Derpy Hooves: An unexpected journey

Chapters

Chapter one: Discussions over dinner
Chapter two: A new face, the beginning of a journey and a storm
Chapter three: The highwaycolt
Chapter four: The canny colt
Chapter five: Glaspony pickpockets
Chapter six: When a plan comes together
Prologue: A knock at the door

Chapter one: Discussions over dinner

Derpy Looked at her door in shock, nopony ever knocked on her door. She stared at the door in disbelief for a while until three more knocks startled her from her shock, she waltzed over to her door and opened it and much the surprise of her eyes she saw five ponies. AppleJack, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie pie.
All of them looked at Derpy quite confused except for Twilight who politely asked

"May we come in Derpy, I know this is a bit sudden and all but we need you to join us on a bit of an adventure before we came to you. We wanted to give you two days notice and to explain what it is we wish to do, do you understand."

Derpy replied with a quick nod and a quiet "come in I was just about to make dinner."

After everypony had a seat and was chatting away Derpy proceeded to start making a soup pot big enough for six ponies plus a little extra for later. About half way through making the soup AppleJack yelled into the kitchen

"Derpy something smells great, I didn't know you could cook."

"Yeah my grandma taught me the recipe for this soup, as well as a few other things" replied Derpy a little embarrassed at the thought of Applejack complimenting her.

"Derpy I hope you made some of your amazing, super fantastic tasty muffins for an after dinner treat because they are AMAZING!" Pinkie pie shouted practically deafening everypony in the house.

"Don't worry Pinkie I always have some muffins ready." Derpy replied heartily. After the soup was done and the bowls were practically licked clean and put next to the sink then Twilight began to to explain why they had come to Derpy's house.

"Derpy the reason we are here is to ask you to take part in an adventure, now I'm not saying it will be one hundred percent safe, it is a long journey almost one year to be precise but I wouldn't have asked you unless I was sure that you had something like a special skill to bring on this journey."

Derpy stopped Twilight on the spot with a sad laugh and she said in a very un-cheery voice

"I have no special talent's that's why I'm called Derpy Hooves my only talent is s-s-screwing up and breaking stuff on ac-ac-acident."

And with that Derpy started to cry quietly into her hoove. All looked at Twilight expecting her to say something to calm the distressed mare but instead it was Applejack who said

"Now that is no way to talk about yourself, sure you may mess up sometimes but we all do that. (they all murmured in agreement) So what if people call y'all names because they don't understand you, that just makes them bigot's because they are unwilling to get to know you. I hardly knew you before today but after I meant you and have seen what your really like I can agree that you are one of the nicest ponies I have every met. We turned up un-invited to your house and you took us in an gave us such a superb dinner (again they all murmured in agreement) so don't y'all tell me that you don't have any special talent sugarcube." All looked at Applejack but all Derpy could do was hug her.

After that was over Derpy had calmed down enough to say

"Thanks Twilight for the offer but I have to turn you down on that adventure, I just cant I have a job to do and an old pet Chameleon called Maui to look after." She pointed to the location were she thought she saw him last, but it turned out he was resting on the bookshelf dammed near invisible to the untrained eye.

"That's why Pinkie and Fluttershy are here they are going to look after all our pets except Winona as the CMC and Big Mac will be looking after her, Fluttershy is going to take over your job as the mail mare for Ponyville for the time your are gone, that is if your coming with us" explained Rainbow Dash.

"Like I said before were sorry this is sudden but maybe if Applejack told you what it is we are going to go on this journey for you might reconsider" Twilight said after a moment of silence.
Pinkie Pie and Flutter Shy left the house before Applejack started to tell the story, as they were both not going on the long, arduous journey. So Applejack began to explain the story of why her family actually came to the area we now know as Ponyville.
This was a long tale so Applejack decided to shorten it were appropriate leaving out the bit's of history they already knew.

"Now y'all know the tale of how my family came to this area we all call home well that's not the whole truth you see the reason my family was traveling well more like running was because they were refugees from a land many, many miles away from here called Ponybor in which we owned a large apple orchard much like we do today" explained Applejack.

"Now not many ponies know about Ponybor as it is so very far away but it was once a great and prosperous place well that is until the great dragon Teine Sealgiare heard of the cities wealth and wished to claim it as his own, my family was busy bucking apples the day the great dragon Teine arrived. The only warning they got was when the dog's started howling and the tree's shook so violently that all the apples fell from the tree's, then they saw the colossal shadow of the dragon and a wind so powerful that it blew their doors open, the next thing they saw was Teine flying over to the town outside the mountain and using his fire setting it ablaze so quickly hardly anypony was able to escape with any food or belongings, all they could think of was to run from the danger that had appeared out of the horizon. After a while my family gathered their senses and packed up everything they could and just started walking away from the lands they had owned for nearly two hundred years the last thing they saw was Teine smashing down Ponybor's front gate and entering the mountain. Over the next few days they could all they could see when the turned back was a giant column of smoke getting smaller with each passing day and then they arrived after almost a year of travel in the valley we all live in today." Applejack ended with a long breath and a mouthful of apple cider from her mug.

"Wow Applejack that was a great tale but I still don't get why you need me to help you in this" Derpy asked still confused as to the matter which had brought the group here.

It was Twilight who replied to this "We need you because we needed another pony to help us that's all no special reason, if you want to come on this journey then you will have to meet us at the north bridge of Ponyville at dawn in two days time, until then Derpy goodbye."

After Twilight was done they all got up and said their thanks to Derpy for the wonderful meal and for her hospitality. Derpy was still confused about what the hay just happened but she decided to sleep on it as she was needed for another mail run tomorrow.

It was the night before when she made her decision on what whether to go or not, she packed her bags and put a note through Fluttershys door and looked at the dawn which was rising over the north bridge and said "Once more forward unto dawn". And with that she walked towards the four pony silhouettes standing on the bridge, she stared confused at the four silhouettes. Wait a minute four?

Author's Note

It's done finally. Wait four ponies, she only met three find out who the new pony is in the next chapter.

Teine Sealgaire translates as Fire Hunter in Scottish/Irish Gaelic.

Thanks to all who read my novel I will keep writing more as time goes on and remember to leave a comment and a like if you want. Do feel free to send me a message with any queries you may have and I will try to answer them. Stay awesome my fellow bronies and pegasisters.

Chapter two: A new face, the beginning of a journey and a storm

Wait four ponies. As Derpy got closer to the silhouettes she could make out who they were, on the farthest left was Twilight easily distinguished by her purple coat and the saddle bag with twilight star on it, to the farthest right was Rainbowdash who was by far the easiest to tell apart because of her mane being so colorful, next to Twilight stood Applejack who as usual wore her stetson hat but in between her and Rainbow was a pony she had never met or seen before.

Walking closer Derpy could make out more of the feature's of the unknown pony, she noted that the new pony was definitely a mare had a brilliant crimson coat, a flame orange mane, deep piercing ruby red eyes and that the saddle bags she wore had what appeared to be a ball of flame on them, this made her more curious as to who this pony was and as she got closer. *pomf*
The red of the embarrassment on Derpy's face could only be matched by the red of the unknown pony's coat, this was met by an awkward silence that was broken by a side splitting laugh from Applejack, who when she was done explained to Derpy who the unknown pony was.

"This here is Blazingstreak my wife but you can just call her Firefly or Blaze, Blaze this here is Ditzy Do an she is the other member of this little group of our's" explained Applejack with a cheeky sort of grin on her face.

A few second's later Derpy's wing's had settled back to their usual position, she realized that no mare had ever had that effect on her, the only pony to ever have that effect her was in a different time and a different part of the universe at this point, probably doing a lot of running. Derpy was about to start talking to firefly when Twilight's paranoia broke and she shouted almost bursting Applejack's eardrum.

"WAIT DID EVERYPONY-" Applejack put her hoof over Twilight's mouth to stop her shouting further, she removed her hoof to allow her to continue.

