//------------------------------//
// Above Ground 
// Story: Trot Buddies! 
// by shortskirtsandexplosions 
//------------------------------//

The first thing to kiss sunlight was Flash Sentry's squinting eyes... followed by his smiling muzzle.

"Ahhhhhhhhh yeah..."  The teenager-turned-stallion took a long, handsome breath as he took in the blue skies and the pristine hillsides rolling in every direction.  "Shawshank Redemption has nothing on this."

"Shawshank what?" Lyra Heartstrings asked, trotting out a dirt hole along with the others.

Flash glared briefly at her.  "Be older."

"Unf!  Trixie is certainly glad to be out of that festering den of mutts!" declared the showmare.

"Yeah!"  Rainbow Dash flew into a lofty position as soon as she could, taking a survey of the immediate landscape as the rest of her friends emerged.  "You hated it so much that you went back down there a second time!"

"Grrrrr...!"  Trixie shook a hoof.  "That was just to save our friend from those greedy flea bags, you selfish port-a-potty headed--"

"Whoah whoah whoah!  Settle down, girl!"  Rainbow swiped some visible sweat from her brow.  "I was actually trying to compliment you!  Sheesh!"

"Coming back here was very brave, Trixie," Fluttershy said.  "I-I don't know if even I'd have the courage to do it."

"Well, we had Bulk Biceps with Trixie this time," Trixie said.

"And the rest of us...?"  Rarity glared daggers.

"Mmmm... true..."  Trixie nodded.  "But mostly Bulk Biceps."

"YAY!  I HELPED!"

Derpy Hooves and Fluttershy giggled.

"Oki doki loki!"  Pinkie Pie bounced-bounced-bounced towards the nearest mound of earth and peered at every horizon.  "Which way to Castle-Town?"

"Hold up there, Pinkie...!"  Sunset Shimmer trotted to her side.  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"We just got in and out of a scrape with dirt dogs!" Applejack exclaimed.  "What worse can this magical pony land throw at us?"

"It doesn't help to be hasty," Sunset declared.  "Twilight, do you still have that compass on you?"

"Of course!"  Twilight was already floating the item in question.  "Seems like east is about... that way."

Applejack rolled her eyes.  "I coulda figured that out by the position of the sun...!"

"Yeah... about that..."  Flash squinted at Trixie.  "Just how much time has passed anyways?"

"Judging from the steps we took to come back here to this burrow..."  Twilight pivoted, pivoted some more, and finally pointed towards a smudge of gold-thatched rooftops in the distance.  "...Ah-HAH!  There's our destination!"

"Augh!"  Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes.  "Eastward!  Eastward!  Always eastward!  Is anypony else sick of this by now?"

"No!"

"... ... ...anypony besides Derpy?"

"Leave it be, darling," Rarity said.

"Alright..."  Sunset Shimmer marched over to a tree and pulled out the first of several throngs of loose shrubbery.  "Back to the bushes!"

"We're..."  Flash blinked.  "...still doing the bush thing?"

"Well it's worked so far," Rainbow Dash said.  She flew down to the ground and winced slightly.  "Well... mostly..."

"Everything should go fine..."  Sunset cast a look over her flank.  "...provided that we all keep in pace with one another and don't lose the front half of the group."

Flash Sentry gulped.  "I swear.  I didn't mean to take my eyes off--"

"We've only got so much of the sunlight left," Sunset said.  "The Princess doesn't know that we're here and the rest of the group is still waiting back at the Everfree Forest.  That means there's no more room for errors.  So let's--"

"Errors?"  Trixie's muzzle scrunched.  "You call what my trot buddy and Trixie just went through an 'error?'"

Sunset groaned, face-hoofing.  "Please, Trixie.  This is no time for--"

"It is too time!"  Trixie stomped a hoof.  "Time for you to listen and shut up!"  She pointed.  "None of this would have happened if you--at the head of the scouting party--didn't gallop off like a bunch of old lady tourists having to make water!"  She turned to gawk at Bulk, Lyra, and the others.  "What kind of a sneaking mission is performed like the opening ceremony to a Usain Bolt Convention, anyways???"

"Trixie," Sunset droned.  "Everypony here knows you were never a fan of this plan to begin with--"

"Yes.  Everypony knows that you and I don't see eye to eye."  Trixie tilted her nose up.  "...and that you sped up the scouting party with Trixie at the rear just to spite her!"

"Oh for crying out--"

"BUT...!"  Trixie clenched her teeth.  "...any bad blood that there may or may not be between you and Trixie is no reason to put Flash's well-being in danger!"  She pointed at the stupefied, blinking stallion.  "So stuff your pride and save it for when we're back in the CHS hallways, sister!"

Everypony's heads turned towards Sunset.

Sunset blinked hard.  She opened her muzzle to reply... but caught a side-squint from Applejack.  A bulb of sweat formed along her temple... and the unicorn let out a heavy sigh.  Her head hung, and after a brief moment of composing herself, she spoke firmly through the afternoon air:

"I'm sorry, Flash.  Trixie."  She looked up with a calm expression.  "I'm sorry that I moved us too quickly.  I should have been more concerned with the group's safety and less concerned about making it to our destination."  She held her hoof over her chest.  "And it's my fault that we lost track of the two of you... and that you got captured by Diamond Dogs."

Everypony's heads turned towards Trixie and Flash.

"Mmmmmmmm..."  Trixie glanced left and right, then nodded with a deadpan expression.  "Trixie finds that acceptable."  She glanced aside.  "Trot buddy?"

"Huh?  What?  OH!  Uhhhh..."  Flash nodded briskly.  "Yes.  Definitely."  A gulp.  A final nod.  "Sunset."

Sunset breathed a bit easier.  She trotted over to the bushes, lifted a few lengths of shrubbery, and looked back at the group.  "Some of you might find this method silly.  But I promise you it's for the best.  And that's not all that I promise."  She looked at Trixie and Flash.  "This time... we will go about it slowly.  Even if it takes us past sundown to reach Ponyville.  All that matters is that we contact Princess Twilight--whether it be late or early.  Until then, I'll make sure that I look after everyone in the party.  All scouts.  We won't keep moving unless everypony's accounted for.  Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Gotcha!"

"Uh huh!"

"YEAHHHH!!!"

"Shhhhhhhh..."  Sunset smiled at Bulk Biceps.  "Sneaking mission... remember?"  She turned towards Twilight and Rainbow Dash and began talking strategy.

In the meantime, Flash slumped back on his haunches, exhaling heavily.

"You okay there, chief?"  Trixie trotted over to him.

Flash shook his head.  "I don't even know anymore."

"Well, let the Grreat and Powerrful Trixie spell it out for you."  She reached over and ruffled his blue mane.  "You're halfway there, bucko."

He leaned back and shook his hair straight, squinting at her.  "Halfway where?"

"Mmmmm... maybe you'll find out.  Sooner than later."  Trixie started gathering twigs and leaves for their own makeshift bush.  "Stick by Trixie.  She's not as useless as she used to think."

Flash cocked his head aside.  "Is that a fact?"

"At the end of the day... the one truly magical thing about Trixie is her charm..."  She looked at him and smiled.  "Don't you think?"  A heavy, slow wink.  "Wiiiink!"