Footsteps! Follow!
65,000,000 BC
Apple Village Commons
“I’m sorry, Rainbow. I’m so sorry.”
“Stop saying that.”
Rainbow Dash moved at a slow trot across the commons, kicking up a small plume of dust behind her. Each hooffall landed heavily as she braced the extra weight she was supporting. She stared straight ahead, running her tongue absentmindedly along the cloth straps of the two saddlebags hanging from her mouth.
Twilight Sparkle shivered. In spite of the heat from the summer sun which shone down on her, and the warmth from her friend’s back which she was draped across, a cold chill struck her straight in the gut. Her head swung limply in rhythm with each step of her friend beneath her. She squeezed all four of her limbs around Rainbow Dash’s torso. “It’s all my fault. I wasn’t careful enough, and now—”
“Twilight. Look at me.” Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks and whipped her head back around. When Twilight Sparkle didn’t respond, Rainbow Dash placed a hoof under her jaw and lifted her head until they were face-to-face. Her rose-colored gaze pierced directly into the violet eyes in front of her. “It is not your fault,” she said in a voice flat and level. “Say it.”
She recoiled and jammed her eyes closed. “The Gate Key was my—”
“Say it, Twi.”
Twilight Sparkle pulled her head free from Rainbow Dash’s hoof, electing to let it hang under gravity’s reign once more. She cracked open her eyes and stared at the ground with a half-lidded stare. After a few seconds of silence, she took a large heaving sigh, her chest pressing down on her friend’s back. “S’not my fault,” she muttered.
“It didn’t just disappear,” said Rainbow Dash, her stare not wavering from the back of Twilight Sparkle’s head. “We’re gonna find it, then we’re gonna go home. Okay?” After a pause, she softly repeated herself. “Okay?”
Twilight Sparkle tried to swallow, but her dry throat refused and clamped down on itself. “‘Kay,” she croaked.
Carrying her friend across the clearing, Rainbow Dash rejoined the search party that had galloped ahead of them. “Hey. Any luck yet?”
Fluttershy jolted in response to Rainbow Dash’s greeting. “Oh! No, I’m so sorry, Rainbow. The Gate Key doesn’t have any signals or radiation that I can detect.” She pawed at the dirt. “I don’t think I can find it.”
“I found all kinds of neat stuff!” Pinkie Pie popped out of the bushes at the forest’s edge, holding her overburdened saddlebags overhead in her hooves. She hopped up to her friends in the clearing, dumped her spoils out onto the ground, and hoisted the items one by one. “I found a mop, this pretty silver gemstone, for some inexplicable reason a spare hoof made out of rock for Fluttershy, three feathers, two fangs, four petals, one of the wrenches that Twilight threw at me when I woke her up this morning—”
Twilight Sparkle snapped her head upright, bloodshot eyes bulging. “I threw tools at you. Tools from my saddlebag.” She curled her ears back. “Oh Eternal Night, I hurled the Gate Key into the woods, didn’t I?”
Pinkie Pie rubbed the back of her neck, her hoof sandwiched between her head and her curly ponytail. “Mmm, sorry, Twi. I checked around there super-carefully, but no Gate Key.”
“Well shoot, it’s high time that you lot got up and movin’ about.”
Rainbow Dash’s ears flicked behind her. She turned around and grinned. “AJ!”
Applejack entered the clearing with a wagon in tow, filled beyond capacity with a heap of apples. “For a while there, I was thinkin’ y’all were ‘bout ready to sleep the whole mornin’ away. But seein’ how you was the guests of honor and all...” She gasped and brought a hoof to her mouth as her eyes locked onto Twilight Sparkle, still hanging from Rainbow Dash’s back. When she spoke again, her voice was just a whisper. “Sorry, Twi. I plum forgot. Figures you’d have a slow ‘n’ painful start after a night like last, heh.”
“Applejack, um,” said Fluttershy as she approached Applejack’s side, “I’m afraid we have a much more urgent problem. You see, we lost something that’s terribly valuable to us.”
“Mmm.” Grimacing, Applejack tipped the brim of her hat down and shielded her eyes from the rising morning sun. “This that Gate Key thing y’all was talkin’ ‘bout?” She brought her hoof down from her hat, holding it defensively toward Fluttershy. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be snoopin’ in matters that don’t concern me none. I just heard y’all talkin’ when I was passin’ through.”
“That’s right,” sighed Twilight Sparkle. “Tungsten rod with embedded electronics. Six glass orbs on the end. Approximately one-and-one-half hooves long.” She looked up at Applejack and pressed her forehooves together. “Please-please-please tell me you’ve seen it?”
Applejack shook her head gently. “Can’t say I’ve seen anythin’ like that, and it sure sounds more memorable than yer first taste of zap apple jam. I’m guessin’ it was something mighty important to ya?”
“Yes,” she replied, deflating slowly. “It was very important. And I went and lost it.”
“Well shoot, if it meant that much to ya, I sure don’t mind helpin’ ya take a look. Why don’t we start by checking over—” Applejack’s ears twitched. She turned and squinted down the edge of the forest. With a grin, she called out, “Well hey there, Daring! Was wonderin’ where you’d gotten off to.”
Daring Do froze, half her body still hidden within the verdant bushes of the forest. She whipped her head toward Applejack, then quickly brought a hoof over her face. With a light flap of her wings, she floated over to the group of ponies while wiping vigorously at the corner of her mouth. “Oh, uh... Hey, AJ. What’s up?”
Applejack chuckled. “Aww, hun, you havin’ a rough mornin’ too? I didn’t even see you have any cider last night.”
“Rough morning...” Daring Do touched down next to her wife and tensed her jaw. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Aww, poor DD.” Applejack threw her hoof around Daring Do’s shoulder and nuzzled her gently. “Go ahead and rest up. I’ll be back in an hour or two. Just gotta help Rainbow and her friends look for some doodad they misplaced.”
