Rampant

A clang echoed through the cells as a prison guard shut the door on Zecora. Three chains were clutched around each of her legs now, and a much larger manacle locked to the ceiling encased her neck. The chains were thicker even than the iron on the cell bars.

Zecora offered no protest, but tugged her neck—the manacle didn’t budge. She said, “Am I to sleep like this?”

“If you can,” one of the guards chuckled, his horn glowing as he locked the door tight. “You should just be glad that you’re not sharing a cell with the cannibal.”

“A corpse eater? I did not realize circumstances were already so dire in this town,” Zecora said.

Both the guards, a brown colt and a pink mare, smirked at each other. The colt swung his keyring between them and looked back to Zecora, saying, “No, just an earth pony. But we caught the crazy shit just earlier today trying to take a bite out of anypony who got close to her. Ponyville hasn’t seen real bloodlust like that in a long time.”

“She’s gonna get worse than even you for it,” the mare said. “Once the bloodlust goes that far, there’s no going back.”

Zecora glanced to her side, though the walls were concrete. “And yet there is no fuss from her now.”

The colt shrugged. “Finally tired herself out. You know what? You may be a huge evil all by yourself, but you get points for going quietly. It took a long time getting her locked up.”

“She’s not tired,” the mare said, looking back to the colt. “It’s something else, like she’s straight-up lost her higher functions. You saw that look in her eyes? Can’t mistake what that was.”

The mare grinned, some delight in the corners of her smile as she looked to Zecora again. “She’s already dead inside.”

Rampant

Ponyville, Part Three

Ch. 4: Rain Is Always An Omen

Silver Lining stepped into the Light after waiting around the corner for several seconds, groaning to himself. He wiped his hooves once, only once, on the mat at the door as he looked around. Not many others were there—evening classes had started, although several shitfaced students were still loitering at the bar. Line gazed around them, but didn’t see Applejack. He grimaced as he glanced behind the bar, facing up his anger and anxiety both, and trudged over.

Kennedy Gold was polishing glasses, as none of her immediate customers had any money left to get her filling drinks. She glanced at Line and smirked, setting down her current glass as he stopped in front of her.

“This is important,” Line said. “I don’t want to chat, I don’t want to argue, an’ I’m not here to piss anypony off tonight. You seen a freckled stranger come in anytime today? Prob’ly lookin’ real out of place.”

Kennedy tapped a hoof to her chin and rolled her gaze to the ceiling, ho-humming. She kept going for several seconds.

“Can you just tell me?” Line sighed.

Kennedy looked back to him, her smirk disappearing as her lips clutched a little tighter. She said, “I don’t think I will.”

“And why the hell not?” Line said, taking a step closer to the bar.

“Because I don’t owe you any goddamn help, Silver,” Kennedy said, rearing over Line as she raised her hooves onto the counter. “I already did you a favor. Take it and leave with it.”

Line met Kennedy’s gaze squarely, lowering his voice again. He said, “This is way too important for us to get into this shit right now. Please, Gold, for the love of the gods, just tell me if you’ve seen a freckled earth pony today.”

Kennedy smirked again in an instant. “Oh, do you still use that kind of language in front of Mom?”

“Go to hell,” Line growled.

“No, thank you,” Kennedy said. “Already been.”

A hoof was slapped over Line’s shoulder before he could respond, a bunned bob of hair nuzzling against his neck as the waitress stepped up to them, her apron now gone. She grinned something small and said, “Hey, want me to get either of you a drink before I—”

“Not now!” Line hollered, nearly tipping her over as he jerked away.

“Don’t you yell at her!” Kennedy cried, arching her shoulders and she leaned closer. “Don’t you ever yell at her or any of my employees. You’re done here. Get out.”

Everyone else in the bar was staring, at least the ones conscious enough to notice. The waitress, taking several steps back as she steadied herself, still waved a simpering hoof at both the others and said, “No, it’s okay, please just—”

“Derby, I’m sorry, but I ain’t got time,” Line said, looking between both mares. “Gold, for the sake of all of us—”

“I don’t care,” Kennedy growled. “Get the hell out right now.”

Line looked back at her for seconds more, fighting himself for something to say, but Kennedy glared even harder than he. Derby kept glancing between them both, though more at her boss.

Nothing came to him. Line snorted out his nose as he nodded and turned back to the door immediately. A wide wrinkle set across his forehead as he scowled, and without turning, he said, “You’re the most selfish fuckin’ pony I know.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Kennedy called back.

