Coming Attractions

by Rouis

Chapter Three: Haulcules

“Well, here it is.” Java Chip reached out a foreleg and patted the side of the ancient looking caravan. The brown paint was chipped off in several spots, The roof was missing a few shingles, and it was sitting on top of two large wooden blocks due to the lack of wheels. “She’s taken a bit of a beating, but I think she will serve your housing needs just fine, we gutted all the supplies and stoves out for the diner when we first opened, So all you have in there are two bed and a bookshelf.” Reaching out she grasped the doorknob gently in her mouth and delicately moved the door open, an act although carefully performed, caused the old door to fall right off of the main structure. “Feel free to make any repairs or additions you see fit! I’ll be letting you two get acquainted now, Don’t be a stranger neighbor!” She added before lifting off with a flap of her wings, flying the short distance away back to the building attached to the rear of the diner.

“I call that bed!” Silver Screen hollered as he bolted inside, and proceeded to flop onto a bed located in the right corner of the trailer. “It’s actually pretty nice in here.” He commented, squirming around on the mattress trying to find the perfect spot to lay on. The green pony let a smile of satisfaction creep on his face as he relaxed on the bed.

Long Haul trotted inside and looked around the caravans innermost portion. As promised there were two beds, one on either side of the caravan, with a bookshelf and some cabinets spacing in between. The hardwood floors creaked slightly under the weight of his hoofsteps as he made his way over to the other bed opposite the smugly satisfied Silver Screen. Testing the beds capacity to hold him by slowly stepping onto the mattress and accepting its risk of collapse by laying himself down. Thankfully the bed did not break into a pile of splinters underneath the large crimson stallion. “Tomorrow we begin to get our name out there, you should go do another performance somewhere different this time. Don’t set a price of admission yet either, we want to hook people in slowly.”

“We also may want to get some basic pony supplies, saddlebags are a must of course.” Silver Screen added to the discussion, looking over at their bag of bits, sitting all by itself on one of the empty shelves. “I wonder what I should show tomorrow, nothing too complicated of course.” He contemplated while shifting his gaze back up the ceiling. Silver then briefly turned to Long Haul. “Good night Long Haul.” He said before closing his eyes and drifting off.

Long Haul sighed at the thought of the day ahead of them before replying. “Good night Silver Screen.” Long Haul looked out the open door frame at the little bit of night sky that could be seen. What have I gotten myself into. He thought, before letting the much needed sleep take him as well.

< The next day >

Celestia’s sun rose, shining its warm light across the rooftops of Trottingham. The light peaked through the open door-frame hitting Silver Screen’s side of the caravan first. The green pony kicked in his sleep. “Not now mom, maybe later.” He mumbled before slowly opening his eyes and looking around. For a moment old instincts kicked in causing him to try to stand up on his rear legs, causing him to lose balance and fall to the floor with a crash. “Ow” he whined before looking across the room at the still slumbering behemoth that was Long Haul. Rolling over so he was right side up, Silver lifted himself onto his legs and gently trotted over to his crimson companion. Poking Haul with a hoof to wake him up, Silver tested his vocal cords. “Long Haul, Long Haul it’s Silver, Wake up!”

“Leave me alone, I’m the queen of france.” The clearly still dreaming pony mumbled as he rolled away from the prying hoof.

Silver Screen recognized he was clearly losing this battle, and did the best version of a shrug that a pony could. He then went on his merry way, shakily lifting the door up on the ground and placing it over the hole with his magic on the way out. Moving away from the diner he waved a hoof in greetings to Java Chip and Short Stack as they made their way to the diner to open for the day. Carrying on with his journey, Silver made his way into the market. Recognizing a few familiar faces from the previous days impromptu performance, he gave a nod here and there in salutations. “How much for an apple?” He asked one of the salesponys lined up in the plaza.

“That’ll be three bits sir.” The mare answered.

Noticing her cutie mark consisting of an apple slice wedged between some ice cream, Silver struck up a small conversation. “That sounds fair.” Silver noted as he levitated the necessary bits over to her, then lifting an apple over to himself. “I couldn’t help but notice the apple cutie mark, any relation to the apple family?”

“Indeed sir, my name is Apple A La Mode.” She responded.

“Huh, small world.” Silver remarked before once again setting off, taking a bite of the newly owned apple. “Why does everything taste so wonderful!” he exclaimed before bumping into a familiar mare. “Oh hey, you’re the mare from yesterday.” He remarked.

Lemon Drop lifted herself up off the ground and looked up at Silver Screen. “Yeah about that, you're not going to grab me again are you?” the mare nervously asked, while taking a few steps away from him.

Silver Screen’s face grew worried. “Oh no I wouldn't do anything to hurt you!” He rebuked before dropping his ears in sadness. “Hey do you know anywhere around here that sells saddlebags?” He asked, trying to steer away from depressing topics.

