//------------------------------// // Over a barrel // Story: The Impact of Humans on Ponies // by the koopanater //------------------------------// "I never would have thought that our next adventure outside of Ponyville would be in the desert." Things have been pretty calm since the modeling fiasco. Nothing notable happened during the two weeks that followed other than Jasmine's training in being a masseuse. Recently though, Applejack told the group that her cousin alongside several others created a settlement in the desert and invited her, to which Applejack extended that invite to them. Everyone was excited, so once they were packed, they got onto a train straight for the new settlement. At the moment, Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie were talking between each other, Xavier was looking out the window thinking to himself, and Jasmine was reading a book, all while an evening sun was setting. Xavier decided he'd window gazed enough, so he turned over to the rest of the girls. "So what was this place's name again?" He asked, needing some clarification. "It was Appleloosa." Twilight answered. "Right, you excited to see more of the world, Jasmine?" Xavier asked, but when he turned to Jasmine, she didn't respond as she was focused on the book. Taking a closer look at it, Xavier saw that the book was about becoming a masseuse. Xavier went in to tap her shoulder to see if she heard, and when he did, she jumped in shock. "Whoa, sorry Jasmine, didn't mean to scare you." "It's okay Xavier, I guess I got too focused on my book." Jasmine admitted, feeling sheepish. "Well, how about you join in on the conversation for now? C'mon, we're going somewhere new, relax for a bit." Xavier suggested, knowing that taking a break would do her some good. "Um, sure." Jasmine said putting down her book and joining the others. Suddenly, they all heard a door slam, and when they looked over, they saw Rarity at the end of the train car looking very angry. "Erm, you okay Rarity?" Rainbow asked as Rarity walked over to the group and sat down. "NO! I can't believe that Applejack booked a private sleeping car entirely for an apple tree!" Rarity complained. "Um, well, I don't know much about farming or plant life, but I'm guessing that the tree needs that car." Xavier said. "Yeah, maybe it likes to be alone." Jasmine said, not confidently since she also had little knowledge of raising plants. "A- Erm- Gah! Alright, I'll let it slide." Rarity finally said, accepting the circumstances. "Well, anyway, so she brought a tree?" Xavier asked. "Yep!" Pinkie responded appearing between him and Jasmine, surprising them both. "Apparently, that tree is the first tree Applejack grew by herself, so she really cares about it." "Really now, that's pretty cool." Jasmine said. "And she's giving it to the town?" Rainbow nodded to answer. "So when are we going to get there?" "Tomorrow morning." Twilight said as she got up from her seat. "I think we should be heading off to bed." The rest of them decided that that would be a good idea as well as they got up except for Xavier and went off to the sleeping cabins. Rainbow noticed Xavier not following and got curious. "Hey, engie. You coming?" "Um, not yet Dash. I want to watch the landscape some more." Xavier answered. Rainbow nodded and followed the girls. Later After the group went to the sleeping cars, they were settled in and began to converse amongst themselves outside of Rarity who tried to find another bed to sleep in and Spike who was trying to sleep. The rest were talking for a good while before Spike had enough. “Do you guys mind? I was up early fire-roasting those snacks you’re all eating, and I’m pooped!” Spike exclaimed, trying to get some sleep. "Uh, speaking of, some of these popcorn kernels didn't get popped." Rainbow said as she nudged a bag of popcorn. “Ugh, fine...” Rainbow looked pleased until she saw a flame larger then needed to cook the popcorn coming at her, prompting her to duck, leaving her bag of popcorn burnt to a crisp. "There! Good night!" Spike then turned over to go to sleep. “ Uhh... maybe it's time we all got a little shut-eye." Twilight suggested. "We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.” The girls then all groaned as Twilight dimmed the lights. After a while however a voice could be heard whispering. “Psst, Pinkie Pie, are you asleep yet?” The voice belonged to Rainbow as she was holding a candle. “No, are you asleep, yet?” Pinkie whispered back. “If I were sleeping, how could I have asked you if you were asleep?” “Oh yeah! Heh-ha!” “When we get to Appleloosa, do you think we’ll have to carry that big, heavy tree all the way to the orchard?” “Are you complaining about Bloomburg?” Jasmine asked as she hung her head from her bunk. "...No, Fluttershy." Rainbow responded. “Fluttershy isn’t a tree, silly!” Pinkie said, a bit louder. "What's going on?" Twilight asked, not whispering at all. “Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy’s a tree!” Pinkie answered. “I do not think she’s a tree! I was just-” “Did you say she was a tree?” Twilight asked “No. Well...Yes. But not exactly-” "Ya know she's not a tree, right?" Twilight said “She’s not a tree, Dashy!