"Right sorry I just wanted to know if everypony got the specific item's I told them to bring, as well as the food we will need to keep us going, after all it's going to be roughly five week's before we reach the next and last town, so I'm just making sure that everypony got the item's I requested" Twilight explained hardly drawing a breath.

They all nodded in unison as if this is what they were expecting Twilight to do. After Twilight's little paranoia attack they set off, walking at a brisk but comfortable pace, they were enveloped by silence so all they could hear was the twittering of the birds, the babbling of some brook in the distance and Applejack humming a little tune to herself, to break the silence Derpy asked Firefly "Where do you live Blazing? Because I've never seen you on my mail run or anywhere around Ponyville for that matter."

To which Firefly responded kindly "I live with Applejack on her farm, as for not seeing me I would be surprised if you did, I hardly ever walk around Ponyville and when I do it tends to be later on in the day when there are less ponies around, I don't like big crowds and I get stared at a lot because of the incident two years ago."

"I see your point Blaze I don't like big crowds either and I also get stared at a lot but that's mainly because the other ponies think I will break something when they aren't looking but what can you do when your reputation dictates that you are a klutz" Derpy replied. A week into the journey, they were all in high spirits but then it started to rain, gently it rained at first no more than a light shower but then the rain started to pound down on them with all the might of a hundred foot waterfall, thankfully during one of the breaks they had Rainbow dash had the idea to look and see what was on the path ahead, she spotted an old ruined structure that could provide them with at least a bit of shelter for the night and the duration of the storm. When they arrived at the ruined building they noticed that it looked like it had been a camp that was abandoned recently but they didn't care, they were to tired and wet to care about that now.

"Dear Celestia, I'm soaked and frozen through to the bone, I don't think I'll be dry for a week, can't we start a fire to at least dry and heat up a bit" Derpy sniffled as they all huddled in the only dry spot in the ruined structure. She reached into her pack to find the flint and steel she had brought, she proceeded to strike it but it was to wet to even catch a spark.

"Derpy put away the flint and steel we don't need it, besides it's to wet to use" Twilight told her.

"But why don't we need it? We are soaked and cold, so why not start a fire?" Derpy replied confused.

"That's were I come in" said Blaze holding her hoof up to show derpy the newly conjured ember, Depry was enchanted as she watched the ember as it grew to a small ball of flame, getting larger each second until blaze made it vanish in the blink of an eye.

"How did you do that, because last time I checked you were not an Alicorn or a Unicorn, so how did you use magic?" Derpy asked more confused than she had ever been in her life.

"This is what my cutie mark means, it gives me the ability to summon and control flame in anyway I want, it even allows me to heat my body up at will to act like a fire but not burn anypony, I can even do a fireboom which is basically a sonic rainboom but with fire" explained Blaze, still looking at Derpy's adorable but dumbfounded face.

"Well let's not waste any time heating up or anything, its not like we aren't cold and wet or anything" moaned Rainbow dash. Blaze started to glow, faintly at first but then brighter until she was no brighter than a fair sized fire, they all huddled around Blaze eagerly trying to get warm, dry their cloaks, their manes and their coats. As time progressed they started to get really drowsy, eventually they started to drift of one by one until only Derpy and Applejack were awake both just listening to the rain patter heavily and seemingly endlessly against what was left of the roof on the broken structure. Derpy sat up and walked to the edge of the dry spot in the ruined room and then she sat down again looking back down the road she had traveled, she couldn't see Ponyville in the dark and rain but she knew it was there.

"What's the matter sugarcube? Can't sleep, homesick or both?" asked Applejack who had got up so quietly that she startled Derpy.

"Oh it's nothing AJ, I guess I'am just a little restless, even though we only left ponyville week days ago I feel like I've been away for a month already, I miss Maui the chameleon, I miss my house and I miss my breakfast muffin's" Derpy said solemly.

"Don't worry sugarcube, Fluttershy will be taking the best care possible of Maui, he'll be fine i'm sure of it, as for the homesickness just think about what's in front of you not what's back in Ponyville, now come on sugarcube it's cold and your definitely tired from the walk today, so let's get some rest" Applejack said in a reassuring voice. Applejack got up and went back to the huddled group of ponies, lay down nest to them and quickly fell asleep, a couple of minutes later Derpy joined them and feel asleep just as quickly as Applejack.

They were awakened sometime later by the sound of six simultaneous clicks and a stern but smooth voice "Sit up, turn around but try anything and I'll splatter you heads across the wall."

Author's Note

Well that took longer than expected sorry guys, I'll try to write it quicker next time I promise.

DUN DUN DUNNNN. Surprise ending, let's see who get's the what the next chapter will reference.

Thanks to my friend Zepherno for letting me use Blazingstreak in my story. Go check out his work to find out about the incident two years ago and how she is what she is.

Don't forget to comment with your feedback and leave a like if you feel I done well. Thanks. Stay awesome my fellow bronies and pegasister's.

Chapter three: The highwaycolt

"Get up or I'll splatter your heads over the wall" the voice repeated louder this time to make sure they were all well awake and well aware of the situation. The five of them sat up slowly, still groggy from being woken up so suddenly, then they turned to face where the voice was coming from, what they say next shocked them, for it was a highwaycolt who had awoken them. The highwaycolt had a snow white coat, a charcoal black tail and mane, emerald green eyes, a sage green overcoat with a pointed hood, a black belt holding his overcoat on with an unusual symbol as the buckle and a black neckerchief covering his face.

"Alright open the bags and empty them in front of me" said the highwaycolt in a slightly weaker voice than before as if something pained him.

"Now hold on just a minute there mister, we don't have to do anything for you" said Applejack while Rainbow Dash calmly stood up.

"Sit back down miss or we will be having a problem" the object held by the highwaycolt's magic motioned her back to a sitting position but Rainbow stood her ground.

"No you listen to me we are having a problem right now, your threatening my friends and me right now, that's my problem" Rainbow said with a raised voice. The highwaycolt just stared with a menacing gaze switching between the five of them every couple of seconds.

"Rainbow, sit down, you don't know the damage those weapons can do" Twilight said still quite shaken from being woke up in such a manner.

"Those weapons don't look like much, what are they anyway? asked Rainbow puzzled. The highwaycolt sighed and raised the second weapon pointed at Twilight and aimed it at a nearby crow, *BANG* a small cloud of smoke blew out from the small weapon and when Rainbow opened her eyes and looked at the spot where what was left of the crow was sitting, she sat down a look of terror on her face. He floated the weapon back into it's holster useless having fired its only shot.

"Any more questions?" the highwaycolt asked.

"No, good. Arrgghh sweet, Celestia" the highwaycolt reached into his coat and winced as he touched whatever had caused him the pain, he withdrew his hoof from his overcoat tentatively, it was washed red with blood. His blood.

"Ha, well that's not good" he said just before his eyes crossed, rolled till they could see the whites of them and then he collapsed to the floor, his magic failed and the five remaining weapons fell to the floor simultaneously.

_._._.[]._._._
"Is he dead?" asked Blazing Streak as Rainbow Dash walked over and prodded they colt slowly with her hoof.

"I don't think so, I think he just passed out" said Rainbow clueless as to what had happened.

"What do we do with him, we can't just leave him here, can we?" asked Derpy who was beginning to get worried.

"No your right, Derpy, we can't just leave him, he could die and then we would be no better than him, but the one problem that I see is that none of us have any actual medical experience, even I have only ever read books on medical practice" Twilight said calmly.

"I actually have medical experience." All eyes turned and looked at Derpy, amazed as to what she had just said.

"Wait you have medical experience?" Asked Rainbow Dash with a expression of sheer amazement.

"Yes I worked with nurse, Redheart for four months, about two years ago I think. In fact now that I think about it I actually stitched up you Blazing Streak after Applejack brought you in after you got that big gash on your side" Derpy replied. They were still in shock from the previous statement.

"Right what do you need?" Asked Twilight calmly, breaking the silence after what seem liked an age.

