> Equestria Ninja Girls: Sweetheart's Wild West Adventure > by Jebens1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Wild Western Dreams > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gun shots filled the air as the towns people screamed in panic. The first national bank of Pony Gulch was being robbed! Bandits, who looked just like the Purple Nightmares, were keeping the people at bay, while some were aiming their guns at one of the bank tellers, as he nervously placed packs of money and gold bars into their bags. Once their bags were full, the bandits left the bank one by one. The leader, who looked like Night Terror, stopped and pulled down his scarf. He smiled wickedly as he said, "Thank you very kindly for your generosity, folks," then he turned to his gang and said, "Let's ride!" The bandits mounted their horses and rode out of town, laughing. But none of them ever noticed, that on top of a mesa, stood a lone figure on a horse. The figure watched them ride by and narrowed her lavender eyes. As the bandits rode, one of the bandits, riding in the back, was suddenly caught by a lasso and yanked off his horse with a yelp. The leader and the rest of the gang heard his cry and pulled their horses to a stop. "Where in tarnation did he go?" The leader asked. Then he heard another gang member yell and looked to see he was also missing from his horse, "What's going on?" Then the lasso snagged three more gang members and yanked them off their horses. The leader whipped around at their shouts. Then he said, "We're being bountied!" Right before his final gang member was also lassoed and pulled off her horse. The leader got off his horse and pulled out a huge sword. Then he began walking, looking in every direction, "Come on out, whoever you are!" He demanded, "You think you're sneaky? Ha! I'll find you!" Then he heard a whistle and turned around to see the lone figure with her gang tied up and gagged. The leader smirked, "Well now, been awhile... Sweetheart!" The figure lifted up her cowgirl hat. It was Sweetheart! "Howdy.'" she said, slyly. "You may have captured my gang, but I won't be caught so easily." the leader stated. "True," Sweetheart shrugged, before gave a look of determination, "But I'm willing to try." The two stood facing each other for a long moment, before the leader charged forward and swung his sword. But Sweetheart jumped, ducked, and back flipped to avoid it. Then she threw her lasso and snagged his sword, before pulling it out of his hands. Growling, the leader swung his fists but Sweetheart dodged them too and jumped onto a rock. Then she lept off the rock, somersaulting over the leader, and threw her lasso at him. The leader dodged the rope and laughed, "You missed!" "No I didn't." Sweetheart smirked. The leader looked back to what she had roped. She had roped one of the bags with the gold bars in it and with a hard pull, she yanked it past his head. He looked back at Sweetheart just in time for her to swing the bag around and nailed him right in the face, knocking him out and to the ground with a loud thud. "Consider yourself caught." Sweetheart said. The towns people cheered as she led all the tied up bandits through the streets and to the sheriff's office. The sheriff, who looked like Bishop, walked out and gasped in amazement. "Well, great horny toads, the Purple Nightmare Gang!" The sheriff said, "We've been after them for months," Then he and his deputies, who looked like Snips, Snails, Derpy, and Bulk Biceps, took the gang into custody, "And months is how long you crooks are gonna be spending behind bars!" "You'll pay for this, Sweetheart!" The leader yelled. "That's right, I'm paying back what you guys stole!" Sweetheart retorted, and tossed the bags of money and gold bars to the bankers. "Thank you, Sweetheart!" They said, in gratitude. Then a towns girl, who looked like Silver Spoon called, "Three cheers for Sweetheart, the greatest adventurer in the wild west!" "Hip hip hooray!" The towns people cheered. "Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!" Then they begin chatting, "Sweetheart, Sweetheart, Sweetheart, Sweetheart, Sweetheart... "Sweetheart. Sweetheart! Sweetheart, wake up!" Her older sister Melody called. Sweetheart woke up from her seat, "Huh? What?" "We're almost there." Applejack said, from the seat next to her. "You fell asleep." Apple Bloom stated. "Oh, sorry," Sweetheart apologized, "I didn't get much sleep last night. I was too excited." "I don't blame you, sis," Melody said, sitting right next to her, "This is gonna be so much fun!" "I'll say it is!" Clover chimed in. Twilight