Frostpony: Of Hounds & Horses

“Hi!” The brawny terrier waved over to her.

Rini let out a small laugh as equal parts relief and joy washed over her. Tail wagging with glee and her eyes swelling with painful delight.

Yet what was supposed to be a pure, unchallenged moment of joy for her was tainted by something else. Butterflies gathered in her stomach, her head span and the vivid memories of the accident came creeping back.

She’d seen him fall, heard him scream, and felt the crash.

Now he was just…here. In front of her. As if nothing had happened.

It felt so surreal, to be staring her friend in the eye so soon.

She turned to Riley, her voice trembling with emotion as her mother stood up. “It…actually worked?” She returned a grin and nodded.

“Went dumpster diving through a closed window right after waking up, but yeah, it worked.”

Rini’s smile waned and she looked back at Brambles with concern, whom thankfully she read as unharmed, healthy even. “I thought the trash bags would break my fall! How was I supposed to know they’d frozen?” He shrugged, sensing her judgmental gaze.

Wordlessly, Rini manoeuvred around the table with a smile, big and bright. Quickly she enveloped Brambles in a tight hug that caught the comparatively large dog off guard.

“You dumbass.” She sqeaked, stress welling up and streaking down her face. “Don’t scare me like that again, please.”

Brambles nodded and patted her back with a free paw. Returning a smile of his own. “I’ll try Rini, I’ll try.”

Gale climbed and rested both front hooves onto the table beside Riley, speaking just loud enough to be heard over the room. “A whole half bottle huh?” He playfully spoke.

“Wanted to play it safe, didn’t think it’d make him go wacko.”

“That’s what happens when you get high off magic. Though I guess it worked out in the end.” He turned to her but she didn’t make eye contact, instead continuing to stare at the two. “You know, he could’ve probably had his heart pop or his lung collapsed, and the aftereffects would’ve taken care of it.”

Now Riley turned to him, stricken by awe. “Seriously? I didn’t realise pony magic could be so powerful.”

“Speak for yourself!” He smiled, “If half o’ what Rini’s said is true, Diamidia could be roaming around in giant moving cities within a few years. They already have that landship.”

“Moving cities?” Riley snigged, trying in vain to hide her smile. “They can barely keep that thing running!”

“I’m just saying, magic’s no longer the go to problem solver anymore.”

The brief joy that surrounded Riley quicked faded, and she prepared to respond only to cut herself from doing so. After everything that’d happened, everything she’d seen and all the machinery that now surrounded…

She wasn’t so quick to abject, not anymore.

Instead, she hung her head low and turned away. “Yeah…I guess you're right.”

Gale set a hoof on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her, also sharing in that momentary sorrow of days gone. Riley would soon turn to him however, her voice low and wanting. “You…uh, wouldn’t happen to know more about magical items, would you?”

“Plenty Mrs. Riley, have something specific for me?”

She’d nod, ducking under the table to pull out a lockbox before inserting a short code. Inside were a few loose items but the one of interest she presented was a pair of rings with glowing gemstones.

Gale’s eyes widened and he grinned. His reaction promised Riley some emotional reprieve. “So what are they?”

Just as he opened his mouth and prepared to speak, he was interrupted by a pat on the back. Gale turned around and saw the other two Diamidians smiling at him and Riley.

He snapped his head in both directions, torn between Riley and Rini for attention before conceding with a sigh.

To his credit Rini wasn’t giving him her full attention either, at least not yet. Instead she was bouncing her gaze between him and the planning table.

Two homemade maps lay upon it, the first being that of Cherrywood’s town jail and the other of the Scrapyard. The jail map had its pieces cleared away and moved to the other map, which Corn Kernel was adjusting. That one she was paying more attention to but quickly turned to Gale.

“Been busy?” Rini stood on her side. “Place wasn’t this packed when I arrived.”

Gale turned to her and his expression soured, now more sheepish suddenly. “Y-Yeah, you can say that.”

She raised an eyebrow and glanced over the crowds, a veritable herd of colours. “Right…is this eveypony in town? Or do you have plans to stage a breakout at the jail?”

He suddenly winced and his ears drooped, the air suddenly changing like a light switch. “This…this is everypony Rini. Everypony from the jail.”

“W-What?...”

She casted a second gaze over the room. The entirety of half a town’s population stuffed into this overcrampt cellar, or rather, the remains of that half. All the kids, the elders, the bakers, farmers, carpenters, all of them.

Yet they were still too few.

“N-No, this can’t be it, this can’t be all of you.” She snapped back to Gale. “This can’t be half of Cherrywood!”

“It…it..” His voice cracked, horror washing his coat white. “It is. The jail Rini, they were already s-sending ponies away. W-We saved who we could but…” He turned to her, yet refrained from making eye contact. “N-No, no, It’s too much.”

Rini lowered her voice and hunched over the table, trying to look him dead on. “Gale? What is it?”

“I…I’d rather not say. Ya don’t need to hear it.”

She raised an eyebrow but pulled back. Whatever happened was troubling him just thinking about it, and after her brief shock with Brambles’ crate encounter, she figured it best not to pry. Still, it unnerved her to see Gale like this just from bringing it up.

