//------------------------------// // 266. Appleloosa's Most Wanted - Part 2 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// The distant hooting of an owl served to emphasize just how creepy the deep woods that stood not far from Appleloosa really were. Apple Bloom, Twinken, and Rumble had all been walking for a while through the dreary wood, noticing how rather quick it had gotten dark, and Rumble's pegasus senses told him some rain wasn't far off from now. "It's another giant hoof print!" The boys hurried over to Apple Bloom and saw she was standing in front of the aforementioned giant hoof print, perfectly visible in the dirt path. Trouble Shoes most certainly had been here, and recently. "Uh, guys, maybe we should think of heading ba-" Rumble began when a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning interrupted him and the Crusaders huddled together, "Yeah, let's just head back now and-" But as rain began to pour, Apple Bloom realized something and broke away from the huddle, "C'mon, before we lose th' trail!" Rumble and Twinken shared a worried look, the latter shrugging as he he hurried after Apple Bloom and Rumble reluctantly brought up the rear. They walked for a while longer through the pouring rain, and they were already soaked to the bone. "Seriously, guys! We should head back before the rain gets worse," Rumble finally insisted. "Rumble's right, Apple Bloom, this doesn't feel safe," agreed Twinken. The earth pony filly stopped and considered their situation a moment before saying, "Maybe y'all're right... So how do we get back?" "You mean you don't know?!" Rumble exclaimed, only for another crack of lightning to flash and cause them to huddle together, fear washing over them along with the rain. Back at Appleloosa, Applejack and her Appleloosan cousins had all taken shelter in their barn, sighing as she felt herself drip, "Hoo! Good job, y'all. Ah know they need lots o' mud fer th' rodeo t'morrow, but Ah wish they woulda warned us about this rainstorm." A frantic whinny caught her ears and she turned to see, "Braeburn?!" And just Braeburn, which caused Applejack to ask, "...Where are th' foals?" Chuckling nervously, Braeburn took a deep breath before he handed Applejack the shovel for digging his own grave. ... ... ... "HE DID WHAT?!?!" At his office, Sheriff Silver Star played his hand, victoriously declaring, "Ha! Fished. Mah. Wish." His deputies, who were playing cards with him, both groaned at having been beaten again, the older fella going 'Dang-nab it!' and the younger guy table-facing, and Silver Star leaned back in his chair, feeling pretty good about himself- "Sheriff Silver Star!" He turned to the doors of his office to see a wet Applejack and Braeburn, the both of them looking frantic, "Ya gotta help us! Mah sister, brother, and their friend are all gone!" "Ah searched an' searched but there's no sign of `em anywhere!" Braeburn added. "They ran off an' Ah got no idea where they could be!" Applejack worried, "what if they run into Trouble Shoes?!" "N-now hold on there, Applejack," Sherif Silver Star spoke up, "Trouble Shoes has done a lot o' bad things in his day, but Ah've ne'er heard o' him stoopin' t' abductin' foals." "Y'really wanna take that chance?" Applejack pointed out. Silver Star gave it a brief thought before nodding to his deputies, "C'mon y'all!" He galloped out the door, shouting, "Let's ride!" The deputies, along with Applejack and Braeburn (who brought up the rear) followed after him. Back in the woods, Rumble led his friends through the forest, having earlier tried to fly up above the treetops to get his bearings. He'd thought he'd seen light in one direction and led Twinken and Apple Bloom that way. But after a while of seemingly getting nowhere... "You sure about this, Rumble?" Twinken was getting worried. "I thought I was!" Earlier, Rumble had tried flying back up to get another look but the downpour was so heavy he couldn't even get above the treetops. "But... now I'm not." "So Ah'm pretty sure wer' all prob'ly lost," Apple Bloom fretted, "but let's try an' look on th' bright side. At least, we're together an' not lost by our lonesomes." "I guess so," Twinken shrugged, shivering as the cold and wet circumstances were getting to him, "and honestly? I don't really see how things could get any worrrRRAAAAUUUGGHGHG!H!! "AAAUUGGGHHH!!!" "YEAAAAUUUHGHGHG!" Unfortunately, the three of them had stood upon a dirt ledge, which had been thoroughly soaked with rainwater and all the weight had caused the ledge to break off. The Crusaders screamed as they were swept away down a winding mudslide down a steep hill. Thankfully, it was over rather quickly as they all found themselves at the messy bottom. Groaning, tired, cold, wet, and none of them too pleased about being covered