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I’d like to be a tree…” Fluttershy said, joining into the conversation as well. “Oh for pete’s sake!” Spike exclaimed as he got up, grabbed a pillow, and jumped off the bed he was on. He then walked out of the car with a slam of the door. “Well that was kind of huffy…” Jasmine said, a bit sad. “Huffy the magic dragon!” Fluttershy added, chuckling a bit, and ending with everyone giggling. “Would you all be QUIET...NOW!” They all stopped when they heard somepony yelling, and when they saw a pony at the door, they saw a scary face yelling at them angrily. The catting girls yelped in surprise and blew the candle out without realizing that it was only Rarity in a facial mask, leaving the train silent as they all went to sleep. The middle of the night After the scare that Rarity gave them, the girls fell asleep pretty easily, other than one certain human. At that moment, Jasmine was in her bed sleepless as she gripped her staff in fear. "mmm, I can't sleep after seeing that." She thought to herself as she gazed at her staff. "Why can't I just have your power in me, why do I have to hold you to use you?" After some gazing at the staff for a bit longer, her head began to feel fuzzy until- Upon looking around, Jasmine realized that she was no longer in her bed on the train but rather a forest clearing in the night. Looking a bit more, she saw a figure in the clearing sitting down. Walking over, she noticed that the figure was holding the staff that Jasmine has. When she went to the face of the figure however, their face was covered in a mask of what looked like black static. After staring for a bit, the figure began to speak. "W_er_ _id you __me _ro_?" The figure spoke. Jasmine could tell that it was female, but that was it, since it sounded heavily obscured like a voice in a incredibly terrible storm "F_r th_t _at_er, w_at e_e_ _re y_o? I d__bt y_u __e re_l, b__ I ca_ c_ea_ly hol_ yo_." Soon, the sound of howling wind began, and became apparent when winds began to surround Jasmine forcefully, and as she covered her eyes from the winds, the voice, even more obscured from the howling winds, began to talk for the last time "W__te_er. __'ll b_ u__f_l f__ __e_ __os_ t__n__ c___ __ f__d m_ a__in-" When the wind died down, Jasmine uncovered her eyes, but to her surprise she was lying back in the train's sleeping car in her bed, still clutching the staff. As she looked around the car, she became even more confused. When she finally settled down and relaxed into her bed, she looked at the staff one last time before thinking. "What are you?" The Next Morning After the events of what happened last night, Jasmine was able to fall asleep, though she was still troubled. As the sun was rising along the mountain pass that was in the distance however, something happened in the sleeping car that jostled the car enough to send Jasmine falling out of her bed. "GAAAHHH!" Jasmine yelled as she landed as the rest of the girls woke up. Confused, they all went over to the window of the car and looked out of it. When they did, they were all surprised at what was going on outside. "A buffalo stampede!" Outside were a large group of buffalo, running along with the train. As they were running, the group "I just love their accessories!" Rarity said, but Jasmine noticed something. "Um, are they getting too close to the train?" At that moment, a buffalo on the other side of the car rammed it, knocking the girls off balance. Soon enough the buffalo began ramming multiple parts of the train, sending the passengers into disarray. Soon the girls got enough of a grip to look out the window to see the buffalo stacking up. "What are they doing now?!" Jasmine asked, still dizzy from being tossed around. After a moment, a smaller buffalo jumped up onto the stack. “I know! I know! They’re doing tricks!” Pinkie answered as the small buffalo prepared to jump. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Now do a backflip!” The buffalo then leapt onto the train with a loud thud. “Or...just jump?” With Pinkie disappointed, the group heard thumping on the roof of the car, presumably from the small buffalo running across. "Something tells me this isn't a circus act." Rainbow said as she opened the window and flew out of it. "Hey girls, you should follow." Jasmine suggested. "I just realized that Xavier isn't with us, so I'll look for her." With that, the ponies ran to follow Rainbow while Jasmine went to look for her human ally, though it was slower not because they weren't as fast but because the buffalo were still ramming the train, though not as hard to most likely keep their ally from falling off the train. When they reached the end of the train, they saw that the small buffalo managed to unhook a car, that car being the private sleeping car that Bloomberg. "They've got Bloomberg!" Applejack yelled out. That's when a familiar purple head rose out in panic. "And Spike!" Twilight yelled out as well. As the sleeping car drifted