"I'll need you to help me get his coat off, Rainbow could you fill the skins of water, Applejack could you get the bandages from, Twilight's pack ready for later and, Blazing get me two really short but sturdy sticks, right lets move ponies we have a highwaycolt to save!" Derpy yelled in a louder voice than anypony thought possible. They all nodded in reply and off they went doing there various tasks, after Twilight had removed the sage green jacket from the highwaycolts figure Derpy went to inspect the wound on his side.

It was a small round hole no wider than a marble next to the colts cutie mark: which consisted of a skull and two knives crossed through it, Depry leaned in to get a closer look at the wound which was bleeding profusely , she could tell right away that it was infected, not just because of the smell but the colour of the wound it was black, yellow and festering.

"I got the sticks you asked for, but I still don't get why you need them" Blazing Streak said puzzled.

"I need them to pull out what ever is in the wound, I just wish, Rainbow would hurry with the water" as soon as she finished, as if on que Rainbow appeared with the water skins and asked.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah could you put the water into the pots and Blazing could you heat them up till one is boiling, so we don't give him another infection from the dirt on the sticks and the other heat it up till it's lukewarm, so we can clean out the wound but not burn him" after Derpy had told them what to do they did so as fast as they could. While they waited for the water to boil on the fire created by Blazing Streak, Applejack asked.
"What do we do now?"

"Now we wait" Derpy replied.

_._._.[]._._._

Derpy decided after about five minutes of boiling the sticks would be clean enough to do their intended job.

"Alright, Twilight I need you to use your magic to open the wound just a little bit more" Twilight nodded in reply to Derpy and began to widen the wound with her magic.

"Okay I'm definitely feeling something in the wound, alright the sticks are on either side of the object, now all I need to do is pull it up slowly, to prevent it from bleeding to heavily" Derpy explained to herself while she extracted the object.
It landed on the rocky floor with a small *tink* giving them the impression that the object was metal. "Alright Applejack hand me the pot of warm water and a bandage" Applejack handed the water to Derpy with a small nod.

Derpy proceeded to pour the warm water over the wound slowly and every so often she would wipe the wound with the clean bandage. "Alright Applejack help me tie the bandage around the wound." Once more Applejack complied with Derpy's orders.

"Hang on just a minute!" Applejack excalimed. "This ain't no colt, this here's a mare."

Silence ripelled through the ponies at the new statment.

"Are you sure?" Asked Derpy while she checked. "Okay you are right thats a mare but it doesn't change the fact that he, er I mean she is hurt and is in need of care."

"Your right Derpy, by the way how long do you reckon before she is concious?" Asked Blazing Streak.

"It's hard to tell it could be a few hours or a few days, the infection was pretty bad so we will just have to camp here for a while, to let her recover" Derpy replied unsure of the actual answer.

"Well if were gonna be here for a couple of days we might as well try to fix up the building a bit, to make it a bit more weather proof" said Applejack whilst she went to her bag to grab her small hatchet.

_._._.[]._._._

"Oh thank, Celestia, your awake" said Derpy in a cheerful voice aimed at the highwaymare who was lying down on her back looking at the cross eyed mare with confusion.

"W-w-water" the highwaymare coughed in her rough colt voice.

"Okay" Derpy said while she picked up the spare water skin and gently fed the highwaymare the water.

"By the way you can drop the colt voice act, we know your a mare" Derpy explained as the highwaymare drank greedily from the water skin, as Derpy said this her eyes widend in surprise at this statement.

"Why did you save me?" The highwaymare asked with her rasping voice.

"Because if we didn't we would have been no better than animals" replied Derpy. The highwaymare stared at the cross eyed mare trying to figure out her intentions.

"How did you save me?" Asked the highwaymare her voice still rasping.

"By removing this metal ball from the wound in your side and by cleaning your wound regularly" Derpy replied while handing the metal ball to the mare so she could see it clearly.

"Where are the others? I thought there were five of you" as if on que with the end of the statment Twilight arrived back.

"Hello Derpy, welcome back to the land of the living highwaymare" Twilight said in a cheerful tone with a smile on her face while she eyed the mare with suspision.

"Hello to you too and thanks for saving me... er."

"Twilight, my name is Twilight. But I didn't save you, I helped, but I didn't save you" Twilight explained to the mare.

"But then who saved me?" asked the mare.

"I did" replied Derpy her smile widening . "I removed the metal ball from your side and kept your wound clean." The mare just stared at Derpy with a look of confusion when she said.

"Y-y-you removed it, oh sweet, Celestia" and with that the mares eyes again crossed and she passed into darkness once more. It was around midday before she woke up again.

_._._.[]._._._

"Ugh my head is killing me" said the mare to herself while she sat up and looked around, she heard laughter outside and shakily stood up, leaning on the wall for support she started shuffling towards her bag and overcoat.

"Right just grab my stuff and leave, I've been delayed for far too long now" she said to herself.

"Delayed from what?" Derpy asked, slighty startling the mare.

"Personal bussiness" the mare replied nervously.

"Won't you at least have lunch before you leave, you haven't eaten much" Derpy said with a look on her face that would melt anyponyies heart.

"But I'm already late as it is" she said while looking at Derpys adorable cross eyed face. "Ugh fine I guess I can stay for another hour or two." They walked up towards the fire where the others were sitting and talking.

"Look who's finally up and about" said Twilight as Derpy and the mare sat down next to the fire.

"Alright I think the soups done, bout time too, i'm starvin" said Applejack as she started filling everponies bowls with the mushroom soup. She handed each of them their bowls and asked.

"So highwaymare, got a name?"

"I'd rather not tell you my real name if thats alright, so just call me firefly" she replied.

"But my nicknames firefly, it'll just get confusing for all of us. So don't you have another nickname for us to call you by or you could just tell us your name, y'know make it easier for everypony besides we'll probably never see you again" said Blazing Streak.

"My name is Blood Dawn, so just call me Dawn" said the now named mare.

"Blood Dawn? Hmm that's an unusual name but Dawns nice. So Dawn you've already met me, this is Applejack, thats Rainbow Dash, She's Blazing Streak and this is Derpy the one who saved you" Twilight explained, Dawn got a nod or a wave from each of them as Twilight said their names.

"By the way how long was I out for?" asked Dawn.

"The first time you passed out was for four days, the second time that was just for two hours" explained Twilight.

"Four days, wow I slept a long time, I guess that explained why I was so hungry" said Dawn, finishing of her bowl of soup, still amazed at the fact she had slept so long.

"So what are you doing out here Dawn" asked Rainbow.

"I could ask you the same question, but if you must know i'am traveling to Glaspony to visit my..." Dawn seemed to falter at the last part before she finally said. "My brother, there I have answered you. so tell me where you are going?"

"We are going to Glaspony as well for ten days, before we continue to ponybor" Derpy explained before anypony could stop her.

"Ponybor, ha ha ha you must be joking, wait your serious, dear Celestia your serious" said Dawn while looking at all their faces, she was dumbfounded.

"Yes we're serious, after all you seem to have your hooves on some of the weapon technology from there" said Twilight holding up the weapons that Dawn had used to threaten them.

"You know what they are!" exclaimed Dawn.

"Yes, we all do, I told them about these flintlock weapons of yours, they were standard issue for the gaurds of Ponybor, I would very much like to know how you came by them" explained Twilight.

"Well I guess I can tell you about them but can we at least start traveling, we are still at least a week away from Glaspony and i'd like to get there some time this month" said Dawn while she looked in the direction of Glaspony. They all agreed that it was in everyponies best interest to reach Glaspony before the end of the month, so they packed their bags, donned their travel cloaks, Dawn with help from Twilight got her sage overcoat on, put out the fire and continued their long walk to the town of Glaspony.

Author's Note

Again I'm sorry I took so long to post this piece, I will try to speed up next time.

I love references especially when they are in a book, the original books this chapter is based off of are "The highwayman's footsteps" and "The highwayman's curse" which were based off of a poem written by Alfred Noyes.

There are a few more references in this chapter see if you can spot them, if you spot them leave them in the comments and say what they are a reference to.

Stay awesome my fellow bronies and pegasisters.