looked at Applejack, "It was nice of your friend, Country Road to invite us to her ranch for the month." "And it was nice of you to invite us along." April said, on behalf of the New York allies. "And us." Timber said, on behalf of himself, the Rock N Beats, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. The Rainbooms and their friends were all riding a train through country on their way to vist an old friend of the Apples. When she had offered them to spend the weekends at her ranch, the girls happily accepted and asked to invite their friends, the CMC and Rock N Beats along as well. They had even invited the Turtles and their friends, April, Casey, Keno, Gabby, Zach, Caitlyn, Angel, Carter, and Buffy along for the trip. Now, they were all riding an old fashioned wild western steam train. It was pulling coaches as well as boxcars and flatbeds with red caboose in the back. The three groups were dressed for the trip, with the Rainbooms wearing the cowgirl outfits they wore when they and Turtles traveled to Moo Mesa and when they went to a hoedown at Applejack's. “Yep. I think you all are gonna love meeting Country Road,” Applejack smiled, "Especially since two of our cousins are her ranch hands." “Seeing a ranch up close is really cool.” Keno smiled. "Totally." Half Note agreed. “Yeah. And thanks for the duds, Rarity.” Carter thanked. “My pleasure, Carter," Rarity smiled, "I didn’t want you all to be left out since we all had our leftover outfits from our time in Moo Mesa.” "Well, I'm loving my outfit!" Sweet Note said, admiring her cowgirl outfit, "The colors really match up nice together." “Too bad Karai and Shinigami had Foot business and couldn’t join us.” Buffy sighed. “Maybe we can get them a souvenir.” Sunset suggested. “This is so exciting!” Smiled Zach. “This’ll make a great document.” Caitlyn added. “Just as long as you’re still enjoying our stay.” April advised. “In the words of Rarity, I can multitask.” "Oh mah gosh, I'm so excited!" Apple Bloom gushed, as she and her friends sat with Angel. "Me too!" Sweetie Belle added. "We've never been on a ranch before." Scootaloo said. "There's a first time for everything." Angel noted. "You said it, amiga." Gabby said. "We are gonna have so much fun!" Pinkie popped up behind them. "We're gonna ride horses, go square dancing, and sit by a campfire, toasting marshmallows, while resting on marshmallow pillows!" "Still pretty sure we're not gonna do that last one." Rainbow said. "Definitely sure." Patch added. "Maybe your not." Pinkie began. "But we are!" Clover sing songed, as she and Pinkie hugged bags of marshmallows. "Don't forget, we'll also be doing a lot of farm work too." Applejack said. "Work on a vacation?" Casey asked with a groan. "Sorry, Casey, but it ain't that kind of vacation." Applejack said. "Work? That's the nastiest four letter word in the English dictionary." Ace remarked. "Next to lazy." Lancer noted. "I always wanted to try milking a cow." Logan said. "Well, I know what I'm gonna do," Sweetheart spoke up, "I'm gonna have an awesome adventure!" Then she heard Melody snicker, "What's so funny?" "Nothing." Melody continued to snicker. Patch snickered too, "Let's just say, you have a different opinion on the word awesome." "I hope the Turtles are okay where they're riding?" Fluttershy wondered aloud. "Knowing Raph, he's already complaining." Angel said. Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey were riding in one of the boxcars. Like their friends they were all dressed for the trip in the outfits Rarity made when they went to Moo Mesa. But unlike their friends, they're ride wasn't so comfortable. And as Angel guessed, Raph was complaining. "This is the worst train ride we've ever been on!" He grumbled, as he sat in between some crates of live chickens. Some of them kept pecking at him. "Aren't there supposed to be like pretty stewardesses handing out warm towels and stuff?" Mikey asked, fanning himself with his sombrero. "That's for when you're on a plane, Mikey," Donnie corrected, while on his T-Phone, "And we're on a train." “It’s a good thing the Mutanimals couldn’t join us.” Leo mumbled to himself, as he was reading a book. “Tell me again why we had to ride third class?” Raph griped to his leading brother. “Because we don’t want to make a scene. Applejack and I agreed if we rode with everyone, somebody would’ve saw through our disguises.” “Why couldn’t we get a luggage car?” Raph continued, as a chicken landed on his head and he kept trying to smack it off. “I think I heard Applejack say we’re almost there.” Donnie checked the wall. “Then it’s Fun