It was good to be out of the hot, stifling wagon that reeked of soap and had one very bored Pinkie Pie. The moment the door opened, Pinkie Pie shot out, squealing, her mane springing into curls, and she pronked away with a gleeful cry.
The sun would be setting soon. It was hot, there was very little breeze, but it was still better than being trapped in the delivery wagon. Tarnish stretched his legs and studied his surroundings, looking around himself with a wary eye. Perhaps waving Flamingo at the photographers would make them go away. He wouldn’t have Flamingo hurt them, and Flamingo wouldn’t want to hurt them, but they didn’t need to know that.
Foalsom Springs was a short distance away, just down the road. A field full of tomatoes stretched out before him, along with a roadside stand, a water pump for travelers, and a place to park wagons for the ponies who came to pick their own produce from the fields. The delivery wagon was parked in the gravel lot right now and both Flax Seed and Walrus were taking a break.
Tarnish started forwards, grateful, thankful, and he wanted to say so. The scent of tomatoes filled his nose, the smell of hot vegetation in a garden, the strong, almost musky sort of smell of plants and fertilised earth.
“Thank you, both of you,” Tarnish said to the ponies that had come to the rescue.
“Not a problem,” Flax Seed replied. The earth pony grinned. “You’re championing our cause. Tree Hugger really wants to speak with you. I hope you’ll give her a chance and listen to what she has to say.”
“I will hear her out.” Tarnish felt somepony brush up against him and was pleased to discover that it was Maud.
“Cool, far out.” Flax Seed grinned. “‘Scuse me, I’m gonna get some water.”
“Like, me too,” Walrus said as he followed after Flax Seed.
Tarnish watched them go, the pegasus and the earth pony. He saw them exchange a glance, then laugh with one another. It was good to have like minded friends, compatriots—Tarnish turned and looked at Maud—and lovers. He adjusted his pith helmet, shook his rump to adjust his saddlebags, and then looked over at the roadside stand where the tomato seller was.
The sign over the stand had the words “Fresh Start’s Tomatos” in bright red letters. The word ‘tomato’ had a misspelled plural. For some reason, this irked Tarnished a great deal, but he could not say why. Perhaps because there was nothing he could do to change it.
Something bright pink went shooting past, moving faster than the speed of smell. In the wake of the bright pink pony that went zipping past, the scent of cupcakes lingered in the air, making Tarnish feel a little hungry.
“My sister achieved critical mass in the wagon,” Maud said, her flat monotone making it difficult to determine if she was trying to express some mortal danger or a light hearted joke.
“C—R—A—Z—Y! I ain’t got no alibi!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she went zipping past once more, this time leaving behind the strong scent of red licorice and candied confusion. Confetti drifted down, materialising from out of nowhere.
The pony behind the counter was green, green tomato green, with a sunny yellow mane. He seemed friendly enough and smiled when Tarnished approached, looking hopeful. Tarnish looked around, and much to his surprise, he found that the roadside stand sold more than tomatoes. There was a large old fashioned cooler that glistened with condensation, the beads of water shining like diamonds in the late afternoon sun. Tarnish licked his lips and peered at the fogged over glass front. He saw glass bottles inside, three colours, red, orange, and purple. Without even thinking about it, he flipped open his saddlebags, pulled out a few bits, and plunked them down upon the counter.
“Orange soda, please,” Tarnish said, his eyes still locked upon the cooler. He watched as the earth pony turned, opened the cooler, reached inside, pulled out a bottle of orange soda, holding it in his fetlock, and then there was a satisfying clunk when the glass bottle was set down upon the wooden counter.
As the earth pony picked up two bits of the three that Tarnish had plunked down, Tarnished lifted up the frosty glass bottle, popped open the top, and then guzzled it all down in one go. He let out a thunderous belch, took a deep breath, gasped several times, and then plunked down a few more bits.
“Is that cherry or strawberry?” Tarnish asked.
“Raspberry,” the pony behind the counter replied.
“I’ll take one of those, and a purple one too.” Tarnish turned and looked at Maud. “Want anything?” He saw Maud shake her head and for a moment, Tarnish felt bad for her. Cold soda was so refreshing—but Maud didn’t care for sweet things. She liked other flavours.
