“Too hairy.”
“Too noisy.”
“His horns are too big.”
“His laugh is a little scary.”
“Girls, you are too demanding!” Little Strongheart yelled.
It was a quiet, cloudless day in the buffalo´s plains. Little Strongheart was enjoying the nice weather with her best friends, Noble Eagleclaw and Sweet Raincloud.
Eagleclaw was a bit taller than Strongheart, despite having the same age. She was a brash, aggressive girl who wasn´t afraid to speak her mind. In certain ways, she reminded Strongheart of two friends she had made early in the summer.
Raincloud was the exact opposite. Soft-spoken, always stooping. She was born in a rainy day, hence her name. Most ponies associate rain with sadness or a strike by the weather team, but to buffaloes rain was a happy occasion. Such a rare and welcoming occasion, it was no wonder that a child that bring it with her birth was cherished by the community.
Strongheart grew up with these two in the communal area with all the females, and while after they grew up they moved into different herds (explaining why she was without them during the Appleloosa incident), now that the stampede season was over they were together again just like when they were younger. The only difference was that now they talks were no longer dragin each other to eat the most disgusting bug, but about which male was the most attractive; and so far, none matched the high standards of Eagleclaw or the constant nitpicking of Raincloud.
“It´s not being demanding, Strongheart!” Eagleclaw said. “Soon all the guys in the herds are going to start coming after us. We need to keep an eye on them before they make a move!”
“Assuming they want to make a move on us…” Raincloud said, looking at two guys who were nuzzling each other.
“Of course they will! We´re the prettiest calves in the entire herd!” Eagleclaw said, showing her natural pride.
“You worry too much girls. What do you say if we go to Appleloosa for some apple pies?” Strongheart suggested.
“We just went to Appleloosa yesterday. Why the hurry?” Raincloud asked.
“Oh, she has every reason to be hurry…” Eagleclaw teased Strongheart.
“I-I don´t know what you mean…”
“I think Mr. Braeburn said he was out of town for a few days.” Raincloud said.
“Wh-why should I carea bout him?” Strongheart said, but it was useless. If even someone as Raincloud was teasing her, there was no point in hidden her interest.
“But I can understand you. Ponies certainly look a lot better than most buffalos. More fitting for us,” Eagleclaw said.
“And certainly less intimidating,” Raincloud said, watching the same two cuddling males now ramming each other.
“Too bad most pony settlers are either too old or married,” Eagleclaw sighed.
“Guess things will be different in a bigger pony town,” Raincloud said.
“Hey, wait! Didn´t Braeburn said he had family in a town nearby?” Eagleclaw asked.
“Oh yes. His cousin Applejack. She comes from Ponyville which is just a train ride from here…” Strongheart said and then she looked at Eagleclaw.
She had The Grin. Not just a normal grin, this was the grin she used every time she had an idea and was no way to talk her out of it. She looked back at Raincloud who just shrugged.
Little Strongheart sighed, knowing she couldn´t escape.
****
“Woo-hoo! I´ve never been in a train before!” Eagleclaw yelled, half her body out of the window.
“Is it supposed to go this fast?” Raincloud asked, clinging to her seat like the whole thing was about to fall apart.
“What are you doing? Come out and feel the wind!”
“heh, it´s even better atop of the wagon,” Strongheart said, recalling her own adventure in a train.
“Okay!”
“Wait! I was joking! Eagleclaw, come back inside!”
Aside from that, the journey to Ponyville was a short and uneventful one. Once they arrived at the train station, the three calves were met by a yellow and red blur that kept bouncing around them.
“Yah´ere! yah´ere! And yah´re very tall and hairy and have feathers in yar head! Why did yah feathers? Are yah chickens? AH have a friend that is a chicken too, well she isn´t but we call her that all the time to mess with her but we like her, she is one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we search for our Cutie Marks! Oh hey, yah don´t have Cutie Marks! Do buffalos have Cutie Marks?”
“Ehh what is this thing?” Eagleclaw said, putting a hoof on it to slow it down.
“That would be mah little sister. Sorry, she gets a little too excited whenever she meets someone.”
“Applejack!” Strongheart said, hugging her friend. “Let me introduce you to my friends, Noble Eagleclaw and Sweet Raincloud.”
“Pleasure to make acquaintances,” Applejack said, tilting her hat. “Now, come over. Your letter said you were coming fer a visit so yah´ll spend the night at the farm.”
“Oh Applejack, we don´t want to intrude. We´ll stay an afternoon, no more,” Strongheart said.
“Nonsense. No Apple is going to leave a friend leave without having a taste of our traditional food, right sis?” Apple Bloom bumped a hoof in approval. “Now, follow mah lead.”
