My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Over a Barrel
A/N: I'm back and there are going to be some updates today since I have back-to-back opening shifts at the movie theater tomorrow and Wednesday, which means that the next time I will be able to update will be on Thursday. I know that waiting can be hard, so be sure to enjoy the updates for today.
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from My Little Pony: Magic is Friendship. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
CHAPTER TWO: OPERATION: RESCUE APPLE TREE AND SPIKE!
Some hours later, the train arrived at the station located just outside Appleloosa, and Applejack was quick to exit the train with Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Sunrise Blossom, and Rarity. They didn't get very far when they almost ran into a pony with light gold skin, orange hair with amber highlights, light green eyes, a red apple cutie mark, and he was wearing a brown cowboy hat and a brown vest.
"Hey there!" he exclaimed when he saw the five ponies. "Welcome ta A-A-ppleloosa!"
"Braeburn, listen-" Applejack began, recognizing her cousin.
"Cousin Applejack, mind yer manners," Braeburn scolded, "you have yet ta introduce me to your compadres! Shame on you!"
Applejack rolled her eyes, not in the mood for politeness. "Braeburn, listen, somethin' terrible's happened-" she began again.
"Terrible is right, your train is a full seven minutes late!" Braeburn interrupted. "That's seven minutes less for you to delight in the pleasures and wonders of… A-A-A-ppleloosa!" And he shoved them all to the other side of station so that they could see the town, and it was an impressive sight with the neat buildings and the ponies walking around wearing all kind of cowboy outfits. "Boggles the mind, we settler ponies built all this in just the past year, don't it?!" he continued, shoving them through the town for the cour. "And as you can see, we have all of the finest comforts. Like horse-drawn carriages!"
A pony named "Black Stone" was pulling a carriage and after a bit, he stopped and spoke to the pony riding inside. "Okay, you pull now."
Noteworthy poked his head out and pouted. "Aww, we just switched."
Braeburn then hurried them to another spot, where several fillies were busy drawing the carriages and their drivers. "And those there are horse-drawn horse-drawn carriages."
"…Listen, Braeburn, I– Oof!" Applejack began and grunted as they were herded to their next destination.
Braeburn stopped when they reached a saloon. "And here's our local waterin' hole, the Salt Block," he said proudly.
Just then, Morton Saltworthy tossed an older pony out of the saloon. "That's enough salt for you!" he snapped.
The old pony, known as Ol' Salt, sat up and looked blearily back at the saloon with traces of salt on his mouth. "Can't I at least… get a glass of water?" he asked, hiccuping before flopping backwards onto the ground, having just passed out while Morton Saltworthy snorted and went back inside.
Chuckling, Braeburn continued the tour by stopping at a building with a silver star on the front. "Over there's the office of Sheriff Silverstar," he announced, waving to the sheriff, who waved back, and then showed them to the two dance lcoations. "And here's where we have our wild west dances! And here's where we have our mild west dances!"
"But, Braeburn, we-" Applejack began once again, trying to get him to listen to her.
Still ignoring his cousin, Braeburn herded them out of the town and onto a nearby ridge that was over-looking a huge apple orchard. "And here's the most wonderful sight in all of… A-A-A-ppleloosa! Our apple orchard."
"Braeburn!" Applejack shouted, wishing he would shut up for a few seconds and listen to her.
Braeburn was looking proudly at the apple orchard, and the trees were brimming with apples. "First harvest should be any day now."
"Braebu-"
"Good thing too!"
"Brae-"
"'Cause we need that grub to live on."
"Braeburn!" Applejack screamed and poor Sunrise Blossom cringed, but it did the trick to get the pony's attention.
Braeburn finally looked at his cousin. "Uh, yes, cuz?" he asked.
"You have a very nice town an' all, but we have a hu-uge problem!" Applejack snapped. "Some of our friends are missin'!" And her friends all shared what happen at once.
"A stampede of buffalo."
"They attacked the train!"
"They took Spike!"
"Rainbow Dash went after them!"
"And we can't find Pinkie Pie."
"And we had an apple tree with us for your orchard, but they took that too!" Applejack concluded.
Braeburn stared at them, blinking for several seconds. "Did you say… buffalo?" he asked and they nodded. He sighed, which meant he knew about the buffalo. "Them buffalo, they want us settler ponies to take every single tree you see here off this land," he explained, nodding to the orchard. "They sure as hay don't want any new ones added in."
"But why?" Fluttershy asked.
"Beats me," Braeburn admitted. "We put a lot of hard work into this land, so we can feed our town, our families, our foals! And now they're sayin' all these trees have to go? T'ain't fair…"
Applejack, Sunrise Blossom, and Twilight Sparkle exchanged perplex looks. Why were the buffalo so fired up on getting rid of the apple trees and Appleloosa? And how were they going to find their missing friends?
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was currently sneaking among the rocks, hoping to ambush the buffalos, particularly the small female buffalo that had managed to outwit her, and she wasn't going to let her get away with that.
"Ooh, I can't wait to get my hooves on that little buffalo…" she vowed and winced a little since her head was still a bit sore from earlier. "Hnnh… Ow! Nobody tricks Rainbow Dash and gets away with it." She crawled along the ground and was about to slip behind a rock when she suddenly found herself nose-to-nose with Pinkie Pie.
