//------------------------------//
// The Town 
// Story: The Poncho Chronicles I: The Beans 
// by BRyeMC 
//------------------------------//

	On a relaxing day in August, Poncho and his eight friends went on a cross country trip on a bus, starting from their small town near the capital Canterlot, and working their way westward. Their last stop happened to be in Seaddle, where they would check out their favorite professional football team, the Seacawks, and watch them play in their first exhibition game of the season and hopefully get some autographs from their favorite players. After much debate, Poncho decided to tag along with his pals and pitch in for cost, even though he wasn’t a big fan of the sport.
Poncho was the most jubilant and comical one of the group, and also deemed the sketchiest by his friends. However, he still had the biggest heart and cared deeply about them. His coat had a khaki color that went with his dark brown eyes. His mane was a mix of brown with black highlights within it. His Cutie Mark was a small couch with a bag of chips and a game controller which rested on the cushions of the couch. 
With Poncho and the others were Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Both parties met each other at Seaddle and decided to take a single bus back home. Twilight and her friends were merely on vacation, and for Twilight’s sake, research. Unfortunately, they had to go back home sooner than expected to fix a spell that went awry that made a users wings or horn unusable, along with their talent that made who they truly were. They were on their way back from the trip by going down the west coast and then heading east along the border to save more money, but also meaning, the trip would be longer and they wouldn't be able to use magic or flight for a longer period of time. On their departure towards home, after an hour or two away from Seaddle, hunger and restlessness bested them.
“Hey, where’s the next stop? I’m starving,” declared Rainbow Dash bitterly.	
“There seems to be a town a couple of miles down the road that we can take a quick stop in, but we can’t be too long or the bus will leave without us...” said Twilight Sparkle, with uneasiness in her voice. "Let's try to get back home as soon as possible anyway."
“I’ve got the munchies, so we have to stop,” said Spike.
“Spike, that’s not n—” began Applejack.
“Oh it's necessary alright. I bet these dudes are hungry too,” retorted Spike. He pointed to Poncho and his group of friends, who all mostly nodded. 
“But I—" Spike turned away and kept silent as Applejack frowned.

Soon thereafter, the bus slowed to a halt at a small, vacant town. There were a few gas stations and run down motels nearby which were most likely comprised of hookers, drug addicts, killers, and gangsters, but mostly hookers and drug addicts. The town was so small and desolate it probably wasn't even located on a map.      
“Alright, go do what you want, but be back in thirty minutes or we’re leaving you behind,” said one of Poncho’s good friends, Clyde. 
Clyde was a “true point guard” to his friends. He was well respected, and above all, had a personality that everybody liked and admired. He was always there for his friends and would do anything for them, whether it was a team problem or personal one. He had dark teal eyes that were harmonious to his grey coat and his favorite matching jacket that he wore everyday. His mane was a mix of dark brown and black. The mark on his flank, and that of his jacket, was of a musical note inside a basketball to represent his skill and passion of both.
Everyone all nodded then proceeded to split up and go in their own direction. While everyone went with somebody else, mostly in pairs, Poncho decided to look around the town by himself, as he was too nervous to ask anyone to join him. Rainbow Dash and the partner she was paired up with, Tyrone, quickly found their way to the nearest convenient store, where a strange man was behind the counter, but the two paid no attention to him and continued looking through the store. 
“Ay yo, Rainbow Dash, what choo gettin’?” asked Tyrone. Tyrone shared similar hobbies and qualities with his good friend Clyde. However, unlike Clyde, he thrived for the spotlight. He was the most confident and cockiest of the others about his own abilities. Most ponies hated his cockiness, but his lax nature and personality made him a cool dude to be around. His coat was black along with his dark black mane. His eyes were dark gray and blackish also. His mark was also a basketball, like Clyde’s, except instead of having the musical note, Tyrone had a dollar sign, to represent his love for money and making it rain (money) due to his excellent athletic abilities.
“Just some snacks, but first I need to find the bathroom,” replied Rainbow Dash doing a small dance.
“Sheeeeeeiiit...” Tyrone said, as he watched her walk away when she saw the bathroom near the back of the store.