Chapter four: The canny colt

They had begun their week long journey to Glaspony in a cheerful mood, the sun was shining and their bellies were full. They had been walking for about an hour in silence, just listening to the birds and the distant rumbling of a waterfall, when Twilight asked
"So, Dawn. How did you come by these weapons exactly?"

"I inherited them, yep that's right, no big dramatic tale behind how I got them. I inherited them from my father, traditionally my family members would all be guards of Ponybor, and after each member became a member of the guard their father or mother, would have a pistol specially made for them" she used her magic to lift one pistol from it's holster before continuing, "this was my father's pistol, he was the last member of my family to have one custom made for him, even though he could never become a guard of Ponybor. He had been given it after Teine Sealgaire attacked."

"Well if that's your fathers pistol then why do you have six?" asked Blazing Streak.

"I have eleven, but I was meant to inherit twenty five" Dawn replied.

"You have eleven of them, sweet Celestia they would be worth a fortune to the right pony!" exclaimed Rainbow.

"What do you mean, you were meant to inherit twenty five of them" asked Twilight.

"Traditionally after each of my family members passed the pistol was added to a display, and when Teine Sealgaire attacked, my family had twenty six pistols, one of which was lost inside Ponybor with my great grand father, the other twenty five were taken by my grand father when he fled Ponybor with my father, after almost a year of fleeing the desolation left in the dragons wake, they settled down, a couple of years later, my grand father passed and I was born, one night after almost forty years of living in that town, a group of thieves, a group of wolves broke into my fathers home and stole all but eight of the pistols, they probably sold them I don't know, but my father made me promise him on his deathbed to recover as many of the pistols as possible, that's why I'm heading to Glaspony. One of the thief's retired there and I'm going to claim back what's rightfully mine" Dawn explained hardly drawing breath. All of her explanation made sense but it didn't explain why she had threatened them in the first place, but right now nopony really wanted to ask her that, they were getting along with her and didn't feel like driving her off.

They were about a days journey outside Glaspony when they stopped for the night, Rainbow who had the first watch pulled Dawn over to talk to her.

"I know what you are" Rainbow stated.

"What I'am?" Dawn was confused.

"Yes" Rainbow said in a whisper as she reached inside her saddle bag pulling out a chain with small symbol on it, the same symbol that was on Dawn's overcoat belt.

"Ahhhh, now I see" Dawn replied looking at the symbol.

"Yes, so why are you really heading to Glaspony?" asked Rainbow.

"I'm on a hunt, not only for my family pistol but the thief who took it he is the prey" Dawn replied in a hushed tone looking over her shoulder at the other ponies, making sure they weren't awake.

"Would you like some help?" asked Rainbow.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'd have to turn you down on that. This kill is personal" Dawn replied quickly.

"Okay I understand, but just give the signal if you need me, don't let your personal feelings cloud your judgement" Rainbow replied while looking at all the surrounding area.

"Don't worry, I won't, but for now I would like to get some shut eye, so goodnight Rainbow" said Dawn as she turned around, walked over to her bed mat and lay down to go to sleep.

Derpy couldn't believe what she was hearing, Rainbow Dash and Dawn were both killers. This brought a turmoil within her, she had to tell somepony but on the other hand if she told somepony Rainbow and Dawn could end up in prison for a very long time, she didn't know how long she could keep this a secret, but she had to for their sake.

_._._._()_._._._

They had arrived at the gates of Glaspony the next day, around midday to be precise. They had tried to push the gate open, to no avail, so they opted to knock instead. Applejack walked up to the gate and slammed her hoof on in with all her might this actually prompted a response.
"Alright... alright I'm a comin, i'm a comin." A small hatch opened around head height, they saw a old mule, who looked like he had just woken up from a long night of hard drinking.

"What do you six want, I'm trying to sleep here" he said with a bit of a slur in his voice before he continued, "Ponies, six ponies, not many of your kind in Glaspony any more. So what brings you all they way out here?"

"Our business is our own, but if you could kindly point us towards the, Canny colt inn" said Twilight calmly.

"The canny colt, let's see... okay follow the road until you see the lords flag inn, then take a left and you'll see the canny colt inn" explained the mule will he opened the gate for them before continuing, "Also don't make eye contact with any wolves, and make sure you hide any valuables you may have."

They walked down the dirt road a little before Derpy asked, "Why do you think he told us to avoid the wolves?"

"Because, Derpy, wolves have a bad name for themselves, they tend to be thieves, but some of them are nice enough" explained Dawn.

They arrived at the canny colt without incident, when they walked in the saw that it was nearly deserted, not unusual it being around four. They walked up to the bar and the grey coated wolf barkeeper appeared seemingly out of nowhere, he walked over to them and said,
"Welcome to the canny colt inn. What'll it be a drink perhaps, a hot meal or a nice room?"

"We would like one double room and two singles with two beds in each for one week, please" said Twilight before the rest could order any food.

"Okay that's fine, I just need your names in the ledger" he picked up an old ledger and placed it in front of Twilight who signed them in, after the wolf placed the ledger back under the desk he continued, "Alright for one week that'll cost you 60 bit's a night, and for today and tomorrow I'll throw in a free dinner for you, if you need anything just give old Gealach a yell and I'll be happy to provide assistance."

"Thanks but for now I think well just head to our rooms" replied Twilight.

"Alright, just a heads up it's a cèilidh night so if you want to sing or play any instrument then that's all good" he said with a wolfish grin as they left for their rooms. They had decided that Applejack and Blazing would share the double room and that Rainbow and Derpy would share one of the singles, Twilight and Dawn the other. They all walked into their respective rooms and dropped their saddle bags on the floor and placed their traveling cloaks on the available hook. Rainbow had already lain down on her bed when Derpy whispered to her,

"Rainbow I know your a killer." She couldn't have held this in any longer, it was driving her crazy, Rainbow just turned and looked at her dumbfounded before she asked,

"How did you find out?"

"I heard you and Dawn talking about 'a personal kill' and then I saw the amulet" Derpy explained in a whisper.

"Derpy you can't tell anypony, it would be bad for you, I'll do anything to keep this between you and me" said Rainbow a worried look over here face, she was thinking of ways to ensure Derpy's silence and safety.

"Don't worry I didn't plan on telling anypony, your my friend Rainbow, I wouldn't want you to end up in jail, so you don't have to do anything for me" Derpy replied quickly. Silence enveloped them, they could hear Twilight and Dawn talking about her wound next door, they could also hear quiet moans of pleasure coming from Applejack and Blazing's room, at this they each turned and looked at each other before breaking into laughter. After their fit of laughter ended they both decided to have a quick hour before going down for dinner.

_._._._()_._._._

After their little hour of sleep they walked down stairs to find the others already waiting at the table and the inn much busier than it was earlier, as they sat down Gealach came over and asked for their orders,

"Alright, what'll it be, we have many different soups and vegetable options, also for drinks we have some wines, Apple family cider, flim-flam brother's cider, beer's and even a few different ales." They thought for a minute before replying, Applejack was the first to order,

"Okay a round of Apple family cider, I haven't had any in a while, cause ya'll drank this years like always and I'll have a potato and leek soup." Gealach scrawled this on his notepad, Derpy ordered next,

"I'll have a vegetable soup." Gealach scrawled on his notepad quickly, Blazing ordered her meal next,

"I will have the same as my wife." She said while leaning closer to Applejack, Gealach again scrawled down their order, Twilight and Dawn both didn't order anything until much later. When Gealach returned with the cider Applejack nearly downed her flagon in one go. After she had had her mouthful she said,

"I missed my family cider, it's been a while." This stopped Gealach in his tracks, he turned and spoke,

"Wait your family makes this cider, you've kept my business afloat all these years, your family has created a piece of drinking art, I thank you for providing this to my inn as my thank's you guys can stay here the rest of the week for free, I mean it."

"Well I thank ya, but we couldn't stay here for free, that's to much trouble fer ya" Applejack replied.

