It was a blistering hot, sunny, summer’s day in Ponyville. The pegasi had cleared away all the clouds, and the early-morning sun beat down on the thatched roofs and heated cobblestones. Most ponies were staying indoors, away from the searing sun, drinking cool drinks and bathing in icy baths. Most ponies… except three.
Three small forms darted along through the baking streets. The heat had plastered their coats to the sides and flattened their manes to their heads. They crept through the shadows, staying close to the slightly-cooler sides of buildings. As they neared the edge of the town, the houses fell away, and only flat, superheated fields were left between them and their destination. Without exchanging a word, they broke into a gallop, racing through the open ground to the apple trees beyond. They plunged into the shadows of the trees, but did not slow their pace, sprinting on until they reached a small wooden tree-house, built in the branches of an exceptionally large tree. They scampered up the steps and into the house, slamming the door shut behind them. The unicorn slumped on the wooden floor with a huff of relief, while the pegasus darted around to close all the curtains over the windows, shrouding the room from the blazing sun.
“It’s hotter than the barn durin’ a family reunion with a bonfire in summer,” Apple Bloom panted, dropped to her belly beside Sweetie Belle’s prone form. “An’ that’s pretty hot!”
“Why did the weather team make it this hot,” Sweetie Belle moaned, moving her hooves to cover her eyes. “Scootaloo, tell them to stop.”
“I’m not on the weather team,” Scootaloo protested, leaping down from the last window frame to land beside the pair with a thump. “Besides, they have a reason for making it this hot. Rainbow Dash told me so herself!”
“Well, what is the reason then?” Apple Bloom asked patiently.
“I… Um…” Scootaloo squinted, biting her lower lip. “Um… it’s a good reason!”
“Just a good reason?” Sweetie Belle questioned plaintively. “What is this good reason?”
“It’s… Um… It’s private! Pegasi know-how only.”
“Sure it is,” Apple Bloom drawled sarcastically. She heaved herself to her hooves and ambled over to the podium on the far side of the room. “Well, with that cheery thought in mind, Ah call this meetin’ of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in order.” A gravel banged on the podium’s surface. “What should we do today, Crusaders?”
“We should go to Yakyakistan,” Scootaloo sighed. “I bet it’s nice and cold there.”
Sweetie Belle brightened, and leapt up from her fetal position on the floor. “Yes! Let’s got to Yakyakistan!”
“Whoa there,” Apple Bloom blinked at her fellow crusaders. “How’re we supposed to get to Yakyakistan? Isn’t it, like, super far away?”
“Pinkie Pie went there and back in less than a day,” Scootaloo pointed out, buzzing her wings with excitement. “I bet we could do it to!”
“That’s Pinkie Pie,” Apple Bloom pointed out.
“And we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Sweetie Belle rebutted. “Come on, Apple Bloom. Don’t you want to cool off a bit?”
Apple Bloom flicked her sweat-dampened ears in thought. It didn’t take long. “Alright,” she said, jumping down from the podium to land next to her friends. “You’ve got a point. Let’s go to Yakyakistan!”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS YAKYAKISTAN EXPLORERS, YAY!” the three of them hollered in unison. With a pounding of hooves, they were out the door and off into the great, wide world.
They headed straight across Sweet Apple Acres, galloping through the fields of long waving grass, leaving hoofprints on new-plowed fields, leaping and dodging around wheelbarrows, shovels, buckets, and other farm equipment. They ran straight into the orchard proper. The dappled shadows cast waving patterns on their coats as they galloped through and out to the wastelands on the other side. Here, the searing sun beat down harder than ever, and the three panted as they gazed out across the never-ending Badlands.
“Are… Are you sure this is the way to Yakyakistan?” Scootaloo panted. “Shouldn’t we go where it starts getting colder?”
“No, silly,” Sweetie Belle scolded. “The hero's always have to go through great trouble and hardship to get to their goal. So if we want to cool off, we have to brave the heat first!” She took the first, tremulous step onto the sands, wincing slightly as the hot grains burned her frog. “It’s...Not that bad,” she said in a strained voice, taking a second step. “Come on! Are we going to Yakyakistan, or what?”
Cautiously, the Crusaders began their journey across the Badlands. They winced with every step for the first few miles, but after a while, they got used to it. Apple Bloom settled into a rhythm, striding confidently across the sands. A fly landed on her ear, and she twitched it away, glancing up at the sky in the process.
“Whoa!” she said, stopping in her tracks. “Lookit that, everypony! We’re flyin’!”
The other followed her gaze. “Wow!” Scootaloo squealed. “Not even lunchtime yet, and Ponyville isn’t even visible anymore!” She struck a pose on the sands. “We must be the fastest ponies ever!”
“When do you think we’ll be at Yakyakistan?” Sweetie Belle asked hopefully.
“Prolly in just another few minutes?” Apple Bloom suggested uncertainly.
“Cool!” Scootaloo leapt into the air with joy, wings buzzing furiously. “Let’s get going, Crusaders!”
With renewed enthusiasm, the three set off galloping once again, sprinting across the grains. But before they had gone more than a hundred paces, Sweetie Belle skidded to a halt. “Wait!” she cried. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what, Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Me neither,” Apple Bloom said after listening for a moment.