farther away from the train, Jasmine ran up to them in a panic. "Girls! I can't find Xavier!" Meanwhile At the same time that the events were happening, Xavier was asleep at the seat he sat at the day before. Turns out he never let and fell asleep where he sat. As he was sleeping however, a pretty big bump had shaken the car, waking him up. "Huh, what was that?" Xavier said sleepily. As he looked out the window, he saw something moving. Curiously, he went and opened the window to look out, and when he did he saw the buffalo horde running along. "Huh, buffalo?" Xavier was much more awake then before, and was a bit worried at the display. "Um, excuse me everyone? What's going on?" Xavier asked as he leaned out the window, but never got an answer as he felt a bigger bump then before, and soon the car he was in was getting bumped around as well. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to keep his balance or grip on the window as one buffalo did a particularly strong slam onto the opposite side of the car, sending Xavier flying out of the car. Bouncing off of a buffalo, he fortunately landed "safely" on the ground onto his face. Laying there shell-shocked, he began to rise. "Ugh, some answer." Looking in the direction off the train, he realized he was stuck in the desert, at least until he saw a bunch of buffalo running with a train car along the tracks coming right for him. As he jumped out of the way o the buffalo, he saw for a brief moment Spike's head in the car as the buffalo ran. Taking a few moments to process what happened, he heard a familiar voice yell out to him. "Xavier!" Looking over his shoulder, he saw Rainbow fly over to him. "How did you get here?" "Those buffalo knocked me out of the train, but what are you doing here?" "Those buffalo took Spike! What do you think I'm doing!?" "Fair point." Xavier said. "Come on then, let's go get him." With that, Xavier and Rainbow ran off to follow the buffalo. After a while of running, the two decided to take a break behind a rock, just in case a buffalo came around. "Ooh, I can't wait to get my hooves on that little buffalo!" Rainbow growled. "Hey, calm down Dash. Our main goal is getting Spike." Xavier said, trying to keep her from doing something rash. "Yeah, I know, but still! Nobody tricks Rainbow Dash and gets away with it." "Boo!" "GAH!" The two jumped at the sudden word that was said. When they looked, they saw that it was only Pinkie Pie. "P-Pinkie?!" Rainbow asked flabbergasted. "Ah, ya caught me! Looks like I tricked you and didn't get away with it either! You're good." Pinkie said like there was nothing wrong. "hhshh!" Rainbow hushed Pinkie. "What do you think you're doing?! You gotta get out of here!" "I do?" Pinkie asked. "You're gonna blow our cover." Rainbow explained. At that moment, Xavier noticed something in the distance. "I am?" "We're trying to save Spike!" "Um, girls?" "Oh my gosh! So am I!" "Girls?!" "And the more of us there are out here, the more chances of us getting..." Soon, trembling was heard, and before the group could process the noise, they realized that they were surrounded by buffalo. Xavier seeing the danger that they could pose, reached for his sword. As he pulled it out however, a loud crack could be heard as Xavier's hand recoiled in pain, dropping his sword. Before the ponies could figure out what happened, they were suddenly sent to the ground as two bolas were tied around their legs, with one more following to ensnare Xavier. "Ya'll are pretty dumb for coming into buffalo territory." As the three were recovering from the shock that the rapid assault gave them, a voice spoke out. When they looked at where the voice was, they were given another shock to see... "Another human!?" Rainbow yelled out. Standing was a girl that looked taller and older than Jasmine or Xavier. She wore a pair of jeans that went just below her knees along with a belt with a few things on it like a water skin and a simple t-shirt, though she was also wearing brown vest. She was also wearing boots that looked like they were from the wild west and a hat like Applejack, though it was in a darker tone. her hair was brown and cut short save for two braids on each side of her head that went down a bit below her shoulders, and she had an earring of a crystal on her right ear. In her hands were the explanation to the assault the three outsiders received, as in her right was a long, leather whip and in her left was another bola that she was spinning. "Yes, I'm human, you're point?" She spoke with a voice slightly rough voice. Her voice was filled with annoyance as well. "Just because you have another human with you doesn't mean I trust you one bit." "Well why are you against us-" *CRACK* Rainbow immediately shut up from the girl snapping her whip over the three. The three began to worry, not only because there were multiple buffalo surrounding them, but the second that any of them try to do something, the human would retaliate with either her whip or a bola, at least until another voice rang out. "Stop!" Everyone turned to the voice, and the buffalo saw who it