The Equinid (Undetermined Prologue)

Rarity grimaced as the sand on her hooves scraped against the stone on the ground.

Were it not for the sand, she might find the desert more tolerable. However, she found the arid, seemingly endless stretch of land simply displeasing as it was.

The group of seven ponies was making their way across the desert that Appleloosa sat in the center of. Like the six mares that carried the Elements of Harmony, Carton, the seventh member of the caravan, had business in the developing town.

"Hey, arentcha hot in that?" Dash looked over to Carton, who was wearing his heavy coat despite the heat.

"No," he lied, as he was, in reality, sweltering underneath it. "Besides, I like wearing it."

The seven ponies entered a wide, dry ravine that was flanked on both sides by rocky plateaus. Carton checked the map and confirmed that they were headed in the right direction.

"So Carton, why aren't you using a train to get to Appleloosa?" Twilight asked him.

He turned his head to talk to the unicorn. "Trains are easier to find and sabotage; single wagon caravans aren't."

Her face became inquisitive. "Well why would anypony sabotage your train?"

He ceased walking and scrunched his face up, as if looking hard for an answer. "It's… personal. Business matter, best if I didn't tell you."

Now it was Twilight's turn to stop. "What?"

"Look, I'm sorry if I'm being cryptic and mysterious here, but I have some reservations regarding telling you about my current case."

"If any of us are in danger, I'd like to know about it."

"That's pretty much why I'm not telling you. It sounds stupid, but trust me on this one."

Twilight eyed him suspiciously.

Carton noticed the expression on her face. "You don't trust me."

"Oh! Um, no, that's not…" Twilight began, hoping she hadn't offended him. It wasn't as if anypony had ever given her a real reason not to trust them.

" No, no, that's good. Smart. You shouldn't trust me. You can't trust anypony, you know?" He said, and then paused, as if waiting for her to agree with him. When this moment had passed, he continued. "You never know. Maybe you think somepony is your friend. Maybe you think you can put your absolute faith in them, but you never know. They could just be pretending because they want something from you. Or they could be faking it because they've been told to get rid of you. Or they could be somepony completely different, just wearing your friend's skin as a disguise. Or-"

"I don't think I need to hear any more scenarios, if that's alright. They're a little… creepy." Twilight interrupted.

Carton suddenly seemed to notice how he sounded. He cleared his throat and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. I get carried away sometimes."

At the moment, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the two ponies assigned to pulling the wagon; the ponies had agreed to rotating shifts as a way to determine who would pull.

The wooden wheels squeaked for a moment and then made a dull "thud". The pegasus and the earth pony stopped, looked at each other, shrugged, and then continued to pull. However, the wagon refused to move. They tried to pull once more, struggling in their harnesses, before they stopped again.

"The wagon won't move!" Dash called to the others, who hadn't noticed the wagon's hindrance.

The five other ponies turned around and trotted back to the cart.

Twilight bent down to examine the underside and wheels of the wagon. One was sunken into a ditch, held fast by rocks. "It looks like the back left wheel is stuck in a divot."

Rarity joined Twilight in observing the wheel. "It's certainly going to be difficult to dislodge. Of course, everything is difficult in this desert."

"Quit yer complainin'. Everypony else is managin'."

"I hardly believe that everypony else is enjoying themselves."

"Ah don't hear 'em complainin'; that means everypony is just fine."

"Maybe you are, Applejack, but perhaps we should actually ask everypony else instead of making assumptions. How about this: everypony who dislikes being in the desert raise their hooves."

As Rarity was saying this, Carton, who had been looking more closely at the ditch than the wheel, stood straight up.

"Twilight, Twilight, come over here. Now!" He said, waving his hoof frantically.

"What's wrong now?" Twilight said, getting irritated as her friends started arguing and complaining.

Carton ignored the tone of her voice. "Take a look at the ditch."

Twilight sighed and followed him over. They stopped before it and he pointed at it.

"I don't see anything, Carton."

"Look closely, you see how even the sides are? This could've only been dug with shovels."

"So what? It runs all the way across the ravine, it was dug with shovels, it's probably some irrigation canal."

"What about these?" Carton pointed at something glinting within the ditch.

Twilight looked even closer. There were three sets of nails facing inward, gripping the wooden wheels strongly.

"Hi! Who are you?" Pinkie Pie shouted.

Twilight and Carton looked over their shoulders at the same time to see a group of ponies standing on the crest of the ravine side.

Carton immediately scrambled to his feet and dove behind a boulder.

"What are you doing, Carton?" Twilight and her friends looked to him curiously.

He gave them an exasperated look and waved his hooves in an attempt to make them take action.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Trap!"

"Trap?"

A cloud of dust erupted as a bolt of magical energy struck the ground in front of Pinkie Pie.

"YIKES! That was hot!" She said in her typical cheerful tone despite the danger.

Twilight pulled Pinkie out of the path of another bolt before pushing her behind a rock.

"Girls, get behind something!" The lavender filly shouted.

Twilight ducked behind the same Carton as Fluttershy and Rarity scrambled to the furthest one from the attacking ponies.

Dash and Applejack ducked out of their harnesses, and as Applejack started for cover behind the wagon, the blue mare jumped out to face the assailants, who were slightly stunned by the show of bravery.

"Hey! Who the hay do you think you are, huh? Nopony just messes with me and my friends! I'm Rainbow Dash! Maybe you chumps have-"

Dash was tackled by Applejack, narrowly avoiding another bolt.

A flurry of the bolts began pelting the ground. Applejack, realizing they were out in the open, and that she was pinning Dash to the ground, rolled off of her friend and grabbed Dash's hoof, dragging her behind the wagon before the pegasus even got the chance to stand up.

"Are ya crazy? Ya coulda been killed!" Twilight could hear Applejack start shouting at Dash.