Her brother didn’t respond, slamming the door on his way out instead. Kennedy shook her head, hopping off the counter as her waitress, Derby, wandered quietly to the back room to get her saddlebags. Kennedy frowned and kept polishing her glass.

-

Derby regretted stepping out the moment her hoof sunk into the mud covering the road. One of the bartenders had let her out, locking the back door behind her, and so she shored up her bags and saddled onward, keeping in mind a little saying she really liked: in the rain, no one can tell when you’re crying. Not that she was, but just in case.

It took Derby a few minutes longer than usual to arrive somewhere tonight, however. She lived in the dorms in the center of town, but she’d headed further north instead of going home, halting just before the north gate out of town. Even as she squinted back the rain, she called up, “Rainy?”

Someone else, a musclebound stallion, ambled over and leered back down at her. “It’s past your curfew, young lady. Get back home.”

“Oh, I’m a student,” Derby said. “My curfew’s later. Is Raindawn’s shift—”

“Martial curfew,” the stallion said. “Go home, now!”

Derby paused. She tilted her head even as she stammered, “No, but—what?”

The stallion rolled his eyes and turned around, barking, “Raindawn! Come get her out of here.”

His tie dangling in front of him, Raindawn peeped over the wall next. Derby stood upright again, waving a little to him as he hopped and spread his wings, flapping down into the mud with just a patter.

Derby stepped closer to him, but nodded up to the wall and asked, “What’s going on? Did something happen up there?”

“Yeah. I don’t think you can walk me home tonight,” Raindawn said, though he looked only marginally more serious than with his usual blank expression.

Derby frowned. “Rainy, you need to stop volunteering extra time! You need just as much sleep as all the rest of us, you know? And besides that, tonight is a terrible night for you to stay late.”

“I know that, but I didn’t volunteer. Why is tonight terrible for it?”

“I need somepony to talk to, and that can’t really be your sister,” Derby sighed, turning her gaze a hint away. “What if you just took a break real quick? Just a few minutes to keep a sad little mare company in this stupid weather.”

“I don’t think they’d let me,” Raindawn said.

Derby glared at him, but the expression was harmless. “Well, what is it that’s such a big deal with all you guards?”

“Corpse eaters.”

Derby paused. “How many?”

“Two, now.”

Derby clapped a hoof over her mouth.

“Yeah,” Raindawn said. He laid a hoof on Derby’s shoulder, meeting her gaze squarely. “Seems like they need everypony tonight. Just let my sister know so she’s ready to get home before the bell, will you?”

“Of course,” Derby muttered.

“And if you can swing by my mom’s place tomorrow, just to make sure she’s keeping all right during all of this,” Raindawn added.

“Of course I will,” Derby repeated.

“Also my brother, by extension.”

“Obviously!” Derby snapped, stamping her hoof back into the mud with a splotch. “I mean, if he’s even there. He was just looking for somepony back at the tavern, all tough and serious. Who knows where in Ponyville he’ll be gallivanting tomorrow.”

“So that’s what happened,” Raindawn said. “Well, he’s always been good at doing things he shouldn’t be doing. Also good at saying those things. I bet he’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, maybe he will,” Derby said, snorting a little as she rolled her eyes. “But, Rainy, forget about him a minute—what if all the corpse eaters are coming from Canterlot now? The headmaster’s already gone. Who’s going to fight them?”

Raindawn shrugged, though not without a small frown of his own. “Might be a whole invasion. Or maybe not. Either way, we’ll do what we can.”

Derby patted a hoof on his shoulder next.

“Rainy,” she said, “don’t let them keep you too late. Okay?”

“I’m sure they won’t,” Raindawn said. He smiled, patting his tie again. “And don’t let this weather get you down—it’s not that bad yet, I guess.”

-

Though the rain remained steady, the mud on the roads was getting worse. Ponyville was hardly Manehattan—the mayor had been promising cobblestone for the whole town for over a year, but enough money for such a wide project never seemed to gather at once. Line pulled his hat closer over his face and muttered further obscenities to himself as he splotched back onto the road he came from, now heading north.

