The Ponyville Watch- By Layab547.
Chapter 1: A One-Pony Team.
Equestria, a kingdom formed from the unity of the three types of ponies. It was a peaceful land, where creatures of all kinds could flourish under the watchful eyes of their protectors. For the ponies that inhabited the realm, those protectors were the two princesses, Celestia and Luna, controllers of the sun and moon. The country’s animals were guarded by the different ponies, who also helped the develop the land, with the equines of Earth raising food and providing for others, the Pegasus controlling the weather and helping to keep the land safe, and the unicorns to lend their ability of magic control to all kinds of tasks. The harmony created by all of this was one of the main forces that kept everypony safe, being one of the most powerful forms of magic.
However, every once and awhile this harmony was disrupted, from simple criminal ponies and wild animals causing trouble, to full out invasions from other species, not to mention the incident with the world being thrown into chaos by a certain draconequus known as Discord.
It was at moments like these that the world’s protectors were called to action. The princesses helped fight off the major threats, along with the Elements of Harmony, six ponies who wielded the powers of good to fight off even the worst threats. But some incidents did not require such power to stop, and in those cases local authorities were responsible to intervene.
In most cities, there was a police force to stop crimes and assist ponies in danger. There would usually be a smaller force of ponies to deal with fire, magical outbreaks and such. And sometimes there was even a military regiment stationed, but that was only in cities near the borders of Equastria and in the capital, Canterlot.
The point is, in every city, town and village, there was some kind of established safety group to make sure nopony was left alone in danger.
All of them, except for Ponyville.
And since the quiet little town was situated directly next to the Everfree Forest, one of the few areas in Equastria not under the influence of magic, and was also adjacent to a large mountainous area were dragons and other such creatures were known to make their homes, it was a wonder the small place hadn’t been wiped off the map yet.
Then again, the town was home to the aforementioned Elements of Harmony, which were all extremely brave ponies, and one of whom was Twilight Sparkle, a powerful Unicorn who was a student of Princess Celestia herself!
These six ponies had saved the town, and all of Equastria, many times. They overcame incredible obstacles, were always willing to lend a hoof, and never gave up, no matter what.
Plus, even when they weren't saving the day, the friends all had jobs that helped the town. All in all, Ponyville was in good hooves, and wasn't in need of a silly defense force.
“But it is, Mayor!” Watchnight responded, almost biting her tongue to keep from yelling. The Unicorn had been doing her best to convince the mayor of Ponyville to accept her idea, but so far she had made little progress.
“Ponyville has done very well without any kind of security group to keep it safe, and what you’re talking about is a simple… town watch, which the Pegasus already do for us. There is no need to spend more of the town’s budget for such a useless organization.”
The mayor’s tone was sharp, which was understandable, as this was the fifth time that week she had been pestered by Miss Watchnight. The stubborn pony was just not willing to take no for an answer.
Watchnight, on the other hoof, was more than just a little agitated. She respected the mare, but Mayor Mare was so obsessed with keeping things nice and orderly that she just wasn’t willing to consider Watchnight’s idea. Not only that, but now the grey haired nag had taken to insulting her request.
As soon as the words left the mayor’s mouth, Watchnight felt her blood begin to boil.
“Useless?! I’m proposing the formation of a team to keep Ponyville safe, and you call it useless?!”
A nod, as the older pony’s blue eyes hardened into a glare.
“I must ask you to keep from shouting in my office. As for useless, while your idea sounds good on paper, Ponyville is more than capable of taking care of its self, so there is no need to pay for such a frivolous thing as…”
The unicorn just sighed, her head falling slightly as she tuned out the coming excuse. She had heard this all before, that there was no need to pay for a town guard when nothing ever went wrong.
But that was just the thing, Watchnight hadn’t been in Ponyville that long, but she had heard the stories. Timberwolves, parasprites, dragons, a Cerberus, revenge-seeking magic users, the list went on and on. Sure, these things had been stopped, but only through the hard work of the Elements. Those ponies were civilians, and in her opinion, the government of the town shouldn’t be relying on them alone. There should be a group to help out, an official team that could stop the problems and keep every colt, filly, and mare safe. This was something Ponyville needed, but unless she could convince the mayor of that, there was no way the stubborn pony would agree to pay for…
Wait a moment…
“What if it was a volunteer organization?”
“A what?” The mayor asked, her eyes now gaining a look of confusion.
Smiling, Watchnight lifted up her head, and continued.
“You know, when ponies volunteer to work without being paid. All it would be is a few hours a day to check around town and make sure nopony has problems or has seen anything suspicious. And it would barely cost anything to run!” The unicorn paused for a second, and then threw up her hooves. “Hey, I’ll pay the bits myself! All I need is your approval to run this sort of thing!”
