Rocky Boulder moved her way through the streets of Manehattan at an incredibly untracked gallop, her hooves creating a hallow clapping sound on the ground while she attempted to race to the train station that was just about to arrive with her last moment transportation to Ponyville. She'd always hated public transportation, but being a professional geologist and archeologist by trait was something that prompted her to be away from her beloved town of Ponyville for more than several months on end. Some of her most dazzling discoveries were of ancient artifacts from the early zebra relatives of Zecora that she'd studied and several ancient and withdrawn tribes of equines that were shadowed by history's forgotten pages.
Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as she nearly tripped and stumbled over one of the wooden steps that led up to the train station, which was empty for the most part since it was the early hours of the morning. A lonesome guardsman sat reading a newspaper from yesterday, with a flashlight clenched between his teeth. A gray mustache hung down, almost appearing to be devouring the flashlight. When the guard heard the approaching rapid sound of hoof-steps, he grumbled and put down the paper, walking out to the platform which was usually quite crowded during the daylight hours. Where many people would normally be standing, talking and anxiously awaiting their next train to depart or await a friend or family member who was arriving in Manehattan, there stood a rather toned pony. Her bizarre streaks of black and white hair was long and flowing, reaching down her shoulders. Her tail appeared to be a bit of a mess, clearly hard to keep up with at how bushy it was. Her eyes were an inviting green, but they held a brave and heroic atmosphere, such as herself.
Rocky moved towards the guard, attempting to catch her breath while she slumped over, small bits of sweat running down her gray coat. The guardsman cleared her throat and approached her, staring down at her with a stoic expression, attempting to appear professional. When Rocky raised her eyes to meet her companion, she nearly lost her breath was more through laughter. The guard before her was an older gentlecolt, perhaps middle-aged, and his mane was once a brilliant shade of orange was dulling into a nonliving gray. His gray eyes were watching her silently, waiting for the mare to go away so he could return to his early morning reading. When the mare finally had stood up on her four hooves without having to pant heavily, she stared at the guard with a small smile, attempting to lighten the chilling mood that she'd found him in.
"Good morning, Mr...er," the gray mare began to chirp through clenched teeth, but she paused to momentarily squint her eyes and read the silver lettering that held that guard's name upon it. Out of all of the most bizarre names she'd ever heard, this name was the most boring and lifeless of them all. This pony was not only bored with his expression, bored with his graying psychical features, but boring with his name and lifestyle. The name "Pat" was barely seen through the darkness, even though just a few feet stood between the mare and the older stallion,"Good morning, Mr.Pat. How has your day been so far, peach?"
Pat the guardsman sat idol while he huffed out an annoyed breath, when he spoke his voice was worn and tired, but also rough and loud. Rocky simply assumed he must have been a pony of power in his prime, and was taking this job as a night guard before retiring into the rest of his life. She shuddered at the thought of retirement, she was always a pony on the move, and the thought of one day turning into an old mare that sat around at a Manehattan train station and scowled at anypony that walked by made her tremble."Good morning, missy. What are you doing here so early in the morning? The next train arrives in.." He paused and glanced down at a watch that he wore around her neck,"5 minutes. Still, usually nopony rides the train this early, especially one to Ponyville."
Rocky narrowed her eyebrows slightly at the question, while she took a step forward and stared directly into the solemn gray eyes of Pat, who actually stumbled backwards a few steps out of her offensive glare,"You don't need to know why I'm here, or why I am going to be in Ponyville in the next few hours on a at 3 AM in the morning. If anypony comes around asking if you saw a mare with an exotic black and white mane, that seem brash and bold, you say no, understand? Whatever happens here, stays between me and you." Rocky had managed to inch her way up to Pat, who was nervously glancing around now, and numbly he nodded his head and turned to walk away, but he just stared in the darkness as Rocky waited nervously for the train to pull into the station.