Applejack was looking for family, which meant she’d be heading for Sweet Something Something. That’s how Line remembered its name. She’d either gotten lost, or she’d found exactly her destination. Neither option was better than the other. He’d try the shorter one first, which meant heading for the farm, maybe running into her on her way back. How he’d introduce himself this time, he didn’t—

Line paused as he looked at the ground. Though his previous tracks in the mud were already getting filled in by the rain, a fresher set was impressed, step for step, next to his. Line pulled his neck around slowly, following the trail, and saw them clearly going around the very next corner after the turn Line had taken toward the Light.

He sighed through his frown, then yelled, “What, they send a freshpony after me? This s’posed to be a message? Y’all are amateurs!”

It was only another second until a head poked out from around the bend, a raven-coated mare grinning easily. “Not amateur, just tired of skulking around on such a miserable night.”

As the mare trotted around the corner, matching her hoofprints with the ones already set, Line rolled his eyes. “I suppose y’all set a pair of eyes on all of us, then?”

“You know that,” the mare said, grunting as she stepped high, “—but they don’t. You don’t want to tell them, either. Sounds like they have some—oof—really interesting stuff to do, and nopony wants them to get nervous and start watching their backs while they’re doing it.”

“That’s the most half-assed threat I’ve ever heard,” Line said.

“That’s not what I’m here for!” the mare sputtered, reaching him after several long seconds. “I already know who you’re looking for, and wanted to let you know she’s already in jail. For the love of every god, just head straight there so we can both get out of the rain.”

Line pushed his hat back up, lifting his chin the same. “What the hell you lock her up for?”

“I’m not even supposed to be talking to you,” the mare said. “It’s not even supposed to be obvious that somepony was following you. If you’re not surprised when you get there, what does that make me look like?”

“I’ve had enough of these goddamn surprises today!” Line cried, shoving his face toward hers.

The mare smirked without flinching. “Well, tough shit. Let’s get going.”

Line snorted and spun himself back around, splashing through the mud at a canter. The raven mare hurried behind, following in his wider hoofprints, but splotched herself dirtier with every step. She scowled. “Oh—oh, goddammit.”

The jail was along the same road Line was already headed down. It was right next to the school, in the center of town, sort of—the whole school campus actually was the center of town, including the jail. Line was just passing the dormitories on the edge of the campus, but most students were already back inside them.

Line hesitated at the next bend in the road. Staring at the street for a moment, he turned in an alley between the dorms instead. Water from the gutters dripped harder on him, right on the back of his neck, but he bore with it. Evening classes were in session, and he’d have to pass by the classroom windows if he took the main street.

The raven pony was long out of sight by the time he had gotten back on a main road and reached the jail, though he noticed such with only a glance back. He shored up his hat and banged on the door. After half a minute and one more heavy knock, the lock clicked and the door opened to another mare, her hoof extended loosely on the door.

“Who’d you put in here earlier?” Line said.

The mare’s fur was a dirty pink. She raised her hoof to her face, black eyes drooping, and rubbed her temple. “Is that your way of asking me something nicely?”

Line lowered his head and sighed. “Can I come in, at least?”

Still rubbing, the mare stepped aside. Line trotted inside and removed his hat first, giving it a good shake before plopping it farther back over his mane. The only other pony there was another colt who was set up behind one of two large desks in the office, dull gray eyes resting easy, his muddled brown rump slumping in a well-worn chair and his hind legs on the desk.

“What do you want this late, Lining?” the colt grunted, stretching his forelegs behind his neck.

Line glanced toward a door in the back of the room. “Y’all locked somepony up today, right? Where is she?”

The mare jailor peered deeper outside before shutting the door. Turning back to Line, she said, “From who to where just like that. What happened to a ‘Hey, fellas, how y’all folks doin’ this fahhhn evenin’?”

Both the jailors grinned even as Line rolled his eyes, stepping up to the desk. He sighed, “Hello. Hi. Y’all been up to anything fun lately? Arrest anypony particularly int’restin’ today?”

“Define what you mean by interesting,” the colt jailor said.

“Lookin’ for an old friend,” Line said. “Heard she got into town today, and might have got into a scuffle at the gate. You’d know she was an out-of-towner.”

The colt jailor rolled out from his desk and hopped down, clopping around Line’s side. The mare jailor trotted around his other side until both of the pair were nearly hitched beside the cowboy.

“That does sound interesting,” the colt jailor said. “Yeah, I think we’ve got just who you’re looking for. We’ll let you see her. Follow us.”

