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A Father's Final Task1,688 words
Conundrums and Recollections1,629 words
A Criminal Turned Wizard1,714 words
The House's Hand235 words
A Nice Stroll to the Orchard1,160 words
Paternal Problema1,121 words

Conundrums and Recollections

The last thing John saw was a flash of light, then he passed into the dark, endless, void...

But, he suddenly found himself waking up. He was laying on his back in the middle of a field dotted with a few trees. Is this heaven? Have I died? John suddenly feels a large, stabbing pains in his chest, he moves an arm to feel for the problem, then he feels blood welling up from him. He tries to stay concise for as long as he can, even though he can't seem to move anything other than an arm. He waves one in front of his face, to find a flat stump where his hand should be. He doesn't even try to figure out this new conundrum, as he is started to doze off from loss of blood. He finally losses his grip on conciseness, and begins the bodies final attempt at maintaining life.

<Meanwhile, Canterlot Palace>

Princess Luna was racing to her sisters bed chamber; she had urgent news as she had detected a strange power enter their world. When she reached the door, she barged through. "Sister, I have felt-"
"I sensed it to. A new alicorn, yes?" Luna nods in confirmation. "I'll go investigate myself; tell the guards or anypony wishing my audience that I am in the middle of some magic." Celestia then jumps off her balcony, and flies towards the alicorn power signature.

She had reached the outskirts of Everfree when she reached the mediate location of the power source. She began her descent when she spotted her on the ground. Why is she not moving? She finally reached the alicorn, and almost froze from surprise when she noticed a rather large pool of blood and strange wounds on the alicorn's body.It had a brown pelt short-cut, black mane, and numerous scars on its face. It was also fully clothed: with a hat, vest, undershirt, and some sort of strange leather sash with metal nodules in it, with a metal and wood object jutting outwards from the back, and some strange, blue pants, a leather belt with and more metal nodules, a small container on one end with a strange piece of shaped metal in it, a rope, knife, and a strange stick with a piece of string coming out of the other side of the belt. The strangest thing though, was that she was actually a he; all of the alicorns in Equestria are (or were) female. She dismissed these thoughts, she could think about those later. Right now, she had to make sure he would get medical attention. She levitated him on her back, and flew of in the direction of Ponyville, the location of the nearest hospital.

1 week later, Ponyville hospital

John made the slow, hazy approach back to conciseness as his vision faded in. He found himself looking at what seemed to be a pure, white horse with a flowing, multicolored mane, and a horn on its head. Closer inspection showed that it also had wings. "Am I dead?" he asked.
"No, we were able to pull all of those metal fragments out of you and stop the bleeding, you've also been connected to an I.V. because you were unconscious." she answers. He has an accent similar to the Apple Family, just a bit more gruff.
"Then why is there a, horned, winged horse speaking to me?" he says with a hint of humor in his voice.
"First of all, we're ponies, second of all; aren't you a horned, winged pony speaking to me?"
"Now that's just crazy, last I checked I was a-" as John spoke, he lifted a hand to his face, to notice that it was, in fact, a hoof. To his credit he didn't freak out at this revalation. "-human."
"What is this human you speak of?" Celestia asked, quite confused.
"Nothing, just something I'm sure ah was; unless, of course, I'm not just having a bad dream." He stated, quite confused himself.
"So you're saying you were not originally a pony, or more specifically, an alicorn?" Why am I so accepting of his belief that he was not a pony?
"Alicorn?"
"The winged, horned pony; an example being you and me. We are the rarest variant. There are also: only winged ones, pegasi, only horned ones, unicorns, and plane ones, earth ponies. They make up the population of Equestria.
"So, I, a human, a two legged animal with hands and arms instead of front legs and hoofs, somehow woke up in a land with talking ponies, as one of said ponies." I'm drunk again, aren't I?
"If you aren't crazy, yes. By the way: who are you?"
"John Marston, and who are you?"
"Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria." Odd name.
"Pardon me mam, I was not aware ah was speakin to royalty. So if I an't crazy, then how did I get here?" John asks, still not convinced if he is crazy or not.
"No, I was going to ask you the same."
'sigh' "How long was I out?"
"A week; you still need three days until you're fully recovered. In the meantime I would like to perform a memory scan; the mind is considered a very private thing so I was going to ask you first. The scan should clear up some answers."
Well, this puts me in a predicament. I'm willing to share some things, but I'd rather hide certain points of my past. This might also be the only way to find out how I got here. "All right, but don't go anywhere beyond a year ago, okay?"
"That's fine; if you would just lean towards me slightly."
"Just prepare yourself, there are some things I've seen that I would rather forget." John then leaned in slightly, and she touched her horn to his forehead. There was a flash of light, and they both went into a deep trance.

