A train streaked across the desert, carrying seven passengers, not including the engineer and work staff. Midnight Blaze, Pinkie Pie, Thunderlane, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike were on their way to visit Applejack’s cousin in the new town of Appleloosa, where they were delivering an apple tree Applejack had grown herself to gift to the town’s new apple orchard.
As they all talked in the sleeper car, Rarity stormed in from the back, groaning in frustration.
“That Applejack! The nerve of her to book the private sleeping car for a tree! I wanted that car!”
“Ah, relax, Rares,” Midnight shook his head in good-natured-pity as he read the novel he'd brougth to pass the time on his bed, “AJ’s just… concerned over replanting that tree, Bloomburg, did she call it?”
“Uh-huh!” Pinkie confirmed. “Applejack planted and raised Bloomberg all by herself!”
“Ugh! She treats it as though it were her child!” Rarity pouted as she got into her bunk, conceding to the indignation and thinly-maintained tolerance.
“I can’t wait to get there,” Thunderlane spoke up, “It’s kinda awesome we’re gonna visit a newly started town that’s just getting on its own hooves!”
“Twilight wanted to visit as well,” Spike commented, “But she got a letter from the princess requesting some research and so…”
“She’s diving into another studying binge,” Midnight chuckled.
“I hope she remembers to get some rest,” Fluttershy concerned, “You know how she is, so engrossed in her studying sometimes she forgets to take care of herself.”
“Don’t worry,” Midnight waved off her concern, “I left a few charms in her library to make sure she does just that.”
At that very moment, Twilight was pouring through a tome, ignoring her growling stomach, when…
“LUNCHTIME, LUNCHTIME, LUNCHTIME!!! TIME TO FEED YOUR HUNGRY GUT, GET TO IT, MISSY!”
She yelped in freak-out and jumped to her hooves, looking around for the source of that obnoxious alert, coming from all around her but could not, for the life of her, identify the source.
Back on the train, Midnight chuckled devilishly, remembering the alert spells he placed in the library. They were set to go off at designated events, such as the ‘lunchtime’ alert he’d set to go off when Twilight’s stomach growled. The spell was nigh undetectable so Twilight was unlikely to find it, and it wouldn’t stop until she satisfied the alert’s demand. He wished he could be there for the ‘bedtime’ alert and the ‘wake up’ alert. Or, dare he think it, the ‘toilet time’ alert.
“So don’t worry about Twilight,” Midnight assured Fluttershy. “Let’s just enjoy ourselves once we get there.”
“So how come you’re coming along, Spike?” Thunderlane asked.
“Well, since Twilight won’t get the chance to give the town a going-over, she wants me to document how it’s doing so she can report the town’s progress to the princess after we get back,” Spike explained.
Before long, night fell, and everypony was in their bunks and still talking, except for Rarity and Spike, the both of them wanting to get some sleep, the former sighing, “For crying out loud in the morning…!”
“Urgh! Do you guys mind?” Spike groaned irritably. “I was up early fire-roasting those snacks for you and I’m pooped!”
“Uh, speaking of which,” Thunderlane brought up as he held out his bag of popcorn. “Some of these kernels didn’t get popped.”
Thunderlane gasped and ducked as a tongue of green dragonfire lashed out and torched his bag of popcorn, one single kernel popping.
“Happy?! Then good night,” Spike snapped as he pulled his blanket over his head.
“Mmmaybe we should all hit the sack,” Midnight suggested. “Tomorrow’s gonna be busy for us all!”
“Aww!” the others sighed as Midnight turned out the lamp.
As Spike began to snore…
“Psst, Pinkie Pie, are you asleep yet?”
“No, are you asleep yet?”
“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?”
“What tree, you mean Bloomburg?”
“…No, Fluttershy.”
“Fluttershy isn’t a tree, silly!”
“What’s up?”
“Thunderlane thinks Fluttershy is a tree!”
“I do not think she’s a tree, I was just-”
“Did you say she was a tree?”
“No! Well, yes but- Not exactly-”
“You know she’s not a tree, right?”
“She’s not a tree, Thundy!”
“I’d like to be a tree.”
“For pete’s sakes!”
They heard Spike as he hopped out of bed and went out the backdoor to the next car with a loud slam of the door.
“Well that was kinda huffy.”
“Huffy the Magic Dragon!”
They all started laughing when a light shined, Rarity screaming, “Would you all be QUIET… NOOOOW?!?!”
Seeing the diva didn’t have her face on (what with a mud-mask and cucumber slices, and hideous mane-rolls), they all screamed, Midnight blowing out the candle.
In the private sleeper car, Spike entered, whispering, “Bloomburg? Bloomburg!”
He got into bed with the tree, whispering, “Sorry, I kinda snore a bit. G’night.”
The train was still running as Celestia brought out the sun that morning, but a powerful tremor shook everypony awake. They all looked out the windows and Midnight gasped, “Wow! A buffalo stampede!”
Stampeding alongside the train was a herd of buffalo, many of them with eagle-feathers tied onto their horns or manes, the ponies awing at them, Rarity commenting, “I just love their accessories.”
“I read about the buffalo tribes that live out here in the desert,” Midnight brought up, “But I didn’t think we’d get a chance to see them! They’re amazing!”
“Um, aren’t they getting awfully close to the train?” Fluttershy observed nervously.
That was exactly what the buffalo were doing. But it worsened as they started ramming against the engine and the cars, everypony yelping in fright as they were bounced around the car. As it calmed down, Pinkie said, “Ooh, look!”
They joined her at the window as she said, “Now they’re doing tricks!”
A buffalo jumped onto the back of another as a buffalo calf with a feather banded to her forehead ran up, getting onto one, then leaping onto the buffalo who’d jumped onto the first.
“Ooh, ooh! Now do a back-flip!” Pinkie called.
The buffalo calf instead leaped out of sight, but the slam of hooves on the roof told them where she’d gone.
“Or just… jump?” Pinkie confused.
The sounds of hooves they heard from the ceiling indicated the calf was headed down to the next car, Thunderlane saying, “Something’s up, and it’s no act!”
He flew into action, zooming outside and quickly saw the buffalo calf running down the train car roofs. He landed ahead of her, saying, “Where you off to in such a rush?”
The calf ignored him and ran past, Thunder keeping up in flight.
“Look, you’re obviously here for some reason, perhaps we can help you out.”
The calf continued to ignore him so he tried to bar her way, “I’m talking to-”
But then he gasped as she took a mighty leap, a few front-flips in mid-air and landed on the next car.
“Okay, that was impressive,” he muttered as he chased after her.
But just before he could grab her, the calf vanished between the car before the private car (which was dead-last of the train), Thunderlane crashing into a railroad sign while the calf undid the latch connecting the private car to the train.
She whistled to her herd, obviously their objective reached, and the herd receded, and started pushing the private car the other way. The others all gasped as they watched from the last car, Applejack wailing, “They got Bloomburg!”
Then Midnight noticed someone waving their arms in a panicky fashion from inside the private car, obviously screaming for help.
“And Spike!”
As Thunderlane came to, he noticed the buffalo just as they passed with the private car and heard Spike screaming, “HELP!!”
“Stealing is one thing, but dragon-napping?!” Thunderlane groaned as he rubbed his head.
“Now it’s personal…”