//------------------------------// // Welcome to Ponyville // Story: Born to be (not so) Wild // by Stonetribe //------------------------------// As soon as she walked up to the apple cart, Ash paused to examine her selection. Apples of all sorts of colors and sizes were neatly lined up for display. Ash whistled, “I never knew there were so many different kinds of apples other than ones that were red. You grow all these yourself?” The apple vender replied, “Yessiree down at Sweet Apple Acres we can satisfy all you apple needs from cooking pies to brewing cider. But I can’t take all the credit, my big brother, Macintosh, helps me tend to the orchard. Would you like to buy an apple?” “Sure, how much?” Ash asked. “Three bits for an apple.” “Cool I’ll take two,” she said as she reached into her vest to scoop out some pocket change. After they made their exchange, Ash asked, “Mind if I eat here?” “Ain’t no other customers in line so I don’t see why not.” Ash took a bite of the apple. It had was sweet and juicy and had a very crisp bite to it Ash talked with her mouth full, “Wow this is delicious. I can’t remember the last time I ate an apple this good.” She paused for a second and swallowed, “Actually, I can’t remember the last time I had an apple period.” “Thanks partner,” said the orange mare, “We grow the best apples in Ponyville, and possibly in all of Equestria.” She went on, “I don’t think I’ve seen your face around these parts, you passing through?” Ash was a bit surprised, although she didn’t show it. She thought bringing up that topic would be something that she would have to do, even though she wasn’t sure about how she would go about doing it. “Funny you should ask. My friend and I have been living on the road for a while now. But recently, money has become something of an issue, so my friend insists that we should settle down in a house so that we can get another source of income aside from our usual job.” “Well, I’m plum happy to hear that. I’m sure you’ll find that Ponyville to be one of the nicest, coziest towns you’ll have been in. What’s your name, stranger?” “Oh um, my name’s Ash,” she said blankly. “It’s mighty nice to meet you Ash, my name’s Applejack.” Ash definitely wasn’t expecting things to go this well. Usually when she ended up talking to somepony, she wouldn’t have learned their name until she had punched them in the face and having been held back by Cornelius, or the cops, or both. If all the ponies in this town were like this one, friends would practically make themselves. Her thoughts were drifting to a particular bar fight she had when a voice from behind her interrupted her thinking. “Hey Applejack, me and Dash were wondering if you would think if it’s possible to make an apple flavored milkshake.” Ash turned around to be met by two more ponies. One was a pink earth pony that had a ridiculously poofy mane and tail, which was a darker shade of pink. The other one was a cyan pegasus who sported a rainbow colored mane. Before any of them could respond, the pink pony took one glance at Ash, jumped into the air, and let out a rather exaggerated gasp, not unlike the one another certain pink pony made when she first met Twilight Sparkle, and proceeded to rush off the other way. Ash simply blinked a few times whereas Applejack let out a grin, knowing exactly what the pink pony was planning to do. Ash was the first to talk. “What the hay was that about?” “Don’t you fret none about Pinkie Pie, she’s an odd one for sure,” Applejack answered. “You’ll find out soon enough” The blue pegasus was looking in the direction that Pinkie Pie darted off to and looked back at Ash. She thought for a moment and after connecting the dots asked, “Oh I get it. Let me guess, you’re new in town? Suspicion was starting to take hold of Ash now, “Yeah, how is it that you can tell exactly?” “Pinkie does that every time a new pony moves in. You’ll get used to her soon enough,” the pegesus directed her attention to Applejack. “So who’s the new pony?” “This here is Ash, she’s been living on the road for uh, how long did you say you were traveling again?” “Five years.” “Right,” Applejack said. “Ash, this here is Rainbow Dash,” she nodded towards the pegasus. Rainbow Dash wore a look of interest, “Hold on, you mean you would just travel Equestria, wondering from town to town, and just sleep wherever?” “That’s right,” Ash said, half pleased about thinking of her life as a roadie and half disappointed at being reminded that it will soon be coming to an end. “That