in mud, the Crusaders all got up out of the muck, but thankfully Twinken remembered a cleaning spell Rarity had shown him and was able to remove the mud from their coats. "We gotta find shelter," Twinken suggested, "we stay out here any longer and we're liable to catch cold." "Hey, look over there," Rumble pointed towards a nearby clearing with a faint mist surrounding a wagon-home. "Maybe whoever lives there will be kind enough to let us stay until the weather clears up." "Let's go!" Apple Bloom led the boys to the wagon's door, and even though it opened they hesitated to enter... until another crack of lightning spurred them inward. Once inside, Twinken closed the door and they felt such relief to be out of the pouring rain. The inside was a little messy but clearly someone did live here, as dilapidated as it might look. Rumble noticed something was simmering on the stove in the corner, which meant whoever lived here had to be nearby. As if on cue to Rumble's thoughts, the Crusaders heard heavy hooffalls coming from outside, getting closer and closer, and the Crusaders all huddled together, growing more and more nervous, standing against the wall opposite the door as it opened... At first they didn't see anypony because it was so dark out, until a crack of lightning revealed a tall and dark figure! "AAAUUUUGHGGHGHGH!!!!!!" "WAAAUGHGHGGH!!!!" The figure jumped, hitting his head on the top of the door frame. The Crusaders instinctively froze as the figure seemed to slip, yelping, ow-ing, as he crashed to and fro throughout the inside of the wagon, barely visible in the dim shadows of everyone's limited vision in the not-so-total-darkness, as the figure somehow got tangled up in the curtains of the window and slipped backwards the Crusaders' way, spurring them to dive aside. Unfortunately, this caused the figure to land on his bottom on top of a table, where unfortunately a potted cactus was. "EEYAUGHAHOW!!!" The figure screamed in pain as he leapt upwards off his poor caboose, almost breaking through the roof, and landed on his hooves, only for a pan to hit him on the head - "OWOOOHH!!" - and he jumbled forward, blindingly hitting his head on a hanging lantern, which was knocked back but swung forward and for a moment or two knocked the figure's lights out. *KA-WHUMF* Groaning in agony, feeling aches and bruises and some really tender areas on his rump, the figure's eyes creaked open, seeing the outline of three foals as he heard a filly say, "Hello? You all right?" "Surely..." the figure responded in a groan-y deadpan, and finally the Crusaders saw that he was a large earth pony stallion with a brown coat, a white muzzle and blaze up his face, green eyes, dark brown mane, and he wore a cowboy hat that was just a tad too small for him but somehow suited him, and his legs were all tangled up in the curtains he'd fallen into earlier during his... entrance. "We didn't mean no harm," started Apple Bloom. "We just needed to get out of the rain," explained Twinken. "We're sorry for causing you any trouble," apologized Rumble. "Had some hot cider a'cookin' in th' kitchen," the earth pony brought up as he looked that way, "doubt it survived." They all looked and saw the stove was a mess, covered with dripping cider and the pot it'd been in was rolling along the floor, a pan hanging on the wall falling and dinging the pot. "Ah ain't gonna rise t' greet y'all. Awfully rude, Ah reckon, but as you can see Ah'm th' fresh casualty of an unusually unfortunate circumstance," the earth pony said rather gloomily with an equally gloomy look on his face. "Mah lot in life, Ah s'pose." "Are you... Trouble Shoes?" asked Apple Bloom. "Tha's me," confirmed the earth pony they knew now as Trouble Shoes. Only... he didn't seem like the lowdown varmint or notorious outlaw everypony had made him out to be. Apart from the melancholy vibe he gave off, he seemed like a decent guy. Apple Bloom and Twinken shared a look and both knew they were thinking the same thing. Twinken lit up his horn, Rumble noticing and whispering, "Hey, what're you doing?!" "Helping him get loose," Twinken answered, his magic already loosening the curtains and cutting the parts that were too stubborn to come undone. "But-but..." Rumble didn't want to say anything to make the so-called outlaw mad, but Apple Bloom gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder. "Aw, he don' seem so bad." Very quickly the curtains were removed and the Crusaders all awed and whispered 'Wow' as Trouble Shoes got up on his hooves and stood to the full of his height. "Wow! You're even taller than Prince Sombra!" Twinken smiled up at the earth pony, who took it in stride. "O'course guests would arrive while Ah ain't got no pie t' offer," he started sizing up the mess his home had been reduced