Bronze Hoof

by cowboybird


Meeting the Idols

Meeting the Idols

First Arc: Present Revelations

The road to Ponyville was really just a dirt road stretchin across a great plain, with hardly any trees around. It felt a lil open for my tastes, but Gear would tell me it’s just because I’m a minotaur. Apparently minotaurs are more inclined towards enclosed, labyrinth-like environments.

We slept in the tall grass at night, as it provided at least minor cover from bandits, or what-not. Not that we saw any durin our week on the trail. We ate grass, and gorged on the occasional flower patch. Quick would fly off and grab a rabbit, or bird for his protein needs. After all the bloodshed we’ve seen and caused, Gear and Toni didn’t even flinch when he would bite into a rabbit’s stomach.

Toni, as always, blabbered on about some story, or asked us about our lives. Whenever she asked me about how I ended up in New Findings, I would change the subject. I didn’t want my friends to think of me as even more of an outsider than I already was.

I often would think about Earth, and my family back home. They were sure to be missin me as much as I was missin them, right?

I pushed the thoughts into the back of my mind, like always. We were walkin through the plains for days before we came to a rather large hill. I sent Quick up to scout ahead, maybe see if we’re close. When he came back, he was smilin.

“Hey Gear, you know how there’s a lake a couple miles south of Ponyville?” Quick asked.

“Yeah? I thought it was the one we passed earlier, but it was much too small. Why are we comin up to it?” Gear said, lookin puzzled at Quick’s gleeful expression.

“Take a look for yourself.” He said, before takin to the air, and doin a backflip before disappearin over the hill.

We gave each other confused glances. Gear told us there was a large lake before we would hit Ponyville, and we passed one yesterday with a river leadin east. Gear said that the lake should have been bigger, due to its relative size on the map.

We crested the hill, and there, not two miles away, was Ponyville.

I couldn’t control my inner fanboy, and began jumpin and sqealin to my heart’s content. Toni and Gear gave me confused stares. I composed myself, and looked hard at Gear.

“So I guess that was the lake back there, but why was it so small?” I asked.

“Perhaps it is the end of their dry season, since they control the weather here, it’s hard to tell. Although it shouldn’t have been that low, somethin must have happened.”

I looked down at the iconic town, noticin Quick dart in and out of the clouds, before droppin into the middle of town.

“Guess we better go make sure Quick isn’t gettin into any trouble.” The others nodded, and we made our way down the hill.

As we entered into town I couldn’t help but look around like a tourist in Paris. I took in all the iconic buildings, from carousel boutique, to the Cake’s candy shop. Everythin looked just as it did in the story, minus the griffin arguin with a certain rainbow Pegasus.

Fluttershy was cowerin behind Rainbow Dash like she was a barrier, while Rainbow was yellin at Quick for what I could only guess to be scarin Fluttershy.

“It wasn’t my fault, she came out of nowhere with those ducks!” Quick yelled.

“Well maybe you should pay more attention to where you’re landing!” She replied.

The townsponies around them began to back off as lightnin flashed between their eyes that weren’t two inches from each other. I just kept watchin, lookin at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, two of the main six! I didn’t register Gear pokin my leg until he practically punched me. I looked down at him, and he gestured towards the fight that was about to break out. I sighed, irritated with Gear for interruptin my show, and walked towards the two.

“Gear, that’s quite enough. We don’t want to make a bad name for ourselves with the first ponies we come across in Equestria.” My sudden intrusion into their starin contest made them both look at me with confusion.

Quick was the first to respond, “It wasn’t my fault! I dropped down to scout the town, and the yellow one freaked out, then this blue one started yelling at me.” He looked at Rainbow again, “I still say it wasn’t my fault, if your friend wasn’t such a scardy cat she would be fine!”

Rainbow went back on the defensive.

“My friend shouldn’t need to put up with bullies like you! It’s not her fault that you scared her, AND THE DUCKS!” She yelled, comically blowin the feathers out of Quick’s face.

