Chapter 2
Give it a Shot
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I guess at the time, I was clueless to what Melody had in mind of going so far from Equestria Borders. But damn, I remembered how excited and amazed I was, looking out that window and seeing the wild trees, mountains, wild grass, even the animals. Like the wild Buffalo and the wild horse herds in the plains. It was just like looking into those fancy books Melody would bring home from her times in school. Beautiful paintings of the frontier lands outside of Equestria.
And the funny thing was, I think the sky was bluer out here than it ever was in Manehattan. It was beautiful and fresh. And for the first time since I was a little girl, I felt free. Free to make my own choices, free to walk my own path, free to be who I want to be without anyone snickering or frowning in disapproval at me. Well Melody did warn me that people will probably still do that, but we will show them not to mess with an Apple.
I remembered that we took five different trains to get to where we reached the border city, Las Pegasus. Melody told me that it was a huge city that was built in five days because of the building of the Hoofer Dam a few miles away. We stayed a night there and I had to get Melody out of those fancy pubs before she caused a knife fight. One of them brutes even had a strange contraption with a long metal nose, warning to shoot her dead if she didn’t shut her mouth. We left before he even used the strange thing. I laid Melody on her bench made bed in the train station as we waited for the midnight train to the frontier.
Our next stop was the boom town of Frontier City, it was the closest city from the Celestial River beds where the gold was being mined. So the train will take us straight there.
That is until we woke up to learn that there was no train.
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"What do you mean there’s no train?!" Melody yelled out, glaring at the ticker teller. It was the morning when the two sisters learned about the train they would take to Frontier City never arrived The young ticket teller gulped, shaking his head.
"I'm sorry madams, but the railroad doesn't go all the way to the destination you’re wanting to go. They’re having a strike at the moment."
"Damnit!" Melody swore, about ready to pull her hair out of her head. Annie patted her shoulder as she made a friendly smile to the ticket teller.
"Forgive my sister, sir. Do you happen to know the best way to head to Frontier City?" She asked calmly as Melody continued to grumble out curses and biting her nails, looking around. The ticket teller shrugged.
"Well there are the wagon trains heading out to Frontier City. You might have to sign up and get assigned then you'll be gone in under a fortnight." He said easily with worrying glance at the blue haired Titanian.
Annie thought for a moment then nodded. "A'right then." She turned to Melody and grabbed her arm, causing her to jump, turning to her. "Thank ya kindly, sir. Come along Melody." She said, dragging her sister with her outside with several people walking by, giving them strange looks.
"Where are we going?" Melody asked, stepping up next to her. Annie looked around the city to see prostitutes standing at porches, laughing and waving their fingers at anyone looking their way. Annie sighed, scratching her blonde head, ignoring the working girls.
"Well... we have to find the wagon train loading place then get some supplies and then we'll be heading to Frontier City in a fortnight."
"A fortnight?" Melody asked with worry looking around the city. Annie blinked, noticing this. For the last few days, Annie had been noticing how Melody kept looking around with worry and checking her watch. Seeing her strange behavior was making Annie nervous.
"Melody, is there something you need to tell me?" Annie asked looking at her. Melody jumped hearing the tone in Annie’s voice. She can’t let her know that something was wrong. She turned to her with a care free smirk.
"Oh you worry too much, Annie dear, I'm fine. Just making sure we're not going to be mugged by those bastards at the pub." She lied.
"You still remember that?" Annie asked surprised since Melody did drink a lot, last night.
"Of course, I remember." She groaned, holding her head. "When I forget this shitty head ache, I'll forget them, too." She fixed her bowler hat on her haphazard hair, then stomped forward. Annie smirked, shaking her head as she followed her shorter sister down the wooden walkway past the stores and bank. Annie noticed how people were looking at her strangely. Annie blushed keeping her gaze forward, following the black and blue girl in front of her.
Annie turned to the store next to her and stopped seeing a poster with a picture of a covered wagon.
"Hey Melody." Annie called out. Melody stopped and turned to see Annie smiling pointing at the poster. "This is the place to sign up for the wagon train, right?" She asked as Melody walked over. She pulled off the poster to read it.
"Hmm, you're right. Come on let’s get this over with." She said walking into the store with the small poster in her hand. The bell jingled over them as the two entered the small shop. The back counter was empty of people as was the store. Annie looked around the store to find loads of stuff in the tiny space. Clothing, bags of food and feed, some sort of metal contraptions...
"Hey," Annie said taking one of the long nosed contraptions, holding it strangely. "This looks like a bigger version to that thingy-ma-gig that guy had last night."
"Oh hello... uh ladies?" The sisters turned to see the store clerk looking at them strangely.
"Oh uh, yeah, we're ladies. The name’s Melody and this is my sister, Annie."
"Hello." Annie said with a light blush as she set the contraption back on its stand.
"We saw your poster on your door, about the wagon train signups?" Melody asked walking to the counter showing the paper. The older man blinked looking at the paper. After a moment he looked around the store to notice that there was no man in the room.
"Um, are you signing up without your husband or father?" He asked severely. Melody blinked then glared at him.
