Rampant

“What the hell is that even supposed to mean, Regalia?” the captain said, tucking his wings in over his back as he stepped around the rest of the militia on the wall. “Twilight Sparkle’s tomb is in Canterlot, not here.”

Regalia threw back her mane, releasing the few wisps of gray sticking to her damp fur. Her gaze was set upon the captain through narrow eyes.

“Funny story,” Regalia said. “I was just there; she wasn’t.”

The guards surrounding her kept a distance even at spear tip. She continued, “I know that your zebra’s here, I know that she brought the elements with her, and I know that your precious Purple Heart has already left. Captain, don’t hide my prize from me.”

“I told you she’s not even here. You’d really eat a twenty-year-old stiff for this cult bullshit?” the captain scoffed.

“This isn’t a conversation, you cretin,” Regalia said, stepping closer. “It’s an ultimatum: give me Twilight or I’ll burn this fucking little hamlet just like I did Canterlot.”

The captain stood straighter, the veins in his chest flexing involuntarily. He looked down at Regalia, his tone mustered as he said, “Nopony wants to kill you, Regalia, but every single pony here is willing to do the job if that’s what it takes. You need to retreat.”

Only the corners of Regalia’s lips lifted, her orange eyes turning brighter. She lowered her voice. “If you thought you could, captain, you would already have tried. You wait in fear instead.”

“Then tell me—”

The captain looked to the sky, the heaviest clouds still coming even as rain poured over his eyes.

“—how are you going to burn us in this?”

Without looking up the same, Regalia levitated her sunglasses back over her eyes, only the wet amber tint of her lenses meeting the captain’s gaze anymore. Just loud enough for him to hear, she whispered, “Thirty minutes. Hurry.”

Her horn glowed as a rush of wind burst around her again, and she vanished in another flare. The militia lowered their spears slowly, unevenly, as they all looked wide-eyed amongst each other.

One of the senior guards sidled up to the captain, patting his mustache quick and hard as he said, “Sir, that bit about the zebra—you think it was true? We’ve all heard some rumors through the grapevine recently, sir.”

“I don’t give a shit about the zebra,” the captain said. “Our job is keeping the bloodthirsty dipshits outside right where they are, nothing more. Now get me a flier you can spare from the defense—I have a mission for them.”

Rampant

Ponyville, Part Five

Ch. 6: The Fight Feels Right

At the forefront of Schoolhouse Plaza, built atop an old boutique at the forefront of the square, was the Rarity Memorial Building. A marble bell tower rose high over it, the spire hanging above all else in Ponyville. Applejack glanced up at it briefly from her constant inspection of the ground as she was walked to the gallows in the middle of the plaza.

The purple flowers sprinkled around the stage failed to bring a smile to her either, though her muzzle would hide it anyway. A small contingent from the militia were in position in front of the gallows, two lines standing at attention from each corner of the stage. Only three other guards led Applejack up the gallows, the steps creaking under each hoof. They stopped her right before the noose. She glanced at that, too, as they lifted it around her head.

The only other sound breaking through the rain was the approaching splashes of mud. Several larger colts galloped out from one of the wider streets into the plaza, the mayor’s carriage in tow. They rolled to a stop just by the stairs up the gallows, which Posh Virtue stepped out onto under a waiting umbrella. He walked up the steps, turning not to Applejack, but the two rows of students before him.

“Though I find it a true pity only such a small audience could bear witness today,” Virtue said, his mane swishing as he gestured a hoof wide, “our duty here remains not merely important, but vital. This criminal attacked your fellow students, nearly tried to kill them, all because she lost control of her higher self. She fell to bloodlust. Thus, her execution is a moral—”

“—Nope!”

The mayor paused, his hoof still high in the air. Silver Lining came around from the opposite street as Virtue, with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in tow. Though Line’s hat looked about ready to collapse under the rain’s battery, he strode right up the rows of militia with a cocky-ass grin. Line cried, “There’s nothin’ moral ‘bout it, Posh! Looks like we made it right on time.”

Virtue lowered his hoof and sighed. “Breaking curfew, interrupting an official ceremony, and acting like an ass, as always. What’s your excuse for this, Lining?”

“We came to stop you from makin’ a huge mistake,” Line said, matting the brim of his hat with a fresh coat of mud as he pushed it back. “That pony’s more important than you think.”

“Terrible excuse. I’m afraid you’re all under arrest.”

“—Nope!”