Her focus turned from Applejack's chastising to Carton, who was nudging her shoulder to get her attention.

He glanced over the top of the boulder for a moment and then ducked behind it once more. "Alright, they don't look too bad; just common bandits; really rare in this part of the desert, though." He looked back in the direction of the assailants. "We have an edge, however: Celestia's student, i.e., you."

"Oh, okay, uh, thank you," She said. "What do you have in mind?"

He looked at her with a puzzled expression, as if expecting her to know the answer. "Well, you know some spells, right?"

"Well, sure, of course."

"So, fire some bolts back at them; you know, use some of your combat spells."

"Combat spells?"

"Combat spells; you know, spells that you can use to fight. Like, the ones those guys are using." He motioned in the direction of the unicorns on the ridge.

Twilight looked mildly surprised. "Oh, I don't know any of those."

"You mean, you don't know the particular spell those guys are using, right?"

"No, I don't know any combat spells."

Carton looked skyward, exhaled loudly, and then rubbed his eyes with his hooves. "You're telling me that you, as Celestia's private student, were never taught any spells that you could use to fight with?"

"Well, there aren't many fights in Canterlot and Ponyville. I mean, I know a lot of non-violent spells, maybe I could use one of those?" She suggested.

Carton shook his head, half in disbelief and half in defeat. "Okay, what other types of spells do you know?"

"Oh, okay. I know luminosity spells, growing spells, calming spells-"

"So what, did Celestia expect you to just stay in Canterlot forever, where nopony would ever bother you?" Carton growled.

"Don't get mad at me, it's not my fault!" Twilight shouted back. "Ponies aren't supposed to attack each other, it's not right," she stated righteously, furrowing her brow in both conviction and confusion.

Carton glanced around at the rest of the fillies. Though he (and multitudes of other Equestrians) had heard of their exploits against Nightmare Moon and other dangerous creatures, being attacked by other equines had a peculiar effect on them. In their faces he could see that they wanted to take action, to defend themselves, but it appeared that none quite knew how to respond.

He hadn't been to Ponyville in a long time, but he knew it lived up to the reputation of Equestria; everypony shared with each other and cared about each other's feelings, besides the Nightmare Moon incident, there hadn't been a physical fight of any kind in thousands of years. It seemed to Carton that their own morals and beliefs contradicted the very situation of being assaulted by fellow Equines with malicious intent, beliefs that would only further contradict the thought of reacting in kind.

He decided he would never again hire somepony from that town.

Though he was fairly disappointed with the way the fillies were reacting, he did feel a tinge of remorse for his sarcastic retribution against Twilight. "You're right, I'm sorry. We need to focus on what we can do."

"Okay," Twilight started to regain her composure, "I was thinking; maybe you could fight them like those Diamond Dogs in Fillydelphia?"

Carton shook his head. "Those were Diamond Dogs. They're cretins, and they can't use magic. Does running up and trying to punch these guys seem like a good idea to you?"

"Well, what about 'thinking unconventionally'?"

"Totally different scenario. I'm kind of out of my element here."

"But what else do we do?"

The bolts ceased abruptly. They could hear urgent shouts between the bandits which were soon followed by hooves pattering on the sand and stone. The pattering grew quieter and the shouting grew lower in volume.

As this sound got quieter and more distant, a similar one, only deeper and louder, replaced it. The ground began vibrate slightly and suddenly stopped, along with the noise.

"You're trespassing on sacred buffalo stampeding grounds; show yourselves!" A surprisingly high voice shouted.

Carton dug his hooves into his face in frustration. "Forgot about that."

However, he noticed that Twilight and the rest of the mares were smiling at what they saw.

Dash waved a hoof. "Hey! Little Strong Heart! It's us!"

The young buffalo who stood at the front's eyes widened in surprise.

"Dash? Applejack? What are all of you doing here?"

Pinkie was (somehow) immediately beside her. "What do you think, silly? We're going to Appleloosa!"

"To visit Braeburn?" Little Strong Heart asked as she walked down the steep side of the ravine with ease and leapt to the group of fillies.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but then shut it quickly and rethought her response.

"Uh, yeah. We were coming to visit both of you," The unicorn said with a cheesy smile.

Luckily for Twilight, Little Strong Heart suspected nothing. In fact, her ears perked up in surprise and a small smile broke out on her face. "You came all this way just to see Braeburn… and me?"

Twilight felt guilty for lying to Little Strong Heart when she saw the joy on the young calf's face, but she nodded regardless.

"Uh huh."

"Oh wow, that's great! I'll tell these guys to take care of your wagon," she motioned to the buffalo still on the edge of the ravine. "Why don't we go to the orchard, though? I think that's where Braeburn is right now."

Applejack was curious as to how Little Strong Heart knew where her cousin was, but she decided not to ask.

As Little Strong Heart started leading the group, she looked back over the ponies.

"Who is he?" she tilted her head towards Carton.

The response was a shout from Pinkie Pie "Oh! That's Carty! He's…" she stooped low and looked both ways before whispering, "…A spy!" To the calf.

Strong Heart eyed him incredulously. "Is that what he told you?"

Carton nudged Pinkie aside and approached Little Strong Heart himself. "I'm just here to meet a few ponies myself," he blinked consciously and continued. "Oh! Sorry, I'm, uh, Carton Foals, pleasure." He tipped his fedora.

Little Strong Heart smiled and suppressed a snicker at his formality. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Foals; I'm Little Strong Heart. Feel free to come with us; we'll head to Appleloosa soon and I wouldn't want to find out that you got lost on your way there."

He shrugged. "Doubtful that would happen, but I'll tag along."

"Okay then, we aren't that far; we should be there before sundown."

They all galloped off in the direction of town.