"Boo!" said the pink pony happily.
Rainbow Dash yelped and jumped backwards into the air for a few seconds before landing. "Yah! …Pinkie Pie!"
"Ah, ya caught me!" Pinkie Pie joked. "Looks like I tricked you and didn't get away with it either! You're good."
"Shhshh!" Rainbow Dash hissed, shoving her behind a nearby rock. "What do you think you're doing?! You gotta get out of here!"
"I do?" the pink pony asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded while making sure that they hadn't been seen. "You're gonna blow my cover."
"I am?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"I'm trying to save Spike!" the blue pegasus growled.
Pinkie Pie gasped. "Oh my gosh! So am I!"
Rainbow Dash tried to chase her friend away. "And the more of us there are out here," she pointed out, "the more chances of us getting…" Suddenly there was a loud rumbling sound and when the dust cleared, they were surrounded by buffalo "caught." She faced off against the buffalos. "Run, Pinkie, I'll hold 'em off. Save yourself!"
"Stop!" shouted a familiar voice, and the buffalo moved aside to reveal Spike, who looked to be completely unharmed. "Dash, Pinkie, 'sup?" he asked before talking to the buffalos. "Hey, no worries, I know those guys. They're cool."
"If you say so, Spike," said one of the buffalos. "Catch ya later, bro." And they raced off back to the camping grounds.
That night, Spike was seated near a campfire with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, explaining what happen after he and the apple tree had been abducted that morning. "Seems they took me by mistake," he informed his friends. "And they feel awful about it too, poor guys. Fortunately, they totally respect dragons, so they treat me like an honored guest." He then snapped his claws and two bowls of some kind of grayish food was brought to the two ponies.
Rainbow Dash sniffed the contents and made a face before shoving the bowl away. "Ugh…"
"Still don't like ponies much, though…" the baby dragon remarked. "But you're with me, so it's cool."
"Huh. Well, I still don't trust them," Rainbow Dash stated, standing up and looked around. "I say we turn tail and bail while we still-" she stopped and sighed when she saw the pink pony was eating the grayish food.
"Mmm!" said Pinkie Pie, finishing the contents before looking at the blue pegasus. "Before we finish eating? Are you loco in the coco?!" she asked, and then spoke to Little Strongheart, who'd just came over with a bowl full of turquoise for the baby dragon. "Can I please have more of that mushy stuff, whatever it was?" she asked politely.
"Certainly," Little Strongheart agreed. "And, Mr. Spike, you like gemstones, yes?"
Spike beamed, picking up the bowl. "Turquoise. Mmm!" he siad while munching on the gemstones. "Heh hah! This here is Little Strongheart, and these are my friends Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash briefly glanced at the small buffalo with a nod, and then faced her when she realized who the buffalo was. "You!"
"You!" exclaimed Little Strongheart.
"That's it!" the blue pegasus growled. "We are outta here!" And she hurried away, dragging Pinkie Pie by her tail.
However, Little Strongheart jumped in front of the two ponies, blocking their way. "Wait! Please accept my apologies for what happened on the train," she apologized. "We didn't mean for anyone to be hurt."
Rainbow Dash scoffed and turned to go a different way. "Yeah, right."
"We only wanted the tree," Little Strongheart added, blocking their way again, and she had a pleading expression on her face. "The settler ponies have overtaken the land and have planted an orchard all over it! Because of their thoughtlessness, we can no longer run over our traditional stampeding grounds."
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie exchanged perplex looks. "Huh?"
"I think it's time they met Chief Thunderhooves," Spike suggested and the small buffalo agreed.
Soon, they were gathered in the middle of the camp, surrounded by the herd and before them was Little Strongheart's father, Chief Thunderhooves.
"Hmmh," he grunted before speaking. "We have a long and winding stampeding trail that we have run upon for many generations. My father stampeded upon these grounds, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him, and-"
"I think they get the idea, Chief," Little Strongheart interrupted since several the buffalo were about to doze off and the two ponies were becoming bored… well Rainbow Dash was looking bored while Pinkie Pie was politely listening to everything being said.
Chief Thunderhooves grunted and continued his story. "Hmph. It is a sacred tradition to run the path every year. But this year, these… settler ponies, these…" he snorted angrily. "Appleloosans!" And he kept snorting until his daughter stopped him.
"They planted apple trees all over it without asking our permission," she added.
"Well that's not very nice," Pinkie Pie remarked, frowning and looked to her friend. "Right, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash merely grunted, her forelegs folded. "Hmph…"
"The ponies refused to move their trees, so we are stuck here, and it is not fair!" Little Strongheart complained and her fellow buffalos agreed loudly.
"See, Rainbow Dash?" Spike asked. "They had a good reason to-"
Rainbow Dash interrupted him by flying into the air above the herd. "Huh… Ah!" she grunted and the buffalo gasped. "I'll say they had a good reason!" she declared. "C'mon. We have some apple-pickin' Appleloosans to talk to!" And she got a cheer out of the buffalos. 'Building something without permission from others is wrong,' she thought, 'and this problem needs to be fixed before anypony gets seriously hurt on either side.'
A/N: Talk about an awkward situation. R&R everyone!