was and moved out of the way. When they moved, the trio saw that it was Spike running up to the center. "Cali, please stop. Everyone stop, they're my friends." "Why!? But they're trespassing!" The girl said, now known as Cali. "Because I said so! Now stop!" Cali looked at Spike in disbelief. After scrambling to find words, Cali roared in frustration. "GAH, FINE!!!" Cali yelled out. She began to attach her whip and bola to her belt as Spike turned to the buffalo. "Hey, no worries, I know those guys. They're cool." Spike said to them as he walked over to them. "If you say so, Spike. Catch ya later, bro." One buffalo said as they bump Spike's fist with his hoof. Once he did that, the buffalo ran off, leaving the rest there, three of which were extremely confused. "What just happened?" Xavier asked as he got up, wincing a bit from the pain still in his hand. "Look, I would rather you all be tossed out into the desert, but the buffalo won't allow that." Cali said getting into Xavier's face. "The only reason why is because of your friend. If he wasn't a dragon that the buffalo respect, it would go differently, so Ya'll better count your blessings." "Erm, noted..." Some Time Later After what happened, the trio followed Spike and Cali for a while. The sun began to set when they stopped at the camp of the buffalo. The group then sat around a campfire and looked around. "Huh, they're a lot calmer then I thought." Xavier observed. Outside of some of a few buffalo bashing heads together, they were mostly calm. "Yep, they are, and they even treat me like royalty." Spike said as he snapped his claw, getting a few buffalo to serve the group some food, though it didn't look appealing being bowls of greenish goo. "Still don't like ponies much, though... But you're with me, so it's cool. And they already know about humans from Cali, so your neutral to them Xavier." "Erm, thanks." Xavier said as he looked at the food he was given suspiciously. Rainbow immediately pushed the food away. "Yeah, no thanks." She spoke. "How ungrateful." Rainbow and Xavier looked over to Cali who had a bowl of the food and was eating it. "The buffalo spent a lot of time on that food and are being generous by giving you some, and you reject it." She spoke with some annoyance and coldness in her voice. She gave the two a look and turned to Pinkie, who was eating it happily. "At least one of you are grateful to the gift." She muttered before returning to her meal. "I never said I wasn't going to eat it; I was just looking it over before." Xavier retorted as he picked his bowl up and took a bite. "Mmm, tolerable." "How can you even think of eating it?!" Rainbow asked. "You do remember that I'm the one who ate those pepper drops, right?" Xavier asked rhetorically. "Whatever. I still don’t trust them. I say we turn tail and bail while we still-" “Before we finish eating?! Are you loco in the cocoa?!” Pinkie asked. While they were talking, the smaller buffalo came over with a bowl of blue rocks. Seeing her, Pinkie grew excited. "Can I please have more that mushy stuff, whatever it was?” Pinkie asked her. "Certainly.” She said. "“And, Mr. Spike, you like gemstones, yes?” She asked as she passed the bowl to him. “Ooh, turquoise!” Spike said as he reached for the bowl and began to eat the contents. "Everyone, this is Little Strongheart. And these are my friends, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Xavier." With the introductions, Pinkie waved happily, Xavier gave a nod, and Rainbow was not there as she was looking around a tent. When she looked over though, she recognized the little buffalo immediately. "YOU!" "YOU?" The two locked eyes, but both had different looks, one was of anger, and one was of confusion. As they were staring, Xavier was confused. "Dash, you know her." "Yeah, she was the one who tricked me into slamming into a sign!" Rainbow explained, getting a confused look from Xavier. "Um, Dash? You sure it was her fault and not you just not paying attention?" Rainbow looked at him in confused anger, but before she could say anything, Strongheart interjected. "Your friend's right. It was never my intention to harm you, so please accept my apology." She said in a worried tone. "Yeah, right. I'm out." Rainbow said as she began to fly away, but Strongheart jumped in front of her. "We only wanted the tree." She began to explain. "The settler ponies have overtaken the land and have planted an orchard all over it! Because of their thoughtlessness, we can no longer run over our traditional stampeding grounds." "Settler ponies, you mean the ponies of Appleloosa, right?" Xavier asked to which Strongheart nodded. "Well, what's a 'stampeding ground'?" "I think it’s time they met Chief Thunderhooves.” Spike suggested to the small buffalo. Soon, Strongheart, Spike, and Cali left the fire to gather the rest of the tribe and get the chief. When the visiting trio saw him, they were a bit intimidated since he was bigger than the other buffalo. "We have a long and winding stampeding trail we have run upon for many generations.” He began to explain their history. “My father