Celestia’s sun had begun to peer over the horizon when Rainbow Dash awoke on the second day of travel.
They had covered quite a bit of ground in only about four hours; they had departed from Fillydelphia and made it to where the rolling hills and grassy plains of central Equestria gradually became drier and rockier; the dirt underhoof becoming tougher and the rapidly decreasing trees all but absent as they came closer to the desert in West Equestria.
Dash looked out of the open end of the wagon and could barely make out the shapes of some of the tall, red rock formations scattered throughout the desert. She stood up and stretched, looking around the wagon. The only one who didn’t appear to be there was Applejack.
The wagon had been large enough to not only hold everypony’s equipment, but was also spacious enough for them to sleep in. Carton, however, had insisted on staying up at night in order to “keep watch”.
Dash extended her wings and hovered out of the cart over her sleeping friends. She dropped lightly to the dry grass outside, and walked over to the side.
Applejack was sitting on the grass across from Carton, who, himself, sat on a stone.
As Dash approached, she could hear them talking about the road to Appleloosa and the town itself.
“Mah cousin says that the buffalo and ponies still don’t talk all too much. He’s only talked ta one himself, and that couldn’t a been fer more than twelve seconds.”
“What are your thoughts on the buffaloes?” Carton asked.
“They ain’t as bad as Ah first thought. Mah granpappy always said that they were crazy; they’d scalp ponies who came inta their land. But after everythin got worked out, Dash and Ah spent some time talkin’ to one; and she didn’t seem like too different a gal from either of us.”
Carton grinned sardonically.  “And what did your grandfather tell you about camels?”
“About what now?” Applejack asked.
“Hey guys, what’re you talkin’ about?” Dash used this pause to enter the conversation.
Applejack looked up and grinned. “Well lookit that! Ah never thought Ah’d see the day when you get up early, sugarcube!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m the lazy one,” Dash rolled her eyes.
“Just jokin’ around, sugarcube.”
Dash took a seat next to the orange farm pony with a ‘harumph’.
After about a minute of no conversation, Carton cleared his throat. “So, uh… is your mane-“
“Yeah, it’s natural. No dyes,” Dash with a hint of annoyance.
“She gets that a lot,” Applejack explained.
“Right, sorry. So, how do you know each other?” Carton asked.
“Like, you mean, us two?” Dash replied with another question.
Carton waved a hoof. “All of you.”
“Oh. Well, Fluttershy and I go WAY back; we went to flight school together, and we’ve pretty much kept in touch since then. Then I met AJ when I moved to Ponyville, then Pinkie, then Rarity, then Twilight.”
“Dash was the first one Ah met; caught her sleepin’ in one a the barns on the Orchard. She didn’t even have her house when she first came ta Ponyville, so she stayed with me an’ my family while she was makin’ it. Ah reckon Ah met Pinkie Pie next when she moved from her rock farm. Then Fluttershy, Rarity, an’ Twilight.”
“So why are you guys going to Appleloosa with Twilight?”
“Well, she’s our friend, duh,” Dash started, “plus Celestia wanted her to bring us along.”
“Why would she request that?” Carton asked
“I don’t know. Probably something to do with the Elements of Harmony.”
“What about them?”
“Well, ya know, because mine is Loyalty and AJ’s is Honesty and-“
“Wait a second; you guys are the ones that took down Nightmare Moon?”
“Yeah, didn’t-“
“No way! That’s amazing! I mean, I knew about Twilight, but-“
Dash whispered something to Applejack and they both laughed. “Ya mean ta tell us you couldn’t figure that out fer yerself?”
“Yeah, some detective you are!”
Carton scowled. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d taken on a single case that I have.”
“Okay, calm down, I’m just pullin’ your leg,” Dash leaned back and held up her hooves as if surrendering.
 He held up a hoof in apology. “Sorry if I’m grumpy, I didn’t sleep last night.”
“Wait, like, not at all?” Dash asked unbelievingly.
He shook his head.
“Not a wink?” Applejack
Applejack closed one eye and stared at him with the other as though she was a doctor making a diagnosis. “Maybe yer friend was right; you are paranoid,” she said.
“Oh, seriously? Listening to him? I said already, I’m not paranoid, I’m wary.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Dash nodded sarcastically.
Fluttershy silently joined them in sitting. Carton failed to notice her until she quietly said, “Good morning, everypony.”
Carton fell over backwards and jumped back up, his forelegs held up before his face in a boxer-like pose.
Dash and Applejack fell onto their backs as well, only they were laughing as they did it.
