Rampant

No one stayed outside long; it was dinnertime. The ponies in the caravan had crowded into the diamond dogs’ topmost mess hall, only five tunnels down from the plains, and lined up at the edge of the room by the serving station. Big brown mastiffs in aprons controlled the ladles. Even louder than the shrill syllables of conversation echoing through the hall was the chewing, grunting, slurping, and snorting from every table.

Applejack surveyed the room while she waited out of line by the mess hall’s entrance. For how low the ceiling hung, the room’s length was particularly unnatural. There were over a dozen tables to each row, and more than a dozen rows, each sitting sixteen dogs of varying, but mostly big, sizes. Metal panels covered the ceiling, bolted the same over the floor and walls, only a few of them stripped away to let wire-caged light bulbs dangle at intervals too far to light many faces.

Applejack took a deep breath. After their brief reunion a few minutes ago, Trixie had ushered everyone down to the mess hall, hushing Applejack the whole way. Where Trixie had gone, Applejack had no idea; she had just said to wait.

“Now then!”

Applejack jerked around at the voice talking right by her ear. There was Trixie, not even looking up while she rubbed at her clasp with a ruffle of her cape. Though her face betrayed the same wrinkles of age as Fluttershy’s, Trixie stood even prouder now than before. She said, “I’m sure we’ve both got a lot of questions to ask each other, but yours are pointless and mine are pressing. Here’s the most important: why are you here?”

Though a frown conveyed so little of what Applejack meant to express, she made one anyway and said, “Ponyville’s gone. Corpse eaters attacked, and we—”

“My condolences,” Trixie said, “but why are you here?”

“What, you mean not dead? That’s a good—”

“Not that!” Trixie snapped, dropping her tuft of cape. She looked Applejack right in the eye. “Don’t mention that here. Trust me, bad idea. I am asking why you traipsed across this godforsaken hellhole to turn your problems into my problems. Gods. Do you have any idea what concessions these doofuses will expect out of this? That was rhetorical. I know you don’t.”

A scream broke out through the mess hall, one of the mares at the front of the line cupping both hooves to her cheeks as she screeched, “They’re eating people!”

Only a few dogs nearby even looked over their shoulders at the commotion. Trixie rolled her eyes and lifted a hoof to her mouth, calling out to the line, “Oh, don’t be such a prude, it’s mostly cow.”

Applejack’s brow rose. “Cows are people.”

“Yes, well, they’re not eating us, and that’s a step in the right direction,” Trixie said to Applejack. To the servers, Trixie called, “Go and get them some hay, idiots! I know you have some back there!”

She straightened her cape and turned back to Applejack. “Continue why you’re here.”

“We’re headed to Appleloosa,” Applejack said. “These ponies need a new home. I’m not tryin’ to panic you, but like I was sayin’, corpse eaters burned up Ponyville. I don’t think they know anypony made it out, anyhow, so they shouldn’t be following us.”

“I don’t care about any corpse eaters,” Trixie said. “They’ve made it out here before, and it didn’t end well for them. Their scouts never even made it back to make a report. Don’t ask how—it wasn’t pretty. The king didn’t keep them alive for long.”

Applejack cocked her brow again. “Wait, they got a king here? How big is this operation they got goin’?”

“I was just getting to that,” Trixie said. “We’re having dinner with the king’s daughter in the next few minutes; of course the actual king isn’t here right now. Fluttershy is invited, too, and her children. You’re the closest ponies to celebrity or nobility I have available, and that’s important here.”

“Uh, I think I’m still missin’ just about every-thing you’re talkin’ about,” Applejack said. “Like, first of all: how are you an ambassador again?”

Trixie pulled closer to Applejack, stepping just into the weak light overhead. “Here’s a quick lesson in what I do here: the dogs think that I’m an ambassador. That’s what matters.”

Applejack pulled away, her voice growing sharper even as it lowered. “Trixie, you—not that I’m surprised you’re back to your lyin’ game, but we could get in a whole heap of trouble if you’re found out!”