sounds pretty cool.” Ash continued, “Oh yeah, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” “What’s it like?” Dash asked. She liked the direction this conversation was heading. “Only the best way to live life. Every day I’m in a new place and half of my meals are from fast food restaurants. But I think my favorite part is when I’m driving in between towns and sleeping under the stars right next to a campfire.” “Sounds awesome,” Dash said “So why are you moving into a house here in Ponyville?” “Well, it’s mostly so that my friend and I can get a part time job so we have a more reliable source of income seeing as how our usual way of making money doesn’t pay as much as it used to.” “Really? How did you make money on the road?” Dash inquired. Just as she said this, she noticed Ash’s hoof boots, or more accurately, the two items strapped to them. It’s true that most of the ponies in Ponyville have very little, if any knowledge about firearms, but Rainbow Dash has read enough Daring Doo novels to know about guns and their uses. She began wondering if she really did want to know how this pony used to make money. Ash noticed her staring and looked down her hooves and realized what was going on in her head. She began to panic a little. “Oh no no no no! I know what you’re thinking but that’s not the case I swear!” she said defensively. Rainbow maintained a look of doubt. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be hanging around this pony. Or for that matter, have this pony hanging around Ponyville altogether. Ash continued explaining “It’s” she let out a few small laughs, “It’s actually pretty much the opposite. You see, I’m a bounty hunter.” Applejack was getting awfully confused. From behind the counter, she couldn’t see Ash’s hoof boots and the hoisters attached to them. She decided to try and rejoin the conversation, “A bounty what now?” “You know, a bounty hunter. Like when there’s a criminal on the loose and the authorities offer a cash reward to anypony who can catch them and bring them in.” Applejack had now walked around her cart and got a glance at what Rainbow was looking at earlier. She was willing to listen but Dash wasn’t quite convinced yet. “I don’t suppose you’d happen to have a way to prove it, would you?” said Dash. Ash thought for a moment, trying to think of any proof she could present before ponies would start thinking that she was some dangerous thief. After a bit, she came up with an idea. “Oh I know, wait here,” she said as she trotted back to her motorcycle. After rummaging through some things, she came back with a piece of paper in her mouth. She spit it out so the two ponies could see. It was a poster with the picture of some pony with a crooked smile on it. Below the picture were the words ‘Wanted Alive 500 bit reward’. The poster itself was black and white, save the word ‘confirmed’ written across the picture in red ink. The poster had an indent where the red word was, as if it had been put on with a stamp. After a bit, Ash asked, “That proof enough?” Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. Applejack was the first to speak “Well I’ll be, living on the road and catching bad guys. That’s quite an interesting life you have” “Interesting?” Rainbow interjected, “More like totally awesome and badass!” “Yeah, it does sound pretty cool, doesn’t it?” Ash said. She was thinking back to what Cornelius said about not bragging about their work. She wasn’t bragging per say, she was just defending herself of being accused as a dangerous criminal, coincidently, this not being the first time. Either way, she hadn’t done anything he said not to. “So, does that mean you’re like, a really good shot with that thing?” asked Dash Okay, now she was going to disobey Cornelius. “Only the best in equestrian! Here, you see this bit?” Ash held up a coin with her hoof. The ponies nodded in response. “Good, now don’t blink” With one quick motion, Ash flipped the coin high into the air. While it was still air born, she took her pistol from her hoof boot and shot it in the air, making a load bang that attracted other ponies’ attention. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cornelius had just started to fill out the paper work at the mayor’s office until he heard a faint bang in the distance. 'Oh dear god, that can’t be good' Cornelius thought. He decided it to be a good idea to pick up the pace. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The coin landed on the ground in front of Rainbow Dash. She looked up at Ash. “Go ahead,” she said. Rainbow picked up the coin and held it up to her eye. The coin had a hole right dab in the center. Applejack whistled and said, “Now that, is impressive.” Rainbow Dash was equally impressed. Any thoughts of doubt and suspicion were now replaced with those of admiration and respect. This pony was awesome, maybe as awesome as herself. No, nopony but the Wonderbolts were more awesome than her. Either way she wanted to hang out with Ash some more. “Wow, do you think you could teach me to do that?” “And spread around the wonderful and all mighty magic that is guns? I would more than happy.” “Sweet,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Hey, you want me to show you around town? I bet my friends would like to meet you.” She knew that last part wasn’t particularly true, but it might convince Ash to hang out with her more. “Sure,” Ash replied. She wasn’t sure if it was always this easy to get along with other ponies or if Ponyville itself was an exception. Whatever the cause, she was thinking that she could get used to this. “Alright then, I guess I’ll be seeing you two later,” Applejack said as she went back behind her counter. “Once my shift is over and Big Macintosh takes over I’ll see what I can do to meet up with ya.” “See ya AJ,” Rainbow said as she walked off, leading Ash to Carousel Boutique to show off the new pony. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filling out the paper work for the house took longer than Cornelius expected, much longer. The stack of papers he was given was as thick as cardboard. He was thankful for the fact that he was born a unicorn. He couldn’t imagine writing this much with his hoof or mouth or however non-unicorns write. He was finally nearing the end and just had to write his signature a few times. He handed the paper to the clerk at the desk and received the keys to the house. As he stepped outside he couldn’t help but wonder how much trouble Ash could have caused by now. He made his way to the spot where he and Ash got off the motorcycle, only for it or her to be nowhere in sight. 'Typical, he thought. Now I have no choice other than to wonder aimlessly around town looking for her. That could take from six minutes to about… a couple hours. Just my luck'. So he started wandering about Ponyville, keeping an eye out for any signs of Ash which usually include the sound of windows breaking, fire, and mass panic, among other things. As he was thinking about what length of lecture would be appropriate depending on how long it took to find her when his name was called out in a familiar voice “Hey Corny, over here!” He turned his head and saw Ash sitting at an outside restaurant table, and to his surprise with four other ponies. As he started to walk over they resumed talking amongst themselves. Once he was close enough he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Ash, are you actually socializing with other ponies in a non-violent way?” Ash wore a pleased grin. “I know, crazy right?” Cornelius was a bit baffled. “I know I asked you to get to know the locals but,” he paused, still trying to grasp what he was seeing “I didn’t expect you to actual do so.” Ash was still grinning. “Yeah, I guess there really is a first time for everything. Here, let me introduce you-oh wait,” she turned to the rest of the ponies at the table. “I get to introduce him to you guys right? Isn’t that how this works?” The four ponies laughed a bit. Normally, if a pony laughed after Ash asked them a question, that would automatically put them in her ‘punch them in the face’ zone. But now that she had friends, this wasn’t the case. One of them, a purple unicorn said, “Of course, go ahead” “Right,” Ash said and gestured to a white unicorn with a purple mane, “This is Rarity, she runs a local tailor shop. Check it out, she fixed the rip in my vest.” She turned and showed the side of her jacket completely intact. The unicorn spoke, “Charmed to make your acquaintance Mr. Cornelius. I must say, that hat of yours is simply dashing.” “Oh uh, thanks I think it’s pretty cool too,” Cornelius said, mere seconds later he realized how stupid what he just said was, but nopony seemed to notice. “And this is Applejack, she owns her own apple orchard.” Applejack simply said, “Nice to meetcha partner” “This here is Rainbow Dash,” Ash said. “What’s up, Corny?” the Pegasus said through stifled laughs. Cornelius gave Ash a look, only to find here snickering as well. “And lastly, this is Twilight Sparkle,” Ash