//------------------------------//
// A Trip to Ponyville 
// Story: Prairie Heart and Snow Drift Go To Ponyville! 
// by MarzyPony1013 
//------------------------------//

   Prairie Heart finished brushing her grass-green hair and stepped out the door of her Maneapolis, Minnesota home. She fixed the rug by her door and made her way down the path to Snow Drift’s house. They had been the best of friends since they were young fillies and colts. 
“Hey! Prairie! Did you get one too?” Snow Drift yelled, though she could just barely hear him because of how far away his house still was. He must have seen her at the peak of that last hill. She decided to run, full speed, the rest of the way down the road, and nearly ran right into him!
“No. . .I. . .haven’t checked. . .mail yet.” she said, out of breath. 
“Well, it says we’re both invited to go to Ponyville, Equestria.” he replied a little too casually. They had heard about Equestria in school, but never gone there! The balloon ride would take forever! 
“Woah, wait, what? How?” she wondered. There was simply no way they could go, especially since the snow could melt any day now and they’d have to start planting.
“Well, you know my step-cousin Apple Jack? She invited us, and her friend Twilight Sparkle is going to pick us up sometime around noon according to this letter. You had better get packing soon.” he explained and a grin spread across his face.
“Aw, right after I just ran all the way down here? Alright, I’ll go find a bag and get packing. Do you think we’ll be back by planting time?” she said, getting a little excited, but still kind of nervous. 
“Of course we will, we live in Minnesota!” he said, and they both laughed. He was right after all, it was silly of her to think the snow would melt so soon.

* * *

After they had both finished packing, they waited outside Snow Drift’s house. The balloon came right around noon as the letter had said.
“Welcome to Minnesota,” Snow Drift said to Twilight Sparkle, “Too bad you won’t be stayin’ very long.”
“I’m sure I could visit another time,” Twilight said with a smile, “But for now we should probably get going.”
“Okay. We’re ready to leave when you are.” Prairie Heart replied, and they packed their stuff into the balloon and were off to Equestria!

* * *

Prairie Heart was wrong about the length of the trip. It wasn’t very long at all, but they still couldn’t have gone alone either way. Though it was short, the trip required magic, something neither her nor Snow Drift had. 
When they got there everypony was very kind, but they soon went to sleep because it was getting late. Prairie Heart got to stay with a very kind, shy, pony named Fluttershy. Her cottage was very nice and the bed she got to sleep on was very cozy. She had fallen asleep in no time.
Snow Drift, being a stallion, got to stay with Apple Jack’s brother, Big Mac. He was a pony of few words, but that was okay. 
In the morning after everypony had gotten their rest, a pony named Pinkie Pie threw them a party at Sweet Apple Acres. 
“Heeyyyy everypony! Welcome to Ponyville, I’m Pinkie Pie, that’s Rarity and Fluttershy, over there’s Rainbow Dash, you guys already met Twilight, her pet dragon-” Pinkie began when Prairie interrupted her.
“Wait, DRAGON?!” she exclaimed! “There are DRAGONS here?” 
“Why of course, silly, aren’t there dragons in Minnesota?” Pinkie said.
“No, not usually. He won’t hurt us, will he?” she said, a little worried.
“Nah, of course not! His name is Spike and he’s really nice. Go say hi, Apple Jack’s over there too” Pinkie said with a smile.
So Prairie and Snow Drift walked over there to meet Spike and say hello to Apple Jack! 
“Hey, cousin!” Snow Drift said as they hugged, “This is my best friend Prairie Heart that I’ve told you all about. Thanks for letting her come for a visit.”
“Hey there, Snow Drift! No problem, I’m happy to finally meet her. Howdy, Prairie Heart!” Apple Jack said.
“Hello, Apple Jack, it’s nice meeting you. And hello Spike the dragon” she said a little quietly. 
“Hi! You can just call me Spike. I hope you like Ponyville so far.” Spike replied.
“Oh, yes. It’s very nice here in Ponyville. It’s interesting seeing all these Pegasai and Unicorns. In Maneapolis there’s mostly just earth ponies.” she said, and she was hit with a slight pang of homesickness.
“Ah, yes, Maneapolis. I’ve only been there once, when I was a little filly. Do you guys ever go swimming there?” Apple Jack said.
“Why, of course we do,” Snow Drift said, “At least, in the Summer. We don’t wrap up Winter there like you do in Equestria, we have to wait a while for it to warm up.”
“So I’ve heard,” Apple Jack said, “Well, why don’t we go for a dip then?