Nevermind him helping a breakout with only one wing.

“Whatever he found, it can’t be good. The soldiers are up to something dirty.”

Part of her wanted to press further, to know how far this whole thing went…yet she also dreaded the answer.

“Probably best I let him tell me in his own time.”

“Rini?” Corn Kernel called, stood across the table. “Think you can help with this?” He gestured towards the map.

With a nod she stood tall and addressed him. “Right, what do you need?”

“Information for starters. What’s going on at the Scrapyard?”

Ponies were gathering around them. Some curious, some nervous, others gently flew overhead and observed. For a moment Rini felt the crowds close in and had to steel herself, trying to keep her past experience behind her.

“They’re just ponies Rini, they're not trying to pressure you into taking drugs.”

She looked between Riley and Brambles, taking a deep breath.

“Okay, where to start?” She looked over the map, taking a few tiny wooden chess pieces and placing them around. Marking down guard towers, the camp, the multi-purpose building and its Steamhub. There were many more details she cleared up on the map, rubbing out some areas and drawing her own, as crude as it was.

The Rustbucket was represented with an actual metal bucket, the small fancy kind she’d seen used to serve fries. Toy soldiers in place of actual soldiers, wooden blocks to help mark pathways through the scraps, and sticky notes with all kinds of information listed upon them.

And she still wasn’t done.

“-And lastly some mastiffs use them for heavy labour. Haven’t seen them running around with guns so I reckon they’d be using clubs.”

Corn nodded and rubbed his chin, contemplating. “After our stunt they might bump up security. We were able to subdue all the guards and get everypony out without any fuss, but I doubt they’ll be happy walking into an empty jail.”

“I dunno, they’re all doped up on some kind of wonder drug. It does all kinds of things so I think it depends on the breed, but most commonly, makes em relax.”

Corn raised an eye at that, but little more. “We’ll have to treat it as an absolute. Counting on the mistakes of others won’t be enough.” Rini nodded, he was very matter of fact and she couldn’t argue.

If anything it proved what she said next.

“That reminds me, the military’s gunning to leave town soon. For days they’ve been encouraging us to work longer hours and today they’ve had enough. They’re forcing workers into overtime now.”

Several of the ponies around them grimaced, Corn being one of them. “Damn it! How much time do we have?”

Rini rubbed the back of her head, recalling her notebook and her efforts from that day. “Vehicle bay’s fully fueled and mostly repaired. I’ve tinkered with a lot of their stuff but now only a pawful of auto-bodies need work. At their current rate?...”

She grimaced and took a deep breath, hesitant to state her claim but knowing full well she had to. There were so many eyes upon her, so many souls banking on what she knew. Their futures lay uncertain otherwise.

It almost crushed her to say it.

“I think we'll have to leave tomorrow night.”

A series of audible gasps filled the air around her, followed by a silence as they switched from her to Corn.

“That’s absurd!” One pony said aloud, “We’re nowhere near ready! What if there’s still others in town?”

“And what if we get caught down here? No way we’ll get broken out a second time.” Another objected.

“Do we even have enough supplies to go anywhere? We’d never survive out there on our own.” A third raised further concerns.

Voice began to rise, emotions swelling up and all kinds of arguments and counter arguments aired across the table.

Corn Kernel let out a loud whistle to regain control, likely moments away from the emotions of the few spreading beyond his efforts.

“Listen!” He called out, “I know it’s not ideal, but it’s our best option. If we don’t take this chance we might not get another like it!” He raised a hoof into the air and glided it across the map, countless others fixated upon him.

“First off, the guards. There’s clearly too many for everypony to sneak into the Rustbucket. We’re going to get noticed. Even if we somehow get in, the moment we start moving the whole town will be after us.”

“Oh come on,” Riley spoke, in an almost mocking tone. “You could grab any of these guys, throw their brains down a razorblade and it’d look like a marble rolling down a four lane highway.”

A few quiet snickers rang out around them, but Corn seemed none too happy. “Not helping Miss Riley.”

Rini raised a paw. “I can help with that!” She then turned towards Riley, grinning. “But I’ll need your bag of ground coffee.”

“W-What? Why?”

She dug into her coat and from her pocket, slowly withdrew a large bottle, just enough to show off before putting it back.

All parties connected the dots and stared at her wide eyed.

“Miss Riley?” Spoke Corn. “Your daughter is devious.”

“Runs in the family.” She replied, equally shocked. Her frown slowly twisted into a likewise grin similar to Rini’s, and she looked over to Corn. “There’s gonna be a lot to pack up, think your folk can handle it?”

He nodded to her and turned back to Rini. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a plan for all the auto-wagons they’ll send to, right?”

Only for Gale to tap his shoulder and nod, confirming it. “Forgot so quickly?”

“Ehh…” He found Rini giving him the most cheeky of grins, complete with squinted eyes that only promised the gleeful torment of others.

At that moment, it didn’t matter if the ponies actually trusted her, or if this plan had any actual chance of working.

Because Rini was going to be such a bad girl.