Baltimare Has Fallen: Black Talon's Story.

"One moment, Darling!" Rarity called back, grunting in effort as she scrubbed the carpet with a brush held in her magical grasp. She was already at the bottom of the staircase, working on the last few muddy hoofprints.

"Woah... You work fast." Dash seemed surprised at how fast Rarity had cleaned, considering they were only gone for a few moments. Hovering over to the white coated Unicorn, Dash carelessly dangled her still muddy hooves in front of Rarity, several small flakes falling onto the brush.

"Rainbow! You still have mud all over your hooves!" Rarity pointed out loudly, her eyes narrowing at the Pegasus. "Go wash them off!" Rarity ordered suddenly, her voice stern and demanding.

"I dunno... I think I like them all messy and dry like this. It makes me feel... stallion-like." The cyan Pegasus chuckled in reply before landing on the ground in front of Rarity. The fashion designer let out a gasp of surprise as the Pegasus flicked some loose flakes onto the floor.

"Dash! Stop tormenting Rarity!" Twilight was the one to break up the two before some hooves began flying. Quickly teleporting Rainbow to her side, the Alicorn kept the Pegasus in her magical hold as she led her outside.

"You're no fun..." Dash whispered grouchily.

"You might be the only one, Pinkie." Dash replied with a smirk before being shushed by the Alicorn carrying her. "Shush yourself." The cyan Pegasus spat back as she playfully stuck her tongue out.

"This is a serious matter at hoof and all you can do is make jokes and be obnoxious!" Twilight remarked angrily, glaring at the levitating pony. "Can you be serious for just a few minutes?" The mare asked more softly, as if she was done attempting to sound demanding.

"Fine... I'll do it because I want to, not because you told me." With her hooves crossed, Dash fell silent, leaving only the sounds of Pinkie's and Twilight's hooves on the ground.

Once the three mares were a ways away from other ponies' eyes and ears, Twilight let Dash fall from her grip. Not expecting this sudden gravity, the cyan Pegasus flailed her hooves in attempt to grasp something.
She found nothing.
With a solid thud, Dash fell to the grass floor face first, the grass tickling her nose as she laid on her belly.

"Now, I am going to leave you here to shake off some of this... unneeded energy," Twilight began, her voice lowered in a whisper. "then, you can come back to the castle and speak with me." With that added, Twilight dipped her head in farewell before telling Pinkie to come along.

"This'll be a while..." Dash responded grouchily before standing up. Almost as soon as she was standing up, the mare swiftly spread her wings before taking to the sky.

Twilight had almost forgotten that Pinkie was with them.
"It's nothing. I just... have a lot on my mind." She responded, shaking her head slightly.

She could have been lost in thought. Or, Pinkie had fallen quiet most of the trip back to the castle, and only when the pink mare asked the question did Twilight acknowledge that she was there.

"Because we need to find Applejack." Twilight answered simply. "She has to be in the city still. The only way she could have gotten out was either the cliff or the train station." With the cliff being crossed off the list of possible escapes, it only left one last location.

"It would take far too long for Applejack to travel on hoof, so she would need to get on a train. If I remember correctly, the train's route does not return to Canterlot until noon. We have roughly five minutes to get to the train station before she has a chance to leave on her own." Twilight seemed to trail off in thought before snapping back into the present.

"She is coming along. She just needs to learn when to act foolish before she can come along. Now is not the time to be like that, especially with such a dangerous Griffon taking control of a major city." Twilight replied, her gaze fixated on the road ahead.

"Knowing that Pegasus, she will be calmed and ready by the time we reach the train station. If not, then she will be waiting at the castle for us to return." Twilight explained as they both turned the last street leading to the train station.

Just as Twilight had expected, Dash was already pacing around the familiar farm pony, a red rose stare fixed on the orange coated mare.

"Were you really gonna take a train to Baltimare by yourself?" Dash asked, stopping in front of Applejack. "Would this train even go to Baltimare?" She added, tilting her head slightly as she looked up at the empty rails.

"I thought you meant going after the Griffon, not going after all of them!" Dash remarked, her front hooves lazily dangling below her as she floated there.

"You should have waited for the rest of us." Twilight pointed out, stepping forward to block Dash from continuing her shouting.

"Let us head back to the castle so we can check in with Celestia. She might have the train all set up for us." Twilight pointed out before leading the group toward the castle. Dash, who had just landed on the ground, followed close behind the Alicorn, her newly found focus showing deeply.