time! Ninja cowboy style!” Mikey cheered. “Mikey!” Raph growled as the train rode through the track. Soon the train stopped at a station. As the group got off, they spotted two teenage boys and two teenage girls on the platform. The first boy had long auburn hair with a blonde streak and green eyes. He wore an orange western shirt, a brown vest with a matching cowboy hat, jeans, and cowboy boots. The second boy was bigger with short blonde hair, green eyes, and freckles. He wore a brown cowboy hat, glasses, a green shirt with rolled up sleeves and red trimming, a black vest, jeans, and red sneakers. The first girl had magenta hair with blue coloring at the tips and blue eyes. She wore a cowgirl hat with feathers on it, a reddish pink fringed top, a medium purple skirt, and cowgirl boots. The second girl had long frizzy orange hair with yellow streaks, blue eyes, and freckles. She wore a black shirt, jeans, and black boots. "Well, hey there!" the first boy greeted with a big smile. "Welcome to Dodge Junction, folks!" the second boy added. "Cousin Braeburn!" Applejack exclaimed. "Apple G!" Apple Bloom ran over and hugged the big boy. Apple G chuckled. "Hey there cous." "It's great seeing you two again." Applejack said, giving Braeburn a hug. "Same here, cousin," Braeburn replied, "Now before we mossy on over to the ranch, how 'bout we introduce each other to our compadres." "Right," Applejack nodded, "But first we gotta wait for four of our friends to show up " Inside the boxcar, some porters were unloading the crates and livestock, while unaware of the four figures in the shadows. When one of them had his back turned, they quickly snuck past him and out the door. "Phew! That was rough." Donnie breathed. "That was without a doubt the worse train ride of my life!" Raph griped, brushing the chicken feathers off himself. "Called it!" Angel gestured to Zach who rolled his eyes and gave her a dollar bill. "It wasn't so bad," Mikey admitted. Braeburn whistled. "Whoa! You weren't kidding about these guys. Guess I had to see it to believe it." "Sorry if our appearances make you feel uneasy," Leo greeted. "No need to be concerned. If you're okay with my cousins, you're alright with me." "He speaks for all of us." Apple G assured. "Yeah." one of the girls said. Yep." said the other. "Well, let's get to the introductions," Applejack began, "You've already met mine and Apple Bloom's friends. These here are our friends from New York and Camp Everfree. That there's April. Casey. Keno. Gabby. Zach. Caitlyn. Carter. Angel. Buffy. And Timber Spruce." "Think of me as the fun guy," Timber said, "Who should always be invited to fun stuff." Twilight giggled and rolled her eyes Apple Bloom went next, "And these are the Rock N Beats. That's Lancer. Melody. Sweetheart. Ace. Patch. Clover. And Half Note & Sweet Note." "And these are the Ninja Turtles. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo." "What up?" Mikey grinned before Raph clonked him on the head as Applejack continued. "And the one and only Raphael." "Seriously?" Carter looked at Raph. "Do you always have to do that?" "Maybe I should do you instead!" Raph glared. "Try it, Tough Guy!" Carter prepared to fight back. "Behave, you two!" Buffy scolded while Raph huffed the other way. "Well, it's nice meeting you all, " Braeburn said. "I'm Braeburn." "And I'm Apple G." Apple G introduced. "That's short for Apple Geek." Braeburn muttered, making Apple G frown. Raph, Casey, Keno, Carter, Rainbow, Melody, Ace, and Patch burst out laughing. "Seriously?" Rainbow asked, through chuckles. "Your name's Apple Geek?!" Raph laughed. "Now that's funny!" Ace said. "Don't let that fool you," Apple G advised, "I may be geeky, but I'm also strong. I am a ranch hand after all." "That's cool." Donnie admitted. "Yeah!" Half Note agreed. The first girl introduced herself. "I'm Amelia Dreamheart," she motioned to the other girl. "And that's my sister, Angel Duskstarring." "Howdy. You can call me Duskstarring." "Now, that that's settled, let's head on over to the ranch," Braeburn said, "Country Road's expecting us." Soon they were all riding through the countryside in a pickup truck, a jeep, a van, and a station wagon. "So, what brings y'all out here?" Braeburn asked. "Our old friend, Country Road, invited us to stay at her ranch." Applejack explained. "And when AJ invited us, we decided we could some time off from the city." April added. "Well, there's no better place to enjoy country like Country Road's ranch!" Amelia Dreamheart stated. "I heard there's an old abandoned town here." Gabby said. "You heard right, Gabby," Braeburn