Roadmaster

Chapter Four

After a few days of pleasant camping, interrupted briefly by the Crusaders' attempt at earning their "Attempt-To-Have-A-Barbeque-And-Accidentally-Blow-Up-The-Propane-Grill" cutie marks, their time limit on the spot had expired.

The night they were slated to leave was quite hectic. There had been a huge party that invited all the campers, and Derpy had deemed herself "Too impared to drive", so Pinkie attempted to get them home. What could go wrong?

"No!" Wilcox cried, pointing out the window to a fork in the road they had just passed, "We were supposed to turn THERE!"

"Don't worry," Pinkie reassured him, "I've got this. How's the map going, Twist?"

"IT'S TOO DARK TO READ!"

For a long time, everyone argued on which way they should go, until Derpy announced that they would head North, back to Ponyville. What she didn't know is that they were travelling south.

"Wait a second," Derpy gasped, looking out the window, "We should've been in town by now!"

Pinkie shrugged. "Maybe we are? It's too dark to see anything....

"Pinkie, there are four good indicators that we're not in Ponyville. 1, there are no streetlights. 2, there are no other cars, even parked ones. 3, we would see buildings, even in the dark, and 4, SINCE WHEN DO CACTUSSES GROWN IN THE MIDDLE OF A CITY?!"

"Actually," Scootaloo corrected sleepily, stifling a yawn, "The correct plural is cactii."

Dinkie, who was getting agitated now due to lack of sleep, gave Scoot a hard stare.

"Does it look like she gives a shit, you worthless piece of poultry?"

"Dinky Seville Hooves!" Derpy gasped, putting her hoof over her foal's mouth, "Where did you learn such a language?!"

"From Grampa Eldo!"

The evening continued on like this, everyone arguing, until Pinkie parked on the side of the road, and everypony drifted off to sleep, quite uncomfortably in a car of 8 ponies and a trunk of camping equipment.

Derpy dreamt a nightmare that night. She was sprinting down a dirt road in a wood of dead trees, the highbeams of a car behind her, Dinky at her side.

She ran around a corner, and thought she was safe, until she finally saw the car clearly, a black Dodge Charger, catapult it'sself over  a hill, and slide around the corner. She kept up her hurried pace, but eventually, she just couldn't keep running. Her legs ached, and she was very short of breath. She thought it would catch them for sure, until she ran around a corner to come face-to-face with an unfamiliar light brown stallion with a dark brown mane.

He gave Derpy a look of sympathy, and directed his gaze toward the black Charger approaching rapidly from behind . He gritted his teeth in determination, and raced off toward it.

"Mr., don't do it!" Derpy pleaded, shielding her daughter's eyes, "He'll run you down!"

As soon as the Charger's front bumper made contact with the stallion, she was thrown back into reality. It was morning, she was laying down in the back seat of the Roadmaster. As she gazed outside, she saw that Pinkie and Wilcox were attempting to get the grill going, with the Crusaders all huddling around the map. Twist was playing her Nintendo DS, and Dinky was watching.

She opened the car door, and journeyed out to join them. As soon as she emerged from the massive rear-wheel drive machine, she was greeted by Dinky, who jumped onto her back, and gave her a hug.

"Good morning, mom!" she chimed, "Isn't it beautiful out here?" That reminded Derpy to check where they were. They were in a vast desert valley, the sun just emerging from some hills to the east. She didn't have time to get a better look at the scenery, she was too hungry.

"What's for breakfast?"

"Not much," Wilcox warned, "All we have left is some oatmeal, some frankfurters, and some orange juice." He then turned to Pinkie, who had finally lit the grill. "How much time do we have 'til mealtime, miss?"

"A few."

Wilcox was puzzled. "A few what?"

"A few."

"Minutes? Hours? DAYS?"

"Hold your horses! It'll be ready when it is!"

Wilcox quited down after that. In a few, they had a breakfast of sliced up hotdog, oatmeal with raisins, and orange juice. It wasn't fancy, but it was surprisingly delectable.

"Jeez, Pinkie Pie!" Applebloom exclaimed, "How do you do it?"

"I dunno," she shrugged, "I just do."

****

After breakfast, they got back in the car again, determined to get to the nearest town.

"Alright," Derpy explained, map in hooves, "Right now, I think we're on Highway 30. If we get to the nearest town, Apploosa, we can refuel, and then we'll head back! Is that okay with everyone?"

As they rode along, there was a silence, broken only by the sound effects from Twist's DS. As they got nearer to Apploosa, they found themselves stuck behind a car. Derpy decided to pass it, but waited until she saw the tell- tale swinging motion of the driver's hoof out the window, the signal that it was clear to pass.

As she headed into the opposite lane, she slowly overtook the other car, but was shocked to see another car, a black Charger, like the one in her nightmare in front of her, chugging along at about 30. For everypony's safety, she had to stay behind it.

Half an hour of 30 mph was about as much as everypony could take.

The foals in the back fidgeted uncomfortably, while Wilcox stared at his hooves. Pinkie, who was riding shotgun now, leaned over quickly, and slammed her hoof down on the horn to alert the Charger to speed up, but Derpy pushed her away.

"Come on!" she complained, "Why don't you pass him?"

They didn't understand, this could be the difference between life and death!

Wait a minute, maybe she was just nervous after the nightmare! Besides, the Dodge Charger WAS a fairly common car in Equestria, thanks to the cut-off of trade in 1982, which made all new cars have to be smuggled in. She was letting her fears get the best of her, that's all, right?

She began to speed up, getting closer to the Charger to let it's driver know she wanted to pass. The driver responded by waving his hoof out the window, which meant it was clear to go. As she rocketed past him, she caught a glimpse of the drivers face. He was a scrawny light gray stallion, with a bergundy mane, with a colt similar to him in the passenger's seat. This strange pony was no threat to her, he looked as if he could barely push the gas pedal! She sped off, doing 55 now, and left the nightmare behind.