Daring Do’s eyes flashed and locked onto Rainbow Dash, giving her the same vivid glare that she had given last night. “Whatever. There’s four of them. Why can’t they look for it on their own?”
Rainbow Dash met the hostile glare and returned one of her own. She slowly rotated her hindquarters away, placing herself in between the aggressor and the friend on her back.
Applejack stopped nuzzling Daring Do and frowned up at her. “Because it’d be quicker with five, and it’s the neighborly thing to do.”
“Yeah well, they shoulda been more careful.”
Applejack pulled back and gave her a sidelong glance. “Is there somethin’ you wanna tell me, Daring?”
She scoffed and folded her hooves. “Whatever. Even if there was, you wouldn’t care.”
“Um,” said Fluttershy, edging her way backwards toward the forest. “This is sounding like it’s, uh, a really private conversation, and well, I wouldn’t want to—”
“Drop the attitude,” snapped Applejack. “You’ve been nothing but disrespectful to Rainbow and her friends ever since they arrived here, and I wanna know why.”
Daring Do staggered backward, holding a hoof to her chest. “Are you kidding me? You—”
Applejack held up a hoof to silence her. “Don’t think I didn’t see that fight you had with Rainbow at the party last night.” She poked the air in front of Daring Do’s muzzle for emphasis. “The fight which you started, might I add.”
Daring Do’s wings stood on end and she narrowed her eyes. “Well excuse me! Maybe not everypony wants to throw a huge party for the new hotshot in town. Didja think about that?”
“Applejack, please.” Twilight Sparkle held out a hoof. “Don’t fight because of us. This whole thing is getting blown way out of proportion, and—”
“Twilight, wouldja just—” Applejack held up her own hoof, then stomped and ground it into the dirt. She inhaled sharply and locked eyes with Daring Do. “Daring. I’m only gonna ask you this once, and I want the honest truth. Did you take Twilight’s thingamajig from her?”
Daring Do’s jaw dropped. “That—You—What?! How dare you!” She stepped right up to Applejack and pressed forehead-to-forehead with her. “It’s one thing for you to go all goo-goo eyed over the hot new piece of flank in town. But where the hell do you get off accusing me of stealing their shit?”
“You watch your mouth, missie!”
“Yeah,” said Pinkie Pie after an audible gulp, “we should really get moving along. We’ve got a crazy-busy day ahead of us, and—”
“Seriously, what’s the matter with you?” continued Applejack. “You’ve been actin’ screwier than a termite in a cider barrel ever since yesterday.” She placed both her forehooves on Daring Do’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “What’s gotten into you?”
“What’s gotten—” With a sharp inhale, Daring Do brought her hoof across Applejack’s face. Stunned, Applejack dropped her own forelegs, releasing her grip. Daring Do stepped backward and drew a few quivering breaths. “Screw you, okay? Screw you.”
Applejack held a hoof against her swollen cheek. Her lips motioned silently a few times on their own before her voice found her. “Daring... what...”
Daring Do grit her teeth, her face contorting beyond recognition. She reared up and then slammed her hooves to the ground, leaning forward to give her scream full effect. “I’m pregnant, you dumbass!”
A hush overtook the group. Rainbow Dash and her friends dared not make a sound. Applejack froze, her eyes the size of dinner plates. Slowly and shakily, she lifted a hoof and pointed at her own chest.
Daring Do snorted and looked away. “Course it’s yours, idiot. Or did you forget our trip to the Stars’ village already?”
“We’re gonna start a family?” Applejack held her hoof against her chest, staring vacantly into space. “We’re gonna start a family. We’re gonna start a family, oh my stars!” With a mile-wide grin and a twinkle in her eyes, she leaped and bucked in a circle around Daring Do. “Yee-haw! I’m gonna be a mommy? We’re both gonna be mommies! I can’t hardly believe it! Oh, DD!” She leaped up and hugged onto the mare, smothering the side of her face with kisses.
Daring Do, for her part, fought to shake Applejack off, pushing her half-heartedly with elbow and wing. “Ow! Get offa me. I’m still pissed at you, y’know.”
The group collectively exhaled. “Oh, Applejack, Daring Do, congratulations,” said Fluttershy. “This is such wonderful news.”
“Mazel tov!” chirped Pinkie Pie. “I call dibs on throwing the foal shower!”
Applejack stopped her loving assault to look into Daring Do’s eyes. “But I don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Dunno. You tell me.” While Daring Do couldn’t make eye contact with anypony, she pointed a hoof straight at Rainbow Dash. “Just when I’m about to tell you the news, I learn you were making out with her. And throwing a huge party for her. And now you want to go looking for lost treasure with her.”
“No, that—” Applejack blanched and looked at Rainbow Dash for backup, who merely winced and shook her head rapidly. “That kissin’ business was just a huge misunderstandin’, and then after I got to know her, she seemed like an upright gal—but just as a friend of course—and I wanted to give ‘em a right proper welcome, so I... I...” She sighed and sank her head. “I messed up somethin’ awful, didn’t I?”
Daring Do snorted and lifted her nose. “Ya think?”
“Look, I’m mighty sorry.” Applejack gently placed a hoof on Daring Do’s cheek and turned her toward her. “I was careless, I hurt you deeply, and my timing was plum awful. I’ll make this up to you, somehow. Ya know that I’m always good on my word.” She tilted her head to the side and offered a small smile. “But I promise you, no matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you. For us. All three of us. No matter what, you’ll always be my Daring Doe.”
Daring Do’s face heated up, and she put on as sour of a frown as she could muster. “I hate it when you call me that.”
