Trains, Carriages and Airships

by JohnPerry

First published 26th of January, 2012

What should be a simple overnight ride turns into a three day trip from hell.

If necessity is the mother of all invention, then assumption is the mother of all screw-ups. And there's no worse time to be making assumptions than when you're traveling - especially when what should have been a simple overnight ride turns into a three day trip from hell.

Chapter One

“Ohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmygosh!” Rainbow Dash squealed excitedly. “This is going to be so awesome!”

The blue pegasus and her friends were standing on the platform of the Ponyville train station. It was late in the afternoon now – the clock above the platform read 5:46 – and the train to Manehattan was set to arrive in four minutes. Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were each loaded down with wheeled suitcases and a heavy saddlebag, while Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh were there to see them off.

“I mean, can you believe it?!” the blue pegasus continued. “We’re actually going to WonderCon!” Her eyes shone brightly as she uttered the name of the largest gathering of Wonderbolts and their fans in the world.

Applejack chuckled. “Yes RD, we’ve only heard you talkin’ ‘bout it nonstop for the past three weeks.”

“Well excuse me for being excited!” Dash shot back playfully. “It’s not every year that the legendary Mustang attends WonderCon! He’s the greatest Wonderbolt of all time! And we’re actually going to get to see him!” She put her front hooves to her chin and squealed with delight at the word ‘see’.

“And think of all the amazing things to do in Manehattan!” Twilight Sparkle said, her voice filled with wonder. “The lights, the architecture, all the ponies…we could go see the Equestrian State Building, Central Park, Thyme Square, the Manehattan Public Library-“

“Yeah, cause what better way to spend your vacation from a library than going to an even bigger library?” Spike muttered sarcastically. Twilight didn't respond, either because she didn’t hear or chose to ignore her assistant.

“Are you sure your aunt and uncle won’t mind us staying at their place?” the purple unicorn asked Applejack. The farmer nodded in response.

“Don’t you worry about it,” she replied. “Ah sent a letter to them weeks ago letting them know we’re coming, an’ Aunt and Uncle Orange would never refuse. They might be city ponies, but they’re family – an’ if there’s one thing that runs in our family it’s hospitality!”

“Look!” Pinkie Pie yelled, pointing up the train tracks with one of her hooves. “I think that’s your ride!” Sure enough, there was a train approaching the station. A moment later it gave a blast on its whistle to signal its arrival in Ponyville.

“Last chance to change your minds about not coming!” Rainbow Dash announced to those present who would not be making the trip.

“Oh darling, you know I would love to come,” Rarity replied sincerely. “But I’ve got several work orders I have to finish for Fancy Pants and I just can’t spare the time!”

“I would love to come too,” Fluttershy said quietly. “But Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are expecting a child soon! Oh, it’s so exciting for them and I just couldn’t stand to be away when it happens!”

“And my sister is coming to Ponyville for her birthday!” Pinkie Pie squealed with delight. “It’s going to be so much fun; we’ve been planning this for months! Well, actually I’ve been planning this for months, since I told her I would take care of everything. And I do mean everything!” At this she reached into her tail and pulled out a scroll of parchment which unfurled out on to the ground and then continued rolling across the platform and on to the tracks. Dash briefly caught sight of the words ‘Construct second party cannon’ on the list before Pinkie gave the parchment a single whip and it flew into the air, rolling into a neat scroll once more.

“Well, your loss I guess,” Dash shrugged. The approaching train gave off another blast on its whistle as it entered the station and slowed to a halt. The engine gave a loud hiss (which caused Fluttershy to jump in surprise) as the conductor hopped off the train. Within a moment, he was taking tickets from the boarding passengers.

“Alright Apple Bloom, be good while Ah’m gone!” Applejack said, hugging her little sister. “Listen to yer big brother an’ don’t get in trouble!”

“When do Ah ever get in trouble?” Apple Bloom asked innocently. Her sister responded by giving her a playful noogie.

“Now y’all be careful in the big city, y’hear?” Granny Smith told Applejack.

“Ah, don’t ya worry Granny Smith, I can handle myself!” Applejack replied.

“I know, but it’s yer friends I’d be worried about,” the elderly pony said, winking at her granddaughter and causing her to chuckle.

“So you’ll take good care of the library while I’m gone, right?” Twilight asked her dragon assistant intently. “My checklist is on the kitchen table and the emergency library kit is under my bed.”

Spike gave the unicorn a salute. “You can count on me!” he said confidently.

Using their tails to wheel their suitcases behind them, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Rainbow Dash approached the conductor and handed their tickets over. As they boarded the train they paused to wave goodbye to their friends. After a trading of farewells between them the three travelers retreated into the depths of the train. The conductor hollered “ALL ABOARD!” before shutting the doors as the train blew its whistle and, with a loud cranking of the massive engine wheels, began to slowly move once more.

The remaining ponies on the platform watched as the train pulled out of the station, some of them chasing after it until they reached the end of the platform. The train picked up speed and together they watched it recede into the distance, giving a final blast on its whistle as it turned a corner and vanished from sight.

Once the train was gone, Spike turned to the others with a sly grin on his face. “So…tonight at seven, then?”

“Yep a-doodle!” Pinkie replied enthusiastically before inhaling deeply and screaming at the top of her lungs to get the attention of everypony within earshot.

“PARTY AT THE LIBRARY TONIGHT! EVERYPONY INVITED! BRING YOUR FRIENDS, CAUSE IT’S GONNA BE HUGE!”

Twilight, Dash and Applejack proceeded down the aisle towards the rear of the train, struggling slightly with the uneven floor that occasionally caught the wheels of their suitcases. They were currently passing through the fourth train carriage they had entered so far, having failed to find three available bunks in close proximity to each other.

“Shoot, this train is crowded!” Applejack commented. “Ah didn’t realize the overnight to Manehattan was so popular.” She was then forced to halt as another passenger reached out to retrieve a bag from her friend across the aisle before continuing onward.

“There may not be any adjacent bunks left,” Twilight muttered. “We may have to just settle for whatever is left over.”

“Hold on, we haven’t seen the whole train yet,” Dash pointed out, indicating the train carriage behind the one they were currently in.

“Alright, but I don't think there's any more carriages after that one,” Twilight explained. “I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Dash.”

The pegasus shrugged and opened the back door. The three travelers briefly stepped outside to cross into the next carriage. Outside, they could barely hear the chugging sound of the engine over the click-clack of the carriages as the train sped down the tracks. When they opened the door to the last carriage, they each gasped slightly at what they saw.

It was completely empty. Every single bunk was available.

“SCORE!” Dash cried triumphantly, racing inside. She was quickly followed by Twilight and Applejack, both of them astounded at their good fortune.

“Golly, there’s nopony in here!” the earth pony exclaimed with a hint of disbelief in her voice.

“We really lucked out!” her unicorn friend said in agreement, examining each bunk to make sure nopony else was there. “Never mind finding three adjacent bunks for all of us, we could pick three bunks for each of us!”

“Cool, we really are at the back of the train!” their pegasus friend called from the rear of the carriage. Dash opened the door and Twilight could make out the small open-air platform at the end of the carriage. From this perspective, the tracks appeared not to move even as the trees and fences the train passed raced by them.

The three travelers spent another moment admiring their carriage before choosing their bunks. Despite Twilight’s earlier statement, she insisted that they choose three adjacent bunks in case anypony else entered the carriage. The unicorn chose one of the lower bunks and Applejack plopped down on the bunk above. Rainbow Dash took the upper bunk opposite them, tossing her luggage on to the bunk beneath her. She stretched out on the bed with her front hooves behind her head and turned to look over at her friends. She noticed Twilight using her magic to open her largest suitcase and retrieve several books out of it.

“Don’t tell me,” Dash said to the unicorn in a slightly mocking tone. “You’re doing homework.” Applejack, now curious, leaned over her bunk to see what her friend was up to.

“Don’t be silly!” Twilight laughed. “I did all my homework that was due this week last week. This is just some light reading.”

“Light readin’?” the earth pony cried in disbelief. “Twi, that there book is about the size of Apple Bloom!”

“Magical Metaphysics: Principles, Connections and Applications,” the pegasus read off the cover of the unicorn’s book. She yawned mockingly. “Wow. That sounds fascinating.”

“Well I think it is!” Twilight cried, blushing slightly and looking a little hurt. “Fine,” she huffed before putting the book away. “What do you think we should do, then?”

“Me?” Dash replied, taken aback. “Well, I dunno…hey, let’s talk about how awesome WonderCon is going to be!” she suggested enthusiastically.

Applejack sighed. “Ah’m all for chattin’, but can we talk about somethin’ besides WonderCon? It’s all Ah’ve been hearin’ about all week.”

“Oh, I know!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed, brightening up. “We can go over our travel plans and decide what to see in Manehattan!” She levitated a copy of the Friendly Planet Manehattan Travel Guide out of her suitcase, which looked quite worn from all the times its owner had consulted it in the past few weeks. “So tomorrow morning our train will arrive at Grand Central Terminal. Obviously the first thing we should do after arriving is head to Applejack’s relatives’ place and then we can go sightseeing. Now Applejack, you’ve been to Manehattan. Do you think we should see the Clydesler Building or Rockefilly Center first?”

“Shoot, Ah don’t know Twi,” the farmer responded, sitting against the wall at the end of her bunk and lowering her hat over her eyes. “Ah told ya, Ah wasn’t there for very long an’ that was years ago. A lot’s probably changed since.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Dash cried out. “We have to go see a Bronclyn Dodgers game! They’re the best hoofball team in the leagues right now! I heard it’s supposed to be so much fun to watch!”

“And we could walk across the Bronclyn Bridge to get there!” Twilight said excitedly. “It’s the longest bridge in the world and I read that the views of Manehattan from it are breathtaking!”

“Ah wanna see a show,” Applejack joined in. “Not one of ‘em fru-fru Broncway things, that’s Rarity’s deal,” she clarified, catching the look on Dash’s face. “Ah mean somethin’ fun. We could go Stephen Coltbert, or Jimmy Foalon or even Lettermare! Ah hear she’s real funny!”

The three ponies spent the next couple of hours discussing what they would do when they got to Manehattan, which given their diverse interests covered a wide variety of attractions. But with three days to enjoy the city before the first day of WonderCon, there would be plenty of time to take in the sights. The travelers continued to chat, Twilight forming a detailed itinerary while the other two suggested that with so much to see they should just play it by ear. After much deliberation they settled on a plan somewhere between these two approaches, breaking down the city into smaller sections that they could explore while setting aside time for shows.

Through the entire conversation each of them spoke excitedly of what was to come, eagerly anticipating their time together in the most cosmopolitan city in all of Equestria. Even Applejack, who had abandoned the city to return to her life on the farm, was looking forward to seeing the city through the eyes of a grown mare. What's more, this time she would be accompanied by two of her best friends. It would also be nice to catch up with Aunt and Uncle Orange after all these years, even if they didn’t always see eye-to-eye.

Several hours had passed since they boarded the train before Twilight finally suggested that they get some sleep. The unicorn snuffed out the candle in the lantern before pulling the covers over her. As she lay her head on the pillow, she considered their good fortune. The train had stopped at a couple more towns but nopony had yet to enter their carriage, which allowed them to be as talkative and noisy as they wanted before they finally turned in for the night. She pulled the covers tighter around her and smiled inwardly at their good luck.

It would be the last time such thoughts crossed her mind on this trip.

Several hours later, in the dead of night, the train slowed to a stop along a rail siding located miles from the nearest settlement. None of the passengers took notice, as they were all sleeping comfortably. Nor did they take notice of the conductor who proceeded towards the rear of the train and uncoupled the last carriage from the rest of the train. He leaned over the side to signal the engineer at the front of the train before trotting back inside. The train began to slowly pull away and with a harsh metallic rattling the mechanisms joining the carriages unlocked and disconnected. The train pulled away, leaving the carriage alone on the tracks, its three occupants completely unaware of what was happening.

A while later another train approached, traveling in the opposite direction than the one that had left the carriage behind. It slowed as it passed the carriage before coming to a halt a short distance away. A few seconds later it began moving backwards, crossing from the main track into the siding. With a surprisingly delicate push for such a large machine, it nudged into the carriage and the coupling mechanism fell into place with a loud click. Inside, a blue pegasus grunted in her sleep, the only response from any of the carriage’s passengers to what was happening. With a soft chugging sound, the engine began proceeding forward, carrying its new load along a set of tracks heading south.

The morning sun filtered through the small break in the curtains, its golden rays accomplishing their daily task of shining right into the face of as many poor ponies as they possibly could. Rainbow Dash squinted, holding a hoof over her eyes as she tried to block out the intrusive light, but it would not relent. The pegasus struggled to reenter the dream she had just been so rudely ejected from but was ultimately forced to admit defeat and resign herself to the waking world. Rising to a sitting position, she yawned deeply and stretched out her hooves and wings.

“Hey!” Dash whispered loudly, leaning over her bunk. “Are you awake?”

“Mmmfh,” came a response from the lower bunk. Twilight was lying with her face buried in her pillow, raising it at the sound of her friend’s voice. Her mane was messy, several hairs sticking out at odd angles. She had shadows beneath her eyes, which were barely open. “I guess I am now…” she muttered dejectedly.

A snort came from the bunk above Twilight, the result of a snore that got interrupted midway through. Applejack’s eyes flew open, taking in her surroundings for a moment before deciding to speak. “Are we all up now?” she asked.

Twilight levitated a brush out of her satchel and started fixing her hair, her eyes remaining mostly closed as she did so. A slight frown crossed her face, as if a bug had landed on her nose. It was the sign of a stray thought entering the unicorn’s mind and occupying her attention, despite her lacking the presence of mind to fully articulate it in her sleep-addled state.

“Maybe it’s just me, but…” Twilight trailed off, looking for the right words. “Does something feel…off to you?”

“Now that you mention it,” Applejack began, looking around her as if expecting the answer to present itself. “Ah do feel like there’s somethin’ going on, like somethin’s…changed.”

“Aw, who cares?” Dash replied from her bunk, stretching herself out one more time. “It’s morning, which means we’re about to arrive in…Manehattan!” she cried, throwing open her curtains with a flourish as she spoke that last word. After the several seconds it took her eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight, her face fell.

“Um…guys?” the pegasus muttered quietly. “I may not know much about Manehattan, but…” She turned to Twilight and Applejack, who now saw traces of fear on their friend’s face.

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t it,” Dash finished, her voice strangely quiet.

Applejack and Twilight threw open their curtains and stared outside. No, this most definitely was not Manehattan. There were no tall buildings, no wide rivers, no gleaming signs, no bright lights, no bustling streets, and no crowds of ponies. In fact, for that matter, there were no ponies anywhere in sight. Not a single one.

There was only sand and cacti as far as the eye could see. Before them lay a scrubby desert which stretched out to a line of craggy mountains on the horizon beneath a brilliantly blue sky. It was a beautiful sight, one that the three travelers were in no condition to appreciate given their states of shock.

“Where are we?” Applejack cried, trying to make sense of the situation.

“Hang on a second…” Twilight muttered. “The train…we’re moving…”

And that’s when Twilight and Applejack realized what had been bothering them since they woke up. That strange sensation that told them that something was wrong, that something had changed since last night, was suddenly answered in an epiphany that struck the two ponies like a lightning bolt at the same instant.

“WE’RE MOVING BACKWARDS!”

Authors note: the "Clydesler Building" pun was originally written by Gravekeeper for his fic The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle, and he graciously gave me permission to use it here.

Chapter Two

“Welcome to Salt Lick City!” the station attendant cheerfully greeted the three travelers standing before him. “Granted, it ain’t much of a city now, but just you wait! This town’s gonna be a-booming and a-bustling before you know it!”

Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked around at their surroundings. To say the town wasn’t much of a city was a colossal understatement. It was a fraction of the size of Ponyville, the entire town consisting of little more than a single street which stopped after only a couple of blocks. It was barely any bigger than Appleloosa – in fact, the layout of the town and the overall look were very similar, being located in the southwest region of Equestria.

But what made Salt Lick City notably different from Appleloosa was its namesake; salt. The town sat in the shadow of a series of pink and white cliffs which contained some of the biggest salt deposits in the world. And even from miles away, the smell of the Great Salty Lake was plainly evident to the three mares.

“Ugh…” Dash groaned, holding a hoof over her nose. “It smells so…salty.” Her eyes were watering slightly at the sheer concentration of the stuff in the air.

“Biggest salt producer in all of Equestria!” the station attendant boasted, beaming. We’ve got rock salt, sea salt, strong salt, light salt, white salt, pink salt and gray salt! Care for a free sample?” he asked, pulling out a tray with several cubes of salt, each with slight variations in crystal size and color.