The mayor frowned as he looked toward the sky next, Rainbow Dash swooping down from around the bell tower with a smirk even shittier than Line’s, Twilight Sparkle clutched in the crooks of her legs. Rainbow dived toward the stage, too fast for any of the garrison to shield the mayor—and dropped Twilight on the other side of it, a meter away from Virtue. Before any of the students could scramble up to grab her, nor even the guards already on stage, Twilight turned to the crowd.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle!”

Virtue’s gaze remained the same upon her, but the students’ charge halted. Twilight looked around at each of them as she spoke.

“While I’m sure you all know Fluttershy and her son, the other ponies with me are Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie—and the pony you’re about to murder is Applejack! And despite that all sounding a little bit impossible, I admit—”

She turned her hoof to the mayor, looking him right in the eyes.

“—he knows it’s true. Zecora, the zebra you have in jail right now, brought us back from the grave to help Equestria one more time.”

All the militia turned their stare from Twilight to Virtue. The mayor shook his head with a tut, looking back only to Twilight as he said, “Complete poppycock. Boys, end this.”

Before Twilight could say anything more, the guard nearest to her lifted a hoof to her shoulder and pushed her off the gallows. Even as she splashed to the earth, sputtering and scrambling back around, another guard beside Applejack tightened the noose and gripped the lever by where she would be dropped. Fluttershy screamed, Line ran forward, Rainbow dived again—

—but no one got there in time. The boards beneath Applejack fell, and she dropped a breath after. Even as she let herself go, Applejack lifted her chin before the rope held taut—and she looked across to Fluttershy. As the rope reached its end, Applejack closed her eyes as her head tilted back involuntarily with a snap, her neck bouncing against the noose.

She opened her eyes again a second later, looking around as she dangled below the gallows. Twilight gaped back at her foremost, not even shaking the mud out of her mane. Applejack looked back down at herself, wiggling her hooves as she mumbled, “Oh.”

No one else moved. Some didn’t breathe. Even Fluttershy had paused her bawl, staring out from tear-soaked hooves cupped under her eyes. Pinkie just shrugged.

Though muffled through both her muzzle and the rain, Applejack said as well she could, “Sorry to worry y’all, I guess.”

“Oh,” Line repeated, his own hooves in the faces of the militia who had stopped his charge. “Uh, I knew that’d happen.”

Twilight turned to Virtue, who was only leering back down, a tic just visible in his eye. Pushing herself up, Twilight said, “Proof enough for you?”

The mayor narrowed his eyes.

“We came to bring peace back to Equestria,” Twilight continued, turning back to all the students on the ground with her. “That means stopping the bloodlust, and for that, we need help! I don’t think we can do it by just ourselves this time, but together we can all end this madness.”

“Heads up, Twilight!”

Rainbow was still circling above, but there was another pegasus in the sky diving toward the crowd. He slammed onto the gallows with all four hooves at once, right where Twilight had stood, rattling the whole platform. He straightened his tie before looking out to everyone, his face even straighter, and said, “Pardon me, sorry, I just need a moment with—”

“Rainy?”

Fluttershy was crying again, but she had some control back in her voice. Raindawn noticed her the same time even through his bleary gaze, waving generously at her as he called, “Hi, Mom! Hi, Silver! I’m here on school business, sorry, I just need to give a message to Mayor Virtue.”

Virtue sighed through his teeth as he rolled his eyes. “Gods, what now?”

“It’s so wonderful to see you again, Rainy!” Fluttershy cried, waving a slower hoof.

As he let the militia push him away again, Line stepped back to Fluttershy. He put a hoof around her, hugging her tight, and whispered, “Just let him get done what he needs, Ma. Better not to get him involved.”

Raindawn trotted up to the mayor’s ear and lifted a hoof to cover his whispers. Virtue tilted down for him, a polite silence settling over everyone else for the few seconds he listened. As Raindawn pulled away, Virtue turned back to Twilight. To Raindawn, he said, “Dismissed.”

Raindawn waved to his family again before he took off through the downpour, but Virtue ignored his exit. Instead, Virtue’s horn glowed, the silver aura of his magic surrounding Twilight the same as it lifted her out of the mud. As she rose, Virtue said, “Twilight, correct?”

“Hey—!” she sputtered, flailing her hooves against empty air.