At last, the sound of a roaring engine came and a bright light shone through the darkness, like some divine goddess that was guiding her followers into a place of serenity and peace. That light came closer and closer to the silent gray mare on the train platform, before coming to a screeching stop. The door opened and a rather friendly faced stallion appeared through the doors, wearing a blue and white striped hat and red bandana with several crosses on it and a small design on the tip of it. His warm eyes locked upon the only pony he saw, and a worn grin spread around his face, but his voice remained welcome and cheerful.
"Good mornin', mam!" He ushered as he stood in the door, waiting patiently while Rocky turned her head and shrugged her saddlebags off her flanks, only to begin digging through them before digging out a rather crumpled looking ticket. The conductor momentarily frowned, but his voice continued to ring out with the normal Ponyville accent which she was used to."We'll get ya there nice and safe, have a wonderful day, m'am!" With that, he moved aside and allowed Rocky to enter, only momentarily stopping to gaze at her unique cutie mark of a boulder and pick ax. He'd never seen a pony with a rock on their flank.
Rocky moved for the most comfortable seat she could find on the train, and sat down, heaving out a great sigh. This would be her first time home in nearly two months, when she'd last seen her marefriend and lover, Whisper. The white Pegasus always wore a nervous smile on her face, and her eyes were a dark blue, while her main was blue and white, often times kept in a braid. She wore a yellow necklace around her neck with a cross on the end, which would fall up and down with each breath she took in the night. Her cutie mark was of a book with a quill, indicating her passion and talent for writing novels. Several of her books were stored in the Golden Oak Library, where Ponyville's famous princess Twilight Sparkle kept track of all of their towns history and of course, books. The thought of home caused the gray mare to smile both out of happiness and out of despair, she desperately missed that word "home".
As she was lost in her thoughts, the gray mare silently fell asleep, only to be awoken when the train screeched to a dead stop several hours later. Sunlight of the late morning shone inside of her window, greeting her to the lovely skies and weather of Ponyville. Birds chirped happily and ponies were beginning to pile onto the train, some tossing her an interested glance but if she met their eye, would suddenly look away. Rocky grabbed her saddle bags and dashed through the door, galloping down the streets of her beloved town at a thundering force. Dashing around a corner, she began to hastily knock onto a door, making her presence known. When the door opened, green eyes came into contact with sleepy dark blue ones, only for the contact to be broken by a long embrace, emotional tears, and several passionate kisses on the face and lips.
Whisper reeked of her normal ink, indicating to her marefriend that she'd been up all night working on her latest children's book. When the two managed to at last break apart and close the door, Rocky walked into their shared bedroom and flared her nostrils, taking in the scent of home while Whisper moved around in the kitchen, preparing a hearty welcoming breakfast for her lover. While Rocky glanced around, she noticed that the bed was neatly made, the curtains were open to reveal the world outside and several ponies walked around, talking and chattering among themselves. Her eyes were diverted to the wall, where several pictures of Rocky and Whisper surrounded the room, always with a large smile and wrapped in each others warm embrace. She at last moved her way to the desk, and sat down, pulling out a small piece of parchment and beginning to write.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
As you know, my name is Rocky Boulder of the largest archeology site in the world. My team and I have uncovered some of Equestria's greatest feats, however, within recent months most of my team has departed and I have chosen to continue my work alone. My exception has come from at least allowing myself one or two more ponies to accompany me on my adventures across Equestria, where we will continue to discover the newest secrets the land has to offer. I beg of you to allow me access to one of the best protectors you may know of, and with such, reach me as soon as possible.
Sincerely and always your faithful subject,
Rocky Boulder"
Rocky eyed the letter for several long moments, before sealing it into an envelope and stamping it was the official seal of her team. She dashed out of the room, kissed Whisper on the cheek and promised to be right back, and dashed off to the Ponyville Postal Office, where she demanded for the quickest way of transportation. After paying 20 bits, a unicorn official at the office zapped the letter to the Princess's personal study, and assured Rocky that she'd have a response when the Princess saw fit to do so. Feeling confident in herself, she dashed home to her marefriend and walked around, conversing with her. At last, the two sat down at the table and enjoyed a wholesome breakfast, before going outside and enjoying the day around town for a few hours. When they arrived home in the evening, there was a royal scroll rolled up with Princess Celestia's seal upon it with a red ribbon. Rocky ran to the desk and gingerly opened it up with haste, her green eyes scanned the page.