"I insist, I won't take no for answer" Gealach said before turning tail and leaving for another table. They all waited for their meals patiently, and when they got them they thanked Celestia and devoured their first proper hot meal in weeks.

When they had finished the cèilidh had started, first up was a brown coated wolf with a fiddle, he urged everybody to get up and dance, Applejack convinced Blazing to do it, when they got up to the dance floor all the patrons whistled and cheered, the wolf look at his audience, he placed his fiddle to his neck and started playing a quick jig, the crowd was stomping their feet and clapping in tune, Applejack and Blazing were dancing madly to the tune, when it ended the wolf smiled and took a bow, so did Applejack and Blazing, the crowd erupted in a cheer and ordered drinks for the wolf and the ponies.

The rest of the group was speechless, as Applejack and Blazing sat down another wolf got up with an acoustic guitar and played a song he had written himself called 'Run boy, run' and when he had finished his piece the crowd cheered and ordered him drinks as well.

Applejack walked over to him and asked if she could borrow his guitar, he allowed her to take his instrument, she grabbed Blazing and pulled her towards the small stage, the crowd cheered as they recognized them.
When Blazing started to sing the song, the crowd went silent, and then Applejack joined her playing the guitar softly, Derpy got up on an impulse and flew onto the stage and joined in with Blazing and Apple jack's song, the crowd was speechless, it was beautiful but very saddening, the crowd was just staring at the trio in amazement and when they finished the whole crowd stood up and erupted in a deafening noise of paws and hooves, some of the patron's even flung bit's their way but they just flung them back and walked back to their seats again the others were left speechless not just by Applejack and Blazing's performance, but Derpy's singing filled them with awe, Twilight was curious about the song so she asked,

"Where did you all learn that song?"

"I learn't it from Applejack, who learned it from Granny Smith but I have no idea where Derpy learned it" replied Blazing Streak. Derpy looked at her feet before saying,

"I guess there's no point in hiding it any longer, my grandmother came from Ponybor, she was the head cook in the castle, and when she moved to Ponyville during it's early days she started up Sugarcube corner before my mother sold it to the cakes. She was alive long enough to write down that song and tell me about a bit of life in Ponybor." After Derpy had finished they all agreed to call it in early, so they all rose from their seats and went to their rooms, a cheer rose from the crowd as they saw them leave.

When Derpy and Rainbow arrived at their room, the stumbled drunkenly in, Rainbow shutting the door behind her, she looked at Derpy with a mischievous face. Buck it i'm gonna do it, tonight was going to be fun she thought to herself as she walked over to Derpy wrapping her in a long kiss. Derpy was surprised to say the least but she had never felt like this, she could barely think as Rainbow started to work on getting her excited, but before she could finish, Derpy flipped Rainbow under her with an unknown strength and moved down past her chest, she looked at Rainbow and said, almost in a giggle,

"I'm a gonna taste the rainbow." This prompted a laugh from Rainbow before she moaned in ecstasy.

Author's Note

Gealach= moon in Scottish/Irish gaelic

cèilidh= Pronounced in English as 'Kay-lay' it means a party or social gathering where there is music, etc etc

The jig the wolf was playing= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsSx8GzHCmM

Run boy, run= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmc21V-zBq0&list=PLsJOxeYtTGVW6Ggm4M2_xsF8lFI8zL1iu&index=19

Durin is the old god that the earth ponies of Ponybor worshiped, only logical thing I could come up with.

Applejack, Blazing and Depry sang= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDNMb0q_xTY
The beginning of Derpydash, hahahahahahahaha

Spot any other reference's

Chapter five: Glaspony pickpockets

Derpy awoke with a yawn and a stretch of her legs and wings, when she stretched her wings, she felt them brush against something, she turned around to find herself looking at the sleeping form of Rainbow Dash, she almost reeled back in shock but she held it back, barely. She sat up and looked around the room, her and Rainbow's bed's had been pushed together, sometime last night, but Derpy couldn't remember a thing about last night, all she could see in her memories of last night, was a rainbow coloured blur, she decided to lay down again in hopes that she wouldn't disturb Rainbow's slumber, she looked at Rainbow for a while, trying to remember what had happened last night, she remembered getting up to sing, and going back up to their room and then couldn't remember anything else, so she decided to just lay there in silence and listen for any signs of Rainbow stirring from her sleep.

Rainbow was snoring lightly, in a way it was actually kind of cute from Derpy's perspective, but Derpy was waiting in silence for what seemed like an eternity, not that she didn't mind silence, but she wanted to know what had happened last night, but she didn't want to wake Rainbow, she looked to peaceful. So she decided to lay in silence once more, looking at Rainbow sleeping peacefully, her eyes fluttering and her ears occasionally flicking lightly. She did not have to wait long this time before Rainbow woke up.

_._._._()_._._._

"Ugh... my head, what the hay happened last night?" asked Rainbow out loud before she opened her eyes.

"I don't know, but I think we... I think we... ya know" said Derpy almost scaring the living daylights out of Rainbow. Rainbow turned around to see Derpy, her face was in a sheepish sort of smile, Rainbow had to ask,

"Did we really? I remember kissing you and then you... oh buck, we did it. Didn't we?." Derpy looked at her friend with a look of confusion before she finally said,

"I have no idea what we did, all I remember is a rainbow coloured blur, although that might explain why I ache slightly in that area."

They stared at each other for a little while, in complete silence, they were trying to figure out what had actually happened when it clicked, Derpy had remembered what had happened that night, quite vividly. So to spare another awkward moment staring at Rainbow Derpy leened over and kissed her and said,

"I remember. And I liked it."

Rainbow had a look on her face that would have caused anypony who walked into the room to question the physics of it, again they sat in an awkward silence before Rainbow finally said in a whisper,

"I remember. And I liked it as well."

And with that they embraced in a long kiss that seemed to last for ever, but the moment was cut short when they heard three knocks on their room door and a voice, which they assumed belonged to Gealach saying,

"Alright ponies, it's breakfast time, the food will be ready soon, so come on down."

_._._._()_._._._

Rainbow and Derpy quickly got up after hearing their own stomachs growl in hunger, they walked down stairs to discover that only Applejack and Blazing were there. They took their places at the table, Applejack was giving them a look that was making them uneasy, she made sure she whispered when she said,

"Ya'll have fun last night?"

When she said this two things happened, Rainbow who was just sitting there blushed with a crimson so bright it rivaled Blazing's coat and Derpy who was drinking her orange juice at the time, swallowed it the wrong way and started coughing. Rainbow immediately started patting her back to help stop the coughing quicker, when Derpy had finished coughing she started to blush at what Applejack had said. All the while Applejack and Blazing where laughing their flanks off, it took them a minute to calm down, after they finally stopped laughing Applejack said,

"Sorry bout that Derpy, but I couldn't resist, besides seein Rainbow's face was worth it. You guys were hardly quiet though, I'd be surprised if Gealach didn't hear you, at least we tryed ta be quiet." she pointed to Blazing before continuing. "I had have never in all my years thought that Rainbow might be into mares."

At this Rainbow lost it she got up and walked over to Applejack and landed a mean left hook, this floored Applejack but Rainbow had forgotten one thing, Blazing. Seeing Applejack being hit caused her to snap, she leaped at Rainbow grabbing her and pinning her to the wall.

"Apologize!" Rainbow knew she had went to far this time, but she couldn't draw a proper breath so all she could manage was,

"I... can't *cough*... your... bucking *cough*... choking me."

Blazing lightened her grip when she felt Derpy pull on her shoulder, she turned and looked at Derpy, she was crying, when Blazing saw this she dropped Rainbow and started to calm down, before she apologized herself. Applejack finally got off the floor and said,

"What'd I miss?"

She looked around and noticed that Derpy was crying and holding Rainbow in a tight hug, Blazing just sat there her eyes unmoving, she said,

"I... I overreacted, I may have slightly strangled Rainbow."

Rainbow looked up and said to Blazing, who at this point looked on the edge of tears herself,

"I'm sorry? I would have done the same in your hooves, you don't need to apologize. I'm sorry Applejack, I shouldn't have hit you. You alright Derpy?"