"Hey listen, mister store clerk, yeah we're women and by the Great Horse Gods above we don’t need a man's permission to get on a wagon train." She snarled. Annie blinked and quickly grabbed Melody before she made the situation worse.
"Melody, let me handle this." Melody growled, stepping away as Annie smiled at the store clerk. "I apologize to my sister's brashness. She got that from her uncle." She said smiling with a chuckle. "Um yes sir, I'm afraid we have no male escort you see. But not to worry we can take care of ourselves." The store clerk gave them both looks.
"Besides Celestia never had a man order her to do what she does right?" Annie said with a glare. Melody looked up nodding. The man gulped and chuckled.
"Oh yes... I am in Equestria." He said laughing lamely seeing the two women watching him. "Ahem, but I'll warn you two ladies. Frontier City is in a territory where women aren’t held on a pedestal like the Princess."
“I think we can handle ourselves sir, I got this beast to keep me alive." Melody said patting Annie on the back. Annie was nodding until she processed what she just said. She turned to glare at Melody.
"Hey!"
"It was a saying, Annie." Melody quickly whispered, smiling at the store clerk. "Anyway, just tell us where to sign up and what items we need my good man." she said smiling now back to being professional. Annie rolled her eyes looking at the strange metal contraptions again. As Melody took care of signing them to the roster Annie went around and looked at the supplies offered in the shop.
"So uh what kind of things do we need on this here journey?" Annie asked looking at the thick pair of denim pants.
"Well ladies, you have to be prepared for anything. It is late summer so you should be fine on your journey. The train ride lasts for two months. You’ll be in Frontier City by late fall."
"Ah," Annie said a little worried at the timing of this journey. "Hmm, Melody,"
"Yep?" Melody asked looking up from trying on hats.
"We need to pack some extras for the coming winter. Who knows how Frontier City is like with us in the city?" She said placing the pair of jeans back in the shelf.
"She's right," The store clerk said leaning on the counter. "Frontier City gets very little supplies since it's still a new town. And the only way they get supplies is from the trains coming in from the west. And the journeys last for months into the mountains, worse so in the winter months. So yeah pack all you can."
Annie nodded turning to Melody to see her wearing a dark cowboy hat on her head smirking at Annie to see her shake her head. Annie was better at stuff like this so Melody let Annie pack what was super important to them. New clothes like blue jeans, woolen jackets, even extra knitted socks. She even looked at a pair of new boots for Melody since her dress shoes won't last. After getting the clothes in order, Annie grabbed some cornmeal and some bags of potatoes. The food will last for the amount of time acquired. She bought a sewing kit, some brandy ("Only for injuries!" Annie said. Melody sagged at that.) Then bought two knives. Two large ones one for herself and one for Melody.
When Annie was sure about the things she wanted, she couldn’t find gold mining equipment. "Uh do you sell pickaxes or shovels?" The shop keeper shook his head.
"Nope, sorry. You have to get those at Frontier City."
Annie nodded not really sure about that. "Well other than that, I think we're good, sister." Annie stopped to stare at the contraptions again. She picked up a smaller devise, weighting it in her hands then looked down the end interested.
"Sir? What are these things? I've never seen them before."
The store clerk smiled. "Of course you haven’t. The Princess forbids the selling of these things."
"Forbids?" Annie yelped as she carefully placed the object back on the shelf. "Why?"
He shrugged. "Maybe she liked pointy swords that don’t kill people. Those things are called Guns. They were made by an inventor from the frontier. She created the stuff that is used to operate those things." The store clerk walked around the counter then walked over to Annie and Melody as he took the smaller gun in his hand.
"Here, let me show you." He pulled back the little metal piece to hear a click as he started spinning the little rotator wheel around. "This little metal piece here is called the Hammer. This thing here is how you cause the bang. But of course I’m going too quickly here."
Melody stood closer to watch.
"Now this thing here works is how the stranger explained it. Here," He reached into his apron to pull out a small little flask with a gold tube. "This here is a gunpowder flask. You just do this here." He placed his finger over the gold tube and upended the brown flask then flicked a golden pen into the gold tube. He righted it up then he flipped the small gun over so he could dump the powder into the hole in the wheel.
"See this, this golden tube is a measuring tube for these guns. This is a revolver, it uses this powder in here and a silver ball. You dump the measured powder into this here hole in this carbine here." He said, pointing at the carbine. He set the flask on the counter, then reached into his pocket to pull out a small ball that seemed to be larger than the hole. "But oh almost forgot," He set the ball on the counter as it started to roll away. Annie grabbed the ball before it rolled off the table. The clerk reached into his pants pocket and produced a small white circle.
"This here is a swab, this was soaked in some oil earlier. So you put this thing inside after the gunpowder." He pressed a white round swab into the chamber. After that he took the ball from Annie's fingers and placed it on the hole.
"Uh that ball looks a little too big." Melody said with a quirked brow.
"Oh well, here's the reason. It gives it a tight seal when you push the ball in."