The mayor thought to herself for a moment, and Watchnight could feel that she was actually being taken seriously this time.
“Well… I suppose I could grant you permission to start a watch guard… And I guess that giving you a few bits to get started wouldn’t cost too much…”
The smile on Watchnight’s face grew wider and wider, as did her eyes, but the older mare held up a hoof.
“But, what if nopony volunteers, or perhaps there is really no need for this sort of service? Wouldn’t it all be a waste of time?”
Frantically, the unicorn shook her head.
“No! I mean, of course this is needed! We live right next to the Everfree Forest! And I’m sure lots of ponies will volunteer to help out. And even if they don’t, I’ll do it myself!”
Deciding to throw away some more of her dignity, Watchnight sighed, and stuck out her bottom lip.
“Please Miss Mare! Ponyville needs this!” She begged, trying as hard as she could to sound official while she did so, which is actually quite impossible.
The mayor stared at her for a second, before giving Watchnight a slightly concerned look.
“Does Ponyville need this, or do you need this?”
Watchnight’s lavender eyes widened, but she quickly started glaring.
“What… Do you mean by that?” Her voice, which was meant to sound annoyed or cross, came out more nervous than anything. The mayor opened her mouth to say something, before simply shaking her head and smiling.
“Never mind… I grant your request to establish a Ponyville town watch, on the condition that you can prove that the town is in need of such an organization, and that you can run it simply with volunteers and a minimum salary. Do you think you can do that?”
This time, Watchnight really did have to bite her tongue to keep from yelling. But that didn’t stop her from breaking into a smile.
“Of course! Don’t you worry, Mayor Mare, you won’t regret this! Ponyville will be safer from now on!”
With that, the unicorn ran towards the door, preparing to put her plans into action, but she did hear what mayor yelled after her.
“Also, please don’t break anything or hurt somepony. Lawsuits are bad!”
But the mayor didn’t have to worry about that, from now on, things were going to go much better.
Finally, everything was going just like Watchnight wanted it too.
-One Long Week Later-
The streets of Ponyville were silent, as it was very late in the night. Luna’s moon was exceptionally bright, meaning the Princess had gotten a good day’s sleep.
‘That sounds nice right about now…’
A yawn escaped her mouth as a unicorn slowly walked down one of the town’s dirt streets. Her forest green coat and vibrant orange mane caused her to stand out against the more brightly colored buildings, whose light, happy colors were plainly visible even in the middle of the night. Her lavender eyes were tired of being open, and tried over and over to shut themselves, only to be forced back open, for the mare liked to see where she was going.
‘Maybe I can switch over to simply night patrol… No, trouble happens in the day time too.’
The unicorn rolled an uncomfortable cramp out of her right front leg, and then started to reconsider her outfit choice. A light blue shirt that went all the way down to her hind legs, with a pocket, and a dark blue vest with the words ‘Ponyville Watch’ sewn on its left side, and her name on the right.
‘Watchnight.’
It taken several days for the young mare to get everything setup for the new town guard, which means it was very hard to find a place that was actually in her budget that could be used as a headquarters. But she had finally managed to find a small, rundown building on the edge of town. It used to be the towns printing press, but nopony had used it in years.
Thankfully, because it was so old, the mayor sold it to her for a very cheap price.
As for the outfit, Watchnight had made it herself. She had at first asked Miss Rarity, who ran the town’s boutique, to make one for her, but when she saw the fashionable unicorns basic sketches, she immediately told her to forget about it. It is hard to look official with a diamond studded color.
Instead, Watchnight bought a few simple shirts and vests, and sewed the names into them herself. It wasn’t the best, but it was good enough.
Of course, so far she had only had to write one name, as nopony had actually volunteered yet.
But she was sure that would change, after all, she had only put up the posters three days, and this had been her first time to actually patrol the town. Everypony she had talked said it was a great idea…
All right, most of them did, some were indifferent, and a few told her to go bother somepony else…
But who cares what they think anyway?
Finally, the tired unicorn reached the ‘Ponyville Watch Station’, as the wooden sign above the door read out in bright blue paint. Not exactly the color of choice, but it would do.
Using a bit of magic to open the door, Watchnight slowly crept into the newly refurbished… office, she guessed.
It looked like one, anyway. A small wooden desk sat in the middle of the room, completely covered in papers, some of which had fallen onto the floor. On the right side of the room, next to the building’s only window, was a table, with four chairs seated around it. The table, unlike the desk, was completely clutter-free. Behind said table was the doorway into the back room, which was almost completely empty except for a few boxes, which was good as it was about the size of a broom closet.
To the left of the desk were a few filing cabinets, a mirror which hung on the wall, and a coat rack.