Lemon Drop remembered his saddened reaction from the day before, and quickly jumped on the new question to keep from causing a scene. “Oh! You should go see Stallion Stan, He has a booth usually over there.” With the mention of the salespony she pointed away towards a large stall set in the corner of the market area. “Well I better get off to the stand then, good luck with stuff!” Drop hollered as she did her best to get away as quick as possible. “That is one strange pony.” She said to herself, once she was sure that he could not hear her.

Silver waved a hoof of goodbye at the departing filly before hollering.“Okay thanks!” He then hurried off to the stall she had mentioned. As he approached the stall he took note of the various goods hung from every inch of the shop. Helming a sewing machine in the rear corner, was a sky blue unicorn which Silver presumed to be the aforementioned Stallion Stan. The unicorn’s red mane was tucked under a stetson style hat, while a dark brown vest adorned his front. Silver Screen looked down at the bell labeled Ring for Service and cheerfully tapped it with a hoof, giving a simple grin at the ding his action caused.

The unicorn lifted up his head from the task at hoof and looked to the newcomer at his shop. “Hello there, The names Stallion Stan how can I help you today?” He asked, moving closer to the storefront where Silver sat.

“Well, I was looking to purchase some saddlebags, and oh my gosh!” Silver stopped and gazed upon a black pinstripe vest sitting on the counter. Using his magic, he attempted to grab about fifty bits from his bag and slammed them on the counter shouting “Shut up and take my bits!”

Stan gave a laugh at Silver’s enthusiasm and levitated the vest over to the happy green pony. “So about those saddlebags, any idea what type of work you're looking for?” He asked with just a hint of a southern drawl in his voice.

“Well something to match my mane color with my cutie mark on it would be nice.” Silver said before tapping a hoof on his chin in contemplation. Long Haul doesn't have his cutie mark yet, I know I'll guess at what it will be, he’ll be so surprised! Silver Screen happily thought. “For the second one, I know just what to order!” He said with a grin.

< Back at the caravan >

Long Haul’s eyes slowly fluttered open as he was met with the dusty sight that was the inside of the caravan. “Hmm? I wonder what time it is.” He asked himself while rising up off of the bed and up on his hooves. Turning to Silver Screen’s side of the one room abode he noticed a lack of that particular pony. I guess he went out already. The still sleepy pony thought, while moving towards the door. “Oh hey, I guess he fixed the door.” Haul said to himself, this statement proved false however as the second he tapped the door with his hoof it fell outwards hitting the ground with a resounding thump. Better get some supplies to fix that at the market then. He thought to himself, continuing on he also noticed a few customers actually eating at Stack’s diner. With a glance upward to the sky he could tell by the positioning of the sun it was already late in the afternoon. “I must of slept a lot longer than I thought.” Long Haul quipped, noticing the clock tower in the distance, he adjusted his course and continued on his merry way.

A loud crash followed by a resounding cry. “Help!” A voice hollered off in the direction of the market. followed by the audible sound of a crowd gasping.

The noise of the commotion woke Haul out of his sleepy stupor. “What has he done now?” He asked himself, assuming that a certain green unicorn was the cause of the commotion. Galloping off at high speeds he noticed a crowd of ponies gathered around what appeared to be the remains of a collapsed stall under which one could see the struggling shape of a Stetson topped unicorn attempting to get out at any cost.

“Somepony help me! Why are you all just watching?” He screamed at the crowd, his voice obviously strained from the full extent of his injuries. With a small grunt he closed his eyes and slumped forward, it appeared the pony had passed out under the stress.

Long Haul did not even bother thinking, he simply acted. Galloping through the plaza, he pushed ponies aside trying to get to the middle, finally breaking through the crowd and approaching the remains of the stall that had the unicorn pinned down. Ducking his head low, he wedged himself under one of the beams keeping the pony in place. With a grunt, he gritted his teeth and summoned up all the strength he had, slowly the beam began to rise with the crimson pony’s efforts. After almost falling under the weight of the heavy beam once, he was able to raise it just enough for someone to be able to access the buried unicorn. “Somepony grab him, I can’t hold this much longer.” He yelled out onto the crowd, finally after it seemed like nopony would even help someone did.

