Twilight was going over her ‘To Do’ list for the day. There was magic practice with Starlight, then reviewing her friendship lesson from the previous day. After lunch, she was going to meet with Mayor Mare and the city elders about the construction of a new public library. Afterward, a fly with Rainbow to relax and get some exercise. The rest of the day would be dinner, reading and just hanging out at home, unless one of her friends stopped by for tea.
It had been a while since Rarity had come by for a social visit and Applejack even longer. Both mares had a lot of work this time of year with the fall fashion season in full swing and harvest time.
The more she thought about it, the more she was starting to play with the idea that her fly with Rainbow could end at Sweet Apple Acres. There she’d try to hang out with Applejack and perhaps ingratiate herself an invitation to dinner with the Apples, that way she could hang out with AJ as much as possible. The thought of being with AJ made Twilight smile, more than she realized.
As she was thinking, both of her flanks itched at the same time. Reaching to scratch them, she realized it was getting more intense and it wasn’t an itch but more like a spasm or vibration. She moved her wing and looked; her cutie marks were glowing and little copies were radiating out. Then a copy of her cutie mark projected from her flank and headed across the room and out the door.
“The map!” Twilight said out loud and then got up and flew after it to the Throne Room.
There in the Throne room was her cutie mark hovering above a certain area of Equestria. Another cutie mark came zipping in and no others. The sight of who’s cutie mark it was made Twilight ‘squee’!
Big Mac and Applejack were walking to the orchards to start their chores. Apple Bloom had already put out some baskets earlier before going to school.
“Big Mac,” said Applejack, “do ya think we can get the rest of the east orchard bucked today?”
“Nnnope,” said Big Mac.
“There ain’t that many trees left to buck, don’t ya think we could buck ’em in a day?”
“Eeyup,” replied the big brother.
“Well if’n ya think we can buck ’em, why did ya say we can’t?”
Big Mack stopped and faced his sister and pointed to her flank at the same moment she felt it herself. She looked at her flank, her cutie mark showed the map summoning her.
“Tell Granny an’ AB Ah got called by the map an’ Ah gotta go,” said AJ as she ran off chasing a copy of her cutie mark headed toward Ponyville.
“Eeyup,” was his unheard reply.
Applejack came galloping into the throne/map room.
“Twi!” said Applejack, “I got the call, who am Ah goin’ with?”
Applejack saw Twilight just grinning.
“Just you and me, Applejack,” said Twilight excitedly.
“Well ain’t that just slicker than snot on a doorknob!” said AJ, Twilight raised an amused eyebrow at the disturbing mental image. “Ah’ve hoped that Ah’d get to go on a mission with ya sometime. Where we goin’?”
AJ and Twilight walked over to the map. There in the desert just east of Appleloosa the two cutie marks were circling.
“Looks like out in the middle of nowhere, maybe some scorpions aren’t getting along,” said Twilight with a chuckle.
“Do they ever?” said Applejack with a smile at Twilight’s comment. “Ah know that’s buffalo country, my last letter from Braeburn said somethin’ ‘bout trouble ’tween the buffalo tribes.”
“Well, we’ve had our run-ins with buffalo before.” Said Twilight, “Get what you need for a trip to the desert and I’ll meet you at the train station. I’ll bring a good supply of carrots, you can bring some apples in case we need extra food. I’ll put a spell on them to keep them fresh.”
The two agreed and gave a quick hug and went to get ready for their trip. Both were excited that they were going to spend some alone time with each other.
Little did either mare know, this trip would change their lives forever…