Carton looked at them, cleared his throat, dusted off his jacket, and sat back down feeling fairly embarrassed.
“Oh my, I’m, um, I’m so sorry, I- I really didn’t mean to scare you,” She hid her head under her hooves like she was expecting a blow.
He slapped his knees. “I wasn’t scared! Celestia’s sake, what don’t you guys understand about that?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you angry…” Fluttershy continued to cower on the ground.
“I’m not- forget it,” Carton said, frustrated.
“Aw, now don’t get cold with us; we’ve been doin’ all the talkin’, but where are you from?” Applejack leaned forward, awaiting his response.
“I was born in Manehattan,” Carton began, happy to change the subject, “but I didn’t really like it. Not really my crowd. I’d rather be out getting shot at than sit through another four hour ‘supper’ in that city.”
“What does ‘getting shot at’ mean?” Fluttershy asked, the same question on her friends’ minds.
Carton pretended to not hear it. “Anyway, I’ve got a place to live there, but I’m hardly ever there. I travel for a lot of cases. I haven’t even been home in, uh, about a year.”
The jaws of the fillies dropped. “A year? Don’t you miss it?” Dash asked.
He shrugged. “No. I don’t really keep in touch with anyone there.”
“Ya don’t have friends?”
“I have friends. Like Claymore is one; and then, uh, some… others…” He couldn’t come up with any names.
“What I mean is that I go out and meet my friends on jobs, usually.”
“But do you ever see any of them again?”
“Well, I saw Claymore…” Again, Carton couldn’t come up with any more names.
“Nobody else? Ain’t ya lonesome?” Applejack questioned him.
Where they really trying to make him feel bad for not having enough friends? He had a career that he was good at, and thanks to his contracts, he had already seen more of the world than a lot of ponies would see in their lifetimes. He shook his head and smiled. “Pfft. Don’t be ridiculous, I meet lots of ponies, I’m not lonely,” He assured them.
The three mares looked at him with a confused look, like they couldn’t wrap their minds around the idea of having so few actual friends.
“Well, ta each his own,” Applejack shrugged.
“Well maybe we can be your friends!” Pinkie materialized between Dash and Applejack and squeezed them both.
“Oh wow, that sounds like it would be a real… blast,” Carton said. In truth, he doubted he would enjoy their company for an extended period of time.
Of course, he didn’t necessarily dislike them; he was just more accustomed to traveling by himself. In fact, most ponies would have been grating on his nerves by now; these mares were very tolerable in comparison with some of his past travel companions, if a bit naïve.
Dash and Applejack pulled out of Pinkie’s hug, gasping for breath. “Hey Pinkie, are Twilight and Rarity still asleep?” the blue pegasus asked her.
“Well Rarity is still in the middle of her ‘beauty sleep’,” Pinkie giggled, “But Twilight is up reading the Princess’ letter; that silly filly has been reading it over and over since Fluttershy woke up!”
“Oh, I, um, hope I didn’t wake her,” Fluttershy looked apologetic in any case.
“Don’t worry; let her get the letter reading outta the way now, I say! I don’t want her slowin’ us down,” Dash stood up and started stretching and jogging in place for the walking that was to come.
“How long do you think it’ll take for your last friend to wake up?” Carton asked, standing up and brushing off his coat.
Dash looked over her shoulder. “Rarity? I dunno.”
“Oh, well she likes to, um, sleep in usually. She says that it’s healthy and good for her skin.” Fluttershy answered.
“Can’t sleep for too long; if we get moving soon, we should be to Appleloosa by the end of the day,” Carton glanced towards the wagon.
“We ain’t in no hurry,” Applejack said, rolling onto her back and straightening her four legs skyward in order to stretch them.
The detective pulled his hat tighter to his head. “Unfortunately, I’ve got a schedule to keep.”
“I can wake up Rarity if you want! But be careful, she’ll be reeaalllly grumpy!” Pinkie shouted loud enough that it might wake Rarity anyway.
“Nah, it’s fine, we can wait a little longer. We’ll see if she gets up soon, if not, we’ll figure something out,” Carton answered.
“Yeah, sure thing, ‘boss’,” Dash said sarcastically.
He ignored it; in an instant, he was too engrossed in his thoughts on his current case to pay attention. He didn’t quite know where to begin in Appleloosa, but thankfully, he was pretty good at “ad-libbing”. He wasn’t one to worry himself over a case, although this one was different.
He just didn’t yet know whether it would be easier or harder than usual.