Playdating

   The ride was mostly uneventful.  Winona mainly looked over the side and watched the town roll by, and the ponies that jumped out of the way of the wagon as it raced past.

   “So,” Opal spoke up from behind her, “how do you think these three will get us killed?  Maybe we’ll get lucky and go into comas first.”

   “Ah, be quiet, Opal,” Winona chided the snide cat without turning around.  “Sure, they may be excitable, but it doesn’t mean they’re gonna do somethin’ really dangerous.  Maybe it’ll just be singin’ or somethin’ like that.”

   “If we were lucky enough to have to accompany them in a task as tame as something in the same vein as singing, I’d say Celestia was feeling generous.”

   Winona rubbed her temples.  “Do ya have to use all of that drawn-out speech?  Why don’t ya just say something simpler?  Takes less words.”

   “Well, that would be a waste of the words I could use, now wouldn’t it?”

   “What kinda crazy logic is that?”

   “The same you’re using to determine that we won’t be set on fire or skinned alive by the Cutie Mark Cretins.”

   The dog simply sighed and returned to staring out over the side of the wagon.  She thought about their current situation.

Okay, so we’re trapped in a ride with three fillies known for unintentionally causing havoc.  Look on the bright side.  At least there’s a possibility that they won’t be doing anything too reckless.

   “We’re here!” came an excited voice from ahead.  Returning her gaze forward, she saw that they were now in the outer reaches of Ponyville.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a medium-sized vehicle that was bigger than their wagon, near a sloping hill.

   The wagon slowed to a crawl, before finally stopping.  Opal was about to jump out, before her tail was grabbed by a set of teeth.  With a squeal she was pulled out, but towards the hill.

Here we go.  Winona hopped over the side of the wagon and landed easily.  Turning towards where the rambunctious foals and the hissing feline were heading, she quickly ran up and trailed alongside them.

   “Winona!  Help!” Opal cried in an overdramatic fashion as she swayed from Sweetie Belle’s jaw, “The monster’s got me!”

   “Ha, ha, great joke, Opal,” Winona stated flatly.

   “No, I’m serious,” the cat restated and pointed at Sweetie, “this monster is dragging me to my doom.  I can feel it with my cat senses.”

   “Dontcha mean your ‘kitty senses’?

   “Oh, ha ha ha, that was really funny, Winona.  And if you don’t get me down in the next five seconds, I’m going to take my paw and shove it in your-”

   Before the angry kitty could finish her threat, she was tossed into the vehicle Winona had seen earlier with a yowl.  Now that they were closer, it was apparent that it was some sort of cart with a steering wheel.  It had angled sides, layered with thick, smooth wood, and large, heavy wheels.

   “So, we’re going to ride in this... um...” Scootaloo started, pausing awkwardly to remember her word.

   “Go-cart,” Sweetie interjected helpfully.

   “Yeah, that’s it.  We’re gonna ride in this go-cart down the hill, and it’s gonna go super fast!” the little pegasus said energetically, making engine noises and holding her forehooves out like she was steering the vehicle already.

   “And how, exactly, is this gonna help us get our cutie marks?” Apple Bloom questioned.

   Scootaloo stopped her imitations to scratch her head in thought.  “Um... a racing cutie mark, maybe?  I dunno.  Even if it doesn’t help, it’ll be fun, right?”

   “Right!” the other two fillies answered in unison.

   “Alright, let’s get in!”

   Opal draped a forepaw over the side of the go-cart as she panted and struggled to pull herself up.  Smooth wood doesn’t grip that well.  Just as she got a glimpse over the top, she was shaken off by a trio of loud, heavy foals landing with a thump in the seats.

   Following them was Winona, who climbed up in a bound and sat to the side of Apple Bloom.  She then proceeded to watch the tired cat as she futilely attempted to find hold on the wall of the cart with amusement.

   “Oh, it’s hopeless.  My fate is sealed.  Either I will die from a heart attack or get impaled on a tree branch,” Opal mourned her ‘fate’ while her canine spectator snorted.

   She retreated back to sit by her fellow pet, who looked forwards.  At least, she had been, until a giant helmet was promptly plopped on top of them.