Celestia found herself looking through John's eyes; he was on a train, hearing in on conversations of fellow passengers. She had to take a moment to overcome the shock that said passengers were strange bipedal creatures. So, he's not crazy... She skipped ahead to a place where John was at the entrance of a fort. He spoke threats to a man inside, then she felt an explosion of pain, as John got shot. Her vision faded back in at a shack, John was speaking to what was apparently a woman. She skipped ahead further. John was fighting outlaws in a canyon, accompanied by three law officers. She continued to skim through John's memories. She saw how he aided a swindler and treasure hunter, when he aided the woman from before with her ranch. She saw him kill, time after time, not feeling a large amount of remorse for each robbed life. She saw him assault the fort from before, accompanied by a rag-tag team of assembled allies. She saw him follow his target to another country. How he both hindered and aided a rebellion, how he brought down a dictator. She saw him aid people throughout his journeys, though hesitant at times. She saw his efforts in bringing down a criminal, how he eventually made him jump to his death. All of these grim events were stemmed by his meeting up with his family. He loved them dearly. He worked in supporting his farm, how he saved his son from a bear. She eventually got to when he made his stand against the soldiers to protect his family. She saw him walk directly into death, so as to secure safety for his family. John, through all of this, was watching all of this as well. His departure of his world was simple; he had died...

Celestia ended the memory spell. She took a moment to collect her thoughts. A dead man was given another chance at walking with the living. Who has the power to make this possible? John, on the other hand, was just trying to convince himself that none of this actually happened, but everything seemed to familiar to just brush away like that. I'm dead. I'm dead. why am I here? I'm not dead then, I'm just crazy. Abigail, forgive me. Jack, be strong. No, it wasn't real, none of that never happened. Celestia finally broke the silence.
"No matter what ever happened in your previous life, a very powerful being has seen you fit at a second chance at life, a chance at redemption, so it seems. I won't get in your way too much unless you do something to deem doing so necessary."
John took in the full amount of what he had been provided with, all of the crimes and deeds he had done. He could start new. This didn't feel right, though. He had had a loving family, one that he died to protect. He is should be dead, and starting over when one once had a family isn't easy. Getting a roof over my head should be a good start.
"Okay. I don't want tah be too much of a burden or anything, but do you know of a place I can stay soon as ah get out of here?"
"I'm sure someone in Ponyville should have extra lodging, in the meantime, I'm going to have a pupal of mine, Twilight Sparkle, inform you of our culture, and ask you of yours."
"Fair 'nuff." I should be lucky for anything I get, seeing as I turned up in their world. Another world! This just blows everything out of the water, even those flying machines.
"I'll leave you to your rest for now, the spell took longer than expected, and I must be off."
With that, she left John to a sleepless, thought filled night.

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Moon Shooter

Moon Shooter #1 · May 15th, 2012 · 1 · ·

Took somepony long enough to do this crossover

Paladin Redflare

Paladin Redflare #2 · May 15th, 2012 · · ·

Dat profile pic and maybe this story get my approval.

Howitzer412

Howitzer412 #3 · May 15th, 2012 · · ·

red dead + ponies = AMAZING
good job, cant wait for more

Crimson Dale

Crimson Dale #4 · May 15th, 2012 · · ·

It's about damn time for someone do a crossover story of my favorite game, Red Dead Redemption.

snipesalot0

snipesalot0 #5 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

597722 i've seen it before

Dave from finances

Dave from finances #6 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

598071
Telekinesis

Dead_Account_0

Dead_Account_0 #7 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

I pondered writing a Red Dead Crossover. Although I was going to set it in Appleloosa, to keep that Western feel to it. Just a random anecdote from yours truly.

Dave from finances

Dave from finances #8 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

598695
You should go ahead and do that. Now that I think about it, this is more of a "main character from other franchise having having major role in Equestria" than a true cross-over.

Dead_Account_0

Dead_Account_0 #9 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

598727 Too much on my plate now sadly. It's still in my backlog of ideas for a rainy day.
At some point you have to mention Herbert Moon. Everybody loves Herbert Moon.

Dave from finances

Dave from finances #10 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

Thanks a bunch everyone. I really wasn't expecting any positive feedback so early on. I was almost sweating when I first checked on the comments.

Alexanderan

Alexanderan #11 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

I was expecting him to stay human, but this is actually better than I expected. It's original and interesting. I APPROVE OF THIS. HAVE A STACHE

Crimson Dale

Crimson Dale #12 · May 16th, 2012 · · ·

598827
Speaking of positive feedback, there are some parts that needed to be proofread.
Would you mind doing that, please?. It seems that you uploaded two chapters at the same time with a little haste as far as I can tell. Just offering some improvements, that's all.