“Is she here already?” Mayor Mare demands, galloping onto the scene. Two harried assistants, a pink unicorn mare and a gray earth pony stallion, flank the beige earth pony, all three looking quite worried. “I wasn’t given any warning that the Princess was sending her personal student to deal with this!”

“It’s okay, Ma’am,” Hard Point reassures. “Not yet. We’ll cover for you, if necessary.”

Mayor Mare breathes a sigh of relief at hearing the guard's response, adjusting the purple kerchief around her neck and making sure the gray streak through her pink mane is perfect.

The air above the yellow and orange circle shimmers with power, a murky haze billowing out from the ground. An acrid scent clogs noses and eyes, the two guards stoically standing at attention as the nearby ponies gallop clear. After a few long seconds an amber unicorn steps out from the swirling cloud, growling and shaking her amaranth and golden mane. Her horn is lit the same red as half of the red and gold sun on her flank. Saddlebags with the same mark are on her sides, stuffed full of even thicker books and rolled up papers.

“Ugh,” the unicorn remarks as she blows the smoke away from the thick tome encased in her aura. Her eyes never leave the pages as she asks curtly, “What is it?”

“Greetings, Sunset Shimmer,” Hard Point says cordially. “Preliminary investigation is complete, pending the statement from one of the alleged victims.” Hard Point holds out the stack of a dozen papers, Rarity’s page on the bottom.

“Hmm,” Sunset Shimmer says to herself, red aura lifting the pages from the pegasus’ wing. She casually flips through each one, barely spending any time on each.

“We’re missing one from Doug as well,” Bitter Pill quietly remarks to Hard Point. Sunset Shimmer doesn’t seem to notice or care.

“We have something from him already,” Hard Point whispers back. “We’ll get more if we need to.” She clears her throat, speaking to Sunset Shimmer, “We were unable to get a statement from Rare Find as to the incident in Carousel Boutique.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Sunset Shimmer skims through the last page, then returns to her tome. “What’s the town’s policy on dealing with unknown intruders?”

“It,” Mayor Mare starts, glancing nervously between her two assistants. She gets a curt nod from the stallion and a soft smile from the mare. “While Ponyville doesn’t have a formal procedure in place, general practice has been to ensure the safety of our citizens with aggressive intervention.”

“Hmm,” Sunset Shimmer says, turning a page in her tome. “Even without provocation?”

“Irrelevant,” Tall Order says, the gray earth pony’s objection managing to get a glance and raised eyebrow from Sunset Shimmer. “We don’t need to wait until after a pony has been injured or worse before intervening.”

“A-and we had just cause,” Mayor Mare starts to explain.

Sunset Shimmer’s red aura snags a single page from Hard Point’s grasp. She waves around Storied Pages’ statement. “A theoretical discussion, of fictional practices? That hardly constitutes just cause. Or I’d be in serious trouble.” She opens her saddlebags, pulling out a folder. “Assign this to…” she looks back at the paper in her aura, then pulls out a second from the stack. “Rainbow Dash.”

Mayor Mare takes the folder, skimming through the first page. “A… Friendship assignment?”

“At least it’ll go to some use,” Sunset Shimmer remarks callously. “And your policy is too hostile. Probably should change it to something less confrontational.” Her eyes go back to her tome as her horn flares brightly. “Break this once I’m done,” she says to nopony in particular as she steps into the still smoking circle and disappears.

“You’d think this is our first time outside Canterlot,” Bitter Pill bitterly remarks, walking forward and kicking at the lines of yellow and orange. The smoke gradually fades into the ground, though the smell lingers. “Or that basic security precautions are lost on us.” She grunts as she scans around the center of Ponyville. Not spotting anything more to be done she glances to her partner, ready to take flight.

“What did she mean, too hostile?” Mayor Mare asks, eyes narrowing as she reads through more of the Friendship assignment.

“Doubt she even knew where she was,” remarks Amethyst Star, the others snorting at the pink unicorn’s remark.

