//------------------------------// // Ok, NOWWWW It's adventure time! // Story: Cowponies // by East Coast //------------------------------// Six was at a brisk trot, Surprise trailing behind him, hovering just about a foot off the ground. He suspected the pegasus enjoyed just hovering, it's what she did more often than not. "So. Ya always hovah? Ah seen ya fly." "Hehe, course you did silly. I flew into you!" "Well... Naw, naw ya realeh din't. Ya was hoverin then too." "Was I? Huh. I don't recall." "I migh' be wrong here, just... Be tough to fly inta me ifin you were... Well, flyin." "No no, I see your point... I knew I was giggling..." "Giglin? Ya call that giglin? Ya was flat out barkin mad!" "But... But laughter is nothing more than a momentary loss of sanity. So... I was mad, well not MAD Mad, just like... Crazy mad... Not Like being crazed and therefore mad, more like... Mad crazy..." "Wha?" "For reals dog. It's how I roll! Hehehahahuhohohehe!" "An you ain't carrying tha element o' laughter cuz?" "Ohhhh some wishy-wash about rights... Doesn't matter! My successor does a great job! Hehe, giggle at the ghosties!" "Don' believe in ghosts." "That's the point." Six shook his head, he was done trying to figure out his surely insane companion. She was too... Well... He was done. Period. Instead he looked to the plains ahead of him, if they kept this pace they'de reach apploosa in maybe a few days, from there he figured he could borrow some money from Braeburn, hop the Friendship Express and be in ponyville in just over a day. That meant... Five days tops before he'd see applejack again. "Brill'ant" "What's brilliant?" "We're makin' good time. 'Sumin shit don't hit the fan, we'll be in ponyville in jus' unduh a week." "Oh that's great! I'll go pack my bags... Wait... Ponyville? This is the way to Appleoosa, not Ponyville." "We're gonna hop a train." "Oh... Wait... Why didn't we hop a train back in philly?" "Cuz they can't get ther manes out ther flanks." "And? Bits are bits." "Ah was gonna borrow some bits from a pal." "Why didn't we just do that in philly?" " 'Cause... Well... I ain't got friends in philleh." "Noooo~ You have a friend in philly! Me!" "Stric'ly speakin. We aint in philleh no more." The duo found themselves staring at the ground, for whatever reason things had reached that point in a trip where you have a disgusting awkward silence. The kind of which you really wish wouldn't come, but you know inevitably must. Then... Rumbling. "Suhprise." "Yes?" "Ya hear tha? Or... is it jus me?" "Yeah, no it's ok though, that's just my stomach." "Rerly? Cause thas a mighty sound commin' from yer tummy." Six looked around, indeed surprises' stomach was rumbling but that wasn't what he was hearing. It sounded much more like- "Uhhmm... Six? Do you maybe think you were hearing buffaloos?" "What's a buffaloo?" "The plural for buffalo." Sixs' head turned to a ridge where a healthy sized pack of buffalo stood. >Thas what it sound like-a heard o' buffalo. A heard o' angry looking buffalo.< "Suhprise... Reckon they've-" "Hey!! Buffaloos! Hi! I'm Surprise, and this is my friend Six-String! We're traveling to Ponyville! Whoops, I mean Appleoosa! Anyway, do you think you could help us get there!" A heard of angry buffalo that now had a keen knoledge of where he was. A vaguely familiar heard of angry buffalo. "Suhprise! Now I ain't nevah told nopony this buhfor but uhhh... When Ah was a foal, I pissed in a buffalo tribes waterin hole..." "So?" Six facehoofed as the heard stomped their hooves on the ground, whooping in anger. "THIS IS THA' HEARD!" "Oh... What do we do?" "We run!" As the words escaped Sixs' lips the heard charged down the red rocks of the ridge, barreling down after the defiler of the sacred watering hole and his profligate compatriot. Six didn't start at a trot, he was on full gallop. The heard, he knew, was likely to impale him on thier horns... Or at least that's what he figured they'de do. They could easily just trample him, or go the 'eye for an eye' route and piss on him... The more he thought about it, the more he'd rather be impaled. Surprise just seemed to disappear, a vaguely pony shaped dust cloud in her place. Six looked back only