The three calves have already seen the orchards back at Appleloosa, but nothing could compare to Sweet Apple Acres. It was after all the original Apple´s land and thus the larger and most boisterous of all.
“Welcome tah Sweet Apple Acres!” Apple Bloom chimed. She rode the entire way back on Eagleclaw´s back who, despite her initial rudeness, had a natural big sister instinct.
“Yah´ll stay in the barn. Ah´ll offer yah the guest room but ah´m afraid is busy,” Applejack said.
“It´s okay Applejack, Really, we don´t want to intrude,” Strongheart said.
“Still with that? Yah´re a friend, Strongheart, friends are never intruders. Now, where is he? Ah, Big Mac! Did yah clean the barn fer the ladies ´ere?” Applejack yelled.
The hulky stallion let go of a haystack and turn over at the group, saying a gentle but firm “Eeeyup.”
“Oh my, who is he?” Eagleclaw asked, knocking Apple Bloom off her back, not being gentle at all.
“He´s mah big brother. Mac, say hello.”
Big Mac simply nodded, not being rude but simply too modest to do more. Raincloud answered by blushing while Eagleclaw checked him head to hooves.
“Hop we didn´t bring you any troubles,” Strongheart said.
Big Mac was about to say something but Applejack interrupted him “Knock that off! If there´s something ah don´t like is a picky guest! Now Big Mac, go bring some blankets from the attic!” Big Mac followed suit, obviously used to being ordered by his little sibling. “Apple Bloom, go help that big log.”
“Will do!” and the little filly ran off inside the house.
“Say Applejack, will your brother be joining us for dinner?” Eagleclaw asked, soporting The Grin.
“Sure! Once he´s done with his chores he´ll be there in a gallop, that big chunk never misses a dinner!” Applejack answered, totally oblivious to the calf intentions.
“Uh that would take too long. Instead, why don´t you take us to the twon and introduce us to some of your friends?”
“Was planning to! Pinkie will have a party planned for yah all and Rainbow said she wanted a rematch, Strongheart!”
“No no no, I meant your friends as, in special friends?” Eagleclaw insisted.
“All mah friends are special.”
“What she means is male friends,” Raincloud explained while Strongheart tried to hide how embarrassed she was by her friends behavior.
“Males? Oh sure, ah know some guys in town. Ah´ll be glad to introduce them to you, In fact, ah know the perfect guy.” Applejack said.
Eagleclaw´s grin grew larger, expecting said friend to be in the same league as Big Mac.
****
“Girls, met mah cousin Hayseed Turnip,” Applejack said, hugging the window cleaner pony.
“Your…cousin?” Strongheart asked. Her cuirisoity was sincere, since her sight was focused on his turnip Cutie Mark. Meanwhile, Eagleclaw was too shocked to say anything.
“Yep. He´s mah cousin from mah third aunt by grandfather side.”
That explanation wasn´t really good but Strongheart decided not to press the issue. “A…pleasure.” She said.
“He has big teethes.” Raincloud bluntly said, sometimes being too honest for her own good.
“Haha, yeah. With that smile this pony ´ere is a real player! Ah bet those fancy Canterlot unicorns can´t get their hooves outta you!” Applejack said, rubbing her cousin mane.
“Schucks cuz!” he replied.
“Well, ah´ve to come back to the farm. You take care of these ladies ´ere, ´kay cuz? And why don´t yah bring some of your friends to entertain them?” Applejack winked at him before leaving.
“Sure thing cuz! Schucks this is mah first time meeting some buffalo mares!” he said.
“Calves,” Strongheart corrected him.
“No, we use bolts in the windows in Canterlot.”
Before they could answer to…that, Hayseed was already waving at some friends of him. “Hey guys, come here! Meet these nice ladies that came all the way from Appleloosa!”
Two stallions approached them, one covered in garbage and smelling like it, and the other a bespectacled, scrawny one.
The girls smiled awkwardly, except Eagleclaw. She was still too shocked to speak.
*****
“That was a colossal waste of time,” Eagleclaw said.
“Oh it wasn´t that bad,” Strongheart said. “They were nice and we were having fun…right until got Mr. Gizmo sick and we had to rush to the hospital.”
“I will need a week-long bath to get rid of this smell,” Raincloud murmured.
“Come on girls, don´t be like that. Why don´t we get back to the farm for a meal?” Strongheart suggested.
“No! We came here to meet some nice stallions! We need to go to a park or a salt bar or whatever these big town ponies like to hang out!” Eagleclaw protested.
“APPLEJACK!!!!!”
“Woah nelly!”