They didn’t move. Line glanced between them both, though neither of them even blinked as they looked back at him. Line said, “Should I—”

“You go first,” the mare jailor said.

After a moment of hesitation, Line obliged. He nudged the door open ahead of the pair, both of them keeping a step behind him, and immediately in the room beyond was a slatted wooden chair. It was in the middle of a long row of cells, just a small corridor leading in front of all the cells.

“Down the left,” the colt jailor said, nudging Line onward.

Line kept at an amble, though he peered a little ahead of himself. He passed two empty cells first, then a sleeping drunkard in the next, then he stopped. The jailors stopped behind him, the mare peering around beside Line into the cell. She grinned. “Oh, is this your friend?”

Zecora looked back at all of them, glancing from one to the next. As her gaze lingered on Line, he looked from her to the chain hanging above her and said, “Not quite who I’m lookin’ for, no.”

He moved to the next cell out of sight from the zebra, and he stopped at it as well. This time, the jailors moved to either side of the cell, the mare leaning against the bars on her side. She stared only at Line, grinning wider. “What do you think?”

An earth pony was slumped in the back of the cell, only one chain around her neck. Though that was all that secured her place in the cell, a muzzle was locked all the way around her head, her jaw locked up the tightest of anything. A deep splash of dried blood bathed her whole chin underneath, and a long drizzle streaked down to her ankle. She was awake, but her eyes were only half open. Line tried to meet them, but his gaze kept moving down with the blood.

“It’s crazier than it looks,” the colt jailor said. “She kicked a fucking hole through the east gate after the guard wouldn’t let her through. He says she took one look at the field outside and turned—just like that, went full bloodlust.”

“Couple reinforcements came after the commotion,” the mare jailor said, “and you can guess what happened to them. They’re getting a few weeks off. Honestly? Wish I’d have been there to see it. What a show.”

Line’s hat had slipped over his face just a bit, but he didn’t think to correct it. He leaned a little closer to the bars, whispering, “A.J.?”

The jailors leaned over and glanced to each other behind Line, each raising half their brow, but Applejack didn’t respond at all. Her eyes were still downcast, and if she weren’t still staring at the floor, he’d have thought she was unconscious.

“A.J., you’re missing supper right now,” Line said. “Everypony’s at Fluttershy’s place, waiting for you. What do you think you’re doin’ in here?”

The mare jailor slapped a hoof on Line’s shoulder before leaning back onto the bars, saying, “She’s not getting out of here no matter how what kind of pep talk you give, you dumbass.”

Line looked back to the mare jailor. “What are you gonna do with her?”

“She’s dangerous,” the colt jailor answered for her. “Her execution’s a little before one o’clock tomorrow.”

“Your fault for getting attached to her. Shouldn’t have given her a name,” the mare jailor chuckled. “A.J., though. What does that stand for?”

Line stared at either a moment more, but looked straight back to Applejack without responding. He set one hoof on the bars and said, lowering his tone, “Listen to me. Just listen to this. Fluttershy can’t see you like this, okay? It’s been a long goddamn time and she’s always missed you. She’s gone through too much already to see you this broken. You need to pick yourself up proper now.”

Even as hard as Line stared at her, Applejack only blinked. With a growing roughness in his voice, Line continued, “You owe your friends better than this, A.J. Fluttershy’s not just gonna forget about you if I stop mentioning your name for a couple of days—she’s relying on you now. I would sooner die than let my mother see you like this, you understand?”

Applejack looked up at him, though the look in her eyes remained distant. The other mare, beside Line, pulled just a little closer to him as she inspected him rather than her prisoner. Breaking his gaze, Line whipped it to the jailor again and cried, “What?”

The mare’s eyes were narrowed carefully. Eyeing the other jailor for a moment before looking back to Line, she said, “You’re not very good at this sort of thing.”

Line said, “What are you talkin’ about now?”

“Hiding things, planning escapes,” the colt jailor answered. “How’d you say you know her again?”

Despite a faint blush in his cheeks, Line scowled and said, “Oh, for godsake—this is fuckin’ Applejack, you dipshits! This is the Element of Honesty, back from the goddamn grave, raised by the zebra you already got locked up in here! There you go. You been introduced.”

The colt and the mare said nothing, but their faces both changed the same as they each offered crooked brows. Zecora remained silent from the next cell. The colt jailor rubbed his chin and said, “Well, we both thought she looked kind of familiar.”