“Um…maybe later,” Twilight answered uncertainly. “But right now we really need some help.”

After they had realized that their train carriage was moving in the opposite direction from last night, the three ponies had rushed up the train to find the conductor, who wasn’t even the same pony from the day before. He explained to the panicking mares that they had slept in a carriage destined for Salt Lick City, going so far as to point out a small sign next to the door of their carriage with the words “Destination: Salt Lick City” that the three mares had failed to notice the day before. Now they were standing on the platform, their luggage sitting in a pile next to them as they tried to figure out their next course of action.

“Shoot, I’m real sorry to hear about that,” the station attendant said sympathetically after Twilight explained their situation. “I always said they need to make ‘em signs in the carriages bigger, for ponies to see ‘em!”

“Well it’s no use griping over it now,” Applejack said sternly. “Could you tell us when’s the next train out of here?"

“Not for another week, I’m afraid,” the station attendant answered apologetically. “But there’s a couple of nice places to stay in town if you’re-“

“A WEEK?!?” Rainbow Dash screamed, grabbing the attendant by the shoulders. “We can’t stay here a week! WonderCon is in only three days!”

Applejack grabbed her friend’s rainbow-colored tail between her teeth and gave it a mighty tug, pulling Dash away from the attendant. “Calm down, Rainbow!” she admonished the pegasus. “Getting mad at him won’t do us any good!”

“But we can’t stay here!” the pegasus yelled, shuddering at the thought. “Twilight, you can teleport! Can’t you just zap us all to Manehattan?”

“I don’t think I can, Rainbow,” Twilight answered. “Teleporting more than one creature at the same time is very difficult, not to mention that the distance to Manehattan is immense! I'm afraid it's just not feasible.”

“Well then think of something else!” Dash pleaded. “You’ve gotta have a plan, right?”

Twilight rubbed a hoof along her chin, smiling slightly as an idea occurred to her. “Actually, I think I just might.” She turned to face the station attendant. “Excuse me sir, but do you have a map of Equestria with all the roads and rail lines?”

“As a matter of fact, I believe I do!” the attendant answered enthusiastically, reaching into his booth to retrieve the requested object. A second later he pulled his head back out, clutching a fold-up map between his teeth with the words Rand McNeighly Equestria Travel Map printed on the map’s cover. Twilight took it with her magic and unfurled it in mid-air, levitating it in front of her face. She spotted the main rail line that ran from Canterlot east to Manehattan (which Ponyville was a stop along) and then traced her hoof along a spur line that led southwest, finally terminating at a small dot labeled “Salt Lick City.” Rainbow Dash and Applejack watched their friend as her gaze followed a thinner line representing a road leading east to…

“Fillydelphia!” Twilight suddenly cried out, causing her friends to jump back with surprise. The unicorn laid the map out on the ground to show her fellow travelers. “Look, here we are,” she indicated, pointing at the dot representing Salt Lick City. “And if we follow this road it will lead us right to Fillydelphia. From there we can take a train right to Manehattan!” Here she indicated the main rail line connecting the two cities. “Now judging from the distance, and assuming this map is accurate, that’s about a day’s hike. If we started now and kept a steady pace, we could probably get to Fillydelphia by tonight!”

“I reckon that’s about correct, so long as you ponies are in good shape,” the station attendant nodded in agreement.

“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash cried.

Applejack spent a moment staring at the map, thinking over Twilight’s idea before giving the unicorn a skeptical look. “Ah dunno Twi, we could do that in a day if we were equipped for a hike. But loaded down with all this,” she paused, gesturing to the pile of luggage sitting next to them, “Ah reckon it’d take us a lot longer than a day.”

Twilight considered this for a second before turning to the station attendant. “Sir, is there a place in town where we could rent a carriage?”

An hour later the three travelers were trotting down a well-worn road leading away from Salt Lick City. They had rented the cheapest carriage available from a rental agency in town, a small flatbed two-wheeler just large enough to carry a few ponies or a small mountain of luggage. Now ready, the three ponies had tossed all of their bags on it and began making the trek. Being the strongest of the trio, Applejack volunteered to pull the carriage for the first leg of the journey. Twilight and Rainbow Dash trotted alongside, with Dash occasionally taking to the air for a brief moment or two, sometimes resting in the carriage for the purpose of annoying Applejack, who would shout at the pegasus to get off and maybe even threaten to stop moving if she wouldn’t.

“Gosh darn it, Rainbow!” the earth pony said angrily when this happened for the fourth time. “Ah told you before to cut it out already!”

“Aw, but it’s so comfortable back here!” Dash mocked, lying atop a couple of their saddlebags. “Besides, I got to be well-rested for when I meet the Wonderbolts!”

“With how much you rest, it’s a wonder you’ve ever been awake long enough to meet the Wonderbolts at all,” the farmer grumbled.

“Jealous much, Applejack?” the pegasus shot back. “Hey, Manehattan is a big town, maybe there’s an Applecon there where you can meet up with all the other apple farmers?” she chuckled. “You can get apples autographed and meet all the most famous apple farmers, and then trade apple growing secrets and sing songs about apples.”

“For your information, there is an Applecon!” Applejack replied, her tone completely sincere and mildly defensive. “’Cept we don’t autograph apples, that’s just silly and a waste of good eatin’. That an’ Applecon’s in Fillydelphia, seeing how sunny it is down there. If ya like, Ah can even take you,” she suggested, grinning slyly at the thought of the brash pegasus being stuck in a place she would have no interest in.

“Yeah, no thanks,” Dash said, idly waving a hoof and giving the earth pony an annoyed look.

“Ah still need you to get off, RD,” Applejack reminded the pegasus.

“I still don’t want to,” Dash replied indifferently.

Twilight, who was getting thoroughly annoyed with her friends' bickering by this point, rolled her eyes at their hardheadedness. “Rainbow, could you please get off the carriage?” she snapped at the pegasus. “I shouldn’t have to remind you that we’re never going to get to WonderCon if we keep at this pace.”

“Sheesh, I was just having a little fun…” Dash grumbled, but complied with her friend’s request. She fluttered down and began trotting alongside the unicorn. The pegasus sighed and looked around at the desert surrounding them. “Ugh…I just want to be somewhere already, you know? Are you sure we can still get to Manehattan on time? Cause we’re a long way from…well, anything,” she pointed out.

“We won’t just get there on time, we’ll get there with time to spare!” the unicorn declared. “Don’t you worry, we’ll get to Fillydelphia sometime tonight, and then all we have to do is take the next train to Manehattan! This is just a little delay, that’s all! We’ll be there by tomorrow!”

“Good,” Dash replied, speaking more to herself than to Twilight. “Yep, just a delay, that’s all it is…soon, I’ll be in Manehattan, talking to Spitfire and Soarin’ again, and meeting all the others…Fleetfoot and Speedster and…Mustang.” She spoke the last name with obvious reverence in her voice. “The greatest Wonderbolt of all time…oh, it’s going to be so awesome! I just wish we could be there already, you know? I can hardly wait!”

“Well, just keep focused on the goal Rainbow,” Twilight encouraged her friend, hoping to keep the pegasus’ mind occupied.

“Right!” Dash replied. “Eyes on the prize!” she said, a keen excitement creeping into her voice and her gaze becoming steely, as if she was about to take part in a race.

The sun rose higher over the desert plain they were passing through, roasting the ground the three travelers trotted upon. Cacti and dry, scrubby bushes dotted the dusty landscape, which stretched out to the jagged shapes of craggy hills in the distance. The three travelers passed by twisting red and brown-colored rock formations that towered over the surrounding plain beneath a gloriously blue sky. There was virtually no wind, which had the benefit of no dust being blown into the air but the drawback of offering the ponies no relief from the increasing heat.

Just as the sun began to reach the apex of its arc across the sky, Applejack paused, using a hoof to wipe the sweat off her forehead before pulling her hat off to use it to fan herself. “Whoof…” she panted. “It sure is gettin’ hot…” She squinted up at the sun, grimacing at its glare.

“Do you want me to take the reins for a while?” Twilight offered. Applejack nodded appreciatively and removed the harnesses tying her to the carriage. The unicorn levitated the harnesses over herself, strapping them on before trotting forward confidently.

Only to trip and fall into the dirt.

Rainbow Dash burst into laughter, nearly falling onto the ground as she watched her unicorn friend struggle with the harness, tugging at the carriage but failing to move it a single inch.

“Grrfh…” Twilight grunted, straining to pull the carriage forward. “Applejack, you made this look so easy! How did you…hrrgh…move this?!”

“Ah won’t lie, it ain’t light,” the earth pony replied. “You sure you want to take over?”

“You’ve done enough for now,” the unicorn answered. “It’s time I helped out.” But despite all her effort, she couldn’t muster the strength to pull the carriage further than a few inches.

“So Twilight, still want to bring along all that light reading?” Dash snickered.

“Okay…” Twilight heaved, breathing heavily and ignoring the pegasus. “This isn’t working…hey!” she exclaimed, brightening up. “Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ll just use my magic to move the-“

“NO!” Applejack yelled, startling the unicorn. “Ah remember what happened last Winter Wrap-Up, when you used your magic on that snow plow and couldn’t stop it from crashing!”

“That was months ago!” Twilight replied angrily, blushing slightly at the embarrassing memory. “I’ve practiced the spell, I don’t think the same thing will happen!“

“No, Twi,” Applejack insisted, glaring the unicorn down. “Ah ain’t taking that risk when all our stuff is in there.”

“Alright, alright…” Twilight muttered, giving in. “But I’m not going to be able to move this without magic.”

“Here,” Dash sighed, reaching into the carriage to pull out a second harness and strapping it around herself as she fluttered down next to Twilight. “We’ll pull it together. Honestly, I should have seen this coming.”

“Gosh Rainbow, that’s really kind of you!” Twilight exclaimed, smiling brightly at her friend.

“Hey, whatever gets us to WonderCon faster, right?” Dash began pulling the carriage forward. It took the pegasus and unicorn a moment to acclimate to each other’s pace, with Rainbow Dash being the stronger and quicker of the two. But soon enough they were pulling the carriage at the same rate Applejack had been even as the road began to get rockier and they crested a small hill.

But after another hour had passed the heat of the sun was taking its toll on Dash and Twilight, who had slowed considerably since they had started. The road was getting bumpier, the contents of the traveler’s suitcases rattling with each rock and rut the carriage passed over. The two ponies were sweating heavily, panting slightly under the heat. Both tried to keep their minds occupied to try to cope with the tedium of their task.

“Just past that rock, and then I’ll ask Applejack to take over again…” Dash thought. “Okay, just past the cactus, and then I’ll ask Applejack to take over…” she thought after they passed the rock. “Okay, now just over the ridge, and then I’ll ask Apple-“

Suddenly a horrible cracking noise filled the air and Dash and Twilight were violently yanked backward. Twilight landed hard on the ground and Dash fell on top of her in the midst of a sizeable cloud of dust.

“TWILIGHT!” The two ponies could hear Applejack’s scream over their own groans and a loud creaking sound that they couldn’t place. “DID YOU USE MAGIC?”

“No!” Twilight sputtered, coughing on the dust in the air and completely disoriented between her inability to make out anything around her and the pegasus atop her struggling to lift herself up. The dust settled just as the two ponies finally managed to pull themselves off the ground, looking back to see the source of the creaking noise. The carriage was now resting on one side, the other sticking in the air at an awkward angle.

Dash and Twilight removed their harnesses and trotted around the carriage to where Applejack was already standing. They instantly spotted the problem: one of the wheels had apparently rolled over a large stone before it snapped and detached itself from the carriage.

“You two alrigh’?” Applejack asked, receiving silent nods from the two of them in response. “Ah’m sorry I yelled at you Twilight, Ah shouldn’t have suspected you. Ah think it just broke and came off,” she continued, gesturing at the wheel. “Shoddy workmareship, Ah’d reckon,” she added darkly.

“So…either of you ever fixed a busted wheel?” Dash asked with a nervous laugh.

“Ah’ve replaced wheels,” Applejack replied, “But fixin’ one is a different matter. And we don’t have any spare wheels 'round here to replace it with. They ain’t supposed to break so easily!”

“I could try to fix it with my magic!” Twilight offered.

“Ah suppose it can't hurt to try,” Applejack said with a shrug.

Twilight bowed her head toward the broken wheel as her horn began to glow softly. The same glow appeared around the wheel, which rose into the air and began to fit itself back together, the cracks mending and vanishing as the wheel became a solid whole once more. The aura of the unicorn’s magic extended to the carriage, which rose slightly into the air, just enough to allow Twilight to position the wheel in place before she let the carriage rest on the ground again as the glow vanished.

“There we go!” the unicorn said triumphantly, turning to her friends and giving them a smugly satisfied expression as she placed a hoof on her chest and closed her eyes. “A little patch job, it’s an easy feat, and magic makes it all complete!”

The words were barely out of her mouth when the just-repaired wheel disintegrated, crumbling into dust and causing the carriage to crash to the ground once more, throwing up another cloud of dust as a couple of suitcases fell out. Twilight remained frozen in place, hoof still on her chest, but all trace of smugness now replaced by a horrified expression as she dared herself to turn around and examine the situation.

“Okay…” Twilight muttered, looking at the pile of wood shavings that had once been a working wheel. “I guess magic can’t help shoddy workmareship; that’s just treating the symptom. But no matter! I’ll just use…this!” she exclaimed, spotting a nearby rock that was about as wide around as the wheel had been. The unicorn’s horn glowed, her teeth gritted as she strained to cast a complicated spell. The rock hovered in the midst of the magical aura, shaking violently as if it was undergoing a spasm. Then with a bright burst of magical light, it transformed into a carriage wheel, similar in seemingly every way to the one that had just broke.

“There,” Twilight said, panting slightly. “It won’t stay a wheel forever, but it should do until we get somewhere where we can replace it.” She levitated it over to the carriage, using the same process as before to attach it to the vehicle.

“And now we’re good!” the unicorn said happily. “No problem whatso-“

With a loud crack, the carriage split into two, spilling its contents on to the ground. Several stray hairs in Twilight’s mane suddenly stuck outward and her left ear twitched as she watched her suitcase fall out and hit the ground, snapping open as it did so. The contents of the suitcase, which included all of the books she brought, tumbled out in an instant.

The three of them were silent for several moments, watching the dust settle around the completed ruined carriage.

“Well,” Applejack said, finally breaking the silence. “Ah guess we’re walkin’.”

Author's note: Seriously, go check out It's Always Sunny in Fillydelphia if you didn't catch the reference. It's an awesome story.

Chapter Three

“Okay, now that one. That’s gotta be a-“

“No, Rainbow.”

“But look at it shimmering, Twilight! And the size of it! Come on, it’s too big not to be a lake!”

“Trust me, it’s just another mirage.”

“Horseapples.”

A scaly reptile opened one bleary eye, distracted from his afternoon slumber by this strange conversation. He recognized the language – pony, from the sound of it – but it had been years since he had heard any creature speak it. Ponies didn’t travel into this territory frequently, as only the toughest of animals acclimated to the harsh conditions could even survive.

Now make no mistake, this reptile wasn’t required to stay. He had heard from friends about the wonders of the green lands to the east, where the living was easy, food and good company were plentiful and ponies eagerly offered a helping hoof to their animal brethren. But this reptile preferred the hermit life, the simplicity of taking only as much as necessary and spending your time examining one’s place in the universe. It wasn’t always easy, but the reptile had grown used to his existence and found it suited him fine.

From his perch atop a warm boulder, the color of which his skin blended with perfectly, the reptile swiveled one eye about, looking for the source of the noise. It was at that moment that a dark shadow passed over him. The reptile paused, wondering if it was just a stray cloud overhead.

“Hold on, I need to rest for a moment.”

The reptile’s eye swiveled upward to spot a shadowy blue mass hurtling toward him. His small but strong legs thrust into action and the reptile barely managed to avoid getting crushed by the blue mass. Scuttling along the side of the boulder, he stopped in the shadow of a crack beneath the large rock. Maybe he wouldn’t be sunbathing today.

“Ugh, why does it have to be so hot?” Rainbow Dash moaned, laying atop a dark grey boulder and using one hoof to wipe the sweat off her forehead. “How long have we been walking?”

“About half an hour,” Applejack answered, the brim of her hat visibly wet with sweat.

“Aaaauuuuuuuuggggghhhhhh…” Dash groaned, her eyes squinted shut to try and shut out the glare.

