Over a Barrel
Night's POV
Night and his friends were currently on a train to Appleloosa, where Applejack was giving a tree to the ponies there, though what Night didn't get was why the tree got its own private cart. He would have preferred it since Rainbow, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie were being quite loud as Night was trying to sleep. "Do you guys mind? I was up early fire-roasting those snacks you're all eating, and I'm pooped!" Spike told them, clearly just as annoyed as Night.
"Speaking of, some of these popcorn kernels didn't get popped," Rainbow told him.
"Okay fine," Spike said. He then shot a plume of fire at Rainbow's bag of popcorn turning it to ash. "Good night!" he said before diving under the covers.
"Maybe it's time we all got a little shut-eye. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow," Twilight said and turned down the lights. Night then started to drift into sleep when he heard whispering.
"Psst! Pinkie Pie, you asleep yet?" Rainbow asked.
"No, are you asleep yet?" Pinkie asked back.
"If I was sleeping, how could I have asked you if you were asleep?" Rainbow asked rhetorically.
"Oh yeah!" Pinkie realized.
"When we get to Appleloosa, you think we'll have to carry that heavy tree all the way from the train to the orchard?" Rainbow wondered.
"What tree? You mean Bloomberg?" Pinkie asked.
"No, Fluttershy," Rainbow clarified.
"Fluttershy's not a tree, silly!" Pinkie said.
"What's going on?" Twilight suddenly asked.
"Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy's a tree!" Pinkie answered.
"I do not think she's a tree! I was just—" Rainbow tried to counter.
"Did you say she was a tree?" Twilight asked her.
"No. Well… Yes. But not exactly—" Rainbow argues.
"Ya know she's not a tree, right?" Twilight points out.
"She's not a tree, Dashie!" Pinkie confirms.
"I'd like to be a tree…" Fluttershy suddenly says.
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Spike shouts. Night barely makes him out with the candle the girls were using to see as he walks to the door out of the cart and slams it behind him.
"Well that was kind of huffy," Twilight points out.
"Huffy the magic dragon!" Fluttershy jokes. As the girls laugh at her joke they're interrupted by Rarity.
"Would you all be quiet, now!?" Rarity asks and the girls blow out the candle in panic.
"Took them long enough," Night thought to himself before fully falling asleep.
Morning
Night was awoken by a massive amount of rumbling, and he wasn't the only one as his friends were awake as well. "What in the world is going on?" Night asks nopony in particular. He looks out the window to see a massive amount of buffalo.
"A buffalo stampede!" Twilight says in awe.
"I just love their accessories!" Rarity commented.
"They're getting awfully close to the train though," Night points out. Just then, two buffalo ram into the side of the train car knocking the group around.
"Oooh, looky! Now they're doing tricks!" Pinkie says. Night looks out to see a buffalo jump on top of another one before a smaller one, probably a juvenile, jumps on top of those buffalo. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Now do a backflip!" Pinkie says when the buffalo jumps on top of the car they are in. "Or... Just jump?" she says disappointed. The group then heard hoofsteps heading toward the caboose where the tree was stored.
"Something tells me this isn't a circus act," Rainbow says before heading out with Night following her closely. "Hey there! Where ya headed in such a hurry?" Rainbow asks as she lands in front of the buffalo. The buffalo continues running and the two fliers have to jump into the air so they don't get hit. "Wow, you're pretty quick for someone so... bulky. No offense," Rainbow comments as she overtakes him.
"Mind tell us why you're attacking the train and running on the roof?" Night asks the buffalo. The buffalo doesn't answer and continues to the caboose. She then jumps down between the caboose and the car in front of it as Rainbow flies past and slams into a sign. Night, however, follows the buffalo down and sees her disconnect the cars. "Oh no, you don't!" Night shouted. He then tries to charge at the buffalo, who just simply ducks out of the way and opens the door to the caboose. Unable to change his course, Night flies into the caboose and something hits him on the back of his head, knocking him out.
Twilight's POV
Twilight and her friends had run to the caboose and she quickly noticed the buffalo herd pushing it away. "They've got Bloomberg!" Applejack called out. Twilight, however, noticed something more important to her. Night and Spike. The train then approaches Appleloosa and Applejack's cousin, Braeburn, greets them.
"Hey there! Welcome ta A-A-ppleloosa!" Braeburn says excitedly.
"Braeburn, listen—" Applejack starts before getting interrupted.