nodded. "Appleoosa! Only now it's a ghost town." "Are there ghosts there?!" Mikey asked in worry. "That just means it's been abandoned for years, Mikey." Donnie explained. "You got that right, Don," Apple Geek said, "But County Road dreams of fixing up the town and gettin' folks living there again." "Sounds like a difficult task." Leo pondered. "Perhaps. But Country Road is very confident she'll get it done.” Braeburn said. "Has she had any trouble at that town?" Caitlyn asked. "Not really," Apple Geek shrugged, but then he frowned, "Except maybe from old Cudworth!" "Who's Cudworth?" Angel asked. "That's Cudworth!" Duskstarring pointed to a billboard. On it was a picture of a man with graying blonde hair and a comb mustache. He was dressed in a dark blue suit and a brown cowboy hat. In the picture, he was smiling and holding a thumbs-up. Next to him, big letters read, Coming Soon. CUDWORTH'S CORRAL Hotel and Casino. Braeburn explained, "Cudworth is a low down land grabber, who wants to tear down the old town and build some dumb hotel!" "What?!" Applejack gasped. "Oh no!" Apple Bloom cried. "That's horrible!" Sunset exclaimed. "You can say that again.” Amelia agreed. "Why would he want to do that?" Lancer asked. "Cause Cudworth's also a greedy lowdown land grabber!" Braeburn stated. "So he's scum!" Casey said. "¡Ese mal hombre! That bad man!" Gabby added. "Yeah, but really he's doing it outta spite," Apple Geek explained, "At least that's what Country Road told us, but you'd have ask her about it." "There's some good news, though," Duskstarring said, "The city council won't let him touch the town unless he has the old deed to it." "Yay!" Mikey, Pinkie, Clover cheered. "But there's also some bad news." Apple Geek added. "Boo!" The three friends frowned. "I hate when there's bad news." Raph grumbled. "I agree with the hot head for once,. Carter added. "Since the town is on Country Road's land, all Cudworth has to do is buy her ranch, then he'll be free to tear down the town." Amelia said, sadly. "He's made many offers to her, but she turns him away every time," Braeburn said, with a chuckle. "She's even threatened to call the sheriff on him." Applejack laughed, "Good old Country Road! Still has a good head on her shoulders." “Guess stubbornness runs in the Apple family.” Raph pointed out. “I like to think of it as determination.” Donnie added. “I hafta go with Donnie. I’m kinda getting fed up with people calling me or my family stubborn.” Applejack grumbled. "I sure hope we don't get any trouble from this Cudworth guy." Buffy said. "You're not alone in that, Buffy." Keno said. "Yeah," Sunset agreed, "The last thing we want is to deal with any trouble on this vacation." "Now don't you folks worry non," Amelia advised, "You'll find plenty of rest and relaxation on the ranch." "Yeah, and I'm going to be a wild west adventurer!" Sweetheart declared, then she noticed Melody and Patch snickering to themselves again, "What?" "Nothing." they said, which made Sweetheart suspicious. "And speaking of which," Braeburn began, "We're here!" Soon the four vehicles drove through a gate that read The Country Roads Ranch. The ranch hands parked their rides and everyone got out. The ranch had a farm house, a large field where some cows were grazing, some horse stables with some horse outside behind a fence, a huge barn, and some bunk houses. "Oh, my," Rarity said, "What a rustically charming ranch." "I'll say it is." Buffy agreed. Rainbow chuckled, "Yeah, say that while we're doing farm work." Braeburn pointed to the bunkhouses, "You folks can get yourselves settled and meet us all at the picnic tables for supper." He pointed to rows of picnic tables. Everyone gathered their bags and headed for their respective bunkhouses. All the boys went in one bunkhouse, the girls went into another, and all the kids went into one near the horse stables. While the kids were getting settled, one of the horses behind the fence let out a whiny and Lancer jumped and screamed. Which the CMC noticed. "Are you okay, Lancer?" Scootaloo asked. "Um... yeah," Lancer said, nervously. Sweetie Belle glanced over at the horses and asked, "Did the horses scare you?" "No." Lancer denied. "Then why'd you jump when they whinnied?" Apple Bloom asked. "Well... It's just that, when I was a little kid, I fell off a horse that I was riding and hurt my arm," Lancer explained, "Since then, I've been nervous around horses. I wanna get over it, but I just don't know how?" The CMC looked at each other and grinned, as Apple Bloom said, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking? A friend with a fear of horses. This looks like a job for the CMC!" "Yeah!