The girls saw Applejack rushing in her direction while being chased by a giant angry cloud. Applejack promptly jumped behind the trio and the cloud stopped, revealing to be a certain and angry pink pony.
“No use to hide Applejack! Nopony escape my Pinkie Sense!” Pinkie said, showing her nostrils were stretching.
“A-ah´m not hiding…” Applejack said, right from behind Strongheat´s legs.
“How could you? How could you invite someone and not tell me?”
“Ah was gonna too! But ah´ve chores and they said they wanted to meet some guys first!”
“No excuses! You know it´s my duty to welcome every pony, donkey, cow, calf and any other species of quadruped that visits town. Umh, come to think of it that explains why I never welcomed Iron Will…” Pinkie pondered.
“Well, ´ere they´re now! Have fun!” Applejack said and escaped before Pinkie could notice.
Not that it mattered since once Pinkie remembered the three girls were in front of her she bounced back (quite literally) into her happy mode. “Welcome to Ponyville! I´m Pinkie Pie, party-planer-extraordinary! Anything you want for your party just ask!”
“Umh well, we were hoping to meet some local guys…” Eagleclaw said, a little shocked to meet Pinkie. Raincloud was even worse, just staring at her.
“Guys? Sure, I have some guys! I have plenty of guys! I get some for you and them we can get this party started!!!
*****
True to her fame, Pinkie had the party ready in a matter of minutes. She had filled the east side of the park with streamers and candy stands, turning it into a mini carnival. She even kept her word of getting some “dates” for the girls. Raincloud was with Pokey Pierce getting some balloons from a clown pony. Eagleclaw was sharing cotton candy with Caramel. And Strongheart was at a table with Thunderlane, having a piece of chocolate cake.
“…and then I told Snowflake. Yeah, sure. You can break your way through a storm cloud, but can you tame a lightning? I didn´t think so but that´s exactly why I got this beauty here!” he said, waving at his Cutie Mark.
“A-ha.” Strongheart said, absently chewing her piece of cake while the clown made a balloon buffalo for Raincloud.
“You´re really not paying me any attention, are you?” he said.
“What? Oh no no, I´m terribly sorry. It´s just…”
“You´re thinking of somepony else?” he asked, while Pokey bursted Raincloud´s balloon with his horn, trying to be funny.
“What? No, it has nothing to do with the fact he´s a pony! I mean…uh, I´m that obvious?”
“Haha, a little. Then again I can tell when a girl is not into me, since is something so rare.”
Strongheart smiled while her friend rammed Pokey into a tree. If it was something that made the usually peaceful Raincloud go back to her instincts was being startled.
“Look, I don´t want to meddle in your business but, if you like this pony that much, what´s the big deal?” Thunderlane asked.
“It´s not that simple. We buffaloes, are very traditional. If I suddenly decide to start dating a pony, I don´t know what my family might think…”
Thunderlane scratched his head. “Jeez, I´m not very good at this sensible stuff. Look, all I can say is that your family should always be at your side. I have a little brother who is the world to me, and if someday he decides to start dating, I don´t know, a mule or something; I´ll always support him, got that?” he said, while Pokey tried to get his horn unstuck from the tree.
“Thanks. That´s really sweet.”
Unfortunately the sweet moment got ruined when a light blue pegasus jumped in between Caramel and Eagleclaw.
“Get your stinking hooves out of my coltfriend!”
“Wait, what you mean with your coltfriend?”
“And you, why are you doing with her?”
“Pinkie invited me. She said it was a party!”
“A party! This was supposed to be a date!”
“Pinkie! How could you do this? Don´t you know we´re dating?”
“You two are dating? What´s dating?”
“You can´t possibly be this naïve.”
“hey, don´t call me fancy buffalo words I don´t know!”
Suffice to say the party got ruined, but at least Pokey got free.
****
The girls arrived at the farm late at night, terribly tired and in Eagleclaw´s case with some bruises; after she let her temper got the best of her.
“This whole trip was a bad idea,” she declared.
“I agree. We should have stayed in the plain lands,” Raincloud added.
“Come on girls, cheer up! Sure, things didn’t went as we planned but we can still have a bit of that delicious Apple food.” Strongheart said, always the positive one.
Like an answer to her payers, the Apple family had prepared the table outside and it already had a selection of hot and fresh plates.
“Yah´re here! So, how things went with Pinkie?” Applejack asked.
Strognheart looked at her friends, none of which was willing to answer. “It could have gone better.”
“Mighty sorry, Pinkie can get a little carried away. But, let´s not that ruin yer visit. Dinner´s at the table and the rest of mah friends are ´ere! Come say hi!”