"Cousin Applejack, mind yer manners, you have yet ta introduce me to your compadres! Shame on you!" Braeburn tells her.
"Braeburn, listen, somethin' terrible's happened—" Applejack tries to explain.
"Terrible is right, your train is a full seven minutes late! That's seven minutes less for you to delight in the pleasures and wonders of... A-A-A-ppleloosa!" Braeburn tells the group before showing them around by pushing them everywhere. "Boggles the mind, we settler ponies built all this in just the past year, don't it?! And as you can see, we have all of the finest comforts. Like horse-drawn carriages! And those there are horse-drawn horse-drawn carriages," Braeburn points out. Applejack tries to tell Braeburn what happened on the train but he keeps going. "And here's our local waterin' hole, the Salt Block," he shows them as a pony got kicked out. "Over there's the office of Sheriff Silverstar. And here's where we have our wild west dances! And here's where we have our mild west dances!" Applejack then tries again to explain but Braeburn doesn't listen. "And here's the most wonderful sight in all of... A-A-A-ppleloosa! Our apple orchard," he tells them before turning to the group. Braeburn then continues to rant, but Applejack has had enough.
"Braeburn!" she shouted.
"Uh, yes, cuz?" Braeburn asks.
"You have a very nice town an' all, but we have a hu-uge problem! Some of our friends are missin'!" Applejack explains.
"A stampede of buffalo," Fluttershy explained.
"They got Night and Spike" Twilight tells him.
"Rainbow Dash went after them," Rarity added.
"And we can't find Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy continued.
"And we had an apple tree with us for your orchard, but they took that too!" Applejack finished.
"Did you say buffalo?" Braeburn asked then sighed. "Them buffalo, they want us settler ponies to take every single tree you see here off this land. They sure as hay don't want any new ones added in."
"But why?" Fluttershy wondered.
"Beats me. 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…" Braeburn told the group. Twilight looked at Applejack with concern and wondered what was happening to her missing friends.
Rainbow's POV
Rainbow was sneaking around in an attempt to look find the buffalo that took Spike. She wished she knew where Night was though. She didn't see him after she started her pursuit. She pushed that out of her mind "Night's probably in town. He'll bring help," she thought to herself. "Ooh, I can't wait to get my hooves on that little buffalo," she said to nopony at all when her head hurt and she winced with pain. "Nobody tricks Rainbow Dash and gets away with it," she continued when…
"Boo!" Pinkie said, appearing from nowhere and startling Rainbow.
"Yah! ...Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow said.
"Ah, ya caught me! Looks like I tricked you and didn't get away with it either! You're good," Pinkie complemented loudly. Rainbow then brought her hoof to Pinkie's mouth.
"What do you think you're doing?! You gotta get out of here!" Rainbow told her with a hushed voice.
"I do?" Pinkie said, clueless.
"You're gonna blow my cover," Rainbow explained, trying to remain hidden, but Pinkie wasn't helping by standing out in the open.
"I am?" Pinkie said, still clueless.
"I'm trying to save Spike!" Rainbow told her, her voice raised in anger.
"Oh my gosh! So am I!" Pinkie said loudly.
"And the more of us there are out here, the more chances of us getting... caught," Rainbow said when she noticed the buffalo herd had surrounded them. "Run, Pinkie, I'll hold 'em off. Save yourself!" Rainbow order her friend ready to fight. The buffalo were as well, as they prepared to charge but a familiar voice calls out and stops them.
"Stop!" the voice shouted and the buffalo stepped aside and revealed Spike. "Dash, Pinkie, 'sup? Hey, no worries, I know those guys. They're cool," Spike tells the buffalo.
"If you say so, Spike. Catch ya later, bro," a buffalo said before the herd headed off. Spike then lead Rainbow and Pinkie to the buffalo's camp.
"Seems they took me by mistake. And they feel awful about it too, poor guys. Fortunately, they totally respect dragons, so they treat me like an honored guest," Spike explained as a buffalo brought some ugly looking gunk for Rainbow and Pinkie. Rainbow pushed hers away in disgust. "Still don't like ponies much, though... But you're with me, so it's cool," Spike continued.
"Huh. Well, I still don't trust them. I say we turn tail and bail while we still—" Rainbow said as she looked around for an exit when Pinkie interrupted.
"Before we finish eating? Are you loco in the coco?!" Pinkie asked Rainbow. "Can I please have more of that mushy stuff, whatever it was?" Pinkie asked someone that Rainbow didn't see.