“Oh, well, thank you for that warning,” Trixie hissed, stepping closer again. “Trixie’s been here eleven years, Applejack. I’m not doing this for me, and I damn well know the stakes. Now, where the hell is Silver Lining? He’s even more important than you.”

Applejack’s tone lightened, though her lips were still lopsided in a frown. “Silver? I guess you would know him. He, uh… didn’t make it out.”

Trixie smacked her hoof against the floor, grumbling, “Well, shit. My condolences again, and all that. All right then, okay, I can still make this work. We can still make this dinner work in our favor.”

“Our favor or your favor?” Applejack scoffed.

“I told you that I’m not doing this for me! My talents are important here, all right?” Trixie said. “Now listen: from here on out, you’re Applejack’s daughter. I can’t exactly claim you’re the original with a mane that looks that—well, not good, but… you don’t exactly look old enough to be introduced as one of the Elements of Harmony, anyway.”

Applejack fluffed her loose locks over her shoulder as she frowned, a blush coming over her. “Yeah, well, what I want to know is why I’m the only pony who’s even freaked out about it yet. It’s like, I’m sorry, did the bloodlust just make it normal for ponies to come back from the beyond?”

Trixie sighed and laid a hoof over Applejack’s shoulder. “Listen to me—Trixie has seen some shit, okay? I’ve been around here way too long to be surprised by your little reappearance. It’s not that big a deal. Everything’s going to go fine tonight, don’t worry—just follow Trixie’s lead.”

Rampant

To Appleloosa, Part Two

Ch. 9: The Claims

Applejack was given the seat second-closest to the head of the table, and she now wore a cape. Trixie sat closer, already tucking a napkin into the clasp of her own cape, and her smile suggested far more comfort than anyone else at the table. Fluttershy, Kennedy Gold, and Raindawn sat farther down the table in more capes, and on the other side was only Doberman, in a cleaner blazer than earlier, staring them all down.

The dining hall, nine tunnels down from the plains, looked like a bigger version of the miners’ mess hall, save for how empty it was. The ceiling was taller, but the lights leering over the single table were still gated in chicken wire. There were no servers, no waiters, no butlers. Applejack checked behind herself often enough to know that for sure.

Two seats down the table, Kennedy leaned onto her hoof and said, “How long are we waiting for this princess? We still haven’t eaten. We need some damn food.”

“You need some goddamn patience!” Doberman spat. “Show some fucking gratitude you’re getting food at all from us, saving you from yourselves up there.”

Kennedy rolled her eyes. “We’ll be grateful when we actually eat.”

Doberman growled back at her. Trixie, straightening her cape further, raised her voice a note higher than anyone else as she said, “Hostilities aside, Doberman, how well acquainted are you with my guests?”

Doberman tightened his brow and said, “There isn’t a goddamn thing I care to know about them, Trixie. All I care about is business tonight.”

“Excellent,” Trixie said, smiling wide. She turned to the other ponies and said, “On my right is Fluttershy, the last Element of Harmony still alive, and her children, what’s-her-face and what’s-his-name. On my left is Applejack’s daughter. The elements saved Equestria multiple times, you see, so they actually had an important function back in the day, unlike you.”

“Try harder, Trixie, I’m yawning,” Doberman scoffed, crossing his arms.

Applejack pulled at the collar of her cape even as she said, “Yeah, uh, my name is—”

“No one cares,” Trixie said, waving her hoof before pointing it to Doberman. “Ladies, gentlecolt, this dumb mutt is Yuff Doberman. He’s a dick. Be courteous, but don’t be nice, please. It goes to his head.”

Fluttershy raised herself up from her chair, saying, “It’s nice to meet you, Yuff.”

Doberman chuckled gutturally. “Go shove it up your ass, granny.”

Kennedy pushed forward over the table, leaning with a hunch as she growled, “If you keep talking to my mother that way I’m going to make you eat—”

Fluttershy tapped a hoof to Kennedy’s shoulder, pausing her. Fluttershy said, “I appreciate that very much, Gold, but I’m all right.”

Kennedy glared at Doberman even as she pulled back, both her and Fluttershy sitting down again. Applejack glanced from them to Raindawn, whose gaze remained on the table; she thought better than trying to bring him into the conversation this time. As Trixie was checking her hoof hygiene, Applejack instead looked to Doberman and asked, “So, what’s the story with you dogs coming ‘round these parts, anyway? You never said that part.”

