//------------------------------// // 267. Appleloosa's Most Wanted - Part 3 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// The next morning, the Crusaders, Twinken especially, got quite the riot act from Applejack, who'd sent them to bed the moment they got back to Braeburn's house last night and her tone had been warning enough that she would tolerate no arguments. Now? She was really letting them have it. "Never, in all mah life- Ah never pulled somethin' like this when Ah was yor age- Ah- Ah jus'... URGH!" Applejack was pacing in front of the Crusaders, trying to find the right words but didn't want to resort to swearing. Taking a deep breath, she faced them again, the look on her face wasn't as scary as much as it made the Crusaders feel like crawling under a rock. "Runnin' off t' th' woods, runnin' into an outlaw, an' helpin' him escape?! Yer lucky Sheriff Silver Star ain't figured tha' out or Ah'm certain he'd be here now slappin' hoofcuffs onto ya! None o' you are allowed to set one hoof outta this house until Ah get back from th' rodeo! "If Braeburn an' th' others weren't already down at th' rodeo grounds an' countin' on me, all four of us would be on th' train back t' Ponyville this minute! Now if'n y'all excuse me, Ah'me off t' help win th' Appleloosa Rodeo Haybale Monster Stack." She paused in the doorway and looked back at the Crusaders, "Ah'm warnin' y'all, one step outta this house... an' yer backsides'll be redder than a caboose after a fresh coat o' paint!" She slammed the door shut behind her and the Crusaders all heard a door lock, and they all let out sighs that the moment had passed. But now, it was time to discuss options. "I'm sorry, guys..." Twinken apologized, feeling awful for how things turned out. "But... when I saw them about to take Trouble Shoes in, I-I couldn't let that happen! He might have caused problems for rodeos, but he doesn't deserve to go to jail for them." "It's okay, Twink," Rumble assured, "I probably would'a done the same thing. Or... Y'know, whatever I could do to stop several ponies at once from committing some unjust arrest." "But now whadda we do?" brought up Apple Bloom. "Y'all heard mah sister, if we leave th' house she's gonna really let us have it!" "It doesn't matter!" Twinken went over to a window and gazed out, seeing the rodeo in the distance, "If we don't help Trouble Shoes, this will happen again, only next time we won't be there to help him out." - He turned to look back at Apple Bloom - "You were right, Bloom! Trouble Shoes has the right stuff to be a great rodeo clown but only if we can help him see his cutie-mark in a new light." "Then what're we waiting for?!" Apple Bloom reared up and flailed her forelegs like a pony ready to charge, Rumble buzzing his wings, and Twinken lit up his horn to open the window. From the woods, Trouble Shoes was being careful not to be seen. His heart yearned to be closer for a better look of the action, but his head was warning him off, so he could barely see what was happening, what with all the tents and the stands where everypony was gathering to sit and watch. He'd almost wrangled up enough nerve to try and sneak in for a closer look but the nerve wore out when he saw Sheriff Silver Star was patrolling the rodeo grounds, and he realized the sheriff was probably providing extra security, along with his deputies, since Trouble Shoes was able to get away last night. "Well, at least Ah can watch a little bit o' th' rodeo..." Trouble Shoes sighed his typical exhale of woe, and then recalled those foals he'd met, especially that unicorn young'un, the one who'd helped him escape. "Ah hope they're alright. Jus' mah luck they helped me getaway, but... they might'a caught th' short end o' tha' stick..." "Trouble Shoes!" He flinched and ducked into the bushes, his rump in the air, and he heard little hooves hurrying this way that he carefully peered through the leaves and sighed in relief to see it was the foals from last night. "Move yer rump, Trouble shoes, we got work t' do," Apple Bloom sounded excited. "Ain't no need, Ah can hear th' rodeo jus' fine from this distance," Trouble Shoes stepped back and sat against a tree. "But we've figured out a way that you can finally fulfill your dream," assured Rumble. "In case y'all've fergotten, Ah'm a known criminal," Trouble Shoes gave them a look that said 'why bother', "How're you proposin' on gettin' me into a rodeo?" The Crusaders shared a big smiled, and Trouble Shoes had a feeling he was gonna be sorry he'd asked. Everypony was having a rip-snortin' good time, and right now it was Applejack and her cousins' turn in the Haybale Monster Stack, and just like before, they worked like a well-oiled machine, stacking bale after bale, and they weren't far from reaching the last team's maximum height. From the sidelines, the Crusaders watched with big smiles and eyes full of excitment. "Well? How