Slice of Velvet and Pear

by David Silver

35 - Aaaapleloosa

Moon leaned against a hoof, the elbow of that hoof propped against her knee, and boredom written all over her face. She did not want to be there, on that train. She broadcasted this in all directions.

"It isn't so bad," assured Spike. "Besides, Applejack asked, right? What are friends for?"

"Correct..." She had been asked. Her mistake was not turning down that request. They'd been stuck on that train for an unacceptably long time, watching nothing outside, and getting nothing done. She'd never been there before, and it was far away. Teleporting was not a safe option. "All this for a tree?"

Spike grabbed her snout. "Don't let Applejack hear you call it that. She already gave them a name and everything. Besides, you think you have it bad? You don't have to cook snacks with your breath!"

Moon sat up at that. "I thought you were enjoying yourself. If you don't enjoy that exertion, Spike, please tell us. We're not dragons. Only you can know what being a dragon feels like. You are under no obligation to continue, to be clear."

Spike blushed at the whole thing. "T-thanks, um, but I was trying to make you feel better."

Moon wrapped an arm around him. "You are my ward, Spike. However uncomfortable or not I am, your well-being takes priority. That is a responsibility that was given to me by Celestia herself, not to mention a little of myself. I hatched you. The chain of responsibility falls onto me as a result of that, even if Celestia hadn't intervened, which she did."

Spike shrugged softly. "What if I don't want one of my favorite ponies to, you know, be crushed under heavy chains? That sounds like not a lot of fun."

"It is not fun." She nuzzled into his cheek gently. "But it is very worth it, Spike. You were one of my first relationships beyond that of loose association. You taught me what it meant to step beyond that, to know a creature well enough, and be known, to have a level of intimacy. Even on my darkest days, there's at least one creature that understands." She set a hoof on his chest. "And I am trying to return that favor, but I doubt I will ever fully repay what you have given me, Spike. We are friends, on top of the other links we share, and I hold them all with pride and delight, not begrudgingly."

She sagged after a moment of pride. "Unlike this trip."

Rarity rolled her eyes softly. "You're telling me, darling? I could have taken the rear car to myself and had some level of comfort, but no, Applejack had to baby a tree of all things. As if a tree cares about creature comforts.... It's not even a creature!"

That was a reminder that the two of them were not alone. The others were there, having their own conversations. Moon had filtered them out to live in her own sad state, but Rarity's words had reached her. "Not to contradict you, Rarity, but where else would she put it?"

Rarity opened her mouth, just to slowly closing it with a frown. "Hm. Surely they have some manner of cargo train?"

Spike hopped down. "Well, I doubt 'Bloomberg' will mind some company. Gonna get some sleep."

Rainbow suddenly thrust a container at him. "Could you pop this popcorn before you go?"

"No." He fired a thumbs up instead at Moon and dashed off towards sleep.

Moon watched him retreat with a smile. "Rainbow, bring that here."

Rainbow flew in closer to Moon, grunting. "Why do we have to carry that thing all the way over there?"

Pinkie perked up. "Do you mean Bloomberg?"

Rainbow smirked, snapping back, "No, we're gonna carry Fluttershy there."

"Fluttershy isn't a tree, silly." Pinkie stuck out her tongue at the absurd notion that Fluttershy could be the one.

"I'd like to be a tree."

Moon ignored the strange exchange, focusing instead on the container of popcorn with her glowing horn and intense stare. Pops filled the air as she encouraged them to explode into corn-filled delights for Rainbow to enjoy. "There you are."

Rainbow quickly snatched some popcorn to chew on. "Wow! Unicorn popcorn! Tastes different than dragon popcorn, who woulda known?"

Moon inclined her head. "One involves the flammable gas of a dragon, and the other is entirely magically driven. That they produce different tastes is logical enough. Technically, when Spike cooks like that, you're tasting a little of him."

Rarity went faintly green at the idea. "I don't want to eat Spike, thank you very much."

Fluttershy made a slow wave. "The circle of life." She didn't seem that upset about the idea. "That was sudden of him. I don't know Spike to be so... curt."

Moon hopped up on her seat. "Creating flames is not a zero effort activity. He's been warming all of your snacks this whole trip and is tired."

Applejack closed the door leading towards her tree. "Spike said he'd take over, so it's time fer bed."