Applejack giggled and stole a kiss. “Yep. I know. Now I know me and you got lots to talk about. But right now these folks need our help before they can be on their way. Lemme help ‘em find their Gate Key, then when I get back you can chew me out like you have every right to, and then I can get with pamperin’ the mother of our beautiful foal. That sound alright to you?”
Daring Do sighed. “It’s not gonna be that easy.”
“Daring...” Applejack winced. “I’m sorry. Powerfully sorry. I—”
“Oh. No, not that.” Daring Do rolled her eyes and pulled Applejack closer, squeezing her with her hug. “I forgive you, AJ. You’re an idiot, but I forgive you. That’s not the problem.” She pointed her hoof at the soil in the middle of the herd. “That is.”
Rainbow Dash gave a start, realizing that she could speak now that the fight, which she accidentally instigated, was finally over. “Huh? The dirt?” She turned and looked down at where Daring Do was pointing. “What about it?”
Applejack let go of her wife and trotted over to the same location. The instant she reached it, her expression darkened and she let out a low growl. “Oh, you gotta be pullin’ my leg.”
“You sound surprised,” deadpanned Daring Do. She hovered a few centimeters above the floor, her nose dangling close to the ground as she made lazy circles around the clearing. “Lesse. Tracks head in from here... mingle around the blankets where they were sleeping... then head out toward...” She turned back toward Applejack and pursed her lips. “The southern orchard.”
“You lost me,” said Rainbow Dash.
Applejack sighed and turned to Rainbow Dash with her jaw set. “Remember that villain I was tellin’ y’all about last night? The one causing grief for earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns alike?” She pointed down at the tracks. “Looks like her goons made in during the night, stole yer Gate Key, then made off to one of their strongholds south a-ways.”
“Stole?” moaned Twilight Sparkle. She squirmed atop Rainbow Dash’s back, trying to get down onto her own hooves. “We have to get it back. The fate of ponykind rests on us finding—” She stopped mid-sentence when she felt a hoof press down on her withers.
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “Not happening, Twi. You’re staying here.”
“What?” Twilight Sparkle looked up at her friend with her eyebrows raised. “No. No, I have to go. It’s my responsibility and—”
“And you still look a right proper mess,” snickered Applejack while Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. “Knowing these thugs, we’re gonna have to do some negotiatin’ with our hooves, and you ain’t in any proper condition to rumble. You can get some rest at my home. Me and RD can get your Gate Key back for you by the time you wake up.”
“Wait.” Twilight Sparkle blinked. “That’s—”
“Oh, that will work nicely,” Fluttershy said as she stepped up to Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. “I can stay behind and watch over Twilight while she rests.”
“And I can go with Dashie!” Pinkie Pie bounced up to the other side of Rainbow Dash. “The three of us should be able to handle these meanies without breaking a sweat.”
“No, wait.” Twilight Sparkle looked from Rainbow Dash to Pinkie Pie to Applejack. “But I—”
“No ‘buts’, you lush,” said Daring Do, giving her a good-natured tousle of her mane. “C’mon, let’s get you back to bed.”
Twilight Sparkle looked from face to face once more, then biting her lip, she looked to the ground. “Okay.”
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65,000,000 BC
Southern Lair
As soon as they had hooved over Twilight Sparkle to Fluttershy’s care, Applejack took off at a full gallop, forcing Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to give chase. The prehistoric native navigated the dense apple orchard with ease, cutting and weaving through the woods with precision and experience. Rainbow Dash’s natural speed and agility helped her remain competitive as she soared over the canopy. Pinkie Pie bounded after them, but fell behind shortly after the journey began. After the short but brutal race, Applejack stood at the mouth of a gaping stone maw. Cold, dank air billowed out of the cavern, swirled underneath her coat and filling her lungs with each heaving breath.
Rainbow Dash landed beside Applejack and gave her wings a few slow flaps to wind down her muscles. “Jeez, not wasting any time, huh? I like that. That was quite the race there, Applejack.” She blinked as her wings froze mid-flap. “Not that I had any problems keeping up, of course.”
Applejack pursed her lips and, with a loud inhale through her nostrils, she trotted ahead into the cave. “Sooner we get in, sooner we can get out. These scum are always tryin’ to pull something, to ruin our way of life.” She turned back toward Rainbow Dash as she trotted ahead, the corner of her mouth faintly turning upward. “I ain’t about to let ‘em ruin yours as well.”
“Mmm, so they’re a bunch of bullies, huh?” Rainbow Dash flashed a grin. “Alright. I can help you with teaching them to play nice.” She paused and turned around. “Hold up, though. Looks like we lost Pinkie at some point.”
“Finally!” Pinkie Pie bounced out from behind a boulder next to Applejack, causing the latter to leap a meter in the air. “What took you girls so long?”
“Pinkie!” Applejack clutched a hoof over her chest, keeping her heart locked inside her ribcage. “What took you so not-long?”
Pinkie Pie twisted her head askew and raised an eyebrow. “Overworld map. Duh.”
Applejack turned back to Rainbow Dash and started to speak, but Rainbow Dash simply shook her head. “Don’t. Just... don’t.”
“So anyway, Applejack,” Pinkie Pie said, her face beaming so much that it nearly illuminated the cave, “is this a zoo? I wasn’t expecting there to be so many different types of animals down here.”
“A zoo?” Applejack’s hollow chuckle bounced against the dank walls. “Yeah, you sure could put it that way. Pretty much exactly the way that their ‘queen’ would like it, if she had her way.”
“Queen?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Pinkie Pie giggled and bounced toward them. “It’s really a shame that we didn’t bring Fluttershy with us. I mean, she always seems to like any creatures we find, right? And just look!” She motioned behind her with a hoof. “These little guys are so friendly, they followed me all the way back here!”
