The World-Wide Adventures of Dash and Pinkie

Day 1

Dash and Pinkie sailed over the lush green grass below them, the wind making it seem as if even nature was wishing them luck.  Their balloon was making its way through the air at a decent rate, though Dash wouldn’t complain at all if it went a bit faster.  She was currently outside flying around.  She loved the freedom that flying gave, even from such things as gravity.  When flying around, nothing could stop her.  She was her own mare.

Pinkie, on the other hand, was admiring the landscape passing around them.  She marveled at how different it all seemed from inside a hot-air balloon.   In fact, it all looked a little too different.  Stepping back from the ledge of the basket, she took one last look, before calling out “Hey Rainbow Dash, are you sure this is the right direction?  This landscape isn’t ringing any bells, and I just had them polished.”

Pulling closer to the balloon, Dash looked around for a moment, unsure herself.  Still, she wasn't about to admit she couldn't do something, so she responded "Of course Pinkie.  We should reach the eastern coast of Equestria by nightfall at this pace."  Looking at the sun, she felt a final tinge of nervousness.  "Still, I guess we can look at the map again.  It won't hurt at least.  Can you pull it out?"

"No problem!  Just give me a second…" With that, Pinkie upended her bag to get the map out.  This caused the avalanche to come out again, a huge pile of stuff filling the basket of the balloon in seconds.  With this extra weight, the balloon began to sink into the sand below at a frightening pace.

Pinkie noticed this, and began to worry.  "Rainbow, help!"  Pinkie yelled, frantically getting everything back into the bag.  It was obvious, though, that there was simply too much stuff to put back into the bags in order to hope for it to be done in time.

Rainbow turned, seeing the balloon falling dangerously fast.  Rainbow turned around, speeding towards the balloon.  The balloon was only a few feet from the ground now, seconds away from becoming a wreck of wicker basket, pink pony, and… whatever balloons are made of.  Rainbow would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to a friend that she cared about.

Rainbow got to the balloon and started to try and lift Pinkie up.  Pinkie wasn't cooperating, however.  The party pony was still trying to get everything back into her bags, fending off Rainbows attempts to rescue her friend.

"Pinkie, we have to bail!  This balloon is gonna crash!"  Rainbow said, a hint of fear in her voice.  At this speed, they would have no fear of dying, but serious injury was still likely if they didn't move now!

Pinkie ignored Rainbow, still getting all she could into her bags.  "Not until I find it!"  Pinkie started to simply shift through all the stuff, obviously noticing that speed was starting to become important.

Dash got to the balloons basket with a few minutes to spare.  Silently thanking Celestia for her good luck, she got behind Pinkie and began to lift her up.  Pinkie, however, was not cooperating, deciding instead to keep looking through the pile of stuff that was weighing down the balloon.

"Pinkie, we have to bail!  This balloon's going down way too fast!"  Rainbow risked looking down, and was immediately made even more alarmed.  She had thought that she had at least five minutes to get pinkie out, maybe grab some of the more essential things like water, food, and most importantly, her teddy bear.  Now it looked like they would be lucky to have a minute at best!

Starting to panic, Dash grabbed Pinkie from her middle.  It was less comfortable, but most ponies preferred discomfort to pain.  Unconsciousness was still a topic for debate, but discomfort was still preferred to hurting.  Pinkie felt this, and immediately looked for something to anchor herself with.  Reaching out with her front hooves, she managed to hug an anvil.

Dash tried to pull Pinkie away from certain pain, but it was like trying to move a rooted tree: you can exert all the force you want, but it won't budge an inch.  Seeing the futility, Dash looked down to see that the balloon was only a few feet from crashing!  She considered abandoning the balloon, going to get help.  But Dash wasn't the type of pony to abandon anypony, least of all her friends.  Thinking fast, she grabbed the edge of the basket, straining to keep the balloon airborne for a little longer.  If she was lucky, they could get closer to a town.

Dash's plan seemed to be working to some degree.  The balloon wasn't crashing yet, at any rate.   The pull was tremendous however, and it was painfully obvious that this would only work for a little while.  However, Dash realized that there was no other option now.  If she let go, the balloon would only be in the air for a second or two.  That may have been enough time to grab Pinkie and run, but she would have to cooperate.

Before Rainbow could think of another idea, she felt something she dreaded.  Dragging.  The basket had hit the ground, and was starting to flip from the momentum.  Dash immediately let go of the basket and flew in to grab Pinkie before she was crushed by the mountain of things.  A quick search helped him see a pink hoof sticking out of the pile, limp and unmoving.  Horrified at what may have happened, Dash quickly went about moving the junk, trying to free her friend.