Two more sodas were pulled from the cooler and plunked down on the counter, and four bits were taken as payment. Tarnished Teapot cracked open the bottle filled with grape soda, lifted it to his lips, and took a long sip. He turned about, looking, wondering what everypony else was up to. Igneous and Cloudy were stretching their legs near the water pump. Marble and Limestone were heading in his direction, looking hopeful. Tarnished figured that they would want a soda as well. There was no sign of Pinkie Pie. His mother had slipped off, there was no sign of her either, but he guessed that she had slipped off to find some relief. She had been squirming in the wagon.
Pulling out a few more bits, Tarnish laid them out on the counter. “Two more sodas for them, they’ll pick the flavours.”
“Can do,” the earth pony replied. The earth pony paused. “Hey, you look familiar. I think I know you.”
Tarnish, feeling worried, hoped that this would not become a common problem. He took a deep breath, feeling a bit apprehensive, and then took another long drink from his grape soda.
“I remember you… you’re from Ponyville… you got sent away.” The earth pony smiled. “My name is Fresh Start. Happy to see you again. When Ponyville got wrecked, I left town and went looking for greener pastures. I ended up here. It’s a little boring, but this place isn’t so bad.”
Sighing with relief, Tarnish tilted back his pith helmet, smiled, and replied, “I’m glad things worked out for you. Life has a funny way of sorting itself when you’re on the road, eh?”
Limestone, who was starting to look a bit bored, kicked at the dust in the road, her tail swishing from side to side, and she turned to look at her mother and father. “What’s the plan? Is there a plan? Are we walking home from here? Taking a train? Nopony seems to care about us here. I’m starving. When are we going to eat? Are we going to have tomatoes for dinner?”
Along the roadside, Pinkie Pie was performing an endless number of cartwheels, spinning end over end, all while giggling in a most disturbing way.
“Anypony remember how Pinkie would get when she couldn’t have fun?” Marble asked.
Both Cloudy and Igneous shivered in unison, each of them closed their eyes for a moment as they were overcome with the shudders. Each parent had a reaction that almost mirrored the other, but Igneous’ reaction came off as the strongest.
“I suppose the first order of business is checking the train schedule. There might be an evening train to Rock Haven we can still catch. If we have enough time, maybe we can stop somewhere for dinner.” Pinny kicked out a hind leg and gave it a shake, both of her rear knees were still creaky from sitting for so long.
“I wonder what’s playing in the movie theatre?” Limestone glanced over in the direction of Foalsom Springs and then at her parents. “If there is no train departing soon, maybe we can catch a movie, it might be nice.”
“I dunno—”
“Igneous, doing something as a family sounds nice.” Cloudy peered at her husband, the ghost of a grin upon her face.
Sighing, Igneous chewed on his lip for a moment, his sideburns bristling, and then he nodded. “Fine, we’ll see what’s playing. We’ve been sitting in a hot, stuffy wagon all day and now we can sit in a movie theatre, I suppose.”
“The theatre is air conditioned.” Pinny, still stretching her legs, placed some emphasis upon her opinion. “Air conditioned.” The mare cringed, one eye squinting shut as her knee popped. “Since when did I get old? When did this happen? This is a travesty.”
“Pinkie Pie once said that old age is like cheap underwear. It just creeps up on you. I never understood what she meant by that,” Limestone said as she watched her sister’s cavorting, continuing her cathartic carefree cartwheels. “She’s so mysterious sometimes.”
“No more mysterious than Maud,” Tarnish said, replying to Limestone’s words.
“Hey.” Maud reached out and poked Tarnish once, then poked him again. “Pinkie Pie and I understand one another just fine.” The monotonous mare blinked, looking sleepy, and looked at her parents. “I just want something to eat. I don’t care what we do.”
“Okay, so we go and check the train schedule, find out when the train leaves, eat dinner, time permitting, and maybe see a movie if there is a late night train to catch. Is that the plan?” Limestone looked at her parents, then at Pinny, then over at Tarnish and Maud.
“Sounds like a plan,” Cloudy replied. “Let’s go, I’m starving.”