One Week Later...
Strider set a crate down outside of a small wooden shed that was behind Fluttershy's cottage. Strider glanced over the exterior of the shed, seeing what state it was in. Still, as long as it had a roof, it would be better then waking up to another prank that Angel Bunny pulled on him, even with Fluttershy claiming that Angel had claimed to stop.
Strider reached for the door knob and turned it, waiting for a click before he pushed it. The door creaked due to the rusty hinges and wood that scraped across the ground, but the door did fully open.
The interior surrounded in darkness due to the lack of windows, but one flick on Strider's helmet's head lamp sent a wave of light into the shed and brightening it up.
Strider could see a few spare two by fours against the right wall as well as a single rusty gardening tool. A little lamp dangled over a single wooden chair that rested on its side in the middle of the room, most likely due to one of the legs being broken.
Strider picked up the chair and went over to the side of the shed, planing on setting it against the wall.
"Well, this place is better then having to be watched by that--" Strider trailed off as the wall he had leaned the chair on broke, sending the chair and part of the wall falling outside.
"--bunny..." Strider finished.
Strider half expected to see Angel Bunny holding a power tool when he poked his head out of the new hole, but the bunny was nowhere to bee seen.However, he did notice that the leaves on the trees had changed colors, some red, some orange and some yellow.
"How did I not notice that until now?" Strider wondered to himself as he backed away from the hole. One thing was for certain, he needed was another set of tools,
Strider walked over to a crate he had set down and unhitched a rectangular pouch from his utility belt. He set it down on the crate's lid and opened the pouch, letting its content spill out.
Several shiny golden bits clattered across the lid, some nearly falling off the edges. Strider counted the amount of bits that he had which ended up being twenty-seven.
"Hmm, hopefully this should be enough." Strider muttered to himself, scooping the bits back into the rectangular pouch and putting it back on his utility belt.
Strider quickly exited the shed and began walking towards Ponyville. Hopefully someone sells some good tools for the amount of bits he still had.
Strider had maybe set four feet into Ponyville when he noticed a large amount of ponies trotting together towards the end of town.
"What's with the commotion?" Strider wondered, walking over towards the group of ponies.
"Where are you all going?" Strider questioned to a yellow furred pegasus with a blue mane and tail.
"Were heading to Sweet Apple Acres for the Iron Pony competition. This is the first one to happen in years!" The pony claimed happily, quickly rushing away to catch up with the crowd.
Strider watched as the crowd of ponies left town and trotted down a path that had a sign next to it labeled Sweet Apple Acres.
"Hopefully that competition doesn't shut down all the stands." Strider said out loud, noting how quiet the town was and how many ponies were heading towards the farm.
Strider turned away from where the ponies were going and walked towards town square, quickly noticing the lack of ponies around the area. Strider looked around, trying to spot any stand or store that showed any sign of tools. But just as he had feared, most of them had closed signs or were completely empty.
"Come on, give a trooper his weaponry." Strider muttered.
Then, he spotted it. A store that had a sign hanging above the door that showed the image of a hammer and a wrench. Perfect! Surely that store has the correct tools.
Strider quickly rushed over to the store and went to open the door, but it didn't budge. Strider tried again but the door stood its ground.
Only then did Strider notice the Closed sign that was hanging on the other side of the glass part of the door.
"Dang it," Strider muttered under his breath, before walking away from the closed shop. "Surely some shop is still open around here."
Strider looked around the town for a while, not giving up. But to his disappointment, no other stores seemed to sell any tools. He did however spot something else.
Strider walked over to a single story building that rested in front of a set of train tracks. A small deck area stood between the tracks and the building, the only thing on it was a single bench.
Strider hoped onto the deck and walked over to a glass window/booth. The booth was being managed by a stallion with grey fur and a black mane and tail.
The Stallion quickly noticed the Trooper and put down a newspaper he had been reading.
"Hello! You must be that friend of Fluttershy's. What brings you here?" The Stallion asked.
"I was passing by when I spotted this place and a question rolled into my mind. How much would it be for a ticket that takes me to Canterlot and back here?" Strider questioned.
The Stallion reached below the desk he was behind and retrieved a piece of paper. He set it on the outstretched bit of wood on the glass and pushed the paper through the opening.
"That's a list of every station that the Friendship Express takes. The number of bits for each trip is to the side." The Stallion exclaimed.
"Thanks." Strider said as he picked the paper up and walked over to the bench.
Strider sat down on the bench and began looking at the paper, quickly making out the rail to Canterlot as a purple line that went from Ponyville right to the Capitol. Strider then looked over at the information about the line.
"Distance is fifty-k, time estimated to arrive at destination is around five hours, train arrives at Ponyville Station every---" Strider continued to mumble as he read, focusing on finding the key information he needed.
It didn't take long before he finally found how much a ticket would cost.
"twenty bits for a one way trip..." Strider muttered, looking at the number on the paper.
A few seconds rolled by as Strider stared blankly at the numbers.
"Was it really that easy all along!?"