“Canterlot snobs,” Tall Order commiserates. He glances towards the two guards. “No offense.” They both shrug, looking like they would get in trouble if they were to visibly agree. He continues, “Just because they aren’t threatened on a weekly basis makes them think nopony is.”

“Who knows how many foals we would have lost by now. Too many are far too curious as it is.” Mayor Mare sighs, then notices the guards about to take off. “Excuse me,” Mayor Mare says, holding out the folder of papers. They turn to look at her. “What exactly am I supposed to do with this? I can’t exactly hoof it to Rainbow Dash and expect anything.”

Hard Point glances to Bitter Pill. “I’d say Princess Celestia’s personal student gave you wide latitude in implementing her instructions.” She waves a wing, then the two take off, returning to Canterlot.

Mayor Mare looks to the sky, spotting a rainbow contrail zipping back and forth. Her muzzle grimly purses as she continues her scan. “Somepony get me Fluffy Clouds.”

“...But the assignment is for Rainbow Dash,” Amethyst Star says, even as she signals one of the weather team.

“Like Tartarus I’m going to give it to her myself. You saw how she reacted to that creature!” Mayor Mare shakes her head before she sighs. “Perhaps our policy is too likely to drive away outsiders.”

“Nopony’s going to like that change,” Amethyst Star retorts. She glances to the west, the human barely in view as he trudges along. Above her one of the weather pegasi flies to Fluffy Clouds, the head weathermare busy watching Doug like a griffon. “Or what caused it.”

“What are they going to do instead? Ignore them entirely, and hide away in their houses until they go away?” Mayor Mare snorts. “We’ll have a town meeting to discuss possible options, then sweep this under the rug.”

“Yeah?” Fluffy Clouds asks as he flies up to Mayor Mare, hovering above her.

“Need you to assign this to Rainbow Dash.” Mayor Mare holds out the folder, Amethyst Star levitating it up. “Except instead of writing to Princess Celestia, have her write…” She shakes her head. “Actually, just make sure she gets it.”

Fluffy Clouds grabs the folder, flipping through quickly. His eyes narrow as he reads along. “Like Tartarus I’m going to give her this.”

“Aww, scared of what Rainbow Dash will do to you, too?” Mayor Mare taunts.

“No. Because she didn’t go far enough driving that monster out in the first place. You don’t let timberwolves bed with the sheep just because they haven’t bitten anything yet.” Fluffy Clouds flips through the rest of the assignment. He groans to himself before asking, “Princess Celestia’s personal student assigned this to Rainbow Dash by name?”

“Sadly, yes,” Mayor Mare says.

“Shove a bolt through my skull and call me Celestia’s student.” Fluffy Clouds glances to Amethyst Star. “No offense.”

The pink unicorn shrugs, looking like she’d get in trouble if she agreed with his assessment of their recent arrival.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure she gets it.” Fluffy Clouds twists up the assignment, pages crinkling in his hooves.

On the outskirts of Ponyville, Doug’s heated grumblings turn to harried breaths as his arms and legs burn from exhaustion. He chances a glance backwards; seeing nopony following him he lets his pace slow. His makeshift shirt itches something horrible, his stomach growls despite his massive meal earlier, and he feels like he could sleep the rest of the day and night and still not fully recover. Yet he pushes on, mostly for a lack of better options, but also out of some sort of duty to return Applejack’s cart.

I knew something like this would happen, too. They treated you unfairly the first time. Why did you think the second would go any differently? Well, at least Rarity treated you like a person, even if you need to explain every last detail. And, so did Filthy Rich, even if he tried to cheat me. Just, put it out of your mind. After you do whatever expedition thing Rarity has in mind you’ll be able to leave this forsaken town. Hopefully wherever you end up will work out better. And, hey, if it doesn’t, maybe you can work on Applejack’s farm until your arms fall off. So, you know, about a week.

Doug pulls up to Sweet Apple Acres, groaning that he has to come to a stop and open the gate. He drops the cart off where he got it, next to the larger apple cart. He stretches his arms and legs as he pants, turning as Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith leave the farmhouse. The three ponies gawk at his shirt; Applejack and Big Mac cover their muzzles with a hoof while Granny Smith’s expression manages to get even sterner.