once in his mad dash to try and escape a heard that could out run a train. Surprise was sitting, as if in a chair, atop the chiefs head-dress. "Hey Six! Look what I can do! I learned it from my friend lyra! Isn't it neat?!" Six probably would have face hoofed, or sighed, or told her what a terrible idea that was, or, quietly contemplate Surprises' desire to remain alive. But instead he just kept galloping, his foalhood life of crime flashing through his head, side-by-side with memories of running through the fields of sweet apple acres. And then. A memory. A memory of running. A memory of running, even faster than he was now. Dodge Junction- A few months ago- Six looked about the dusty little town, the Cheddar Farms wagon sitting at the end of the long street. He was there to trade for some berries from Miss Swiss' old friend Cherry Jubilee. "Welly well well! Look at chu! You got all them cherries up on that all by yourself? My, my! Aren't you talented!" Six tipped his hat, trying his best to hide the blush that had slowly crept across his cheeks. "Tain't nothin... Will ya be needin an mo' help? Or can I ge' goin?" Cherry smiled lusciously and nodded, having seen the colt try and cover up his blush. "I can always use help round here handsome~ You don't mind workin with others dooo you?" "I uhhh, well not 'xactly errr..." "Oh pleeease? She's really a good worker, wouldn't slow you down a bit! Got second in every event at this years rodeo, ohhh an' she's a cutie! I'll bet you two'll hit it right off!" Cherry had begun dragging Six by his hat, he wasn't actively resisting, but he certainly didn't want to have to work with some mare he didn't know, working with mares led to sweating ponies, and sweat on ponies trails down to places that weren't very polite to just stare at. And the biggest problem was, was that Six wasn't exactly to opposed to not being very polite. Then, as he blushed and murmured his less than firm refusal he felt a chill up his spine and his blush faded. It faded until he was about as white as a marshmellow. "Hey Ms.Jubilee, I gotta use the lil' mares room. I'll jus' be a minit." >Oh goddess no... Nononononononono! Not here! She can't be here- She can not be here! She can't be here! Not now!< Six tipped his hat low and went silent, he wasn;t sure whether his heart had stopped beating or if it was beating faster as she pasted but it was doing something it wasn't supposed to. He prayed to Celestia it wasn't her. He prayed and prayed. As she pasted he hazarded a look at her flank. >Apple Apple Apple< Six fell unconscious. Waking up from the sound of a train entering the station. "Oh dear! Are you ok?!" "YeaI'mfinegottagonowbye! And thanks fer tha cherrehs!" And he pulled that wagon like hot lightning outta dodge. He ran like he was out running devil, hell, and death itself. Tears almost blinding him to the rabbit on the road, almost. Instead he jackknifed left and the wagon spilled over, sending crates of cherries toppling out of the wagon, exploding into wood chips on the ground and spilling their delicious contents across the desert. Six just sat in his own fear and sadness, his hat brim becoming soaked from his tears. "Gad-Dang it! Gad-Fucking-Dang it! Fuck these cherries!" With a burst of magic several cherries flew off into the distance, one rolling to a shrub... With a bunny hiding within. Six had begun pounding his hooves in the ground, doubled over in a heap. "Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! Jus' go back! Jus' fuckin' go ba-hack!" He kept telling himself this until he couldn't speak. He was breathing deeply and exhaling loudly. The years of holding back what he had felt spilling over... Then a tap on his side. Six looked under the shade his hat had made. The rabbit that had been in the bushes had come to his side... Offering him the cherry. Six stared for what felt like eons before he began laughing. Somewhere in the desert- Present day- "Fuck this!" Six yelled to nopony in particular, stretching his hooves out to make an emergency stop, then springing off his back hooves into a turn, only losing his footing(hoofing?) once in his new head long trajectory toward the raging buffalo. "Come ge' some!"