(The prompt: Where the buffalo roam.)
(I think this one got away from me a little, but it's not bad. I wanted to get one written before today's episode. Time limit hit around the horizontal rule down there.)
It was too hot.
Rainbow Dash never really quite understood why anypony... anybuffalo? Why anyone would live outside of Equestrian towns. No pegasus ponies lived this far out, and so nopony set up rain when it was needed, or helped keep the temperature this side of scorching. She could see for miles, this high up, and there was no water anywhere except a thin trickle along the horizon. If this place wasn't so far from Ponyville she'd start having her weather team push the extra Everfree clouds out over it.
Anyway.
Rainbow Dash saw what she'd been looking for, and started her descent. That huge blotch of buffalo and quickly dwindling patches of tepees couldn't be anything else other than the migration. She'd gotten an invitation from Little Strongheart to join in until the herd reached Appleloosa... sent from Dodge Junction, only a few days ago. That wouldn't be a problem for a pegasus like Rainbow Dash, but running all that way on their hooves? That sounded interesting. Plus, Rainbow didn't like turning down invitations.
Even with all the extra foals... calves. Even with the extra young buffalo, Little Strongheart wasn't too hard to find. Rainbow swooped down just as she finished packing one of the last bundles onto the back of an adult. Landing in a whoosh of air and motion drew a few looks from the older buffalo, but Rainbow always landed that way just for that reason. "Hey, Strongheart!"
"Rainbow Dash! You must have seen the invitation!" Little Strongheart still spoke with that slight accent and weird phrasing. She must not spend too much time around ponies. The hoofbump that followed was a little strange too, as her hooves were small and cloven. "We are almost ready to leave for the migration to the next oasis."
"What? But that's WAY too far to go on the ground!"
There wasn't a signal, but suddenly the larger buffalo around them were moving. Rainbow Dash and Little Strongheart had no option but to fall in with the migration.
The southern desert was always hot and dry. Even more so with a hundred buffalo kicking up dust ahead of them. In no time Rainbow Dash could look down at her hooves and tell that she was brown and yellow from all the dust covering her. She looked over to Little Strongheart, running beside her. The buffalo calf was just running at a steady pace, staring forward almost blankly. This... This migration was boring! It wasn't like running in the Running of the Leaves, or a race, it was just... running. "Hey, Little Strongheart! I bet I can get to the front of the migration before you!"
Strongheart gave her a look, which at least meant she'd heard the challenge. Rainbow Dash pressed forward into a hard gallop at once. The air around her thrummed with the hoofbeats of all the huge buffalo, and the air was thick with dust and heat. Still, she knew that Strongheart was fast, maybe even faster than her if she didn't fly. Flying felt like cheating seeing as how no buffalo had wings, so she just ran harder. It was hard to tell if she was winning with all the noise and distraction, and somehow she'd lost Strongheart in the chaos.
It wasn't long before the dry air, heat, and dodging of buffalo hooves took their toll, and Rainbow felt herself running out of steam. She slowed, and slowed further, dropping back through the herd. She passed Strongheart on the way, still running in the same place as before. As Rainbow trailed back near the rear of the herd, she felt a buffalo's head press to her hindquarters and push her back toward the center, as though she were a straying calf.
Rainbow Dash glared back at the buffalo, but just pressed herself to gallop forward until she was even with Strongheart again. "What the hay, don't you want to run? This is boring!"
Strongheart smiled at her, her coat still covered in dust. "The next oasis is miles away. We will be running all day. Just run. You will see!"
'Just run'. So Rainbow Dash ran.
She was easily as tired already as that day she and Applejack had been running from ghosts in the old Castle of the Two Sisters. But she knew it was a long way before the next watering hole, so she just kept running.
The air was thick with dust and sand, but that wasn't so bad now that she was used to it. She focused on breathing through her nose as she galloped. The ground shook and vibrated with the hooves of hundreds of buffalo, and the rhythm was just slightly off from her pony gait. But still, the press of bodies and the thunderous running continued.
Yeah, okay, this was more than the castle thing. Maybe this was more like how she was at the end of that Running of the Leaves with Applejack.
But when she looked up at the sky, she couldn't quite see the sun. She couldn't tell what time of day it was, and the press of huge buffalo bodies around her blocked out any attempt to fly up and check. Besides, she didn't want to fly, nobody else here could. So she just ran.
Definitely more tired than Running of the Leaves. This was more like after the second run that Princess Celestia asked her and Applejack to do. Or maybe it was more than that.
But she kept running.
The hooves of the buffalo thundered around her. The day moved on. The heat pressed in, and the dust in the air covered her fur and her nose and throat. The dry atmosphere of the desert filled her, and she kept running.
The sun bore down from above, the shadows small under each buffalo. But she kept running.
Her wings ached. She wanted to fly. She could be at the watering hole in a few minutes if she flew. But then she wouldn't be here. She wouldn't be next to her friend, in the middle of these others. She wouldn't be running in the dust and the heat. So Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, and she kept running.
The water was muddy. It had been shaken up by the approach of the stampede, and it was full of silt and algae.
It was the best water Rainbow Dash had ever tasted.
The buffalo were all crowded around, drinking from the same small stream, but that didn't bother her. The water was clearing the dust, it was filling her with new life. She had never been so tired, so worn out, and so thirsty.
The mushy food that the buffalo favored even tasted good.
She had never been able to eat it before, but today she had three bowls. Compared to the huge bulk of the buffalo around her, she had eaten barely anything, so she at least didn't need to feel gluttonous.
Her hooves throbbed as she lay on her back on the little pallet of straw. It was a nice night, so she and Strongheart were sleeping outside. They were both just silently looking up at the stars despite the somewhat uncomfortable feeling of laying on their backs. Strongheart spoke first. "What do you think?"
"I'm sore. I'm tired, and I didn't do anything fun all day. What the hay, why did you even invite me if it's just running?"
A few long seconds passed, but there was a hint of a smile in Strongheart's voice when she spoke again. "Are you looking forward to tomorrow? We will be reaching Appleloosa by nightfall."
Rainbow's hooves ached. Her legs burned, her throat still felt parched, and she wasn't sure what that grass and cactus mush was, but it tasted terrible and she still wanted more. But... though her ears were still ringing, she missed the thunder of hooves. She missed the energy, the press of bodies. She missed the sun and the dust of the trail.
"... Yeah. Yeah, I am."