To a Wastelander, Sleeping on a bed would be considered a luxury, sleeping on a bed on a passenger train, a myth. Six was currently waking up from such a bed, the rocking of the train a foreign sensation. The train had only stopped for a few minutes after leaving appaloosa, to switch to using the steam engine. The pony applejack had explained the day before that to save on fuel the train is primarily pulled by stallions when across flat straight rails, however, switches to using the engine when the pulling crew gets tired or the weather gets bad.
It wasn't normal for six to wake early, but two things had changed that today. The first was his long nap the day before, the second was food. The smell of eggs was something of a mystery to Six, having many things like it but never quite the original. He had tried deviled eggs, deathclaws eggs and even synthetic eggs, but this put them all to shame.
Removing himself from the bed, Six attempted to locate the source of the smell. With the metaphorical gears in his head picking up speed, he noticed it was coming from out the window, It was wafting from the next cart over.
Grabbing his helmet that was on one of the corner bed poles, He headed to the carriage door. Six open the door and heard the sound of the train moving beneath him, feeling the rocking of the cart and connecter. Passing over the connecter, he opened the door on the other side and entered the cart.
The fantastic smell from before was now very noticeable in the dining cart. The only two other passengers in the dining cart were the two ponies that had requested he joined them on a trip to meet their princess. Most people might feel that the situation was strange, being invited by a bunch of strangers to talk to the supreme leader of a society, but Six had more experience than most in the wasteland. Indeed, he had done so frequently in the time leading up to the battle for hover dam, an event that had redefined him. but for now, he was hungry.
As he walked over, Applejack was the first to notice.
"Well, lookie who's awake, we didn't know if you were a morning pony, so we saved you something"
Her hoof tapped at a steel cover over a plate in the middle of the table. So Six sat on the other side, on a chair next to rainbow dash who was chowing away at what looked like eggs and some sort of wavy grass rectangles.
Putting his helmet on the table, Six lifted the cover off to reveal the same food and promptly dug into the eggs. They were delicious. Applejack took a swig of juice. In the quick silence that occurred, Rainbow Dash asked a question on her mind.
"So, is Braeburn good in bed?"
The train carriage was filled with the sounds of coughing as both Applejack and Six choked on their drink and food respectively.
"Rainbow!" Applejack snapped.
"What? I'm curious" Rainbow Dash stated defensively
"There is a time and a place for that, which preferably would be outside of earshot for me" Applejack spat.
"Ok, I'm sorry. yeesh, Applejack, I didn't think you would care that much." Rainbow Dash responded annoyed.
"He's my cousin, I don't wanna hear that kind of stuff about family!" Applejack stated horrified.
There was an awkward silence that followed, eventually to be broken by Six.
"Hey, look, sorry about that, it was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing"
Applejack threw her hoof up towards Six.
"It's none of my business, Braeburn is a Stallion who can make his own choices. I'd rather not hear about it"
Rainbow Dash came to the rescue of her own mistake.
"Then let's not talk about it, let's about us." Rainbow Dash turned to face Six
"Did you know I'm the fastest flyer in all of Equestria, And Applejack has put every Cowpony shame at nearly every rodeo show there is" She boasted
Six thought about what he had just heard "I saw a cow in a book once, kind of like a brahmin"
Both ponies were perplexed by the statement
"What's a brahmin?" Rainbow asked
Six thought for a moment "It's kinda like a cow, except it, has two heads, kinda wrinkly too"
Applejack went from bafflement to disbelief.
"Err, beg your pardon, did you say two heads?"
"Yeah, they eat as much as you would think." Six responded, then spoke to rainbow.
"So your some sort of messenger?"
Rainbow Dash seemed both confused and annoyed at the question
"No, I'm a weather pony. But someday I'm going to be a Wonderbolt"
Six then looked at Applejack
"Then, of course, your not a rancher"
"Heh, close, I work at my family's Orchard, Sweet Apple Acers." Applejack Replied.
Six leaned back in his chair
"So, why did your Princess send a farmer and a weather pony to find me?"
While Applejack struggled to voice her response, Rainbow went on the offensive.
"Hey, I'll have you know we saved Equestria over three times now!"
Applejack intervened "Now hold on there rainbow, he doesn't even know anything about us"
Rainbow Dash stopped and waited as Applejack decided on the best place to start her story.
"See, it was around two years ago, Me and rainbow here live in a place called Ponyville. Ponyville had been chosen to host a big event called the summer sun celebration, And to do that, we all did our part to prepare.
The princess sent her student to oversee how things were heading, and that's when we met Twilight. Now, most of the ponies in Ponyville knew each other quite well, But as far as making friends goes, Twilight was like a fish out of water. Everything was going along as planned, but twilight seemed in a hurry to leave.
The time arrives when the princess herself is supposed to show, but instead, a dark alicorn appears. Twilight seemed to know who she was, and called her Nightmare Moon.
A few of us locals had talked to her throughout the day and knew who she was, so we went to find out what she knew. Five ponies, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and rainbow over there and I found her in the library where she was staying. It turns out, Nightmare moon was some pony from long ago that was foretold to show that night and bring about eternal darkness. Princess Celestia was missing and twilight said the only way to stop her was with the Elements of harmony.