Fate had another idea, however, as Dash must have moved something just the right way, because the pile slowly started to shift over him, like a pile of sludge.  Dash didn't even have time to react, instead quickly becoming covered in junk, leaving only her upper body free.

"This is just perfect!"  Dash said to no pony in particular.  She tried feebly to shift the junk off of her, but fate was still playing pranks on her.  A bucket at the top of the pile chose that moment to fall from its peak of the small mountain.  It came down quickly, carrying more than enough force to cause pain, just enough to knock out the blue pony below.  Only the sands and winds of the desert heard the last words Dash said before loosing consciousness.

"Why are the stars rainbow-colored?  They are so pretty and shiny."

XXX

Feeling was the first thing that came back to Rainbow Dash.  She was laying down on something.  A cloud?  No, it wasn't that soft and yielding.  It was still comfortable, though.  Quite a nice substitute if a cloud wasn't around.

Next sound came back.  Some ponies were saying things indistinguishably, but Dash didn't really care.  He was more interested in the murmuring he overheard nearby.  One of them sounded extremely familiar, one that she felt she should know, but wanted to be sure.  The other one also sounded familiar, but Dash was having a terrible time putting a name to the voice.

Sight helped make sure she was right in her hearing.  An orange pony with a blonde mane in a ponytail was at the foot of the bed, sporting three apples as a cutie mark and a brown Stetson on her head.  The other pony at the end of the bed was yellow with a mane that reminded Rainbow Dash of fire, with the way the yellow and orange mixed.  He had a Stetson that was similar to the other pony's, except that it was a darker brown, and was missing the gap in the front.  The only other differences that Dash could make out at the moment were the single red apple on his flank and his vest.

At that moment, the two ponies noticed that Dash was awake.  The orange one came over and smiled.  "Nice of you to wake up, Rainbow."

"Applejack?"  Rainbow responded, confused.  "Where are-."  At that moment, a part of feeling finally found the right place to rest: pain.  Rainbow suddenly felt a throbbing pain on her head, lifting a hoof up to calm it.  It felt like she had run into a mountain.  Again.

AJ simply let out a little chuckle, quieted quickly by the look shot at her by Dash.  Clearing her throat, she looked right at Dash.  "Settle down, Sally."  This earned another look from Dash.  She HATED that name, it was so lame and uncool!  "You're currently in Appleloosa hospital.  We found you and Pinkie under a pile of-"

Dash burst out of the bed, suddenly going all cylinders.  "Pinkie!  Where is she, is she OK?"  After her quick outburst, her head reminded her that it was not happy.  "Ow."  Rubbing her head, she laid back down.

Applejack had to let out a giggle at her friends brashness.  It was something she admired, really.  "Don't you worry none, partner.  Pinkie Pie's in the next room, woke up about an hour ago.  Seemed a mite insistent to go through the junk heap, if you ask me."

At the mention of time, Rainbow remembered the entire point of leaving Ponyville in the first place.  "How long have we been out?"

AJ thought for a second, unsure how to answer.  "You were out here for about three hours, but I have no idea how long you were in the desert.  Couldn't have been that long, though.  I mean, you warn’t dehydrated or anything."

The other pony took this opportunity to talk.  "Hey there.  Welcome to AAAA-" Applejack cleared her throat loudly, cutting off the other pony, who blushed fiercely.  "I mean, welcome to Appleloosa.  You sure do look familiar.  You were here before, right?"

Rainbow started to nod her head, but remembered the bump.  "Yhea, I was here during the buffalo incident.  You're… Brandy, right?"

“Close, RD.”  Applejack said with a snicker.  “Especially with how he treats it.”  This remark broke the floodgates for the farm-pony, who began to roll all over the hospital floor laughing.  Dash just watched, not sure what was so funny.

The pony in question simply blushed, before clearing his throat and coughing.  "No, Braeburn.  Can't really blame you, though.  We were never properly introduced, I guess.  Shame on me!"

"That's O.K, nice to meet you, Braeburn."  Rainbow Dash recalled his last visit here almost a month ago.  “I did spend a majority of the time with the buffalo instead of you guys.”

That reminded her.  "So how are things with the buffalo, anyhow?  They still are allowing you to use their land in exchange for pie, I assume?"

AJ and Braeburn shared an uneasy look that Rainbow almost missed.  "Who-e, will you look at the time.”  Applejack commented, looking at the clock on the wall.  Taking Braeburn by the shoulder, she led him, a bit forcefully, towards the door.  “We have to get going, Rainbow.  It’s about time to, uh, do that… thing!  Yhea, can’t be late for that!”  About to close the door behind her, she stuck her head in.  “Doc said you should be able to move around.  We'll let Pinkie know that you're awake, I bet she'll wanna talk to ya."  AJ said as she walked through the door.

