My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

21. You gotta share...

In the south of Equestria, a town named Appleloosa was built recently and Star Twinkle along with his friends was given the task to provide one of Sweet Apple Acres apple trees to their local orchard.

Since nopony of them except Applejack were in Appleloosa before, they agreed to come along. They had to travel by train since it was quite a distance to Appleloosa. It was getting dark already outside while they were only half there.

Star Twinkle wanted to get some sleep till they arrived but Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were still up talking, bothering Star Twinkle, Rarity, and Spike, who tried to get some sleep.

“Would you mind? I'm trying to sleep here!” Star Twinkle exclaimed before turning around in his bed.

“Yeah, I was up early fire-roasting those snacks you're all eating, and I'm pooped!” Said Spike, who was referring at the popcorn that some of them were eating now.

“Uh, speaking of, some of these popcorn kernels didn't get popped,” said Rainbow Dash teasingly.

To which Spike replied with a fire breath aimed at Rainbow Dash's popcorn, burning it to crisps.

Spike seemed grumpy too when not getting enough sleep. Star Twinkle was looking back at his days where he was mostly sleeping through the day because he didn't know what else to do. But now, with his new friends, almost every day keeps him busy and sometimes his sleep has to suffer from that. This exact moment just reminded him.

Eventually, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy decided to dim the lights and went to sleep as well much too Star Twinkle's approval.

But the four ponies were still talking in the dark, sadly it was loud enough so that Star Twinkle could hear them.

"Psst! Pinkie Pie, you asleep yet?" Rainbow Dash whispered.

"No, are you asleep yet?" Pinkie Pie whispered back.

"If I was sleeping, how could I have asked you if you if you were asleep?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Oh yeah!" Pinkie Pie replied, giggling in response.

Star Twinkle, of course, heard everything and tried to ignore it and tried to fall asleep with little success.

"When we get to Appleloosa, you think we'll have to carry that heavy tree all the way from the train to the orchard?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"What tree? You mean Bloomberg?"

“No, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash sarcastically replied

“Fluttershy's not a tree, silly!” Pinkie Pie replied, not picking up on Rainbow Dash's sarcasm.

"Can't they discuss, whatever they are talking about on the next day?" Thought Star Twinkle.
Even Twilight seemed to join, Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's conversation, much to Star Twinkles dislike.

“What's going on?” asked Twilight.

“Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy's a tree!” Pinkie Pie explained.

“I do not think she's a tree! I was just–“ Rainbow Dash replied frustrated.

“Did you say she was a tree?” asked Twilight confused.

“No. Well... Yes. But not exactly–“ Rainbow Dash tried to explain.

“Ya know she's not a tree, right?” asked Twilight in all seriousness.

“She's not a tree, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie added.

“I'd like to be a tree...” Fluttershy said, who also overheard the conversation.

But they were interrupted by Spike who got up and left the cart in a grumpy mood. He went to the next cart away from all the talking in the middle of the night. Star Twinkle thought it was a good idea to follow him since Spike was most likely to be quiet. It was the cart where the tree, that they had to deliver to Appleloosa was stored in. Apparently, the trees name was Bloomberg, even though he looked like any other tree for Star Twinkle. Spike was surprised to see Star Twinkle behind him but he also had a guess why Star Twinkle followed him.

“Deciding to escape from the girls chattering?” Spike asked.

“Pretty much...” Star Twinkle boldly replied.

There was only one bed in the whole cart and that one was occupied by a tree. It was a little confusing for Star Twinkle to see a tree in the bed but Applejack demanded that “Bloomberg” needed some special care for the trip. Spike managed to climb into the bed but Star Twinkle would not fit into it so he decided to sleep on the ground with a pillow under his head that he bought from his bed.

“I should warn you. I tend to snore a bit,” Spike informed Star Twinkle.

“Don't worry. I'm sure it's not that bad,” Star Twinkle replied, clearly too exhausted to be bothered by something like that.