do Ah look?" They looked back to see Trouble Shoes now garbed in a yellow shirt with orange spots, patchy trousers held up by a single suspender, a blue clown wig and silly hat on his head, white clown paint covering his face along with a big red nose, an orange scarf around his neck, and on his hind hooves were mismatching clown shoes. They couldn't help but giggle at how truly silly Trouble Shoes looked, as he stepped up behind them and saw what was going on. "C'mon now! Stack them bales! WOOHOO!!" The Crusaders smiled, glad Trouble Shoes was finally enjoying himself and this was just the beginning of their plan, as they watched Applejack the cousins send up their latest bale, with only seconds left! Bushel had already whiplashed the bale to Florina, who heaved it up to Candy Apples, who passed it up to Apple Cinnamon Sticks, who sent it up to Applejack, who quickly gave it a precise buck, and it landed at the top, precariously swaying, everypony gasping with anticipation... until the bale landed on its broadside securely on top. A pegasus rodeo official flapped up to measure the height of the Apple Family's stack compared to the other teams' heights, everypony looking on, eager for the results... as the official set a red arrow above the highest measurement on the pole-sized ruler, indicating the Apples had won! The crowd cheered with excitement and congratulations as the Apples gathered at the bottom of their stack, smiling and proud of their victory. Now with that competition over and done with, it was time for the rodeo clowns to step out and do their hilarious thing! Some started juggling, a couple were walking backwards on top of barrels which caused them to move forward instead, doing all sorts of funny tricks garbed in their illy outfits and clown makeup. Even the gloomy Trouble Shoes couldn't help but crack a smile and chuckle. "`Kay now, Trouble Shoes, yer on!" Trouble Shoes looked at the Crusaders and realized what Apple Bloom had just said as he responded, "Say what?! Ah may be dressed like one, but Ah ain't no rodeo clown." "Y got yer cutie-mark all wrong, Trouble Shoes," Apple Bloom insisted, "You were born t' entertain! Y' gotta gift fer makin' folks laugh, don' you?" "But mah cutie-mark's an upside-down horseshoe," Trouble Shoes reminded them as he turned away from the fun that was going on, "an' tha' means bad luck." "That all depends on how you look at it," commented Twinken. "You always wanted t' be a part o' th' rodeo, right?" Apple Bloom brought up, Trouble Shoes looking back at them, "Well now's yer chance." He looked down as he considered what the Crusaders had just told him. Ever since that awful day he got this cutie-mark, Trouble Shoes had been so certain he was to live the rest of his days an unlucky pony, and time and again, day after day, he'd been proven right, and had quite the collection of bruises and a scar or two to prove it. But then he thought of his old team back when he'd trained in the Royal Guard. They never laughed at him whenever he'd tripped or crashed into something, they'd been there to help him pick himself up and dust himself off. He recalled one of them had turned out to have an illness that ended his dreams of being in the Royal Guard before he'd ever had a chance. Then another teammate had been murdered and their team-leader had blamed himself, is why he'd dismissed them all, Trouble Shoes included, stating that they were better off having nothing to do with him. But then, there had been those rare and special moments where he'd spent good times with his team, his friends, his brothers. As a matter of fact, they too had said Trouble Shoes oughta try being an entertainer in slapstick comedy, but at the time he hadn't taken them seriously or just thought they were joking, because he'd remained adamant in his certainty that he was doomed with lifelong misfortune. Yet it was his friends who'd gotten the real misfortune, and he'd wound up right back where he'd started with his thinking. Did he really want to spend the rest of his life this way? He furrowed his brows and made his decision as he looked back with a determined smile. The Crusaders watched as Trouble Shoes hurried out onto the rodeo field but halted as he looked at all the clowns doing their thing. He nervously looked back at the Crusaders who all gave him encouraging smiles and gestured him him onward. He did- *SLIP/"WHOA!"