Virtue swiped the mud off from her with a couple gestures of his head as she floated before him. He pulled her close to his gaze, and his voice rose with every word as he said, “That sounds like quite the noble cause you’ve found, Miss Twilight. Genuinely inspiring. Except for one in your band already committing a vicious attack on my people, and your own treachery against my entire town!”

A murmur spread through the militia. Before Twilight could defend anything, Virtue continued, “The corpse eaters outside our gates are here for you, Twilight Sparkle! Already you’re their ally, leading them here to us!”

Line squeezed his mother again, even his eyes widening. Pinkie pursed her lips and said, “Ooh, uh-oh.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Twilight said, her dignity still beating out desperation. “We had to escape from them in Canterlot, but nopony followed us from there! That isn’t our fault!”

“Oh? Do you even know what it is that corpse eaters do, then?” Virtue said, his scowl folding into a smirk. “They don’t just eat corpses, they eat unicorns. They believe the flesh of you or I grants them our magical power when they feast upon it. And you, Miss Twilight, a true delicacy, legend enough to make them salivate—you say this isn’t your fault?”

The glow around her brightened, and Virtue lurched her forward, thrusting his horn through her skull in the same instant. Twilight rasped, her pupils dilating even as her eyes widened, as the mayor peeled her off again and tossed her back into the mud. The militia around scattered back in a circle as she splashed in the center of them.

“Give her to them,” Virtue said, the glow subsiding as he turned to his bodyguard for a cloth. “Let her body end this madness, if that’s what she wished. We needn’t let more blood spill today.”

“What the—hey!”

The mayor turned around once more, his smirk subsiding even faster. Twilight sat up, wiping the mud off herself as she felt around the hole beneath her horn. She scowled just as darkly as Virtue and shouted, “That was completely uncalled for!”

Virtue’s jaw remained slack before any proper response came to rest in his mind. He muttered, “What the fuck?”

-

Just a few streets down, the front door to the jail slammed open and a mortally damaged Jenkins trotted inside. He made no greeting, nor even looked to either jailor as Rock and Frills both hopped out of their chairs, blocking his path with a glower.

Frills tilted her head up as Jenkins approached, stopping him with a smack of her hoof onto his shoulder. Even as she eyed the holes in his neck and head, Frills growled, “Buddy, you better turn the fuck around and walk—”

Without even looking at her, Jenkins returned the gesture with his own hoof into her side—and hurled her back across her desk, papers flying in her wake as she crashed over the other side. Rock didn’t hesitate with a swing in response, but Jenkins caught the hoof and smashed Rock over to the opposite wall. Unimpeded, Jenkins continued toward the cells.

Zecora looked past the bars even before she heard his hoofsteps echoing. Jenkins stopped in front of her cell, a green aura already slithering around his neck as new skin closed up the hole in his throat. As breath reached his lungs again, he stared in at her and said, “I felt your call.”

“Good,” Zecora said. “Open the door.”

Instead of turning back to find the key, Jenkins hopped up, lifting both his forehooves around the bars, and tugged. Despite a good effort, the iron only creaked at his struggle. He slumped his shoulders, and his ears folded back. “Maybe the key after all?”

Zecora shook her head. “Do not tug; pull.”

Jenkins flexed again as he pulled, the iron flexing as well. The same green aura twisted all around him, this time emanating from Zecora’s body, sweat beading up on her forehead as she focused the aura upon him. Jenkins dug in his stance, cracks in the concrete slivering away from where his hooves were rooted, and with a worse creak, the iron bent—and a second later ripped away, every hinge snapping as Jenkins threw the door down the row of cells, bouncing with a clatter.

“Wow, uh, wow,” he said, marveling at himself as the aura dissipated again. “Seriously, did you see that? That was really impressive.”

“Indeed,” Zecora said, withholding a pant from her breath even as her posture fell. “Now come to me.”

Jenkins walked up before her, and with just enough slack in her chains, Zecora touched her head to his—the aura came back, and the hole in his brain filled up until even the skin was replaced over it. Jenkins felt it over, shaking his head as he chuckled, “Wow, that’s really impressive, too. Who are you, anyway?”

Zecora closed her eyes as her breaths grew heavier. After several seconds, she said, “We do not—we do not need to know each other yet. You are needed elsewhere.”

Jenkins shrugged. “That sounds fair to me.”

“Good,” Zecora said. “Now release me.”

Though not in the cells with them, but at the door leading in from the office, Frills pulled her ear away. Rock, who was still nursing a bruise on his head, kept his voice low and asked, “Time to go?”