After saying their good nights they then both went to sleep. Although Spikes snoring made it hard for Star Twinkle to fall asleep at first. It was a little noisy through the night but Star Twinkle managed to sleep peacefully without any interruptions despite sleeping on the ground while being on a moving train.

On the next morning, Star Twinkle was abruptly awakened by some noises that came from outside. He got up and wondered what caused it, trying to take a look outside.

He looked out the window and noticed a buffalo stampede running right next to the train. The Buffaloes were ramming the train several times, causing Star Twinkle to bounce all over the cart. It eventually got a little quieter so Star Twinkle got back up on his hoofs and tried to wake Spike who was still asleep.

“Hey wake up! Something is happening!” Star Twinkle said in a panic trying to wake up Spike.

Spike, who was still half asleep was slowly getting out of the bed, wondering why Star Twinkle was in such a panic.

“What's wrong, are we already in Appleloosa?” Spike asked, still half asleep.

Star Twinkle tried to respond but he quickly noticed something about the cart.

“Wait, are we getting slower?” He wondered.

He then looked out of the window again and noticed how their cart was separated from the other one, where Twilight and the others were in. The others were looking at him in shock from the other cart, realizing that he and Spike got separated from them. Spike who also realized the situation he was in, looked out of the train and screamed for help.

“Heeeelp! Spike shouted.

“We're being trainnapped!” Star Twinkle added.

But there was nothing anypony could do at the moment, the train was already out of sight. The only thing they both could do right now was waiting till the train stopped.

“What are we gonna do? What if they'll eat us?” Spike asked out of panic.

“I'm pretty sure buffaloes don't eat ponies,” Star Twinkle boldly replied.

“And what about dragons?” Spike asked.

“Don't know about that...” Star Twinkle replied almost amusingly.

Eventually, the cart stopped and Spike wanted Star Twinkle to peek outside. But after setting a few hoofs outside, Star Twinkle was surrounded by a group of buffaloes that stared at him in a threatening way.

"A pony?" One of them asked.

"Where did he come from?" Another one said.

"Little Strongheart, look if there are any more of this Appleloosa ponies inside," said one Buffalo to a younger female one, who did as she was told.

Meanwhile, Star Twinkle was carefully observed by the Buffaloes. He was too nervous to even move a muscle in fear what they could do to him. Little Strongheart then came out of the cart with wide opened eyes.

"You won't believe what is inside!" She said in excitement.

The Buffaloes turned to her in surprise and noticed Spike, who was hiding behind Little Strongheart.

"Hello...um...big...friendly buffaloes," said Spike in fear while hiding behind Little Strongheart.

"A dragon?" Almost every one of the buffaloes said at the same time surprised.

The Buffaloes seemed pretty excited to see Spike. They apologized right away to him, for capturing him along with the tree.
Spikes fear vanished in an instant after realizing how he is treated. Star Twinkle, on the other hand, was still looked at with judging eyes.

"What should we do with the pony?" One of the buffaloes asked.

But Star Twinkle knew from the treatment he received so far that they didn't want him around. Luckily Spike saved him by saying that Star Twinkle was with him, making him less suspicious for the Buffaloes.

"Let's have a feast in honor of our special guest," said one Buffalo happily before turning to Star Twinkle. "Are you from that Appleloosa place?" The Buffalo asked Star Twinkle in a menacing tone in his voice.

"No. I'm from Ponyville..." Star Twinkle carefully replied to which the facial expression from the Buffalo suddenly changed from threatening to friendly.

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" The Buffalo replied friendly. "Then let's have a feast for our two special guests!" The buffalo said happily.

Star Twinkle and Spike were then taken to the camp of the buffaloes. There were multiple tents, where they probably lived in or at least slept for the night.

Spike was getting everything he wanted, while Star Twinkle was watched by most of the Buffaloes. So the best thing he could do is to stay by Spikes side most of the time.

Eventually, the Buffaloes seemed to get a liking to Star Twinkle because he wasn't doing anything suspicious. Some of the Buffaloes wanted to go outside of the camp for a while, to get some food, water, and other things for the night. Spike accompanied them but Star Twinkle was staying and thought about when or how he will be reunited with the others.