A few minutes later,  Wahlburn and Spike ventured into the same store and also noticed the strange man behind the counter. During the short amount the time they spent together on the bus, Spike grew to like Wahlburn a lot. It was mostly due to the fact Wahlburn gave him a small sample of weed, which Spike enjoyed thoroughly. 
“Hey, you see that dude behind the counter?” Spike asked Wahlburn as they entered the store.
“Yep, he looks like a demented serial killer,” replied Wahlburn. Walburn was one of the more typical and cliche types. He loved to smoke weed, had his own parties on occasion, which of course involved alcohol and the obvious weed, and would have sexual intercourse with his stick figured fillyfriend. He spent most of his days either high, and/or speaking in a very loud, obnoxious, and angry tone to everyone. Wahlburn had a pure white coat, which was now somewhat gray due to the constant tarnishing from the marijuana smoke. He had an olive drab colored mane, with dark brown eyes. His cutie mark portrayed a helmet with a dark green colored bong painted onto it, and also with flames around it.
“If he is, I hope he doesn't kill me,” said Spike with a worried look. 
“Indeed,” voiced Wahlburn as they continued rummaging through the store. The two went on and bought some snacks, devoured them in a minute, then left the store. Like the druggies they are, both went off looking for the nearest dealer. It didn’t take long before they found a sketchy looking guy standing on the sidewalk and got their hands on some fresh weed. They found a discrete location and smoked half the bag, keeping the rest for later. Wahlburn and Spike were also the first ones back to the bus, after stumbling on return.
Most of the party didn’t do much during their road break except buy food and use the restroom. One of Poncho’s other friends, Jeb, found a gay bar that he needed to be drug out of, but other than that, everything was quickly done in the town.
Jeb had always been a part of the tightly knit group. Yet he had always seemed to have his differences with the clique. There would be times where they would all get along, and then others where Jeb would get singled out among the group. During these moments, Jeb would form a great spiteful rage, in which he would do anything in his power to piss off the rest of the group. It was these moments that sort of distanced him from the rest, yet he never left the group, nor was he ever removed from it. He just sort of became the outlier of them all. Jeb had a dark green coat color. His mane was black with white trim. His eyes were of pure gray. His mark was a cart full of dirty dishes to represent his working life as a busboy. 
It was ten minutes before the bus was going to leave when all the stores started to shut down for the night. The air was growing cold and it was nearly pitch-black outside already, which was odd at this time of year, as it was only a quarter past six. Everyone was back at the bus, except for Poncho. None of Poncho's friends knew where he went off to, nor did they seem to care that much about his absence. Only Twilight and some of her friends showed concern.
“I say we leave him,” stated another one of Poncho’s eight friends that was part of the trip, Cannon, nonchalantly. Cannon was basically the smartass of the group. He loved to make everyone laugh and smile, yet hardly gave a shit about anything else. Cannon had a jet black coat that was accented by his blonde crew cut and short tail. He had these piercing red eyes, that all tied into his broad, military formed structure. The mark he wore with pride consisted of a Screamin' MeeMee that bore the flag of the Third Reich in honor of his ancestors. However, don't be fooled though as he had no hatred towards Jews, homosexuals, or any of the other anti-Semitic feelings that come with the Nazi ideology. He only hated Jeb and sought nothing more in the world than his demise.
“Yeah, I agree with him, who even needs that guy? He slows us down anyway,” Rainbow Dash chimed in. 
“We can’t just leave him behind!” shrieked Twilight, “he’s our friend!” 
“Friend? We don’t even know him, let alone any of the others,” stated Rarity as most of the males that she just talked about rolled their eyes. 
“Whatever, he can find us anyway, he still has one of the walkie-talkies we found on the bus so he could call us and find a way back into town,“ said Cannon ignoring the prior statement, “let’s just go already, this place is giving me a weird vibe."


And as a whole, without Twilight’s consent, they decided they were going to leave Poncho behind, and boarded the bus back to Ponyville.