Chapter 1
On one bright and sunny day underneath the shades of trees in the Everfree forest, there was a brown coated earth pony, grey mane and two golden bits on his flank as his cutie mark was tiredly pulling a heavy merchant’s cart on a pathway. He dropped his head in fatigue and his muzzle almost touched the ground below. Then he stopped for a while to wipe away the stinging sensation in his eyes as sweats were starting to bead over his brows. His name was Good Cash, and he was a travelling merchant that goes from town to town to sell his goods to anypony interested for what he is selling. He took a couple of long breaths to fill his lung with some relaxing and cool air then, he continued his journey to whatever town he might come across to.
Good Cash pace began to slow down as weariness began to get to him as he was pulling his cart endlessly from the night before until that morning. Also, the heat of the afternoon was not helping him much as it made it more difficult to pull the heavy carriage behind him and the harness began to chafe his shoulders. He groaned as he pulled the heavy cart over an incline and the wheels of the cart creaked as he slowly makes his way over the hill. As he finally walked over the incline, he saw a town that was widely known as Ponyville, warmly welcoming him with its brightly colored houses and the sound of other merchants calling to get potential customers from the distant.
He smiled as he knew that day was going to be a normal and peaceful day. As he finally reached into the entrance of the town, he was greeted by a thumping sound and pink coated, pink mane earth filly’s head popped out from his cart.
“Hi!” the pink filly greeted loudly.
“Um.. Hello there.” said Good Cash, as he looked over his shoulder to see the pink filly inside his merchant cart, dumbfounded.
The pink earth pony bounced off his cart and instantaneously was face to face with Good Cash. “Are you new here? What’s your name? Can we be friends? Oh! I should throw you a welcome party! We could have lots of fun, I’ll invite the whole town and you will make new friends and we can play ‘Pin the tail on the Pony’ we could have lots of-“the pink filly was cut off by a hoof from Good Cash.
Good Cash was surprised that the filly could say that in one sentence without taking a break for a breath of air and he was more scared than surprised.
“Look.” Good Cash said as he lowered his hoof from the pink filly’s mouth. “My name is Good Cash, yes I’m new here but I’m not staying for long as I am a travelling merchant. You don’t have to throw me a party because I often leave town in a day or two. So, knowing people would be nice but it is unnecessary.”
“D’awwww.” the pink filly cooed. “You must be all saddy mcsaddypants because you got no friends. No worries! I’ll be your friend because I like to make new friends and we could enj-“the pink filly was cut off again by a hoof.
“Yes.” Good Cash sighed. “Being a travelling merchant does have its ups and downs but really, I’m okay by myself. I’ve been doing this for years now, so you don’t have to worry about me.” He lowered his hoof once again and gave an assuring smile. By the time he lowered his hoof from the filly’s mouth, he noticed that the pink filly was…. less pink than before and her mane lost some of its puffiness. He quickly cleared his throat. “But.. I guess being friends with you would be…nice. So, um..What’s your name?” He plastered on his ‘salespony’ smile to the pink filly.
Good Cash’s words took effect as the filly’s pinkness and puffiness returned and bounced in place with joy. “My name’s Pinkie Pie and it is nice to be friends with you.”
Good Cash nodded and mentally rolled his eyes. “So, where is the town square if I might ask?” he asked as he looked around his environment.
“It is over there!” Pinkie pointed south from where they were standing.
“I see. Mind helping me to get there?” Good Cash asked as he pulling the cart to the general direction that was pointed to.
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie bounced ahead of him.
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As they arrived to the town square, Good Cash immediately set up his merchandise on his cart, assembling and organizing the goods that he was selling. There were a lot of stuffs, from mechanical tools: like hammers and chisels to fresh vegetables. He stood proudly behind his cart and began to call towards the town’s people to get their attention in buying his merchandise.
“Ooohhh.” Pinkie was amazed by the variety of things organized before her.
“Are you impressed?” Good Cash asked with a proud smile on his face.
“Uh-huh,” Pinkie nodded and bounded in place. “So, how is it feels like to be a travelling merchant? I never met one before! Maybe if I did and forgot..” she tapped her chin in thought. “Oh well!” she resumed her bouncing, completely forgot her musing.
“Well.” this time Good Cash tapped his chin. “It is very tiring to some extent but I usually have amazing experiences since I travel to many different places.”
“Wow! Can you tell me a story?” Pinkie asked and began to bounce more energetically.
“Well, one time I was visiting a zebra country in a far away land, south from Equestria, called Zebrabwe, and I me-“he was cut off by a filly’s voice from behind him.
“Pinkie, what are you doing?” the voice asked and Good Cash looked over his shoulder to see who was it from. He saw a purple coated unicorn filly and a darker purple mane with violet streak on it.
Good Cash turn to meet the new arriving guest and greeted her. “Welcome to my humble establishment. How may I help you?” he bowed his head as a sign of respect.
“Ah, yes,” the purple filly bowed as well. “I was wondering why Pinkie Pie is wi-“the purple filly was cut as Pinkie Pie was suddenly nose to nose with her.