I walked between the two, facin towards Rainbow Dash.

“I would like to apologize for my friend here. We've had a very stressful couple of weeks, and need to reach Canterlot by…Gear how long do we have left?”

“Only two days before our deadline is up.” He said, trottin up to me and Quick, who was now positioned on my right.

“Right. We need to reach Canterlot in two days, and still have a hell of a walk ahead of us. We just need to resupply, and we’ll be on our way.” I said, gesturin with my hand for everyone to calm down.

Fluttershy must have noticed my missin arm and leg, and immediately pushed Dash out of the way, and began checkin my wounds.

“OH MY GOSH! How did this happen? Are you alright? We need to get you to a hospital right away!” She began pushin me towards the west, apparently to the hospital. Unfortunately for her, I way a freakin ton, and all she managed to do was dig a hole in the ground tryin to move me.

“Don’t worry, it happened some time ago. I’m fine, but we need to get to Canterlot. Can you point us to a supply store?” If we only had two days left, then we needed to hurry if we wanted to make it. Canterlot was a three day walk from here, which meant we weren’t goin to be sleepin very much.

“Why don’t you just take the train?” Rainbow asked.

I slapped myself on the forehead. How could I have forgotten about the train?! It’s in the openin scene of every episode! How could I call myself a brony if I forgot one of the most used modes of transportation in the show?

“I didn’t know a train passed through Ponyville, there isn’t one on the map.” Gear said, pullin out his map, and scourin it for a train.

“It’s fairly old, how old is that map?” Rainbow asked, watchin as Fluttershy replaced my bandages, much to my annoyance.

“It’s my mom’s old map, couldn’t be more than 30 years old.” Gear said. I slapped my forehead again.

“You mean to say we’ve been travelin with a 30 year old map?” I couldn’t believe that Gear thought that thing was still goin to be up to date.

“Well yeah, landmarks don’t change in 30 years.” He replied, defendin his map under his leg.

“Why do you three need to get to Canterlot in two days anyway? Are you SPIES?!” Rainbow said, makin me almost have a heart attack.

HOLY HELL! She said it. She said are you spies. This is the best day ever!

I inwardly composed myself before replyin.

“We need to ask the princess to send New Findings aid. We recently freed a ton of slaves, most of which are ponies, from a diamond dog den, and the town can’t support them all. So we need to have her send guards, and supplies to get them through the jungle.” Fluttershy finished cleanin and bandaging my arm.

“Our friend Rarity was once captives of those brutes. How did you free them?” Fluttershy asked, lookin at me with those big blue eyes.

“Uh…we...you know, it’s a borin story.” I didn’t want to tell this cute, innocent pony how I battled to the death with their alpha, only to be saved by the alpha’s daughter stabbin him through the heart.

Wait a minute…somethins wrong. Toni’s never this quiet.

I looked behind us, searchin for our white compatriot.

“Where’s Toni?” I asked, fear buildin in my throat. If those two met, I don’t know if this town will survive.

“Oh, the white mare? She went into the Cake’s shop.” Fluttershy said, motionin towards the buildin that looked like candy.
Blood roared in my ears as I took off towards the candy shop. Fear for the lives of every soul in Ponyville rested on me keepin Toni away from Pinkie Pie.

I burst through the front door, scannin the building for what I dared not see.

There they were, at one of the tables, munchin on cupcakes.

Heat flourished through my body.

NO! NO! NO!

I waited for the nuclear explosion to take me away.

Nothin happened.

Toni looked over at me and waved.

“Hey Bronzey, I made a friend.”

I inched my way towards the explosion waitin to happen.

“Tha…that’s nice.” I reached the table, and sat on my butt, still dwarfin both the mares.

“Hi, you must be Bronze Hoof. Toni’s told me so much about you! You must be a real swell guy to save all those ponies and griffins and minotaurs. My name’s Pinkie Pie. OOH which reminds me, I need to throw you guys a party! I love parties, and am the superest party thower in Ponivlle! You could meet my friends and I could meet more of yours, it’ll be so much fun!” I just sat there and nodded, the fear still holdin a baseball in my throat.

