//------------------------------// // Pony Town // Story: Trot Buddies! // by shortskirtsandexplosions //------------------------------// The air smelled of cinnamon and hay the first moment Flash and the rest of the scouting party entered the outskirts of Ponyville. He took several deep wheezing breaths, as if attempting to re-orient his lungs. But no matter how much he questioned reality, the air of Ponyville only smelled sweeter with each dozen feet that they trotted into the lazy farm town. The architecture of the buildings looked like something out of a children's book: bright pastel wood varnish, perfectly gold-thatched rooftops, stained glass windows, and hundreds if not thousands of “hearts” and equine “smiley faces” carved, stenciled, and sculpted into every building face. The roads and alleys were all dirt; not a single patch of asphalt or square of pavement was to be found. What's more, the apartments and inns and stores looked almost naturally “grown-into” the environment. Yes, it was a village—a fairly dense one at that—but it didn't look like it was invading the landscape as much as it was delicately merging with it. There were no motor vehicles, no roaring engines, no obtuse noises of any sort. Ponies of various ages and trots of life drew wagons and other types of carts from one destination to another. From the look of displays through various windows, the town did run on some sort of modern-day form of electricity, but there was no over-doing... no post-industrial malaise of wastefulness or pollution. It was a quiet town... and yet a busy town. For every neighborly pony conversation, there was an equal amount of birdsong and cicada buzzing. Squirrels and chipmunks and rabbits scurried fearlessly from one patch of soil to another, and roadside garbage cans were well-kempt... not overflowing. There was no single pony walking with a cell phone or mp3 player. The residents of Ponyville trotted from block to block with their heads raised, their ears perked, their eyes full of blue sky and sunlight. Smiles hovered everywhere, reflecting the genuine bounty, and laughter mixed with the sounds of giggling foals from every other row of buildings. There was an undeniable element of fantastical reality to the town as well. Pegasi flitted and dove intermittently overhead. Unicorns levitated bags of grocery items with them as they trotted across the village. Some storefronts had otherworldly light displays, and the tingling percussion of magic spells echoed every once in a while from unknown locations. Once or twice, Flash and Trixie saw a sparse few non-equine creatures—curious specimens of bird, horse, cat, and drake—dipping in and out of random establishments before heading off towards their daily business. All of this whimsical simplicity was overshadowed by sheer majesty—a series of steep mountains loomed to the northeast, and from a distance the group could see Disney-esque castle spires sitting on the jutting cliffsides. The whole village rested soundly in the shadow of an impossibly epic horse capital. What's more, if the group pivoted about to look northwest—they could spot a hazy cluster of clouds that were set apart from the rest of the sky. A hint or two from Sunset Shimmer confirmed the unthinkable: it was a floating pegasus city, brimming with rainbows and cascading rainwater that caught the glitter from a setting sun. But the group had precious little time to savor all of these details. The full half-hour it took for them to penetrate the heart of Ponyville was spent scurrying from building to building, alleyway to alleyway, patch of grass to patch of grass. Penetrating the village to get to their destination wasn't as difficult as Flash expected, but it did prove stressful. Once or twice, he spotted—among the villagers—identical copies to Lyra, Bulk Biceps, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. He did a double-take, spotting a white mare with spikey blue mane hair and thick glowing headphones—who could only be Vinyl Scratch. Trixie tapped his withers at one point and gestured to a horse version of Filthy Rich, and they both observed a big burly red clydesdale accompanied by a gangly quadruped version of Applejack's grandmother. Someone whom Flash did not see... was himself. Or at least, his pony self. “Maybe he doesn't live here,” Trixie whispered. Flash's nostrils flared. “Or this universe's me is dead.” She turned to raise an eyebrow at him. The two stood huddled beneath a low-spreading tree along with the rest of the ponies. “Does your mind always go to sad-sacky places, sad-sack?” “Mmmmm...” Flash shrugged. “Can't help it.” “Clearly you can't.” Trixie muttered. “Look on the bright side!” A wry smile. “Maybe he's a successful stage musician!” “Actually, he's a member of the royal Canterlot Guard,” Sunset Shimmer whispered, all the while scanning the nearby scene for passing