Finding Destiny

by grendal

Train Robbery

Stew rubbed at his flank as he sat on the train to Ponyville. He was still sore from his fall down the stairs of Canterlot Castle. There were a lot of stairs. He hoped Celestia hadn’t seen that. Slipping out of the palace and down to the streets ridding on a chunk of Celestia’s face wasn’t exactly how he dreamed that meeting would end. In fact, in his dream it happened kind of the opposite.

“Tickets please.” A kindly looking old stallion in a conductor’s hat said, interrupting Stew’s thoughts.

“O-of c-c-course.” Stew fumbled around in his saddle bags trying hard to hide his blushing face. His ticket wasn’t in there. Feeling more flustered Stew began franticly riffling through his bag. He wished Mr. Cheesers were there to calm him down, or at least help him look for the ticket. But the little mouse had chosen to go back to Fluttershy. Stew had hoped to have seen Fluttershy before he left, but when he went to Canterlot Carousel Fluttershy wasn’t there. Rarity had of course been excited by the news and told him all the things he simply MUST do when he got to Ponyville. Not that Stew didn’t enjoy the talk, he just really wanted to tell Fluttershy too. Mr. Cheesers decided to stay at Canterlot Carousel and wait for Fluttershy. Rarity had assured Stew he would see both the mouse and Fluttershy very soon, but for now, he should hurry and catch the train. He wouldn’t want to be tardy and miss it after all. And when he got to Ponyville, he must must MUST go to Sugarcube Corner first. Pinkie Pie would be upset that she wasn’t there to throw him a party, but at the very least… Where was that blasted ticket?! He could have sworn…

The conductor cleared his throat impatiently and pointed to the space on the bench next to Stew. On the bench was Stew’s crumpled up ticket. Stew grinned sheepishly as the conductor stamped the ticket. The conductor just rolled his eyes and moved on to the next passengers.

This was Stew’s first time on a train. The orphanage where he grew up wasn’t far from Canterlot, and the idea of travel had never been very appealing. Equestria was just so big, and there were so many ponies. Stew didn’t think he would fit in no matter where he went. So, he stuck close to home. But watching as forests and plains, mountains and lakes, all kinds of different landscapes zipped by, it was easy to see why most ponies wanted to travel at some point in their lives. There was so much beauty Stew had never known existed. Maybe, if he ever earned his cutie mark, Stew would make up for lost time and go travel all across Equestria. He would be known through out the land as “the stallion with the absurdly cool cutie mark”. Stew smiled to himself, it didn’t exactly roll of the tongue, but a pony can dream. Shouts from further behind him on the train snapped Stew back to reality.

Ponies throughout the train were cowering away from an odd trio. At the head was a mare of about middle years. Her fur was a deep velvety purple and her main was pure white. She wore a large, wide brimmed pink hat with a black buckle and blue feather. It was a rather garish thing, but she preened and strutted proudly showing it off. She also carried a crossbow which she used to menace everypony. To her left and right, standing a couple paces back, were two very large Stallions. One was a unicorn with chocolate brown fur and a creamy yellow mane. He would have been very handsome if he wasn’t currently using his magic to stuff bits and jewelry and anything of any value into a sack. The other Stallion was a large pegasus, pure black from mane to tail. He was roughly pushing and bullying passengers with his powerful wings. A long puckering white scar split right down the middle of the stallion’s muzzle. Stew suspected that scar was a memento to remember a run in with the royal guards.

Crime in Equestria was all but not existent. Ponies were generally very nice, and Equestria was a bountiful land that provided more than enough for everypony. A pony could still live fairly well with very little bits to their name. Stew was proof of that. So, anypony willing to commit a crime became infamous very quickly. Stew recognized the trio, as did most ponies. It seemed this train had run afoul of Mare Barker and the Barker Colts.

The conductor attempted to sneak out of the train car when he felt nopony was looking, but was stopped by a crossbow bolt hitting the wall inches from his face. “Don’t anypony move! We’ll take yer bits, or yer lives! It’s yer choice.” Mare Barker’s voice was a raspy snarl. To show she was serious, anypony that did much of anything was dealt with by one of her heavy hoofed boys. Even a poor unicorn who tried to hand over his bits using magic received a sever beating. Mare Barker and her colts were vicious, and they didn’t take any chances.

