Trot Buddies!

by shortskirtsandexplosions


Staying Put

“Okay...”

Flash breathed in... breathed out...

“Okay... ...”

In a cold sweat, he resumed pacing back and forth atop a hilltop in the center of Equestria. The remains of an improvised bush lay in splintered fragments beneath his hooves. The valley of the fantastical landscape appeared damnably the same in all directions the young stallion looked.

“Okay... … ...”

“Will you please stop it?!?” Trixie grumbled, leaning against a tree. “You're starting to sound like her.”

“Just...” Flash stumbled to a stop, close to hyperventilating. “...nobody panic!”

“Who's panicking?! Trixie is not panicking!” The mare examined her hoof, frowning into her blue fuzz. “Trixie is just mad.”

“They... she... everyone...” Flash's voice cracked as he gestured towards the horizon that they were originally chasing. “They were right in front of us! And I-I lost them! How c-could I have lost them...?!”

“Beats Trixie,” his trotting buddy droned. “All you had to do was go east!” She shrugged melodramatically. “How blasted difficult is that?!”

Flash slumped to his rear haunches, ears drooping. “... … ...pretty effing hard, apparently.”

“Well, we had a stupid plan on top of a stupider plan and even that prove too hard to follow through with!” Trixie tossed her mane. “Guess we're on our own now.”

“I just...” Flash ran a hoof over his brow, still sweating. “I j-just don't know what to do...!”

“Isn't it obvious?” Trixie shrugged. “We wait here!”

“Wait here?!?” Flash whimpered, grimacing in her direction. “But... a-at the rate at which the rest of the scouting group was moving—they'll have made it to Ponyville by now! They're leagues ahead of us at this point!”

“Which means they're in the company of Princess Twilight and they're in a better position to come back and find us!” Trixie tilted her nose up. “Honestly, sad-sack. You really should learn to remain cool under pressure!”

Flash merely bit his lip, looking at every horizon surrounding them.

“... … ...” Trixie silently raised an eyebrow. “You're not going to come down on Trixie for calling you sad-sack?”

“Trixie, not now. This... this is bad. I mean really really bad...” Flash was practically collapsed onto the grass by now. He trembled all over. “I... I messed up. I m-messed up super bad and now we're in danger...” He winced, looking at Trixie with glossy eyes. “You're in danger. And it's all my fault. I lost track of the rest of the group... and we're alone now all because of my stupidity.”

“Yes. Yes, we are.” Trixie folded her forelimbs. “Now—if Trixie had led the way this entire time, then maybe we'd be better off!”

Flash shuddered. He held his head in his hooves and remained icy-still... limbs locked.

Trixie fidgeted noticeably. When the stallion said nothing, she leaned her head forward... then forward some more. She was clearly within eyeshot of Flash, but there was no reaction.

“Aren't you going to argue that it was Trixie's fault too?” she murmured.

“Just... just...” Flash sniffled, his wings extending outward and covering his face. “Trixie, please. I'm sorry but—” A shuddering breath. “I need a moment.”

Trixie blinked hard. Her eyes darted left and right—as if it was her time to experience a cold sweat. She trotted lightly around the grounded stallion, pausing every now and then to tug at her mane.

“Okay... okay...” Flash took several deep breaths. “All might not be lost. Just... just gotta get control of the situation. Own up to the fact that it's just the two of us out here right now and... worry about owing up to my mistakes later.”

“Mmmmm... if Miss Shimmer were here,” Trixie muttered. “She'd no doubt find a reason to yell at Trixie...”

Flash ignored her. “Are... are we sure that staying here would be the right thing to do?” He stood up, eyes drying as he steeled his body into observing the environment around them. “Maybe... maybe we should go and ask for some help.”

“Ask for some help?” Trixie squinted. “From who?”

He pointed at a distant wheatfield. “From one of the farmhouses. I mean... if Equestria is anything like Sunset has described it, then this place is a lot more Canada and a lot less Florida. Somepony's bound to be nice enough to greet us and point the way to Ponyville!”

“But... doesn't that defeat the whole point of why we're doing this all stealth-like?” Trixie blinked. “What if we run into our doppelgangers?”

“At a farmhouse?” Flash squinted. “Really?”

“It can happen!”

“I figured the pony versions of ourselves would be like... equine extensions of us!” Flash shrugged. “Why the hay would either of us be working or living at a farm?”

“They're horses,” Trixie spat. “Farming is everything.”

“Then how come everypony doesn't just live in a farm?!”

“Maybe they do! For all we know, all of Equestria is just one gigantic Iowa!”

“Trixie—”

“Or Idaho! With dragons!”

“I'd say that—mathematically—the odds are very very slim that we'll run into ourselves. And—besides—even if we do... what's the true risk?!?” Flash shrugged. “Does dimension-hopping really work by Back to the Future pt II rules?! We're not gonna collapse the entire multiverse of space and time as we know it!”

“Trixie may not know much about real life magic,” she muttered. “But when it comes to a stage act—one wrong move and your entire performance falls flat.” She exhaled. “I'd hate the same thing to happen here! In Equestria!”