"An excellent idea," got out Rarity in the middle of a yawn. "Let's get our rest, so we're ready for tomorrow."

With soft mutters, they all withdrew to their beds in the shared car. It was sleep time.

At least until the buffalo arrived, thumping the train in great heaves of their massive forms. A smaller one of them sprinted across the rooves, dodging past Rainbow's attempts to get involved. She yanked the pin that connected the last car to the others and the other buffalo helped it move in the opposite direction, Spike and Bloomberg with it.

The train didn't stop, carrying them the rest of the way to Appleloosa. Moon paced with a scowl. "This is enitrely unacceptable! Spike could be in danger..."

"Ah'll tell my cousin when we show up. We'll get Spike back, and Bloomberg. Shoot, that's what we came here fer in the first place! Can't not have that tree after all that." Applejack stepped off the stopped train to see an earth pony stallion waving at her excitedly. "In fact, there he is! Breaburn!"

Breaburn approached with a big smile. "Cous'! And ya brought yer friends, mighty fine. Can't wait to show you 'round town." He was not joking. He could not wait, not even a moment. He began showing them around town without any further delay, or letting Applejack get a word in edge-wise.

"Now listen here!" She grabbed him by the shoulders, finally stopping the whirlwind tour. "Ya got a mighty fine town here, mighty fine, but some creatures took our friend an' the tree ah brought. Big!" She spread her hooves wide. "Wit' horns, no magic. Rin' any bells?"

"Aw shoot..." Braeburn deflated with the news and began to share the story of their conflict with the Buffalo. Pinkie and Rainbow slip away on their own. It was more surprising that a third pony had joined them.

Pinkie half-pounced Moon. "Welcome aboard! But what made you come with us? We figured you'd stay in the town."

"While Spike is out here, maybe in danger? I should hope not. Which way are we going?"

Rainbow shrugged grandly. "Well, you're here. You got spells an' stuff. Got a Spike detection spell?"

"Actually..." It just hadn't occured to her to use it. She lit up her horn and turned in place left and right. "This... No... This way!" She pointed ahead and began marching. "Spike is this way. Let's rescue him."

A pity they were found before they found Spike, sorrounded by several angry buffalo. Rainbow raised her hooves. "Alright, who's first?!"

The slender one was there, shaking her head. "The elder said you're to come with us. Will you resist?" It was almost like she hoped they would.

Pinkie shook her head quickly. "Nope! We're all headed the same way. Yay! That worked out."

Moon inclined an ear at Pinkie. "She is correct. Thank you for the escort."

This caught the buffalo by some amount of surprise. "Good... This way." She turned with the others, escorting their pony 'guests' back to their camp.

"We heard from a great and powerful dragon that you are not to be harmed," she spoke as she led the way. "Do you know Spike?"

Moon perked right up. "Yes! Is he alright?"

"Alright?" Little Strongheart smiled at that question. "He is an honored guest. What is your relationship to him?"

That was a more complicated question than she first considered. She was Spike's older sister. She was Spike's mom. She was... "He is my ward, and his safety is very important to me."

"Huh... You sound as if you are speaking the truth, which is only more mysterious..."

Rainbow flew up to her suddenly. "There'll be nothing mysterious if you hurt a single scale on his head!"

Moon grabbed Rainbow with her magic, tugging her by the tail. "They have acted in kindness so far."

"Yeah Dash." Pinkie gestured downwards. "Relax. We're all friends here!"

---

"Hey!" Spike was seated quite comfortable, waving at them as they came in closer. "Good to see you all."

Moon sped up to his side. "Are you entirely unharmed?"

"Me?" Spike hiked a thumb at himself. "Totally fine. The buffalo are actually nice." He met the hoof of one with a balled fist. "They've been treating me just fine. It was a little scary at first, but we got over that."

Rainbow looked around for a tree that wasn't there. "So where's Bloomberg?" The buffalo looked at her blankly. "The apple tree?"

"Oh," they communally replied in understanding.

Little Strongheart was ready to answer. "We took that to send a message! They planted their trees right in our traditional stampeding paths! Every year, for as many years as you can remember, and twice more, we have stampeded that path, and now we can not, because their trees are in the way!"

Pinkie rubbed at her chin. "That isn't very nice..."

"No, it is not," grunted Strongheart in agreement. "Generations of our people have used this land, just for them to move in overnight and claim it is theirs!"