"Certainly. And, Mr. Spike, you like gemstones, yes?" Rainbow heard.
"Turquoise. Mmm!" Spike said as he ate. "This here is Little Strongheart, and these are my friends Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash," Spike then told them, Rainbow looked at the buffalo unhappily when she recognized her as the one from the train.
"You!" Rainbow said angrily.
"You!" Little Strongheart said with surprise. That's when a loud crackle went off and Rainbow saw a Night fly into the air with lightning sparking on him and 3 to 4 buffalo behind him. Night then sees them and land in front of them.
"Okay, would someone please explain what in tartarus is going on?" Night asked them. Rainbow, however, didn't get the chance to as the buffalos surrounded them.
"Guys wait! He's with me!" Spike explained. While the buffalos calmed down a little, they were still giving hostile glares at Night, who still had lightning sparking. Little Strongheart then walks up to him.
"Please accept my apologies for what happened on the train. When we saw you we were worried that you were going to bring Equestrian troops to attack us," Strongheart explained.
"Night, you should at least hear them out," Spike told him.
"We only wanted the tree. 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," Strongheart continued. Night's lightning then disappeared and the three ponies exchanged looks of confusion.
"I think it's time they met Chief Thunderhooves," Spike said.
Night's POV
The three ponies and dragon stood by a fire with the chief on one side and the group on the other with the rest of the buffalo surrounding the fire. Night was focusing on the chief but was ready if any of the other buffalo tried anything. "We have a long and winding stampeding trail that we have run upon for many generations," Chief Thunderhooves explained. "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—" At this point, Night noticed that the buffalos were trying not to fall asleep.
"I think they get the idea, Chief," Strongheart told him, apparently picking up on the sleepy buffalos.
"It is a sacred tradition to run the path every year. But this year, these… settler ponies, these… Appleloosans!" Chief Thunderhooves said, the last bit snorting in bottled-up rage.
"They planted apple trees all over it without asking our permission," Strongheart clarified.
"Well, that's not very nice. Right, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie asked. Rainbow merely snorted and looked away.
"The ponies refused to move their trees, so we are stuck here, and it is not fair!" Strongheart told them.
"Well, have you tried talking to them?" Night asked.
"Yes. When we told them to remove their trees and they didn't," Chief Thunderhooves explained.
"Well, maybe we can find a solution to satisfy both sides," Night told them.
"Then perhaps we should try again," the Chief says. "Little Strongheart will go with you." Morning then arrives and the group heads to Appleloosa.
"The town is just up ahead," Strongheart told the group.
"Alright, we'll go on ahead and explain things. I don't want them to suddenly attack you," Night explained. Strongheart agreed and waited by a few rocks. Before the group could get far, they see the rest of their friends and Braeburn running to them before suddenly coming to a halt.
"Hi, guys!" Pinkie says.
"Pinkie!" Fluttershy says, tackling the pink pony. Twilight then suddenly hugged Night.
"You're okay!" Twilight says before releasing him and turning to the rest of the group. "How did you escape from the buffalo?" she asked them.
"They just let us walk right out," Night explained.
"We promised the buffalo a chance to talk," Rainbow added.
"Oh, yeah? 'Bout what?" Applejack asked suspiciously.
"We brought our new pal Little Strongheart here to explain to the Appleloosans why they should move the apple trees off buffalo land," Rainbow explained as the buffalo appears.
"No, we—" Night started, but Applejack suddenly interrupted.
"That's weird. 'Cause my cousin Braeburn here wants to explain to the buffalo why they should let the apple trees stay," Applejack said.
"Or maybe we can—" Night starts again, but is interrupted again.
"The land is theirs! You planted the trees not knowing that. Honest mistake. Now, you just gotta move 'em, that's all," Rainbow told Braeburn.
"They busted their rumps here! An' now they're supposed ta bust their rumps again, just 'cause some buffalo won't stampede someplace else?" Applejack asked Rainbow accusingly.
"Where?! It's the only flatland around these parts!" Applejack pointed out. As this argument went on, Strongheart and Braeburn stood next to Night.
"Your highness, is there any chance you have a solution to this?" Braeburn asked.
"At this point, I'm open to suggestions as well," Strongheart agreed.
"I have a base plan. Have your leaders meet us in the Appleloosa square. I'll lay my suggestion there," Night told them when Pinkie suddenly announced that she had an idea.