Applejack rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Twilight, who the earth pony was growing increasingly concerned about. The unicorn was panting slightly, beads of sweat running down her face. She had volunteered to use her magic to levitate their luggage, but after her exertion casting the complicated spells to fix a wheel and transform a rock into another wheel, her magical energy soon began to fail her and the three travelers were forced to pull their luggage by hoof. This wouldn’t have been a difficult task if it wasn’t for the excessive heat of the afternoon sun or the awkward little wheels on their suitcases that weren’t designed for rocky terrain.

“Maybe we should rest,” the earth pony suggested. “Find some shade in one of those cliffs over there, and wait until evening when it’s nice and cool.”

“NO,” Twilight suddenly said with such forcefulness that it caused Applejack to back away in surprise. “I am not letting a busted carriage get in my way. I said we’d make it to Fillydelphia by tonight, and I intend to hold to that.” Her eyes seemed to burn with a newfound determination. “Come on you two, stand beside me.”

“Um…why?” Dash asked as she looked up from the boulder she was laying on.

“I may not be able to teleport us all to Manehattan,” Twilight explained. “But I can at least try to get us across this desert.”

“Are ya sure, Twi?” Applejack said worriedly. “You said yerself it takes a lot of energy, and ya look mighty tired right now-“

“I’m fine, Applejack,” the unicorn growled. “Now come on, bring your bags over here. Let’s do this.”

Dash was more than eager to take up Twilight’s offer and was standing beside the unicorn in an instant, but Applejack was more wary of this plan. However, she too pulled her luggage over and took position next to Twilight.

“Right,” the unicorn said determinedly. “We’re aiming for that hill just in front of us. We’ll take this desert one line of sight at a time, all right?” Her friends nodded and braced themselves. Twilight gritted her teeth as her horn began to glow brightly, shining brighter and brighter until finally, with a violent burst of light, they vanished on the spot.

A few seconds later the three ponies suddenly appeared in a different spot with another bright flash of light, only now they were accompanied by the acrid smell of something burning. The three ponies staggered slightly, all of them singed, smoking slightly and utterly disoriented. Rainbow Dash shook her head to try and clear her dizziness while Applejack pulled her hat off to brush away the soot that had appeared on it.

“Alrigh’, let’s not do that again,” Applejack said firmly, placing her hat back on.

“Okay…” Twilight said, wobbling slightly, her eyes spinning around in their sockets. “That didn’t go quite as well as I would have hoped.” She looked around to see her two friends and all of their luggage had survived the encounter, despite the burn marks. “But we made it!” she proudly announced, gesturing at the hill they were now standing on. “Look how much ground we covered in just…“

“What is it, Twi?” Applejack asked, wondering what had caused Twilight to stop talking. It was at that moment that she spotted what had grabbed Twilight's attention. There were three sets of hoofprints and three sets of lines that looked an awful lot like they were made by three sets of very small wheels, such as those attached to the bottoms of their wheeled suitcases.

The three travelers raised their heads; their eyesight following the hoofprints and tire marks that lead down the hill and on to a desert plain before them, continuing onward until they abruptly terminated near a large boulder a substantial distance ahead of them - a very familiar looking boulder.

It was the same boulder they had just teleported from – only instead of behind them, it was once again in front of them.

The scream of frustration that erupted out of the purple unicorn’s mouth echoed across the desert plain, causing the reptile to fearfully crouch even deeper into his crack under the boulder. He definitely wouldn’t be sunbathing today.

The sun dipped toward the horizon, its rays illuminating a bank of clouds above the western horizon and casting them in fiery colors of red, orange and gold, while those clouds further to the east took on deep tones of purple and dark blue. Shafts of golden light pierced across the sky, like a set of gleaming towers set above shimmering waves of flame.

In short, it was another typical western sunset. And the only pony around to witness it yawned at the sight of it.

The pony in question was a tan-colored stallion lazing on a rocking chair on the porch of his humble ranch house. Nearby was the small town he called home. He had just finished a long day of chores and now was feeling rather bored. “Too early for dinner,” he thought to himself. “Maybe I could find Lemon Drop; she’s always in the mood to chat.” After resolving to seek out a conversation with Lemon Drop, the stallion picked himself up off his chair. It was then that a movement out of the corner of his eye grabbed his attention and banished his boredom.

It was three ponies – mares from the looks of it – who had just appeared over the small hill above town. They stood there for a moment, looking over the settlement before scrambling down the hillside in a strangely awkward manner. Even from this distance, the stallion could have sworn he heard one of them shout “Oh thank Celestia, civilization!”

“Hello?” he called out uncertainly, trying to get their attention. “Do y’all need any help?” Now that the mares came closer, the stallion could see that each of them were wearing heavy saddlebags and pulling a suitcase behind them, which explained their awkward trot down the hill. They came up to him, looking absolutely exhausted and sweating heavily.

“Howdy!” one of them, an orange earth pony, answered back. She looked like she could fit right in with the locals. “Boy, this town of yers sure is a sight for sore eyes.”

“Y’all ain’t from around here, are ya?” the stallion asked cheerfully, glancing at the heavy suitcases the three travelers were dragging.

“Gee, what gave it away?” another one, a blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane and tail, replied with heavy sarcasm in her voice. The stallion swallowed hard – apparently this wasn’t the group to be making jokes to.

“Err…y’all need anything?” he asked.

“Water would be nice,” the third, a purple unicorn, said in a raspy voice. She seemed to be in the worse shape of them all. Her face was flushed and her mane was disheveled – random hairs were sticking out at odd angles and her bangs were plastered to her forehead due to the sweat that covered her face.

The stallion led the mares around to the back of his house where he had an open tank of fresh drinking water sitting in the shadow of his house. The three travelers eagerly dropped their luggage and dived for the water, dunking their heads in the tank and taking massive gulps.

“Feelin’ better?” the stallion asked after the mares got their fill.

“Much,” the unicorn said gratefully, her mane now less disheveled even if it was soaking wet. Still, in this arid climate it would dry soon enough.

“So where are we?” the pegasus asked, splashing a little water under her outstretched wings to clear away the dust and sweat.

“Yer in Buffalo,” the stallion replied, gesturing towards the town. “Named for, well, the local buffalo herds, what else?” he chuckled before glancing at the heavy suitcases again. “Shoot, y’all look like you’ve been walking for hours. Why didn’t you get a carriage to carry all that?”

The unicorn and the pegasus shot him a look of deepest malevolence at this suggestion, with even the earth pony looking annoyed at this remark. It was enough to make the stallion gulp at the realization he had just said something very wrong.

“Actually, that reminds me,” the unicorn began. “Is there a branch of the Hayvis rental carriage agency in town?”

“Matter of fact, there is,” the stallion answered. “My friend ol’ Fortune Wheel runs the shop. For that matter, he lives there. It’s on the main street, can’t miss it,” he added, pointing out its location in town.

“Good,” the unicorn answered with a steely determination in her voice. “Come on girls, time to give somepony a piece of our mind.” The other two mares nodded and together they trotted into town, dragging their luggage with them and leaving the stallion to wonder if he would regret directing these mares to his friend.

Fortune Wheel turned out to be a kind-hearted pony, but as the sole representative of the Hayvis rental carriage company on hand, Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash felt obliged to give him an earful after they managed to find him. After sending out a few stallions to retrieve the wreck, Fortune Wheel profusely apologized for the mishap and offered another carriage free of charge. However, the three mares were wary of getting another carriage of shoddy workmareship and demanded a full refund instead, which Fortune Wheel was kind enough to give them.

Which was why the three travelers were now sitting, tickets in hoof, beside their luggage underneath a bus stop sign labeled "PONY EXPRESS”, the largest intercity bus company in all of Equestria. Buffalo was a very small town – even smaller than Salt Lick City – and lacked a train line, but it was a stop along the Dodge Junction–Fillydelphia bus line. It was dusk now and there was one remaining bus for that day, which was scheduled to arrive in Fillydelphia early the following morning.

“Boy, you three look exhausted!” commented an earth pony stallion who was sitting nearby aside a large suitcase, apparently also waiting for the bus. He was a hefty figure with a sky blue coat of fur, a bushy mustache on his upper lip and a rather cheerful expression on his face.

“Mmm,” Twilight replied, not turning to look at the stallion, instead choosing to stare off into space. She wasn’t really in the mood to talk to any more strangers at the moment.

“We just had a long walk,” answered Applejack, who was sitting nearest to the stallion and decided a friendly attempt at conversation shouldn’t be turned away so sullenly. “We’re mighty plum tuckered.”

“Oh, I can understand that,” the stallion answered sympathetically. “Walking out here in the heat, I can see that ruining anypony’s mood.” He glanced around for a moment, casting about for another topic of conversation. “So…ever traveled by bus before?” he asked. Each of them shook their head silently in response.

“Well, your mood’s probably not gonna improve much, I’ll tell you that” he said, chuckling at his own joke.

“So long as we’re at least moving towards WonderCon, I’ll be happy,” Dash glowered under her breath, just barely audible to her two friends. Like Twilight, she too was not looking at the stallion but staring straight ahead. Only where the unicorn looked tired and indifferent to her surroundings, the pegasus had her front legs crossed and had an indignant expression on her face.

A few minutes later the loud galloping of many hooves signaled the arrival of the bus. The four travelers looked up to see a standard Equestrian bus, a long carriage outfitted with coverings to protect against the weather and pulled by a team of horses and buffaloes. The words “PONY EXPRESS” were printed in large letters on the side of the bus. It proceeded into town and slowed to a halt in front of the bus stop. The team of drivers unhitched themselves from their harnesses to take a quick breather while one of the horses trotted over to the four travelers to take their tickets and stack their luggage in a compartment beneath the seats.

Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash climbed the steps up into the bus, where they saw that the inside of the vehicle consisted of a series of benches along both sides of the carriage facing forward, each bench just large enough to seat two ponies. The inside was illuminated by a series of small lanterns on both sides and was already mostly full with ponies who boarded at Dodge Junction, leaving only two remaining vacant benches near the rear of the bus. Twilight volunteered to be the one of the three who would have to sit separately of the other two, partly out of politeness but mainly because she wanted to be alone with her thoughts for a while. Applejack and Dash sat down next to each other while the unicorn shifted towards the window next to her bench.

Twilight had just managed to settle in when the stallion from earlier boarded the bus. The unicorn hoped against hope he would pick somepony else to sit next to, but luck would not smile upon Twilight. The heavy-set stallion decided to sit next to her, his mass taking up most of the bench and forcing the unicorn to squeeze against the window.

“Aaugh…” he groaned, leaning back against the bench. “Boy, these seats never get any softer, let me tell you. Oh, name’s Candy Ring, by the way,” he said, offering Twilight his outstretched hoof.

“Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn replied, forcefully wrenching a hoof out from between her body and that of the stallion before shaking his hoof.

“Oh, now that’s a really pretty name,” Candy Ring complemented Twilight as the driving team reapplied their harnesses and the bus began moving once more. “So what are you three heading to Fillydelphia for?”

“Well, we’re actually trying to get to Manehattan, as it were,” Twilight explained.

“Ooh, Manehattan,” Candy Ring said admiringly. “Big city, big city…”

“Have you been there?” Twilight asked, hopeful this stranger might know something useful about their destination.

“Me? Oh no, not yet anyway,” he laughed, reaching down with a fore hoof to one of his rear hooves on the seat. It took Twilight a moment to realize he was pulling a horseshoe off the bottom of his hoof. The moment he successfully removed the shoe, it dropped to the ground with a loud clunk and a horrid stench assaulted Twilight’s nostrils, causing her to consider hanging her head out the window for the entire ride.

“Oooohhhh, that feels good…” Candy Ring groaned, removing the rest of his horseshoes and stretching out his hooves.

The hours wore by, Candy Ring continuing to make idle chit-chat and making Twilight feel increasingly uncomfortable. She had at least remembered to grab a book out of her luggage for the ride, but the bus jostled so much that she had a difficult time following the words before she ultimately gave up. Nightfall came in earnest and the lanterns were extinguished to allow the travelers to get some sleep, but between the hard seat and the bumpy ride Twilight was having an impossible time getting any. Candy Ring, on the other hoof, fell asleep immediately, his body leaning towards the unicorn and further encroaching on her personal space as he snored loudly, which only contributed to Twilight’s current insomnia.

The unicorn glanced back to her friends, who apparently were also having difficulty sleeping. Rainbow Dash was sitting upright and had her head resting on Applejack’s shoulder while the earth pony was also sitting upright, her hat pulled over her eyes and her head resting against Dash’s. But with each bump in the road one of them would stir uncomfortably, shifting enough that the other would be disturbed as well. As Twilight watched, Dash drooled slightly on Applejack’s shoulder, causing the earth pony to yelp when she felt the unfamiliar substance touch her skin. She made a frantic motion to brush off the saliva, instead catching the pegasus in the face and causing Dash’s head to slide off the earth pony’s shoulder and land on the wooden seat with a loud smack. Both ponies awoke with a start and looked around in shock for a moment before giving each other a vicious glare and attempting to return to sleep, this time with Applejack leaning against the window in an upright position while Dash lay down on the bench, her head resting on her front hooves.

Twilight glanced at Candy Ring again, who gave a loud, shuddering snore that seemed to cause the very bench he and the unicorn were sitting on to vibrate. She sighed and looked out the window with weary, tired eyes.

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter Four

“BEEP,” the scanner in front of the three mares beeped loudly as an elderly pony ahead of them trotted through.

“Oh, for crying out loud…” Rainbow Dash groaned with her head in her hooves as the elderly pony retreated to examine herself before attempting to pass through the scanner again.

Following their long trip from Buffalo, the bus carrying them finally arrived in downtown Fillydelphia at about five in the morning. Fillydelphia was an impressive city with some tall buildings, though nothing as grand as the sights of Canterlot or Cloudsdale and certainly not nearly as breathtaking as the buildings of Manehattan promised to be. Nevertheless, Fillydelphia did strike them as a large city, though one that appeared somewhat deserted of life given the hideously early hour they had arrived.

The three travelers had entered the city utterly exhausted, Twilight having failed to get any sleep whatsoever and Applejack and Rainbow Dash not much better off. Still, the trip had given the unicorn amble time to rethink their plans given that they were arriving in Fillydelphia much later than anticipated. Now they only had two full days before WonderCon, one of which would almost entirely be taken up by the ride to Manehattan should they choose to take the train at this point. With this in mind, the unicorn decided that if they wanted to make the most of their remaining time to see the city, they should seek out a faster mode of transport. And there was only one vehicle faster than a train: an airship.

Their new plan decided upon, the three mares located a taxi to take them to the airport. The driver seemed friendly enough, although his offer to take them along the “scenic route” proved suspicious to Twilight given that it was still too dark to make out much of anything. The taxi ride lasted for a few hours, although how much of that was due to the airport’s location far outside of town or the supposed “scenic route” none of the three mares were in any position to say. They arrived at the airport just as the golden orb of the sun appeared over the eastern horizon, casting its light upon a large, misty and yet very developed field situated in the midst of a ring of rolling green hills. The main concourse was a magnificent structure of steel and glass that arced towards the heavens, its roof shaped like a piece of paper that had been caught in a stiff wind. Behind this building the three travelers could make out the distant forms of the many terminal buildings situated between large fields, the tops of the structures lined with masts to anchor the airships in place. Situated above the center of the complex was a massive tower-like cloud which provided a lookout for the pegasi who controlled the flight patterns of the surrounding area.

Even at this early hour there were already many ponies milling about the main concourse, all of them either staff at the airport or early bird travelers. The three mares proceeded to the ticket booth for Equestrian Airlines and Twilight quickly bought three tickets for the next flight to Manehattan, which was set to leave in an hour and a half. The three travelers handed over their wheeled suitcases so they could be placed in the luggage hold of the airship. Surely there would be plenty of time to make it to the gate, the unicorn had thought as she bought the tickets.

An hour later, Twilight was feeling considerably less confident. They had gotten in line for the security checkpoint behind a large group of aggravatingly slow elderly ponies. Following the recent and highly dramatic disaster of the Hüfenberg, the Equestrian Aviation Administration decided to implement new security measures to prohibit any flammable objects on large airships. Unfortunately for the three mares, the new set of regulations were enforced by a set of state-of-the-art but not very exact magically-powered scanners which picked up any potentially offending object on a pony’s body as they stepped through, even if it was perfectly harmless. The machine beeped each time one of the elderly ponies stepped through their first time, which would result each time in said pony doing a lengthy search for the object before placing it through the more reliable baggage scanner and trying again. Sometimes the same pony would pass through the scanner multiple times before finally making it through without it beeping.

“BEEP,” the scanner went off again as the same elderly mare ahead of them trotted through again. This was the third time said mare had passed through the scanner. Dash groaned loudly again.

“Eh, hold on a minute,” the elderly mare said, slowly reaching into a pocket of her vest to see if she had left something there. Her friend, the pony immediately ahead of Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack in line, began helping her.