Rainbow clopped her hooves. "That isn't fair! We should do something about that."

Moon weighed the matters with literal tiltings of her two hooves up and down. "They have built a town, and require the trees for sustenance. Ponies are not that good at surviving in desert climates without such support."

Strongheart frowned at Moon Dancer. "Then they should have considered that before moving to a desert to begin with! We buffalo have lived in harmony with the sands of the desert without a problem for years on years. We don't need to change it to survive and thrive here. Why should we have to accept their needs over our own!"

Rainbow nodded in growing solidarity. "Yeah! The buffalo were here first, they should get first dibs on how the land's used, which means not parking in the middle of their trail like that. Way uncool."

Strongheart suddenly turned, matching others who bowed in respect as a large and elderly buffalo joined them. "Greetings. I am Chief Thunderhooves. I heard there are guests, with questions." He sank to the ground. "And I will answer them as best I am able."

Moon wandered towards Thunderhooves. "Excellent. Glad to meet you. I'm Moon Dancer." She waved at herself. "I came to retrieve my ward, Spike." She waved at him. "Thank you for taking good care of him. Now, I have a few questions about your herd, if I may? I would like to be informed before deciding on my course of action."

"Duh." Rainbow drifted in closer. "We go to town and tell them to stop being jerks to these nice buffalo!"

Pinkie raised a hoof. "Or... We could become friends! And share?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes at that idea. "Stop being ... That thing where you think the best thing will happen?"

"Idealist?" offered Moon Dancer.

"That. Stop being that." Rainbow twirled to the elder. "Tell them!"

Author's Note:

Wait, but the phoenix! Dang it... Guess we have to come back for that.

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Comments

[Venerable Ro]

Ah yes, the one where Pinkie does not discover an untapped gift for burlesque.

[raven618]

11322330
I think it was Can-can.

[Moonlight_Mist]

11322334
The can-can is a dance. Burlesque is a whole genre of live entertainment that includes provocative dance. I think Ro said burlesque because of Pinkie's dress that famously started the wingboner thing.

[Booster Spice]

Poor Spike. It aint his fault the Pian went all Olo on him?

Food fight?

Heavy weapon pie?

[Tangent]

In this instance, Moon Dancer, you should listen to Pinky Pie rather than Rainbow Dash. You managed to get yourself into the position of being able to gain pertinent information from the otherwise more difficult to research source, and can get the other half of the information when you return to Appleoosa.

Although you might want to nip Pinky's Sharing & Caring song in the bud. Right now she's still at the point where she doesn't always hit the mark when improvising song and dance routines.

[TheGJ90]

It is amazing how a single change in canon lore can throw an entire story into a completely different direction!

I am enjoying Moon Dancer slowly growing up to be a pony that has many of her canon qualities while still being a pony that is unique to this tale. Seeing how different Twilight and Applejack turn out to be compared to their canon selves has been fun as well.

Now, I have many questions (SPOILER WARNING FOR FOLKS WHO HAVEN'T READ AS FAR AS "Aaaapleloosa" YET!):

Is Diamond Tiara actually using Spike for her own purposes or is there a genuine attraction involved?

How will the fact that the Element of Magic is shared between Moon Dancer and Twilight affect the outcome of Return of Harmony? Will Discord's tricks make Moon Dancer regress?

Which one of them will become an Alicorn Princess? Twilight, Moon Dancer, or both?

How long will it take before the Mane Mamas' adventures become too wild for them to handle? (and here I thought the Cutie Mark Crusaders were daring!)

On a scale of 1 to 10, how terrible will the Grand Galloping Gala be for the Mane 7?

[David Silver]

11336302
Oh goodness! Many of those are things that will be answered as we reach them in the story, and so are spoilers! Diamond and Spike would like to know that. It's a confusing, but kinda nice, time for both of the younglings.

[TheGJ90]

11336305
Yeah, I knew not to expect answers to those questions, just noting what I'm thinking about as I read the story.

Oh man, when this tale gets to the later seasons (looks at a certain pair of unicorns off in the distance)... I am excited, as you can tell.

I look forward to the future chapters!

[Zaveryn]

Fluttershy made a slow wave. "The circle of life." She didn't seem that upset about the idea.

This line is pretty hilarious.

[Victor07]

"I'd like to be a tree."

No you wouldn't