The Appaloosa Inn was definitely the tallest building in town. It had only three floors but the amount of rooms it had could house more ponies than one would think. Since Appaloosa is relatively small, the six ponies entered the inn within a minute of leaving SilverStar's office. They walked through the front doors as SilverStar was giving them advice.
"Ah hope you can convince the buffalos like you convinced me. They may be our only way out of this." Soren understood, so he nodded. The sheriff looked at Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash as everypony stopped in the inn's lobby. "Since y'all are staying the night, might as well grab a room at this here inn. Ah'll ask the lady for some rooms and ask her if she c'n send the performers down here to chat with old friends." SilverStar walked towards the counter to speak with the mare working.
"This plan of yours better work, Soren," Twilight said worriedly.
"Do we really have a choice right now?" he retorted.
"Sadly, no."
"Don't you worry, egghead," Rainbow Dash said. "Me and Soren will get those buffalos to help Appaloosa. Besides, I'm sure Strongheart can put in a good word for Soren."
"Strongheart is a buffalo?" Soren asked. "I guess that makes a lot of sense. Still can't wait to meet her." SilverStar approached the group and explained that they would need to wait awhile for the singers to come down. Nopony argued and settled for waiting in the lobby and conversing with each other.
After thirty minutes passed, the two singers walked into the lobby. Soren smiled as he saw the ponies he was expecting.
"Soren!" The Pega-Singers exclaimed in unison. "How ya been, buddy?" the shorter asked.
"I've been fine," Soren replied. "I'm sorry to say that we'll have to catch up later. Time is of the essence and we need your help."
"What do you need?" the taller said.
"This may be hard to believe but this town is going to be raided during your last performance." The performers' eyes widened but Soren continued anyway. "Rainbow Dash and I are going to fly from town and talk to a herd of buffalos to see if they are willing to help. While we're gone, I need you two to stall the performance as long as possible. I'm betting that their cue to attack is the end of the show, and if we stop it completely they'll know something is wrong." Twilight was utterly amazed at Soren right now. I just know he reminds me of somepony, she thought.
"As you two stall for time," Soren continued, "Twilight and Applejack will inform the townsfolk about the raid but the ponies will also need to not panic. When the crowd is at the stage, Twilight and AJ will keep watch for the raiders. When they see them, my friends will alert everypony to run and hide. Hopefully by then the buffalos will show up." Everypony was silent. Finally, Applejack asked.
"What about you and Rainbow? What will you two do when y'all come back?"
"We'll be far too exhausted from flying as fast as possible to do anything right away, but if given enough time to rest, we'll help fight off the raiders as soon as we can get back. It's a sketchy plan but it's the best one we have at the moment. So are you in?" The performers looked at each other.
"As long as we don't have to fight," answered the shorter. "As you can probably guess, we aren't fighters." Soren chuckled.
"True. Anyway, Rainbow...we should get going. We have a lot of sky to cover and very little time to do so." Rainbow nodded. "Everypony else know their part of the plan? Braeburn, SilverStar, just help my friends inform the crowd, ok?" They nodded. "Since that's everything..." Soren trotted towards the door with Rainbow Dash right behind him. When the two took flight, Rainbow only had one comment to make:
"And you wonder why I kissed you. How many ponies can instantly become a leader like that?" Soren shook his head and laughed as the two of them flew away from Appaloosa.
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Soren and Rainbow have been flying through the desert for the better part of an hour. They weren't particularly tired but they were certainly bored of flying in a straight line. Rainbow Dash had the idea of racing but Soren insisted that they save their energy. It was definitely going to be a long trip. As time ticked on, the two started admiring the scenery. The once flat, sandy landscape merged into a mesa-infested, sandy landscape. Rainbow Dash had another idea.
"Are you sure we can't have just one race from mesa to mesa?" she complained. "It'll be better than flying steadily and in a straight line." Soren sighed.
"Fine. But only one race. I don't want to risk tiring ourselves out faster than we need to." The two pegasi landed on the nearest mesa and began searching for another that was a good enough distance away. Once they spotted one, the pair readied themselves.
"Three," Soren counted down, "...Two...One...Go!" Soren and Rainbow Dash shot off the mesa like comets. They would easily reach the other mesa in ten seconds, but the question was 'Who would make it there first?'
They were almost at the mountain when an explosion occurred in front of them. They skidded to a halt and looked around. "What was that?!" Rainbow asked.
"An explo-" Soren was cut off by another explosion that nearly hit them both. "Take cover!" he shouted. The two looked around frantically for a place to hide, all while dodging the incoming attacks.
"There!" Rainbow shouted, while pointing to a gap on the side of a mesa. They flew straight for it while explosions sounded behind them. They barely slipped inside the opening when yet another explosion hit the entrance.
Soren and Rainbow Dash sat there in the darkness, waiting for whatever was trying to hurt them. After a minute passed, they assumed the thing went away. Soren had a quick realization about the situation.
"Wait...Sheriff SilverStar said that that one pegasus broke his buddy out of prison with explosives. Does that mean...?" Soren was interrupted yet again, this time by somepony finishing his thought.
"...that One-Winged Willie was throwin' explosives at you? Yep, but he ain't the one about to do this." Soren and Rainbow Dash turned around to see a glowing horn illuminating the face of a grey unicorn colt. 'Coyote Colt!' was Soren's only thought before a massive explosion blasted both of them back and onto the ground. The two fell hard onto the cave floor and just stayed there. That explosion was more deadly than the ones outside.
As he lay on the floor, Soren forced himself to open one of his eyes to look at what's happening. He saw Rainbow Dash on the floor near him. His heart skipped a beat as he saw the damage inflicted to her. She had burn marks dotted on her body and smoke was protruding from her. Although the damage probably wasn't life-threatening, Soren still felt worried about her.
He saw a pegasus walk into the cave. He met Coyote Colt by the entrance. Soren assumed this was One-Winged Willie. Willie did indeed have only one wing (yet he still flew), his mane and coat were similar shades of brown, and his cutie mark resembled a whirlwind. Soren also saw a belt of grenades slung diagonally across the pony's chest. Soren's ears were ringing from the explosion, so he couldn't hear anything they were saying. Eventually, the two took off, leaving an injured Soren and an unconscious Rainbow Dash in the cave.
Once the ringing his ears stopped, Soren quickly walked over to check on Rainbow. He used a diagnosis spell, which he learned from his studies, on her to see if anything vital was damaged. As this was happening, Rainbow Dash groaned and looked at Soren. He looked back at her, and she simply chuckled.
"One heck of a hit, huh?" she asked weakly. Frowning sadly, Soren just focused on the spell. After a few more seconds, the glow of his horn faded.
"Lucky for you, you're not internally injured. But you will need to rest a lot before doing anything strenuous." He paused before continuing. "You trust me, don't you?"
"You really gotta ask me that?" Rainbow lifted her head off the ground but seemed as though she was struggling.
"You're right. So then you wouldn't mind me saying that in order to get to the buffalos, I'll need to carry you on my back? I'll have to walk of course, but this is the only way to make it there and back in time...maybe." Dash rested her head back on the ground.
"Do what you gotta do, Soren. Just make sure we don't let Appaloosa down."
"You're going to be ok." Soren engulfed Rainbow Dash with magic. This surprised her but she relaxed almost instantly. He levitated her onto his back and stopped the spell. "I could levitate you all the way there but I doubt I'll be able to repeat that on the way back. We're almost there anyway so just relax." Rainbow slowly nodded and Soren began his descent from the mesa cave. He reached the ground smoothly and began his long walk toward the buffalo herd.