stampeded upon these grounds, and his father before him, and his father before him, and-” It wasn't long before the chief began to continuously repeat the same line to emphasize that this tradition was old, but the time it took was so long that some of the buffalo in the crowd began to fall asleep. "Ai, chief. We get the point." The chief stopped when Cali yelled out. Seeing as the group got the idea, he coughed and continued. "It is a sacred tradition to run the path every year. But this year, these... settler ponies, these..." The chief snorted angrily, so angrily that smoke puffed out his nostrils. "Appleloosans!" His anger grew even more until Strongheart put her hoof on his head, cooling him down. "The lot decided to plant all those trees right on their grounds without even a thought of asking." Cali continued the explanation. "So that's why you dislike ponies, huh." Xavier said understandingly. "Yes, and they refuse to remove them when we ask, so we are stuck here and it's not fair!" Strongheart said, annoyance in her voice at the end of her statement. As the group processes the information, Rainbow growled as Spike came over. "See, Rainbow Dash? They had a good reason to–" Rainbow flew up in quickly, cutting off Spike and surprising the buffalo. Xavier saw this and worried. "I'll say they had a good reason! C'mon. We have some apple-pickin' Appleloosans to talk to!" To Xavier's surprise however, Rainbow decided to announce her support to the buffalo. Everyone smiled at her save for the humans, Cali keeping a neutral expression and Xavier sighing. Xavier began to think however, since he was worried about the outcome and the reason as to why the settlers planted their trees there. The next morning After going to sleep for the night, the plan was for a group to head to Appaloosa, that group being comprised of Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Little Strongheart, Xavier, and Cali. As the group were walking over, Xavier decided to find answers about Cali though a conversation. "Hey Cali." Xavier greeted to her, to which she looked over with an unimpressed look. "Listen, I know you don't trust us, but I need to know, why are you with the buffalo." Groaning in annoyance, she spoke with annoyance. "Look, I'll be brief with you in this, I don't know why I'm here. All I know is that I woke up here in the desert and the buffalo found me and allowed me to stay. And before you ask anything more, I'm working with them because I respect them and they respect me. Now please leave me alone." "Why do you respect them?" Xavier asked. "Grr, because we have the same view that actions speak louder than words, something you seem to cling onto." Cali said more angrily. "Now please shut up before I show you what I mean." Understanding the threat she made, Xavier decided to stop. After some more walking, the group saw a town coming up. "There's Appleloosa." Strongheart said. As they were approaching, they happen to see a group standing outside the town. Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was the girls looking ready to head out of the town along with another pony, a male one with a vest. Seeing them, Strongheart and Cali decided to duck behind a rock nearby as they approached. When the girls saw them, they immediately were confused. "Sug guys." Xavier said awkwardly, only to be tackled by Jasmine. "Xavier!!" She yelled in worry. Seeing how close she was to him, he began to blush. The girls soon came in to question them. "How did you escape from the buffalo?" Twilight asked. "We didn't" Pinkie said as Strongheart came out from behind the rock she was hiding behind, rubbing her leg shyly. The group gasped in surprise seeing her. Before any of them could do anything, Xavier held his arm out to defend her. "She isn't here for trouble, we just promised her a chance to talk." Xavier said with his signature glare. Many of the group were intimidated by it, but Applejack held her ground. "Oh yeah?” Applejack said as she looked at the buffalo suspiciously. “About what?” “We brought our new friend, Little Strongheart here To explain to the Appleloosians why they should move the apples trees off the Buffalo’s land.” Rainbow said as she pushed Strongheart closer. The stallion looked at her with interest. "That information would be quite help–" "Huh, that’s weird." Applejack interjected. "Because my cousin, Braeburn, here, wants to explain to the buffalo why they should let the apple trees stay.” Similarly to the stallion, Strongheart became interested despite the aggression in Applejack's voice. "That would be a useful thing to-” “The land is theirs!” Rainbow interjected like Applejack. "You planted the trees not knowing that. Honest mistake. Now, you just gotta move 'em, that's all." The stallion looked nervous at that idea. “They busted their rumps here! And now they’re supposed to bust their rumps again, just because buffalo won’t stampede somewhere else?!” Applejack yelled out, more annoyed then before. “Plant the trees somewhere else!” Rainbow insisted. “Where?!” Applejack exclaimed. “It’s the only flatland around these