Derpy was still embracing Rainbow in a tight hug, she looked up when she heard her name and nodded in response.

_._._._()_._._._

When they finally got up, they all returned to their seats in silence, this was when Twilight and Dawn finally appeared from their room, after a brief walk down the stairs they also took their seats at the table, Gealach appeared from a door somewhere in the back of the inn, he was carrying in one paw two, one tray laden with toast and the other breakfast muffins, at the sight of muffins Derpy's mood improved greatly, she hadn't had any in weeks. In the other paw Gealach was carrying a tray with orange juice and sticks of butter, he made it over to their table with no effort, he quickly placed the tray's on the table.

"Enjoy your meal" he said quickly before he practically vanished before they could thank him. The meal was superb, the toast was perfectly made, the muffins of which Derpy ate the most of, were baked to perfection, she was pleased to discover that they were her favorite kind, Chocolate and raspberry, it was an odd combo to be sure, but she loved them and practically wolfed them down. When they had finished the sat there for about ten minutes debating about what to do, they finally decided to go into the town market and buy new travel cloaks, as their current ones had been ripped and torn in many places. They asked Gealach for directions to the market, after he told them, within ten minutes they were standing in the bustling market place, there were ponies, donkeys and wolfs all looking at stalls, bartering, talking to each other and in general being merry, but something felt off to Derpy, she couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched.

They split up into two groups Twilight went with Derpy and Rainbow, Dawn went with Applejack and Blazing. Twilight, Derpy and Rainbow went off in search of a tailor, to find them some new traveling cloaks. Rainbow knew of a tailor, from her previous visit to the city a few years ago, so Derpy and Twilight followed Rainbow to this tailor. When they arrived they saw what appeared to be a run down shop exterior with a sign hanging above it, the sign had an odd symbol on it and underneath it had, Samhain's tailor's written in a gold paint.

"It looks abandoned, maybe we should go and find another tailor" said Twilight looking at Rainbow confused. But Rainbow was unfazed by how abandoned the shop looked, she walked up to the door, and opened it, with an almighty creak and a small bell ringing. She walked inside motioning her friends to follow, so follow they did and when they entered the shop they were shocked to see that the interior was, well lavish, it had a red carpet with a golden design on it, there was a mahogany counter and a few outfits made for display. They heard a voice call out from the doorway at the back of the shop,

"I'll be with you in a minute..." They then saw a wolf standing in the doorway, she looked at them, when her eyes finally fell on Derpy and Rainbow, who were standing next to each other, she smiled and said,

"I told you, Rainbow, I told you... anyway how have you been darling, it's been far, far to long."

The wolf walked over to Rainbow and hugged her, Rainbow turned to Twilight and Derpy and said with a cheery voice,

"This is Samhain, I stayed with her for about five months before I moved to Ponyville. Samhain, this is my friend Twilight." Samhain walked over and hugged Twilight gently before standing and facing Derpy, ready to hug her. "And this is Derpy, my marefriend."

At this three things happened, Derpy blushed and was hugged by Samhain, Twilight's jaw nearly fell of her face and then she walked over to Rainbow and hugged her in congratulations.

"See I told you Rainbow, all those years ago I told you." Said Samhain with a light smirk on her face.

"Rainbow what does she mean? And why does she look at me like that?" Asked Derpy still confused by the whole situation. Rainbow decided it best they get some chairs before explaining.

_._._._()_._._._

"You see, Samhain isn't exactly just a tailor, she is a fortune teller as well. She can tell your future by staring into your eyes for a moment and when I was staying with her she told me my fortune." Explained Rainbow as she sat on the chair next to Derpy.

"Your fortune as I recall went like this. Five friends you'll have, one of laughter, one of Kindness, one of honesty, one of generosity and one of magic. You shall have many an adventure together, and many a fight, but through it all you shall remain friends. You shall also have a love, one forged in a flame of passion, your love will be of golden nature, truest and pure, she will be odd to be sure, but that will not diminish your love for each other. And remember, golden eyes will light your path. I also remember that you laughed in my face when I told you it, but that aside what is it you wish of me you must be here for a reason." Samhain ended with a cheerful laugh and she looked into Derpy's eyes. Derpy stared right back, well with one eye, the other was looking at the counter right now.

"Your future, it's unclear to me, but I know it will have something to do with a slash of Thunder, but that is all I can see. Anyway why are you here, you must have a reason?" Samhain said, while quickly standing up and walking behind her counter.

"We need five traveling cloaks, by next Tuesday, can you do that?" Twilight explained. Samhain just looked at Twilight like she was stupid before she said,

"But of course, I can have them ready by next Tuesday. Any colour preference or embellishments?"

"Erm, no just five regular traveling cloaks will do fine. How much?" Asked Twilight. Twilight kept avoiding Samhain's gaze, she didn't want to know her future, after all, spoilers. Twilight handed over the bit's to Samhain, they all thanked her for her hospitality and left the store.

_._._._()_._._._

They had just arrived at the edge of the market place, they began looking for their fellow's when Rainbow noticed a wolf standing on a rooftop, he was gesturing towards something, Rainbow looked in the direction the wolf was pointing. Applejack the wolf was pointing at Applejack. It all happened so quickly, Rainbow took flight in an effort to get to her quicker but she was to slow, the wolf had already reached his target, In a quick movement he had whacked Blazing and Dawn over the head with a plank of wood, he then moved to Applejack and grabbed hold of her, he reached in to her saddle bag and pulled out a golden band, it was Applejack's wedding ring. Before Rainbow could reach the wolf a metal ball hit the ground next to him, a large, dense cloud of smoke hid him from view and when it dissipated the wolf was gone. On the ground Applejack just lay there crying, she had lost the second most important object in her life, Blazing finally got up clutching her head in her hooves and with an almighty roar of rage she snapped,

"They will pay for this!"

And with that a fire ignited in her eyes, a fire so full of rage it could have burnt Glaspony to the ground with ease. This was the wolf thief's big mistake, he had pissed off the most powerful pony: aside from Twilight, within a hundred miles. She would hunt them until she had gotten that ring back, but thankfully she didn't have to do it alone. They headed back to the inn to try and figure out a way to find the thief and the ring, Dawn was the only one with a solution, thankfully it could be started the next day as it was late and they all needed rest.

Rainbow and Derpy returned to their room, and fell onto their improvised double bed.

"Wanna go again?" Asked Rainbow. Derpy sat there for a minute with a face that said 'did you really need to ask'

That night was pleasurable to say the least but they were still thinking about the plan. After many a pleasant moment they fell asleep and into the realm of the dreamscape.

Author's Note

Ah it's good to be back, I have had a slight holiday from this but now I'm back to my regular upload schedule.

Oh, shit's going down son.

I just realized I haven't given Dawn any dialogue for the past two chapters, aw well she will be here next chapter.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/4a7b00e59febbefdf06c057e7b3b3bf6/tumblr_mscm5g13Ie1qk9f8bo1_400.gif - That strange symbol, I put it in Celtic as the wolves names are all Gaelic to, eh why not.

Samhain= Gaelic word for Summer

Chapter six: When a plan comes together

Luna bade her sister goodnight as she prepared to enter the dreamscape for the night, she lay down in her bed and gathered her magic, her horn glowed a soft blue in response and she was surrounded by an aura of the same colour, her physical body started to fade giving her the appearance that she was ethereal. Luna was high above the purple tinted clouds of the dreamscape looking down on the reflection of the world she knew well/

The dreamscape was a strange place, filled with endless horror, pleasure and creatures which fed off of both of these types of dreams, it was Luna's job as princess of the night to guard her subjects from the creatures which fed off and created these nightmares but it was also the easiest and most secret way for her to talk to her apprentices, her assassin's. These assassin's were trained in all manner's of combat, to be the guardian's of all the races of Equis's free will.

