Scare a bitch to death
And so it came to pass, Shēdo and Conifer set out on an adventure, along with an all-powerful talking sword, which just so happened to double as a stick to carry Shēdo’s bindle. What? You don’t know what a bindle is? A bindle is the little sack that hobos tie to the end of a stick and then carry over their shoulder. Shēdo took the tattered remains of her knapsack and tied them to the hilt of her magnificent, troll-slaying sword.
Alas, there wasn’t much left of her knapsack, it was well and truly tattered. There wasn’t much in the way of supplies either, and the nights were growing colder, and colder, and going by experience, soon there will be much complaining. Shēdo is growing her fur back though, and she is a shaggy, hairy beast. Conifer on the other paw… zebras and cold don’t mix.
So, what bothers a diamond dog hobo and a transient zebra as they waltz through the woods? Not much. Other than the very public toilet troll, not much in the wilderness posed a threat. Oh, Shēdo is friendly, really, she is, she smiles her sweet smile, shows off her adorable little one fang, and waves her diggy-diggy claws at everything she meets.
For some reason, not much sticks around for conversation. Dog breath is to blame, of this there can be no doubt, because who wouldn’t want to talk to a friendly, tail wagging diamond dog? The way certain monsters just go off willy-nilly and screaming bloody murder, that’s just rude.
Ah, such is the wilds of Equestria. ‘Tis a very silly place…
Rusty Rail loomed in the distance, a tiny, but growing city in a prime location. About two to three day’s walk beyond Rusty Rail was Dodge City Junction—not a nice place by any standard—and to the south was the Hayseed Swamps. Far to the north was the Two Sisters mountains, and being in the middle of these locations made Rusty Rail a natural stopping point for many a traveller.
Still a ways away, a lone pony trotted out of town to greet them, and the pony appeared to be wearing a broad-brimmed hat. Shēdo put one paw over her eyes, squinted, and had a better look. Nearby, Conifer, who was dusty but still presentable, also peered ahead to see what he could see. Vultures circled overhead and the dust born on the wind was bitter.
When the pony was closer, Shēdo heard a voice cry out: “How-dee! My name is Royal Anne Cherry, and I’d like to welcome you to Rusty Rail! Welcome!”
“Hi!” Being the gregarious one, Conifer stepped forwards to meet the pale pink mare that approached. “My name is Conifer, and my companion is called Shēdo One-Fang. She’s fluffy!”
The mare, a few yards away, came to a halt and studied Shēdo. After a short time, the mare nodded, and her smile remained welcoming. “You seem nice enough. If’n you don’t mind me sayin’, I’d avoid Dodge City Junction if’n I was y’all. They don’t like zebras”—her eyes went from Shēdo to Conifer, then back again—“and the sheriff locks up diamond dogs on sight with trumped up charges, like disturbing the peace.”
“Thanks.” Conifer, now looking a little disturbed, turned to look at his companion, his guardian, and his keeper.
“Rusty Rail is trying to make a name for ourselves as a friendlier, nicer alternative to Dodge City Junction. We don’t have as many fancy shops, or eateries, we don’t even have a schoolhouse yet, but we is friendly, and that’s saying something. We do have a hotel though for weary travelers, a general store that a has shopkeep that’ll sell to anypony at a fair price, and we don’t charge for a drink of water.” Royal Anne’s grin widened and her ears rotated forwards in a sign of kind affection.
“Shēdo, can we stop in town?” Conifer asked. “I have a little money, and we could use supplies. Plus, it would be nice to meet friendly ponies and talk to them.”
Scratching her chin, Shēdo considered everything that had been said and wondered if they would be truly welcomed. Royal Anne seemed kind enough, nice enough, and inviting enough. After a bit of thinking, Shēdo nodded. “We can stay.”
“Yay!” Conifer began pronking about in the dust and clicking his heels together, acting coltish, one might even say he was acting his age.
“Follow me,” Royal Anne said in her most inviting voice. “I own the hotel, and I think I can wrangle up a discount, seeing as how cute the zebra is and all. And if’n ya ain’t got much money at all, I’ll let ya stay if you have dinner with me. I like having kind guests, and not the mean drunks that come a-wandering out of Dodge.”
Shēdo, not used to such kindness, didn’t know how to respond, but she followed the mare back to town.