Doberman smirked. “We take what we want, pown.”

“It was business,” Trixie added, still examining her hooves. “They bought this strip of land for their mining, as you could have guessed. I arranged it myself.”

The double doors at the far end of the hall opened just then, and a boarhound with his paws clutched behind his back padded in. Trixie lowered her hoof, glancing first to Doberman as she said to Applejack, “I’m sure we’ll discuss it more tonight, don’t you worry.”

The dog just entering wore a dark, oversized cardigan, a blue collar studded with topaz gems, and a frown he barely deigned to show. He cleared his throat and announced, “Her Majesty will be here in a minute more. I am her steward, here to ensure tonight is enjoyable for all present, but mostly for her. Ambassador Lulamoon—”

Trixie already frowned at him.

“—have you taught our guests the proper procedure for dinner with Her Majesty yet?”

Trixie rolled her eyes, waving her hoof in circles as she said, “They showed up here an hour ago, Attaboy. Dinner etiquette wasn’t at the top of my priorities to address for such a brief meeting.”

The steward, Attaboy, sighed. Despite the same hunch in his shoulders as Doberman, the same as most dogs Applejack had seen underground, Attaboy spoke with a low, raspy eloquence. He said, “Mm-hmm. Then to the table’s newcomers, let me do your ambassador’s job for her. When Her Majesty enters the room, you shall stand, and continue to stand until Her Majesty sits. When the food is served, you shall wait until Her Majesty has begun eating until you begin eating. When you speak anything to Her Majesty, do not press her for an answer; Her Majesty will respond to you if she finds it worthwhile to do that. When Her Majesty speaks, you shall be silent until she has finished. If at any point during the evening you have a question, statement, or ponderance that you are not sure is appropriate for Her Majesty, shut the fuck up. For anything else that arises, all I require is that you use your best judgment.”

Applejack raised her hoof.

“Ask your question,” Attaboy said.

Applejack lowered her hoof. “Do you got a copy of that on paper or sumpin’?”

Attaboy offered the smallest grin. “I recite it from memory. It’s one of my simplest duties.”

“No, I mean for us,” Applejack said.

Attaboy’s expression faded. A knock echoed out from behind one of the doors, and Attaboy only glanced back before sighing to Applejack, “Best judgment.”

Trixie sat up straight and Doberman pulled his blazer tighter. Attaboy gripped the handle to the door, clearing his throat again before he said, “Introducing Her Majesty Prince Cleopatra Yorkshire, Duke of the Five Burrows and heir to the diamond throne. All rise.”

Doberman was the only one to push his seat back, standing first. Applejack attempted shoving hers away, but without her hooves on the floor to brace herself, resigned to standing up on all fours in the chair itself. Trixie had already stood up in her chair, and managed to look far more elegant doing so than Applejack.

Attaboy pulled open the doors fully, stepping aside as he did, and presented the smallest dog Applejack had yet seen. And Cleopatra was not just little, but a little girl. She held her stubby arms at her sides as she entered, a bearskin robe trailing long behind her. She didn’t look to anyone else in the room, but instead kept her gaze forward, displaying only a frown—or a well-disguised pout, Applejack wondered—beneath her trimmed brow.

Only a few steps in and Cleopatra jerked to a stop, her robe stretching at one of the doors. With a remarkably high-pitched voice, she said, “I’m stuck.”

Attaboy reached down and tugged her robe away from the offending door. Cleopatra bundled a fistful into her paw and yanked it fully clear, and Attaboy shut the doors again behind her. Proceeding to her seat at the head of the table, Cleopatra shoved her paws onto the chair’s cushion and pulled herself up, patting down a booster pillow before she twisted around and plopped onto it. Attaboy came up behind her seat and tucked her robe over the back.

While everyone else sat down, Applejack raised her hoof again. Attaboy looked to her and sighed, “You don’t have to do that every time.”

Lowering her hoof and sitting down, Applejack turned toward Cleopatra and said, a note higher than she meant to, “You’re a girl.”