The Elements were supposed to be these magical, things, I don't know much more myself. There were six elements, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty and Magic.
Anyway, We knew we had to help our new friend, so we went with her to where a book said the Elements were hidden, in the Everfree forest. Now, that place is dangerous and unnatural, but we knew what was at stake. We faced our share of dangers in the forest, but we always came through.
Eventually, we reach this old castle, and inside are the Elements. we tried to use them, but they didn't budge. Suddenly Nightmare Moon appeared and whisked Twilight away. The five of us searched for her and found her facing off Nightmare Moon, the elements in pieces. Twilight started saying that we're the spirits of the elements, representing each one. Mine was Honesty, Rainbow's was loyalty.
Our friendship was the spark that was needed to make them Elements work. When Twilight finally understood friendship, the Broken elements glowed and rushed right at us, then they became these necklaces we all wore. We blasted Nightmare Moon with some sort of magic and she turned into Princess Luna.
It turns out the Princess had a Sister that became evil and the elements made her good again. The sun rose once more, and Princess Celestia reappeared, Twilight asked to stay in Ponyville with us, her new friends, the Princess tasked Twilight with learning about the magic of friendship and we have all been thick as thieves since."
When Applejack finally stopped her Retelling of the events that lead to her and her friends becoming the bearers of the elements, she noticed even Rainbow Dash was listening intently with her head being held up by her forelegs on the table.
"Er, Rainbow what are you doing?"
Rainbow Dash's forelegs shot up into a shrug
"What, you're good at telling stories," She said
"But you were there" Applejack restored.
"Yeah, but it's nice to hear a story about what we do. Besides, you cut out all the cool things we did, like when I beat that manticore." Rainbow dash stated.
Applejack's face went flat as she looked at Rainbow
"You do remember it was Fluttershy who stopped the manticore..."
"Oh... I helped" Rainbow Dash replied.
Six decided to steer the conversation back to something useful.
"So your some sort of Guardians?"
Rainbow Dash perked up at the idea.
"Hey yeah, that's what we should call ourselves, The Guardians of Equestria!"
Applejack raised her voice to cut Rainbow Dash off
"The point is, we're friends first and foremost, and when Equestria needs us, we're there to help where we can"
"So what about you, Big light in the sky chooses to bring you here in the middle of nowhere, what do you do?" Rainbow Askes Six.
After a moment, Six slowly answered. "I... was a courier"
"Like, a mail pony?" Applejack asked, not expecting that answer.
"Retired, I haven't needed to do that in a while." Six said both to them and himself.
"Retired?" Rainbow Dash asked, giving Six a look over. "You don't look that old"
"I'm only thirty-six. Most folks don't retire till they're in their sixties If they can retire at all." Six explained as turned his helmet on the table to face him. "My last job set me up for life, I can do pretty much anything I want really."
Applejack whistled at the idea of being set for life. "Why, with that kind of money, just imagine all the things we could fix on the farm. We could even send apple bloom to one of them fancy schools."
"Are you serious?" Rainbow Dash jumped in, "With that kind of cash, Why would Applebloom need to go to a fancy school? Just buy all the nearby farms, sit back and let other ponies do the work. you could give Filthy Rich a run for his bits!"
Six decided to add his piece to this conversation.
"Honestly, The money is nice, but there were plenty of things I would give it back over. Money isn't everything"
Applejack silently nodded at the statement in agreement, Rainbow Dash waved her hoof and remarked.
"Yeah, but it would still be nice to have some extra bits, I still owe slinky 40 bits for his window."
A Stallion came through the opposite door of the carriage. He stopped and froze when he saw Six, but eventually, the announcement stumbled out of his muzzle.
"Ponyville Station in thirty minutes!"
He then shuffled back through the door.
Applejack perked up at the news
"Nearly there, once we're past Ponyville, it's a direct line to Canterlot. Maybe flutters and Twi will join us."
" Pfft, Are you kidding me? Miss 'rise and shine' probably took the first train available, They're probably already at Canterlot." Rainbow Dash Exclaimed
"Well, then we should hurry too, I'll go talk with the conductor, maybe he can make our trip faster" Applejack responded.
Rainbow Dash left her seat and started heading towards the carriage door the conductor had just left through.
Applejack left her seat and stopped rainbow from passing her.
"hold on there Rainbow, Maybe you should stay here with Six."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"I think the big guy can take care of himself. Besides, I wanna see if the kitchen has more hay bacon."
Six moved to a relaxed and aloof posture.
"It's fine, I'll just wait here, View is nice."
The corner of Applejack's mouth cracked into a smirk, and with a shake of her head, she began to leave.
"No worries, Mr Set for life, we'll be back soon"
Rainbow Dash responded to the comment humorously.
"HA, good one applejack, Mr set for life... Still, that must have been some package"
As they reached the far end of the carriage and began to leave through the door, Six pulled out a platinum poker chip on a cord from around his neck.
"It sure was"