“Hi Twilight, what are you doing here? Have you met Good Cash? Did you know he’s a merchant?” Pinkie Pie sent a barrage of question to the unfortunate purple filly but she looked unfazed by the questions as she already got used to it.
Twilight cleared her throat. “I was just looking around, I haven’t met Good Cash yet and yes because he is standing behind a merchant’s cart.”
“Excuse me.” Good Cash spoke up. “Do you know Pinkie Pie?” Good Cash asked, as he raised his eyebrows.
Twilight nodded. “Yes, Pinkie Pie here is my best friend. Are you and Pinkie Pie are friends?” Twilight asked.
“Umm.. Well, kinda. We are more like acquaint-“Good Cash was cut off as Pinkie Pie bounded between them.
“Of course we’re friends, Twilight.” Pinkie said cheerily.
“Well, if that’s true than I’ll be on m-“Twilight stopped in the middle of her sentence as something caught her eye. She trotted towards Good Cash’s cart, she levitated a dusty, old-looking tome. “T-t-this..” she stammered.
“Ah.” Good Cash trotted to the stammering mare. “This is a lost tome of the Zebrabwe country that holds many of the zebra’s old knowledge. It was said to be the only one that was ever written.” He explained and nodded sagely.
“H-h-how..” stammered and cleared her throat. “How did you get your hooves on this? It is an amazing discovery.” Twilight asked as she was eyeing the tome eagerly and inspecting its conditions.
“Well.” Good Cash said proudly. “I was given by my fil- I mean, sources as we were excavating in an undiscovered tomb in Zebrabwe.” Good Cash explained. “I’ll sell it if you want.” He offered.
“How much!?” Twilight asked excitedly.
“For you, 90 bits.” He smiled.
“Deal.” Twilight agreed and levitated a small sack of bits towards Good Cash. He accepted the golden bits and Twilight trotted happily into the sea crowd and levitating the tome in tow.
Good Cash sighed and dropped the sack of bits into the hidden compartment of the cart. He turned around and noticed Pinkie Pie was still there and looking at him with her eyebrows furrowed.
“Why did you sold the tome?” asked Pinkie in a serious tone.
Good Cash shrugged. “Dunno. I just felt that she likes it so I sold it to her.”
“But you said it was given by your fil-“Pinkie got cut as Good Cash waved a dismissive hoof.
“I said it was given by my source. I said nothing about ‘friends’ or anything about that. Besides, don’t you have other things to do?” ask Good Cash, raising his eyebrow.
“Okie..dokie..lokie..” said Pinkie Pie as she narrowed her eyelids until they were only tiny slits and slowly trotted away from Good Cash’s stand. He sighed and sat on his haunches. He opened another hidden compartment of the cart and pulled out a jewelry box and a sweet melody began to play in the wind as the box opened. A pearl of tear started to form at the edge of his eye and wiped the offending tear away. He closed the jewelry box and locked it back into the compartment. He rose back up to his hooves and began to call out to the nearby patrons to start his daily selling routine.
After a few good hours selling goods, Good Cash finally finished his work for the day. It was already late noon when he finished his business and he was packing up his items and loaded them into the cart. He sat on his haunches, and looking up into the orange tendrils of the sunlight reaching towards the darkening noon sky. He felt his head was swimming into past memories and he felt a sudden void in him that he never felt before. He woke himself out of his reverie when his stomach grumbled, indicating that he haven’t had anything to eat since he started his journey the day before.
He took a few bits out from his hidden compartment of his cart, where he always put his bits and his jewelry box and tied the cart onto a nearby lamppost. He inspected the bound, satisfied and head towards the food section of the market. He noticed that many vendors began to pack away their things since it was almost night time and he began to pick up his pace to see if he could find any vendors that sell food before it was too late. He was. All the food vendors already left the market place and it was now only a big empty lot. He gave a long sigh of exasperation and slowly trotted to his cart.
In his slow pace walk, he began to reminisce about his past when he visited Zebrabwe long time ago and about the jewelry box that he kept in his cart. Suddenly the feeling of void crept back into his heart; even the grumbling of his empty stomach could not keep him away from void he was feeling. He looked up at the silvery moon, accompanied by many glittering stars shone onto his brown coat and the prickling fingers of the cold night air starting to wrap around him. Good Cash shuddered as he didn’t wear anything to protect him from the cold breeze.
As he finally reached his lonely cart, he saw a silhouette of a pony sitting next to it. He widened his stance, preparing to charge. “Who goes there?” He called towards the silhouette. As the moonlight shone brighter, it was… Pinkie Pie? He gave raised a suspecting eyebrow and began to approach the pink filly.
“Hey.”Good Cash called.
“Hi.”Pinkie Pie answered in an uncharacteristic soft voice.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, sitting next to her.
“I..”Pinkie pushed a cupcake towards him. “I thought you look hungry since all the food vendors were closed when you got there. So, I wanted you to have at least something to eat.”
“How did y-“Good Cash was cut off.
“I saw you holding a jewelry box when I left... and you looked.. sad.”Pinkie said as she lowered her head. “So, I thought I could make you feel better by baking you a cupcake.”