parts!” “The buffalo had it first!” “The settler ponies need it to live!” “Come on already, Applejack!” Soon the two began to argue with no end in sight. At least until Cali made her presence know. "Haa, this is why I said that I don't like words." Turning to her, the group aside from the ones who knew about her were surprised to see her leaning on the rock that she and Strongheart were hiding behind. "What?! There's another human here?!" Jasmine asked. "Yep, there is." Xavier said relieved that the arguing was stopped from her injection. "Everyone, meet Cali, a human who's been living with the buffalo." "Hey." She greeted unimpressed. "Now that we are all quiet, can we assess the situation?" Xavier asked. "Look, from what I'm getting at, both sides have a reason to have that land. Can we be reasonable and make a plan?" “Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know!” Pinkie raised her hoof. Xavier sighed at her and groaned. "Okay Pinkie, what is your plan." “Get every buffalo and pony to come to a stage. I have a plan that is sure to work!” Pinkie then rushed off, leaving the group confused, other than Cali. "Hm, taking action first. This pink one is getting on my good side." Cali said. "Don't be, she's too much to handle." Xavier groaned. "Let's just do what she wants and get this over with." After Pinkie's idea announcement, Rainbow went flew to get the buffalo while the rest of the group got the townsfolk to go to the stage in town. Once both sides were gathered, it was only a matter of waiting plan as they all stood in front of the stage. As time went on however, tensions began to rise as the two sides were next to each other, and neither side liked the other very much. Teh tension was broken when a piano rang out. Looking on the stage, Spike was up on it playing a piano as a clam prop was on it. The clam began to open, and soon Pinkie came out of it in a dress. We may be divided But of you all, I beg To remember we’re all hoofed At the end of each leg As two ponies went to help her out of the clam, Xaiver's eye twitched. "You have to be kidding me." No matter what the issue, Come from wherever you please All this fighting gets you nothing But hoof and mouth disease Arguing’s not the way Hey, come out and play! It’s a shiny, new day So, what do you say? You gotta share You gotta care! It’s the right thing to do! You gotta share You gotta care And there’ll always be a way through! Both our diets, I should mention Are completely vegetarian! We all eat hay and oats Why be at each other’s throat? You gotta share You gotta care! It’s the right thing to do And there’ll always be a way! Thro-o-o-o-ugh! Once the music finished, the crowd was silent in bewilderment, all except for Xavier who had his hand on his face in annoyance. During the silence, both the buffalo chief and the sheriff (At least presumed to Xavier) Nodded at each other. “It appears that Sheriff Silverstar and I have to come to...an agreement.” Chief Thunderhooves said. “We have.” Silverstar agreed. The group all leaned in in hope that they agreed that- “...That was the worst performance we’ve ever seen!” “Teh...Abso-tively!” They all were shot down by them only saying they hated the performance. As the group recollected themselves from the disappointment, the chief's eyes narrowed. “The time for action... Is upon us!” Chief Thunderhooves threatened. “Our stampede will start at high noon tomorrow. And if the orchard is still there, we’ll flatten it! And the whole town!” This announcement shocked the ponies as they all gasped. "B-but chief!" “And we Appleloosians say you’d better bring your best, cause we’ll be ready and waiting.” Sheriff Silverstar said, glaring back at Chief Thunderhooves in an attempt to intimidate him out of this idea, but didn't work. “But, Sheriff…” Even with nopony wanting it, there was no stopping it as both sides ran off in different directions to prepare, leaving the six pony friends, the three humans, and the stallion who was now known as Braeburn. As they all were processing, only one thing broke the silence. "Oh...That wasn’t the message of my song at all…” Pinkie said sadly, having a facepalm from Xavier in response. "Ya tried, pink. I'll give you that much." Cali admitted. "But now words are meaningless like I said, so I'm going to prepare." Cali then went off in the direction of the buffalo to prepare herself. "Wait, aren't you against this as well?!" Xavier asked in worry. "I'm with the buffalo. If the settlers won't move the trees, we'll do it ourselves." Cali said as she looked at him. "The brought this upon themselves for not taking action, now they'll pay for it." With that, Cali turned away and walked. "She dosn't seem very friendly." Jasmine said. "Ha, we can worry about that later, right now we need to stop this thing from happening. Me, Spike, and Dash will go convince the buffalo, the rest of you will try and convince the townsfolk, got it?" With a nod from the rest, they split off to stop the war. In town When the group saw what was going on in town, they saw that the ponies worked fast as there were already