Silence.

Flash blinked. “How in the heck does that analogy actually work?

“Trixie doesn't know!!!” The mare tossed her hooves. “What do you think we should do?!?”

Flash closed his eyes and took a calm breath. “Y'know... I hate to say it... but at moments like this—the only thing that relaxes me is a good family film.”

“Okay... … …?”

“Remember Frozen 2? Remember Princess Anna in the cave towards the end?” Flash reopened his eyes, gazing eastward into the wind with grit and determination. “Sometimes what you have to do is... make the choice... to hear that voice... and do the next right thing.”

“Disney is an evil corporation that violently manufactured the myth of lemmings being suicidal in a fabricated 1958 nature documentary,” Trixie stated.

“... … … yeah, fair point.” Flash slumped back to the ground. “Let's go with your idea. Let's stay here and do nothing.”

“Agreed.”

The air was quiet, save for the rustling of leaves in the nearby trees. On the lower lengths of valley all around them, the tall grass swayed in emerald waves. Moving clouds allowed for a dance of shadows across the fertile plain. The longer they both stayed out in the open, the better their eyes adjusted to the brilliance of it all, and they could make out the distinct shapes of buildings and castles propped up on the mountaintops towards the northeast.

“Have to admit...” Flash exhaled slowly, summoning the tiniest of smiles. “...of all the places to be lost and in despair—this is about as pretty as it gets.”

“Mrmffff...” Trixie flicked at a few blades of grass beneath her. “...Trixie supposes.”

Flash looked at her. He sat up, clearing his voice. “Don't worry, Trixie. Your idea is a smart one. Sunset and the others—they're bound to figure out that something's wrong. They'll come back for us.”

“No doubt they'll all wanna chew me out a new one,” Trixie muttered.

Flash blinked at her. “Don't you mean chew 'us' out?”

“Mrmmfff...” Trixie blew out her nostrils. “I suppose.”

“... … ...” Flash gazed at her. “Are you doing okay?”

“No better or worse than usual.”

“Remember—we're trot buddies.” Flash bore a friendly smirk. “I mean—you may not have many reasons to trust me after I've screwed up so much, but you can still talk to me if you're feeling down—”

“Why aren't you mad at me?” Trixie looked up at him, brow furrowed like a sword hilt. “You must really have a problem with being angry.”

“Huh?”

“Anybody else would be yelling at me by now. Or ignoring me.” She shook her head slowly. “It just doesn't make sense...”

“... … ...neither does referring to oneself in the third person in normal conversation,” Flash said. “But then there's you...” He arched an eyebrow. “Until now.”

She jolted slightly, avoiding his gaze.

“Trixie...?” He cocked his head to the side. “Do...—is there reason you'd want me to be angry and yell at you—?”

“Oh! What's this?” Trixie hopped up to her hooves with a bright grin. “Trixie thinks she hears someone!”

Flash did a double-take. “What...?”

“Just now! A rustle in the bushes!” Trixie turned to waved towards a mound of shrubbery. “Over here! Trixie hears you!”

“Trixie...” Flash stood up.

“Yoohooo! Sad-sack and Grreat and Powerrful magician! Waiting to be rescued!”

Flash trotted over and stood in her face. “Trixie...” His eyes were full of concern. “Answer me. Please...” His ears folded back. “...what's going on?”

Trixie's smile was a fractured thing, but she hung onto it. “Trixie swears she heard a rescue party just now.”

“That's not what I asked you.”

A sniffle, and Trixie's eyes moistened. “Trixie knows...”

Flash opened his muzzle to say something.

But the mare brushed past him. “There! I see movement!”

“Movement??”

“In the soil! Look!” Trixie pointed at a mound of earth that was ripping loose from underneath. The consistent sound of burrowing could be heard—accompanied by a low tremor that made the two teenagers' legs wobble. “Hah! Decided to have Bulk Biceps dig a way to glory, huh?”

“Uhhhhhh... Trixie...?”

Just then, a hole popped open in the loose soil. The air smelled of wet dog—just as a dirty canine face emerged. Thin green eyeslits narrowed on the shapes of Trixie and Flash.

“...I don't think that's Sunset's group,” Flash wheezed.

“Hrshhhhhhhhh!” The creature vocalized, pulling itself slowly out of the hole with strong biceps. “Fresssssssssh... losssssssst... poniessssssssssssss...”

“Augh!” Trixie flew into Flash, hoof-kicking ineffectually at the distant sight of the sapient monstrosity. “Trixie doesn't like! Trixie doesn't like! Trixie doesn't liiiiiiike!”

“Calm down, Trixx! For crying out loud!” Flash cleared his throat and stared the creature firmly down. “Thanks—but no thanks, stranger. We're... uhhhh... not lost! Not in the least!”

“Of courssssssse not!” The dog-thing hopped out onto the topsoil, standing twice the height of both teens. “You are found! And property!” He then glanced behind the two, nodding. “Ssssick 'em, muttssssss!”

“Huh?” Flash blinked—then felt the massive paws of two other creatures bearing down on his and Trixie's withers from behind. “... … ...oboy.”