Eagleclaw and Raincloud have heard many things about the Apple´s cuisine. They have even tried some Appleloosian pies but Strongheart keep telling them nothing compared to Applejack´s plates and she was absolutely right. They have never had such a meal before. But it wasn´t just the food. It was the right combination of the right food and the right company.
****
“May ah have the last piece of cake, miss?”
The voice startled Strongheart who dropped her plate. “Bra-braeburn? What are you doing here?”
“Ah´m staying here. Mah cousins needed a little help fixing a windmill so…”
“Oh, this was that out of town business you mentioned.”
“Eyup. Now, about that piece of cake…”
“Umh, here.”
“…how about we share it instead?”
“I´ll like that.”
In another part of the farm, Eagleclaw was watching at the night sky. Without making a sound, Big Mac approached her and sit next to her. A few seconds of silence went by:
“You ponies are all crazy. Sure, some of you are really attractive, like your case…” Big Mac blushed slightly at this. “But you´re also very strange. With your weird food and customs and funny names for things like coltfriend. Buffalos might be big and smelly but at least I can understand them. I mean, I don´t ask for much. I just want to meet a nice guy and settle down, have my own family line. Is that so hard to understand?” Big Mac said nothing. “I know what everybody thinks. That I´m superficial and I´m always trying to draw attention but that´s not what I want, I just…I just things were a little simpler.”
A few more silent seconds.
“Well, you have nothing to say?”
“…ah like my farm. Cuz Braeburn, he´s the adventurous one. Ah´m not. Ah rather stay here mah entire life and take care of the farm, like mah dad did and his dad before him. Ah don´t see what´s wrong with that,” He said.
“You said I should search for happiness at home?”
Big Mac shrugged. He was a pony of few words after all.
“Haha, I like you! You umh what was the expression the pink one used? You´re a cricket? No, a cracker, that´s it! You´re a cracker!” and she punched him in the arm.
Big Mac smiled but it did hurt a little.
Down the farm and near the river, Raincloud and Fluttershy were watching the dragonflies.
“They´re beautiful,” Raincloud said.
“Yes, they´re very pretty.”
“You´re pretty too, Fluttershy. I bet out of the group, you´re the one all stallions chase,” Raincloud said, as blunt and clueless as ever.
“Oh that´s…that´s not the case at all. I mean, some stallions but I turn them down, I´m not that interested.”
“Me neither. I came here because it was Eagleclaw´s idea but I shouldn´t. Like you, I´m not that interest in chasing males.”
“Umh that´s not what I meant. I meant, I´m not that interested in stallions.”
“Oh…oh!”
Both girls blushed.
“So, this is a common thing between ponies? I mean…I mean…”
“No, it´s not that common but it´s not that weird either. I know a few mares who, well, like other mares.” Fluttershy answered.
“Oh I´ve heard of some calves who do things like that but I never, I mean I´m not sure that I´m…I´m ready for…”
Fluttershy put her hoof over hers, comforting Raincloud. “It´s okay, Raincloud. It´s okay.”
Raincloud smiled, accepting the pony kindness.
Around them, the dragonflies kept their dance going.
*****
The next morning, the girls were ready to take the first train back to the desert.
“Sorry yah´ve to make your visit so short,” Applejack said.
“Don´t worry Applejack. We had fun and next time, we promise to stay for over a week,” Strongheart said.
“And next time, ah´ll take the barn. Can´t forgive ah let some fine ladies sleep in the hay,” Braeburn said, winking at them but the only one who blushed was Strongheart.
“And next time I´ll promise to make a better date party! I even have a list of best suitors. There´s Soarin, Fancypants, Shining Armor…why are you girls looking funny at me?” Pinkie asked.
“Mrs. Eagleclaw!” Hayseed yelled. He was accompanied by his friends, Pigpen and Gizmo, all carrying buckets with turnips and other vegetables.
“Hi guys, why are you doing here?” Eagleclaw asked.
“You forgot to take all your vegetables. Here,” and they landed the buckets on her.
Still of getting angry, Eagleclaw smiled back. “Thanks guys, you´re very kind.”
This was enough to send those three into bliss.
The girls got in the train, waving their friends as they leave. Raincloud and Fluttershy sharing a special wave.
“You know, this journey was actually more fun that I thought,” Eagleclaw said and all agreed. “I almost don´t want to come home…”
“Well, Fluttershy told me this train stops at the Crystal Empire.” Raincloud said.
“The Crystal Empire, uh?”
Eagleclaw was already sporting The Grin. Strongheart sighed, it was going to be a long journey back home but she wasn´t going to regret it.