Applejack gave Pinkie Pie a bemused, half-lidded glare. “What you meant to say was, you got the attention of the guard creatures.” With a sigh, she turned her head and started unfurling her rope from around her torso.
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash as she unsheathed her katana, “and another thing, Pinkie? Those ‘little guys’ are twice your size.”
With a confused frown, Pinkie Pie turned back around and craned her neck to look up at the winged ape behind her. She grinned and waved at it, saying, “Hi there, Mister Monkey! My name is Pinkie Pie! Let’s be friends!” She finished her greeting just in time for the ape’s uppercut to connect with her jaw, sending her reeling through the air.
“Gotcha!” Rainbow Dash intercepted her friend in mid-air, grabbing hold before she smashed into the jagged stone wall.
From further in the tunnel, a pair of feral creatures followed behind the savage simian. The floor tremored as a green-scaled dinosaur stomped toward the ponies. The rotund reptile flitted its comically undersized wings, but there was nothing comical about the razor-sharp claws that it flashed in their direction. An oaken timberwolf prowled up along the edge of the cavern, baring its splintered fangs with a growl. The beast’s eyes glowed an otherworldly green, devoid of soul but not of rage.
Applejack snickered, pulling her hat low with a hoof. “Ho doggies, you chose the wrong mares to mess with. We’re gonna make this nice and quick, y’hear?”
The winged ape roared in reply. With a stroke of its mighty wings, it hurled itself into the air and barreled down on Applejack. She leaped aside with practiced ease, trailing her rope behind her. As the ape crashed down on the space she once occupied, there was instead a waiting lasso. Applejack landed behind the monkey, propped up a hoof against the small of its back, and yanked the rope with her teeth as hard as she could muster. The rope constricted around the ape, binding its arms to its side. The creature snarled and writhed against its constraints, but the rope held firm.
With a grating snarl, the timberwolf pounced at Applejack, its claws outstretched and its jaw open wide. She whirled around in response to the sound, barely facing the creature before its jaw crushed down on the ice barrier that sprung up between them. Applejack’s own jaw fell. “W-Where the hay did that come from?”
“Gotcha!” laughed Pinkie Pie. The airborne pony laughed and squirmed, gleefully waving her hooves and shaking the frost off them. Rainbow Dash held her from behind, her forelegs wrapped beneath Pinkie Pie’s armpits.
Rainbow Dash gently plopped Pinkie Pie onto her hooves before leaping into the fray herself. With a bellow, she dove at the large dinosaur, aiming herself to its side so that her katana connected with its chest. The blade bounced off in the opposite direction with a metallic clang; her neck twisted sharply as the hilt refused to follow through with her and tore itself free from her mouth. Rainbow Dash tumbled off-balance behind the lizard, while her weapon clattered at the base of its claws. She quickly flipped back to her hooves and held a hoof against her sore gums. “Unff... what gives?”
The dinosaur looked back and flashed a dangerous glare at Rainbow Dash. It turned itself around in a slow and deliberate manner, rotating a few degrees with each lift and stomp of its stout legs. Once reoriented, it bared its massive fangs with a guttural growl, then roared in rage as two orange hooves connected with the back of its skull.
Applejack landed back on the ground, bit down on the katana’s handle, and slid the weapon across the floor toward Rainbow Dash. “You leave this one to me, sugarcube! These fellas are tougher than fittin’ a weasel into a girdle.”
With a push of her wings, Rainbow Dash flipped herself head over hooves, bit down on the hilt of the katana in motion, and somersaulted through the air. Touching down briefly atop the dinosaur’s head, she flipped herself again, spinning over Applejack and landing blade-first onto the timberwolf that was stalking up behind her. The timberwolf let loose one last cry of pain before fragmenting into dozens of twigs and branches. Rainbow Dash extracted her weapon, looked back at Applejack, and smirked. “They’re tough. We’re tougher.”
Applejack returned the smile, then leaped aside, dodging the slashing claws of the dinosaur. She swapped blows with the creature: the dinosaur seeming unphased by each of her kicks, Applejack shrugging off her cuts and scrapes with gritted teeth.
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie bounced across the cavern with eyes closed and a carefree grin, hopping with no discernible rhythm or direction. “There’s no need to be afraid of a few mean creatures, right? Not with the three of us here together!” Chasing after her, the winged ape growled and punched at her, each swing of its fists missing her entirely and accomplishing nothing more than fueling its rage.
“It ain’t that they’re fearsome, Pinkie. It’s that—” Applejack weaved underneath a swipe of the dinosaur’s claws and countered with a kick to the midsection “—they’re worthy adversaries. They may be scum, but they persevere like—gah!” She yelped as one slash finally connected, scoring streaks of red across her snout.
“AJ! Hang on!” Rainbow Dash spun in midair, breaking off her attack on the ape. She threw a hoof out toward the dinosaur, letting loose a surge of electric current. The lightning coursed over the lizard’s form as it involuntarily twitched and spasmed.
Applejack immediately whirled about and delivered a sharp kick to the stunned beast’s chest. Offering no resistance, the dinosaur hurtled across the cavern and cried as it smashed against the stone wall. It crumpled to the ground and stirred no longer.
Pinkie Pie, although pinned up against the wall behind the winged ape, grinned and waved to Applejack. “Hey, Applejack, one more!” She lobbed a spark of magic into the air, which coalesced into a large ice crystal.
Taking her cue, Applejack galloped toward the falling magical shard, aimed herself properly, and waited. She bucked out her hind legs, making contact with the ice, launching it like a cannonball across the room. Their Ice Buck attack collided with the back of the winged ape’s skull. The ape staggered slightly, his eyes twitching and losing focus, before he collapsed in a heap. As the last sounds of the conflict echoed away, only the three mares were left standing.