The town, such as it was, was a place for locomotives to stop so they could get water and coal, if necessary. From these humble origins, these basic beginnings, a town had sprung up. There was a post office here, which doubled as the train station, a hotel, a shop, and a smattering of small, modest houses.
The ponies were nice enough, almost all of them waved, and not a one of them seemed too upset about a diamond dog or a zebra in their town. A few stared, but Shēdo stared right back, as this was her first real exposure to a town full of ponies. Conifer continued to be a chatterbox, yakking away at Royal Anne Cherry, and Shēdo had long ago lost track of the conversation, which seemed to be about irrigation farm practices.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in town was the enormous running wheel that powered the town’s pump, drawing life giving water to the surface. Two ponies were running on the wheel, which moved a massive mechanical arm up and down, up and down, up and down. Shēdo’s head followed the movement and for a short time, she was almost hypnotised. Of course, Shēdo didn’t know that it was a water pump, only that it was some great, wonderful machine.
The rails running through town held no rust, in spite of the name.
The hotel room was tiny, but Shēdo didn’t know that, and neither did Conifer. It was narrow, a little long, and had a square bed at one end, by the thin window. The walls were bare planks, stained with a pleasant brown finish that revealed the warmth of the wood, and there was nothing else to say about the room. Royal Anne Cherry moved to stand near the bed, and she looked out the window for a short time, before turning to Shēdo and Conifer.
“Both of you can stay for free, if you like,” she said, smiling. “Conifer is a foal, and you…” The mare gave Shēdo a kind, gracious smile. “You’re… a pup? I hope I’m not being offensive.”
“Yes.” Shēdo’s voice was a little gruff with emotion. “Pup.”
“Thank you, Royal Anne,” Conifer said.
“Oh, don’t mention it. I’m happy with you staying.” Royal Anne sighed—a weary sound—but her smile remained as bright and beaming as ever. “Feel free to look around the town. I’ll ring the bell for dinner, a couple of the townsponies eat here because they don’t have kitchens. Enjoy your stay.”
And with that, Royal Anne exited the room, leaving Shēdo and Conifer to check the place out.
For the first time ever, Shēdo One-Fang entered a shop. She came in just behind Conifer, and then froze in the doorway, amazed at the material wealth on display in the general store. Shovels, picks, axes, cloth, cups, pots, plates, pans, there was everything. The proprietor of the store seemed unconcerned that there was a hulking brute of a diamond dog standing in his doorway.
“Heyas, my name is Bog Belcher. My prices are fair and the laughter is free.” The unicorn behind the counter waggled his eyebrows up and down, causing Conifer to laugh, then gave Shēdo a nod. “I can’t say that I’ve ever had a diamond dog in my shop before. Congratulations on being the first, Missy.”
Something about the charming unicorn made Shēdo’s cheeks feel warm, her tail wagged, and before she even realised it was happening, she smiled, which surprised her. Her tail thumped up against the wooden doorframe, but she didn’t notice, she was far too distracted by the nice unicorn behind the counter.
“Me Shēdo, that Conifer.”
Conifer was already looking around, peering at the many items on the shelves. The zebra was careful, cautious, and considerate—he didn’t bump into anything or knock stuff over. He stopped when he got to the food section, and he began looking at things like oats. Shēdo, recovering herself, moved away from the door and was mindful of her tail. So much stuff… the ponies lived with so much wealth, so many things, and she now had some inkling of understanding why her kind just took stuff.
It didn’t make it right, of course, but she understood the temptation.
“Missy, you need a new bag,” Bog said to Shēdo with sincere worry in his voice. “That sack of yours is nothing but tatters. Stuff’ll fall out of that, and stuff kept in a bag is important. That’s why you put it in a bag.”
Feeling awkward, Shēdo did not know how to tell the nice pony that she didn’t have any coins. She didn’t have much of anything, really. She had some flint, a few medicinal roots, and a few rocks that she thought were pretty, but she knew them to be worthless. Looking at the nice pony, she hoped he would waggle his eyebrows again, because that was funny.
