Cherry Berry examined the wooden building in front of her and trotted inside, silently reading off the name plates on doors as her hooves echoed on the wooden floor.

“Huh, alcoholics anonymous. When did that become a thing?” Cherry Berry wondered aloud to herself as she peered inside the empty room. “Weekends, one to five.”

“It became a thing after a drunk stallion in Manehatten walked out in front of a cab,” Mayor Mare answered from behind her. “Quite a tragic incident. Believe it or not, your sister, Berry Punch insisted we come up with it. She runs the whole thing. Claims it helped with her own sobriety.”

Cherry raised an eyebrow as she turned to face the mayor.

“Did she not tell you? Strange, she was quite proud of herself.”

“She doesn’t tell me all aspects of her life,” Cherry muttered and shifted back to the door. “That explains why she hasn’t been drinking as much as she used to.”

“Precisely. Now let’s get to why you’re here,” Mayor Mare gestured for her to follow her. “You’re here because you need something.”

“Yeah. I need some paperwork to-”

“Create a union with the farmers,” Mayor Mare finished and snorted at Cherry’s stunned expression. “I hear things. I support it. Not much goes on in Ponyville without me hearing about it. You’ll need a list of all the ponies who are part of it and then you’ll be granted access to a room here in town hall for meetings. All of you will be responsible for keeping it clean and in order. If there’s any damages prior to you taking over the room, visit Dust Devil in maintenance and she will take care of you.”

“And you support this? You do realize it’s becoming a thing because of ponies abusing their authority right? You’re not offended by this?” Cherry Berry asked and Mayor Mare shot her a confused look.

“Of course I’m not offended. I’m a politician, sure, but I become one to support to the ponies who can’t stand up for themselves,” Mayor Mare answered and Cherry snorted loudly. She had heard this before. “I personally think it’s a good idea. Screw anypony who is against you all for this. Stand your ground. But I’d also remind you, that negotiation is a powerful tool. You all hold all the cards right now. You can negotiate with Sunset.”

“It’s not her. She’s sick and is on bedrest until she feels better. Surprised you didn’t hear about this.”

“Well, hope she is better. She has the best looking after her,” Mayor Mare paused and opened a drawer, hoofing over a pile of papers. “Have them all sign these, bring them back to me and you’re good to go. I’ll hold room twenty six for you.”

“Thanks.”

That was surprisingly easy, Cherry thought as she started to trot towards the exit.

“This gives me a migraine,” Trixie rubbed her forehead as she rested her foreleg lazily on the table, ignoring the coffee in front of her.

“Agreed,” Silverspeed agreed and fluttered her wings in agitation. “I find it funny how Roseluck isn’t here. Probably working against us again.”

Silverspeed glared at the door and leaned back. Out of all the elements, she was the most angry being the element of loyalty and all.

“I don’t think so. She’s probably just late,” Shoeshine answered and stuck her straw in her mouth.

“Or she’s causing chaos somewhere else,” Silverspeed answered and folded her forelegs. “It’s what she does best.”

“Hey!” Trixie snapped and some other patrons glanced over. “Trixie is the best at causing chaos, nopony else. Ever. Understand Trixie?”

“Okay, first Trixie then Roseluck,” Silverspeed amended and rolled her eyes. “At least you’re not a traitor.”

“Silverspeed!” Derpy shot her a dirty look as Shoeshine watched with a bored expression. “Be nice.”

“It’s true. She betrayed us,” Silverspeed pounded the table and their drinks jumped. “We are supposed to be a team. Teams communicate. We learned that at Westhoof. She turned her back on us.”

“No, she didn’t,” Derpy rolled her eyes. “She has a different opinion. That’s not betraying us or turning her back on us. This isn’t the military, we’re not soldiers. Only you are.”

“So that just throws out the fact we’re supposed to be a team and should communicate?” Silverspeed raised an eyebrow. “If Sunset was here, she’d be annoyed.”

“You’re not wrong. And if Sunset was here, she’d be working to find a solution, not sit around arguing,” Derpy answered and Silverspeed gave a brief nod.

“How is Sunset?” Shoeshine asked and the two glanced at her.

“She’s fine. Today was my day to visit her. She was asleep when I went inside. Cleaned up a bit, lots of vomit in her bucket. Gave her a new one. It was sickening,” Silverspeed turned green slightly. “I don’t want to talk about it. Please.”

“Talk about what?” Roseluck asked and Silverspeed shot her a distrustful look. Roseluck decided not to question it as Trixie eyed her coldly.

“You don’t wanna know, trust me. It’s your day to go visit Sunset,” Shoeshine told her and pushed a shake to her. “Drink. We got some things to discuss.”

“Yeah, we do. I have a faint idea about what this if for. You’re all mad at me for telling them about Celestia visiting and you demanding them change up their schedules in a crucial time in the harvest season.”

“You got that right,” Trixie grumbled and looked away. “You made Trixie look like a fool at the market.”

“And me too,” Shoeshine added and Silverspeed made a growling sound.

“And I also got you your tomatoes,” Roseluck answered and licked up a cherry with her tongue and started eating it. “Well, with Roma. She already felt bad enough.”

“Never should have came up with the idea,” Derpy muttered and eyed her disapprovingly. “Or well, refusing service to these three I mean.”

“It wasn’t my idea so don’t blame me. That was Caramel and Strawberry,” Roseluck shot back with a frown. “Don’t put that on me.”

The four shared looks as Roseluck spit the stem from her cherry into a trash can and tossed another in her mouth.

“Now that we got that sorted out, what else do we gotta do?” Roseluck asked and Silverspeed raised an eyebrow. “Just because I was against one idea doesn’t mean I’m not going to help with the others so hit me with it.”

The four shared a look and Trixie nodded finally.

“We still need to clean up around town. Lots of branches. Berry Punch and Carrot Top are getting a banner as we speak,” Trixie answered and Roseluck idly noticed she fell into first pony instead of her favored third. “Derpy and Silverspeed are gonna a check up on them-”

“Actually Roseluck and Silverspeed can. Derpy and I can clean up the town,” Shoeshine suggested and Silverspeed shot her a glare that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Fine by me,” Roseluck answered and brushed her mane aside. “Hey, what’s that thing Fluttershy has?”

The group gave each her confused looks at the topic change before following her gaze outside. Fluttershy was trotting past with a fuzzy green ball on her back that was smiling and looking around.

“What in Equestria is that?” Trixie asked and Pinkie glanced outside, her eyes widening.

“Oh no,” Pinkie muttered.

“It’s kinda cute,” Derpy mused and shrugged. “In a weird sorta way.”

“It’s not cute, it’s a menace to society!” Pinkie shouted at them behind the counter and they all jumped. “They are evil. The scourge of ponykind.”

“Uhm what?” Shoeshine asked as Pinkie opened a can of frosting and smeared some under each eye. “What are you-?”

“This is war.”

Everypony inside watched her disappear up into her room and gave each other looks, each deciding to not ask.

Author's Note

Dropping this good ass story here. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/566282/its-a-big-sky-scootaloo