“Um, excuse me,” Twilight nervously called to the security guards at the gate. “Would it be okay if we went through while they get ready?” she asked, indicating the elderly mares in front of her. “It’s just that we’re running late and-“

“Please hold your place, ma’am,” one of the security guards replied, cutting Twilight off. “You will have to wait your turn, just like everypony else in line.”

“But we’ve been waiting in this line forever!” Dash cried. “Come on, they’re going to take ages, why can’t we go?”

“Hold your place, ma’am,” the security guard said sternly. Dash made to respond, but Applejack shoved a hoof over the pegasus’ mouth. The earth pony frantically shook her head at her friend – this security guard was obviously not the pony to cross. Dash reluctantly backed down.

“Don’t worry, dearie,” the elderly mare said kindly. “I’ll be done lickety-split!” After a moment of searching she finally found the offending object, a coin, and proceeded through the scanner again.

It beeped. Dash threw her hooves over her head while Twilight’s left ear twitched violently.

The Fillydelphia International Airport (which had been granted the three-letter code FLY, either a brilliant stroke of luck or a sly marketing technique on behalf of the city) was the crown jewel of the dawning age of modern air travel. Until recently the sole domain of winged creatures and those wealthy enough to afford a flying yacht, air travel had now become widely accessible to the masses with the new giant airships that could carry multitudes of ponies at once. Though still more costly than trains or carriages, this mode of transportation held great promise and Fillydelphia sought to ensure it was on the cutting edge of this bold new era of travel. So as part of their successful bid to host the Equestrian Games, the city raised the money to construct a lavish and state-of-the-art airport that frankly was far larger than a city of Fillydelphia’s size warranted. Nevertheless, the city took great pride in their new airport, as reflected by the fact that the local professional hoofball team had renamed itself to the Fillydelphia Flyers.

However, it became terrifying clear to Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack that the airport was built mainly for size and grandeur and that some functionality had been sacrificed in the pursuit of aesthetics. The three mares were standing in the massive great hall of the transit hub just past the security checkpoint, where they could take small trains to each of the terminal buildings. Twilight was examining a map of the airport while Dash frantically tried to get the unicorn to hurry.

“Come on, Twilight!” the pegasus yelled at her friend. “We’ve only got ten minutes until our flight takes off!”

“Okay, hang on,” Twilight replied, her eyes tired and bloodshot and a multitude of hairs sticking up out of her mane as she studied the perplexing and poorly-designed diagram in front of her. “If we take the train this way it’ll go to Terminal A and Terminal C. But if we take the one going this way it’ll take us to Terminal B. And if we want to get to Terminal D, we have to take the train to Terminal C and walk to the other side of the building. But our flight is in Terminal E…where’s Terminal E?” she yelled in frustration.

“There!” Applejack cried, pointing to a square on the far side of the map that was labeled ‘Satellite Terminal E,' which was apparently such a recent addition to the airport that it had been hastily added to the map.

“All right, let’s go then!” Rainbow Dash commanded, grabbing her two friends and dragging them over to the next waiting train carriage. Dash managed to pull her two friends inside just before the conductor passed by to close the doors. The train then proceeded out of the building and through the airport complex.

Despite their rush, Twilight and Applejack couldn’t help but be amazed at the sight of the massive airships that floated in mid-air above them, anchored in place by ropes tied to the masts that protruded out of the huge terminal buildings. A light mist covered the ground, accompanied by a brisk chill that the ponies could just barely feel even inside their train carriage. Uniformed pegasi were fluttering by everywhere, doing maintenance on the airships, carrying luggage or waving what looked like large orange paddles that were used to signal the pilots of airships that approached the airport and direct them to the proper gate. Dash, on the other hoof, spared little attention to her surroundings, staring straight ahead, wishing that the train would go faster and silently begging that they would make it on time.

Upon arriving in Terminal E the three mares clambered out of the carriage and raced into the large main hall of the building, which was lined with shops, restaurants, seating areas, lavatories and the gates for boarding the individual airships. Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack frantically tried to locate their gate.

“Where is it? Where is it?!” the unicorn cried in disdain. “I can’t see Gate 16 anywhere!”

“There!” Rainbow Dash yelled triumphantly, pointing down the hall, her excellent eyesight catching the small ‘GATE 16’ sign that looked puny from this distance. “And look, that must be our ride!” the pegasus continued in a relieved tone, pointing at the airship positioned next to the gate. The words ‘Equestrian Airlines’ were printed in large, fancy lettering on the side of the balloon envelope. “Look, they’re tossing the ropes down and pulling away the staircase…”

Their momentary relief that their flight was still sitting at the gate quickly evaporated when they realized that Dash had just described part of the procedure for a departing airship. And sure enough, the massive airship was slowly pulling away from the gate.

“WAIT! WAIT!!!” the three mares yelled, charging down the hall at top speed, drawing confused and annoyed looks from the other ponies sitting in the terminal as the three travelers sped past. Dash was the first to get to the gate, but the glass and metal door leading outside had apparently been locked and she was now struggling to open it.

“No no nonono, COME ON!!!” the pegasus screamed in a panic, grasping the handle and throwing her might against the door in a desperate attempt to force it open.

“Oh, just let me!” Twilight growled as her horn started glowing. Dash heard a loud click and the door swung open thanks to her friend's magic. The second the door was open the pegasus’ wings flew open and she threw her saddlebag onto the floor and sped outside into the air.

“I’ll stop them!” Dash called back to her friends, who raced outside to follow the pegasus. The airship was now hovering in mid-air a short distance from the terminal over a grassy field that surrounded the building. Dash flew faster, intending to race to the front of the ship and convince the pilot in the cockpit to land the airship so Twilight and Applejack could board.

And her plan might have worked, if it weren’t for Rainbow Dash’s incredibly unfortunate timing. For just as she was about to catch up with the airship, the massive propellers attached to the blimp thrust into overdrive for the speedy climb into the air, sending a powerful current of air behind them. Dash, caught up in this current, feebly tried to propel herself through it, but in the end it was far too powerful and sent the pegasus spinning out of control, hurtling towards the ground. She spun over and landed with a sharp smack on the grassy field, much to the horror of Twilight and Applejack, who were racing across the same field towards their fallen friend and the rapidly receding airship.

“Dash! Are you alrigh’?” Applejack cried out worriedly. The earth pony, being the faster of the two, was the first to catch up with her friend, who had landed on her side and was weakly trying to pick herself up off the ground. Her right wing was limply hanging off her body. Twilight, seeing that Applejack was tending to the pegasus, made the split-second decision to continue pursuing the airship and raced past her two friends.

“Dash, say somethin’!” the earth pony exclaimed fearfully, noticing that her friend seemed to be gagging. But after a moment the pegasus gasped and inhaled sharply before her features relaxed and she smiled at Applejack.

“Sorry AJ…just…got the wind…knocked out of me,” Dash panted between large gulps of air.

“WAIT! WAIT! THAT’S OUR FLIGHT!!!” The two mares could hear Twilight in the distance, screaming in vain at the airship that was now well away from the terminal, approaching the edge of the airport complex.

“Your wing ain’t broken, is it?” Applejack asked, looking at the limply hanging wing with concern. Upon closer examination, several feathers had been bent out of place and the skin underneath where the wing touched the shoulder was now a bright red color. Several long red and green scrapes were visible along her barrel and side where she had slid along the grass.

“Ow,” Dash murmured, gingerly touching her injured wing. “No, I think I just sprained it is all. Give me a few hours, and I’ll be fine,” she smiled reassuringly at the earth pony before snickering. “Your hat fell off,” she said, pointing at the spot over the farmer’s head where the Stetson normally sat.

“Wha? Ah, horseapples,” Applejack groaned, reaching up to find that her hat was in fact missing and realizing that she hadn’t noticed when it blew off from the force of the airship's propellers. The earth pony turned around, examining the ground and spotting the Stetson lying back near the gate, where some airport crew members were giving the trio bemused looks.

“COME BACK HERE! YOU FORGOT US!!!” Twilight’s distant scream echoed across the grassy field. Rainbow Dash and Applejack turned to see that their unicorn friend had finally stopped galloping as the airship passed over the fence on the edge of the airport complex and was now making its way over the forested hills beyond. Twilight stomped the ground furiously, her saddlebag sliding off as a result of the unicorn’s tantrum and falling on to the grass, where it became another target of Twilight’s fury. She kicked and flailed about as she screamed expletives which neither Rainbow Dash nor Applejack could clearly make out.

After a moment of venting her anger on either the ground or her unfortunate saddlebag, Twilight seemed to have had enough. She stood silently for a few seconds, head lowered, panting heavily and her mane in disarray, before slowly retying her saddlebag around herself and slowly trotting back to her two friends. She kept her head lowered as she retraced her steps back across the field.

“Are you alrigh’, Sugarcube?” Applejack gingerly asked Twilight as she came closer.

“I’m…” Twilight said in a low voice, her head still lowered, to the point that her mane obscured her face.

“Err…Yes?” Applejack asked hesitantly.

“I’m…” Suddenly Twilight’s head jerked upward. A crooked smile was plastered on her tense face and she had deep shadows under her eyes, which were now open alarmingly wide. Her mane was now completely frizzy, sticking out at odd angles. She looked not unlike the Twilight Sparkle who panicked over not having a friendship report ready for Princess Celestia.

“I’m…perfect. Just…perfect!” she said through gritted teeth, still with a massive and terrifying smile on her face. “Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

“Twilight…” Applejack said slowly.

“After all,” the unicorn continued. “We just missed our flight, Rainbow Dash hurt herself and we’re no closer to Manehattan than we were when we left Ponyville…” Her left ear twitched violently and her gaze seemed to drift upward, as if she wasn’t aware of the presence of the two ponies standing next to her.

“Twilight…” the earth pony repeated as she carefully reached out a hoof.

“But it’s okay! We’ll just take another flight! Yes, that’s what we’ll do!” ranted the apparently sanity-less unicorn, still seemingly unaware of her surroundings. “After all, are we not the best of friends? Whatever comes our way, we’ll overcome it together!”

“Twilight…” Applejack said once more as she gingerly placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder.

“WHAT, APPLEJACK?!” Twilight yelled angrily, suddenly taking notice of the earth pony and placing her face within inches of the farmer’s. Applejack gulped and backed away, but remained true to her intentions.

“Look Twilight, Ah know things haven’t been going as well as they could-“ Applejack began.

“That’s one way to put it,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. The earth pony immediately threw her a vicious sideways glare that clearly said “Not helping.”

“But we’ll make it through this!” Applejack continued. “Ya can’t blame yourself for what’s been happen-“

“Blame myself? Blame myself?” Twilight growled, cutting her friend off. “I’m not blaming myself! I’m blaming all the bucking idiots around me! Why, are you blaming me?!” she shrieked in a high voice, shoving a hoof at Applejack.

“…Wha-a?” the earth pony stammered, taken aback. “No, Ah didn’t mean it like that, Twi! Ah just thought that you…uh…” she was sweating profusely and had a fearful expression on her face.

“Hey, don’t yell at Applejack!” Rainbow Dash said, putting herself between the earth pony and the unicorn. “She didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Yelling? Who’s yelling? I’M NOT YELLING!” Twilight screamed, glaring at the pegasus. “I’m just trying to get you to WonderCon! Isn’t that what you want?!”

“Of course it’s what I want, but that doesn’t mean you get to yell at us!” Dash replied forcefully.

“Back in Salt Lick City, you asked if I had a plan!” Twilight shouted back. “Well, do you not like my plan? Maybe you’d be happier if you just flew to Manehattan yourself!”

“WELL MAYBE I WOULD IF I COULD FLY RIGHT NOW!” Dash screamed at her friend’s face. She and Twilight spent a moment glowering at each other and for a moment it looked like it might come to blows. Then the unicorn happened to glance at Applejack, who was looking at her two friends with a pained expression. Perhaps it was the current absence of her cowpony hat, but Applejack looked almost vulnerable, watching the two ponies argue.

At that moment something melted in Twilight’s heart and her features softened before they drooped. She sat on the ground and gave a heavy sigh, her exhaustion finally catching up with her.

“Look, I’m sorry,” she said shortly, not looking her friends in the eye. “I didn’t mean…to go off like that.” Dash grumbled something incoherent, apparently not ready to accept Twilight’s apology so quickly, especially one that sounded so forced. But Applejack was apparently willing to take whatever she could get at the moment and offered a hoof to the unicorn, who gladly accepted.

“It’s alrigh’ Sugarcube, we understand,” the earth pony said, giving her friend a small but pained smile. “Now let’s get back inside, shall we?”

“Yeah, I think I left my bag back at the gate,” Dash muttered, trotting ahead in an attempt to put some distance between herself and Twilight as the unicorn and earth pony followed along behind her.

“Wait,” Twilight said shortly, stopping in her tracks. Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned back to look at the unicorn, who seemed to be slowly coming to some sort of realization.

“Your bag…” she said softly, looking at Dash. “Our bags…our checked bags…”

“What about them?” Dash said indifferently before she was hit with the same realization that had occurred to Twilight just before the unicorn could say it.

“We checked them in…which means…they were on that airship…” she trailed off, her face now devoid of any expression. But that would only last for a brief moment before she gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes.

“Our bags…” she growled through her teeth. “Were on that airship…and it took off…WITHOUT US!”

Applejack, knowing what was about to happen, moved quickly to shove Rainbow Dash out of harm’s way before a fiery explosion engulfed the spot where Twilight Sparkle had been standing a moment before. Looking back, her two friends could see only flames where there should have been a mane and burning red eyes that matched the color of the inferno that had gripped the unicorn.

The Fillydelphia International Airport crews, being understandably paranoid about a large open flame in the vicinity of a number of massive and rather delicate gas-filled aircraft, immediately sounded the alarm and moved quickly to contain the sudden firestorm that had appeared in the midst of the field near Terminal E. But despite their speed, by the time the pegasi fire crews arrived on the scene there was no fire to contain – only a large patch of charred grass with a blackened unicorn standing in the middle of it. Nearby were two other ponies who remained crouched on the grass, gazing at the unicorn with no small degree of alarm in their eyes.

Chapter Five

“I really don’t care for the way you’re speaking to me, ma’am.”

“Oh? Well I really don’t care for the way your bucking airline left our bucking flanks behind and took our bucking luggage and how your bucking pilots couldn’t bucking notice three brightly colored bucking ponies running on to the bucking field obviously trying to catch the bucking airship,” Twilight growled in response to the mare at the ticket window.

It had been several hours since the ordeal had ended, most of which the three travelers had spent in the office of airport security trying to explain why they had been found in a restricted area on the reported site of a huge fireball. While there, they realized that they had stored most of their bits inside their checked luggage, which was now well on its way to Manehattan. This left them with a small supply of bits in the satchels the three travelers carried between them, which while enough to survive on wouldn’t be enough to buy three more airship tickets on short notice. So while Applejack escorted Rainbow Dash to the first-aid office, Twilight had returned to the ticket window in the hopes of exchanging their tickets for a different flight. But the long wait in line coupled with the ticket mare’s unsympathetic attitude was wearing down the remnants of the unicorn’s already short supply of patience. Her right ear was twitching violently with each sentence she spoke and her eyes were narrowed to slits.

“All I want is a bucking flight. A bucking airship, a bucking hot-air balloon, two bucking pegasi carrying a bucking sheet between them!” Twilight went on, drawing scandalous looks from the ponies immediately behind her in line. However the ticket mare, a yellow unicorn dressed in a uniform that matched the colors of the Equestrian Airlines logo prominently displayed behind her, had an uninterested expression on her face, merely raising an eyebrow at this purple unicorn’s salty language.

Twilight continued to her ultimatum: “I want a bucking flight to Manehattan, right, bucking, now.”

“You are more than welcome to purchase another ticket to Manehattan, ma’am,” the ticket mare responded.

“I told you, I don’t have enough money for another ticket,” Twilight growled. “Unless you’d like to refund my ticket, which I will accept.”

“Ah, well you see…” the ticket mare began. The faintest trace of a smile appeared on the corner of her lips, as if she was enjoying this rare opportunity to torture someone and dictate over their situation, given that her job usually involved bowing to the hurried demands of often rude customers. “You purchased a non-refundable ticket, so I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“I purchased a non-refundable ticket because the refundable ones cost three times as much!” Twilight yelled. “If you won’t give me my money back, then just give me a different ticket!”

“That benefit is not covered under non-refundable tickets, unless the traveler is unable to board as a result of the airship not being able to depart, which I’m afraid is not the case here. So in short…” the mare leaned forward towards Twilight as a small smile did truly cross her lips and she whispered so as not to be overheard by anypony in the vicinity: “You’re bucked.”