Over the years of Luna's one thousand year absence the order had collapsed due to lack of communication and unified leadership but when she returned she instantly smelled the corruption festering in the land, like an infected wound. She immediately sought out recruits for the order, normally she would mark the ponies, wolves, griffons, minotaurs or zebras she wished to train at birth but she didn't have the time for that, so she selected those who already had talents which she knew she would need for immediate effect. So she picked ideal candidates for the order from all the races and trained them to become her assassin's, she would only ever pick a being who was unmarried and didn't have any children, after all she wasn't heartless.

This made Rainbow Dash an ideal candidate for recruitment; she was strong, agile, charismatic, capable, unmarried and above all loyal. Once you joined the assassin's you were in for life, unless you were getting married or having a child in this instance you were permitted to 'retire' permanently unless your nation was threatened by a great evil.

Luna's job tonight seemed it would be easier than it was on most other nights, the dark ones which fed off of fear were less prevalent tonight than she had thought they would be, once she had cleansed Canterlot of the foul creatures she turned her attention to the rest of Equis, methodically clearing every town and city of the foul beings known as the dark ones. Once had cleared everywhere of the creatures and the nightmares that they created, she then turned her attention to her assassin's entering their dreams to guide them in their various tasks and plans, aiding them in the completion. After she had attended to some of the more urgent pleas for help she shifted her focus to the last plea, Rainbow Dash. Luna arrived in the dreamscape version of 'The canny colt inn' in Glaspony, she walked up the wooden stairs into Rainbows room. She walked into the room to see Rainbow and a grey mare tightly hugging each other in their sleep, Luna smiled lightly before walking over to Rainbow and using her magic to enter her dream.

Rainbow's dream was a 'normal' dream, she was sitting in a could looking over a forest with a small river running through it, it was peaceful and quiet she enjoyed this peace when she slept. It was so peaceful that when Luna put her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder she jumped up, startled by the contact.

"Fear not Rainbow, it's only me" Luna said soothingly. Rainbow sat up on the cloud and looked towards the princess with a soft friendly gaze,

"It's good to see you again princess, it's been awhile. I see that your lessons on modern Equestrian are going well."

"Rainbow you know you don't have to call me princess, you're my friend so Luna is fine and yes I've been taking my lessons more seriously but I still slip up here and there. But we have no time for small talk. I'm here because you requested my help. What is it that you require?" asked Luna. When Luna had finished Rainbow sat down again and started to explain what their plan entailed. Luna sat there taking it all in, analysing each detail and breaking it down into small memorable chunks. When Rainbow had finished she sat up and stretched once more.

"Hmm, I see. Rainbow your plan will succeed but you already know this so that is not what worries you, so what does?" Luna asked with an ever friendly gaze.

"My concern is that we're going to be using Derpy as bait. I don't want to see her get hurt in anyway; I care about her you know." Rainbow replied.

"Yes I saw the two of you hugging each other before I entered your dream, it was rather sweet." Luna let off a small giggle while Rainbow blushed lightly. When Luna had finished giggling she continued, "Don't worry she'll be fine, I promise you that nothing bad will happen to her. Before I go I wish to tell you something, you see there is a room downstairs where you may find an ally. The room is warded against my dreamwalking with an ancient magic known only to the wisest of the wolves, you may find an ally in that wolf, but that's all I can say. For now I must bid you farewell and a good morning."

And with that Luna disappeared and Rainbows dream faded into nothing as she woke up from her slumber.

._._._.()._._._.

Rainbow was greeted by the sight of a golden blond mane and the smell of fresh cooking. She leaned over a little bit and gave Derpy a gentle kiss on the forehead. Derpy awoke with a light yawn and the feeling of a kiss on her forehead, she knew Rainbow didn't intend to wake her but she was up now.

"Good morning, Rainbow. Sleep well?" she chimed reaching over and hugging Rainbow.

"Yeah I did, how's about we go get some breakfast." she replied returning the hug, "We've got a long day ahead of us."

"Okay sure, I wonder what Gealach is making today?" replied Derpy getting up and helping Rainbow fix the quilt and make the room look neater.

As if on queue there were three sharp knocks on their door and Gealach saying, "Morning ponies, breakfast is almost ready so come down soon."

Derpy looked at Rainbow for a second before saying, "Is he psychic or something... nevermind, you go ahead I'll be down in a minute."

Rainbow nodded before walking out of the room to the same table downstairs, she sat down as Gealach came over with a pitcher of orange juice.

"Say Gealach, whose room is that the one with the mark on the door?" Rainbow asked. Gealach turned and looked at the door for a minute before turning back to Rainbow and replying,

"That patron has paid me well enough for my discretion and I'm sorry but I would like to keep it that way, if you want you can go and talk to him yourself and find out more about him but I can't say anything, I'm sure you understand."

Rainbow nodded understanding what Gealach was saying, after he had placed the orange juice and the glasses on the table she thanked him by handing him three bits. After he walked over to talk to another patron she got up from her seat and walked towards the door with the strange symbol on it, as she got close to it she could tell that the symbol was magic as it gave of a faint green glow akin to that of the colour of grass. She knocked three times on the door before she got a reply.

"Dè tha thu ag iarraidh?" was the response, she got with a rather long drawn out yawn at the end.

Rainbow thought for a second before replying, "Tha mi ag iarraidh bheil."

There was a moment of silence as if somepony were processing what just happened, after the moment had passed the same slightly gruff voice echoed from the room, "A bheil Gàidhlig agaibh?"

"Yes, now could you open the door so I can see who I'm talking to?" Rainbow replied calmly.

._._._.()._._._.

Derpy walked down the stairs to see everypony else sitting at the table, everypony except Rainbow. She wasn't concerned though, she was probably just in the toilet or something. When Derpy arrived at the table she immediately took several breakfast muffins and practically devoured them in one mouthful. When she finished savouring every bit of those muffins she actually started to wonder where Rainbow was, she wasn't at the table or in their room so where was she. As if on queue Rainbow opened the door with the strange symbol on it and approached the table, followed by a wolf, Derpy recognized this wolf because it was the one who had played the fiddle for the cèilidh night but before Derpy could speak, Blazing spoke up first,

"Hey Rainbow, who's your friend?" instead of Rainbow replying the ash grey wolf spoke in his low growling voice.

"I'am Prionnsa Cròic Ceòl but you can call me 'Ash' as I know that my language is quite hard for ponies to speak." At this point Twilights jaw hit the floor, she couldn't believe that she didn't recognize the prince but then again it had been a long time since she last saw him. Everypony turned to stare at Twilight wondering why she was staring rather blankly at the wolf but before anypony could do anything to snap her out of it 'Ash' spoke again, "She's met me before I never forget a face and when I see you purple one, I seem to remember a little excited filly standing next to Celestia. That was how many years ago now? Sixteen, I believe."

Twilight simply nodded while she closed her jaw. Everypony else was still confused as to who he really was since he never actually said but before anypony could ask Twilight spoke up, "Everypony meet Prince Cròic Ceòl of the northern woods." As soon as Twilight had finished everypony bowed their heads, they were in the presence of royalty after all but he simply waved them off and said,

"No need to bow, I never liked it when others do that. I chose to leave that all behind to pursue the life of a bard. While not as glamorous as being a prince I find the life and the others I meet a worthy trade. Now Rainbow said that you were in need of some aid, tell me what it is you require and I will assist you in any way I can."

As Ash and Rainbow sat down at the table Dawn began to explain her plan to enter the wolves den and take back Applejacks wedding band, Ash sat there taking it all in until he finally said, "Well you see this is where our goals can become very similar, you see these wolves have stolen my family signet ring from me and without it I cannot go back to my family without bringing great shame to my name. I've been planning for months you see, I've been hunting the thieves down but I've never been able to catch any of them. But I've been able to follow them to the entrances to their hideout." Ash rummaged around in his old satchel until he brought out a map which he spread out on the table.

"This is a complete map of Glaspony and the surrounding areas, every X you see on the map is a secret entrance to the wolves hideout and every O you see is the area where they steal from the most. Today the thieves will be down by the riverside picking pockets and stealing from the stalls, we need to steal a key from one of these wolves to gain access to one of the doors marked on this map. Now which one of you will be fishing?"