Good Cash picked up the cupcake with his hooves. “Heh, thanks.” He said softly. He gave the cupcake the first bite gingerly at first and it tasted… good! The second bite was greedier than the first one.
Pinkie gave a warm smile as Good Cash was licking his icing covered lips. “Do you like it?” she asked in a hopeful voice.
“It was the best cupcake I ever tasted.” Good Cash said, giving an approving nod.
“Hey.” Pinkie said.
“Yeah?”
“Can you tell me a story?” Pinkie asked as she looked Good Cash in the eyes.
“S-s-sure.” He stammered. “The story about the tome?” he asked.
Pinkie shook her head. “I want to hear about the jewelry box.”
Good’s ears flopped down. “Oh.” He rose onto all four hooves and walked towards his cart. He pulled out the jewelry box from the compartment, placed it down and sat on his haunches again, giving a long sigh. “Do you mean this?” he pointed the box with a hoof.
“Mm-hmm,” Pinkie nodded.
“Well.” Good Cash took a long breath. “It was a year ago when I was visiting Zebrabwe. I got a filly-friend named Seeking Searcher. Her talent was finding lost tombs and lost artifacts. I first met her when I was selling some Equestrian artifacts to the locals of Zebrabwe. I saw a light green coated unicorn filly with silvery-grey mane with a magnifying glass cutie mark adorned her flank. She was browsing along at other merchant’s carts and chatted with them loudly. Personally, I don’t mind and she was very friendly to every person she met. So, I shook my head and continued my business. A few minutes later, the filly cheerily trotted pass my cart and then suddenly she abruptly stop as she hit an invisible wall or something. She turned her head towards my cart and started to squeal in glee. She hopped in front of my cart and held up a rare emerald that I was selling at the time, and she liked it a lot. Truth be told, she loved jewelry very much. She likes to collect some if she found any jewelry that was left in tombs as her personal collection. So, she asked me how much that I wanted for the emerald, and when I told her the price which was 2,000 bits. Her ears flopped down as she told me that she can’t afford it.
“So, I gave her a deal. If she could give me anything rare or the same value as the emerald, I would trade with her. Then, she levitated me an old Zebrabwe tome from her saddlebag saying that she had found it when she was excavating in a nearby tomb. That tome was worth thousands of bits to any scholars that want the knowledge within it.”
“But,” Pinkie cut him off. “You sold it to Twilight for only 90 bits!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Good Cash only chuckled. “Yes, because I see the excitement that almost resembles Searcher’s. So, I gave it a low price but it really doesn’t matter anyway. So, as I was saying,” Good Cash cleared his throat. “I accepted the tome as payment and she was genuinely happy of getting the emerald. Her joy was infectious as she jumped around with glee with the emerald on her hooves, squealing happily. I just simply laughed with her as she danced with the emerald balancing on her head. When she dropped into her hooves, she introduced herself and asked if I want to be her friend. I accepted it wholeheartedly.
“We’d been friends for months since then but honestly, I had fallen in love with her from the very first sight. I used most of my income from selling goods to buy this jewelry box.”Good Cash said as he picked up the jewelry box with his hooves, glittering under the moonlit sky. “I bought this jewelry box because it would keep her jewelry safe and also as a gift. The day before her birthday, she asked me if I to join her to excavate a newly discovered tomb that was not too far away. I agreed because I don’t want anything bad would happen to her and I also brought the jewelry box with my in my saddlebag so I could give her an early surprise gift.
“Both of us gathered in front of the said tomb and she was jumping excitedly as it would be an adventure to the unknown. I wanted to present my gift to her but she was too excited to notice. I thought I would tell her after the excavation. She called me over to the entrance to the tomb, happily waving her hooves. So I trotted...over...” Good Cash let out a shuddering breath. “I-I saw her smile and... and there was a loud crack from one of the beams that supposed support the entrance and... and... she..” Good Cash was cut off as Pinkie gently held him close to her.
Pinkie Pie felt that he was shuddering in her embrace, quietly sobbing. Then she heard a slow mutter from Cash, “died.” Streaks of tears began to slowly dampen her cheek and she could feel his tears were soaking her coat, but she didn’t care. She kept slowly whispering into Cash’s ears. “Cherish her memories, and be happy.” She repeated the words over and over and over until she could feel Good Cash beginning to regain his composure.
Good Cash broke the embrace and lowered his head in embarrassment. “S-sorry.” He quietly muttered.
“It’s okay.” Pinkie said softly, patting Good Cash’s back.
“Thanks, Pinkie. I mean, for listening. You’re the only friend I had since that day.”
“It’s okay.”Pinkie leaned closer and slowly closing her eyes, silently comforting him.
Good Cash looked up to the midnight sky above and thought, I never wonder a day in this town could change something in me. He looked down to Pinkie who was leaning next to him and smiled. I guess, having a new friend wouldn’t be too bad. He opened the jewelry box and a sweet melody began to dance in the midnight air, soothing his scarred heart. He looked back up into the night sky, with a lone tear forming in his eyes, he muttered slowly “Happy Birthday.”