Twilight grinded her teeth sharply and gave the ticket mare a glare that would have caused a normal pony to back away as quickly as possible. Certainly if any of her friends had seen it they would have been running for their lives. “I will rain hell upon you. Do you have any idea who I am?” she growled with an intensity that would have frightened a timberwolf.

“Well right now,” the ticket mare replied loudly enough for everypony in the vicinity to clearly hear as she leaned back in her seat. “You’re a very foul-mouthed young mare who I can not help at this time and who is now blocking the line for the next waiting customer.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes and pointed a shaking hoof at the ticket mare as she spoke loudly. “If you think I’m going to take ‘no’ for an answer-“

“Ahem.” Twilight heard a low cough behind her. Turning around, she saw two security guards, both tall, imposing stallions who gave the purple unicorn before them a long, terrifyingly cold stare.

“Um...” Twilight’s nerve failed her when confronted with the presence of these intimidating figures. “Uh…Then…I guess I will just have to accept that answer!” She smiled weakly at the guards and trotted away from the ticket window as quickly as she dared without breaking into a full-on gallop and drawing more unwelcome attention.

As soon as she was far enough away she chanced a glance back and saw with relief that the guards weren’t following her. The unicorn breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on a nearby bench, feeling disgraced and ashamed of her abrupt retreat. She looked up to see her two friends returning from the first-aid office. Applejack was once again wearing her hat and Rainbow Dash was now sporting a bandage wrapped around her right wing.

“Is your wing okay?” Twilight asked the pegasus once they had gotten close enough. Rainbow Dash was obviously still angry with the unicorn, given that she was currently still keeping her distance and avoiding meeting Twilight’s gaze.

“Yeah, fine,” Dash muttered. “Like I said, few hours and it’ll be fine.”

“So, any luck?” Applejack asked Twilight, who shook her head in response. “Well look, we still have enough bits between us for a train ticket,” Applejack pointed out. “Let’s just head back into town and-“

“NO,” Twilight growled, cutting the earth pony off. “No train. No airships. No buses. So far every time we've put our faith in somepony else to get us where we needed to, it failed. It’s time we took matters into our own hooves and got ourselves to Manehattan.”

“Oh, and what are we going to do, rent another carriage?” Dash replied bitterly. “Cause that worked so well the first time.”

“More importantly, we wouldn’t get to Manehattan on time if we took a carriage,” Applejack said, raising an eyebrow at her unicorn friend.

“Not a carriage,” Twilight corrected. “Come on girls, I saw a place on the way here. You’ll see,” she stated, marching towards the exit out of the airport. Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged a glance before the earth pony shrugged and followed her friend out of the building. The pegasus sighed to herself before following suit.

Their journey didn’t last long. It took all of ten minutes to trot down the road that led from the airport out to the edge of the complex, where Applejack and Rainbow Dash instantly realized what Twilight’s plan was. Adjacent to the airport entrance was a large flat field that was lined with dozens upon dozens of large baskets big enough to hold several ponies in. Some of the baskets, especially those positioned at the front of the field facing the road, had massive, colorful balloons tied to them that were tethered down to stop them from floating away. A massive sign over the entrance read in large lettering that practically screamed for attention: ‘BOB TROTTER’S HOT-AIR BALLOON & YACHT EMPORIUM.’

“Is…this what ya had in mind, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked uncertainly.

“Yep! It’s perfect!” Twilight exclaimed, clapping her front two hooves together in a display of eagerness. “I own a hot-air balloon, so I know how to operate one! We’ll still fly to Manehattan, but we’ll do it our way!”

“Uh…no offense, Twi,” Dash began, giving the unicorn an annoyed look. “But hot air balloons are usually slower than trains.”

“Just you wait!” Twilight declared just as a stallion from the dealership approached them.

“Well, how-dee!” the stallion loudly declared. He was a tall, fairly handsome figure with a gleaming smile, tan-colored fur and a slick black mane that was partially hidden under a white Stetson. On his body he wore a white jacket that had several turquoise gems embroidered on it. His voice was loud and carrying and his accent and mannerisms were obviously meant to emulate those of farmer folk in Equestria, but Applejack couldn’t help but cringe at this stallion’s fake accent and wondered if this slick pony had ever worked an honest day in his life. “Welcome to Bob Trotter’s Hot-Air Balloon and Horsepower Emporium! I’m Bob Trotter and it is a pleasure to meet you fine mares on this splendid morning!” At this he tipped his hat at the three travelers and Applejack could have sworn he gave her a subtle wink, which caused the farmer to involuntarily shudder in disgust. “What can I do for you lovely fillies?” he asked, showing off a pearly white set of teeth.

“Well, we’re looking for a hot-air balloon,” Twilight said, deciding to cut right to the heart of the chase.

“Well, you’ve come to the right place!” Bob Trotter proclaimed, gesturing widely at the many baskets surrounding them. “We’ve got the finest pleasure and recreational craft this side of Equestria! What do you have in mind?”

“Actually, we’re looking for something that’s fast,” Twilight explained. “We’re trying to get to Manehattan by tonight and were hoping to rent something.”

“Ah, didn’t want to be cooped up on one of those stinking airships, eh?” Bob Trotter replied, giving what he must have thought was a knowing nod. “Oh, I sympathize completely, never could bring myself to fly with the riff-raff in coach and first class is a snore fest, hoo-wee! Flying solo, free as a bird – that’s the way to do it!”

“Do you have something or not?” Rainbow Dash interjected, looking like she was ready to leave if this conversation went on any longer.

“Righ’ this way, fillies,” Bob Trotter said enthusiastically, leading the three mares around to the side of the lot. There they saw a massive hot-air balloon, one that made the ones surrounding it look downright typical in comparison. The envelope of the balloon was gleaming white and more spherical in shape than standard hot-air balloons. But what was most unusual about this balloon were the two large propellers attached just above the basket on either side of the envelope.

“Fillies,” Bob Trotter said, smiling at the three mares as he saw them staring up in awe at the balloon. “Allow me to introduce you to the Shetvy Colt, the finest in modern hot-air ballooning technology. Not only is the envelope aerodynamically designed for speed, but these two magically powered babies,“ he paused, indicating the twin propellers, “can produce an output of fifty horsepower, allowing you to operate at sustained speeds that rival that of most commercial yachts. And should you decide to turn the engine off and enjoy the peace and quiet of a scenic balloon ride, you can always switch to pegasus power,” he explained, indicating a rope with a harness attached hanging off the side of the basket.

“It’s perfect,” Twilight said breathlessly, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

“We’ll take it!” Dash exclaimed, looking thrilled at the prospect.

“Ah dunno, Twi,” Applejack said anxiously, looking at the unicorn nervously. “Are ya sure we all have enough bits to afford this contraption?”

“Oh, I think you’ll find our rental rates quite reasonable,” Bob Trotter said, smiling at the three mares again. “If you’ll just step inside with me, I can get you on your way,” he finished, indicating the small shack on the grounds where he apparently did transactions.

“Here, go ahead and give me your bits and I’ll take care of this,” Twilight said quietly to her two friends. “I’ve got 35 bits in my saddlebag, what about you?”

“Erm…23,” Rainbow Dash responded, pulling a small sack out of her saddlebag and peering inside to do a quick count of the bits inside. “No wait, 24,” she corrected herself.

“17,” Applejack said, not needing to look inside the small burlap sack she retrieved out of her bag, as money was tight enough for her that she always kept track of how much she had on hand. Twilight took both of their bags with her magic and placed them in her own saddlebag before following Bob Trotter inside the shack.

Fifteen minutes passed by as Applejack and Rainbow Dash waited next to the Shetvy Colt for Twilight to return. Applejack stood patiently, occupying herself by looking at the other hot-air balloons on the field, but Rainbow Dash fidgeted, tapping her hooves on the ground anxiously or examining her bandaged wing in detail. Under normal circumstances she might have struck up a conversation with Applejack in this sort of situation, but both mares felt too exhausted to have any kind of discussion at the moment.

At last, Twilight returned, trotting towards them quickly with a huge grin. “All right, we’re set to go!” she called. “Let’s fire this balloon up!”

“Really?” Applejack replied in surprise. “Well, alrigh’ then, let’s get going!”

“Yes! Finally!” Dash cried in joy, jumping into the air with glee before clambering aboard the Shetvy Colt. Applejack and Twilight followed in short order, the unicorn examining the motor on the side of the basket. Her horn glowed as she inserted it into a cone-shaped hole on the motor, which sent a magical charge racing up three wires, two of them connected to the propellers which immediately begin spinning rapidly, while the third connected to a burner above the basket that sent a jet of flame into the envelope, heating the air inside. Applejack undid the ropes tethering the basket to the ground and in short order they were rapidly rising into the sky, leaving the green pastures and forested hills surrounding the airport behind. Already the ponies traveling along the road below looked like specks. The three mares felt exhilarated, racing into the blue sky past clouds as the small hamlets and villages surrounding Fillydelphia passed by underneath. The propellers were noisy and drowned out any other sound, but they were doing their job marvelously as the balloon sped north towards their destination.

“Manehattan, here we come!” Dash yelled triumphantly.

A few hours passed and it was now almost sunset as the balloon continued to travel north. Twilight Sparkle sat in front of the small steering devise, eyelids heavy as she watched the clouds pass by and the sun dip towards the western horizon. According to the navigational charts that came with the balloon, they had already traversed almost three-quarters of the distance between Fillydelphia and Manehattan. If Twilight’s calculations were correct, this meant it would only take another couple of hours for them to arrive in Manehattan – soon, but not before sunset. Still, this balloon was equipped with night lights, so despite the unicorn’s inexperience with flying after dark she felt it shouldn’t be too difficult to handle.

The engines of the propellers continued to loudly drone on as they flew. They were almost irritatingly noisy but after the first half-hour the ears of the three ponies had acclimated to the repetitive sound. Indeed, its ongoing droning had an almost hypnotic quality to it, lulling the unaware to a state of sleep. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had already fallen to its drowsy-inducing nature, with their exhaustion and lack of sleep last night aiding on the way. They were both laying on the bottom of the basket, completely passed out and snoring softly, leaving Twilight alone to steer the balloon.

Twilight slowly rubbed her eyes with one of her front hooves, massaging her eyelids gently before shaking her head and giving a quick shudder in an attempt to stay awake. She wanted so badly to drift to sleep as well, but the task of steering the hot-air balloon, which both of her friends were inexperienced at, required her to remain alert. Still, there was very little to keep her attention given the relative simplicity of the task at hoof. The droning noise of the engine, the serene setting of a cloudy sky and the warm light of the setting sun combined with a sleepless night all contributed heavily to the unicorn’s drowsiness.

Twilight blinked her eyes slowly. Then she blinked them again, leaving them close for a couple of seconds before opening them again. Her head leaned forward slightly and she sighed, closing her eyes for a third time.

When she opened them again after what only felt like a second, Twilight noticed that a number of things had changed. Firstly, there was a harsh light glaring into her eyes, not yellow and warm like that of the sun but cold and bright. Secondly, even while this light was shining into her eyes, the rest of the world around her seemed to have gone dark. Thirdly – and this was the change that had necessitated the opening of Twilight’s eyes – there was the loud, reverberating sound of a foghorn echoing through the air and rattling the unicorn’s ears. And finally, both the harsh light and the sound of the foghorn seemed to be coming from the same source: a pleasure yacht in front of the balloon that was barreling towards them at high speed.

It took Twilight Sparkle a split second to observe these changes and come to the conclusion that she had fallen asleep. She was just about to ponder how that yacht had appeared in front of the balloon before logic finally caught up and the unicorn screamed loudly and slammed the steering mechanism to one side. Rainbow Dash and Applejack, also awoken by the foghorn, were a little slower to come to grips with the situation but they soon realized what was happening and they gripped the nearest object they could, either too terrified or too shocked to make a sound as they braced themselves and awaited what was to come.

Despite quick action on the part of both the balloon and the yacht, the mid-air collision that followed was unfortunately inevitable by this point. Having fallen asleep, Twilight had never turned on the lanterns that would have illuminated the balloon and alert other aviators of its presence. By the time the pilot of the yacht had spotted the balloon it was far too late. While the two aircraft swerved out of each other’s path, one of the stabilizing fins sticking out of the side of the yacht caught the left propeller of the balloon square-on, and both components of their respective aircraft were smashed to pieces in a sickening crash of metal against metal. Fragments of steel sliced through the air, the larger pieces embedding themselves within the hull of the yacht while the smaller ones peppered the surface of the craft with scratch marks. With one of its fins completely destroyed and two more on the same side extensively damaged from the flying debris, the yacht began to list to the side and soon shuddered to a snail’s crawl.

But the damage to the yacht was nothing compared to that of the balloon. The sharp fragments of the propeller sliced through the envelope of the balloon, tearing a large hole in the side. For a moment the aircraft swung wildly to the right as the remaining propeller spun the balloon around before it stopped functioning.

Rainbow Dash, finally fully coming to terms with the situation, flew up into the air and looked back at the yacht. “Whoa, who were those guys?!” she yelled angrily as she left the basket of the balloon. “HEY! WATCH WHERE YOU’RE-“

“RAINBOW DASH, HELP!!!”

The blue pegasus turned around at Twilight’s scream, only now realizing the damage the hot-air balloon had taken. The craft was now rapidly losing altitude and air was quickly leaking out of the side of the envelope. The balloon was doomed, and it seemed ready to take Applejack and Twilight Sparkle with it.

Chapter Six

“Hold on, I’m coming!” Rainbow Dash yelled, bolting for the falling balloon. By the time she caught up to the basket – which only took a few seconds – she had already reached several conclusions, the most important one being that at the rate the balloon was losing air there was no way it would reach the ground before the envelope completely deflated.

“Unless I can get it there before then,” Dash thought as she threw open a small cabinet attached to the side of the basket and pulled out a length of rope from within. Twilight was struggling with the controls, which had now become unresponsive due to the damage they had taken on, while Applejack was clutching her hat with one hoof and firmly gripping the side of the basket with another, looking completely out of her element and unsure of what to do except hold on for dear life.

“Applejack, tie this off!” Dash shouted, tossing both ends of the rope to the earth pony, who promptly caught them. The pegasus bit down on the grip at the very center of the rope and strapped the simple harness on before leaping out of the basket and letting gravity take hold. Applejack, catching on to what was going on, immediately tied the two ends of the rope to a pair of rings attached to the edge of the basket that were designed for this particular purpose. Dash paused her free fall just long enough to glance back and see Applejack give her an affirmative wave to signal the rope was ready. The pegasus then tore through the air, heading straight for the ground and pulling the balloon down with her.

“RAINBOW, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Twilight screamed, giving up on the broken controls at this point. “WE’RE ALREADY FALLING AND YOU WANT US TO FALL FASTER?!?”

“We gotta land the balloon before it deflates!” Dash called back, her voice slightly muffled by the rope held between her teeth. She beat her wings harder, her right wing throbbing painfully under the bandages she was still wearing as she tried to get the balloon to earth faster, although gravity was already doing a marvelous job aiding their rapid decent. The pegasus squinted her eyes as she tore through a small cloud in the way and she opened them fully to see the ground rushing towards them. Even in the dark, the moonlight provided enough illumination to allow them to see the fields stretching out below, punctuated by the occasional tree. A few lights from the lanterns of passing carriages beneath them marked the location of a road.

Finally feeling that they were close enough, Rainbow Dash leveled out her dive, her wings spreading wide to catch an air current and her right wing still aching as she started flying towards the horizon, tugging the balloon along behind her. Twilight and Applejack were thrown back against the rear of the basket as the balloon abruptly changed direction and the fall suddenly slowed. Dash tugged on the rope, trying to pull the balloon back upwards slightly to slow its decent now that it was closer to the ground. The fields below raced past as the basket narrowly grazed the top of a stray tree. Realizing that the balloon was still going too fast, Dash swung around to the right, yanking the aircraft around a full 180 degrees before she started pulling in the opposite direction. The pegasus strained against the rope, desperately trying to slow the balloon, but despite her best efforts the aircraft continued to race towards the ground and was now in danger of collapsing at any moment as air continued to leak out the envelope.

At last the rope could take no more. As Dash gave a mighty tug the rope snapped and the pegasus was sent spinning away in mid-air while the balloon continued to steer itself towards the ground, approaching the field at a moderate angle but still too rapidly for a safe landing.

“Brace yourself!” Twilight yelled at Applejack, throwing herself against the earth pony and clutching the rear of the basket. Applejack followed suit, clutching the unicorn in a tight hug and shutting her eyes as she prepared herself for the worse.