“Great work, everypony!” Pinkie Pie pulled out a few slips of parchment from her saddlebags and distributed them to her teammates. “Here’s your battle evaluations. Applejack scored S-class due to her high stamina and landing two finishing blows, plus a newcomer multiplier. Dashie, you got A-class cuz you used a variety of moves and got a finishing blow, but you lost a few points for attacking the dinosaur before stunning it. As for me,” she said, her eyes scanning across her own self-evaluation, “good teamwork... lacks focus... needs improvement on timeliness... reckless and undisciplined? C-class?! What the hay!” She crumpled the document and stomped upon it repeatedly. “I’m totally focused! I’m so focused, I’m a ellipse!”
Applejack quickly dropped her own form as well, looking askance underneath her furrowed brow. “I don’t understand. What was with those attacks y’all were usin’? They almost seemed like some kind of unicorn magic, ‘cept neither of y’all have horns on ya.”
“Oh. Right.” Rainbow Dash tried to casually run a hoof through her mane, leaving a few strands of statically charged, rainbow-striped hair standing on end. “Those moves are just, y’know. A gift. Some pain-in-the-flank taught us how.”
“Mmm,” hummed Applejack as she resumed her way through the caves. “A pain-in-the-flank from the future, huh?”
Pinkie Pie’s face scrunched up. “I... think so? The Doctor wasn’t very clear on that. Something something, spacetime coordinates, temporal resistance, probably tea.”
“Heh.” Applejack shook her head. “Don’t see what’s the point in going on like that. Ain’t that I don’t believe ya, necessarily, but ya don’t need to keep convolutin’ your story with magic and time travel and all that hogwash. Life is simple if you let it be.”
“Simple?” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, not so much.”
“How ya figure?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged down at Applejack as she glided down the tunnel. “I dunno. Stop me when I get to the simple part.” She tapped her hooves together as she listed off her concerns. “I’m trying to stop some crazy hedgehog from destroying ponykind, Pinkie’s like a secret princess or something, Twi’s always one hoof away from a panic attack, Frog has sweet moves but serious stage fright or something, I dunno, Fluttershy is this hippie robot from the future, you’re...” She stopped, studying Applejack with an inquisitive stare. “Hay, you’re the head of the Apple clan or whatever, right? You’re practically a princess, too.”
Applejack snorted, loud and very unlike a princess. “Come off it, Rainbow. I’m the furthest thing from a pretty pink princess... Err, no offense.”
“None taken!” Pinkie Pie smiled and waved her hoof dismissively.
“I just take care of my family. That’s all.” Applejack faced forward. Her gaze momentarily turned vacant, but before long a smile overtook her face and a skip overtook her gait. “A family that’s about to get one bigger. I just... That...” She ground to a halt and whipped off her hat. “Hoo-wee! I just can’t believe it. I’m gonna be a momma soon! Me and the love of my life...” She adjusted her hat back on her head and looked sheepishly up at Rainbow Dash. “I don’t mean to be braggin’ none, but let’s just say life’s lookin’ pretty sunny right about now.”
“Sunny? Sure, makes sense.” Rainbow Dash chuckled and rested her head in her hooves. “Simple? Still not seeing it.”
Applejack blinked at Rainbow Dash. “Sugarcube, family is about as simple as they come.” She pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow. “Or wait a minute. Don’t tell me y’all future-ponies don’t take kindly to a mare and another mare—”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes bulged as she quickly held out her hooves. “W-Whoa! Hey, c’mon! I never said anything like that. I’ve got two moms, so I’m totally cool with you guys! I just meant—”
The rest of Rainbow Dash’s protests were drowned out by Applejack’s laughter. “Easy, Rainbow, easy! I was just givin’ ya some grief. Didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”
“Heh. Got it.” Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof against the back of her neck and tried to ignore the heat stinging her ears.
The conversation lapsed into silence. The trio trotted down the tunnels of the cave, the distorted, overlapping echoes of their hoofsteps sounding almost like a trickling stream. Pinkie Pie hopped along, eagerly casting her glance between the tunnel, her two friends, and a stray patch of mushrooms growing out of the sandstone floor. After running her tongue along the roof of her mouth, she opened it. “So once, I had this pet penguin, Mr. Dapper. He was—”
“Is it very common?”
“Pet penguins? No, not really. Penguins only live—”
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash scrunched up her face at Pinkie Pie. “No, not... Sorry, I meant, AJ,” she said, playing with her hooves while looking where Applejack wasn’t, “y’know, with what we were saying earlier, about your new kid, and that you were really excited, and Daring Do seemed pretty excited too, and—”
Applejack smirked at her with half-lidded eyes. “The word won’t bite ya, hun. Just say it.”
Rainbow Dash squirmed in mid-air, twisting her shoulders in circles as if trying to unknot a muscle. “Y’know. That you’re, y’know... lesbians.” Her cheeks lit up lightly when Applejack started snickering. “Anyway! I was just curi—wondering,” she growled, “just wondering if it’s common. Here in the past, y’know.”
Applejack cleared her throat, suppressing the urge to laugh any more at Rainbow Dash’s expense. “Common? Dunno what to say to that. Wouldn’t call it uncommon. I mean, if couples want foals of their own, they need to trek over to see the unicorns of the Stars tribe, so that makes matters a mite more difficult, but there’s other choices, like adoptin’.” She smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Love is love, Rainbow. If two ponies are in love, that’s the only thing in the world that matters.”
“Yeah. That makes sense. Right.” Rainbow Dash returned her hoof to the back of her neck and massaged it once more. “So, your parents?”
“My parents?” Applejack blinked for a moment. “Oh. Yes ma’am, I’ve got two mothers myself. Why do y’ask?”
“Nothing. Forget it.” Rainbow Dash shook her head rapidly, then pushed off with her wings and raced ahead of the group. “We needa get moving. Twi’s probably tearing her mane out by now.”