defenses being set up. Seeing it, Applejack felt a bit guilty, seeing as how this event was from her arguing instead of talking. "I want my kin ta' have what they need to live... but a storm's a-brewin' here. And I don't like the look of it." She said with guilt. "We've just got to talk some sense into them before somepony gets hurt." With that, the group split up to talk to ponies to try and stop. Unfortunately, everypony they tried to speak to either ignored them or gave a very anger face at them. Soon the sunset was seen as a flag was raised on a pole, signifying that the town was ready to fight. Later in the night, the buffalo were seen getting ready as well as some buffalo were butting heads to strengthen themselves, sharpening their horns and painting their faces. Seeing the display, Spike, Xavier, and Rainbow grew worried as they went to different beings to try and convince them. Spike went to Strongheart to talk to her. "Isn't there some way to stop this?" Spike asked. "Unless the settlers remove those trees, I do not think so." Strongheart replied in sadness. Meanwhile Xavier was talking to Cali, who was making some more bolas. "Cali, please! I know that you prefer action, but a war is not what we need!" "Hmph, that's what you want to believe, but those settlers are dead-set on keeping those trees on the buffalo's grounds, so we'll remove them by force, along with the town." "But why the town itself! There are innocent ponies there!" "And yet none of them thought about telling the sheriff to move the trees." Cali replied. "Listen, I get that you think everything can be solved through peace, but everything can't be. You're just lucky that I told the buffalo not to burn the tree that we took." "Y-you did?" "Yeah, I can't watch a tree burn, so try and stay out of this matter." Cali finished, leaving Xavier defeated in trying to stop her. Rainbow wasn't having much success either. "I know you don't want to do this." She said, worried for the outcome. "But they have taken our land. What would you have me do, Rainbow Dash?" Thunderhooves asked, genuinely wondering if there was a solution to this. "I don't know... but it's never too late to think of something." "At noon, it will be too late." The next day The group met back up in an ally in the town to report to each other, both with similar failure in convincing either side. As they waited for the stampede, they all heard rumbling, and when they looked at a hill, they saw the buffalo gang approach along with Cali who was riding a buffalo, standing on them and using his horn as a reign. As the two sides stared each other down, Xavier's mind began racing for a solution. Unfortunately, he was too late in finding a solution as the town's clock tower began to ring, signifying that it was high noon, the time for a showdown. Except here, it was the signifier of a civil war. As Xavier and his friend group looked at the buffalo, they noticed that Strongheart put a hoof onto the chief, trying one last time to try and convince him, to which it looked to work as he held his head down. "He's not gonna do it!" Rainbow said in relief. As the group gave a wave of sighs of relief, the silence was broken, and they all widened their eyes in fear. What do you say? You got to share! You gotta care! It’s the right thing to do! Right in the middle of the two sides, none other than Pinkie was dancing and singing her song. When the song was heard, the chief's rage grew incredibly fast as he began to see red. He decided soon after that. "CHARGE!!!" "PINKIE!!!!" As Thunderhooves yelled out the cue for attack, Xaiver yelled out not in fear of his friend, but snapped anger at her since she was the thing to snap the camel's back as the buffalo charged in, ramming straight into Pinkie. The war was on as the townsfolk armed themselves with pies, throwing them at the buffalo as weapons while the buffalo charged into many. As the chaos happened, Cali was also in the offensive, throwing bolas left and right with surprising accuracy as she nailed pony after pony, stunning them with each impact, meanwhile using her whip to snap at anypony trying to get close to her. As the chaos was happening, Xaiver noticed that chief Thunderhooves was locked onto the sheriff with anger. He began to charge at him, but Xavier notice that there was another pony locked onto the chief. Seeing as if the pie landed, the chief and the sheriff could be in danger, so he acted and bolted, faster than anyone would think. As he passed Cali, who took notice of him, the pie was thrown. Seeing that he wasn't able to stop the pie, he had only one option as he jumped in front of the chief. By doing that, he took the pie right in the head. The chief saw him and immediately realized what was happening and tried to stop but was too late as he had managed to ram Xavier, not as hard as he would have the sheriff but still hard enough to send Xavier flying past the sheriff and into the building behind him. The town went quiet after that as Xaiver's friends ran straight for him. Both sides were stunned at what happened as the friends looked at him in worried