   “There ya go!  Perfect fit!”

   Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the unaware Apple Bloom, it was quite far from a perfect fit.  It was too big to actually be used as helmets by either of them, being shaped for a pony’s head, but too small to cover them efficiently.  Indeed, the headware was only useful as weight to keep them from flying off.  Seeing as they didn’t have seat belts, that would probably come in handy.

   After they’d gotten situated, the helmet draped across their back like a shell, the smaller of them groaned and smacked her head against the side of the cart.  “Well, this is the end.”

   “Quit yer whinin’, Opal.  It’s honestly gettin’ annoyin,” Winona said from beside her, slightly miffed.

   “Oh, I’m annoying, am I?  Well, at least I’m being realistic!  We have no seat belts, no seats, trapped in a small area with no roof along with three psychotic bundles of chaos, and we’re about to go speeding down a hill that’s probably riddled with stones, clumps of grass, and potholes at high speed.”  As soon as she finished speaking, she gasped in a lungful of air.  After a few seconds of panting, she looked at Winona with a sardonic smile.  “Does it still seem like whining?”

   “Yup.”

   “You’re insufferable, you know that?”

   “Yup,” the dog repeated, staring straight ahead with a mocking smile.

   Opal reached over and yanked on her scarf.  Winona’s head jerked downwards, and she glared at the cat, who snickered at her.  She was about to say something else, before the fillies beside them spoke up.

   “Okay, everything ready?” asked an impatient orange chicken.

   “Er... yep, all clear!” replied the smiling white dictionary.

   “Alrighty then, let’s do this!” said Apple Bloom, because neither Winona nor the author could think of any names to mock her with.

   With that, aforementioned foul-feeling fowl pulled a lever, and the go-cart started moving at a snail’s speed forward.  It had been positioned in a precarious place, peering past the peak of the hill and pining forward partially.  Thusly, it took little effort to throw the thing’s weight towards the top of the descent.  Slowly, said cart began a snake’s slithering pace, and it freaking went over the edge and glided downhill with the fury of a furious thing.

   Neither the dog nor the cat were all too interested in adding to any alliterative appeal, since they were too busy screaming their lungs out.  Opal turned to her canine companion, and cried a curious command.  “Winona, hold me!” she yelled, the wind slapping at her face.

   Her furry friend focused on her face, and yipped loudly, “What?!  Why in tarnation would I do that?!”

   Opal deflated a moment, pouting, before she looked forward once again and continued screaming.

   From Winona’s perspective, the world was a blur.  The hill was muchsteeper than she’d thought, for they were only just beginning to level out of the steep angle they’d started on.  On top of that, the go-cart itself was going very fast, and it took some effort to not throw up.  Beside her, the Crusaders whooped in excitement, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there were such things as ‘danger’ or ‘common sense’ or how they were going to die!

   At least it seemed that way.  Everything was too loud and bright for the poor dog to think properly.  Next to her, Opal was faring little better, and had chosen to cling to Winona for security with a tight grip.  The cat felt the go-cart finally return to some semblance of ‘level’, when it went into a dip.  Her eyes widened and her pupils shrank as she caught a glimpse of the upcoming pathway.  There was a hill, which they were going towards, that would... fling them... into the air.

   Whatever being it is that decides their fate, it must either really hate them, or it’s a sadist.

   Beside her, Winona continued to panic, hastily trying to think up some way for them to avoid being tossed skywards and landing painfully.  It wasn’t working.

Celestia, save us!

   As chance would have it, the cart proceeded to fly over the edge of the rise and barrel past, soaring through the air.  Winona was facing towards the sun, and the wind was blowing against her.  Then the helmet lifted off her, and a presence disappeared from her side.  Then, a shriek.

   “Winona, help!”

   A sharp tug on her coat caused her to whip her head around and gaze, horrified, at the sight before her.  Opal had been dislodged, the helmet being a weight that was holding her down.  She was currently attempting to find purchase on Winona’s coat, which shot  sharp bursts of pain through her with each scrape.  She howled, lifting her head, when she was caught by a ferocious gust of wind.