Trixie slapped her own forehead. Attaboy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, remaining silent. Cleopatra looked back to Applejack and said, “Yeah. Thanks.”

Fluttershy spoke up next to Applejack, her voice closer to a mumble. “But—why are you a prince, if you’re a girl?”

“Not this shit again,” Doberman grumbled. “Go ahead, waste all our time tonight asking us to explain every goddamn thing you feel like hearing about. Not like we have business to get to.”

Attaboy cleared his throat again and said, “Princesses are a pony concept. We diamond dogs only ever have one prince, and so distinguishing the prince, or the king, by gender, is uselessly aesthetic.”

Cleopatra squirmed into her seat further, tugging at the lining of her bearskin as she said, “Means I’m a big deal around here, pony. What makes you so special, prodding around up top in the sun with all your other ponies?”

“Parading,” Attaboy said. Cleopatra held up her index finger to shush him.

Trixie leaned forward next, lifting her chin as she said, “Their caravan has come from Ponyville, Your Majesty. You see, the same rebels as we’ve discussed before have been making several raids close to the town in recent days, according to the pony beside me—”

She gestured to Applejack.

“—So, in her bountiful grace and wisdom, Princess Celestia elected to send some of our fair town’s more vulnerable citizens further out of harm’s way to Appleloosa, knowing you’d see to their safe travel, just in case the rebels make any attempts to overpower the princess’s fortifications in Ponyville.”

Trixie’s guests remained silent for a long moment. Applejack stared back at her, reeling her thoughts for any mention of such a story from earlier, gaping while she did. Fluttershy stared the same, her lips ajar and brow unsure. Kennedy was slumped over her hoof, but even she frowned wide-eyed over to Trixie.

“Grace and wisdom my ass,” Doberman said, folding his arms as he leaned back. “She should have sent some more goddamn soldiers to crush those sick fuckers, make a statement.”

Trixie shook her head and tutted him before clapping her hooves onto the table. She grinned. “You would make a terrible princess, Yuff. Now, allow me to introduce my guests, Your Majesty. May I present the last living Element of Harmony, Fluttershy, and her children, uh, Raingold and Dawnboy—and beside me is Applejack’s daughter, Applejack Jr. She, in particular, can attest to the situation in Ponyville, and about the rebels’—or again, in the local parlance, ‘corpse eaters’—ultimately unsuccessful attacks.”

Doberman and Cleopatra turned the same gaze to Applejack. Applejack glanced between them, her back already pressed fully against her chair. “Uh, it’s, uh—it’s Boonehat, I guess, actually—”

“No one cares,” Trixie said. “Applejack was the Element of Honesty, you see, and her daughter Boonehat has carried on the trait admirably! Boonehat, elaborate just a bit on what happened this latest time.”

Everybody at the table locked their gazes upon her. Applejack glanced back to everyone, her gaze darting around as her head turned slowly. She pulled her hooves closer in and sat stiffer in her chair, saying, “Well, uh, you know—those darn rebels, I mean, the corpse eaters—y’know, those corpse eatin’ rebels—they were messin’ around a lot, makin’ us feel all vulnerable, so, uh… here we are.”

Cleopatra stayed quiet seconds more without responding. She scratched her ear. More intently than before, she said, “You sound real familiar, pony. You got any other family, like, say, guy ponies?”

Applejack’s frown turned genuine, but she contained most of it. “No, Miss Prince, not anymore.”

Trixie sat back down and lowered her voice as she elaborated, “Actually, Your Majesty, Fluttershy is also Silver Lining’s mother. Unfortunately, Silver—”

Cleopatra’s smile burst forth all at once, reaching up to her ears even as a blush took over. “Oh, no he didn’t! Silver already sent his mother to meet me? He thinks he’s so slick! That sly dog! He thinks he’s all impressive, like he could really ever impress me, or woo me!”

Applejack leaned over to Trixie, whispering, “What is she talkin’ about?”

Trixie’s dinner smile held its place in her expression even as she muttered back, “It’s just something most dogs go through at her age: puppy love.”