“We can make time,” Applejack called out, but by that point, Rainbow Dash had already disappeared down the tunnel. She turned to Pinkie Pie. “Now what d’ya suppose has got her feathers all ruffled?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged and smiled weakly at Applejack. “Not sure. Sometimes Rainbow Dash isn’t that great at saying what’s really bugging her.” She faced forward and tittered. “I suppose we all do that sometimes, huh?”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
65,000,000 BC
Applejack and Daring Do’s Cabin
“Oh, good, you’re awake.”
Twilight Sparkle blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked up at Fluttershy. Her eyes scrunched shut again as she stretched her hooves up over her head. “How long was I out?” she asked through a yawn.
“Not long. Only, um, eighty nine minutes,” said Fluttershy. She lifted the small washcloth off Twilight Sparkle’s forehead, dipped it into a nearby water basin, and replaced it. “It seems to have done you a world of good, though. You look much better now.”
“I guess so?” She adjusted herself on the bed of hay, trying not to disturb the washcloth from her forehead. “My head and stomach aren’t bothering me anymore, so I guess that’s as much as I could ask for, huh?” Smiling up at Fluttershy, she slowly let her eyelids fall shut.
Fluttershy trotted across the dirt floor of the log cabin and stared out the open door. “Rainbow and the others haven’t gotten back yet, but it shouldn’t be much longer now. Just get your rest and then we can all leave together, okay?”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes snapped open at the mention of her other friends, then they gradually fell half-closed. “Oh. So, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie aren’t back yet.”
“Yes, nor is Applejack.” She trotted back and rested a gentle hoof on Twilight Sparkle’s shoulder. “But don’t you worry about a thing. The three of them can take care of the Gate Key. I know that you want to do your best, Twilight, but you don’t have to do everything. We’re a team. If you ever need help, your friends will always be there to help you.”
Twilight Sparkle rolled onto her side, facing away from Fluttershy. The washcloth slipped off her forehead and crumpled lightly on the hay.
“Oh, is your stomach ache back again? I could check with Daring and see if we could find some food.”
“I still haven’t learned a thing, have I?”
“Hmm?”
Twilight Sparkle rolled onto her back again, staring blankly up at the wood grain in the roof. “With Rainbow Dash. Anymore, it seems like she just wants to spend time with Pinkie, not me.”
Fluttershy took a hesitant step backwards. “Twilight, I... I don’t understand.”
“It’s completely clear from the way she’s acted.” She bit lightly on her bottom lip. “Teaming up with her when we were fighting against Lyrabon. Picking her to go find the Gate Key. It feels like she doesn’t even—”
“Oh. Um, no, sorry.” Fluttershy held up her hoof to interrupt her. “I mean, I don’t understand why you’re still talking about this. I thought you’d already gotten over this, on the bridge yesterday.”
Twilight Sparkle's ears flattened against her head, even as they grew red-hot. “What? No, that’s...” She tilted her head toward Fluttershy and tried to ignore the sudden dryness in her mouth. “It’s not—”
“You both decided that you were still friends, right?” Fluttershy said, her voice soft and sincere. She tilted her head to the side while gazing down on Twilight Sparkle. “So, what more is there to say? It shouldn’t matter if she’s friends with Pinkie too, as long as she’s friends with all of us, right?”
Her breathing increased as she looked down at her chest. “Well, of course, but, well—”
“I’m sorry. I mean, I’m not trying to be insensitive to your concerns, of course,” said Fluttershy, lifting a hoof near her own chest. “But I’m just surprised that this is something that would still be concerning you. I mean, when we met in my home era, you always seemed so strong and collected. I really admired you for that strength, to be honest.”
“I... I...” Twilight Sparkle pulled her legs inward, curling herself into a tighter and tighter ball of lavender.
“Shh, it’s okay.” Fluttershy reached out and gently stroked Twilight Sparkle’s mane. “You were so out of sorts last night and this morning that you probably still don’t feel like yourself. Just rest here, let me fetch you some fresh water from the river, and you’ll feel like your old self before lunchtime. I promise.” With one last pat, she turned and made her way out the door.
Twilight Sparkle twisted her body and flipped herself onto her stomach. She reached out with a hoof, opening her mouth to call out to her friend, but no sound came. As the sound of Fluttershy’s hoofsteps died away, Twilight Sparkle’s hoof and chin gently fell to the ground. She closed her eyes. Her voice found her again, in time only to berate herself. “I’m such an idiot.”
“Aww c’mon, kid, don’t be so hard on yourself.”
With a jolt, Twilight Sparkle snapped her head around and quickly ran a hoof underneath her eyes. In the back of the cabin, Daring Do was lounging on top of one of the rafters. She was smirking down at Twilight Sparkle with a familiar air of confidence, yet her expression was somehow softened. Clearing her throat, Twilight Sparkle asked, “H-How long have you been up there?”
“Was napping while you were. I thought you knew, sorry.” A light hop and a gentle glide of her wings brought Daring Do standing by the side of Twilight Sparkle’s bed. She slumped down off her hooves and rested on her belly, face-to-face. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop or nothing. Just, uh,” she said, her smile strengthening yet capped with pink cheeks, “it seems like ‘bad decisions’ are contagious today.”
Twilight Sparkle stared down at her hooves. “Is it really that wrong, to feel how I’m feeling?”