“Well, I really wish we could stay for a party, but we need to get to Canterlot, remember? Ooh, Ooh, maybe when we get back we can have a party. I’ve never been to one, but they sound fun.” Toni said, bouncin up and down in excitement.
I watched as Pinkie’s jaw hit the floor in a comedic fashion.

“YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO A PARTY!?!?” She yelled, shakin the ground.

“Well, no. I’m a dragon after all, and dragons don’t have parties.” Toni said, once again shockin Pinkie into a stupor.

“But…wha….huh?” She took a second to compose herself, “You’re a dragon? But you look like a pony.”

Toni sighed, shakin her head sadly.

“It’s a long story.” I said, pickin Toni up, and makin towards the exit, “We do have to go though, so next time we’re in town we’ll stop by, and see about that party.”

Toni waved back at Pinkie Pie as I ducked under the doorway.

I found Gear and Quick back at the town square. They were joined by Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack, who so happened to be my favorite pony, next to Big Mack of course.

I almost dropped Toni as I started gigglin while walkin towards the group.

“You can put me down now Bronzey, I don’t want you to drop me on my head.” I complied, pickin her up with my good hand, and placin her on the ground.

When we caught up the group, I found Quick in another argument with Rainbow Dash.

“We don’t need your money. I’ve never accepted anything from no one without payin them back.” Although his voice was low, his tone told me they had been goin at this since I left.

“Well you can pay us back when yall get back from Canterlot. Ah won’t take no for an answer.” Applejack said, placin a bag of what I assumed to be bits on Gear’s back.

“I said we don’t need charity. We made it all the way here without the slightest hint of anyone’s help.” Quick said, grabbin the bag of bits and tossin them back to Applejack, only for me to catch them.

“Now, just cause we don’t need their help, doesn’t mean we have to be ungrateful. Thank you, miss…” I said, placin the bag in Gear’s saddlebag.

“Applejack, no miss to go along with it neither.” She said, tippin her hat to me.

“Well thank you kindly Applejack, but if you don’t mind we need to be on our way. The sooner we get to Canterlot, the sooner New Findings can get some help.”

“Well alright, but a pony like yourself could really be of use on the farm. So when yall get back, I expect you fine gentlemen to come and help.” She said, and with a swish of her tail, turned and headed back to where I would assume Sweet Apple Acres was.

We said our goodbyes to Rainbow and Fluttershy, and headed to the train station. We paid for our tickets and boarded the train.

As I sat in one of the bench-like seats, I couldn’t help but reflect on the day. Not only had we found a way to get to Canterlot a whole two days ahead of schedule, but I got to meet four of the main six.

I let out a contented sigh, and let myself be lulled to sleep by the chuggin of the train.



I woke to the train’s whistle, signalin our arrival to Canterlot. The others were still sleepin off our journey, and didn’t wake for the screech. I gazed out the window, and gasped at the image before me.

Canterlot looked almost identical to the show, except the detail on the show couldn’t capture the magnificence of the city atop a mountain. Great gilded columns rose from the mountain side to hold various structures, such as the castle, and some domestic homes. Almost everythin around the station was made of white marble, so fine that the sun glinted off them like a pearl. The castle itself held the dominant position as attention grabber. Its spires rose to touch the heavens, and its gardens were lush with vegetation from every ecosystem, all carefully laid, and cared for. The main portion of the castle had vast skylights, allowin natural light to enter.

I awoke my friends, who all gaped at the city themselves. We exited the train, and started for the castle.

We passed beautiful shops that sold all sorts of interestin things from around the world. I figured that we must have been in the market district, because hardly any buildings seemed to be homes of any sort. More than once I had to stop my friends from enterin a shop to browse their various wares.

The road led straight towards the castle grounds, and into the citadel itself.

We were stopped by some guards who demanded we gave them our weapons. Quick and I grumbled as we gave the golden boys our dragon bladed weapons.