“It’s coming from over here!” Sweetie Belle darted over to a clump of dried tumbleweed and peered over it’s surface. “Aw!” she cooed. “What are you doing out here, little guy?”
“What is it?” Scootaloo demanded, racing over to the unicorn’s side.
“A baby… hyena, I think,” Sweetie Belle said. She reached over the tumbleweed and lifted out a furry, wriggling, brown and white canine-like creature. “Look at it’s adorable whittle brown eyes!” She hugged her to her chest, cooing as she struggled and liked her face. “Let’s keep it!”
“What about it’s mother?” Apple Bloom asked. “Ah don’t think-”
“Oh, come on, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo cried, scratching behind the creature’s ear. “It looks lost. Besides, what kind of mom would leave her kid behind a weed in a desert? On a day like this?”
“True,” Apple Bloom admitted. “Fine. We kin’ keep it.”
“Yay!!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle cheered in unison. They hugged the creature close, she yelped happily and licked their faces frantically.
“I’m going to call her Lucy!” Sweetie Belle announced.
“Lucy?” Scootaloo scoffed. “What a stupid name! She should be called… Buckaroo! Rhymes with Scootaloo!”
“Lucy!”
“Buckaroo!
“Lucy!”
“What do you think, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo demanded, turning on the earth pony. “Lucy, or Buckaroo?”
“I, um,” Apple Bloom stammered. “Honestly? Ah think she look like a Brandy.”
“Brandy!” the other two cried, horrified.
“Lucy!”
“Buckaroo!”
“Brandy!”
While the three were arguing, the little canine, Lucy/Buckaroo/Brandy, wriggled out of their arms and ambled away, sniffing happily at the scorching air and batting a paw at the tumbleweed. She scampered along the dry sand, wagging her tail, until suddenly, she vanished from sight with a yip of shock. The Cutie Mark Crusaders shrieked in horror and raced over to where the creature had vanished. Peering cautiously down, the found a small cliff, and a happy, brown and white face gazing up at them.
“Yip!” she said. The three breathed a sigh of great relief.
“There ya are!” Apple Bloom called, pulling her out with a great sigh of relief. “You clumsy little hyena!”
“Let’s just call her that,” Scootaloo scoffed. “Hyena.”
The three stared at each for a moment, then Sweetie Belle shrugged. “It’s not elegant in the least,” she said. “But it’ll do. Hyena it is!”
“Come on, little Hyena!” Scootaloo yelled gleefully. “Onward!”
“Further up and further in!” Sweetie Belle squealed.
“To the Frozen Wastes!” Apple Bloom announced.
Hyena barked, and wagged her tail.
The three Crusaders - plus Hyena - took off running again, across the sands. Before another minutes had passed, however, the sand started to give way to low, scrubby brush, and then, finally, to -
“More trees?” Sweetie Belle yelped, skidding on her haunches. “But I thought we’d finally get to some snow!”
“Ah did too, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom frowned furiously at the tall, dark forest looming in front of them. “We musta gone off track somewhere. If we just retrace our steps - “
“Wait!” Scootaloo said. She leaned forward, ears pricked, listening intently to something the other Crusaders could not hear. “I think there’s water up ahead!” Before her friends could respond, Scootaloo had hurried into the shadows of the trees, Hyena at her heels. “Guys!” her voice came from within. “Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, get in here!”
“Oh no,” Sweetie Belle gasped. “She must be in trouble!”
“We’re comin’, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom hollered, throwing herself recklessly forward. She barrelled through the trees, ready to charge at anything harming her friend. “Stay alive ‘til we - Oof!” She tripped over a branch, rolled across crackling leaves and dry twigs, and fell straight under a spray of cool refreshing water. “Wha-?”
“It’s a waterfall!” Scootaloo’s wings were buzzing with joy as she hovered by Apple Bloom’s side. “And it’s nice and cool too!”
“Wheee!!!” Sweetie Belle crashed at Apple Bloom’s side, mane and tail thoroughly soaked. “This is perfect, Scootaloo!”
“Awesome, right?” Scootaloo grinned, diving through the spray herself.
Apple Bloom laughed, rolled over so her underbelly could be soaked in this miraculously wonderful water. “Nice work, Scootaloo! And you too, Hyena,” she added as the little creature happily licked her face through the fall.
The Crusaders played in the water until the sun was low on the horizon, and Applejack’s voice came from behind. “Apple Bloom! Dinner time! Sweetie Belle, your sister’s lookin’ for ya! And where’d Winona run off to?” Then the three Crusaders shook themselves off. Apple Bloom turned off the hose, and they went back, out of the orchard, stepped around the sandbox, and Apple Bloom took Winona inside the farmhouse. She stopped, just inside the door, and glanced over her shoulder at her friends.
“Same time tomorrow?” she yelled.
“Absolutely!” Scootaloo’s voice drifted back.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.
Smiling, Apple Bloom let the door fall closed behind her. The end of another day.
Author's Note
So... Yeah. Just a little thing. To see if people like certain things I write enough to comment, so I have an idea of things to do in the future.
...That sentence had horrible grammar. Oh well, I'll just leave it for now. Thanks for reading, everyone!