“Really? None of your guards recognized her?” Line sputtered, swinging a hoof wide. “No one in your whole school saw her from a picture and just went, ‘Hey, I think I seen this mare before’? Gods, what the hell did y’all even get educated for?”

The mare jailor shrugged. “History bored us. We both liked politics more.”

Line rolled his eyes and turned back to the bars, opening his jaw to growl something more, but stopped as he saw Applejack with a different look in her eyes. She wasn’t staring back at him anymore, but at something just above him. Though she stayed still, she was crying. Line glanced up, but saw nothing—except the brim of his hat. He lowered his gaze again.

“I’ve felt the shit you’re going through, y’know,” he said. “I lost somepony too important to possibly lose, but I stayed strong for the family I didn’t lose.”

Though not even Applejack’s jaw quivered, her eyes narrowed through her tears. Line put a hoof to his hat, pushing it over his ears again, and continued, “This used to be yours. You can’t have it back ‘til you pull yourself the hell together, get the hell out of here, and sit down for one lousy dinner with my mother.”

The colt jailor nudged Line next. “Her execution will be held in the plaza. If you’re willing to kill yourself staging a rescue, you’ve got about half an hour after she gets pulled out of here until she’s all gone.”

“You won’t be able to get her before then,” the mare jailor added. Her grin lessened. “This is a valuable job to us. We’re not willing to let you fuck it up for us just because she’s famous, capiche?”

Line sighed, but it wasn’t he who spoke next. From the next cell over, Zecora called, “Do not attempt a rescue for her, Silver Lining.”

The mare jailor glanced back and said, “Oh, so now she speaks again. You still have your way with the ladies, Line.”

Line glanced between Applejack to the bars of the other cell. Without any protest from Applejack, Line wandered around the mare jailor to Zecora’s cell. He tipped his hat.

“Not sure we really made introductions yet,” he said, “but I guess you already got my name. You’re Zecora, right?”

Zecora stood just as straight as earlier, her chin held high. With a slight jangling from her chains, she said, “Leave both your friend and I to our current fates. Your intentions are already far too clear.”

Line raised an eyebrow. “And what are they gonna do with you?”

Zecora looked past the edge of her cell where the mare jailor smirked. “I do not wish to chat here, Silver Lining. My trust does not extend as far as—”

A clanging interrupted her—the clanging of a bell, the time between each sounding precise, echoing deep and clear despite the wet night they clanged through. Zecora looked toward the direction of the door. The jailors both stood erect toward the same direction, all grins gone, and Line glanced the same way, but looked quickly back to Zecora as she looked back to him.

“If you trust these two,” she said, meeting his eyes, “trust me as well. Go help your other friends.”

Line said nothing in return, but shook his head slowly at her. He moved back around the mare jailor to Applejack’s cell, pushing close to the bars again. Even as the clanging continued, he muttered to her, “Whatever happens, you just be ready to say hello to my mother again with a big smile.”

Applejack’s tears had stopped, and she seemed to be looking through him again. Line pulled himself back even as the mare jailor stepped closer, ushering him away from the bars. “That’s just about as much cheese as we can take tonight, Lining. Thanks anyway for the gossip.”

Line pushed her hoof away and said, “Just don’t tell the headmaster or whoever. Scheme all you want, but keep it to yourself at least ‘til I got a plan.”

“We’re jailors, not snitches,” the colt jailor said. “Her execution will be in the plaza by the school. Do what you want.”

The clanging continued. Line said, “What, y’all are gonna hold an execution during an attack?”

The jailors glanced at each other with the same smirk. The mare answered, “We’re not worried about corpse eaters, Lining. We just follow orders. That said, it’s time for you to go.”

Taking another look into the cell, Line frowned as he saw Applejack already having lowered her gaze. The jailors nudged him away, but he paused at Zecora’s cell again. To a smirk from at least two in his audience, he bade, “I don’t trust ‘em.”

With a click of the lock behind them as Line led them back into the office, the jailor colt tossed the keys back onto his desk before plopping himself behind it again. Line was escorted to the front door by the mare. A gust whipped inside as she opened it, but only Line flinched.

“Stay safe, Lining,” the colt at the desk said, relaxing his hind hooves over his paperwork.

Line nodded back to him, then to the mare, and with a tip of his hat said, “Rock. Frills. I’ll be seein’ y’all tomorrow.”