The balloon sailed downwards before the basket finally hit the ground in an impact hard enough that it sent Twilight and Applejack flying out of the basket, landing on the grass of the field several pony-lengths away from where the basket had impacted. The balloon tilted precariously before the envelope, still with a moderate amount of air in it, began dragging the basket along the ground. Twilight and Applejack had but a few seconds to recover from their landing before they noticed the basket sweeping towards them. Both ponies narrowly dodged the basket as it was dragged past them before the envelope finally expelled the last of its air and the basket was pulled down onto its side, the envelope deflating fully as it came to a rest flat on the ground, smothering a small section of the field due to its massive size. The remaining propeller snapped off its attachment to the motor and crashed to the ground, resting against the rest of the destroyed aircraft.

Twilight and Applejack stood up, breathing hard and watching the envelope of the balloon rustle slightly in the breeze, mimicking the swaying grass in the field around them. Then they turned around to see Rainbow Dash catching up to them, panting from exertion and lightly rubbing her right wing, which had been freed of its bandages during the pegasus’ flight and was looking sore again. Finally they turned to face each other, seeing the scratches and bruises each other had sustained from being ejected from the basket and landing on the ground. But scratches and bruises aside, they had escaped the ordeal unharmed.

“Heh,” Applejack gave a weak chuckle.

“Hee hee…” Twilight responded with a chuckle of her own.

“Ah heh heh heh…” Dash joined in.

It’s an interesting fact of pony psychology that after experiencing a life-or-death situation and not perishing, the realization that a pony has survived his or her near encounter with death and is now safe will cause said pony to laugh uproariously. And so it was with the three travelers in this field as they broke down into wild peals of laughter, lying on the ground and letting the relief that they made it in one piece wash over them. The three ponies remained there for several minutes, just laughing and resting their heads against the ground, each pony’s laughter magnified by that of her two friends.

Eventually their laughter finally died down to mere chuckles as they wiped the tears from their eyes and caught their breath. Applejack was the first to fully recover. She stood up, placed her hat on her head and brushed some grass off herself before offering a hoof to Rainbow Dash.

“RD, we owe ya one,” the earth pony said. Dash smiled and took her hoof, pulling herself up to her hooves.

“Hey, it was nothing…” the pegasus replied, blushing slightly but enjoying the praise all the same. “So, uh…could anypony tell me what just happened up there?” She turned towards Twilight as she asked the question, as did Applejack. The unicorn blushed and looked down at the ground.

“I…may have fallen asleep,” Twilight muttered, avoiding her friends’ gazes.

Applejack shook her head softly. “Tsk...Ah thought as much.”

Rainbow Dash gave Twilight an alarmed look. “Wait…does that mean…we don’t know where we are?!” she yelped, standing up and looking around her.

“I don’t know exactly where we are…but I have a general sense!” Twilight quickly added, seeing Rainbow’s panicked expression. “Let’s see…judging from the position of the moon in the sky and our surroundings, I think I was only asleep for an hour. If we maintained our course – and I don’t see why we wouldn’t have, as the wind current was acting in our favor – I think we only had another hour or so by balloon to get to Manehattan, which would be about…several hours on hoof,” the unicorn explained, quickly running through several calculations in her head as she spoke.

“So…we’re near Manehattan then?” Dash asked, too impatient and slightly too panicky at the moment to go over Twilight’s explanation and hoping for a quick summary.

“Well, relatively speaking, yes,” Twilight finished.

“Yes,” Dash breathed, grinning widely and pumping a hoof into the air. “Then we can still make it! It’ll still all be worth it!”

“Alrigh’, let’s get our stuff then,” Applejack suggested, standing up and trotting over to the balloon to retrieve their luggage. She trotted up to the overturned basket and spotted a saddlebag lying on the ground nearby, having been tossed from the aircraft when it crashed. Upon closer inspection she realized it was Twilight’s and that the bag had opened when it hit the ground, spilling most of its contents on to the field.

“…Twilight?” the earth pony called out slowly.

“Yeah, Applejack?” the unicorn responded, catching up with her friend.

“Ah, uh, found your bag,” Applejack said.

“Oh, thanks!” Twilight replied gratefully, reaching down to pick it up.

“It’s more than that…” Applejack paused, holding out a hoof to stop Twilight before pointing at one of the objects that had spilled out of the bag. “All our bits are still here.”

Rainbow Dash caught up with them and looked at where the earth pony was pointing. Sure enough, lying on the ground was Twilight’s sack of bits, lying next to the two smaller sacks of bits that belonged to Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“Oh! Um…” Twilight paused, biting her lip slightly. “Sorry, I forgot to give you your bits back! Let me just-“ She reached down to retrieve them but was interrupted mid-sentence when Applejack rushed past her and started running a hoof over the spilt bits, counting them quickly.

“Twi, all our bits are here,” the earth pony said, looking up at the unicorn after she finished counting.

“Yes, well as it turned out I didn’t need your bits!” Twilight said quickly, using her magic to levitate the two smaller bags of bits and push them into the hooves of her two friends. “I’m really sorry for not giving them back, I just forgot-“

“Twilight,” Applejack said sternly, staring the unicorn down. “Yer not followin’ me. All of our bits are here. Yers included.” At this point Rainbow Dash, who had finally caught up with what Applejack was suggesting, stared at the unicorn, who had started sweating slightly and was looking around with a nervous smile on her face.

“Um, well…” Twilight replied slowly. “I left an I.O.U.!” she chuckled nervously, looking from one friend to the next, but both ponies were giving her blank stares.

“Twilight, you can’t rent a balloon with an I.O.U. I know that for a fact. But, um…don’t ask me how I know that, okay?” she added, giving a nervous grin at Applejack, who raised an eyebrow at the pegasus but decided to focus on interrogating the unicorn.

“Twilight, all yer bits are here, all our bits are here, so how did ya rent that balloon without any bits?” Applejack asked, giving the unicorn a look she usually reserved for when she was about to punish Apple Bloom.

“Well…” Twilight began, her voice becoming increasingly quiet and high-pitched the longer she spoke. “I may have…um…” She coughed slightly. “Have…um…taken it without permission.”

“I’m sorry, wha?” Applejack replied, feeling sure her ears were deceiving her.

“I…uh…might have taken the balloon without…um…the salespony…knowing?” Twilight stammered, her smile becoming increasingly awkward with each word that came out of her mouth.

“You STOLE IT?!” Rainbow Dash shrieked, looking at Twilight with a shocked look on her face. Applejack’s jaw had dropped and she was giving her unicorn friend a horrified look.

“No, no, no! It’s not like that!” Twilight yelped, frantically shaking her head in an attempt to dissuade her friend’s fears. “I didn’t steal it! I mean I took it, but I was going to give it back, I swear!”

“How could you do this?” Applejack asked, looking aghast and deeply disturbed at what her friend had done. “You, of all ponies, a thief? Why, Twilight?”

“But that pony said he had reasonable rates, didn’t he?” Dash asked, still looking at Twilight with no small degree of surprise.

“Yeah, reasonable rates for a balloon!” Twilight yelped. “I-I still didn’t have enough bits to cover the rental cost, especially once you factored in the deposit, so I just used my magic to put him to sleep for a bit. And then when we got to Manehattan and got our luggage back, I was going to send the balloon back with enough bits to cover the cost! Plus a little extra! I had to get us to Manehattan somehow! I was going to give it back!” she added pleadingly, but by this point Applejack was looking deeply hurt and Rainbow Dash seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, ohno ohno ohno…” Dash muttered, her eyes wide as she clutched her head in her hooves and an expression of absolute terror took hold of her face. “Oh, we’re in so much trouble, so so so much trouble…we can’t possibly return the balloon now! Ohno ohno ohno ohno…”

“Look, maybe…” Applejack began, pausing to figure out how best to phrase what she was about to suggest. “Maybe we ought to come clean and just confess. Who knows, maybe it’s not as bad as we’re all making it out to be!” she added, smiling nervously and hoping this would calm her own fears, but Rainbow Dash’s expression at her suggestion banished that hope in an instant.

“CONFESS???” the pegasus shrieked, grabbing Applejack’s head in her front hooves and yelling in her face. “Are you out of your mind?! Do you have any idea what they do to ponies like us? We’re not talking about breaking into a hospital to take a book here! WE STOLE A BALLOON!!!” At this she let go of Applejack and stood on her hind legs, screaming hysterically at the sky. “AND THEY’RE GONNA LOCK US UP FOREVER!”

“Rainbow, shush!” Applejack said, frantically forcing a hoof over the pegasus’ mouth and looking around to make sure nopony had heard her. Despite the earth pony’s earlier suggestion of being completely open and honest, it was clear Rainbow Dash’s words had gotten to her, if the fearful expression on Applejack’s face was any indication.

Dash pushed herself off Applejack and knelt on the ground, her panic attack showing no signs of relenting. “We’re fugitives now! I can’t be a fugitive! The Wonderbolts won’t take anypony with a crime record! MY LIFE IS RUINED!” she cried in anguish, her head and front hooves held up to the sky in a show of despair.

“We are not fugitives,” Twilight said sternly. “Nopony is going to come looking for that balloon!”

“How in Equestria do ya reckon that?!” Applejack cried, looking at the unicorn like she had lost her mind.

“Because when I was in that salespony’s office I cleared that balloon off their inventory records,” Twilight explained. “Then while he was still asleep, I used my magic to wipe his memory of us. There’s no trace of that balloon ever existing now and nopony knows we were ever there, much less the ones to take it.” She gave her friends a slightly pained expression, hurt that her friends thought Twilight wouldn’t have taken precautions. “I had to get you girls to Manehattan somehow. I promised I would. But I had to make sure nopony would come after us. I was thorough – it’s what I’m good at,” she added in an almost pleading tone of voice, as if begging her friends to see it from her perspective.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash gaped at Twilight Sparkle, still barely able to believe what they were hearing. On the bright side for Twilight, Dash had stopped panicking and neither she nor the earth pony looked gripped with fear. On the down side, Twilight herself was now beginning to get fearful, wondering if her revelation had just cost her two of the best friends she had ever known.

“I…I realize this looks bad, but I did this for you!” she said imploringly, but the increasingly horrified expression on Applejack’s face told her this probably wasn’t a tactic Twilight should attempt to employ. The last thing she wanted was to make it seem like she was shifting the blame from her to her friends.

A long silence passed, Twilight unwilling to say anything more for fear of digging herself deeper into this hole while Applejack and Rainbow Dash remained too shocked to speak. But finally, the pegasus spoke.

“Twilight…you…are insane,” Dash said, her face mostly devoid of expression. The purple unicorn lowered her head shamefully.

“But…” the pegasus continued. “I don’t think I’ll ever call you an ‘egghead’ ever again.”

Twilight looked up at her friend. Was that…a smile on Rainbow Dash’s face?

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…” Dash paused. “I’m kinda…proud of you, I guess. I mean, what you did was bad and all,” she added quickly, shooting a glance at Applejack. “But I didn’t think you had it in you, Twi. I’m…impressed.”

“Rain. Bow. Dash,” Applejack said sternly, accentuating every syllable as she glared death at the pegasus. “Ah can’t believe you. How can you stand up for what Twilight just did?”

“I didn’t say it was good!” Dash replied hotly. “But…you know…she did get us here, right?” she added uncertainly.

“Ah can’t believe what Ah’m hearin’!” Applejack cried. “Ah might expect this sort of trouble from you Rainbow, but not a nice pony like Twilight!”

“Oh, well aren’t you just little Miss Honesty,” Dash responded, getting increasingly heated.

“For yer information,” Applejack started angrily, getting into the pegasus’ face. “Ah am Miss Honesty – it’s my Element!” Dash was about to reply when the two of them heard giggling. They looked away to see that Twilight was laughing at her two friends.

“…What’s so funny?” Dash asked uncertainly, raising an eyebrow at the unicorn.

“Oh, sorry…” Twilight laughed, recovering. “It’s just that, well, it felt like a long time since I’d seen you two arguing.” She fell into giggles again as Applejack and Rainbow Dash stared blankly at each other for a moment before they both began to chuckle and soon succumbed to their second long fit of laughter in the field that night.

Chapter Seven

It didn’t take long for Twilight Sparkle to break down into tears.

After they recovered from their fit of laughter, the three travelers retrieved their luggage from the wreckage of the balloon and found the road they had seen from the air. Much to the relief of the three ponies, it not only ran in the direction they wanted to travel but was a fairly well-beaten path, with carriages passing frequently. Ten minutes was all it took for them to flag down a north-traveling carriage that was headed to Manehattan – in this case a freight carriage pulled by a pair of stallions. The stallions proved eager to help and didn’t ask any probing questions, seeing as they hadn’t witnessed the balloon crash. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash clambered into the back of the carriage and wedged themselves between the stacks of crates inside while the stallions continued to proceed down the road.

It was in that freight carriage, sitting there in the dark and awkwardly positioned between stacks of produce crates, that Twilight began to sob uncontrollably. The horror of going through a near-death experience coupled with the dawning realization of the serious crime she had committed finally hit the unicorn in a wave of emotion that she couldn’t help but surrender to. Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat nearby in an awkward silence, unsure of how to respond to this abrupt change in their friend’s emotional state. Finally Applejack, unable to remain inactive in this situation, sat next to Twilight and gently placed a hoof on her shoulder despite her lingering disappointment in her friend.

“I’m (hic) sorry,” Twilight sobbed, resting her head against the orange hoof resting on her shoulder. She took a great, shuddering breath and smiled awkwardly. “I know this (hic) looks awful, me just sitting here crying like this…”

“Nonsense, Sugarcube,” Applejack replied, giving Twilight a reassuring pat. “You should see Big Macintosh when he gets upset – he’s all waterworks, bawling his eyes out. But Ah think no less of him for it.” Twilight sniffed and smiled in response while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, unwilling to partake in such sappiness.

Twilight took a moment to wipe her tears away before clearing her throat and looking her two friends in the eyes, a determined expression on her face. “Look, I’m sorry. For everything.”

“Twilight, you know we-“ Applejack began but was cut off when the unicorn held a hoof up in front of her, signaling that she didn’t want to be interrupted.

“This whole trip,” Twilight continued. “I thought I could lead you. I plan in advance, I organize, I have my magic. After all we’ve been through together, I saw myself as a natural-born leader. I thought that no matter what happened we could overcome it so long as we were together, with me guiding you.”

The unicorn’s eyes became watery as she went on. “But I was wrong. All my organizing, all my planning meant nothing if all my plans kept getting destroyed! I…(sniff) …I couldn’t handle having to change everything on a whim over and over again with nothing to show for it! It made me so mad I just…” she trailed off, closing her eyes shut and squeezing a few tears out as she gritted her teeth before continuing. “And when I was in that office with the salespony and I thought my next plan would be ruined, I just…I acted on impulse. It just happened and I…” At this she broke out in a fresh wave of sobs as the full impact of what she had done finally hit home. Applejack, seeing her friend so full of remorse over what had happened, grasped the unicorn in a hug. Even Rainbow Dash, looking increasingly uneasy, decided she’d better not remain aloof from this any longer and trotted over to sit on the other side of Twilight, though at first she couldn’t bring herself to do more than awkwardly pat the unicorn on the shoulder.

Recovering, Twilight pulled her head out of Applejack’s hug and wiped the tears from her eyes once again. “And even when I stole a balloon it wasn’t enough. I thought I could get you two to Manehattan, but I failed. And for that, I’m sorry.”

“Twilight…” Rainbow Dash began, but faltered. Her lip quivered as she tried to finish what she had been about to say. “Twilight…we…oh, darn it, why did you have to get me acting all sappy?!” she exclaimed, flinging her hooves in the air in frustration.

Applejack chuckled. “Ah think what Rainbow is trying to say is that we understand. You're a great leader, even if you failed this one time. Now Ah’m still disappointed in you for what you did, but we forgive you. You did yer best.”

“And your worst,” Dash added, smiling, but Applejack’s glare caused the pegasus to falter. “But yeah, we still forgive you. What AJ said,” she quickly added.

“Thanks, you two,” Twilight said gratefully, pulling both of her friends into a hug. “At least we’re close to Manehattan now. Maybe when we finally get there, everything will start getting better.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE OUR LUGGAGE?!”

Rainbow Dash’s horrified yell rang throughout the large baggage claim hall in the massive Manehattan Airport, positioned on the outskirts of the city. It took a few hours for the freight carriage to arrive in Manehattan, where it stopped at its destination at a shipping facility along the river across from the heart of the city. The three travelers walked out into the crisp air of early morning and quickly found a local bus to take them downtown, where they found another bus to take them out to the far reaches of town where the airport was located. Both buses had been so packed with ponies it made the bus they took from Buffalo to Fillydelphia seem luxurious in comparison. Here the intent when designing the vehicle had obviously been to cram as many commuters into a single vehicle as feasibly possible. Seats were limited and the three travelers did their best to cram themselves and their heavy saddlebags against one side of the bus between the many early morning commuters surrounding them.