Later: Appleloosa Square
When all the ponies and buffalo were in the town square in front of a stage Pinkie set up, a clamshell opened to reveal the pink pony in an old western-style dress. "I swear, all this stuff gets made out of thin air," Night grumbles to himself. Spike then started to play the piano to accompany the song he knew was coming.
[We may be divided
But of you all, I beg
To remember we're all hoofed
At the end of each leg
No matter what the issue
Come from wherever you please
All this fighting gets you nothing
But hoof-and-mouth disease
Arguing's not the way
Hey, come out and play!
It's a shiny, new day
So, what do you say?
You gotta share
You gotta care
It's the right thing to do
You gotta share
You gotta care
And there'll always be a way through
Both our diets, I should mention
Are completely vegetarian
We all eat hay and oats
Why be at each other's throat?
You gotta share
You gotta care
It's the right thing to do
And there'll always be a way
Throoooough!]
Pinkie sang and it sounded terrible to anyone who wasn't tone-deaf, which was conveniently everyone except Pinkie Pie at that moment. Night at least hoped the idea behind the song made it through to the Sheriff and the Chief, who both looked at each other and nodded. "It appears that Sheriff Silverstar and I have come to… an agreement," Chief Thunderhooves told the crowd.
"We have," Sheriff Silverstar agreed.
"That was the worst performance we've ever seen," Chief Thunderhooves stated bluntly.
"Teh... Abso-tively!" Sheriff Silverstar agreed.
"The time for action is upon us! Our stampede will start at high noon tomorrow. And if the orchard is still there, we'll flatten it… and the whole town!" Chief Thunderhooves promised. The ponies gasped at this.
"But, Chief!" Strongheart protested, but Chief Thunderhooves didn't listen.
"An' we Appleloosans say you'd better bring yer best, 'cause we'll be ready and waitin'," Sheriff Silverstar promised.
"But, Sheriff. Prince Night Storm has a plan," Braeburn tells him.
"If that plan involves bringing in the Equestrian Army he's been preparing for war to crush these buffalo, then I welcome it," he says turning to Night.
"I am not preparing an army for war! It's for defense, not attacking natives because you can't even think of a compromise!" Night shouted. No one listened though, as the ponies and buffalos returned to their homes to ready them for war. Night went with Rainbow and Spike to try to talk to the buffalos. "Please Chief Thunderhooves, please reconsider what you're about to do," Night said.
"We all know you don't want to do this," Rainbow added.
"But they have taken our land. What would you two have me do?" Chief Thunderhooves asked. "It sounds like Sheriff Silverstar is unwilling to listen to us."
"As much as I'd like to find some kind of middle ground, if one side won't listen, then it makes it impossible," Night tells him grimly.
"Please… it's never too late to think of something," Rainbow said.
"At noon, it will be too late," Chief Thunderhooves says as he puts on war paint.
Shortly before noon: Appleloosa
It seemed Chief Thunderhooves was going to keep his promise as the entire buffalo herd stood ready at the top of a slope in front of the town. The Appleloosians hadn't been idle though, as defensive structures were in place to slow down and maybe stop the charge. "Come on, think! Think, think, think, think, think, think, think!" Rainbow says as she taps her noggin when the clock tower chimes twelve times. Night looks back at the cliff expecting the buffalo to come charging down, but they just stood in place. "He's not gonna do it!" Rainbow says hopefully. That's when Pinkie starts to sing her song again.
"CHAAARGE!" Chief Thunderhooves shouts and the entire herd runs down the slope and breaking through the defensive barricades. The Appleloosians then send a barrage of apple pies at the buffalo, knocking out some, but it does break the charge and it turns into an all-out brawl. Chief Thunderhooves then charges at Sheriff Silverstar, who was taking out buffalos left and right with apple pies. Out of ammo, the sheriff seems to accept his fate when a pie came out of nowhere and slammed the chief in the face and he tumbled to the ground. He then suddenly gets up and eats the crumbs of the pie. "Hey, I've got a much better idea! We... will allow the apple orchard to stay in exchange for a share of its fruit, heh... Those… delicious apple pies!" Chief Thunderhooves explained and the ponies thankfully agreed. A few trees were chopped down to form a path that the buffalo could stampede threw and at the end, the ponies would give then a pie to take on the road. Not the way Night had in mind, but it did seem like a better solution. Strongheart then said her goodbyes as the ponies watched the buffalo's run into the sunset.