Lucky Star

Oh boy, where do I start. I should probably warn ya’ll I ain’t exactly a storyteller, but I think I need to tell our tale while we can. Once word gets out of what we’ve just done we’ll be hunted down like a pack of diamond dogs. Before that happens I want you to know my perspective on recent events and everything that lead up to it.

I suppose I should introduce myself first. The name’s Ranger. I hail from the little old town of Dodge City. From what my folks tell me the place was once a wild frontier village full of danger and excitement. I remember many nights when my pa would put me to bed with a story from his glory days protecting the town from everything from bandits to wendigos. Of course those days are long gone. In my time the most interesting thing to happen in Dodge was the time my brother, Buck Shot, invented a cherry pit rifle. That is until about a week ago.

The entire family was gathered around for dinner enjoying some nice cherry smoothies. Aunt Jubilee had that look in her eye that said Buck and I were in trouble again. The question was what exactly were we in trouble for. She cleared her throat, “boys have you two been in my room recently?”

Oh so that’s it. I put on my best innocent face, a tactic the lost much of its effectiveness after I hit puberty. “Not that I recall. Why?”

Aunt Jubilee seemed unconvinced, “Somepony’s been poking through my sock drawer and took something very… private of mine.”

“Well we never took anything like that, right Buck?”

Buck nodded and continued in his baritone voice, “The only thing we ever took from there was that broken portable smoothie maker.”

Aunt Jubilee’s face turned as red as her mane as she eyed her own shooothie, “A what?!”

“A smoothie maker. You put it in a glass, pour some milk, toss in some fruit, press the button, and BAM instant smoothie. But yours didn’t work so I just threw it out.”

“That wasn’t a dang smoothie maker! That was my vibrator,” Aunt Jubilee yelled.With that, I couldn’t hold it anymore. I burst out laughing and Buck followed suit. Little pranks like this were what got us by over the years. We never went so far to hurt anypony, but whenever something went wrong in Dodge, everypony knew it was Sheriff Long Shot”s boys who were probably responsible.This was a reputation that Pa never approved of.

Smack! Smack! Case and point. Pa knocked the two of us upside the head and glared with disapproving eyes. “How many times do I have to tell ya not to mess with other ponies personal things?”

“Clearly one more oughta do the trick,” Buck offered only to knocked again by our ma.

“Listen to your father young colt,” She chastised.

Pa cleared his throat, “You boys can’t keep behaving like this. You’re both young stallions now. You’ve got to start acting like it.”

“Well what are we supposed to do? Cherry farming is dull as rocks and we’ve already shot everything interesting for 10 mile radius,” I replied.

Pa looked at me with dark, piercing eyes, my eyes and my face give or take a couple decades. Everypony always said I look exactly him when he was my age. We share the same sapphire blue coat and black mane. We even have the same “sexy” wings my Ma embarases me about every Hearts and Hooves day. Everytime Pa stared at me like that I’m reminded of how much we’re alike and how much of a disappointment I must be to him.

“Ranger,” he said, “no matter where you are or what you’re doing you are responsible for your honor. Once you lose it then nopony will trust or respect you. Stealing things for the sake of boredom is not something a stallion of honor can do. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” I replied. staring down at my plate.

“Buck, do you understand?”

“If I had another really good reason to steal something, would that count as a strike on my honor.” Smack! He got it alright. My brother always was a bit of a smart arse. This attitude earned him far more stern looks from our folks than me, but unlike me he seemed immune to them. Maybe that’s because he didn’t have a mirror effect with pa like me. Buck’s red-brown coat, tawny mane, and lack of wings all came from the Cherry side of our family.

“I know you boys don’t like farm life,” Ma said calmly, “but it’s a good one.”

“And a useful one,” Aunt Jubilee, “Why your ma and I would be up to our necks in work if you two weren’t around to lend a hoof and who’s better at smokin’ out those groundhogs than my favorite nephews.”

Not to mention your only nephews. Seriously finding groundhogs isn’t that hard. You don’t need tracks on your flank to do it and Buck has dozens of guns now. I’m sure you could learn to shoot if you tried. Heck, Pa’s bucking Long Shot, the best shooter in Equestria. Just have him-” My internal rant was interrupted by the smell of wood burning. “Hey, do you guys smell that?”

Aunt Jubilee screamed, “The fields!”

We jumped into action immediately. Pa and I flew to gather whatever clouds we could as the rest ran to fight the rapidly spreading fire. Most of the east field was already ablaze. Without a proper fire station or weather team in town it was up to us to put it out.

It took Pa and me longer than I would have liked to find enough clouds to make a decent drizzle. The damn Cloudsdale weather ponies only send us the scraps and leftovers from the northern storms. When we got our little storm cloud to the fire our family had already made a fire line to protect our farmhouse and the rest of the crop. Judging by the scorch marks strewn throughout the line, Buck used this opportunity to break out his dynamite cache. Luckily it didn’t seem to make make things any worse.

“Ya ready pa?” I called. He didn’t answer me. Instead he studied the inferno. I could tell by his expression that Pa found something suspicious about it. “Pa what’s wrong?”

“This fire ain’t natural. It’s spread too fast for a windless night like this. Take care of this Ranger. I need to check on something.” He took off towards the house.

The rain turned the tide against the fire. With the trees damped and the worst of the fire extinguished it was an easy task to take care of the remainder.

“Whewee,” exclaimed Aunt Jubilee, “Good work y’all. That was a close one.” She surveyed the charred field and said, “looks like we got our work cut out for us this year. How do ya think it’ll take to grow replacements Blossom?”