Looking through the door, Rainbow Dash wondered what just happened.  It was obvious that Applejack was avoiding the question, but why?  Either way, Rainbow now had a little time to herself, after all the craziness, to think.  I wonder why Pinkie wouldn't bail the balloon.  It was obviously going down, and she couldn't have thought that she could stuff that mountain back into the bag in time.  Rainbow's thoughts were derailed for a moment by the simply thought: how DOES she get all that stuff in there, anyway?  And how does she carry it all?

Shaking her head, Dash got her thoughts back into order.  Where was I?  Oh yhea, Pinkie.  Guess she was just being Pinkie Pie.  Dash was happy with that answer.  It was simple, absolute, and made her throbbing head hurt just a bit less.  Which reminded her: ow.  So things with the buffalo may not be so great now.  Wonder what happened… I'll go ask Little Strongheart and Chief Thunderhooves later.

Before she could think of much else, she was interrupted by Pinkie jumping into the room.  She gasped when she saw Rainbow.

"You're OK!"  Pinkie ran to Dash, giving her the biggest hug in existence.  Rainbow accepted it happily, momentarily forgetting the issues in her head.  "So, how do you feel?"

"Head feels like a polka band is dancing in my head, but otherwise fine."  Dash's tone then took a turn for the serious.  "What the hay happened back in the balloon?  We are lucky to have injuries as small as these!"

Pinkie shied away from the question, almost making Dash regret asking it.  Taking a deep breath, Pinkie started to explain.  "I was looking for my picture of gummy.  It's the only thing from home I have with me.  I doubt I could continue on this trip without it."

Dash didn't doubt that answer for a moment.  She had her teddy bear from home, after all.  It was always nice to have something from home whenever you left.  She did feel, however, that there was more to it than that.  Before she could call her out on it, however, there was a commotion outside the room that completely stole their attention.

“Come on, Ditzy!”  A tan pony with an hourglass cutie mark called out to a grey mare.  Both looked extremely familiar, though neither could quite put their hoof on who the ponies were.  “The buffalo are not meant to break away from pony kind for another 100 years, when a buffalo chief is served soup instead of salad at a peace talk.  Something caused a detour from the flow of time, and I plan to find out what!”

With that, the duo ran out of the hospital, leaving Pinkie and Dash looking outside the door, unsure what to say.

"So… Is it true that things with the buffalo aren't going so well?"  Dash finally broke the silence.  "I thought we broke the tensions last time."

"Yhea, things aren't all that sharing and caring right now."  Pinkie replied.  "It has something to do with the buffalo not feeling welcomed in town, mostly by the shops."  Looking Dash over, she gave a weak smile.  "Well, I say we’ve been in here long enough.  Ready to go outside?"

Dash was in slight pain; her bump was not letting her forget that yet.  But her curiosity as to what was happening with the buffalo was starting to get the better of her, as was her restlessness.  She was eager to get moving around, just to get out of this bed!

"Sure, lets go."  As she spoke, Dash threw the covers off of her and leapt into the air, beginning to fly for the exit.  As she approached, she was slightly surprised to see Pinkie at the door already, as she hadn't seen her pass her at any point.  "Wait, but- I- how!?"

Pinkie let out one of her signature giggles.  "I walked, of course!  Weeeell, I technically bounced, but they are pretty much the same if you stop to think about it.  They both-"

"Never mind."  Dash let loose an exasperated sigh.  The last thing she wanted right now was one of Pinkies stupid rants.  That caused her head to hurt even when it didn’t hurt already!  Opening the door, they both set eyes onto Appleloosa for the first time in a month.

Not much had changed over a month.  The town still held that western feel that had entranced them both when they first came into the town.  Nearly every building was made up of wood paneling in earthy dark colors, save the brick bell tower.  That was the only thing that seemed different from their first visit, the repaired one having a more decorative rim, with a few turquoises surrounding the clocks face.

The clock suddenly let out three loud chimes, letting the town know that the entire that it was now three in the afternoon.  As the last of the noise dissipated from the air, two small doors opened at the edges of the clocks main face.  From these two doors came two small figurines.  One was of an earth pony, tan with a darker brown mane.  It was hard to tell from this distance, but it almost looked like it had a black mustache.

The other figurine was much easier to make out.  It was of a large buffalo, the mud-brown hair deeply defined, his black hooves shining in the afternoon sun.  The buffalo also wore a headdress of white feathers with tan tips, held in place with a blue band.