"But how'd you do that?" Melody asked interested. The clerk smiled as he pointed to the long metal rod that was attached to the barrel. "This here is a lever rod." He pulled the small lever down surprising the sisters with the nifty tool. The clerk braced the handle to his belt and pushed the lever down with a grunt, then the ball went into the chamber leaving a ring of lead behind. He pulled back the lever back in place with a light click, then blew the ring of lead away. He pushed the carbine back into place making a low click sound. He pointed at the little nub on the end of the chamber.
"You see this here nub? It's called a nipple." Melody snickered at that as Annie gave her a light slap in her stomach to shut her up. "And this nipple is where you put the percussion cap."
"A percussion cap?" Annie asked confused.
"Yeah, a percussion cap is what helps light this here powder in this chamber and cause the big bang."
The clerk pulled out a strange item that was gold and shaped like a snail shell as he shook it, then a small bronze cap hung from the opened end. "This is here is snail holder. This holds all of the caps and makes it easier to stick them on the nipple see?" He said shaking the snail and the sisters can hear the rattling of the caps inside.
"And now watch." He set the cap from the opening into the nipple hearing a small snap. He set the snail on the counter and used a small rod to push it in.
"That’s just a precaution. A little warning when using these, the caps might fall out. So be especially sure they’re in and stay in there. Or you'll get a misfire or nothing at all." The sisters nodded.
The clerk handed the gun to Melody to hold as she looked at it and rubbed her fingers together. "Why is it greasy?"
"It’s because the carbine has to be oiled so it can stay working." Melody nodded.
"So uh how does it work?" Melody asked looking at the handle then into the barrel. The clerk winced, grabbing the gun before Melody shot herself in the face.
"Don’t look down the barrel of a gun, missy. If this baby misfires you would have been dead."
Annie let out a whistle, scratching her head. "Shoo-wee."
The clerk smirked, "How about I show you gals how to properly hold these and fire them. No doubt if you two are traveling to Frontier City, you’ll need the best guns out there."
The clerk took the two sisters with the gun and reloading kit, outside in the back. Out back, it was a small lot filled with pigs and goats. "Here," He said holding out the revolver to Melody. "Hold this and please don’t point it at your face."
Melody blushed pointing the barrel to the floor, watching her feet. The clerk went to his garbage can, shooing the pigs as he reached inside. Annie made a face of disgust. The clerk pulled out of the garbage five bent cans and a couple of glass bottles. He set them up on a picnic table and pointed at them.
"Here, are your targets. Hand me the gun." Melody nodded, handing the revolver to the clerk as he stood with them, pointing the gun at the targets.
"Now the simple thing to do here is to aim at the bottles and you hold the revolver like this." He stood up, placing one hand on his belt and his other hand with the gun, pointed at the bottles. "Hold your stance like this. Now just put your pointer finger on this trigger here under the trigger guard. Then take in a deep breath then fire." He pulled the trigger, causing the two sisters to duck, covering their ears from the loud sound.
"Wow!" Melody said smiling with excitement. "That was amazing!" She squealed like a little girl on Hearths Warming. Annie on the other hand was terrified.
The clerk was smiling at her as he walked over with his kit. "You can do more than make loud noises little lady."
"What more can that do?" Annie asked with worry.
"Anything you want, missies." Melody smiled as Annie had a look of worry. "Now, how 'bout I teach you two how to load these puppies and you give it a shot?"
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After the end of the shooting lesson, Melody and Annie packed up their bought things into large back packs to carry with them to the wagon train lot. But before they left, the clerk told them that can pick a revolver for each of them, free of charge, saying he enjoyed their company.
Melody picked a Snub-Nosed Revolver and spun it on her finger in the trigger guard. She liked the size of the revolver and it fitted her style well. While Annie was given a pocket pistol called a Colt Pocket Model. She was careful with it as she stuck the pistol into the holster the clerk gave her and Melody. The clerk also gave them each a reloading kit with everything they needed for their new firearms. The sisters thanked him for his time and help.
Before they left with their goods, Annie stopped to see the cowboy hats hanging on the wall. Melody stopped to notice that Annie wasn't following her. "Annie?" She asked. "Are you coming?"
Annie smiled, reaching into her pocket for some spare change and set the bills and change on the clerk's counter, surprising the man. Annie reached up to a brand new brown Stetson hat and pulled it on her head. She turned to Melody to see her smile at her.
"Sure," Annie said. "I'm comin'." The clerk took the money and smiled, watching the two sisters leave the store.
"For some reason, I think they'll do just fine." He said to himself as he opened his cash register and placed the bills inside.
As the sisters walked to the edge of town, Melody couldn't help but smirk at the confidant smile on Annie’s face.
"You know something?"
Annie blinked and turned to her. "What?"
Melody chuckled. "That hat suits you."
Annie laughed. "Really? Is it too much?"
"Naw!" Melody said shaking her head. "It’s perfect. You sure look like those cowboys you see in those fancy magazines."
Annie blushed at the compliment. "Well you still look like a business lady if I ever did see one."
"Business lady? Or Man? I can’t be both you know." The sisters laughed as they continued down the walkway to the outskirts of Las Pegasus.