Little Strongheart, who probably was not accustomed by ponies since she sat away from him was with him a few feet, avoiding eye contact as much as possible.

"Can I ask you something?" Star Twinkle asked. To which Little Strongheart looked at him surprised.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Why did you kidnapped the train?" He asked boldly.

Little Strongheart probably didn't expect this question and hesitated for a moment before answering.

"We only wanted the tree. So that the ponies of Appleloosa can't plant any more trees in their orchard," Little Strongheart explained.

"And what's the problem with that?" Star Twinkle asked confused.

"It's a problem because we can no longer hold our traditional stampedes because of all the trees they planted," said Little Strongheart.

"Can't you just walk around the orchard?" Star Twinkle asked.

That seemed to anger Little Strongheart a little, causing her to get closer to Star Twinkle.

"No, we can't! As I said It's tradition!" Little Strongheart exclaimed.

From what Star Twinkle gathered after talking a while with Little Strongheart, the land belonged to the Buffaloes for a long time now but the ponies of Appleloosa planted the trees without asking the Buffaloes for permission. He didn't know what to think of that since he didn't know the story of the Appleloosans and he also didn't care. Trying to get involved in all this could only lead to even more trouble.

A little time later, Spike returned, accompanied by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. They seemed relieved to see Star Twinkle save and sound. Star Twinkle and Spike explained the situation to them but Rainbow Dash seemed a little mad about something.

Little Strongheart returned with a bowl of gems in her mouth, which was probably food for Spike. Spike then introduced her to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, the later becoming really mad after seeing Little Strongheart.

After seeing her, Rainbow Dash didn't even bother to look at Little Strongheart, who tried to apologize several times.

"What's wrong with Rainbow Dash?" Asked Star Twinkle Pinkie Pie.

"It looks like Rainbow Dash doesn't quite approve of her circus act skills," Pinkie Pie replied.

As usual Star Twinkle couldn't make out anything that Pinkie Pie was saying and gave up asking.

Rainbow Dash even attempted to leave the camp until Little Strongheart repeated what she told Star Twinkle. She suggested that everypony should listen to what Chief Thunderhooves had to say.

They gathered around a campfire in the middle of the camp, where Chief Thunderhooves explained everything in great detail. He pretty much explained the same thing, Little Strongheart said before. Only much slower.

"The ponies refused to move their trees, so we are stuck here, and it's not fair!" Little Strongheart said frustrated.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash was convinced to help the Buffaloes with their problem and try to talk with the citizens of Appleloosa on the next day. Star Twinkle felt this was a lost cause but they eventually had to go to Appleloosa so he didn't say anything for now.

They decided to stay at the camp for the night so that they could head to Appleloosa the next morning. The plan was to talk with the Appleloosans about the buffaloes and the stampede and figure out a peaceful solution. Everypony except Star Twinkle was eager to talk with the ponies from Appleloosa. He didn't feel like getting involved in the problems of other ponies was a good idea.

Star Twinkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Little Strongheart then met up with Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy and another stallion that Star Twinkle didn't recognize. He had a yellow coat and an orange mane with yellow stripes and a red apple as a Cutie Mark. He was also wearing a vest and a hat similar to Applejack's. Star Twinkle quickly figured that it must be Braeburn, Applejack's cousin from Appleloosa.

They were surprised to see their friends back so early since they only just left to look for Star Twinkle and the others.

Of course, Star Twinkles group didn't waste any time to speak with Braeburn about the Buffalo matter.

“We brought our new pal Little Strongheart here to explain to the Appleloosans why they should move the apple trees off Buffalo land,” Rainbow Dash explained to the group.

Braeburn seemed interested in this information but was interrupted by Applejack.

“That's weird. 'Cause my cousin Braeburn here wants to explain to the Buffalo why they should let the apple trees stay,” Applejack said, clearly not speaking for Braeburn

Little Strongheart seemed very tolerant about that matter but she was also interrupted, this time from Rainbow Dash.