"Dearest subject,
I have decided that I would allow your proposition to continue, since you have done so well in helping uncover Equestria's history within the past decade that you and your team have been sharing your talents with both Luna and myself, but also the rest of Equestria itself. We thank you for this, and I believe that I can send one of the most known Bounty Hunters to protect you. He is one of the best that we have known, and is one of my more personal friends. I believe you will find him to both a loyal friend and a satisfactory partner. His name is Shimmering Honor, and I will be sure to send him a letter requesting his presence in Ponyville tomorrow morning.
Farewell,
Princess Celestia"
BANG!
“You will not get me you filthy Bounty Hunter!”
BANG, BANG!
“Oh really...I have been tailing you for a week!”
BANG!
“And so far, I know where you live!”
BANG
“Where you work!”
BANG BANG BANG
“And where the money you stole is!”
BANG
“So you’re a dead pony, might as well stop this now!”
PING!
“Never you stupid hunter… I have killed everypony who has ever come after me!” The unicorn stallion peaked around his cover and noticed that the pony he was shooting at had disappeared.“Where did he go?” he asked as he stepped out and looked around.
“Behind you,”the stallion span around,and hovering behind him as a light blue Pegasus stallion, his mane was a dark blue with a red strip,and he wore a Stetson hat and sunglasses. His cutie mark was of a shield with a red outline, one side yellow, the other blue with a star in the middle. Around his waist was a belt with two revolver holsters, along with his saddle bag.
In his hoof was a revolver.
“What the...no..nononono..please”
“Too late,” BANG! the unicorn fell down, his breathing slowed and stopped, his heart leaked red across the floor of the alley way.
“Damn it,another one dead, shame to that,but I still get a lot of bits from you,” he talked to the corpse,as he started to go through the Unicorns saddle bag, he found some ID that was a bit bloodied.
“This will do, now don’t go anywhere, I will send somepony to clean you up,” he laughed at his own joke and trotted off.
It was a beautiful day in Canterlot and Shimmering Honor liked the city a lot, the marble walls and the colourful roofs, the sun glistening off windows and golden linings.
The statues dotted around the city always reminded him of his time as a Night Guard, patrolling the gardens of the castle, and seeing the lovely Princess Luna out and about. He had joined at a young age and when the Princess of the Night had returned, she hoofpicked him to be her Captain of the Night Guard.
However, he had decided to leave after doing a patrol around the western regions, he found it in turmoil as crime and gangs terrorized anypony who lived there. When he learnt of Bounty Hunting, he resigned his commission and moved west, setting up a small ranch and soon became the most feared Bounty Hunter in all of Equestria. While he had just finished one job, he was already looking for another, something that would excite him, something that would drag his flank to a new corner of the world, something...different.
Suddenly, a letter popped up in front of him and fell to the floor, the Princess of the Night’s personal seal was on it.
“Oh, the Princesses seal, I wonder what she wants,”he opened the letter and started to read it
Dear Shimmering Honor,
I have a small job for you.
I request your abilities to protect a very important pony named Rocky Boulder. Her accomplishments in the field of archeology has made her rather famous. I know this falls outside of your expertise as a Bounty Hunter, but being a former Captain of the Night Guard, you are more than qualified.
I will be personally paying you a rate of 10,000 bits a week until your services are no longer required.
Please head to Ponyville Station and wait there for her to meet you.
Yours,
Princess Luna
“Ponyville..haven’t been there in a few years,but 10,000 bits a week! Wow, must be important.” Shimmering folded the letter and collected his bounty. He was soon on the train from Canterlot to Ponyville...one day on the train, one day of preparations...one day to plan...too long.