Not knowing how to respond, Shēdo’s eyes fell upon a brightly coloured box sitting on a shelf. It was metal, painted in bold, beautiful colours, and had a hinged lid on top. It was a curious thing, and it had a little handle sticking out of the side. Ponies made peculiar things, strange things, things that baffled her. Sniffing, she smelled everything in the store, but also the box, the scent of metal and paint.
“Turn the handle, Miss,” Bog said, offering a helpful suggestion.
Clutching Limey in one paw, Shēdo turned the crank with the other, and music came from the box. She could feel the movements of the mechanical parts inside of the box while she turned the handle, which had a round knob to help little hooves get a grip. The plinky tune was jaunty, playful, and Shēdo didn’t know it. Conifer began watching, his eyes wide with curiousity.
All of a sudden, without warning, something shot up out of the box, startling Shēdo.
“BARK! BARK! WOOF! BAR-RAR-RAR-ROO!”
At the first sign of danger, Conifer ducked behind a barrel and took cover, being a smart little zebra. Shēdo’s heart was pounding in her ribcage, and behind the counter, Bog Belcher howled with laughter while banging his hoof on the counter. Breathing heavy, Shēdo got a better look at what had popped up out of the box and saw that it was a tiny stuffed donkey head. It had a yarn mane and button eyes, with a stitched on smile. It was a jack in the box.
Realising that everything was going to be okay, Conifer came out from behind the barrel and allowed a nervous laugh to slip out. Bog appeared as though he was going to fall over at any moment—he was still banging on the counter, too—and he pushed the stuffed donkey back into the box with his magic.
Shēdo laughed, discovering that being scared like that was fun, but she didn’t crank the handle again. Her heart was still pounding, her blood was singing, and her hackles were all standing on end. Ponies made toys that scared their own young, this was a toy, she understood that now, and for whatever reason, ponies thought it was funny to cause a good scare.
“Do it again, Shēdo… I would very much like to see it again. Please?” Conifer turned a pleading stare upon his companion and made a hopeful whine.
Looking at the store clerk, Shēdo saw him nod, and she took that as permission. Reaching out with one paw, she grabbed the crank and gave it turn. The box made music again, and she turned the crank, waiting, expecting, knowing what was going to happen. Even though she knew what would happen, she wasn’t expecting—
“BARK! WOOF! BARK BARK! GRRRAWR!” Shēdo shook her jowls for ferocious effect, but it was all in fun.
It had somehow scared her again! Even with the knowledge it would pop out, it had somehow scared her again, and now her heart was thudding in her ribs even harder. What marvellous magic was this? This was miraculous.
In an odd twist, four different laughs could be heard inside the general store.
This might need a few edits. Those will be posted tomorrow, when my editor has returned to the waking world. 
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The area's gotten more developed since Tarnish passed through.
8072825
He never made it out this far.
8072842
And he's never coming back so long as he has any say about it.
This seems very suspicious. Exceedingly suspicious.
My DMs are clearly very good at what they do....
Shedo has gained Wisdom +1.
Because knowing when and how and why to laugh is wise. ^^
This town is officially friendly to the point that it's a tad suspicious.
What a sweet chapter. I've personally never been scared by a jack in the box, but some people find them terrifying.
WIAT A MINUTE!!! On Skyreach it once again cemented that dragons were of the
heartRainbow of darkness, and limey said that the white scaled dragons, like Chromium, were made to rule, like alicorns. Are... dragons like Chromium just Alicorns that were altered by theheart(DAMNIT THIS ISNT 40K!) Rainbow of Darkness?8073899
I think they're just overcompensating on account of Dodge City Junction being built out of pure concentrated western banditry.
8080079 I was very hesitant to start on such a long fic, but I am excremely happy I did. It lead me to one very talented author and a ton of excelent stories and characters that develop in a way very rarely seen
Shedo, Limey and friend partying!??!
https://gifsound.com/?gifv=m9HyzR2&v=zwZISypgA9M
Diggy diggy claws?
https://gifsound.com/?gifv=ydXFTDY&v=ytWz0qVvBZ0&s=72
SQUIRREL...get him Shēdo!
https://gifsound.com/?gifv=6fvKCmx&v=MK6TXMsvgQg
liking the various details of stuff, for one the water pump, and the jack in a box
The store owner laughed. The zebra laughed. The doggo laughed. The table laughed. The doggo killed the table.
Mimics, right? What can you say.
8821141