The pegasus walked over to Stew. “Gimme yer bits an’ valuables. Now!” his voice was deep and rolling, like quiet thunder.

Stew couldn’t help but stare at the pegasus’ cutie mark. Two sacks filled to overflowing with bits. How would it feel to discover your destiny was all about stealing? How does a pony even come to discover something like that? Is everypony fated to one cutie mark no matter what they do with their life, or does a cutie mark only manifest after your character is established? If the later, can a pony have many potential cutie marks? And if the former, what of free will? Was this pegasus always destined to be a thief, or was this the path he chose and then received his cutie mark? Stew’s thoughts were interrupted by a hard slap across his face from the pegasus’ wing.

“Woud ya stahp starrin’ at muh plot an’ gimme yer bits?!” The Stallion rumbled.

“S-s-s-s-s-sor-“ Stew was silenced by another hefty slap.

“SHADDUP!!!”

Now with his head spinning and his nerves shot, Stew had no idea what to do. He gingerly held out his ticket.

“What’re ya stupid?!” Another heavy slap nearly unhinged Stew’s jaw.

“I said,”

Slap!

“gimme.”

Slap!

“yer.”

Slap!

“BITS!”

Slap!

Stew reeled back from the beating. His face was already beginning to swell. Digging through his bags Stew managed to find his bits purse. There wasn’t much in it; he hoped it was enough to not earn further ire from the large stallion. Unfortunately, Stews trembling hooves couldn’t hold the purse and he dropped it just before the Barker Colt could take it from him. “Oh, that’s it!” the black pegasus hissed. Stew was knocked to the floor with a hard hit from both wings. A crushing kick followed driving the air from his lungs. The commotion attracted the gaze of everypony, including Mare Barker. The split second of distraction created a small opportunity, and somepony took it.

A peach coloured stallion kicked the crossbow away from Mare Barker. The bow landed causing it to fire a bolt that struck a hanging lantern which fell on the head of the pegasus beating the daylights out of Stew. The peach stallion stood heroically before the gang. “My name is detective Pink Ton. You ragamuffins have terrorized ponykind for long enough. I’m placing all of you under arrest. A Pinkton always gets his pony!” His voice was strangely nasally, but somehow still very dashing. The two Barker colts turned on him, charging like wild animals. “You choose fisticuffs do you? Well have at you then rapscallions!” Pink Ton was amazing. He struck joints and pressure points with precision and confidence. Every swing the Barker Colts took struck nothing but air. It was like watching two hogs try to fight a dancer made of water. Everypony was mesmerized by the spectacle, everypony but Mare Barker.

Mare Barker let out a low, angry, growl as she backed away from the fight. She slowly sidled over to wear her crossbow lay. A young mare, barely out of her filly years, saw what the criminal was doing and ran to stop her. Too late. The crossbow was jammed up against the young mare’s head, the matriarch of the Barker gang laughed triumphantly.

“Everypony stay where you are, or this pretty li’ll thing gets new hole in ‘er head!’ Mare Barker looker at her unconscious sons, then glared at Pink Ton. “You Pinktons!” She spat, “You’ll never catch me. I’ll get muh boys out a jail and we’ll be back. We’ll be lookin’ fer you Pink Ton. You’ll see! We’ll get you good!” Pink Ton just stood silently, glaring daggers at his enemy.

Mare Barker didn’t realize she had stopped beside Stew. Or maybe she did, and just thought he was unconscious. Stew wasn’t entirely sure she would be wrong in that assumption. But if he was conscious, and all this was real, he couldn’t just let it happen. Come on, he thought, you can’t just lie here like some kind of... fallen… tree! Stew shook his head. Why were all his metaphors about trees? There was no time to work on better metaphors, if he didn’t do something quickly he would miss his chance and that innocent young mare would be taken hostage. Stew stood up quickly, realizing too late that it was a terrible idea. His head spun in an entire circle, then the whole world tilted left. Stew tripped on one of the benches, sending him cartwheeling into Mare Barker. Barker fired the crossbow, but not before stew clumsily managed to get a hoof in front of the bolt. The arrow pierced through Stew’s left fore hoof, and all three ponies tumbled to the ground. Pink Ton moved fast. He tied up Mare Barker as she was busy pummeling Stew for landing on her, dragged Stew to the side and got him a doctor, then helped the young mare up, all in seemingly one swoop. He was met with cheers from everypony as he stood proudly over the captured criminals. “A Pinkton always gets his pony!”