“The land is theirs! You planted the trees not knowing that. Honest mistake. Now, you just gotta move 'em, that's all,” Rainbow Dash said continuing to support the Buffaloes.

“They busted their rumps here! An' now they're supposed ta bust their rumps again, just 'cause some Buffalo won't stampede someplace else?” Applejack's replied

“Plant the trees somewhere else!” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“Where?! It's the only flatland around these parts!” Applejack replied.

“The Buffalo had it first!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“The settler ponies need it to live!” Applejack exclaimed.

It more and more looked like a personal argument between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Braeburn and Little Strongheart couldn't even say something since these two stubborn ponies were so caught up in their argument.

This was exactly how Star Twinkle imagined the situation but he thought it would be between the buffaloes and the Appleloosans. After some more arguing, Pinkie had an idea how to get the two factions together. She wasn't explaining the details but everypony and Buffalo got invited to Appleloosa. They had to come in front of a stage where Pinkie Pie was preparing something.

Star Twinkle looked around and wondered if it was a good idea to put those two factions so close to each other.

"The sheriff of Appleloosa and Chief Thunderhooves are standing right next to each other..." Star Twinkle pointed out.

"Yes. Things could go wrong really fast," Twilight added.

Finally, the curtain on the stage opened and Pinkie Pie revealed herself under a giant white shell. She wore a weird black dress and to no surprise, was performing a song.

The reaction to the song or the message at least, which was about sharing and getting along, was not well received by most of the audience. Star Twinkle figured that a song wouldn't just fix the problem and the others seemed to agree on that judging from their reaction.

Yet the two leaders surprised everypony with their response.

"It appears that Sheriff Silverstar and I have come...an agreement," Chief Thunderhooves said.

"We have," Sheriff Silverstar added.

Everypony was relieved that Pinkie Pie's song actually worked.

At least until they continued...

"That was the worst performance we've ever seen," Chief Thunderhooves baldly said.

"Abso-tively!" Sheriff Silverstar added.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the Buffaloes threatened to start their stampede at noon. If the orchard was still there by then, the Buffaloes will run over it along with the whole town.

Now the worst case scenario that Star Twinkle imagined happened. It would have come down to this eventually but now he felt kind of responsible for all this.

The whole town was preparing them for the buffalo stampede. Improving their defenses and getting some apples ready to defend themselves. Star Twinkle and the others tried to convince the Appleloosans to stop this fighting but they wouldn't even listen to them. Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash also tried to talk with the Buffaloes but it had no success too.

Time was running short and both factions were ready to attack after the town's clock tower was at twelve o'clock.

“So are we just waiting here till one of the factions wins?” Asked Star Twinkle.

“You heard them right? They didn't want to listen to us at all,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“But there has to be something that we can do!” Fluttershy said concerned.

Meanwhile, the Buffaloes were waiting on top of a hill until it was twelve o'clock, ready to start anytime now. Everypony was waiting until somepony made a move. There were still some minutes left and Star Twinkle felt like doing something.

“... I think I'm getting a crazy idea again...” said Star Twinkle bothered, before running to the Buffaloes.

“What is he doing?” Asked Rarity confused.

“I don't know but, he better be careful,” Twilight said worriedly.

Star Twinkle walked up the hill and jumped in front of Chief Thunderhooves, blocking his way.

“What are you doing here? We're about to start the stampede!” Little Strongheart said.

"Out of the way!" Chief Thunderhooves exclaimed loudly.

Star Twinkle got startled by the loud voice of the chief but he tried to hide it as much as possible. Why do I have to be heroic at times like this? He asked himself. But since he was already there, he might as well shared his thoughts about all this.

"No! This is insane!" Star Twinkle exclaimed. "Listen! I don't know much about your traditions and I think it's unfair too that they planted the orchard without your permission. But destroying the town will only cause more trouble. So please reconsider your next actions," Star Twinkle said in a serious voice.

Chief Thunderhooves was listening to Star Twinkles words but was most likely not accepting him judging from his face.
But he could tell from Star Twinkle's facial expression that he was serious.