* * *

"Whoooohoooo!" Pinkie yelled as she jumped into the water and splashed Prairie Heart and Rarity.
"Oh gosh, my mane" Rarity said. Prairie heart took the scarf from around her neck and tied Rarity's hair up with it. 
"There, dear." Prairie Heart said with a smile. Rarity checked her reflection in the water.
"Thanks, darling, but you didn't have to." Rarity said.
"It's fine, I wanted to. Isn't that what friends are for?" Prairie Heart said. She really did enjoy making new friends.
The rest of the ponies, besides Rainbow Dash and Snow Drift who were racing, continued to talk and swim around in the water until it was nearly lunch time.
"I've got the best idea," Fluttershy began,"We could have a picnic with some of my critter friends for lunch." Everypony greed that was an awesome idea! 
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Rainbow Dash said. They made their way back to Fluttershy's cottage, quickly packed a picnic, and headed off to one of Fluttershy's favorite clearings. It was a nice little hill with a single, large tree on the very top that they could sit under for shade. 
When they got there, they had some apples and oat sandwiches. Angel, Fluttershy's picky bunny, had to have her own special salad packed by Fluttershy. 
"You know what we should do?" Rarity said after they finished eating, "We should go back to my shop and try on some dresses!"
"That sounds wonderful, Rarity, but what will me and Dash do?" Snow Drift asked. Trying on dresses didn't sound too enjoyable to him.
"Darling, I'm sure we can find something less. . .Girly for you two." Rarity said with confidence.

* * *

They went back into Ponyville to Rarity's boutique. Prairie Heart was quite excited, because she was going to a huge event in June with some of her friends. Maybe Rarity had a dress she could wear!
"So, Rarity? You wouldn't happen to have a dress for an event I'm going to in June, would you? I've brought a few bits with." Prairie said hopefully.
"Of course I do! Making dresses is my hobby after all. But I simply won't accept any bits! You're much too kind, I'd be happy to just give you one." Rarity said. "Well, we best get looking for something then! I've got a certain dress somewhere around here that I think would look just fabulous on you. And for everypony else, you can try on anything you'd like. We could even have a fashion show!" 
Rarity finally hunted down the light pink dress with white lace that she had been looking for.
"Ohhh. . .Well, I guess it's not what I remembered it to be." Rarity said as she tried it on. "That's okay, there's a rule that you should never get the first dress you try on." After searching for some time, Rarity finally found the absolute perfect dress! It was the same color as the scarf Prairie had tied Rarity's hair up with, but it also had some orange and cream colored layers on it as well. The second Prairie saw it, she knew it was the one she wanted!
"Yes! It's perfect!!" she exclaimed. It fit her perfectly too, it was as if it was made for her!
"Darling, you look fabulous in it! You must keep it. Please." Rarity said. It really was perfect on her.
Rarity and everypony else changed into their own dresses and had a fashion show. Twilight had on a simple blue and grey dress, Pinkie had on a very fluffy pink one, Apple Jack had a jean dress, Fluttershy had a very breezy sky blue dress, and Rainbow Dash walked out with a Wonderbolts outfit on. She was soon followed by Snow Drift and Spike, who had on matching fedoras. 
"Ugh, my tummy's been growling non-stop," Spike said, "I'm about ready to eat this awesome hat"
"Don't be doing that, Spike, I'm sure Rarity worked hard on it." Apple Jack said. "Besides, we've got to head back to Sweet Apple Acres for some food soon, anyway." 

* * *

They changed out of their dresses and went back to Sweet Apple Acres for some dinner. Spike and Snow walked into the dining room wearing matching fedoras they had got from Rarity’s shop. Prairie Heart had to laugh. 
For dinner they had lots of apples. Apple sauce, apple pies, apple cupcakes. Nearly anything you could imagine, but with apples. Prairie Heart and Snow Drift were okay with that, they had lots of apples a lot in Maneapolis. Especially honey-crisp, those were Prairie Heart’s favorite.
Too soon, the sun started getting low in the sky and they had to go to sleep again. Sadly, they had to leave very, very early tomorrow so they had to say goodbye to all their new friends.
“Oh, darling, you simply must write me about the dress I gave you to wear at that event! I’m sure you’ll look simply fabulous.” Rarity said.
“Of course I will, Rarity,” Prairie Heart said with a smile, “I’ll be sure to send pictures if I can.”
“Oh! Snow Drift!” Rainbow Dash said, “I hope we can race again sometime. If you had wings, you might even be awesome enough to beat me.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” he chuckled. After exchanging hugs, saying goodbyes, and promising to write to their new friends, they headed off to sleep.

* * *
Early the next morning they left in Twilight's balloon and went back to Maneapolis, but hopefully they'd all see each other soon.