//------------------------------// // Chapter four: The canny colt // Story: Derpy Hooves: An unexpected journey // by atomicbrony45 //------------------------------// They had begun their week long journey to Glaspony in a cheerful mood, the sun was shining and their bellies were full. They had been walking for about an hour in silence, just listening to the birds and the distant rumbling of a waterfall, when Twilight asked "So, Dawn. How did you come by these weapons exactly?" "I inherited them, yep that's right, no big dramatic tale behind how I got them. I inherited them from my father, traditionally my family members would all be guards of Ponybor, and after each member became a member of the guard their father or mother, would have a pistol specially made for them" she used her magic to lift one pistol from it's holster before continuing, "this was my father's pistol, he was the last member of my family to have one custom made for him, even though he could never become a guard of Ponybor. He had been given it after Teine Sealgaire attacked." "Well if that's your fathers pistol then why do you have six?" asked Blazing Streak. "I have eleven, but I was meant to inherit twenty five" Dawn replied. "You have eleven of them, sweet Celestia they would be worth a fortune to the right pony!" exclaimed Rainbow. "What do you mean, you were meant to inherit twenty five of them" asked Twilight. "Traditionally after each of my family members passed the pistol was added to a display, and when Teine Sealgaire attacked, my family had twenty six pistols, one of which was lost inside Ponybor with my great grand father, the other twenty five were taken by my grand father when he fled Ponybor with my father, after almost a year of fleeing the desolation left in the dragons wake, they settled down, a couple of years later, my grand father passed and I was born, one night after almost forty years of living in that town, a group of thieves, a group of wolves broke into my fathers home and stole all but eight of the pistols, they probably sold them I don't know, but my father made me promise him on his deathbed to recover as many of the pistols as possible, that's why I'm heading to Glaspony. One of the thief's retired there and I'm going to claim back what's rightfully mine" Dawn explained hardly drawing breath. All of her explanation made sense but it didn't explain why she had threatened them in the first place, but right now nopony really wanted to ask her that, they were getting along with her and didn't feel like driving her off. They were about a days journey outside Glaspony when they stopped for the night, Rainbow who had the first watch pulled Dawn over to talk to her. "I know what you are" Rainbow stated. "What I'am?" Dawn was confused. "Yes" Rainbow said in a whisper as she reached inside her saddle bag pulling out a chain with small symbol on it, the same symbol that was on Dawn's overcoat belt. "Ahhhh, now I see" Dawn replied looking at the symbol. "Yes, so why are you really heading to Glaspony?" asked Rainbow. "I'm on a hunt, not only for my family pistol but the thief who took it he is the prey" Dawn replied in a hushed tone looking over her shoulder at the other ponies, making sure they weren't awake. "Would you like some help?" asked Rainbow. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd have to turn you down on that. This kill is personal" Dawn replied quickly. "Okay I understand, but just give the signal if you need me, don't let your personal feelings cloud your judgement" Rainbow replied while looking at all the surrounding area. "Don't worry, I won't, but for now I would like to get some shut eye, so goodnight Rainbow" said Dawn as she turned around, walked over to her bed mat and lay down to go to sleep. Derpy couldn't believe what she was hearing, Rainbow Dash and Dawn were both killers. This brought a turmoil within her, she had to tell somepony but on the other hand if she told somepony Rainbow and Dawn could end up in prison for a very long time, she didn't know how long she could keep this a secret, but she had to for their sake. _._._._()_._._._ They had arrived at the gates of Glaspony the next day, around midday to be precise. They had tried to push the gate open, to no avail, so they opted to knock instead. Applejack walked up to the gate and slammed her hoof on in with all her might this actually prompted a response. "Alright... alright I'm a comin, i'm a comin." A small hatch opened around head height, they saw a old mule, who looked like he had just woken up from a long night of hard drinking. "What do you six want, I'm trying to sleep here" he said with a bit of a slur in his voice before he continued, "Ponies, six ponies, not many of your kind in Glaspony any more. So what brings you all they way out here?" "Our business is our own, but if you could kindly point us towards the, Canny colt inn" said Twilight calmly. "The canny colt, let's see... okay follow the road until you see the lords flag inn, then take a left and you'll see the canny colt inn" explained the mule will he opened the gate for them before continuing, "Also don't make eye contact with any wolves, and make sure you hide any valuables you may have." They walked down the dirt road a little before Derpy asked, "Why do you think he told us to avoid the wolves?" "Because, Derpy, wolves have a bad name for themselves, they tend to be thieves, but some of them are nice enough" explained Dawn. They arrived at the canny colt without incident, when they walked in the saw that it was nearly deserted, not unusual it being around four. They walked up to the bar and the grey coated wolf barkeeper appeared seemingly out of nowhere, he walked over to them and said, "Welcome to the canny colt inn. What'll it be a drink perhaps, a hot meal or a nice room?" "We would like one double room and two singles with two beds in each for one week, please" said Twilight before the rest could order any food. "Okay that's fine, I just need your names in the ledger" he picked up an old ledger and placed it in front of Twilight who signed them in, after the wolf placed the ledger back under the desk he continued, "Alright for one week that'll cost you 60 bit's a night, and for today and tomorrow I'll throw in a free dinner for you, if you need anything just give old Gealach a yell and I'll be happy to provide assistance." "Thanks but for now I think well just head to our rooms" replied Twilight. "Alright, just a heads up it's a cèilidh night so if you want to sing or play any instrument