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo exclaimed, while Lancer just stared. "Don't worry, Lancer," Sweetie Belle assured, "We will help you get over your fear of horses." "You will?" Lancer asked. "Yeah, cause helping out friends in need is what we do best!" Scootaloo said, proudly. "And by the time we're finished, you'll be over your fear of horses in no time!" Apple Bloom stated. "Ok..." Lancer said, a bit unsure. After Braeburn showed them where everything was the boys each picked their beds and were settling their stuff. "Check it out!" Mikey gleamed as he hung his head from a top bed. "Bunk beds!" "They're really comfy." Timber grinned as he laid on the bed he chose. "Not bad. Not bad at all." Casey smiled. "I'll say." Keno said, laying down on his bed. As Raph set his bag on his bed, he noticed it jiggling a bit and opened it to find a certain pet of his. "Chompy? You snuck in my bag?" Chompy cheered as Raph picked him up. "Well, hey there, like guy." Braeburn patted Chompy. "Ain't you the cutest little critter we ever seen." Apple Geek said. "I'd be careful if I were you." Donnie warned them. "Why?" They soon got their answer when Chompy belched out fire. The two screamed, barely dodging the flame as it torched up Braeburn's hat. "That's why." Leo said, and they all laughed. In the girls bunkhouse, the Rainbooms, April, Gabby, Caitlyn, Angel, and Buffy were getting settled. Rainbow plopped onto one of the beds, "Ah yeah, this is gonna be an awesome weekend. "Absolutamente." Gabby agreed. "I'm looking forward to a little r&r." Rarity said. "Join the club, girl." Angel said. Suddenly, April felt a vibe in head as Twilight set her bag on the foot of her bed. “Uh… Twilight? There’s something live in your bag!” The girls gasped and hurried to the bag while some prepared to strike with their ninja weapons. Then, Twilight slowly unzipped her bag. Everyone prepared for something bad when suddenly- “Surprise!” “Spike!” Everyone breathed in relief as Twilight pulled her dog out. "What are you doing here?" Sunset asked "I snuck in Twilight's bag when she wasn't looking," Spike said. “You little sneak! I should’ve known,” Twilight chuckled. “And you thought I just watch you guys train.” Boasted Spike. “I better let Fugitoid know you snuck in with us." Sunset said. “Actually he knows we snuck along. Who do you think helped us?” Spike confessed. “Wait. Did you say we?,” Caitlyn questioned. “While Ice Cream Kitty couldn’t come because it would be too hot, I went in Twilight's bag and Chompy went in Raph's.” "Wait, Chompster's here?!" Rainbow asked, before she raced out of the girls' bunkhouse and straight toward the boys'. The girls all laughed. Soon everyone left the bunkhouses, with Rainbow petting Chompy as Raph carried him. But just as they started walking toward the picnic tables, a gust of wind blew Buffy's hat off. "No, my hat!" She cried. "I've got it, girl!" Mikey said, running after it. He chased the hat across the driveway and over a fence before he reached out and grabbed it, "Got it!" He cheered, before he heard a loud snort from behind him. He turned around and was face to face with a large brown bull. And it did not look happy to see him. "Uh, what up?" Mikey grinned nervously, before the bull let out an angry moo then Mikey screaming and ran away, with the bull charging right after. "Mikey!" His brothers exclaimed, as everyone ran to the fence. "Oh, no!" Fluttershy, the CMC Sweetheart, and the Note sisters cried. "Run, Mikey, run!" Pinkie hollered. "Nice bull, nice bull, nice bull!" Mikey shouted, as he ran for his life. Before anyone could do anything, a loud whinny called and a horse came galloping in, lept over the fence, and raced after Mikey and the bull. The rider was a cowgirl with frizzy brown hair with yellow tips, freckles, and blue eyes. She wore a purple flannel shirt, a pink dress, jeans, and cowgirl boots. She twirled a lasso and threw it over, catching Mikey, and pulling him into the saddle. Then she turned her horse around and rode back, with the bull right behind them. Then the horse lept over the fence and the bull skidded to a stop. Once the horse came to a stop, Mikey slide off it's back and onto the ground. "Phew!" He sighed in relief. "Mikey, are you okay?" Sunset asked, as everyone came over. "I never knew you could run so fast?" Clover stated. "Yeah, I'm alright," Mikey said, standing up, "And I saved your hat, Buffy." He handed to her. "Thanks." she said. Leo turned to the cowgirl, "And thank you for saving our brother." "Ah, it was nothing." the cowgirl said. Applejack gasped when she noticed the cowgirl, "Country Road!" "Applejack!" The cowgirl got off the horse and hugged her. "I'm so glad you came. And I see you brought friends." "Yep," Applejack nodded, then introduced, "Everyone, this here is Country Road. Country, these are my friends from Canterlot and New York. There's Sunset. Twilight. Rarity. Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie. And Timber Spruce. Then there's Leo. Raph. Donnie. And y'all met Mikey. April. Casey. Keno. Gabby. Zach. Caitlyn. Carter. Angel. And Buffy." Apple Bloom introduced the younger group, "And this is Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo. Lancer. Melody. Sweetheart. Ace. Patch. Clover. Logan. Half Note. And Sweet Note." Everyone greeted Country Road. "Howdy," Country Road greeted everyone, "Nice to meet you all. And welcome to the Country Roads ranch," She patted her horse, "And this sweet little lady is Ginger." "Your ranch looks amazing!" Casey complimented. "Thanks. Any friends of Applejack are always welcome on my ranch, even the mutant ones," Country gestured to the turtles, "C'mon! I'll show you the stables." As they walked, Mikey spoke to Country, "That bull's not exactly the friendliest, is he?" Country chuckled, "That's Brando. And he don't exactly like visitors," Brando snorted and walked away from the fence, "So, my advice would be to stay away from him." "Will do," Mikey agreed. Soon they had entered the stables. There were twelve stalls, six on each side. Almost each one had a horse peeking out. Fluttershy gasped with delight. "Oh. My. Goodness!" "Look at these horses!" Sweet Note marveled. Country chuckled as she led Ginger to one of the stalls, "And you'll be pleased to know that all our horses are friendly." "Are you sure?" Lancer asked, hiding behind the doorway. "Yes siree, boy," Country said, "Some time this week, I'll teach y'all how to ride. Then we can all go for a trail ride." "Awesome!" Rainbow cheered. "We'd love it," Fluttershy smiled, brightly. "Yeah... great..." Lancer said, unenthusiastically. The CMC could tell right away that they'd have their work cut out for them. Just then a loud triangle rang out, followed by a loud female voice shouting, "Come and get it!" "That'll be supper," Country said, "Let's head on over." "Great, I'm starved," Carter stated, as they all headed out. As they all sat at the picnic tables, out came a green skinned girl with brown hair and a red plaid dress on. “Everyone. This is our ranch cook, Brityboo Mclovin.” Country Road introduced. “Greetings!” Brityboo smiled as she set a big pot on the table. “Mmmm. Smells good.” Zach sniffed. “Thank you. It’s an old family recipe. To celebrate your first night at the ranch,” Brityboo said, "I call it..." She opened the pot, "My special Wild West Chili! Made with extra love." She served each of them a bowl and Twilight placed one on the ground for Spike and Chompy. Once everyone tasted it, their eyes lit up. "Yummy!" Pinkie said. "Delicioso!" Gabby said in Spanish. “This is really good!” Timber complimented. “Wonderful.” Buffy added. “This is incredible!” Zach said. “Five stars!” Caitlyn rated. “Cool!” The CMCs cheered. “Not bad.” Raph admitted. “This is great.” Leo nodded. “Impressive.” Donnie put in. Everyone nodded as Country said, “You really outdid yourself, Brityboo!" The ranch cook beamed with pride at that. As they ate, Sweetheart had a question for Country Road, "Ms. Country Road, have you had any adventures?" "Well, I've had a few," Country Road replied, "Like this one time, I stopped a gang of cattle rustlers." "What are rustlers?" Mikey asked. "They're thieves who steal farm animals," Donnie stated, "Most commonly cattle." "Y'all got right, Donnie," Country said, "And these rustlers were real ornery fellas! It all started when I went on a cattle drive with some friends of mine." "What's a cattle drive?" Logan asked. "It's when some cowboys and cowgirls lead a whole herd of cows across the county," Country Road explained, and continued. "And my friends and I were leading their cattle to another ranch. And Brityboo here came along in a chuck wagon." "Chuck wagon?" Ace inquired. "Think of it like a kitchen on wheels,"Brityboo noted. "Anyway, we had just settled down for the night," Country continued. "When I was woken up by the sound of voices. Curious, I followed the sound to some rocks. Then I peeked over one and there, huddled together in the shadows, were four rustlers! Lucky for me, they didn't know I was there. So I stayed as quite as mouse, as I overheard them talking. They were plotting to tie