Frills begrudged a smirk. “Time to go.”

-

Virtue’s bodyguard, still on the steps of the gallows behind the mayor, spoke up next. He thrusted a hoof outward to Twilight, and said with only a marginal wavering in his voice, “Dead or not, they’re still criminals—enemies of Ponyville! Don’t let them get away!”

Twilight didn’t look to him as she got up, but to Applejack. Pointing her horn at the noose, Twilight focused her magic with a purple glow and pulled the rope off, letting her friend fall harmlessly to the mud below.

At the rear of the pack, Line ushered back Fluttershy and Pinkie as the militia spread their formation around all three, but no one yet moved on them. Twilight was still surrounded at the front, and despite her distraction freeing Applejack from her muzzle, the students around her held back the same—only one moved, a mare who would usually be studying music theory right now. She stepped up behind Twilight.

“Not so tough,” the mare muttered through a grimace, crouching her knees for the strike.

Rainbow made landfall directly atop her, more mud cascading around the music theory mare’s face as it was smashed straight into the earth. The rest of the militia took a moment to process the descent, only another two students fast enough to leap at Rainbow. She moved again the same instant they did—Rainbow kicked one student in the gut right back to the rest, and she caught the other one just as he grabbed her, rolling him through the air onto his back.

In just a couple of seconds, the other students stunned into only watching, Rainbow straddled her prey around the torso and bashed her hoof into his cheek—his head nearly bounced back from the mud as the punch reverberated through his skull. Rainbow smashed her other hoof into his other cheek the same moment, each further move landing with a whunk clear enough for everyone around to hear.

She stopped only after seconds more of the assault, smirking up at her encircling audience as she climbed off of the unconscious colt. Still breathing easy, Rainbow said, “Come on, who’s next? I can keep going forever!”

Even the students around Line had paused to watch. Having completely freed Applejack, Twilight picked herself back up and ignored Rainbow’s show as she glared at the mayor. Virtue met her gaze with a matching frown.

“Seems this bunch will take a bit more effort,” he called out to the militia. “You’re excused.”

Another murmur spread through the students, several of them darting the same wide-eyed look amongst each other. Virtue lifted a hoof to the umbrella still hovering over him, pushing even that away as he bellowed, “That means leave us!”

Flinching at his voice, Virtue’s guard pulled back the umbrella and flapped it shut, turning back to the carriage and hopping inside just as the runners in front got a move on. The militia scattered, their three beaten members grabbed up and carried along as everyone picked a different direction to flee. Line held close to Fluttershy as Applejack weaved toward them and Pinkie through the rush.

Virtue stepped up to the edge of the gallows, rain now dripping off both ends of his mustache. His gaze turned from Twilight, to Line, then to Applejack as she arrived in Fluttershy’s embrace. Looking back to Twilight, he said, “What are you going to do now, then? Eh? What are you really here for?”

“We’re going to stop the bloodlust—even without your help, if that’s what it takes,” Twilight said, bracing her hind legs deeper in the mud.

“You and the zebra,” Virtue said. “What is the zebra’s plan? What was the actual purpose in her helping us at all?”

Twilight raised her neck. “Wait, what did she what?”

Virtue rolled his head back in a sigh. “You’re just her pawns, then? I suppose I should have realized that already for all your useless blustering. Seems we still have many questions to drag out of the zebra. But from you—”

The mayor smirked.

“—I’m afraid I have nothing more to ask.”

Twilight stumbled before she could respond—the mud around her hooves flowed away from her, toward and past the mayor, coming together with all the rest in the plaza. The wet earth glowed a hint of silver, the same as Virtue’s horn, as it swept over the gallows, Virtue rising on top of it as the heap grew upward.

Even Rainbow stepped back. An indistinct head rose out of the very top of the colossus before arms sprouted out of its sides, then hands from those. The golem kept rising as all the mud in the plaza joined it, leaving only stones and clay beneath, until the golem stood taller than everything but the bell tower behind it. Virtue leered down from its shoulder, his smirk widening as he surveyed below one more time.

“Fluttershy,” he called, “be a dear and scurry on to jail with your son; I’ll let you two live. Consider it a favor.”

Applejack held firm to Fluttershy, scowling back up at the mayor even as Fluttershy drew back, but it was Line who spoke up. Patting a hoof on his mother’s shoulder, he called back, “Sorry, Posh, but we already got other plans.”