“He thinks he’s so awesome, but he’ll never take a hold of my heart and soul like he thinks he has. Oh, gosh. I remember how we met like it was yesterday,” Cleopatra said, gaze drifting to the ceiling. “It was the first time he came through here—”

“Twenty-third,” Doberman grumbled.

“Whatever! That’s basically the first!” Cleopatra snapped. “He had this big wagon full of—I dunno, stuff—hitched to him, rolling behind him. The first thing he said to me, when we sat here eating dinner and stuff, was, ‘Sure is hot around here, huh?’ That silly, he thinks he’s so smooth.”

Fluttershy teared up without a smile. Kennedy shook her head. Applejack puckered her lips back.

“But as cool as it is for Silver to finally bring me his family,” Cleopatra said, glancing to the ponies, “where is he, anyway?”

Trixie pulled in another breath, pausing a moment before explaining. She spoke slower. “Unfortunately, Your Majesty—Silver is dead.”

Cleopatra stared right through Trixie. Trixie hung her head, and everyone remained silent for the prince. Cleopatra then bundled her tiny paws into fists, eyes narrowing, and slammed the table.

“God damn it!”

All the ponies recoiled, save for Trixie. Doberman sighed under his breath, shaking his head.

“He sends his mother to meet me and then he dies?” Cleopatra yelled, her voice echoing through the hall. “Where the hell did he die? Who killed him?”

“It was a cowardly attack, Your Majesty,” Trixie said immediately, raising her head. “It was—it was a rebel scout disguised amongst the town’s guards, you see, who was collecting information before he apparently decided to assassinate Silver Lining. We can only guess his motives, as he fled Ponyville immediately, probably to report back to the main rebel branch. Cowardly.”

“That’s powns for you, never keeping an eye on your backs,” Doberman growled.

Trixie jutted a hoof toward him, saying, “Show some respect for the dead, Yuff! Silver Lining was a very—a mostly pleasant pony, and we’ll all be mourning—”

“For the holy gods, forget about that a minute!” Cleopatra cried, standing up in her booster cushion. “Where is Silver’s body right now? Has he been burned yet? Is his body rotting? How long ago did he die?”

Fluttershy’s eyes welled up deeper as she turned away, covering herself. Kennedy laid a hoof over her mother’s shoulder, then scowled at the prince and said, “Could you not bring that up?”

Cleopatra shouted, “This is important, you dumb ponies! Where’s his body?”

Applejack ducked her gaze away from Fluttershy as the old mare’s sniffles grew louder, but she heard Attaboy mutter, “Your Majesty, consider what it is you’re suggesting.”

Cleopatra yelled back, “Oh, piss off! I don’t need some talk about conser—consa—”

“Consequences.”

“Conserquences, whatever, you’re stupid!” Cleopatra said. “I’m the prince! I’m a god! I can raise Silver back to life and the consakencers can go fuck themselves in the ass with a long rusty rail! The same rail, going up each ass and cutting through their stupid fucking tummies and out their mouths to each next ass until they all die in agony and I raise them back up, just so they can go through it again!”

No one responded. Applejack turned back, unsure how to even process the outburst. Fluttershy stopped crying, jaw hanging instead. Kennedy gaped the same, and even Raindawn looked up. Trixie only shook her head in a silent tut-tut as Cleopatra’s fists bundled tighter each second.

Doberman leaned closer to the table, enunciating low, “And what would the king think if you did that, Cleopatra?”

Cleopatra still huffed her breath, but she didn’t shout back. Another moment of silence passed. She dropped her fists and sat back down, pushing further into her seat and folding her arms, scowling with her whole body. She glared at each of the ponies, but her gaze lingered on Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked back to the table, mouth still ajar.

Cleopatra poked Attaboy’s side. He leaned down to her, and she raised a paw to her mouth and whispered something into his ear. He muttered back, “‘Apologies for my outburst.’”

“Apologies for my outburst,” Cleopatra said, though the huffing still remained behind her voice. She glanced to Fluttershy again. “Condiments for your loss. Sucks.”

Fluttershy nodded through her remaining tears. Applejack leaned over the table in front of her, looking to the prince as she said, “Wait, so—what about that raisin’ thing?”