“Listen, sister,” said Daring Do, “from one jealous pony to another, you shouldn’t—”
“Jealous?” Her ears perked as she propped herself up in bed. “I’m not jealous... I’m not!” she added when Daring Do drew her lips and arched an eyebrow. “Fluttershy wasn’t right, about what’s bothering me. It’s not that I need... I don’t know, exclusivity or whatever.” She sat upright in her bed, resting lightly on her haunches. Her gaze, however, lingered down at the hay. “I’ve met so many new friends in the past few days: Pinkie, you, Zecora, Applejack. It used to be only me and Rainbow Dash. Her—” Twilight Sparkle held up her hoof before Daring Do could interject. “Her friendship means so much to me. I’m fine with her having more friends—with all of us having more friends. More friends is great, but... She just feels more and more distant.” Her voice trailed off.
Daring Do leaned back on her haunches. “You’re afraid of losing her.”
Twilight Sparkle tilted her head away and curled her tail up next to her legs.
Rising to her hooves, Daring Do walked to the open doorway and looked out on the small village. She could just make out the treeline of the southern orchard, visible between the neighboring log cabins. Looking back over her shoulder, she said, “I get it. I do. But this Rainbow Dash sounds like a bang-up pony. At least that’s what AJ thinks, and her gut instincts about a pony are good enough for me.” She walked back to Twilight Sparkle and lightly bumped into her with a shoulder. “Good ponies don’t leave their friends hanging.”
“I doubt it’s that simple,” she replied with a hollow chuckle.
Daring Do laughed in return and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, it’s cliche, and after that scene from this morning, I’m hardly the pony to talk. I’m aware of that. I guess I just needed a reminder. But since you saw our little tussle, you oughta know what I’m about to say.” She rested a hoof on Twilight Sparkle’s shoulder. “She believes in you. Always has, always will. You just gotta have faith that she’ll be there for you. Don’t give up on her.” She winced as Twilight Sparkle cringed and pulled away at those words. “Look, I know that’s not what you wanna hear—”
“No. No, it’s not that.” Twilight Sparkle brought a hoof to her eyes and laughed. “It’s just, I said something awfully similar yesterday afternoon, and I’d already forgotten my own advice. I guess that was exactly what I needed to hear.” She placed her hoof on top of Daring Do’s and smiled. “Thank you. I don’t honestly know if I can, but... I’ll try.”
“C’mon, don’t worry,” Daring Do said, winking playfully. “We’ll get you and your fillyfriend back together by the end of the day, promise.”
“Oh.” Twilight Sparkle’s ears fell limp. “No, no, that’s—We’re not—”
Daring Do sighed, staring at her with half-lidded eyes. “That was a joke. Seriously, last night you must’ve declared you were straight three times for every drink you had. And that’s saying something, Ms. Boozehound.”
“Oh.” She nodded, looking up and to the right. “The party. Right.”
After a few seconds of silence, Daring Do looked askance at her. “You do remember your little performance last night, right?”
Twilight Sparkle rubbed the back of her neck and flashed a toothy grin. “Err, heh heh, truth be told, I’ve got a few blank spots in my memories of last night. One or two.”
“Oh, my, gosh.” Daring Do grinned back with heaps of eagerness. “Have I got some stories for you, then. See, it wasn’t even ten minutes after they brought out the cider wagon, that you were—”
A shriek pierced the air of the village. Both mares’ ears pivoted toward the doorway.
“Fluttershy!” screamed Twilight Sparkle.
“Where did—whoa!” Daring Do staggered to recover her balance as Twilight Sparkle barreled through her.
A magenta aura tore into her saddlebags and extracted her plasma pistol. Before Daring Do could react, Twilight Sparkle and her weapon were gone.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
65,000,000 BC
Southern Lair—Grand Cavern
Rainbow Dash pulled her bandana off her head, wiping the already-grimy rag across the base of her neck. “Look, AJ, I know that Pinkie was joking earlier. Or acting goofy. Whatever-it-is she does.” She replaced her headgear and bit down on the hilt of her sword. Placing her hoof on the neck of the deceased manticore, she pulled and tugged until the blade slid free. “But is this a zoo? We’ve been wandering around for forever, and I don’t even think we’ve fought the same critter twice.”
“Mmm, yeah, I dunno anymore.” Pinkie Pie rested her head on a hoof, seated atop a deceased hetake mushroom. “If there's only one of each animal, they wouldn't be able to breed them. That's pretty essential for a zoo. Poor Mr. Dapper. He still hasn’t found his soulmate either.”
Applejack shook her head, trotting into the center of the cavern. “Terrible as it is to say, these critters are just meant to slow us down. This is all one big game to her.” She looked upward, shielding her face from the moisture which dripped down from the mighty stalactites overhead. “You hear me?! C’mon out already. You’re the ones itchin’ for a tussle, so let’s tussle already.” Her voice reverberated against each nook and cranny of the chamber, while her dancing silhouette was cast across every wall by a circle of eight oil lanterns on posts around the perimeter.
“So! Somepony’s looking for a fight?” bellowed a deep voice.
Rainbow Dash whipped her head around. “Who’s there?” She backflipped in midair and searched behind her as well. “We aren’t afraid of you!”
Pinkie Pie shivered, rubbed her hooves against her forelegs, and tried to stop her teeth from chattering.
With a pained sigh, Applejack let her eyes fall shut, and she hung her head. The brim of her hat cast all but the tip of her muzzle in shadow. Applejack pulled back one of her hind legs and balanced stoically on three legs.
“Strike first with all your might!”
Pinkie Pie hiccuped. Gasping and tucking her ears, she opened her mouth to shout.
Soundless but for a swoosh of wind surrounding it, a boulder—twice the size of a pony—hurtled from the rear of the cavern, aimed straight at Applejack. She kicked out her poised leg, snapping like a mousetrap, connecting with the crushing projectile. With a thundering crack, her horseshoe drove through the rock and cleaved it in half, sending pony-sized chunks crashing to the ground on either side of her.
“Jeez!” Rainbow Dash beat the air with her wings, clearing away the stirring dust. “You okay, Applejack? What’s with the dude throwing shit at us?”