"He is right Chief!" Said Little Strongheart, trying to support Star Twinkle.

Chief Thunderhooves looked at the two and began to think about their words.

Then the bell from the clock tower of Appleloosa was heard. Everypony knew that this was the signal for the Buffaloes to begin their stampede. Star Twinkles became more nervous after hearing the bell but still didn't moved.

Thankfully Chief Thunderhooves wasn't making a move. He just let out a sigh. Star Twinkle and Little Strongheart knew what that meant and also both let out a sigh. That was close, thought Star Twinkle relieved.

But just after everything seemed okay again, Pinkie Pie's voice could be heard. She was singing the song from before.

The second when Star Twinkle heard that song, he became nervous again. Chief Thunderhooves anger was rising again and Star Twinkle knew what would happen next.

"Pinkie Pie!" Star Twinkle shouted angrily before he was run over by several buffaloes. Thankfully he got away with only some bruises and stood up again.

"I really hope she was run over by them too," Star Twinkle mumbled to himself angrily.

The Buffaloes were all running towards Appleloosa where they were bombarded by pies that the Appleloosans threw at them.

Star Twinkle only saw flying pies and raging buffaloes in the town and was hiding himself to not get caught up into all this.
He didn't know where his friends were and giving the situation he is in right now, he didn't seem to care much.

But he found the sheriff who was throwing some pies as well. Chief Thunderhooves noticed the sheriff and angrily charged at him. It looked like Sheriff Silverstar was out of pies and accepted his defeat letting Chief Thunderhooves continue his charge.

Feeling like he should do something Star Twinkle looked around to find something to help. Star Twinkle saw a pie right in front of him and picked it up. After taking good aim, he threw it in direction of Chief Thunderhooves. The pie was hitting him right in the face causing him to fall to the ground, missing the sheriff.

Because of that, the fighting was stopped. The Buffaloes cried for their leader and the ponies were sad that it had to come to this.

"I had to do it..." Star Twinkle said in regret.

"Yes we know..." said Fluttershy trying to comfort him.

The pie on Chief Thunderhooves head was dripping down on his face. But one little piece landed in his mouth and woke him up again.

“Hey, I've got a much better idea!” Said Chief Thunderhooves after getting a taste of that pie on his head.

The two factions actually came to an agreement.
The Buffaloes allowed the orchid to stay as long as the towns ponies share some of their apple pies in exchange.
Of course, the sheriff agreed to avoid any more fighting and both factions were happy in the end.

Applejack could plant her tree Bloomberg in the orchard and Little Strongheart was waving the group goodbye while leaving with the rest of the Buffaloes.

The Ponyville group decided to leave Appleloosa again and entered the train after saying their goodbyes, ready to return to Ponyville.

"It's really fascinating!" Twilight said.

"What?" Asked Star Twinkle.

"Oh I'm just thinking about what I could write in the next letter for the princess," Twilight explained. "Something like:
Friendship can be strong enough to even turn your enemies to friends as long as you're ready to understand and compromise," Twilight added.

"You know that they could have prevented all this if they just talked to each other before, right? Preventing them to be enemies in the first place" Star Twinkle said, doubting Twilight's words.

Twilight was not sure how to respond to those direct words but she still believed in her own words.

"I'll doubt that friendship is that powerful," Star Twinkle mumbled to himself, which was not heard by anypony.

"By the way!" Rarity said from the other side of the cart. "That was really brave of you back there, standing your ground in front of all the buffaloes," Rarity complimented.

"Yeah. It also looked like they were about to stop if somepony wouldn't have interrupted you," said Applejack hinting at Pinkie Pie, who only grinned in embarrassment as a response.

All friendship seems to do is making you do crazy stuff in the end. That's at least what Star Twinkle thought. But he was getting used to that lately. As long as everything is working out in the end, it's probably okay.

Either way, there is no way for him to change that anymore.
Since this is his new life now.

Right?

Author's Note:

I hope you liked this chapter.
If you did please consider leaving some kind of feedback.
It will be much appreciated.

And as always see you in the next chapter ^^.