Twilight Sparkle breathed a long sigh of relief as she watched Fluttershy pounce on Pinkie Pie. It was a surprising amount of exuberance for the typically-quiet pegasus, but Twilight could understand where she was coming from. She and the others had all been quite worried over the whereabouts of Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike. Ever since Spike had been kidnapped by a herd of buffalo and Rainbow and Pinkje had gone to find them, they were having trouble thinking about anything else. Meeting Applejack's cousin Braeburn and being led around Appleloosa was a decent enough distraction, but it wasn't enough to quell their worries. Thankfully, seeing their friends' faces was.
"How did you escape from the buffalo?" Twilight asked. She didn't really know a whole lot about buffalo, but from what she did know, they weren't typically a violent people. Of course, that didn't mean that they couldn't have stumbled across a tribe that were.
"We didn't!" Pinkie exclaimed. Just then, the small female buffalo that had attacked the train stepped into view. The ponies gasped, and Applejack started moving into a defensive stance.
"We promised the buffalo a chance to talk," Rainbow said.
"Oh yeah? 'Bout what?" Applejack asked, eyeing the buffalo warily.
"We brought our new pal Little Strongheart here to explain to the Appleloosans why they should move the apple trees off buffalo land," Rainbow said, putting a foreleg around the buffalo and nudging her towards the group.
"That information would be quite help–" Braeburn started, but Applejack quickly cut him off.
"That's weird," Applejack said with a frown, shoving Braeburn so he was nose to nose with Strongheart. "'Cause my cousin Braeburn here wants to explain to the buffalo why they should let the apple trees stay." Braeburn smiled awkwardly, almost apologetically, at Strongheart.
"That would be a useful thing to–" Strongheart began. She too was cut off, this time by Rainbow.
"The land is theirs!" Rainbow shouted. "You planted the trees not knowing that. Honest mistake. Now, you just gotta move 'em, that's all."
"Well...heh..." Braeburn said. Yet again, Applejack interrupted him.
"They busted their rumps here!" Applejack hollered. "And now they're supposed to bust their rumps again, just 'cause some buffalo won't stampede someplace else?"
"Plant the trees somewhere else!" Rainbow insisted.
"Where?!" Applejack asked, more than a bit annoyed. "It's the only flatland around these parts!"
"The buffalo were here first!" Rainbow shouted, getting nose-to-nose with Applejack.
"The settler ponies need it to live!" Applejack yelled, pushing right back.
"Geez, just make out already," came Sugarcoat's voice. Applejack and Rainbow backed up quickly, blushing brightly as the powder-blue unicorn came into view.
"Where did you come from?" Applejack asked.
"A place of reason," Sugarcoat shot back. "I can see neither of you have ever been there." The two ponies glared holes through the intruder, but managed to control their tempers.
"Come on, Sugarcoat," Twilight said, trying to restore order. "How long have you been listening?"
"Long enough," Sugarcoat said. "Long enough to hear you not even bother listening to each other. You know that those two..." She pointed to Braeburn and Strongheart. "...Want to listen to each other's points and learn from them? But you two are too stubborn to give them a chance. Maybe if you'd shut up for a few minutes, you could all work out a compromise."
Applejack and Rainbow gave each other a look, then both took a step towards Sugarcoat. Twilight stepped in front of them, cutting them off.
"You know, she's right, even though she's being impolite about it," Twilight said. "Let's give hem a chance to speak things over." Applejack and Rainbow frowned, but relented.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Applejack said.
"Uh-huh," Rainbow reluctantly agreed.
"Good," Twilight said. She gave Sugarcoat a sweet smile. "Thank you, Sugarcoat. You're as helpful as always." She kept the sweet smile going, but Sugarcoat turned away.
"Uh-huh," Sugarcoat said, beginning to walk off.
"So..." Strongheart said, looking Braeburn in the eyes. "Let's go talk...and maybe when we're done, we could go for a bite to eat?"
"Don't bother," Sugarcoat called as she strolled off. "He's not into girls."