Applejack’s eyelids cracked open, weary slits staring out at the world. She lifted her gaze and stared level at the wall in front of her. “Iron Will,” she said flatly.
From the same direction that the boulder launched, a hulking monstrosity emerged from the shadows, balanced on two hooves. The gray, bull-like creature snorted, fogging over the nose ring that pierced his snout. He pointed forth at Applejack in a strong pose, flexing his arms and abs, muscle and vein straining against his skin and visible beneath his fur. “Applejack,” he grunted.
Pinkie Pie raised her eyebrows. “You two know each other?”
Applejack stepped about in a circle, muttering to Pinkie Pie as she passed, “Far more‘n I’d like.” Facing Iron Will, she fixed a steely glare on him. “Let’s not go through the whole dog and pony show today, alright? Been enough senseless bloodshed already. Just give back that thing you stole, we’ll pretend that I walloped you what-for, and us ponyfolk will leave you to yours.”
“Silly Applejack,” said Iron Will, tacking on a wry snort, “the likes of you and I have sparred numerous times, mano-a-pezuña. And if there is one thing—and only one thing—that you should have taken away from those brawls, is that I,” said he, jamming his thumb into his sternum, “am no doormat.”
“Ugh,” snapped Applejack, “this ain’t about your pride. We just wanna be left alone, without your lot causing us pain and sufferin’ at every possible junction!” She punctuated her sentence with a stomp of her hoof, echoing thrice in the cavern.
The next sound was a voice. Sultry and feminine, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. “Aww.”
Applejack’s frame went rigid at the sound. Her eyes danced about in their sockets, searching for the source of the voice and finding nothing but stone. Her expression, at first unreadable, slowly evolved into an ugly sneer: lip curled to expose her canines, brow creased and furrowed, ears folded back flat against her scalp, stance lowered and tensed.
“Are we keeping you from something important, mmm?” The voice was accentuated with sharp clacks on stone, keeping a slow, even rhythm. Meanwhile, Iron Will turned his head slightly, peeking out of the corner of his eye. “Harvesting some fruit, no doubt? Perhaps a bit of galloping across the meadows?”
Rainbow Dash’s mouth opened to ask another question, but no sound came forth. She stared at Applejack’s hostile pose for a moment, then wordlessly, she drew her katana and held it to the ready.
Seeing her friends both preparing, Pinkie Pie bit her lip and gave a pensive flick of her tail, yet she fidgeted with her crossbow brace.
When the owner of the female voice emerged from the shadows, the first part of her body to do so was her leg. Shaved smooth and pale, it broke its way through the tall slit of a purple dress: slim, silken, shimmering. Her foot was strapped into a matching stiletto heel, which landed with another sharp clack. She carried forward, the light illuminating her more and more with each step. Her curvaceous figure. Her blonde, voluminous locks of hair. Her soft, sympathetic eyes paired with a tight, malicious smirk.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both froze, staring at her in wide-eyed silence. Taking note of the ponies’ dazed expressions, she let out a soft chuckle in a voice rich and silky.
She walked up from behind Iron Will and crossed in front of him, running her fingers teasingly along his biceps while eyeing the trio of ponies in front of her. “Dear, sweet Applejack. It’s been far too long. You’re looking well.”
As her friends looked to her for confirmation, Applejack hawked up and spat at the ground between herself and the woman in the purple dress, before baring her teeth once more. “Eva.”
Queen Eva’s smirk widened.
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Hungover and crushing on RD Twilight is so cute. She needs a good kiss soon or she's gonna freak like no other.
Oh, Pinkie and your game logic. Overworld maps are so 1996.
Nice fights with all the dinos and other critters the current party is dealing with. They're learning dual techs like mad!
Iron Will makes any story better. True story.
Aaaaand revelation. This will be nifty to learn more about...
Nice going!
AWESOME YOU UPDATED.
I forgot that this chapter name was the actual name of the 'Chapter' in the game, so when I got the update notification, I thought this was the chapter from last time and was bumped for some reason due to it being so familiar... 404 brain not found.
2049599 Hey, buck you! Overworld maps are cool! They're better than having the game be one long, narrow corridor... *glares at FFXIII*
I feel like I should remember Eva from someplace, but it's just not coming to me...
Twilight and Rainbow Dash are totally, completely, unequivocally straight! They're SO straight that they can have hours-long make-out sessions and have passionate lesbian sex every night for the rest of their lives and still be completely hetero!
And suddenly humans!
2089547
If that's the case, then the legend of the singing sword will pale in comparison to the legend of the squeeing sword, once Lyra finds out.
Awww, poor Twily is jealous, so adorable~ <3
She and Dashie really needs some private talk, it seems. Also declaring to be straight three time per drink... I think Twi got some issues she hasn't thought much about or put far away in her mind and threw the key away to not longer think about said issues which starts to come up now that RD is more and more "distant" to her, now that Twi feels more and more "unneeded" by Dash and now that the "straight" RD is kissing mares and wondering about lesbian relationships. Well, next chapter surely gonna be some fun.
And oh boy, Shy is in danger and suddenly sexy human! What's going on! And why aren't there more updates! D:
PONIES DO NOT HAVE CANINES! THEY ARE HERBIVORES!
5153949
You're technically wrong on both points:
Let's deal with the first one straight from the horse's mouth:
horsedentist.com/Canine3.jpg
While not universal, and much more common in stallions, equines can indeed have canines.
As for being herbivores, that is only partly true. While predominantly herbivores, equines are not strict herbivores and do occasionally eat meat, (typically when under dietary stress). Not that being a herbivore would inherently mean a lack of canines, remember that carnivore seems to be the norm with herbivores evolving from them multiple times.
Eva? Don't think I've heard of her...