Cleopatra said nothing, but Doberman looked straight to Applejack with the same contempt as when they had first met. He growled, “Forget about that—we don’t tolerate corpses. They bring sickness. We burn them all.”

Applejack pushed back into her seat. As no one else said anything, Cleopatra smacked Attaboy again and said, “Just get the food already!”

Attaboy raised his paws and clapped twice, calling out, “Dinner is served.”

At another side of the room, a smaller set of double doors shoved open. A bulldog dressed in a double-breasted white jacket ambled into the hall wheeling a long tray of dishes, each steaming from underneath a silver dome. He grunted at each stop around the table, dropping each tray in front of the guests with a rattle and slight splat. Reaching the prince’s place, the chef set her dish down slower and lifted the lid off for her.

Applejack pulled off the lid to her own meal, as did everyone else, and grimaced. Although hay was adorned by the side of the dish, a slab of fleshy steak was oozing in the center of her plate. She gulped back the bile in her stomach.

Doberman picked up his knife and fork and cut in, sawing off a large piece of his own steak. As he gulped that down, starting on another bite, he glared at Trixie and said, “Well then, seems it’s finally time for some goddamn business. Feeding and watering forty powns isn’t cheap, Trixie. We aren’t going to be unreasonable about this, but—”

“Obviously Princess Celestia already considered your costs,” Trixie interrupted, brushing over the hay with her hoof, “and she’s graciously willing to reduce your lease for the northern gem fields by whatever’s incurred by the caravan’s stay here.”

“We want a permanent reduction,” Doberman said. “The king isn’t satisfied with what our costs are running at up here, and your pown party isn’t making that any better.”

Applejack turned to Trixie and said, “Wait, what lease, now?”

Trixie looked away from her, saying, “Just a small fee the princess collects as per the GAP Pact, nothing for you to worry about.”

Doberman sneered at Applejack and said, “Business is politics, pown; they’re one and the same. Maybe you’d do better to keep up on what’s happening under your goddamn nose.”

“I’ve told you before, Yuff, politics isn’t a game that ponies actively try to burden themselves with,” Trixie scoffed.

Kennedy spoke up again, raising her voice nearly as high as Trixie’s as she said, “Yeah, politics isn’t really our thing back home, so what we’re hearing tonight is just a little surprising to us.”

As Trixie’s face contorted every moment she tried to phrase a reply, Fluttershy looked around the table and asked, “But whatever is the GAP Pact? I still don’t know what it is.”

Doberman crossed his arms and looked to Attaboy. Cleopatra, her cheek planted into her paw with a blank frown sprawling across her face, looked next. Attaboy looked to Trixie.

“You may explain this time, Trixie. They’re your guests.”

Trixie gulped back her frown and put her pearly whites on careful display. “Well, obviously you would have heard all about it if you were at all involved in Ponyville’s political circles, but I suppose it can’t be helped that you weren’t. You see, the diamond dogs were looking to expand their mining operations some years ago, and Equestria just so happened to have some gem-heavy hills near their border, just a little north of here. Princess Celestia saw the perfect opportunity to improve relations between our nations, and offered to sell them the land here to ease their overpopulation further south, and then let them mine the hills nearby at a cost. She sent me, and the rest is history.”

Only Fluttershy smiled a little at Trixie’s answer. “Oh, Trixie, I had no idea! Congratulations at becoming an ambassador. That must have been very exciting.”

A deep, bellowing laugh echoed from Doberman. He smirked across at all the ponies and said, “That’s one way of telling the story. A real cute way. Here’s how I remember it: we found the gems in your hills, we came up, and we took them. Trixie came begging us for a deal in the name of your little princess, anything to avoid war. Our king—against my advisory—decided to take the deal, so more of our soldiers could be kept on the southern front.”

Trixie narrowed her eyes at him. Doberman leaned forward, narrowing his back at hers. Lowering his voice, he said, “We could have wiped you out instead. We could take your whole—”

Cleopatra pointed her fork at Doberman and cried, “Don’t you question the king’s decimation! I’m gonna be the king someday, and you better not act that dopey when I am!”