villagers. “Stationed in the Crystal Kingdom.” Flash blinked. “Heh... well how 'bout that, Flash, partner?” Applejack murmured from where she squatted low with her trot buddy. “Seems yer pony self decided to flash a badge instead of a guitar pick!” “Yeah... well...” Flash shrugged. “...I hope he doesn't have an itchy trigger finger.” “Actually there are no guns in Equestria,” Sunset said. “Or fingers.” “Wow. Charleston Heston would roll in his grave.” A beat. Flash blinked. “Do ponies get buried when they die or are you all needed for the arts-and-crafts economy?” “Shhhhhhh!” Twilight Sparkle insisted, glasses rattling. “There's a pony coming this way!” The group went silent. A pegasus trotted by, humming to herself. She paused to pick a few flowers from the roadside. After stuffing them into her basket, she giggled and flitted along on buzzing wings. “Wow...” Lyra craned her neck, speaking only once the mare had left their vicinity. “Was that this world's version of Twilight?” “No,” Twilight said. “My doppelganger is an alicorn—remember? The Princess?” Lyra squinted. “Well that pony looked a lot like Twilight, only with a different color scheme.” “I think her name's Blossomforth,” Sunset Shimmer muttered. “And... yeah... that'll happen.” Fluttershy raised her hoof. “Yes, Fluttershy?” “What's an alicorn?” “It's like a unicorn—only broken.” “Ohhhhhhhh...” “Now that I see all of these ponies up close...” Trixie took a deep breath. “...I see you weren't joking about how easy it would be to run into our doubles.” She closed her eyes, steeled herself, and spat: “Trixie admits she was wrong about the stealthiness of your plan, Miss Shimmer.” “Heh...” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Pinch me. I must be dreaming to hear Trixie humble herself.” “Yeah, well...” Sunset breathed. “...I could have executed my plan a lot better, Trixie. I'll give you that.” She craned her neck, peering over the nearest line of buildings. “Anyways, we've come so far... and our destination is within a stone's throw now.” Flash blinked. He looked up—and his eyes caught the crystalline spires of a tall, tall structure that stood out like a sore hoof from the rest of Ponyville. A knot formed in his throat, and his body went cold. Trixie glanced curiously at his locking figure. “Reckon we can make it past the last smatterin' of buildings?” Applejack asked. “It's a bit more wide open in this here district.” “Also less populated,” Sunset declared. “Only the Princess' closest friends and visiting ponies on royal business show up on the north side of town.” She looked aside. “Rainbow Dash. Think you can glide up to that tree beside the hotel and provide a look-out?” “Roger that!” “Give us a signal when the next two adjacent streets are clear. We'll make a brisk gallop to the edge of the bowling alley.” “You guys have a bowling alley?!?” Pinkie gasped—only for Rarity to wrap her hoof over her loud muzzle, silencing her. “Stay focused,” Sunset said. “We're almost at the Princess' Castle! Once we're inside... then we can relax!” She nodded to Rainbow Dash, who flew off in a prismatic blur. “Okay. Let's do this in two sets of two. Twilight and I will go first, followed by Bulk Biceps and Derpy Hooves...” In the meantime, Flash's eyes remained locked on the castle spires above and beyond. His knees wobbled noticeably, and he hung his head with a sad sigh. “... … ...hey...” His right ear pricked. The stallion looked to his side. Trixie was squinting worriedly at him. “Are you okay?” Flash gulped. “Do me a favor...?” Trixie blinked. Nevertheless, she stood tall and tilted her nose up. “Ask anything of Trixie...!” He took a steady breath. “Just... talk to me...” “Hmmm?” Trixie arched an eyebrow. “Talk to you?” “Yes, please.” “... … ...about what?” “Anything. Just...” Flash shuddered. “... … ...I wanna pretend like I'm somewhere else right now.” “Hmmm. Very well.” Trixie leaned in close, her voice soft so as not to carry beyond the branches of the tree they were all hiding under. “Have you ever seen episodes of Penn and Teller's Fool Us? It's a remarkable experience—easily worth bingeing. And you can find most of their segments uploaded to Youtube! Why, there's this one magic act that took to the stage. He asked Penn Jillette to join him and together they opened a fresh deck of cards—shrinkwrapped and everything! Well, after asking Penn to name a card they put it back in the deck and held it between Penn's hands. Then, with pure stagecraftmanship, the deck was replaced with a freshly-sealed set of cards that contained his—” Flashed breathed easily, drifting between the words of Trixie's velvety voice. His heart beat firmly, but it was no longer bursting from his chest. As the minutes went by—and Trixie's anecdotes spun into one another—he awaited the moment when they would cross the street last... ...and face the crystalline destination ahead.