"Um... Ash, we're not going fishing" Derpy said in a matter of fact tone.

"Uh Derpy, it's a slang term for picking pockets" said Twilight slowly.

"Oh sorry my bad" Derpy replied with a small grin, "But whose going to do that, the wolves will recognize AJ, Blazing, Dawn and Rainbow so that just leaves us, Twilight."

"I think Twilight would be best suited for this task" Ash stated flatly.

The others nodded in agreement as he looked around the table, all except Twilight who said, "Oh no, no, no I'am not picking anothers pocket."

"You won't get caught if that's what you're worried about. You don't even need to get close to them. You have magic remember" Ash said calmly pointing at Twilights horn. Twilight facehoofed, how could she have forgotten this simple fact.

"Okay fine I'll do it" agreed Twilight.

._._._.()._._._.

An hour later

"Okay Derpy, you remember the plan?" asked Rainbow nervously.

"Yeah I remember it, don't worry I'll be fine" replied Derpy as she leaned over and gave Rainbow a small kiss. Derpy walked out into the bustling riverside market and began pretending to look at stalls, hoping to attract the attention of the wolves. Meanwhile Twilight was tailing Derpy making it seem like she was part of the crowd, ready to use her magic to get a key at a moments notice.

She kept up with Derpy past the various stalls and populace of Glaspony when she noticed a wolf who seemed to have started to move towards her. She watched him move through the crowd towards Derpy. She kept thinking that he was going to steal from Derpys bag but no, he just walked right past her to a baked goods stall and bought a sweet roll.

In putting all her attention on that wolf she had lost sight of Derpy. She started to weave through the crowd looking for a blond mane in the crowd of greys, blacks and browns but she couldn't for the life of her see Derpy but she did see a white wolf put a hood over his face and move very quickly towards one of the stalls.

Twilight scanned quickly for where he was heading, then she spotted Derpy. Twilight began cutting through the crowd following the wolf and focusing her magic on the key around his belt. She began to pull it towards her and with a small snap it came loose of it's holders belt and flew into Twilights hoof, she quickly pocketed it and gave a whistle. This whistle gave Derpy the signal that it was time to fly, she quickly rose from the ground just as the wolf was about to grab her saddle bags and began flying back to the Canny colt inn where she was going to meet everypony and tell them of their success.

Now they had the key all they needed was to enter the wolves den and get back the rings, tonight was going to be a long night.

Author's Note

I'm glad I was able to write this, I was meaning to for so long but school as always had other plans for me. I'm sorry I took so long but this will one of the two chapters I will be able to write over my two week holiday, after all I have neglected my two fics and I need to give "Sierra 117" at least one chapter.

Stay awesome my fellow bronies and pegasisters

Prologue: A knock at the door

Most adventures start with a dramatic or exciting opening part but not this adventure. This adventure started on a normal day in Equestria the sun was just starting to crack into dawn over the land when our hero even though she doesn't know it yet, was just starting her mail run of the peaceful town of Ponyville.

Derpy always began her route by looking towards the dawn at which point she would say every morning "Once more forward unto dawn".

She had no idea why she liked to say this but it filled her with a sense of pride as she walked to the mail office to pick up her large brown bag and her light grey hat. During her usual walk to the mail office she said her usual cheerful "Hello"
to everypony she saw which was normally just a few Pegasus who were just about to start their weather changing duties.

"LOOK OUT" cried Rainbow Dash a bit to late.

As she crashed into Derpy who yelled with surprise as she discovered she had just landed face first in one of the towns shrubs at which point Rainbow proceeded to exclaim whilst helping Derpy out of the shrub.

"Oh sorry Derpy that was my fault I was in a bit of a rush, I didn't see you until the last second! Erm are you okay?."
exclaimed Rainbow.

Derpy who had just cleared the look of shock on her face hastily told Rainbow.
"Dont worry I'm fine I'd better get going though or I will be late for the mail run, so maybe catch you at Sugar cube corner after my run is done, bye".

When Derpy reached the mail office she quickly put on her hat and slung her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the counter to receive the usual bundle of letters and packages that she had to deliver to the various residents of ponyville. Things such as Rarity's weakly fabric delivery, new books for Twilight which were marked by the royal seal or the occasional letter from someponies relatives but today she noted that apart from all this she had three packages for Twilight which was highly unusual she thought to herself but hey ho a package to deliver is just another mini adventure for her. So she performed her mail run and so maybe she got lost along the way once or twice but she always delivered the mail and today was no exception she quietly put mail through ponies letterboxes as to not wake them and sauntered on her merry way delivering what she hoped would be something good to each pony.

Last of all she reached Twilight's library she politely chapped her hooves against the door to attract Twilight's attention as she needed to sign for her packages.

Twilight opened the door with a cheery smile and said "Good morning Derpy I see you have more packages for me from the princess, I'll just get my quill and ink to sign for them."

Derpy replied with an equally cheery smile and tone of voice "Good morning to you to Twilight, today I have three packages for you to sign for which is rather odd isn't it."

Twilight replied curiously "Three packages today oh my the princess must have something quite important for me to do, well here you go Derpy all signed for, have a wonderful day."

"Thanks, you have a good day as well" Derpy replied leaving for sugar cube corner for her morning hot chocolate with extra cream and a muffin.

After her brisk paced walk to sugar cube corners it was now around mid-morning and she was ready for her breakfast she looked around and the only occupied table was occupied by Rainbow Dash who looked at Derpy and beckoned her to come over and sit with her.

"Yes Rainbow" Derpy asked cheerfully while she sat next to her whilst Mrs. Cake brought over her usual order.

"About earlier you know I'm really sorry about that don't you I mean it I could have really hurt you-" Rainbow was interrupted.

before she could continue as Derpy raised her hoove to Rainbows mouth and spoke "Now Rainbow I said it was okay you don't need to worry about me i'm fine, I did my mail run all fine and dandy. It's not like you broke my wing or anything so don't worry about making it up to me after all it was an accident."

Now they chatted for a while whilst Derpy finished her hot chocolate and her muffin at which point Mrs. Cake came over to the table to collect the dishes and the payment.

"That will be four bits please" she said in an almost a sing-song kind of way. Derpy rummaged in her pockets and her bag for four bits but all she could find was three bits and some pocket fluff she quickly apologized and said she would pay the bits when she got paid.

Rainbow stepped in "Alright Derpy I can pay this for you to make up for earlier"
she searched her pockets for four bits and she gave Mrs. Cake five for her trouble.

After this derpy was tired from her early start so she decided to go home and maybe have a little hour of power in her bed. After trying to read a couple of pages of her favorite book she was asleep and when she awoke she was surprised to find that she had slept an extra hour so it was now early evening, she decided to have an early dinner using a recipe that her grandma had taught her she started to prepare the vegetable soup. No sooner than she had started to chop up the vegetables she was interrupted by three quick knocks at her door.

Author's Note

The prologue of a book I will finish over time. My writing schedule will vary depending on a lot of things like game releases, homework and when ever I have free time to spare on the writing of the book. But mainly I will try to have a chapter one week and a half (so roughly Monday to the next Tuesday depending on the day I finish this will change but if a chapter is short then I might do a 2nd one that week. I will not do ANY work on a Saturday unless I feel like it, If a new game is released and I get it then I wont work on the book for at least three days and school being a pain in everyponies a$$ will always find a way to make sure I dont have much time in which to write the book through homework, essays or just revision for tests and such.

Another thing I am completely open to any criticism as long as it isn't just "Your a bad writer." or some such so just make it constructive for ponies sake. If you want to message me then just do it I will happily try to reply to your queries or questions (unless they are creepy) about what I'm doing then I will try reply to them.

The only other thing left to say is enjoy the book and if you liked it leave a comment and a like if you want to but if not that's fine to at least you read it. Thank you for reading my fellow bronies and peagsisters and don't forget to stay awesome.