He could hear Applejack’s voice from not far behind: “I knew there was a thief in Ponyville! Come on, Winona, after him!”

The Apple family dog barked, urging him to clutch the large sack harder and fly faster. His first instinct was to head straight home, but then he thought otherwise. “If that dog tracks me down to the house, there’d be no use trying to hide. She and all of Ponyville would know who I am. I can’t let him go through that.” With a look around, he turned left towards downtown.

Downtown was more crowded, and as he flew on the house lights came on. In a panic, he flew up higher. In an instant the sack hit one of the rooftops, and two potatoes fell out. “Dang,” he huffed. He pulled it up and continued on until he was at Town Hall. The barking changed direction, coming towards him.

“I hope this works,” he thought, even though it always had. The lights were on, much to his dismay, so he went to the very top of the building and began circling around. Once, twice, thrice he went around, even chancing going lower and circling the upper story. He saw the Mayor at her desk, and in a fit of panic, he dashed away from the Hall, making a wide arc outward before making his way west.

“Almost there,” he wheezed. He could see his house in the distance a few hundred yards away. Behind him, he could hear Applejack yelling.

“Dagnabbit, you’re not gonna get away with this, you good-for-nothing varmint! We’ll find you, and we’ll make you pay!”

“In time.” With renewed vigor, he threw the sack over his shoulder and doubled his speed. In seemingly no time at all, he made it to the western edge of Ponyville—the less prosperous side of the idyllic village.

With heavy breaths, he flew around the front of his home and went around to the back. One of the windows was open. “Darnit, Rumble.” He flew to this window and looked inside, and simultaneously a small foalish head looked out as well. He balked.
“Hey, Thunderlane!” the colt smiled widely.

Thunderlane’s initial anger and startled state went away when he saw his brother smiling. “Hey, buddy,” he said breathily.
“Are you okay?” Rumble’s voice was slightly raspy, but his eyes were wide awake.

He took a deep breath and answered, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a late-night flight, is all.” He re-hoisted the sack. “Why aren’t you asleep yet? You know it’s a school night.”

And then he heard a howl in the distance. “Darnit,” he thought to himself.

“I was waiting for you to get home.” As Rumble said this, his stomach growled. He looked down in embarrassment.

“Hey, don’t worry about that.” Thunderlane hefted the bag through the window and dropped it. Immediately Rumble’s face animated with delight.

“Oh, boy! Did you buy groceries from your friend again?”

He nodded. “And it cost me twenty bits. Write that down in your notebook, okay?”

“And then we can have dinner?”

“Yeah.”

“Woohoo!” Rumble galloped to his bed, grabbed a notebook, and scribbled in it.

“There,” Thunderlane thought. “Twenty more bits I owe them. Someday—“

“Get on, Winona!”

He jerked around and looked out the window. In the distance, about two hundred yards away, a lantern swung about, getting closer to him. He grimaced, looked back at Rumble, who was busy taking the sack to the kitchen, and sighed. “I, uh, need to bring the bag back.”

Rumble looked up. “Now?”

“Yeah.” Another sigh. “Now.”

Rumble looked crestfallen.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Thunderlane said, pouring the contents out and taking the sack. “Just make dinner, and I’ll be here, okay?”

That got the colt to smile. “Okay, big brother. I will!”

With that, Thunderlane kicked off and flew out.

“Don’t worry, Rumble.” He looked back to see Rumble close his window. With a smile, he flew towards where he heard the howling.
“She caught the thief’s scent!” She yelled. “Get on, Winona!”

It hurt, but he focused and flew on. “One day, Applejack, I’ll pay you back. For now, though, I just need to feed my little brother.”