   Pushed backwards, Winona was sent off of the go-cart, and hung in the air, barely daring to breathe.

   For a few moments, she hovered there, while the arc she was stuck in reached its peaked, and then they both started to fall.

   It was horrible.  Winona was buffeted by winds as she plummeted towards the earth, Opal shrieking beside her.  But, oddly enough, it was fascinating.  The feeling of weightlessness, not being bound by the limitations of her canine body.  The sound around her was blurred, muffled, and her new friend’s shouts sounded distant and distorted.

   Opal was her new friend.  If it was a different scenario, she would’ve chuckled.  At no point in time had she thought that the two of them would become acquaintances, let alone friends.  They were barely alike, but opposites attract, right?  She hadn’t had many friends; growing up on the farm without company but that of her family was nice, yet lonely.

Maybe this is what it’s like to die.

   She couldn’t fight it.  Tears streamed from her eyes, and her legs simply pressed against her body as it fell.  Her scarf fluttered in the breeze, loosened by the wind.  She’d always liked this scarf.  It was a gift from their father, made from a hoofkerchief.  It kept her safe, protected her against the wind and cold.

”Here ya go, Winona!  I’d like to see any air pass through this!”

I love you, Da- wait, that’s it!

   Her eyes shot open, and everything rushed back with the force of a freight train.  The ground was closer.  She had no time to lose.

   Gripping her scarf in her teeth, she pulled it from its place on her neck.  The air quickly expanded it, until it was in a large square.  With some difficulty, she pulled it down and gripped it like a balloon, three corners inwards.

   Turning her head back downwards, she found Opal floating next to her, unconscious.  The cat was still gripping her coat.  Winona wrapped her paws around her, holding fast, and pulled down the last corner, closing off the air going in.

   Suddenly, their descent was slowed, the hoofkerchief’s wind-resistant fibres trapping the air inside.  Winona was thankful for the strength of her jaw, because the onset of gravity quickly caused both their weights to be transferred to her.  Opal needed to lay off the lasagna.

   Although it slowed them down enough to not break all of their bones, the landing was rough.  Opal’s pudgy body landed first, shocking her into consciousness.  Then Winona landed on her, so if she hadn’t been awake before, there was no chance in Tartarus she wasn’t now.

   Said dog had let go of her scarf after Opal and her body fat had fallen, and it was lying a metre or two away.  Luckily for her, the cat’s immense, cushiony back was a great landing pad.  Unfortunately, the cushion didn’t like that one bit, as evidenced by her and her weight jiggling out from under Winona.  What a fatty.

   “What!  What just- how- what happened?” Fatty asked, curious.

   Winona didn’t appreciate it when her cushion talked, so she quickly fixed it.  “I saved yer fat butt.  That a good explanation?”

   “What?!  I am not fat!” Jigglybutt protested.

   “Tell that to your flank, ‘cause I think it would disagree with you.”

   As Winona and the author grew tired of poking fun at Opal’s fat, cushiony body, the cat stammered, before giving up and sighing.  “Thank you, Winona, for saving me.”

   “Aw, don’t mention it.  Just get some exercise,” replied her slim, toned, muscular savior who was in every way more fit than her.

   “Okay, okay.  I really mean it, thank you.”

   Winona volunteered to actually look at Opal, and saw that the cat was shivering and scuffing her front paw against the ground.  It was almost a mirror image of Fluttershy.  “I mean, I would have died if you hadn’t been there.  There must be some way I can make it up to you.  Maybe I could-”

   The nervous kitten was silenced by a paw pressed against her mouth, and an accented voice replying to her.  “It’s fine, Opal.  You don’t have to make it up to me.  I did what any good friend would do.  Okay?”

   Opal smiled softly at her.  “Okay.”

   “Great.  Now let’s get back so that Rarity and Applejack don’t miss us-”

   “Winona, Opal!  We found you!”

   The two snapped their heads towards a trio of grinning, slightly dirty fillies.  Winona continued, barely above a whisper.  “Okay, now we have to run away, fast.  Ready?”

   With an almost imperceptible nod of her head, the two raced off to the Boutique, not stopping to look behind them as they laughed and cheered all the way there.