The figures met at the center of the clock, bowing to each other.  They then began to spin around each other for a few seconds, before bowing out and going back into their respective doors, which promptly closed.

"Beautiful, ain't it?"  Applejack walked up from behind the two ponies, eyes riveted on the clock.  "It was rebuilt the day after the fight, by both pony and buffalo workers.  It was meant to be a symbol of peace between the two o' us.  There was a big day of celebration once it was done."

Rainbow looked at the clock.  This was a testament to how things were meant to be, a structure to peace.  A peace meant to last many years, maybe forever.  "Why did Chief Thunderhooves change his mind so suddenly?  He's the one that suggested the idea in the first place!"

"Don't know myself Rainbow.  The chief got powerful angry when we pony folk weren't able to let them into our stores."  Applejack then glared angrily at Dash and Pinkie.  "It ain't our fault the buffalo can't fit, we never planned for them to be interested in coming to town."  Applejack then grabbed Dash by the shoulders and started shaking.  "How is this our fault?  Why can't we seem to get along no matter what!?"

Applejack then relented in her shaking, letting Dash recover.  As soon as her eyes stopped spinning, she took Applejacks hooves and put them back on the ground, not saying a word.  She understood the importance of letting out your frustrations.

Stepping back, Applejack then lowered her head and shut her eyes.  Rainbow was almost positive that it was a trick of the lights, but it almost looked like a tear was trickling down her cheek.  "Could you two do something for me?"

Rainbow and Pinkie nodded in unison.  Pinkie's head was more a blur than any declinable action.  "Sure thing Applejack.  We will do any deed.  Nothings to hard, tricky, difficult, or even intricate."  Pinkie leaned in to hear the details while the other two ponies gave her a dubious look.

"Uh, Pinkie?"  Dash said slowly, making sure that each word got through.  "All four of those words mean the same thing."

Pinkie just gave a light laugh at Dash's remark.  "Silly Dashie, they all mean something slightly different.  Hard indicates difficulty, but intricate implies finesse is involved."

"Yhea, but they all carry the general idea that it will not be easy!"

Dash rubbed her head.  Dealing with Pinkies train of thought was impossible normally, and her head was not helping with the dull thumping.  "So?  Ants and beetles are both bugs, but they don't mean the same thing"

"Yhea, but-"

"I was going to ask if you could talk to the buffalo."  Applejack interrupted the argument before it got out of hoof.  Besides, she was also more than a smidge lost as well.  Not to mention it completely totaled the mood better than anything Dash could accomplish alone.

"Why us, Applejack?"  Rainbow looked at Pinkie, then back to herself.  "We aren't exactly the best representatives of ponies…"

"But you know them, Rainbow.  They'll be a might more friendly with you than with some strange pony they never met."  Applejack looked down at the dirt, making it only possible to see a hat and a small bit of orange hoof from where Rainbow and Pinkie were standing.  "Ya'll both know I would never ask this a you if I weren't desperate."

"Why did you even ask that, Applejack?"  This remark caused Applejack to look up, worried until she saw Dash's playful smile.  "We had planned to go there even before we knew something was wrong, right Pinkie?"

"Yhea, we were gonna say hello to Little Strongheart.  We hadn't seen her in ages, it would be totally fun to say hello!"  Pinkie's eyes brightened as she remembered another reason to visit her friend.  "Besides, I never got the recipe for that mush!"

Rainbow Dash made a quick disgusted look at the mere mention of the slop.  "Pinkie, you have to be kidding, right?  That mess looked more like barf than it did food!"

Pinkie threw Dash a look of pure innocence, one that can only be done by a pony that was telling the absolute truth.  "You should really learn to not judge by looks, Dashie.  That mush was magnificently mouthwateringly tasty."

"Yhea, I'm sill gonna have to pass on that… stuff."  Turning to Applejack, she gave her the most reassuring smile she could after the mention of that slop the buffalo ate.  "Don't worry, AJ.  We'll talk to the buffalo and get them to come to peace.  Thunderhooves is a reasonable guy, He probably feels the same way about this."

Applejack just smiled.  She should have known better than to think she had to ask her friends to help.  They always did it out of the kindness of their heart.  That was the greatest thing about friendship: it gave you people willing to shoulder a portion of your burdens, no matter the weight or importance.

"In that case, I'll go and get you some bags.  It's only about two hours trot from town, but the wilderness is as unforgiving as a rattlesnake.  You would probably die within a week if ya didn't know where ya were headed."  With that, Applejack left to prepare the bags for the pairs treck into buffalo territory.