A hulking lime green earth pony ran through the crowd and pulled the unconscious unicorn out from the rest of the mess that used to be a shopfront. He then turned around and helped move the beam off the clearly exhausted crimson pony. “The name’s Lemon Lime, mayor of Trottingham, you sir just helped save this pony's life, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Long Haul caught his breath and watched as a medical team hoisted the unconscious stallion onto a stretcher. He then scraped a hoof across the ground. “It was nothing sir, anypony would have helped.” He looked at the crowd quickly dispersing, no one else had even bothered to help the trapped stallion. A few ponies could have easily gotten him out of there, maybe Equestria is not so different after all. Long Haul pondered what had just happened, then looked down at his hooves. “Sir, I do have a question. You didn’t just help save that pony, you helped save me.” Long Haul started to formulate a way to use these events to work in his favor, a small smirk dancing across his face as he looked up to the mayor taking notice of his yellow mane and most strikingly: his yellow goatee. Pony goatees, I love it! Haul thought before humbling himself again. “That beam was crazy heavy, I couldn't have kept that up much longer before ending up just like him. I owe you big time, and I have just the idea of how to repay you.” He chuckled slightly and did his best to play the part of the grateful citizen, even though the perfect way to gain exposure now presented itself unto him. “My friend and I are performers of sorts, would you grace us with your presence at our abode. Perhaps three days from now, for a private performance of course.” The bait was out, now all he needed was to wait for a nibble on his line.

Lemon Lime contemplated the idea for a moment, then gave an answer. “That sounds like a splendid idea, could my family come?” He asked the crimson showpony.

Exposure, even better! Long Haul thought before trying on his best humble smile. “Of course, of course” he answered.

“Wonderful!” Lemon Lime replied. “Now if you will excuse me, I need to get going” The mayor began to trot away, then turned around and called over to Long Haul one more time. “Congratulations on the cutie mark by the way!”

Long Haul stood completely still for a moment before looking at the departing mayor and speaking to himself. “What?” Looking at his flank, he saw that the image of a simple wooden cart sat on his hindquarters. “What!” He shouted before snapping out of it and leaving the plaza, he needed to find Silver Screen. There was planning to be done.

< Trottingham town park >

In the park a vest clad unicorn sat horn aglow, his mouth agape and making sound effects. A moving picture shone out of his horn and projected onto a large canvas he had tied between two trees. The picture itself was a curious sight: An earth pony clad in rags sat on a ruined beach, crying at the sight of a half submerged statue of Princess Celestia. “You maniacs, you really did it! You blew it all to tartarus! Damn you!” The image faded to black, and Silver Screen snapped back into reality. “I really hoped you all enjoyed this presentation of Planet of the Diamond Dogs this evening. I also thank everyone who tipped very generously. Your contributions help keep these events going!”

“You dapper bastard!” Long Haul shouted through the dispersing ponies. He trotted up to Silver Screen and rubbed a hoof in his mane. “Nice vest by the way, You went shopping?”

Silver put on a smug grin. “Sure did” He chirped. Silver then levitated a brown box tied with a red ribbon over towards Long Haul, letting it drop to the ground at his hooves. “ I got you a present too, while I went and picked these up!” Silver Screen then pointed to the brown saddlebags sitting on his haunches, the surface adorned with Silver’s cutie mark. “Go on, open it!” Silver Screen happily suggested.

Long Haul grabbed at a loose strand of the ribbon with his mouth and pulled to untie the ribbon around the box, nudging the lid off with a hoof revealed a crimson set of saddlebags adorned with what appeared to be an intricate version of the letter A printed on each one. “Well I love them, but what the buck does the A stand for?” Haul asked with a very confused expression.

Silver smiled and began his explanation. “Well you didn’t have your cutie mark this morning so I had to guess what your special talent would be. Congratulations on that by the way! What does it mean?” Silver tilted his head to side to express his confusion.

Long Haul gazed back at his new plot marking, then launched into a little exposition of his own. “Well it all appeared while I was saving this unicorn at the market about an hour ago. I hefted the beam off of him, and next thing I know it was there!”

“So what you're saying is, Your butt gives you super strength?” Silver quipped into Long Haul’s story.

Haul did the best he could to pony-shrug. “I guess so, but something else also happened while I was there.” The signs of a business-pony’s smirk crept across his face during this next line. “We have our first gig, it’s with a VIP too. The mayor and his family will be paying us a visit in three days for a special performance, and I will need you to be in top condition. We will also need to fix up the caravan and set up a nicer more permanent local for you to do your little magickey thing.” Long Haul picked himself up and turned to leave, stopping to wait for Silver Screen. “Were going to take this town by storm yet Silver. Oh and grab your earnings from today too, were going to need every last bit to fix up and make preparations. Not to mention getting some of those wonderful sweet delicious haycakes.”

Silver Screen levitated the sizable pile of bits sitting around him into the air, then distributed them between his saddlebags and Long Haul’s. The projector pony lifted himself up and trotted over to his friend, they began to make their way back to Stack’s Diner and eventually home.

< Further down the road >

“Oh and that's not an A on your saddlebags L.H.” Silver half sang some time later into their trek.

“What is it then?” The now confused stallion asked.

“Well Stallion Stan did his best to follow the design I gave him, It’s the Eiffel Tower Silly” He then sped up, booped Long Haul’s nose and galloped away, their destination now within sight. Turning around one last time he gave another shout towards Long Haul “You are the Queen of France after all!”