Frills, the mare beside him, swept her hoof out and over her chest in a silly bow. She pulled herself back up even quicker, still smirking. “Better not.”

Line pulled his hat tighter and waded back into the dark toward his home. He stopped immediately, turning to the miserable raven pony huddled right beside the door to the jail.

Frills leaned her head outside, glancing down the same. The raven pony didn’t meet either of their gazes, only staring forward through a deep frown. Frills looked back up from her to Line, and before slamming the door shut, bade, “Have a safe night, ladykiller.”

-

The clanging continued. Rainbow Dash lay awake on the floor in Fluttershy’s living room in a little head-to-head-to-head formation beside Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, eyes wide open. Her forelegs were tucked over her blankie, one of a spare few Fluttershy had kept from years ago, her hind hooves—well, her knees poking out from the other end. She rolled her head over toward one of the others.

“Sure seems like Fluttershy goes to bed early,” Rainbow whispered.

Twilight wiggled her hooves over the floorboards. “Mm-hmm.”

The clanging went on. Rainbow rolled her gaze back to the ceiling.

“That was a nice meal, though,” Twilight said next.

Pinkie brushed her hooves outward, crossing them behind her head. “She’s a really great cook!”

It wasn’t like it was just the bell going at that point or anything. There were also some crickets just outside the window, which at that distance were actually quite loud. They had a peaceful rhythm going, though; something suitable for the wet night. It complemented the bell. And still it clanged.

“You think that means anything important? The clanging? I wonder if that’s important,” Rainbow whispered.

“Probably the signal for curfew,” Twilight said.

“Oh, yeah,” Rainbow said. “Hope the kid gets back soon.”

As easy as it was to say the bell clanged on, it had been going for several minutes now. Someone was having a bit too much fun clanging for that late at night.

Rainbow shifted her hooves over her blankie, flattening out the wrinkles again. She glanced back over. “Do you think we still sleep?”

“I really don’t think we do,” Twilight said.

Pinkie rolled her head over toward toward the others. “I haven’t slept in a whole year now!”

All three of them sat up, twisting around in a circle. Twilight sat the straightest, though she ducked back a moment to pull her own spare blankie over her shoulders. She tightened her gaze on the other two, keeping her voice low as she said, “Okay then, I think we should talk about our plan for tomorrow. We still have a lot to do, and probably not much time to do it, so let’s start discussing it now. We can fill in Applejack when she gets back.”

Rainbow plopped onto her flank, leaning back on her forelegs. “What are we supposed to talk about? Every part of our plan is improv.”

“Which is exactly why we should discuss it now,” Twilight said. “To speed up the process.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “We’re just gonna rummage around your library until we find a book that can help us out, Twi. How are we supposed to speed that up by brainstorming now?”

“And we’ve still got to break out Zecora,” Pinkie said, voice still a pitch higher than the others’. “After we find where she’s being held prisoner, learn the rotation of her guards’ schedule, design an escape route, make a big decoy Zecora doll, replace Zecora with that doll, then spirit Zecora away without the guards catching on for long enough that we can come back and get Fluttershy but only after having another yummy dinner in her cute little new house. Honestly, did you girls feel this carpeting? She’s got carpeting! It feels so good!”

Twilight’s head sank a bit as Pinkie fell back and made a carpet angel. Twilight sighed, “Well, what do you two suggest we do, then?”

“All I’m saying is that we can chill out for now,” Rainbow said with a grin. “We’ve got the whole night ahead of us. We can talk about whatever we want. I mean, it’s been a long time since we were together again, right? I bet we all have some stories to tell.”

Twilight slipped a bit of a smile in return, perking her chin up. “I guess you’re right. I didn’t mean to keep everything so tense, girls, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t even apologize,” Rainbow said. “That’s the whole point.”

Pinkie stopped in a few more seconds, sitting back up. She glanced between the other two, taking in the moment while everyone remained quiet. She sniffed. Rainbow leaned over, patting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder.

Everyone was smiling again, not just grinning. Rainbow said, “Do you two want to hear about the time I made out with Applejack’s brother?”

Pinkie raised her hoof. “Yes!”

Twilight widened her eyes. “What?”

The front door swung open just then and Silver Lining stepped through onto the welcome mat, wiping his hooves several times and removing very little mud from them. He glanced down at the mares and said, “Whatever the hell you were just discussin’, forget about it. We’ve got to talk.”

To Be Continued