to, "scores more misfortune points fer ol' Trouble Shoes..." As if proving his point, and the universe resorting to an oldie but a goody in comedic cliches, Trouble Shoes accidentally stepped onto a banana peel! Yelping as he tried to keep his balance, he 'WHOA'd right into a bookcase with shelvesful of knickknacks, which unfortunately included three bowling balls on the top shelf, that precariously rolled over the edge... and in succession all came down on poor Trouble Shoes' head. Rubbing the sore spot, he felt a lump rise up. "Typical. Bad luck never rests..." he lamented. "You sure tha's bad luck?" asked Apple Bloom. "Seems like maybe yer just a lil'... um..." Apple Bloom paused, trying to find the right word without sounding rude until Rumble offered, "Klutzy?" "Tell tha' t' th' flank!" Trouble Shoes said all ornery as he showed them his big brown rump, making sure they got a look at his cutie-mark, a green upside-down horseshoe. "Upside-down horseshoe, bad luck! Follows me wherever Ah go like sour on old milk." He stepped past them to stand by his door, "Y'all best vamoose a'fore mah bad luck rubs off an' sticks t' y'all. Gitalong!" He gave them a stern look, "Skedaddle!" The Crusaders all nervously looked out, the weather still miserable and punctuated by a crack of lightning but even then Trouble Shoes ordered, "AM-SCRAY!" "But um... We don't really know the way back to Appleloosa," Rumble brought up. "But a' course Ah do," Trouble Shoes sighed as he suddenly felt bad about trying to kick them out into this Faustforsaken weather, especially when they didn't know their way back, and he couldn't in good conscience send them out just to wind up lost again. "Wouldn' ya know it, muh lucky day..." Thankfully, the rain didn't last much longer and before long Trouble Shoes was leading the Crusaders the way he knew back to Appleloosa, hanging his head with self-pity the entire time. "It's really nice of him, actually," Twinken said to his friends, "Showing us the way back?" "Yeah, but... what if when we get back to Appleloosa," Rumble brought up, "the sheriff arrests him? If I got a cutie-mark for that I... I'd feel awful every time I looked at it." Giving it a quick think, Apple Bloom hurried up to walk alongside the stallion, "Say there, Trouble Shoes, ya might not wanna take us all th' way back t' Appleloosa. Th' sheriff's kinda got in his mind tha' yer a no-good outlaw lookin' t' shut down th' rodeo." "Mah kinda luck, he'd think that," Trouble Shoes responded, clearly not surprised by that little piece of information. "But... izzit true?" Apple Bloom felt like she had to ask. He hesitated a moment before Trouble Shoes looked back at the foals, "Y'all like stories?" "Mm-hmm." "Jus' mah luck, Ah was hopin' you'd say 'no'..." Trouble Shoes took a deep breath as he reminisced, "When Ah was a colt, Ah wanted t' be a rodeo star somethin' fierce, but Ah jus' didn' seem t' have a knack for it." Those days had been better, not perfect, but better, as Trouble Shoes recollected his colthood, watching rodeos and seeing all the cowponies showing off their amazing rodeo skills and wanting with all his heart to shine like they did. "Ah practiced an' practiced..." He kept crashing into barrels in barrel racing, getting himself all tangled up practicing with lassoes, and tripping while steeplechasing, "...`till finally Ah wrangled up th' guts t' audition fer rodeo school." He remembered that moment so clearly, as though it had only been yesterday, "Right in th' middle o' tha' tryout, Ah just felt it! This was what Ah was meant t' do, but wouldn' ya know it? In a flash comes this here cutie-mark." Having noticed his cutie-mark appear had distracted young Trouble Shoes during his audition and... well, it all went downhill as his lasso accidentally pulled a barrel down over the young Trouble Shoes, and he'd gotten his head stuck through a hole in it, and was unable to get it off before the judges started laughing. "Ah can still remember them judges laughin'. Didn' even bother finishin' mah routine `cause right then an' there Ah knew bad luck was mah fate. Tha' fire for rodeo'in never did leave me, though. Ah couldn' keep away from `em. So Ah'd sneak an' have a look an' wouldn' ya know it, bad luck would strike again... "An' if tha' weren' enough, Ah kept causin' accidents an' makin' trouble fer muh ma & pa at home. They were patient, knowin' Ah didn' mean t' cause so much trouble... But finally muh daddy got so angry he sent me off t' join th Royal Guard, hopin' it'd straighten me out or somethin'." "You were a royal guard?" Twinken couldn't really imagine a pony like Trouble Shoes marching patrols or looking so stonefaced. "Never graduated. Worst o' mah class..." Trouble Shoes didn't like recalling those memories either. "Th' only thing Ah had