Rainbow twisted her head over each side of her neck, a nice crick out from each way, as she stepped back up to Twilight and glared with her. “Like Plan C: kicking your ass.”

Line and Applejack on either side of Fluttershy, they turned her around toward one of the paths out of the plaza. Fluttershy looked back and stuttered, “But—but Twilight, Rainbow Dash—”

“Don't worry about it!” Pinkie said, following them at a skip. “I think those two can handle Mister Mayor Bigpants juuust fine.”

Line looked back as he and the others rounded the corner, saluting a hoof to Twilight and Rainbow despite their backs turned to him; a moment later, only three ponies remained in the plaza. Twilight narrowed her gaze back at Virtue, widening her stance as the very tip of her horn glowed bright. She scowled.

Rainbow grinned. With one flap and a bolt of color where she stood a moment ago, she rocketed toward Virtue—and crashed flat into a brick wall raised just before him just as quickly. Virtue peeked around the wall as Rainbow pushed herself back into the air, and he said, “I’m sorry, was that your attempt at a frontal assault? You should try again.”

A purple spark shot past his head next. The mayor didn’t move, but he sank the bricks back into his golem’s shoulder as he looked down to Twilight. “And that? What was that, a combat spell? Pathetic.”

Darting through the rain behind Virtue, Rainbow tucked her legs close and streaked forward again. The wall rose instantly behind the mayor before she could reach him, but she turned and careened to the right this time, splashing into the golem’s neck instead. She pulled her wings out from the mud first, but couldn’t regain her flight before the golem’s hand reached around and scooped her whole, flinging her to the earth with a crash and tumble.

The mayor’s wall lowered again as he lurched with his golem, tilting it forward at the chest, raising a fist over Twilight. The golem’s whole hand shifted to brick. Twilight’s gaze flitted to the fist only a moment before it came swinging atop her, but it smashed against a power bubble closing around her just as quickly.

“That shan’t save you,” Virtue snarled, leaning forward as the golem’s fist kept pressing. “One way or another, I will learn how you die.”

Twilight grimaced as her bubble compressed further in on her. Just before the spell failed, her horn flashed brighter and she disappeared, the golem’s fist crushing empty earth. She teleported a meter back, immediately shooting another spark at Virtue. He looked to her as the spark neared him, but his wall rose just too late.

The spark shot across Virtue’s face, not even scorching him. He glanced down, wiping his cheek and checking his hoof, before lowering his wall and looking back to Twilight. “Dear gods, what—is this your very best? This is how you fight me?”

“Hey!” Rainbow called from behind, pushing herself back to all fours. Despite the hard landing and one crooked wing, she flapped back into the air, still grinning. “Give me a free shot instead and we’ll see who can really fight.”

Virtue glanced back as his golem extended its hand again, swinging it around too fast for Rainbow to avoid. It grabbed her in one motion, pulling her back around as both its hands grew hard, crushing her between brick fingers. The mayor glared at her before his golem reached over Rainbow’s back, its other hand taking hold of her flapping wings—and squeezing.

“No, stop, don’t—!”

Though the pain wasn’t physical, Virtue sneered at Rainbow as she cried out. The golem released her twisted limbs and threw her away, smashing her through the nearest building in a heap of wooden splinters and raindrops. Twilight paused her offense, looking from the mayor over to the gaping hole Rainbow had just made.

Virtue looked over as well, only shaking his head before he twisted his golem again, raising its fists high; Twilight raised her bubble again just in time for a thrashing upon it. Virtue growled, “This was your grand scheme? Fighting me with a goddamn spark? You were going to throw some fireworks at me?”

Rainbow crawled back through the wreckage in just a few seconds with a scowl, feathers floating off her wings in bundles as she tucked the mangled remains over her back. Twilight could only watch her a moment before redoubling her bubble, the mayor’s assault growing heavier.

“Do you have any idea how much magic it took to conjure this monster? All of it, wasted on you!” Virtue cried. “You wouldn’t be able to fight a fucking squirrel!”

Twilight’s frown changed as her gaze kept darting back over to Rainbow, the tips of Twilight’s mouth drawing further into a snarl. She looked back to the mayor with a sharp new focus.

Virtue wailed on her harder, each smash pressing her bubble deeper into the clay. “Do you know even one spell that can kill?”

Bricks now encompassed the golem’s entire arm, and it reared its fist higher as Twilight lowered her head, her horn glowing even brighter. The golem smashed right through her bubble, knocking all its force into the earth with a tremor.