/KERPLUMP* Trouble Shoes had stepped onto a rubber ball and been tripped for a loop, the ball being launched into the crowd and smacking Braeburn on the head, and it spurred some chuckles amongst the spectators. Getting up, his clown hat and wig falling off, Trouble Shoes looked back the Crusaders agai nand saw them cheering him on. It made him smile and he charged forward. As the Crusaders whooped and laughed, they didn't notice Applejack behind them, looking mighty ornery that the Crusaders had deliberatly disobeyed her and left Braeburn's house... except she was in too good a mood to be angry, as she'd been given the Haybale Monster Stack trophy from her cousins, who'd insisted she deserved it. Maybe Ah was jus' a might too hard on `em, she thought with a shrug and stepped over and joined them. "Hey y'all!" - she heaved up her trophy - "How `bout yer big sis, huh?" ... "Yeah, way t' go," Apple Bloom responded, not entirely listening as hers and the boys' gazes were locked onto the rodeo clowning going on, which wasn't the reaction Applejack had been expecting. She'd thought they'd get scared and start begging and apologizing, or at the very least praise her excitably for winning the contest. She looked at the rodeo clowns, all running up onto a barrel and somersaulting through the air or some other acrobatic stunts. "Since when're y'all so into rodeo clowns?" At the same time, Trouble Shoes had just tried following the other clowns' lead but hesitated to jump, which caused the next clown behind him to crash into him, and land on his back while the clown had landed his four hooves onto Trouble Shoes's hooves, their legs moving in synch as though they were still taking steps, and the spectators were really beginning to riot with laughter. Now some clowns had set up hoops for the others to jump through, and seeing this Trouble Shoes became determined, "Jus' leave me be, cutie-mark!" The clown holding the middle hoop on his head felt the ground rumble and he gasped to see a mountain of a clown headed straight for him! The clowns holding the other hoops dove out of the way while the one with the hoop on his head started running for his life, Trouble Shoes pursuing as he thundered, "AH AIM T' CLEAR THAT THERE HOOP!" The sight of the huge clown chasing the smaller clown, especially through a stack of barrels, it was absolutely hilarious! Thankfully, the small clown managed to hdie behind some bales but Trouble Shoes had gotten one of those barrels to accidentally fall on top of his head and he couldn't see! He tried shaking it off and when that didn't work ran about blind, right into some clowns who'd been setting up a pony pyramid. But thankfully they all managed to dive out of the way, only for Trouble Shoes to run headlong into the haybale stack the Apples had set up. The force of the crash caused several bales to fall on top of some of the clowns running, making them look silly with their heads and legs sticking out of the bales, one of which included a bale falling on top of Braeburn in the crowd, and his head popped out with a silly dazed smile, the laughter escalating. Trouble Shoes had finally sopped running blind, but in all the excitement the strap holding up his pants came loose and they fell down, revealing his rump, causing such a hoot with the spectators that their guts were bursting with laughter! "Tha's th' best rodeo clown Ah've ever seen!" laughed Applejack, and the Crusaders shared a happy smile, laughing as Rumble and Twinken bro-hoofed, and Apple Bloom cheered. Sitting down, Trouble Shoes noticed the cork in the barrel had popped out, and he was able to peer through it and see what was happening around him, and he noticed the Crusaders smiling and waving and cheering for him. He finally managed to get the barrel off, but unfortunately there'd been water in it. So his clown makeup was washed off and his clown nose fell from his muzzle, and everypony gasped! "TROUBLE SHOES!!" "Wha' th' hell?!" "IT'S THA' NO-GOOD VARMINT!" "HE'S HERE T' RUIN OUR RODEO!" "LET'S GET `IM!" The laughter was gone, replaced very quickly with shouts of anger as the spectators got riled up, some even had torches and pitchforks to complete the mob cliche, but the Crusaders ran out to defend Trouble Shoes! "Wait, y'all!" Apple Bloom pleaded, "He ain't what you think he is!" "Stand aside, young'uns!" Sheriff Silver Star glared angrily at Trouble Shoes, he wasn't letting him get away this time! "This outlaw's goin' t' jail where he blongs!" "No! He doesn't belong in jail, he belongs in rodeos, same as everypony here!" Twinken lit up his horn, a spell ready in case things went south. "After all he's done?! Made a mess and caused so much damage and endangered lives?!" Silver Star was becoming real ornery. "SHERIFF SILVER STAR! That's enough!" All eyes turned to see none other than Prince Midnight Blaze, wearing a dark gray rustic-looking fedora with a black bolo tie that had an ornament shaped like the crescent moon of his cutie-mark hanging around his neck, and his eyes were on Trouble Shoes, whose own eyes were wide with disbelief, and everypony whispered in awe and confusion to see an alicorn prince here of all times and places. "There are two sides to every story, and I think we oughta hear what these foals have to say on Trouble Shoes's part," Midnight declared and looked to the Crusaders expectantly. Getting the idea, Twinken canceled his spell