t' offer was mah strength. But as it was, whether at home or rodeo or at guard trainin', bad luck brought me down like a ton o' bricks... One pony however seemed t' think Ah wasn' a waste o' time `r energy. He recruited me t' join a junior team o' young stallions `round mah age. "Those were good times, at least. Even wit' mah bad luck, there was a few... Muh teammates were good t' me, treated me like their big brother, an' Ah came t' think o' them as mah own kin as well. But as it is, those good times came to a real awful end... After somethin' bad happened t' one o' mah teammates, muh team-leader dismissed us, sayin' he'd failed us an' that we were better off not bein' anywhere near him so we din't get hurt. Th' pony who recruited me fer tha' team told me Ah was forbidden from ever revealin' names. Ah wen' back home, an' eventually, wen' back t' watchin' rodeos an' causin' accidents... "Jus' mah lot in life, Ah reckon..." "Poor Trouble Shoes..." Twinken whispered to his friends, "Those judges were jerks, laughin' at him like that." "Ah don' think they wer' laughin' at Trouble Shoes, Twink," Apple Bloom said in a brighter tone and a realizing smile. "They was jus' enjoyin' th' show!" "What're you talking about, Bloom?" asked Rumble. "Think about it, if'n we saw a rodeo clown doin' wha' he did back in his house," Apple Bloom explained, "we'd think he was th' greatest!" "You're right!" Twinken smiled big at Apple Bloom and looked to Trouble Shoes walking ahead, "He could still be in rodeos, just not how he thought." "So he's jsut been looking at his cutie-mark wrong this whole time!" Rumble agreed, "It's not bad luck, it's-" "GOTCHA!" The Crusaders all looked and gasped in shock to see the sheriff and his deputies throwing ropes onto Trouble Shoes, who was surprised and confuse,d unsure of what to do. "Jus' mah luck..." "Trouble Shoes! Yer under arrest fer vandalizin' th' property an' peace o' mind o' th' good, rodeo-lovin' ponies o' Equestria!" Sheriff Silver Star declared, "Not t' mention foalnappin' an' generalized mayhem!" "No! Stop!" Twinken and the Crusaders hurried towards the situation, only for Applejack to get in their way. "Braeburn, get these foals someplace safe," Applejack ordered, keeping her stern gaze on Trouble Shoes. "Wait! No!" Apple Bloom tried to reach her sister, only for Braeburn to stop her and start shoving the foals away. "Please, stop!" Twinken begged, feeling an awful chilling guilt spread from his chest to the rest of his body. "Move it along, outlaw..." Silver Star ordered and Trouble Shoes lowered his head in surrender as he offered no resistance. "Gitalong, Twinken!" Braeburn said coldly, only for Twinken to feel something rise up along with his distressing emotions. "I said STOP!!!" The young unicorn's horn lit up red as a ripple-effect of magic spread out like a shock wave. It went right through everypony present, but only Apple Bloom, Rumble, and Trouble Shoes remained standing as the sheriff, his deputies, Applejack, and Braeburn sized up in shock before they dropped to the ground like sacks of potatoes. Trouble Shoes didn't know what to make of it when he heard a pained groan and looked to see Twinken on his haunches, miserably rubbing the base of his horn as Apple Bloom and Rumble gathered around in concern. "Twinken! Are you okay?" Apple Bloom placed a foreleg around her brother's shoulders. "That... was intense," Rumble didn't know what else to say. Trouble Shoes was about to speak when he heard the knocked out ponies groaning and beginning to stir. "Trouble Shoes, get outta here!" He looked to see Twinken giving him a stern look that softened with worry, "Get outta here! Before they wake up!" Not knowing what else to do or say, Trouble Shoes shook off the ropes and hightailed it out of there. He was out of sight by the time the adults all stirred awake, asking, "Wha' in sam hay...?" Ah feel like a square dancin's stompin' in mah head!" "Can anypony tell me wha' happened?" "Sheriff!" Shaking it off, Silver Star looked to the Crusaders as Twinken pointed the opposite direction Trouble Shoes had run, yelling, "He's headed for the hills, thataway!" Growling, Silver Star shakily got to his hooves, "Shake it off, boys, we got us a runner!" The sheriff and his deputies gave chase to a pony who was making his getaway in the other direction as Twinken sighed in relief, only to hear a throat clearing and he turned to see Applejack giving him the mother of all stink eyes. "Don' think Ah don' know wha' you jus' did... You are inna world o' trouble, young colt! All of you! March..." Applejack pointed her foreleg the way towards Appleloose and the Crusaders all did as they were told, hanging their heads as Applejack and Braeburn followed right behind them to make sure there was no more shenanigans.