Hell in a Hoof-basket

Rising Wind soared above the clouds, feeling the air push against her as she soared to and fro, not really going to any particular destination. As one of the very few Pegasi living in the town of Appleoosa, she basically had the sky to herself. Loops and corkscrews, dives and dips, demolishing clouds this way and that. It was bliss to zoom around without any restrictions. Except for the occasional pedestrian that happened to be traveling while she was flying close to the ground.

Oh hey look, exactly that.

Crash!

"Ah! Whatever pony I crashed into this time, I'm really sorry!" she rushed her usual apology. She wasn't quite so graceful in her social skills, much like her low altitude flying with closed eyes. The pony she had collided with... oh no! Definitely not a pony.

"Uh, sorry. Didn't mean to just assume you were a pony."

The minotaur rubbed his head with gritted teeth on full display, as well as a decent sized lump in-between his rather impressive sized horns. His Irish green eyes peeked from between his blue navy eye lids.

"Oh, it's alright. I imagine you would've cracked a pony's skull just as easily as mine. You ok?"

"Uh, yeah... again, I'm really sorry."

Rising Wind had heard a lot of things about minotaurs from stories and tales from her childhood. They were tall and extremely well built. They had a temper that rivaled the eruption of a volcano, and a glare that stabbed more efficiently into a pony than a dagger. They never spoke below a bellow, and they had the tendency to flex while speaking. They ate rocks for a light snack and punched the earth to make earthquakes for fun.

In front of her was a gangly looking loser.

His physique was indeed tall, probably around 7 feet, and that was while he was slouching. He wasn't well built in the loosest sense. She almost thought she could see some of his ribs. For being crashed into, he sure wasn't making any death threats or stab-like glares. His only words so far came out as more of a mutter than anything resembling a scream. She also doubted he could cause any earthquakes. The rock diet theory was yet to be tested.

"It's alright. It's just a welt is all. So, if you're flying around I'm guessing that means there's a town nearby?"

RW nodded. 'Odd,' she thought. 'Why would a minotaur be wandering around this area unless he knew there was a town in these parts? What the heck is a minotaur even doing in these here parts anyway?'

"Uh, yeah. Appleoosa is just a short ways away down that way." The mare tilted her head to the east.

"I see. And I'm assuming there's a way for me to get to different locations from Apalooza?"

"Appleoosa."

"Hm?"

"You said it wrong. It's Appleoosa."

"Alright. Well is there a way to get to a different town or city from Appleooz... Apalus... the town over there?"

RW's smirk betrayed her amusement at the beast's trouble with the word. She nodded and offered to take him there. He responded with a slight smile. And the two were on their way towards the small settlement-town.

"So, what's somepo-, er... somebeast like you doin out in the west by your lonesome?"

"Oh, just traveling about. I need to go see this certain pony and I'm going to need transportation to do so."

"Ah, I see. And what would be the business you and this certain pony got?"

"Classified."

RW kept flying slowly alongside the blue giant as she tried thinking of what the word meant.

"Classified?"

"It means I can't give the knowledge out freely."

"I knew what it meant!" she protested in a slightly offended tone. 'Somewhat.' she mentally added.

"My sincerest apologies miss..."

She stopped her flight in front of the minotaur, making him pause in his tracks.

"Rising Wind. Just call me RW."

"Pleasure to meet you Miss Wind." he smiled, though whether smugly or charmingly she knew not. She was not about to let him get away with the 'Miss Wind' remark though.

"And what would be your name?" She mentally prepared herself to come up with the most unflattering nickname for millions of adjectives followed by nouns.

"Rudy."

...

"Alright, well, what's yer full name?"

"Rudy."

...

"I told you my name, dangit! WHAT'S YOUR NAME! I KNOW OF DRAGONS WITH LONGER NAMES THAN THAT!"

"I assume that's supposed to mean something?"

RW rubbed her forehead with a hoof and continued to fly forward, making the minotaur jog a little to keep pace with her.

"So, how big is this town we're approaching?"

"How do you not know?" she asked in a frustrated tone. "It's the only settlement out here for miles that aint made solely of tipis!"

"Hm, well aint that quaint."

"What?"

"Nothing." She noted the small smirk on his face that displayed the amusement he felt. 'What is with this guy?' she wondered.

"So, why were you just flying about?"

"When you got wings, you fly." She rubbed the back of her neck in discomfort. She'd been there for a few reasons, but absolutely none of them were ideal discussion topics with strangers.

"Seemed rather majestic looking up until the abrupt landing."

"An just how long were you watchin me?" She cast a slight scowl at the blue giant's direction.

"About a mile back that way. Back there, you were merely a dot drawing circles in the sky. At first I thought I was either getting delirious from thirst or some random bird had lost its mind."

She was starting to doubt helping this bozo was worth the awkward talk and poorly phrased compliments. "Gee, thanks." He merely responded by humming an odd tune.

On the horizon, thank Celestia and everything good, there was the outline of her hometown. Just a short ways away, and she could finally be rid of this freak. She took in the sun setting in the backdrop of the town. The minotaur had stopped humming, and the sound of silence mixed in with the pleasant view had helped her mood considerably.

Having her face meet the rocky ground didn't as much.

She found her legs and wings bound close together. She tilted her head sideways to see four ponies, one unicorn and three earth ponies, standing around her. The unicorn's horn was glowing, and it didn't take a genius to assume he was the one holding her down.

"Well ello there darlin'. 'Ow are we t'day?" A blue Earth pony with a bit for a cutie mark asked with both a heavy accent and a knife in mouth. She couldn't tell if the dirt on his flank was from earlier rough housing or if it was part of the cutie mark.

"Just peachy." She matched the sneer and raised him a glare of disgust.

"Got any money this fine evenin'?"

"D'ya see any on me?"

"Is tha' an invitation tah check?" A red stallion earth pony said with a slight slur. 'Cider always smells less appealing coming from someone's mouth instead of their mug.' she cringed.

"Go tah Tartarus ya filthy swindlers. I aint got nothin on me."

"See, we'd let ya go on that," the unicorn piped up. "I mean, we let the last few off on that, but we're gettin mighty tired of not acquirin' much income."

"Pretty words for an ugly face to be speakin'." She growled.

"You aint no picture yourself." The unicorn spat on her face. If looks could kill, the unicorn would've been obliterated at that point.

"Where's that blue bucker got to? Why don't you rob him instead?"

"No idea who you're talkin bout sweetie."

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Rudy had been keeping up with RW up until a bumble bee flew directly in front of his face. He had ended up bolting a different direction. He started walking back in the direction of his pegasi friend when he noticed the others surrounding her.

"Oh cool, some of her friends found her. I'll leave em alone, I bugger her enough as it is."

Thus he continued towards the town while avoiding the situation.

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Yeah, how many of you guys thought I was introducing a new main character?