//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: They Shoot Ponies, Don't They? // by Donnys Boy //------------------------------// Epilogue “The rodeo! The rodeo!” Sweetie Belle belted out, as the energetic filly skipped down the lane that led from Ponyville’s downtown out towards the countryside beyond. “We’re going to go see the show! So hurry up, and let’s all go!” Apple Bloom nodded so hard it looked like her head might pop right off her neck. “Hey, and y’know what? Maybe we’ll get us some rodeo cutie marks, even!” “That’d be awesome!” cheered Scootaloo. Rarity let out a huff. “Girls, please! If you force me to run after you, I’m liable to break out into a sweat!” Applejack chuckled as Rarity did just that--both the running and the sweating. From above, Rainbow Dash cackled, too, as the pegasus flew lazy circles around the caravan of ponies making its way out to the fields beyond the city. Scootaloo had the lead and was racing ahead on her scooter, while Sweetie and Apple Bloom hustled to keep up and a panting Rarity trailed not far behind. Fluttershy and Twilight, with Spike riding atop the alicorn’s back, strolled along at a much more leisurely place behind the others. Applejack and Pinkie Pie brought up the rear. “I hardly see the humor here.” Rarity scowled up at Dash before turning her head to shoot a poisonous glare in Applejack’s direction. “Especially since I’m the only one keeping an eye on the girls.” Dash shrugged affably. “I can see ‘em just fine from up here. Bird’s eye view and all.” For her own part, Applejack found herself suddenly stammering. “Oh, uh, sorry about that, Rare. It’s just that I … well, you see …” “It’s your shoulder again,” said Twilight, glancing back. Her face remained perfectly neutral, but Applejack could hear the frown in her voice. “Isn’t it, AJ?” “Well, it ain’t my fault!” Applejack felt herself blush. “It’s fixin’ to rain soon, and my shoulder always acts up when it’s fixin’ to rain. So go lecture the birdbrain up there, not me.” Rainbow Dash crossed her legs over her chest. “Hey, whoa, no way am I takin’ the blame! It’s gotta rain sometime, right? Besides, it’s not supposed to rain ‘til long after the rodeo’s over.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t see why everypony’s getting their tails all in a knot here.” “Um, maybe Rainbow’s right.” Fluttershy’s eyes bounced uneasily between Applejack and Twilight. “Maybe we don’t need to fight about this again …” But if Twilight had heard Fluttershy’s plea, she gave no indication. Instead, she sighed heavily--some might even say melodramatically--as she continued in her patented lecturing tone, “Honestly, Applejack, if you’d just done what the doctors told you and taken it easy while you were healing from--” “Hey, guys, look!” Pinkie Pie leapt up and hung in the air for an almost impossibly long moment, her foreleg stretched out and quivering with excitement. “There it is!” The entire group fell into a hush as they looked in the direction where Pinkie pointed. Just a hundred yards or so off the dirt road stood a giant tent, larger and more colorful than any Applejack had ever seen. It looked something like a bizarre yet cheerful giant flower growing in the middle of a large field. Long lines of ponies slowly filed inside the tent, chatting and laughing, most wearing cowboy hats of some sort or another. High above it all, the clouds cast some very appreciated shade over the treeless landscape. A gentle wind blew across the fields and, even without any sunshine, it was a perfect day for a rodeo. As the others picked up the pace, eager to get in line, Applejack just kept plodding along. Really, she was walking a bit faster than she should already, given the way her shoulder was moaning and groaning, but she didn’t want to make her friends any later than they already were. Wrangling the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike always added an extra fifteen to twenty minutes to any given outing. Pinkie started bouncing higher and higher the nearer they got to the great tent, but it was a sort of slow-motion bounce that allowed her to stay right by Applejack’s side. The farm pony shot a grateful look towards her fillyfriend. “Thanks for interrupting back there,” she said, quiet enough that the