said as soon as she finished giggling. “Hi there, I run the local library. If you ever find yourself looking for a book, feel free to stop by.” After Twilight finished talking, she nodded to Cornelius and said. “This is Cornelius, he’s the friend I mentioned before.” Cornelius was about to say something but was interrupted by the growling of his own stomach. “Heh. I’ve been filling out the paper work for the house all day, I never got a chance to eat lunch, let alone breakfast.” “Go ahead and order some food, sugar cube, we ain’t going nowhere,” Applejack said. “That sounds pretty good. I’ll be right back,” Cornelius said as he turned around and walked into the restaurant. Once he was gone, Twilight spoke up, “Huh, when you said you were traveling with a friend, I thought you meant another mare.” “Heh heh, I guess that could be assumed, couldn’t it?” Ash said. “If you don’t mind me prying darling, you two wouldn’t happen to be, you know, together?” Ash looked at her for a second, “What do you-oh OH, that you mean, oh heh heh…” She was caught off guard “Well, let me put it this way. The road can be a lonely place, so it’s not uncommon for us to have nights that are a little more, active, than others” Upon saying this, Twilight and Rarity blushed, whereas Rainbow Dash and Applejack gave knowing grins with this kind of topic being brought up. Ash leaned in, “When we do decide to have a little fun, we both like to call him ‘Dr. Feelgood.’” At that being said, Rarity’s and Twilights blushes intensified while Dash and Applejack started giggling at the thought. “I better not of heard what I just think I heard.” Ash turned around and saw Cornelius returning with a plate of food for himself. As he sat down Ash said, “What? No, I was saying that lockers are a free of storing hoodies.” She was aware that he knew perfectly well what she said and was grinning because of it. The six ponies continued to chat for the rest of the afternoon. As the sun was starting to set, Cornelius decided it would be best to head home. “Well, it’s starting to get late. We should be heading to our new home.” “Really? Because I’m enjoying myself right now,” Ash protested. Applejack cut in, “Don’t you worry, sugar cube, you’ll be seeing each other real soon.” She was exchanging glances with her other friends. “Alright, I suppose I am getting kinda tired, you know where the house is Nel?” she said as she was getting on her motorcycle. Cornelius was already in the side car, “Yeah, just take a left or right when I say to and we’ll be fine.” They all said their goodbyes and the bounty hunter duo drove off. Finding the house also took a bit longer than Cornelius expected. By the time they reached their destination, it was night. The house itself looked nice enough. It was a single story house of medium size. After they got off the motorcycle, Cornelius said to Ash, “I have to say, I’m pretty proud of you. I was expecting the best we could get would be if the town simply tolerated you at all.” Ash simply smiled as she thought back to the events of her day. Normally, the more she spent time with new ponies, the more she would be willing to chalk them off as something that could be a problem. But with the ponies in Ponyville she actually enjoyed their company. She could hardly wait to see them again. “Oh, I almost forgot to ask,” Cornelius said “is your shotgun still in the gun case? It wouldn’t be a good idea to leave any guns outside during the night.” “What? Oh yeah sure” Ash walked back to the motorcycle and opened a long, rectangular box. Inside, was a 12 gauge pump action shotgun. She picked it up with her mouth and returned to her friend’s side. Then they entered their new home for the first time. The whole room was shrouded in darkness. Cornelius said, “Tsk, I can’t see a thing in here. Where’s the light switch?” Just as he said this, the lights suddenly flashed on, at the same time six ponies jumped out of hiding, and shouted surprise in unison. Ash sprung into action. She shouted “GET DOWN NEL!” as she pushed him to the floor. She held the shotgun in her hooves and racked it. Cornelius tried to stop her “No Ash! WAIT!” The next thing he heard was an all too familiar bang. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “It’s just lucky that I’m used to doing it so quickly,” Cornelius said as he was wrapping bandages around a pink pony’s leg. “You should also be thankful that she’s trained herself to shoot ponies in the legs, if she aimed for the body or the head, I’m not certain you would have survived.” The events within the past half hour transpired with lighting speed, or so it seemed like it. “Alright, now slowly try to stand up.” The pony, whom he learned was named Pinkie Pie, complied. It took a bit, but she managed to stand up. She tried putting a little weight on her injured leg and soon retracted it at the pain it brought. “Oh dear, don’t do that. I wouldn’t try walking with that leg for at least two weeks.” “Okie dokey lokey!” Pinkie replied. She was another thing to add to Cornelius’s list of things that surprised him today. Naturally, she hollered out in pain when she was initially hurt, but as Cornelius started tending to the wound, she was perking up at an unnatural rate. Twilight, Rarity, and a yellow peggesus pony with a pink mane named Fluttershy, who had already fainted twice tonight, had also been helping him patch Pinkie up, but really, what they helped with most with was at restraining Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Ash. Thank god there were three unicorns present to hold back three separate ponies with magic. The three of them were now sitting together in the corner, covered in bruises and each of them sporting at least one black eye. They were laughing with one another between hiccups. It was as if the three of them hadn’t been at each other’s throats just ten minutes ago. Alcohol truly is a wondrous magic. Ash was recounting one of her bounty hunting ventures. “So there I was. I had just gotten out of the chair I was tied in, I opened the door and saw three thugs, one had a gun and another had a baseball bat. So I said ‘alright then, why don’t you two drop those weapons, put up your hooves, and fight me like a stallion!’” “So, did you fight them?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Are you kidding?! They were twice my size and three of them. Of course I didn’t fight them!” “But…” she said and paused for a few seconds, “I did get the dumb bastard to drop his weapon!” All three of them roared out in laughter. “I know crazy things can happen at Pinkie’s parties, but I’ve never seen anything quite like that,” Twilight said. “I want to say again just how thankful I am for all of you being so understanding and willing to keep this little fiasco to ourselves. It’s like I said before, living on the road makes you a little more cautious than usual. It’s a practically a reflex for her to take hasty action when something jumps out at her,” Cornelius said. “Think nothing of it deary. It was all just a big misunderstanding,” Rarity replied. Twilight nodded “Yes, that sort of thing happens all the time in Ponyville, and I’d love to learn more about that skin hardening spell you used on Pinkie to stop the bullet” She glanced at Pinkies leg and the bandages wrapped around it. “Well, to mostly stop the bullet” "Thanks, I invented it myself," Cornelius said, his concerns briefly eased "I usually use it when we're working on a bounty. I cast it on Ash before she gets into any fire fights" Cornelius looked at Pinky and then to the drunken ponies. “You need any help getting them home?” he asked still feeling guilty about the whole situation. “I can walk with Pinkie and make sure she gets home okay,” Rarity volunteered. “And don’t worry, if anypony asks, I’ll tell them I fell down the stairs,” Pinkie added. Twilight looked over at the orange earth pony, “I can take Applejack back to Sweet Apple Acres, I’m not sure what I’ll tell her family at the moment, but I can think of something on the way” “So that leaves…” Rarity said as they all turned to the drunken trio, focusing their attention on Rainbow Dash. “I can fly her home” Fluttershy said in the same soft voice she had used all night, “It um, wouldn’t be the first time I brought her home with her being influenced.” “Good to hear,” Cornelius said. With that being decided, they said there goodbyes and they lead the less than sober ponies out the door while Cornelius uttered one last apology. He turned back to Ash, whom had fallen asleep on the floor. It was a tad strange seeing her so peaceful after all that commotion. He went outside to the motorcycle and returned with a couple blankets and pillows. After propping her head up, sliding the pillow under it, and covering her with the blanket, she pulled them in close and gave a faint smile. Cornelius looked at her for a while, smiling. “Sweet dreams, Ash,” he whispered, “Because when you wake up in the morning, we are going to have a long, long, long talk about what happened tonight”