A flash blinded Virtue before he could celebrate, and he suddenly felt his heart the clearest of anything in his body. Twilight was standing right before him, her horn sunken deep into Virtue’s chest. He looked down at her for a moment, nothing else moving but his dripping blood, before she yanked out her horn. Virtue stumbled back, the glow of his own horn fading with each of his gasps.

Twilight looked him straight in the eyes as she answered him. “I’m a fast learner, jerk.”

Blood escaped everywhere as Virtue wheezed, pressing a hoof over his heart. His wound spilled all over his pure white fur, stains he’d never get out. He fell back into the mud as the bricks sank again, his golem already melting back over the gallows.

He looked from his wound up to Twilight, unblinking as he gurgled, “You—you little bastard, you goddamn—this was her plan from the—”

Virtue slipped down the side of his collapsing golem, leaving a dirty red streak as he rolled into the plaza, mud dribbling down around him. Still gripping his chest, he breathed in sharply before he screamed, “Goddamn it, no! No!”

Twilight teleported from the slope down to just a meter from the mayor, trotting up to his body. Eyes dark, she asked him, “What did you mean when you said that Zecora helped you?”

The bluster in Virtue’s voice faded the same as the rage on his face as his breaths grew quicker. He lowered his head back to the mud, still staring at Twilight as he spluttered, “Fuck off. You’re about to die anyway….”

A huge clang echoed over his voice. Twilight looked up and saw the bell in the memorial tower ringing fast overhead, rolling to either side as quickly as its rope could be pulled. She glanced back to the mayor, the heaving in his chest at an end, and scoffed.

Rainbow walked up from behind, dragging one of her hind legs. She grinned as she tapped Twilight on the shoulder.

“I feel like that could have gone better,” Rainbow said, twitching her wings in an attempt to resettle them. “But in the end, I guess it worked out okay.”

-

Zecora stepped out from the jail, even her stoic face shivering as the rain soaked her through. She straightened herself up, breathing in deep through her nose as she closed her eyes and lifted her head. A lighter splashing met her a moment later, and she looked back to the street as Line and his group approached, Line already frowning at her. She stared him back down as he rolled his eyes.

“Y’know what, not even gonna ask how you’re already out,” Line said. “You got good timing is all. C’mon, long past time for us to get outta here.”

Zecora summed up her breath again before speaking. She said, “Agreed, but where are Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash?”

“Coverin’ our getaway,” Applejack said. “They’re dealin’ with that mayor fella right now.”

Line nodded. “Which makes our plan pretty straightforward: gettin’ out, like I said. If it’s corpse eaters outside, the south gate’s our best—”

It was then the bell started, its clanging just as clear at a distance from the plaza. The rain was nothing to its noise. Everybody turned in the direction of the bell, its tower just visible over the jail’s rooftop.

“That’s a signal to skedaddle if I ever heard one,” Pinkie said, swinging her hoof through the air. “Which I maybe haven’t, but who knows? I sure don’t. Anyway—they’re on to us!”

Other doors down the street were already opening, students clamoring outside as they looked at the bell before they could believe it. Zecora looked from them back to Line and asked, “What does the bell signal?”

Line was the only one still staring at the bell, eyes wide. His jaw hung just open. “They’re giving up. That’s the call for a town-wide evacuation….”

“Then our plan has not changed,” Zecora said, stepping beside Pinkie. “We must go.”

“It has changed,” Line said, setting his jaw again. “The corpse eaters really did follow you here, and once we get out, they’ll still be on our tails! They must got an army out there!”

“Oh, goodness,” Fluttershy gasped. “What about the rest of Ponyville? What about everypony else?”

Applejack frowned. “We get Twi, get Rainbow, then get outta town—unless we really need somepony else too, they’re on their own.”

Fluttershy raised a hoof to her cheek at the thought, tufting her eyebrows as she looked around the street. Even as Line put a hoof on her shoulder, gently tugging, Fluttershy’s eyes widened again—not at any one pony there, but for one she remembered.

“Wait, no,” she said, shaking her head. “Rainy—Rainy! He’s part of the militia, he might have to fight!”

Line pulled his hoof back off her shoulder, cocking a half-grin. He pushed back his hat only a little, glancing around to everyone else before turning back to his mother. “Y’all go on with the rest of the plan, then. Don’t you worry, Ma, I’ll get him; our whole family’s gonna make it out of this just fine.”