Attaboy coughed and said, “Decisi—”

Cleopatra jutted her fork over to him, pointing it at his belly with a deep pout. Attaboy sighed and shut his mouth.

Trixie’s horn glowed and she lifted her fork, prodding at the meat on her plate with it. She chuckled. Lowering her voice to match, she said, “Oh, but Yuff, I think you didn’t get it quite right. Diamond dogs don’t take what they want, they take what they can. At least your king understands how important it is to maintain good relations with the Princess of the Sun.”

She lifted the whole steak, staring straight at Doberman as she leaned her jaws into it and tore away a bite, chewing slowly. Applejack watched beside her while edging away in her seat.

Trixie swallowed, raising her pep as she said, “Because of how wonderful her magic is to all these lands’ inhabitants, of course!”

Doberman growled, “You’re not the only ones with magic, Trixie. You remember that.”

“I didn’t mean to even suggest it,” Trixie said, smiling again. “Business, though: I have the authority to offer a small reduction in the lease, I suppose, just for the sake of our precious bond. I can’t offer that with an immediate discount for the caravan’s costs, of course. One or the other. Your choice. Feel free to mull it over.”

Doberman pulled back in his chair, crossing his arms. He looked to Cleopatra and said, “What do you have to say to that, Your Majesty?”

Cleopatra paused while a bit of steak still dangled out of her mouth, looking back to Doberman. She slurped it up, swallowed, and said, “Am I supposed to just choose one?”

Doberman sighed. Attaboy leaned down next to Cleopatra and said, “You should consider another option to present, Your Majesty. Continue the haggling until you find a deal you think favorable.”

“Oh, okay,” Cleopatra said.

She rose and hopped onto the table, fork still in paw. Raising her chin, she pointed the fork to Trixie this time and said plainly, “Give us the hills for free or we’ll kill you and all the other ponies here, for real.”

Trixie paused, mouth hanging open a bit. She turned cautiously toward Doberman, who smirked back at her and said, “Your rebuttal?”

As the other ponies remained still, Trixie looked back to Cleopatra and said, “Trixie’s going to have to say no to every part of that.”

Cleopatra narrowed her gaze, grip tightening on her fork. She puckered her lips, spending several seconds in deep apparent thought before she lowered her arm again and turned to Doberman. Her voice rose back to its usual pitch. “Wow, she’s good! Let’s just do that reducted thing.”

Doberman rolled back in his chair, groaning silently. Trixie smiled again, levitating over a napkin to wipe her mouth as she said, “Princess Celestia will be so glad to hear that, Your Majesty! And I’m personally really looking forward to the rest of your negotiating career.”

Cleopatra climbed back down into her chair, and Applejack and the other ponies relaxed a bit. While Applejack and Kennedy looked to the hay on their plates, Fluttershy rested her hooves on the table as she stared forward. With a cocked brow and an uneasy frown, she looked to Trixie and said, “But, wait, Trixie… how can you be a Canterlot ambassador? I thought nopony had talked with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in years because they closed the gates of Canterlot, and then because of Canterlot’s siege from the corpse eaters. Maybe I missed something important, I don’t know… but how can either of them still talk with you if they’re locked away in Canterlot? And—and Ponyville—”

Fluttershy stopped. Silence from everyone. All eyes on her, Doberman’s the widest. Applejack felt like smacking a hoof over Fluttershy’s mouth, but her hooves felt too numb.

Cleopatra blinked twice. “Come again?”

Fluttershy stared blankly around at them, looking even less sure. When she glanced to her children next for an explanation, Trixie looked to the dogs and swished a hoof in circles by the side of her head with a silent whistle. A second later she switched to pointing right at Fluttershy and mouthing she’s old as shit.

Fluttershy turned back toward the head of the table. Trixie stopped and smiled something calm, saying much slower and clearer, “That’s right, Fluttershy, and we’re all hoping for the best with that nasty, nasty siege. I’m sure the princesses are going to be fine.”

Doberman settled back into his chair slowly. Fluttershy looked back to her plate, mouth ajar as her confusion settled deeper. Kennedy rubbed her mother on the shoulder and said to the rest of the table, “Maybe we should just change the subject.”