When the train pulled into Appleloosa station, Pink Ton lead the three crimanals off surrounded by a hero’s procession. Stew sat alone on a bench surrounded by bandages. He breathed a happy sigh of relief. The whole ordeal was more stimulation than Stew had received since he was just a little colt, and he was happy it was done. As everypony left the young mare that had been taken hostage hung back. She looked around to make sure everypony was out of ear shot, then sat down beside Stew. She was pretty, after the manner that young mares are pretty. She had honey yellow fur and creamy off-white mane that she kept in braids. She spoke with a thick country drawl, but her tone was melodic, like bells tinkling by a stream. “Everypony thinks ya’ll were just wakin’ up after bein' knocked out, then couldn’t hold yerself up and fell on top of us. They think I was lucky.” The mare studied Stew’s very uncomfortable face for a moment with her big blue eyes before continuing. “I saw yer eyes when you stood up, ya’ll meant to save me. I knew ya’ll wouldn’t want this, but thank you. Yer my hero.”

Stew shook his head, regretted it as the room began to spin again, then gestured out the window towards Pink Ton. “I-I’m n-n-no h-hero. H-he’s a r-r-real hero. H-h-h-he s-saved e-everypony. A-all I d-did w-w-w-was t-trip.”

The mare looked reflectively out the window before answering. “Mr. Pink Ton is a hero certainly. And rightly so. But he can be everypony else’s hero. Yer my hero. I’m Honey Sickle by the by.”

Stew gave Honey Sickle a lop-sided smile and offered the hoof not staining bandages with blood. “St-Stew.”

Honey Sickle barely even glanced at Stew’s hoof before brushing past it and giving Stew a quick peck on the cheek. She giggled when Stew winced. His face was still very tender. “Thank you Stew.” Honey’s words came out oozing with the sweetness of her namesake. “If ya’ll are ever in Appleloosa come by my place. I’ll be sure the family cooks you up a nice hero feast.”

Stew was bright red as he watched Honey sickle skip out of the train car. He still didn’t think he was any sort of hero, but between Honey Sickle and Fluttershy’s reactions he was beginning to see the appeal of becoming one. Waves of pain crashed through Stew’s whole body as he tried to adjust himself. Then again, hero stuff did come with down sides too.

The whistle blew and the conductor shouted, “ALL ABOARD!” and the train lurched back to life. It was still a while before he would arrive in Ponyville, but Stew was starting to get excited. He wondered what was so special about Mr. and Mrs. Cake that meant he must must MUST see them first. He wondered what sort of ponies the fillies Princess Celestia had talked about were. But more than anything else, he wondered if he really would be able to find his destiny and earn his cutie mark in Ponyville.

Author's Note:

Whew! Southern accents are hard to write. Don't ever let anybody tell you otherwise. I still don't know if I've got them quite right, but it will have to do.
If you've made it this far into my story, congratulations! You and I are like this now. You can't see it, but I just crossed my fingers indicating how tight we are. You'll just have to trust me that it was very tight.
If you're liking the story (which if you've read over 10,000 words of something you are either a teacher, a very persistent hater, or there is something you like about it) feel free to click the thumbs up button. It's not hard, and I promise not to tell anyone you did it just because I asked. If you REALLY like it, give it a fav, or follow me. But most important please leave a comment below! Even if you didn't like it, leave a comment. I'll never know why if you don't tell me, and I love to hear from you. Thanks for reading!
Bye!

Comments

[AvexedAuthor]

I wish I could offer more than a single thumb...

[grendal]

8421764
Aww, thank you AvexedAuthor, that means a lot to me I'm just happy you gave it one in the first place (I'm just going to go off the assumption you meant more than one thumb up)

8422134
It isn't the craziest thing for him to have no cutie mark, I know. In fact, I was first inspired to write this story when I watched "Slice of Life" and heard Gummy having an existential crisis over being a creature that couldn't earn a cutie mark. It made me wonder what life would be like for a pony who never got one, since all ponies get one. I try to capture the ponies thinking it's strange, and not really knowing how to handle it more than having outright hostility. But you're right Stonecrop Sedum, no cutie mark is better than a truly bad cutie mark. I might cover that in a later chapter, though maybe not with the infinite fart thing. Thanks for your thoughts

[grendal]

8423723
Yes, he is in that age range.