Equestrian Rim

by Visharo

Dodge City

The girls rushed inside and and only stopped when they reached the table containing a magical map. Said map currently had five cutie marks floating above a location.

"Dodge City?" Rainbow cocked her head to the side, slightly confused. "What's there?"

"Um, ah think a Jaeger factory and a branch of the Apple family. 'Sides that, I dunno." Applejack looked at the map more closely.

"Hold on girls! Something incredible has happened!" Twilight received four blank stares. "The Cutie Mark called on five of us. Not Rarity. This has been the first time this has happened! I gotta take notes...Spike! Grab a notebook and a quill..." The alicorn started muttering to herself.

"No R-Rarity? Is she okay? W-what if she got hurt o-or worse?" Fluttershy stammered, clearly scared.

"Nah, she's fine! She is really sad though." Pinkie's ears drooped for a second before perking back up. "We can bring a party to her!"

Applejack watched as the pink pony started pulling random objects out of what seems to be thing air and then stuffing it in her poofy mane. "Ah don't know how she does it, never have, never will."

"Come on girls! We go to Dodge and then go back to finding Rarity. The map has never led us wrong!" Rainbow grinned, trying to get Twilight to stop writing things down. The two did a little tug of war with the notebook before Applejack snatched it away from both of them.

"Time to save Rarityyy!" Pinkie bounced out of the castle, a balloon tied to her back, making her jumps a little bit higher.

"Aren't we going to Dodge City though? T-the map doesn't tell us what the friendship problem is, why does Pinkie think we're going to Rarity?." Fluttershy asked, her eyes looking downward. Then she looked up, everypony was further ahead. Fluttershy flew to catch up, offering a timid apology.

***

The train ride there was uneventful, unless you count a shouting match over who the best Wonderbolt is. Twilight stopped Rainbow just before she was about to kick that pony's flank into Trottingham. After that incident, the car wisely stayed quiet.

"We made it!" Twilight smiled as she got off the train, which fell immediately. The town was a trash dump. Jaeger parts were scattered everywhere, ponies walking everywhere with tools in hoof or magic. There were even a couple of griffons with metal and circuitry.

"Oh dear." Fluttershy shrunk behind Applejack, the only pony from the group who has actually seen the Jaeger workshop.

"I wonder if that pony knows that metal he is using is actually a really weak aluminum." Pinkie stated before stepping to one side. Her friends looked at her in confusion; then they noticed the twitchy tail. Twilight wisely followed the pink pony's lead right before a conn-pod smashed the surrounding metal to scrap.

"Right, follow me. Might as well show ya what's happenin' here." Applejack led the group past two earth ponies bickering about how to weave circuitry right. "Those two are brothers, own the second largest Jaeger manufacturing company in Equestria."

"Darn right we are. The name's Rivets, what'cha gals doin' here, all by your lonesome?" The brother with a red coat and a purple mane shook his hooves with Applejack before tipping his hat to the other four.

"We are looking for a problem, something friendship related. Have you noticed anything wrong in town recently? Maybe two friends no longe..." Twilight started before getting interrupted by Pinkie's random antics.

"GASP! My Pinkie Sense is tingling!" The pink mare took off, leaving the brothers staring with baffled expressions.

"D-Did she just say gasp?" The other brother, who had a brighter shade of red as his coat with a light blue mane. Applejack said his name was Bolt.

"Yes." Fluttershy tilted her head, her long mane flowing down in front of her eyes, as she looked at the direction where Pinkie took off in. "She's like that."

"Should we follow her?" Rainbow asked, unsure of what to do.

"Yeah, after her!" Twilight galloped forwards, her friends close behind. The two engineer brothers looked at each other, shrugged, then went back to work.

The four friends chased their pink friend through Dodge City, getting strange looks from workers and clients alike. The several times they lost Pinkie, Rainbow had to fly up and try to spot her, then resumed the chase. Applejack didn't have time to marvel at how Jaegers were being built right before her very eyes, though she would like to. Something about doing the work yourself makes her appreciate things more. It's why Applejack always hated it when Jaegers got destroyed.

She got snapped out of her musings when she ran full tilt at a cart full of green veggies. "My cabbages!"

***

Pinkie Pie dodged and weaved through various obstacles, ranging from creatures, workshop materials, and even Jaegers. She was aware of the others galloping after her, but she didn't dare stop. Her friend was in danger, and if experience has ever taught her anything, it is that she must always follow her Pinkie Sense.

A few moments later, Pinkie skidded to a halt in front of a warehouse. She did nothing but stare at the closed door as she waited for her friends to arrive. Something about this place made her feel sad; her will to smile was slipping. Minutes passed and Twilight and the others finally arrived.

"Where's Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked, whipping her head around to see if she could see the missing farmer, but to no avail.

"She's busy with her own arc, don't worry. We have to go in quick! No time to waste, my Pinkie Sense is almost fading!" Without waiting, Pinkie trotted up to the door and opened it. The dark filled her with dread, but as Granny Pie always says 'Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears. You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear!'

The four stepped in with caution, one of which tried very hard to find something to laugh at, but failed miserably.

"I think I found the light..." Everypony in the room gasped when the light flicked on. Including the white unicorn standing on top of a Jaeger.

"Oh dear..." With a quick flash, said unicorn was gone.

***

Applejack groaned and rubbed her head with a forehoof. Soon, the farmer got to her hooves and surveyed the area. None of her friends seemed to have realized she had fallen behind. Applejack sighed and prepared herself mentally to ask othercreatures for their help before she heard something.

"...math checks out Newt! Equestria will be gone in a month! We need to do something, but what?" A voice echoed in Applejack's head. She stilled her heart and crept closer to the voices.

"The Marshall won't hear us out, Lineage! What do you want me to do? We need physical proof, not some hypothesis."

"But science is hypotheses!" Lineage sounded exasperated. Applejack nodded, knowing the feeling.

"I know! But army ponies don't care about guesses, how many times do I have to tell you this! The only idea I've got so far is to drift with a Kaiju, but where would we get a Kaiju brain..."

"And why, Newt, is this the only idea you have? The mental state you'll be in after the drift is, is... I don't know! Nopony's insane enough to do something like that!"

"But think of the knowledge we'd get!" Newt pleaded. A silence followed and Applejack assumed the two were staring each other down.

"Alright, fine. But first we need to get a Kaiju brain!" Another silence followed this one. This one contemplative.

Applejack made her move, "Ah know where y'all can get a brain of them monsters."

Author's Note:

Apologies for being late with this post. Had things to do, you know how it is. Life being weird and all.

Mooooore arrrrrrcs...weeeeeee. I've got the hiccups, dunno what that's gotta do with anything, but I'm sleep deprived and hiccups are annoying.
Kudos to Blu, my good friend and my part time editor, because friendship.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is there going to be a squeal?

[Visharo]

11263417
maybe, not sure yet

[Alchemik]

Honestly, I'm really enjoying this. I went in thinking it would just be Pacific Rim with ponies, but you've made an interesting and original story while still hitting the primary story beats of Pacific Rim.

This is a solid fanfic, and I hope it comes off hiatus someday.

[Visharo]

11339631
Thanks! This means a lot, and to be honest, it will probably continue soon. I've felt some urges to continue the story.