After three buses and two transfers the trio finally made it to the airport a couple of hours after their arrival in Manehattan. Unlike the gleaming modern structure in Fillydelphia, this building was older and more utilitarian in its design, which to its advantage made finding your way around a simpler task. However, the bleak design of the structure did nothing to improve the three traveler’s moods when they found out that nopony in the building seemed to know where their luggage was.

The baggage attendant Rainbow Dash was currently yelling at, a light tan stallion with a stubby beard on his chin, didn’t seem perturbed by the three travelers’ dilemma. “What, do I hafta spell it out for yoose? We don’t gaht you bags heya,” he responded in a heavy Bronclyn accent.

“Well, could you take another look? We’ve got a lot of important stuff in them,” Twilight said urgently, giving the baggage attendant a pleading look.

The stallion sitting across the small counter from them sighed and turned around to face the large room of stray luggage behind him. “HEY DONNY!” he yelled to an unseen figure hidden within the depths of the room. “WE GAHT ANY BAGS FROM FILLY YESTAHDAY?”

“Yeah, I got you bags right heya,” a light gray donkey who was apparently Donny replied, emerging from behind a shelf and gesturing towards a space between his hind legs.

“Aw, buck you, Donny!” the stallion at the desk called back, but to Twilight’s bewilderment he was smiling as if sharing a joke, despite the vulgar language which would suggest insult or anger. None of her studies in the field of Hippology had informed the unicorn of such strange behavior, and within Equestria no less. Clearly the residents of Bronclyn were a species that demanded further scientific research.

But such research would have to wait for another day, as the baggage attendant turned back to the three travelers with a grimace on his face. “Nah, we don’t got you bags heya.”

“Could you at least take a look?” Rainbow Dash muttered in an annoyed tone.

“Sorry kid,” the stallion replied, reaching up to pull down a metal grate. “I’m on my cawffee break,” he grunted, banging the grate down onto the counter and sealing off the room before retreating away from the counter.

“Why you…you…” Rainbow Dash began, rushing up to the window and rattling the metal grate, but her anger was such that all she could do was grit her teeth and sputter incomprehensibly.

“Here it is!” Dash exclaimed, pointing at a small article in the corner of page 13 of today’s Manehattan Times, which Twilight was currently levitating in front of them. “Down here, this little story: ‘Mid-Air Collision with Wayward Hot-Air Balloon.’”

After attempting without success to retrieve their luggage, the three travelers were forced to give up with the best answer received being a vague “Come back tahmahrruh.” By the time they got off the bus downtown, it was already late and the three mares were once again utterly exhausted, but they needed to know how much was known of their misadventures yesterday.

“’Investigators are currently looking into the cause of an aircraft accident after a hot-air balloon struck a passenger yacht last night in the skies south of Manehattan,’” Twilight read. “’The pilots of the yacht, a Mr. and Mrs. Airheart, suffered no injuries even as their aircraft impacted the balloon in mid-air. The yacht took on mild damage and was forced to make an emergency landing at Lakehorse Air Station, where the Airhearts gave a thrilling account of their near escape.’ And then there’s some quotes from the pilots,” Twilight muttered as she skimmed down the column.

“Let’s see…here we go: ‘The wreckage of the balloon was found in a field along the Neigh Jersey Turnpike near the small village of Grover’s Mule. No evidence of any passengers has been uncovered and investigators currently believe the balloon may have been inflated, then became untethered or otherwise left to fly unpiloted. Investigators are now searching aviation records for any missing hot-air balloons.’”

“So they think no one was flying the balloon?” Dash said disbelievingly. “So we’re in the clear then!”

“But they’re looking for where it came from,” Applejack pointed out. “Somepony’s gonna eventually figure out it belongs to that pony in Fillydelphia.” She turned to look Twilight in the eye. “You have to fix this.”

“I-I can...I will,” Twilight stammered, almost cowering before her friend’s gaze. “But right now we have little money and are still carrying all our stuff. And I need to get some sleep,” she moaned.

They decided to find the residence of Applejack’s Aunt and Uncle Orange, where they would be able to finally put down their saddlebags and take a long and desperately-needed rest. Applejack took the lead – with Twilight’s self-confidence shot, the earth pony had taken on the role of leader without any of the three ponies actively realizing it. It made sense though, given how Applejack was the only one of the three who had visited Manehattan previously.

Still, despite Applejack’s experience, Manehattan was a city changing constantly, with new and bigger buildings replacing older ones. Between the crowds of ponies walking down the street, the different landmarks and a general sense of disorientation, it took the three travelers a while to find their way to Aunt and Uncle Orange’s apartment building. But find it they did, and it was almost exactly as Applejack remembered: a velvet red building with curtained windows and a tall, striped-arched doorway that led inside to the warmly lit interiors that typified fine Manehattan living. Despite the familiarity, Applejack couldn’t help but shake a feeling that something was off as she led her two friends inside, and it took her a moment to realize that everything simply seemed smaller than she remembered it. Or rather, she had grown considerably since her last visit. She chuckled inwardly as she began trotting up the stairs to the second floor.

The three ponies proceeded down the hall, stopping in front of the apartment Applejack remembered as the home of her Aunt and Uncle Orange. Applejack turned to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. For a split second she considered warning the two of them about her relatives’ high opinion of proper manners, but she dropped that idea once she realized how tired and dirty they all looked. Twilight’s mane was in disarray, with stray hairs sticking out all over while Dash’s mane was lying flatter than normal and somehow looked dull despite its bright colors. Both ponies stood slightly slumped over, weighed down by their saddlebags and with dark shadows beneath their bloodshot eyes. Applejack realized she probably looked no better, so the suggestion of minding one’s manners died in her throat. After a silent moment she broke eye contact with her friends before raising a hoof and knocking on the door.

A few seconds passed in silence. Then a few more. And then a few more still. After about fifteen seconds with no answer, Applejack glanced at her friends before knocking again. But still there was no answer. She put an ear to the door but could hear no sound coming from the other side. Applejack knocked once more but after another silent moment they were forced to admit that nopony would be coming to answer the door.

“Do you think they just stepped out?” Twilight asked, dismayed that she wouldn’t be able to put down her saddlebag and go to sleep just yet.

“It sure looks that way,” Applejack admitted. “After all, we are a couple days late. They can’t just sit around here all that time waiting for us to show.”

“Well, now what?” Dash groaned.

“Ah guess we could ask the doormare downstairs if she knows when they’ll be back,” Applejack suggested, looking at Twilight. Normally the unicorn would have offered some advice or at the very least audibly agreed to this suggestion, but in her present condition all she did was shrug in response, too tired to offer any other kind of reply. Applejack took this as the closest to an affirmative she was going to get and led her friends back downstairs.

“’Scuse me, miss,” Applejack called across the lobby once she reached the bottom of the stairs. The doormare, currently the only pony in the subtly but elegantly-decorated lobby, looked up from her post, frowning at these strange out-of-towners who couldn’t be bothered to act like true Manehattanites.

“Sorry to bother you,” Applejack continued. “But would you by chance know a Mr. an’ Mrs. Orange who live here?”

“Oh, finally,” the doormare sighed, half-groaning and half-relieved. “I take it you’re here to pick up their mail? Somepony was supposed to get this stuff ages ago.”

“Wha…mail?” Applejack replied in confusion as the doormare reached under her desk and retrieved a basket that was nearly overflowing with sealed envelopes and parcels addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Orange.

“We’re not here to pick up their mail,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “We’re here to visit them!”

“Visit?” the doormare responded, raising an eyebrow at the pegasus. “Surely you must be mistaken, they-“

“Hey, wait a moment!” Applejack cried, snatching an envelope out of the basket. It stood out from the white and yellow envelopes of the rest of the stack because it was a light brown color, made of slightly thicker paper that was adorned with the illustration of several shiny red apples on one side.

“This is Sweet Apple Acres stationery!” the earth pony continued, holding the envelope in her hooves. And indeed, there was Applejack’s name and the address for Sweet Apple Acres in the top left corner of the envelope.

“Wait…Sweet Apple Acres has stationery?” Twilight asked as her friend ripped open the envelope she herself had sent. “I never really saw you as the kind of pony to invest in…well, stationery,” she finished awkwardly.

“Apple Bloom made it,” Applejack said as she reached in the envelope to retrieve the letter within. “Wasn’t exactly what we had in mind when we bought all that paper stock, but it works out nicely.” She unfolded the letter and scanned over it quickly. “Yep, this is the letter Ah sent to Aunt an’ Uncle Orange telling them we were coming! Ah sent this weeks ago! Why didn’t they get it?” she asked, raising her head to face the doormare.

The doormare cleared her throat. “Mr. and Mrs. Orange have been out of town for over a month now. I believe they are vacationing in a summer house on Cape Colt and won’t be back for at least a couple of weeks.”

“They’re…not here?” Rainbow Dash said quietly, giving the doormare a blank stare.

“I believe that is the definition of a vacation,” the doormare sniffed, holding her head high.

“Applejack…” Twilight started, looking at the earth pony. “Do you mean to tell me you never got a response from your Aunt and Uncle Orange?”

“Uh, well now that you mention it,” Applejack said, rubbing a hoof along the back of her neck and giving the unicorn an embarrassed smile. “It seems kinda obvious in retrospect, huh?”

Twilight groaned and planted her face flat down on to the counter.

“So…I don’t suppose you would have the key to their apartment upstairs, would you?” Dash smiled awkwardly at the doormare, who only frowned in response.

“…Are you sure this is the best you have?” Rainbow Dash asked, an obvious note of disgust in her voice.

The three travelers were standing in a room on the second floor of a dingy building on the edge of the main business district, close to the more industrial areas near the river. Manehattan seemed to be awash in hotels, but for all the places they looked at, this was the only one so far that promised to be within their price range. With only seventy bits between the three of them at this point, this was the only hotel that even came close to being affordable.

Of course, what relief the three mares had felt upon finding a place to sleep was banished when they realized the horrendous condition of the room. It was small and cramped, with wooden floorboards that creaked loudly. There was only one bed in the room, which was only just big enough to hold two ponies. Other than the bed the only furniture in the room was a small night table, a solitary chair sitting alone in one corner of the room and a ragged-looking sofa that was leaking stuffing. The window had metal bars on it and even though it was shut the sound from the street still came through almost as clearly as if they were still outside. Everything seemed to be coated in a fine layer of dust and the room smelled of a bizarre combination of something sweetly fragrant and the pungent scent of decay, as if someone had sprayed the artificial scent of fruit to cover up the smell of mildew.

“This is biggest room I have,” croaked the mare who worked for the hotel, speaking in a foreign accent none of the three travelers could identify. She had brought them up to their room and was currently standing behind them in the hallway outside the room. The mare had a greenish-yellow coat and a general air of scruffiness about her. Her voice was scratchy and she would occasionally pause to cough loudly into a filthy-looking handkerchief.

“Um, look…” Applejack started, trying to figure out how to say this politely. “Would it be alrigh’ if we looked around at a few more hotels before we made a decision? Maybe you know of something else in the neighborhood in our price range?”

The angry and offended look the hotel mare gave Applejack told the farmer she might as well have suggested leaping out of the window.

“This is cheapest hotel you find,” the hotel mare said bluntly. “And only hotel in neighborhood for money you have. You may not know this, but hotels in Manehattan are expensive.”

Applejack gulped. As a matter of fact she did know this, which is why she hadn’t made a backup plan if Aunt and Uncle Orange wouldn’t be able to house them – her entire strategy for accommodation in Manehattan had hinged on staying at their place.

Before anypony in the room could say another word, the hotel mare turned away from Applejack to face the three travelers at large. “Price is fifteen bit for each pony. That forty-five for all of you.”

“But there’s only one bed!” Rainbow Dash protested.

“Then five less bit for pony who sleep on couch,” the hotel mare growled. “Forty bit.”

The three travelers looked at each other for a moment, but soon Applejack sighed and nodded at Twilight, who pulled some money out of her bag while the farmer did the same. Dash was reluctant at first, but unable to offer any solution of her own she gave in and forked over her share of the cost. The hotel mare collected their money and left, leaving the three mares alone in the room. They spent a moment looking at each other, Twilight standing between her two friends.

“So…” the unicorn began with a false tone of casualness. “Who’s going to be the one to take the couch?”

“I call not it!” Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed.

“Not it!” Applejack chimed in.

“I…wait…” Twilight muttered, looking from one friend to the other with a confused look on her face. “I…oh, that’s not fair! I wasn’t ready, I didn’t even know what was going on!” she pouted. Applejack and Rainbow Dash each had a smug look on their faces.

Twilight didn’t put up much of a fight. Tired and still feeling guilty over her actions the previous night, she quickly relented. But while she desperately wanted to get some sleep, the realization that they only had enough bits for one night drove her to ensure they wouldn’t have to sleep on the street the next night. She exited the hotel and found a nearby post office, where she sent off an urgent message to Spike informing him they there had been some unexpected purchases and she needed him to wire her money as soon as possible. She enclosed some instructions on doing so with the disclaimer that he could ask Rarity for help if he needed it before sending it off for immediate delivery. As she left the post office, Twilight uttered a silent plea that Spike would get back to her by tomorrow.

She returned to the hotel and slowly trotted up the stairs, stepping inside to see that Rainbow Dash and Applejack were already passed out on the bed. She carefully shut the door and tried to quietly make her way over to the couch (a difficult task, given how loudly the floorboards creaked) before lying down. The cushions sank under her weight, hugging the hard frame of the couch beneath. The threads binding the cushions together were hard and frayed, and what little stuffing remained was visible between the threads. Twilight groaned and rested her head upon the uncomfortable surface, thinking she would never be able to get to sleep in such a position, but within a few seconds she had passed out.

Chapter Eight

Applejack felt like she was in heaven. She snuggled into her soft bed, her comfy blankets draped over her as she grasped her pillow within her forehooves. A soft breeze from outside her bedroom carried the sweet scent of Sweet Apple Acres apples in through the open window. She could just barely sense the curtains waving softly in the wind and hear the rustle of leaves outside as she gave a contented sigh and held her cushiony pillow closer to her head.

“Um…Applejack?” Rainbow Dash said.

Rainbow Dash. Applejack frowned. What would Rainbow Dash be doing in her bedroom? Then logic kicked in and she realized that if Dash was here, she couldn’t be at Sweet Apple Acres. A flood of memories washed over her as she remembered the details of the trip, and now she could hear the bustle of the Manehattan street beneath the window and feel the scratchy covers of the bed she was sleeping in. Applejack groaned, not willing to open her eyes and accept her present circumstances just yet.

“What is it, Rainbow?” Applejack grunted, still keeping her eyes firmly shut.

“Where are your hooves?” the pegasus replied.

This seemed like an odd question. Applejack felt around with her front hooves for a second, feeling the feathery down of the pillow beneath its case.

“Between two pillows. Why?” the earth pony asked.

“Because those aren’t PILLOWS!” Dash shrieked. Applejack’s eyes flew open and she realized that the object she had been grasping was in fact the pegasus herself and that both of her front hooves were buried underneath Rainbow Dash’s feathery wings.

At the same instant, both ponies yelled in horror and quickly detached themselves from each other by leaping off the bed in opposite directions. The blanket went flying off the bed and landed on the floor as Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood across from each other, squirming in disgust.

“Eeewwww…eeeeggghh…” Dash shuddered, giving her wings a few quick flaps to try and get her feathers back to normal after her friend had rubbed them the wrong way. “Eeeeehhhh… Woooooo… brrrrrr! Uhhh…so, how about that WonderCon? Gonna be a lot of fun, huh?” she said bracingly, blushing violently and avoiding looking Applejack in the eye.

“Oh yeah, yeah, gonna be a good time…” Applejack muttered, rubbing her hooves on the blanket as she also avoided her friend’s gaze.

Dash turned around to see Twilight still asleep on the couch, snoring gently and drooling slightly on the cushion her head was resting on. The pegasus trotted over to the window and threw open the musty curtains, letting the warm sunlight stream in.

“This is it,” Dash said quietly, inhaling deeply and taking in the glow of the morning’s rays. “WonderCon. After all the waiting, all the traveling, all it took to get here, it’s finally here.”

“You said it was at the Marritrot Hotel, righ’?” Applejack asked, finally looking up at Rainbow Dash. “When does it start?”

“Ten O’clock,” Dash replied. “So we have…” She glanced over at the small clock on the night table.

