks and nearly twenty letters later there became one final thing to be sorted. Something Applejack had promised Ratty the day after Scotty and Twilight’s wedding. That they would be married after Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres were rebuilt. The wedding invites were sent out to all of the Apples scattered across Equestria and it took place in between the apple trees. A blanket of stars covered the sky as Applejack walked up the aisle wearing a long white dress, although the white veil had been replaced with her cowpony hat. A teal pegasus in a hat and roller-skates danced around with a camera. ESS agent Miniskate. The kiss between Applejack and Ratty was long and deep, Scotty recognised the same love and adoration that he held for Twilight in Ratty’s eyes. The reception was kept quiet, or as quiet as one of Pinkie Pie’s parties can be. Dead drunk as the sun began to rise again the friends all stumbled to the top of the rise above the town and looked down over their new home. As Twilight leaned on Scotty’s shoulder and Ratty kissed Applejack Scotty said with a smile in his voice.
“Well, now what?”