then that's all good" he said with a wolfish grin as they left for their rooms. They had decided that Applejack and Blazing would share the double room and that Rainbow and Derpy would share one of the singles, Twilight and Dawn the other. They all walked into their respective rooms and dropped their saddle bags on the floor and placed their traveling cloaks on the available hook. Rainbow had already lain down on her bed when Derpy whispered to her, "Rainbow I know your a killer." She couldn't have held this in any longer, it was driving her crazy, Rainbow just turned and looked at her dumbfounded before she asked, "How did you find out?" "I heard you and Dawn talking about 'a personal kill' and then I saw the amulet" Derpy explained in a whisper. "Derpy you can't tell anypony, it would be bad for you, I'll do anything to keep this between you and me" said Rainbow a worried look over here face, she was thinking of ways to ensure Derpy's silence and safety. "Don't worry I didn't plan on telling anypony, your my friend Rainbow, I wouldn't want you to end up in jail, so you don't have to do anything for me" Derpy replied quickly. Silence enveloped them, they could hear Twilight and Dawn talking about her wound next door, they could also hear quiet moans of pleasure coming from Applejack and Blazing's room, at this they each turned and looked at each other before breaking into laughter. After their fit of laughter ended they both decided to have a quick hour before going down for dinner. _._._._()_._._._ After their little hour of sleep they walked down stairs to find the others already waiting at the table and the inn much busier than it was earlier, as they sat down Gealach came over and asked for their orders, "Alright, what'll it be, we have many different soups and vegetable options, also for drinks we have some wines, Apple family cider, flim-flam brother's cider, beer's and even a few different ales." They thought for a minute before replying, Applejack was the first to order, "Okay a round of Apple family cider, I haven't had any in a while, cause ya'll drank this years like always and I'll have a potato and leek soup." Gealach scrawled this on his notepad, Derpy ordered next, "I'll have a vegetable soup." Gealach scrawled on his notepad quickly, Blazing ordered her meal next, "I will have the same as my wife." She said while leaning closer to Applejack, Gealach again scrawled down their order, Twilight and Dawn both didn't order anything until much later. When Gealach returned with the cider Applejack nearly downed her flagon in one go. After she had had her mouthful she said, "I missed my family cider, it's been a while." This stopped Gealach in his tracks, he turned and spoke, "Wait your family makes this cider, you've kept my business afloat all these years, your family has created a piece of drinking art, I thank you for providing this to my inn as my thank's you guys can stay here the rest of the week for free, I mean it." "Well I thank ya, but we couldn't stay here for free, that's to much trouble fer ya" Applejack replied. "I insist, I won't take no for answer" Gealach said before turning tail and leaving for another table. They all waited for their meals patiently, and when they got them they thanked Celestia and devoured their first proper hot meal in weeks. When they had finished the cèilidh had started, first up was a brown coated wolf with a fiddle, he urged everybody to get up and dance, Applejack convinced Blazing to do it, when they got up to the dance floor all the patrons whistled and cheered, the wolf look at his audience, he placed his fiddle to his neck and started playing a quick jig, the crowd was stomping their feet and clapping in tune, Applejack and Blazing were dancing madly to the tune, when it ended the wolf smiled and took a bow, so did Applejack and Blazing, the crowd erupted in a cheer and ordered drinks for the wolf and the ponies. The rest of the group was speechless, as Applejack and Blazing sat down another wolf got up with an acoustic guitar and played a song he had written himself called 'Run boy, run' and when he had finished his piece the crowd cheered and ordered him drinks as well. Applejack walked over to him and asked if she could borrow his guitar, he allowed her to take his instrument, she grabbed Blazing and pulled her towards the small stage, the crowd cheered as they recognized them. When Blazing started to sing the song, the crowd went silent, and then Applejack joined her playing the guitar softly, Derpy got up on an impulse and flew onto the stage and joined in with Blazing and Apple jack's song, the crowd was speechless, it was beautiful but very saddening, the crowd was just staring at the trio in amazement and when they finished the whole crowd stood up and erupted in a deafening noise of paws and hooves, some of the patron's even flung bit's their way but they just flung them back and walked back to their seats again the others were left speechless not just by Applejack and Blazing's performance, but Derpy's singing filled them with awe, Twilight was curious about the song so she asked, "Where did you all learn that song?" "I learn't it from Applejack, who learned it from Granny Smith but I have no idea where Derpy learned it" replied Blazing Streak. Derpy looked at her feet before saying, "I guess there's no point in hiding it any longer, my grandmother came from Ponybor, she was the head cook in the castle, and when she moved to Ponyville during it's early days she started up Sugarcube corner before my mother sold it to the cakes. She was alive long enough to write down that song and tell me about a bit of life in Ponybor." After Derpy had finished they all agreed to call it in early, so they all rose from their seats and went to their rooms, a cheer rose from the crowd as they saw them leave. When Derpy and Rainbow arrived at their room, the stumbled drunkenly in, Rainbow shutting the door behind her, she looked at Derpy with a mischievous face. Buck it i'm gonna do it, tonight was going to be fun she thought to herself as she walked over to Derpy wrapping her in a long kiss. Derpy was surprised to say the least but she had never felt like this, she could barely think as Rainbow started to work on getting her excited, but before she could finish, Derpy flipped Rainbow under her with an unknown strength and moved down past her chest, she looked at Rainbow and said, almost in a giggle, "I'm a gonna taste the rainbow." This prompted a laugh from Rainbow before she moaned in ecstasy.