“Took longer’n Ah thought,” Applejack says cheerfully, trying to hide her laughter. “We just finished lunch, and saved ya a little.” She inspects his shirt as she gets closer. “So, Ah take it your trip to Rarity’s was a… success.” She snickers, eyes swimming with mirth. “Ah knew the unicorn had some… odd ideas about fashion, but this…” A low chuckle escapes her mouth, the rest about to batter their way through.

“Yeah, laugh it up,” Doug says darkly.

“Ah, come on, partner,” Applejack says, grinning. “Ya look ridiculous. Even you can see that, right?”

Doug looks down at his seedbag shirt, taking a deep breath. Well, she’s not wrong. I do look ridiculous.

“No,” Granny Smith shouts, “ya look like a two bit whorse givin’ a half-off sale! Now take that off ‘fore somepony thinks we made ya wear that like some kinda uniform!” She grumbles to herself, “Bad enough we need help workin’ the farm, don’t need nopony thinkin’ we’re mistreatin’ ‘em!”

Doug stares at his shirt some more. Okay, she’s right about that, too. I look like an oversized house elf, but without the ability to snap my fingers and make anything I want appear. And right now, I want a nice, comfy bed. Doug snaps his fingers, the three ponies looking over at the sound. Oh well. Worth a shot. Doug strips off the bag, tossing it onto the cart. He stays facing away from the ponies, leaning against the cart and closing his eyes, embarrassed and breathing heavily.

“You okay, partner?” Applejack asks from next to him. She nuzzles his side, just under his armpit, as high as she can reach. He don’t look mistreated, just exhausted. Was Ponyville really that bad for him?

“Just tired,” Doug says after a long delay.

Applejack glances inside the cart, frowning at the bags of wheat seeds. Ah can tell it’s worse than that. “Did Filthy Rich not want to take the seeds back?” Ponyfeathers. At least Ah wasn’t countin’ on the bits or nothin’, but if Doug was gonna spend em? Ah hope he understands.

“Well,” Doug delays, thinking back to how that confrontation went. “He offered to give you eighty bits for them. Claims that’s what you paid. But a dozen bags cost a hundred and twenty bits, and I didn’t know what to do.” He sighs. “Sorry.”

“No, it, um,” Applejack stammers. She gulps at the realization. “Ah didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Doug asks, opening his eyes to look into Applejack’s.

Applejack rubs one foreleg against the other, awkwardly looking away. “H-he gave me a discount.” Applejack glances to her nearly empty bitpurse on top of the seed bags. “Ah only paid him seventy eight bits for the bags.” That rogue, tryin’ to give me two bits again. And Doug wouldn’t’a realized he was doin’ it, either. Ah need to tell him to stop, that it ain’t gonna happen. But a part of me wants to keep mah options open, just in case. Applejack nuzzles Doug again, her voice dropping apologetically. “Ah’m sorry, Doug. Ah forgot.”

“It’s okay,” Doug says quietly, standing up. Man, I’m quick to forgive these ponies. “I’ll live.”

“Mm,” Applejack says, looking to the northeast orchards. “Tell ya what. Get a bite to eat inside, plate’s on the kitchen table. You okay walkin’?” Doug nods. “Get, um, Ah’ll get ya hammer and box’a nails. Take a walk ‘round the perimeter of the farm. Check the fence, make sure none’a the posts or boards come loose or fallen. Nail ‘em back up if they did. If the board’s broke, just keep a tally, and tomorrow ya can drag a cart ‘round to replace ‘em. Then, when you’re done, you can help Granny sort. That sound fair?”

Doug nods along. They can use hammers? That I want to see. “I think I can handle that.”

“Ya can hoof it,” Applejack corrects, smiling.

Doug holds up a hand, waggling it back and forth. “Handle it.” He returns the smile before walking to the farmhouse.

Applejack shakes her head, hooking herself up to the big cart loaded with empty baskets. Stallions.

Next Chapter: Ch. 17 - Briskwrap Estimated time remaining: 14 Hours, 20 Minutes