Raindawn stood up in his chair and banged his hooves onto the table, rattling the entire thing. All eyes turned to him next, and Applejack saw him only shaking as he bared his teeth through a grimace. He yelled, “Every damn time!”

Kennedy pulled her hoof away from Fluttershy, but before she could say anything Raindawn kept yelling, “Change the subject, change the subject! You’ll talk about anything but Silver!”

Applejack considered whether to say anything for a moment, and before considering enough, she blurted, “Hey, kid, you all right?”

“I am not all right!” Raindawn cried, then looking down to Kennedy. “You’ll gossip about anybody and anything but you won’t talk to me about our own family!”

Kennedy looked back to him with low eyes. “Rainy, I know what you’re going to say—”

“Then let me say it!” Raindawn spat. “You—you had all the time you wanted before you moved out, and, and—and because you didn’t get along with him, you took me with you before I could even decide what I wanted to do! I got to know him by accident when he came to visit me at school!”

Kennedy said nothing more, instead just watching Raindawn go off. Applejack watched the same. Doberman and Attaboy stayed out of it, but Cleopatra added, “I’m okay with this subject change.”

Fluttershy reached a hoof over toward Raindawn, even though Kennedy was seated between them. Fluttershy said, “Rainy, your sister did what she thought was best at the time, please don’t blame her….”

“She’s the only one to blame!” Rainy said, shaking. “If it weren’t for her we would have still been a proper family, and maybe I could have said goodbye to Silver before he died!”

Kennedy put a hoof to her forehead, closing her eyes even as she growled, “No, you couldn’t have. No one could have saved him.”

“You could have! But you ran instead! Did you even try to save Mom?”

Kennedy closed her eyes tight even though Fluttershy was the one tearing up again. Applejack looked between them all, but this time she thought of nothing even stupid to say.

Trixie lifted her voice and called out, “Maybe we already need some dessert?”

Raindawn kept his gaze on Kennedy. He shook his head, climbed down from his chair, and walked out. Kennedy didn’t even watch him leave, but Fluttershy lifted a hoof after him, sputtering without response. Applejack hopped down from her seat, too, her cape trailing behind her as she left the same way as Raindawn.

Even as Applejack followed him out, she heard Cleopatra saying to her remaining guests, “That kinda came outta nowhere, but I can see where Silver got his feisty side now. Yeah, you guys would’ve made great extended family.”

-

Applejack trotted back into the miners’ mess hall much slower than the first time, cape abandoned several tunnels ago. She wasn’t any more familiar with the tunnels, but of the two rooms she’d seen so far, she at least remembered how to get back to this one.

It was almost empty now. Only ponies still sat huddled together by a few tables close to the back, their plates all perfectly clean, not that hay left many crumbs. They were settled in, some of them even smiling by now as quiet conversation provided ambience over the buzzing of the lights overhead. No one had come to get them after the miners were finished eating, nor offered them beds.

Applejack saw Raindawn sitting by the end of the whole group, beside the mare he’d kept with the whole trip so far. His face was bowed again, the mare was rubbing him on the shoulder, and they were talking. Applejack turned for another table.

Pushing her hooves onto a bench, she climbed up and slid her legs inward, sitting on all fours. Though soreness was no longer part of her experience, Applejack could tell how stiff and ragged both the table and bench were. They weren’t meant for pony composure. Even so, she leaned heavy onto the table, drooping her head with a sigh like several others had already done.

She sat next to the lone filly of the caravan, who was already napping against her mother’s side. The mother was talking with the father, who were both bantering with a stallion across the table. Applejack didn’t stare, but her gaze flitted to everyone within sight. Some looked back to her without saying hello, discomfort written plainly across their expressions, but all the voices she heard were okay. They talked about what comforted them.

Applejack pulled her forelegs up underneath her head, resting on them like a pillow. She closed her eyes, not sleeping, just listening. The only gloom she heard was from the filly napping beside her, breath wheezing slowly from a low snore, who was muttering her last coherent thoughts.

“No airships… this place sucks….”