fear. Everyone was surprised at what happened, but none was as shocked at Cali. As the entire crowd feared he was hurt more than can be recovered... "Grreh" Looking at him, they say Xavier moving slightly as his eyes opened. Seeing that, Jasmine ran in and hugged him. "You're okay!!" Jasmine yelled out in worry as a tear could be seen falling. Xavier, seeing her sadness, patted her head. "Y-yeah, but that hurt real bad." Xavier said. "Who was even throwing the tins with the pies anyway?" As he was wondering that, Cali went up to him, still shocked. "W-why did you do that? You took both hits from both sides, why?" "Because there was no other option." Xavier explained. "If I tried to stop the chief, the pie would hit him. If I stopped the pie, then the chief would keep going and hit the sheriff, and he was mad." Realizing this, the chief and sheriff grew faces of guilt. Seeing them with those faces, Xavier carefully got up to do what he did best, use his words. "Maybe I can put this in perspective. Chief." He looked at Thunderhooves with a sympathetic look. "Imagine you are the very first chief of your tribe and decided to settle down with your tribe. Now imagine that you finally find the perfect place and set up your food source, only to find that there was somepony before you that claimed those grounds. You wouldn't want to remove the food source, would you?" The chief looked down, realizing that he was right. "Now sheriff. Imagine that this town wasn't a few months old, rather centuries old. The place was perfect, and suddenly a group decides to settle nearby and starts building right onto land that was important to the town. You would be pretty angry as well, would you?" The sheriff thought about it for a bit, and frowned realizing that Xavier was right. "You both have good reasons, but never thought about the reason for the other side's perspective. Now how about we try and make a compromise, together?" Xavier smiled at the two kindly, and as the two looked at him, they decided. "Let's do that." After a bit of talking between sheriff Silverstar, chief Thunderhooves, and Xavier, the three decided on a plan. "After much though with each other, we have decided on a solution." Xavier said as he spoke to both the settlers and the buffalo. "Since the grounds are the buffalos' and are needed by the settlers, they have decided to share the land. A trail will be made by cutting down a row of trees so the buffalo can run through it whenever they want. Since the buffalo will be sacrificing a sufficiently large amount of land compared to the settlers, the sheriff has decided to give the buffalo some of the pies they make, since we all know the apple family makes the best pies." With a bright smile from Xavier, the two sides gave approval to the terms and got to work. As some of the trees were cut down, pies were being baked and given to the buffalo. AS everything was happening, Cali watched in awe and confusion. Soon enough, the trail was made, and the buffalo made their stampede, happy that they were finally able to stampede after so long. As they were doing that, Applejack planted Bloomberg on a hill and smiled in pride. Once everything calmed down, the heroes were standing at the station with Braeburn, Strongheart, and Cali who was looking less angry and distrusting, rather a bit ashamed, talking to Xaiver. "I can't thank you enough for helping us settle things." Braeburn said, thanking Xavier. "Yes, without you, we would still be at each other, and who knows what may have happened." Strongheart added. "Hey, I'm just happy you'll be living in peace from now on." Xavier said. With both getting what they needed to say out, they waved Xavier goodbye and left. Cali however, stayed put. "Um, Cali, you okay?" To Xavier's surprise, she bowed to him. "I want to apologize to you for being so rude to you." Cali said. "You were always so kind to everyone and yet I was mean." "Hey, it's fine. I get it." Xavier reassured. "But there is something I want to ask you..." Xaiver grew confused at this. "I want to come with you guys." "Wait what?" "Let me explain, please." Cali said, hints of sadness in her voice. "I don't want to get too deep into my past, but as I grew up, I learned the lesson that action will always speak louder over words. I lived with that philosophy for my life. And yet, you were able to quell an entire civil war without a sword, but rather your words. You made me think, is action really the loudest, or is life more complicated. I want to come with you to learn more about this type of thought. I know you might not want to have me, but please think about it." As Cali held her head down, she saw a shadow below her, and when she looked up, she saw Xavier with his hand out. "IN that case, let's start over. My name is Xavier, and I work on machinery as a hobby." Looking at Xaiver's smiling face, Cali smirked and took his hand. "And the name's Cali, a country girl who likes action over words, but will try to change that." With the handshake to given between the two, they entered the train together not as enemies, but as growing friends.