and started, "Trouble Shoes never meant to cause any problems, all of that was just bad accidents." "Twinken, what're you talkin' about?" Applejack went over to stand beside Midnight. "Trouble Shoes had a gift for making ponies laugh," Rumble explained, "he's maybe the best rodeo clown I've ever seen!" "Tha's true!" All eyes turned to the spectators where the rodeo judges were as an old mare commented with a kind smile, "He is awful funny." "He thawt his cutie-mark was tellin' him t' keep away from rodeos, but deep down inside," Apple Bloom smiled kindly at Trouble Shoes, "he knew tha's where he was meant t' be. He jus' din't know how t' do it!" The crowd was beginning to murmur with this revelation when they all heard Midnight chuckling as he stepped forward, saying, "Yeah, that definitely sounds like him. But you know earth ponies, they can be mighty stubborn about their opinions, and back when we trained together you were all but certain that bad luck was the only thing fate had in store for you, but what do you think now, old friend?" "Friend?!" "Prince Midnight knows him?"Are mah ears workin' right?" The crowd and everypony else here certainly hadn't seen that coming. Trouble Shoes stood up and said, "Wha' these young'uns say is true! This here, entertain' y'all wit' muh klutzin'? Tha's wha' Ah'm s'posed t' be doin! Ah finally see it. Ah swear it's th' honest truth, Ah ne'er meant t' cause any harm. Ah jus' ain't never loved nothin' like Ah love th' rodeo. So Ah... kept sneakin' back an' makin' a big ol' mess o' things. Turns out, Ah was lookin' at muh cutie-mark all wrong." the ponies in the crowd were smiling kindly with understanding and sympathy but then Sheriff Silver Star spoke up, "Tha' may be so, Trouble Shoes, but y' still gotta face charges fer th' problems you caused." "Here," Midnight said curtly as he held a slip of paper to the Sheriff, "This check should more than cover all damages Troubles Shoes caused, and by my authority I hereby absolve Trouble Shoes of all charges against him. Trouble Shoes, you've found your calling and i can't wait to see what you'll do next to make everypony laugh." The crowd cheered and Trouble Shoes shook hooves with his old friend and gave the Crusaders big hug for helping him see the light of his cutie-mark. But then Midnight and Applejack had a quick word and called the Crusaders over. With the rodeo over, the spectators had gone home but the rodeo workers had been given time off, as Midnight and Applejack had volunteered the Crusaders to clean up the rodeo grounds as punishment for their running off and making their own trouble. Midnight had even forbade Twinken from using his magic. Twinken and Rumble were clearing the hay bales out and stacking in a neat pile nearby while Apple Bloom was cleaning up any trash covering the rodeo grounds, as Applejack and Midnight sat by, keeping an eye on them. Sighing, Apple Bloom looked to her older siblings, "Do we really hav' t' clean up all this mess Trouble Shoes made?" "Maybe it'll teach y'all not t' go wanderin' off after Ah said not to," retorted Applejack. "Just because things turned out well doesn't mean you get off scot free," agreed Midnight. "Say Midnight, how'd you wind up here anyway?" Twinken asked, pushing a barrel to the side. "Weren't you working on something with Blueblood?" "A special project of ours for a new airship, but since it's still in the theoretical stage, I decided to make my way here and enjoy the rodeo while I still had the chance," replied Midnight, "I gotta say, I was surprised to hear about Trouble Shoes supposedly being some outlaw but I never expected to see him here and now." They all looked down the way and saw Trouble Shoes talking with the other rodeo clowns, and the smile on his face somehow made doing all this clean-up work worth it to the Crusaders. A little bit. "Ah still cain't believe you two know each other, Midnight," commented Applejack . "Trouble Shoes was just a junior recruit for the Royal Guard when my father took notice of him," Midnight explained, "and although Trouble Shoes wasn't exactly... light on his hooves, he showed himself to be stronger than all the other recruits in his class put together. So Ignitus hoof-picked him to join the team of young colts to train alongside me, back then. "After what happened with Flash Sentry, I felt so guilt-ridden that I refused to let my team put themselves in harm's way for my sake, so... I dismissed them. It wasn't easy to do, but I couldn't live with myself if another of them got hurt because of me." "Well, at least Trouble Shoes is happy and really does know what his cutie-mark represents," said Rumble as he grunted and pushed a bale out. "It really does feel nice to help somepony like that," added Twinken. "So..." Apple Bloom gave Applejack and Midnight a big hopeful smile, "can we stop now?" "Nnope," they responded, much to the Crusaders' chagrin.