As we entered, we all let out a gasp of admiration. The inside was more stunnin than the exterior.

The floor was made of a polished white marble, save for a red carpet that ran down the center of the entrance hall, and into what I assumed was the throne room. The walls were of the same marble, but housed either windows to the outside, or impressive paintins of past noble ponies. Corinthian columns stretched to different levels, their bases comin up to my waist.
The ceilin which rose seventy or so feet off the ground had a great skylight carved down the center of it. The walkway was intersected a lil ways down by another walkway that ran to perpendicular to the entrance hallway. Both walkways seemed to be about thirty feet across, which gave even a being as large as me breathin room.

We looked down either way, noticin the shops that spread out on either side. Tourists ran about, screamin, and takin pictures to their hearts content.

I looked to the door to the throne room, which was guarded by two ponies in gold armor.

The door itself must have been twenty feet tall, with gilded releases adornin its magnificence. Carvins of ponies goin into battle, with the sun leadin them to victory.

I sighed, enjoyin the beauty of the place before havin to go talk to the princess.

After a few minutes of the gang “ooh”ing and “aah”ing I managed to gather them all up, and make our way to the doors.
When we got there we were stopped by the guards ponies.

“Do you have an appointment to see the princess?” The one on the left asked me.

“No, but we have an emergency that requires the princesses attention.” I said, hopin that that alone would get us through.

“You can’t go in without an appointment, sir. The secretary in the main office will be able to help you.” The one on the right said in the most monotone voice I had ever heard.

I sighed, and turned to go to the main office that was located just in front of the main doors.

When we got there, the wait must have been two hours, because by the time the secretary called us over, Gear, Quick and Toni were asleep.

I walked up to the desk.

“Hello, my name is Bronze Hoof, and these are my friends Quick Beak, Gear Head, and Toni. We need to speak with the princess about sendin aid to New Findings in the Great Southern Rainforest.” I said, hopin the look in my eyes would get the older mare to move quicker than molasses in January.

“The princesses next available appointment is two weeks from today. If you like I can schedule you in for two o’clock.” She spoke slower than she moved, makin my nerves tense with anticipation.

“That won’t work, the town will starve before then!” I said, my voice raisin a lil with each word. She barely seemed to notice.

“Sir, although I understand your need to see the princess, we just don’t have any room for you right now.” Her tone was so bored, and uninterested I almost ripped her desk out of the ground, picked her up by the neck, and hollered at her for bein so insensitive.

Instead I had an idea.

“Come on guys, these ponies aren’t goin to help. Don’t know why Fartsparkle would want to join in with people who don’t even want to protect their own.” I said, wakin my friends, and feignin givin up.

“Wait did you say Fartsparkle, as in Segeant Fartsparkle?” The secretary asked me. Bingo.

“Yeah, that’s the guy. Saved his life in the Great Southern Rainforest. Said he was mighty grateful, said yall would help New Findings. Guess he was wrong.” I started to walk away, hopin she wouldn’t call my bluff.

“Well, since you saved Fartsparkle, I can see what I can do to get you an appointment tomorrow morning. 8am sound good to you?” She said, writin somethin down in her ledger.

“Eight sounds great darlin, thanks again.” I said, herdin my half-conscious friends out the door.

Gear spoke up first.

“So did we get an appointment?”

“Yeah, eight in the mornin tomorrow. Guess we better find a place to stay tonight.” I said.

“Good job mate, the sooner we can get help the better.” Quick said, stiflin a yawn.

Toni fluttered up, and rested on my shoulders.

“I wouldn’t mind a bed to sleep in, I have some gems for a room, but I get the bed.” She shook a part of her mane, extractin a couple of fist sized diamonds, and some other valuable gems.

“How did you keep this in your mane?” Quick asked, lookin in amazement as she tossed him the gems.

“I have my ways, now if you don’t excuse me, I’m going to take a nap.” With that she laid her head down on mine, and started to snore.