Watchnight wasn’t sure why there was a coat rack, but there was.
The pony sighed, and used a quick illumination spell to light the lamp that set on her desk. While the mayor’s workers had done a great job fixing up the place for Watchnight, going so far as to paint the whole place, she was still waiting on constant magical lights.
And for volunteers, and for anything important to actually happen.
‘It’s only day one, you just have to wait and be patient. Things will come together eventually.’
Unfortunately for Watchnight, waiting was not something she was good at.
Letting out yet another sigh, the green-colored unicorn walked over to the chair behind her desk, and plopped down, resting her head on the many papers for a few minutes. It had been a long day, which was shown in the pile of reports she was currently laying on. After several uncomfortable minutes, Watchnight lifted her head, and looked down at the top taper.
“Ponyville Watch report, day one….”
Her eyes skimmed over the words, since she knew what it said. After all, she wrote it. Mostly, it stated what ponies she had talked too, and a summary of anything suspicious that they claimed to see.
Turns out, ponies love talking about strange things.
‘Especially Mr. Turner, I should probably bring an extra notepad next time I visit him. That pony can rabble for hours.’
She had actually run out of paper several times during her patrol, and had to go all the way back to the ‘HQ’ to get some more.
Needless to say, she knew the route pretty well now.
Again, it had been a long day.
Watchnight yawned, before letting her head once again rest on the stack of papers. There were several odd sightings that she would have to read-over, and decide if they were worth investigating.
And she would get right on that… In a few minutes…
“Pardon me, are you Miss Watchnight?”
The unicorn blinked, becoming aware of how light the room had gotten, and suddenly not feeling tired anymore. She shook a few strands of her mane out of her face, and looked up at whoever was speaking to her.
She was… mildly surprised when she realized she didn't know this pony. He was a burgundy stallion, with a sandy-brown mane that was cut short and spiked up; his tail was also very short and spiky.
Suddenly realizing that she had been caught sleeping at work, something the mayor would definitely not be pleased with, Watchnight immediately straightened up in the chair, and tried to look as official as possible, which wasn’t easy as her own short mane was a mess.
“Oh, yes, that’s me. How may help you Mr.….”
“Dusty, mam, I’m Dusty Trail.” The earth pony replied, bowing slightly as he introduced himself. He spoke in a slow drawl, much like the stallion who worked at Sweet Apple Acres, only Dusty sounded younger.
“Well, Mr. Trail, what service may the Ponyville watch do for you?” Watchnight asked, hoping that it was something important. She didn’t want to waste more paper; it got expensive after a while.
“You see, I just got into town from Dodge Junction…” Dusty began, again in a slow, calm manner. “But I ain’t found a job yet, and I hate just sittin’ around doin’ nothing. Then I saw one of them posters askin’ for volunteers, and thought I’d come by and see if I could help out while I look for some payin’ work.”
By the time the western stallion finished talking; Watchnight was levitating a volunteer form and pen in front of him.
“Just sign here!”
Dusty’s bright blue eyes blinked in surprise, and he gave the unicorn a questioning look.
“Uh… That’s it? That’s all I got ta do?”
Watchnight nodded, but did give a slight nervous chuckle.
“Well, yes. We’re a new organization, and I’m currently the only one working here. So I’m not too terrible picky about what pony volunteers.”
“Ah.”
Taking the pen is his mouth, the earth pony wrote… what Watchnight assumed was a name. His signature was incredibly sloppy, despite the fact it took the stallion forever to write it.
“Ah am sorry, I grew up on the outskirts of Dodge, so I never had no formal schoolin’” Dusty admitted, looking somewhat sheepish about it.
Watchnight just smiled and waved a hoof. “That’s not a problem, I’m the one who takes care of the paperwork, and you’ll be my assistant. Or second in command, I’m not sure which.”
Dusty's eyes grew hopeful. “So, Ah’m hired?”
“Of course! To be honest I was afraid it would be a couple of days before somepony else would volunteer.” The lavender eyed unicorn straightened her jacket, and climbed down from her chair. “And we can get to work right away, if you feel like it.”
She really hoped he would agree, as she didn’t wasn’t to have to everything herself… again.
Thankfully, the stallion smiled, and straightened himself up, so that he was standing at attention.
“Yes mam, what do ya need me to do?”
Returning his smile, Watchnight turned and walked towards the backroom.
“First, we’ll get you an outfit. Then, we go on patrol.”
Things were starting to shape up now. Dusty seemed nice enough, and hopefully he would be a good worker. And she was certain that more volunteers would come, then she could take this were she wanted it to go. Everything was going to go like she wanted.
“Wait, outfit?”
Yeah, fat chance of that happening.