It read nine-fifty. They had ten minutes before the start of the convention.

There was a brief second of deathly silence in the room. Then Applejack heard the sound of a gasp so deep she couldn’t help but wonder if it would suck out all the air in the room before there was an explosion of air and a flurry of activity so sudden it was as if a tornado had hit the room. Rainbow Dash raced over to the couch to roughly shake Twilight awake, screaming at her to get up before bolting over to her saddlebags and hastily throwing what few objects she had taken out back in the bag before strapping it around her. Then, faster than either of her friends could follow, she grabbed both of the other saddlebags and shoved Twilight’s bag into Applejack’s hooves and Applejack’s into Twilight’s hooves. A second later she realized her mistake and grabbed the two bags once more, shoving them at their correct owners.

“COME ON COME ON COME ON! WE HAVE TO GO! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed, forcibly lifting Twilight to her hooves.

“Wait, what’s going on?” muttered Twilight, who was simultaneously tired from being woken up, confused and alarmed at Dash’s panicking, and slightly dizzy from being so violently awoken.

“No time, Sugarcube, just get movin’!” Applejack cried as the pegasus streaked out the door and proceeded downstairs, with the earth pony and the unicorn in hot pursuit.

“Heywe’recheckingouthere’sthekeyokayBYE!” Dash uttered in a single breath, slamming the key to their hotel room on the reception desk, much to the alarm of the mare sitting behind the counter. The pegasus raced outside in a streak of color, quickly followed by Applejack and Twilight.

“RD, wait!” Applejack yelled as Dash tore down the street. “The Marritrot is the other way!” No sooner had the words gotten out of her mouth that her eyes widened in fear as her pegasus friend whipped around in mid-air and came flying back towards them in a brilliant streak of color. The earth pony clutched her Stetson to her head as Dash rushed past, blowing the hats (and a wig or two) off some nearby ponies and sending dust and stray newspapers into the air. Applejack and Twilight galloped after her in a mad pursuit.

It didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash to find her destination. Despite all its faults, the cheap hotel they stayed at did have the benefit of an excellent location, situated a mere couple of blocks and around the corner from Thyme Square, the most bustling open space in all of Manehattan. A sea of ponies milled about the square, surrounded by massive, prominent buildings: great theaters and music halls with bright, illuminated marquees, office buildings that towered over the square (including one that was owned by the herb and spice company that had lent the square its name) and upscale hotels. Among those hotels was a building that overshadowed one side of the square – a grand structure adorned in brick with arched windows and intricately decorated metal work that wound its way along the edge of the roof. A large Equestrian flag hung over the words “MARRITROT HOTEL” that were displayed above the door.

But if the exterior suggested grandeur, the interior screamed luxury. As Dash rushed inside she was momentarily taken aback by the marble floors, the finely carved wooden furniture, the sitting area with its plush sofas and the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Between the finely dressed employees and the wealthy patrons of the establishment, Rainbow Dash felt distinctly out of place as she trotted across the room to the reception desk.

“Excuse me,” Dash said breathlessly, looking up at the receptionist. “Is this where WonderCon is being held?” After asking the question, she immediately gritted her teeth and braced herself. With all the bad luck they had encountered, she thought for sure that something would go wrong: that the convention was at a different Marritrot, that she was too late, that the convention had been canceled…

But nothing of the sort was said. Instead, the receptionist smiled at the pegasus and gave an affirmative nod. “Yes, this is indeed the place! And I believe they’re running late in setting up the first event, so you have some time before the convention begins.”

To Rainbow Dash, it was like hearing a choir of angels sing. Her mouth hung open for a moment and her eyes grew wide as a grateful smile grew across her face. “Thank you,” she breathed softly. “Thank Celestia, I made it! …I…I made it!”

She turned around to see Applejack and Twilight gallop in through the front door, breathing hard and looking worried, but their expressions instantly turned to relief upon seeing Dash’s smile. “We made it!” the pegasus cried. “We made it with time to spare!” Applejack and Twilight smiled. They were tattered, bruised, and in severe need of bathing. Indeed, at that very moment several fleas from the cheap hotel, unseen by any of the ponies in the room, leapt off of the three travelers and on to the floor, deciding that even by their admittedly low standards these ponies were simply too filthy to act as a suitable living space. But the three mares had overcome all obstacles and made it to the convention on time.

“Welcome to the Marritrot,” the receptionist greeted Applejack and Twilight. “I can have somepony direct you to the ballroom where they’re holding WonderCon. I just need to see your tickets.”

“Tickets! Right!” Dash exclaimed. “The…the tickets…” she trailed off as her face fell.

“Uh, Rainbow?” Twilight asked, looking concerned. “Are you alright?”

“The tickets…” the pegasus muttered quietly, looking horrified. “I…I forgot about them…”

“You forgot them?” Applejack said skeptically. “You mean you left them in Ponyville?”

“No, no…they were in the bags we checked…the ones on that airship! The bags we lost!” Dash cried in horror. “How could I have forgotten them?! I’ve been holding on to those tickets for months now!”

Twilight gulped. “Well…you bought them in advance, right? I’m sure there must be a list with our names somewhere, right?” she said, looking up imploringly at the receptionist.

The receptionist looked uncertain. “Um…I’m not aware of such a list. And I’ve been specifically instructed not to let in anypony who doesn’t have their tickets. We have a large waiting list of people who didn’t buy their tickets in advance,” she said, pointing out a group of ponies sitting on one side of the lounge, some of whom were fitted out in Wonderbolt gear and assorted merchandise. “They’ve been here all morning, hoping to catch any remaining spots for the convention. I’m still going to have to turn most of them away. If you don’t have your tickets, then…” she trailed off, suggesting the worse.

“Well…well surely there must be somethin’ we can do!” Applejack exclaimed. “Come on, we…RD?” she asked uncertainly. “RD, you okay?”

Rainbow Dash had grown very quiet. She sunk down into a sitting position on her haunches, blankly staring off into space.

“That’s not fair…” she whispered, barely audible to her friends. “That’s not fair at all. There was time now. We made it with time to spare. There was time…” Her face screwed up as she gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes shut, a small tear forming in the corner of each of her eyes. “That’s not fair!” she wailed, raising her head to the ceiling.

“Rainbow…” Applejack muttered, looking heartbroken. “It’s…it’s okay, y’hear? We’ll fix this, it’ll be alrigh’-“

“What’s the point?” Dash cried in anguish, the tears falling freely from her eyes now. “This whole trip has been a disaster from the very start! And I get it now, okay?! We were never going to get to WonderCon! Every time we got through one bad thing another bad thing happened, then another and another and ANOTHER! I walked across a desert, I went without sleep, I lost my stuff, I sprained my wing for Celestia’s sake! AND I’M DONE NOW! I GIVE UP!!!” she yelled at the ceiling. By this point nearly everypony in the room was either staring at them or unsuccessfully pretending that they weren’t watching.

“I’m done…” the pegasus sniffed. “I give up.” Twilight and Applejack looked up at each other, at a lost for what to do. Dash was now curled up on the floor, crying bitterly. Everypony in the room had now decided to ignore them, with the exception of one elderly pegasus stallion who had been chatting with the group of Wonderbolts fans sitting in the lobby. After watching the three travelers for a moment he started approaching the trio.

“Dear me, what’s going on here?” he asked kindly. He had a light gray coat and a short mess of dark hair, both of which suggested a certain shine. He was well built for somepony his age and despite his wrinkles, it wasn’t hard to imagine this stallion being quite handsome when he was younger. At the moment he was giving the three travelers a pleasant smile.

“Hang on a second, don’t I know you from somewhere?” he asked, looking at Rainbow Dash. As she looked up at him the elderly stallion gave a gasp and a look of joyful surprise. “Of course! You’re Rainbow Dash, aren’t you? I saw you at the Young Fliers Competition! You saved those Wonderbolts!” He immediately offered a helping hoof to the pegasus mare, who wiped the tears from her eyes and took his hoof. Standing up now, Dash realized this pegasus was quite short for a stallion – indeed, he seemed a hair shorter than Rainbow Dash herself.

“Forgive me for not recognizing you! Memory goes with age,” he added, giving Dash an apologetic grin. “I take it you’re here for WonderCon!”

“Yeah,” Dash muttered, looking down. “But I lost my tickets.”

“Oh?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “And you mean to tell me they don’t recognize a hero when they see one?" He shook his head and sighed as he reached into his saddlebag to pull out a few sheathes of glossy paper. "Here, I've got a few extra tickets on hoof I don't need, you three can have them.”

Dash, Twilight and Applejack each had shocked looks on their faces. “Are…are you sure?” Twilight said hesitantly. “I mean…that’s awfully generous and we don’t want to be a bother…”

“Think nothing of it!” he proclaimed as he reached into his bag to retrieve a quill and scribble something on the back of one of the tickets. “After all, we 'Bolts fans gotta stick together, right?" he said, winking at Rainbow Dash. "To be honest, I’ve been to plenty of these conventions. In fact..." he leaned in as if giving a conspiratorial whisper. "...I used to be quite the Wonderbolts fanatic. But I've been to so many of these events that the novelty has somewhat worn off. I just keep coming because my friends keep dragging me along. But don't tell anypony I said that,” he added, winking at Dash again.

“Anyway, here you go!” the stallion said, his voice returning to normal volume as he handed the three mares his tickets. “I’m afraid I have to get going now, but it was an honor to meet you! Have fun!” he called back as he trotted over to the elevators.

“You are…the most wonderful…” Dash said, her eyes welling with tears again, only now those of joy rather than sorrow. “…Thank you,” she breathed.

“Thank you!” Applejack cried, waving at the stallion as he left. “Well, how do you like them apples! What a nice fellow!”

“I’ll say!” Twilight agreed. “That was really generous of him! I…Rainbow? Are you okay?” she added, looking over at the pegasus with concern. Dash was holding the ticket in her front hooves, staring at the back of it. Her mouth was agape and her eyes wide.

“Um…Rainbow?” Applejack asked uncertainly. “…Are you alrigh’?”

In response, Dash merely looked up at them, her expression not changing in the slightest as she held out her ticket. Twilight took it with her magic and she and Applejack read what the stallion had scribbled on the back of it.

Don’t ever give up!

Your fan,

Mustang

“Mustang?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“As in that famous Wonderbolt you kept going on about?” Applejack asked, blinking at the ticket. She and Twilight looked up to see that Dash’s expression still hadn’t changed. The pegasus was standing there, still as a statue.

When she retold the story of how she met the legendary Mustang, Rainbow Dash would talk about how awesome it was and give some account that suggested a perfectly calm, dignified response. What she would not tell other ponies was that she promptly fainted as a result of being utterly overwhelmed by a series of conflicting thoughts and emotions that bombarded the pegasus in a very short period of time. She had just met Mustang. Mustang had given them tickets. They were getting to go to WonderCon after all. Mustang was nice and generous. Mustang was a lot shorter than Dash had imagined. Mustang was a fan of hers. Mustang had likely seen her crying. Mustang had given her advice. Mustang. Mustang. Mustang.

In the end, it was too much and it took Twilight and Applejack a good ten minutes to bring Rainbow Dash back to a state of consciousness. Afterwards the pegasus would plead with her two friends not to reveal the actual events that transpired and it became merely another one of the many secrets the three ponies would share about that trip.

The day’s convention schedule was broken up into a set of morning events and a set of afternoon events, with a long break in between. The three mares sat in a packed ballroom to see a discussion panel made up of several Wonderbolts coaches who spoke for a while before taking questions from the audience. Twilight and Applejack enjoyed it, although they felt somewhat out of place in this very 'in' crowd. The members of the audience were mostly pegasi, although they were many unicorns and earth ponies as well. They were of all colors, sizes, heights, mane styles and other physical characteristics, the only common attribute being that many of them were wearing Wonderbolt gear, from goggles and masks to cutie mark patches of winged lightning bolts to some even wearing complete uniforms. There were dozens of stands selling all manner of Wonderbolt merchandise, from the giant official team store that commanded the most space and attention to individual sellers who made their own fan creations. The bustling rooms were decorated with huge banners depicting the Wonderbolts logos or images of the stunt flyers adorned seemingly every surface.

Through the remainder of the morning Rainbow Dash looked like she was in heaven. Even Twilight and Applejack, who weren’t nearly as enthusiastic about the Wonderbolts, still thoroughly enjoyed themselves. But come the afternoon break, Twilight and Applejack decided to leave the pegasus to her own interests and departed the hotel to head over to the post office. There they found, to Twilight’s immense relief, a message waiting for her that showed that Spike had successfully carried out the unicorn’s instructions and wired her a substantial sum of money.

Under pressure from Applejack, Twilight agreed to make up for stealing the balloon. She prepared a money order to send to the salespony back in Fillydelphia. Initially Twilight suggested just sending the money with no explanation or only a very vague one, but Applejack wouldn’t stand for that and insisted on some sort of admission of guilt. In the end they enclosed a note which took them a long time to compose despite its short length but managed to balance the earth pony’s desire for honesty with Twilight’s wish to remain anonymous.

Dear Mr. Trotter,

It has come to my attention that one of your hot-air balloons, a Shetvy Colt model, was taken from your establishment without your knowledge. I now realize that a friend of mine, somepony who I didn’t know as well as I thought, stole the balloon from your premises. The balloon then crashed in a field, which is why we are unable to return the balloon itself. While I have promised my friend that I will not reveal her name, rest assured she will never do anything like this again.

To that end, we are enclosing a money order that will cover the rental cost, the deposit, and a little extra by way of apology. We also strongly suggest you report a missing balloon to the authorities – I assume your fleet is insured and sincerely hope you will be able to make back enough to cover the full cost.

Our deepest apologies.

With the matter thus resolved, Applejack and Twilight returned to the Marritrot, now accompanied by the jingling sound of a bulging sack of bits in each of their saddlebags, to book a room for a few nights. While WonderCon was only scheduled to last until the following day, the two ponies agreed to make up for the time they lost and extend their trip . Hopefully the added time to take in the city would make up for all they had gone through to get to Manehattan. And even if it didn’t, nopony would deny they had earned a little vacation from their vacation.

That evening, the three ponies could be found sitting in their room on the tenth floor of the Marritrot, freshly bathed and relaxing. Rainbow Dash was reveling in all the merchandise she had purchased and the multiple autographs she had acquired and still taking in the memory of getting to meet Mustang. The following day the pegasus would get to meet the legendary Wonderbolt once more and thank him properly. Applejack was looking out the window at the lights and bustle of Thyme Square below and thinking about the last time she had come to Manehattan. Though she didn’t know it now, come tomorrow she would take her friends back to the airport and find that their luggage was still missing – indeed, they would never manage to recover it. But over the course of the next couple of days it would fall to the earth pony to lead them around the city and help her friends accept their loss and appreciate the wonders the city held, a task she would do splendidly at.

Twilight Sparkle was sitting at a small desk in the room, writing two different notes – one to her friends in Ponyville telling them when they would be returning from Manehattan and another to Princess Celestia that had been coming together in the back of Twilight’s mind all day. After signing her name she put down her quill and reread what she had written with a critical eye. At the very least it was a decent start, a good first draft. Ever since she wrote that letter following her discovery of Pinkie Sense, which the princess had returned to Twilight with a bunch of notes asking for further clarification scribbled in the margins, the student had taken on the practice of writing multiple drafts of her friendship reports to ensure her point got across clearly.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am currently having a very enjoyable time in Manehattan, but I must admit that getting here wasn’t easy. But in the course of my travels I learned a lot about friendship and about myself.

In the past I’ve told you about the power of friendship and how a true friend will stand by you no matter what. But what I haven’t told you is that sometimes a friend will fail you, just as I failed my friends these past couple of days. Sometimes our friendships drive us to do things we could never imagine ourselves doing, and sometimes despite our best efforts we don’t succeed in giving our friends what they want.

But now I see that a true friend is one that will understand and accept you even if you don’t succeed in delivering on your promises, so long as they know you tried your best. I was afraid to fail my friends and rely on somepony else when I felt sure I could get my friends to Manehattan myself, but when you’re far from home often you’re not afforded the luxury of total independence. While our friends are the best ones to turn to in times of trouble, I now realize that there’s no shame in accepting the kindness of a stranger.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

THE END

A huge thanks to all who read this story and made it by far my most popular work to date! This was a blast to write and even more of a blast to get feedback on, so thank you all for reading, liking, tracking and/or commenting! And a huge thanks to Equestria Daily for posting this story. And of course, a massive thanks to Steve Martin, the late and great John Candy and John Hughes and the other fantastic creators of the film Planes, Trains and Automobiles - while this story wasn't a strict remake, that film did give me the inspiration to try out a road trip story.