me and my friends up in our sleep then steal all the cattle!" “And I thought ninjas were sneaky.” Lancer commented. “You’d have to be pathetic not to be.” Casey pointed out. “At least you were alert to find out.” Leo stated. “So what did you do next?” Caitlyn asked. "Well, I certainly wasn't gonna let that happen. So I snuck back to camp and woke up my friends. Then we made a plan, when the rustlers came creeping up to our campsite, they found we weren't there. We were all hiding in Brityboo's chuck wagon, then I gave the signal and we all sprung on the varmints! They never saw it coming." “Awesome!” Rainbow cheered. “Wow!” Melody awed. “Ya never ceased to amaze me, Country.” Applejack patted her friend on the shoulder. “I hope I have adventures just like you!” Sweetheart applauded. Country smiled, “Well, young lady, sometimes adventure finds you.” "I've got a question too," Melody said, "Do you guys ever play music here?" Sweetheart rolled her eyes. Music was always on her sister's mind. Country Road grinned, "Well, now that you mentioned it, one of our ranch traditions for our guests is that after supper me and ranch hands get together and preform a little song to welcome them." “Sounds great!” Sunset smiled. “Yep! We always love to make visitors welcome around these parts. Mutant or not.” Braeburn explained. “Thanks. That means a lot.” Leo smiled. “But I would advise not exposing yourselves in case of other tourists.” Advised Amelia. “Don’t have to tell us twice.” Raph assured before everyone looked at Mikey who was chowing down on his chili before noticing. “What?” After supper, the three groups stood by a small stage. Country Road stood there, holding a guitar. Braeburn had a banjo. Amelia had another guitar. Angel Duskstarring had a mandolin. Apple Geek had a keyboard. And Brityboo had drums. "Howdy, y'all," Country announced. "We're the Country Corrals and we're gonna play a song for you all!" Everyone cheered. Country tapped her foot. "One Two Three Four!" Then the band started to play and Country began to sing, with Amelia and Duskstarring singing backup... After the song was finished, Everyone cheered in applause. Then Rainbow had an idea and walked up to the cow folks who finished bowing. “Hey is there any chance we could preform next?” She asked. “You know, you’re the first to ever ask that, Rainbow. And I can’t see why not.” Country Road answered. “I say let’s have 'em preform.” Braeburn encouraged, “I always wanted to see Applejack perform after she told me about your band.” The others shared their agreement as they cleared the stage. Excited, Rainbow used her super speed to get the girls instruments as the other Rainbooms got on. When they were ready, Pinkie banged her drumsticks. “One! Two! Two and a half!” Then they sang their own country tune. Everyone cheered as the Rainbooms took a bow. "Well, sweet home Alabama," Country said, "You gals really got the music in yah!" "They sure do," Melody stated, "But wait till you hear the Rock N Beats play." "You kids play too?" Duskstarring asked. "Yeah we do," Sweet Note nodded. "You didn't think the Rainbooms were the only band here?" Half Note inquired. “Alright. Let’s hear it!” Country smiled. Lancer turned to the Rainbooms, “Would it be okay if we borrow your instruments?” “Sure.” Sunset nodded. “You got it!” Rainbow agreed as the other girls shared their agreement. The kids went on the stage and took the Rainbooms' instruments. Lancer and Half Note took Sunset's guitar and Applejack's bass. Sweetheart took Rarity's keytar. Logan borrowed Country Road's guitar. Clover took Fluttershy's tambourine. And Melody got behind Pinkie's drums. Clover tossed Ace a harmonica. "Sound us off, Ace!" Ace played a tune on the harmonica and the Rock N Beats and CMC began to sing, with Ace, Melody, and Logan rapping... When they were finished, everyone cheered to the performance as the Rock n Beats took a bow. Then Braeburn turned to Applejack. “Looks like your visits gonna be a fun time, cuz.” “As Big Mac would say, Eyup. Looks that way,” The cowgirl nodded. As everyone was cheering, Spike sudden felt a little uneasy. "You okay, Spike?" Twilight asked. "I don't know why? But I got the strangest feeling that somebody was watching us?" Spike explained. Twilight giggled and patted his head, "I think you need a vacation more than we do." But what they didn't know was that Spike was right. Far off on a flat top mesa rock was the same man who was on the billboard. He was watching everyone through binoculars. "Enjoy your stay while you can... Cause pretty soon it'll all be mine!" Cudworth grinned evily.