others wouldn’t overhear. “Heaven knows I love Twi, but I gotta admit I wasn’t much in a mood for a lecture.” Pinkie beamed back at her. “Oh, sure, no problem!” But the smile was gone in an instant, as Pinkie pursed her lips. “She’s got a point, though. You totally should have listened to the nice doctor ponies, AJ.” Applejack’s ears went flat against her skull. She looked down at her hooves, silent, for a moment or two. “Yeah. I … I reckon you’re right, sugar.” “Yep, yep!” Pinkie leaned over and gave Applejack a peck on the cheek. “I’m always right!” “I ain’t sure I’d go quite that far.” Despite herself, Applejack cracked a smile. “But you’re one smart cookie, sometimes. I’ll give ya that.” Pinkie Pie giggled. “Nuh uh! You’re Smart Cookie. I’m Chancellor Puddinghead.” Applejack snorted softly and shook her head. “You know darn well what I mean. Now, c’mon, let’s get ourselves inside ‘fore Rainbow eats all the popcorn.” It turned out, by the time they’d made their way into the tent and rejoined the others, that Rainbow Dash had eaten all of the popcorn and half of the roasted peanuts. Still, Applejack couldn’t quite work herself up into a lather about it--not with Apple Bloom leaning forward eagerly in her seat with a smile broad enough to break her face, not with a soft and warm Pinkie Pie leaning up against her, not with the smell of sawdust and anticipation filling the air. Grinning, Applejack swiped the rest of the peanuts from Dash and settled in for the show. Down on the large floor of the tent, surrounded on all sides by cheering crowds, the rodeo began. First up were the amateurs. An assortment of cowponies, mostly on the younger side, twirled ropes and lassoed hogs. After the rope tricks came bull riding, and Applejack let out a long, low whistle of appreciation as she watched the stallions and mares take their mounts. Even with as many rodeos as she had competed in over the years, she’d never once entered any of the bull-riding events. The bulls always tried their hardest not to buck too hard--it was supposed to be a friendly competition between rider and ridden, after all, and not a blood sport--but even so, sometimes a bull wouldn’t know his strength or a pony wouldn’t have a tight enough hold. Sometimes, but not today. A few bulls threw their riders, while a few riders held on for all ten seconds, but every last one of the ponies and the bulls made it through with little more than a few bruises and scratches for wear and tear. As the ponies and bulls shook hooves with one another, the crowd roared its approval. Then, as the floor cleared and the lights dimmed, a hush fell over the whole tent. Almost time for the main event, then. Rarity leaned over towards Fluttershy, loudly whispering, “Do you know what I heard, darling? I heard that the star of the rodeo used to be a train robber.” Somehow she managed to sound both terribly scandalized and utterly delighted. “Can you believe it?” Fluttershy shrank back. “Oh, goodness. Is it safe to be here, then?” “I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you, Fluttershy.” Twilight chuckled and shook her head. “That sounds like just a folk legend to me--and from what I’ve read, a bit of falsehood and exaggeration is all part of the stagemanship of an event like this.” “No way! Rarity’s totally right!” Dash interjected, her wings vibrating excitedly. “Big Blue was the roughest, toughest bandit in the Wild West until she ended up in this little nowhere town and got challenged to a duel by some mysterious stranger who nopony had ever seen before.” Applejack couldn’t quite hold in a snort. Rainbow Dash just ignored her. “She didn’t?” Rarity gasped. Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m willing to bet absolutely none of that actually happened.” Dash reached over with a hoof and pushed Twilight aside. Eyes glittering through the dark, she continued in an increasingly animated tone, “Yeah, no, it totally did happen! She’d never lost a duel before, not ever, but this stranger beat her, with both forehooves tied behind her back. Man, that’s gotta be the strongest pony in Equestria!” Suddenly she frowned. “I mean, except for me, of course. And maybe Spitfire.” “Nuh uh!” Pinkie wrapped a foreleg around Applejack’s shoulders. “My Applejack’s the strongest pony ever!” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Yes, well, far be it for me to dispute Applejack’s rather considerable strength, but I do doubt she’s ever won a duel. I doubt she’s ever even fought a duel.” Applejack grinned as she leaned against Pinkie’s shoulder. “Nope. Can’t say that I ever have.” “Hey! I’m tryin’ to tell a story here, if you guys don’t mind,” grumbled Rainbow Dash, pouting a bit. She waited until she had everyone’s attention before taking up her story again. “So anyway, this bandit loses the duel, right? She’s at this other pony’s mercy, and it looks like it’s lights out for Big Blue.” Fluttershy glanced nervously at the row ahead, where Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat chatting and laughing and eating their third helpings of popcorn of the day. “Um, Rainbow Dash? Are you sure you should be telling this story right now? With certain little ears listening?” Rainbow waved a dismissive hoof in Fluttershy’s direction, as though she could physically banish her fellow pegasus’ doubts by doing so. “Oh, sure, sure, it’s fine! The story’s got a happy ending, ‘Shy. Anyway, the mysterious stranger tells Big Blue to run, as far and as fast as she can, and to never let her see so much as a feather from Big Blue ever again.” Her voice dropped low, almost reverent. “Ponies say that when the stranger pony was giving out all these orders, the ground actually shook like thunder.” “Oooh,” said Pinkie appreciatively. “Yep! So Big Blue got scared onto the straight and narrow, and she’s been doing this traveling rodeo ever since.” Dash turned towards Fluttershy and gave her a nudge. “See? Happy ending, just like I said.” Pinkie clapped. “Yay! That was a really great story, Dashie!” “Emphasis on story,” muttered Twilight, crossing her forelegs over her chest. “As in utterly unsubstantiated fiction.” “Fictional or not, I thought it was quite the romantic tale, myself,” Rarity retorted. “Hush now, all y’all.” Applejack nodded towards the tent’s floor. “Show’s about to start up again.” As soon as Applejack had spoken, the lights went back up and a turquoise-coated pegasus cantered into the middle of the tent. The mare wore a vest studded with so many rhinestones that a Diamond Dog would’ve drooled just to look at her. Grinning wide and bright enough to be seen even from the back rows, the pegasus tipped her Stetson to the crowd. Applejack could’ve sworn that the mare’s eyes were on her and Pinkie as the pegasus took her bows. Pinkie seemed to notice and think so, too, if the way she hugged Applejack a little tighter was anything to go by. “Howdy, y’all! Welcome to Big Blue’s Ragin’ Rodeo!” A loud cheer ripped through the tent, and the pegasus had to wait a few seconds before she could speak again. While waiting, she continued to beam at all the gathered ponies in the stands, and her wings flapped in the way Rainbow Dash’s did whenever Rainbow was feeling especially cocky. “It’s great to here in Ponyville today,” Blue continued, once the crowd had quieted down to a dull roar, “and lemme tell ya, we’ve got one heck of a show planned for y’all …” Applejack rested her head on Pinkie’s shoulder as down below one team of ponies began setting up the infamous Spinning Wheel of Doom and while a second team began strapping Blue into her a crossbow. The farmer chuckled softly as she noticed Spike and the Crusaders lean forward in their seats, perfectly silent and perfectly rapt, their eyes as wide as dinner plates. She made a mental note to keep an eye out in the near future for ill-advised Spinning Wheel of Doom recreations. Still, it really was a perfect day for a rodeo. And even vague worries about the future well-being of the Crusaders couldn’t dampen Applejack’s spirits or distract her from the pony who was responsible for it being such a perfect day. Turning her head, Applejack whispered into Pinkie’s ear, “Y’know something, sugar? I reckon Rainbow Dash was right.” “Oh, wow! You don’t say that a whole lot. Actually, um, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard you say that.” Pinkie giggled a little, and her eyes sparkled extra bright. “What was Dashie right about?” Applejack grinned as she leaned in for a kiss. “About this story havin’ a happy ending.” THE END.