Ma calculated the growth of her cherry trees in her head, “Maybe two or three years to full size if all goes well.”

“Well, then we better hop to it come morning. How are you boys up for some hole digging tomorrow?”

Buck groaned, “Unless this digging involves sticks of dynamite I’m not interested.”

“Haven’t you done enough for tonight Buck?” Ma berated.

“Yes but I’m behind on my weekly explosion quota. If I don’t fill it tomorrow then the whole month will be screwed up.”

“Buck, please just-” Bang! A shot rang out from the house. We galloped inside to see what was wrong. We found Pa collapsed on the floor of our family room. His gun lay next to him smoking at the barrel. He had a nasty blow to the head. The entire room bore the signs of a struggle. Ma rushed over to Pa’s side crying, “Long Shot! Honey are you ok. Speak to me.” Pa only groaned in response, going unconscious. “Honey, try to stay awake. Tell us what happened.”

“Blossom,” Aunt Jubilee called from a shattered display case tucked in the corner of the room, “the Star is missing. Somepony stole it.”

I suppose none of ya’ll ever heard of the Lucky Star of Cherrio Ranch. Most folks from out of town haven’t. The Star is the reason why there’s a successful cherry farm in the middle of the desert. Almost a hundred years years ago when ponies started settling the southern land, my great Grandpa Cherry Pit was looking to stake a claim on some good land. However, his search yielded no fruit. By the time he got to Dodge, which was no more than a train depot at the time, he had all but given up on his search. The night of his arrival, Cherry Pit looked up to the night sky and wished and hoped and prayed for his dream to come true. The stars must have heard his plea, because no later than 5 minutes later a meteor fell out of the sky and crashed into Cherry Pit’s camp. When the dust settled Pit found the soil in and around the crater became soft and loamy perfect for planting crops, but that was not all. In the center of the impact was a stone that shone like a literal star. Over the years, the Star became the Cherry family’s lucky charm and the key to their success. Somepony stealing it is not just the theft of a valuable heirloom, it’s an attack on the livelihood of the entire town of Dodge.

When Aunt Jubilee pointed out the star’s absence my mind shot into overdrive. I scanned the room and began to see the pattern of the conflict. I could make out the impressions of an unfamiliar set of hoofprints on the carpet. The events that transpired floated before my eyes. However, I couldn’t get the whole picture with so many others in the room. “Get Pa to the kitchen,” I told them, “I need the room.”

Ma nodded, “Buck, would you please help me move him? Jubilee, we need some ice and bandages right away.”

When the room cleared, I could see the unfamiliar tracks clear as day. Immediately, I noticed something unusual about the tracks. The right front hoofprint seemed deeper than the others. I might have assumed the intruder had a limp, but the pace was normal and he clearly had full mobility during the struggle. The intruder entered through the back door after we left to fight the fire. Obviously, the fire was a diversion to get at the star. Pa came in while he was trying to pick the lock and a fight ensued. The battle appeared even until the intruder… appeared behind Pa and struck him with the heavy hoof. The intruder then smashed the display case, grabbed the Star, and vanished, no teleported. So that narrowed things down to only a third of the ponies in Equestria.

I went into the kitchen to the kitchen to check on Pa and tell the others what I found. Luckily, Pa was still conscious enough to support my deductions. Unluckily, Pa couldn’t remember much else about the intruder. His features were covered by a cloak.

“Good heavens Long Shot,” Aunt Jubilee said, “can’t ya remember anything else?”

“Hold it… yeah I think so. He had a shiny hoof, like it was made of metal. I think that’s what he clobbered me with.”

I gathered all the evidence in my head, “So we’re looking for a unicorn with a metal hoof that could be anywhere in the country by now. This should be easy.”

Pa laughed painfully, “That’s the spirit Ranger. Don’t worry, unless he planned on trecking the desert or knows about a train I don’t, there’s only one way he can go, north along the old wagon trail.”

Buck nodded, “So we find this bastard, maybe put a few holes in him, then arrest him for theiv’n and assault. Sounds good to me.”

“You boys will have to do this without me,” Pa said glumly, “I’m dizzy just lying here. It’ll be some time till I get back in action.”

“You mean you’re not coming,” I asked. I always wanted to join my Pa in one of his adventures. Now that one has come around it was hard to imagine him staying out of it.

“You two were saying you wanted some action. Now you have it. It’s time to start your own adventures, but first Blossom get my hat and gun.”

Pa’s most prized possessions in the world were his six-shooter and his hat. The gun was a pearl-handled heirloom that was his father’s father’s. The hat was a black leather minnetonka given to him by his old buffalo sidekick as an inheritance (don’t ask me why the buffalo insist on using their dead kin to make houses and hats. It’s some sort of ancestral strength thing).

“It’s best to start your journey with the right tools in hoof. Buck, you always wanted to shoot my gun. Now it’s your to keep. May it never miss your mark.”

Buck looked like a foal at Hearth’s Warming, “Awesome! Thanks Pa.”

“Ranger, the hat was the last gift my best friend gave me, but not the greatest. He gave his life to pay for a mistake I made long ago. For me, this is a reminder of the responsibility I have for those who follow me. I hope that this will be the same for you.” I’m not entirely sure what he meant by that I’ve never led anypony in my life, but I took the cool hat anyway.

“As sheriff of Dodge City I hereby deputize you to find arrest my attacker and retrieve the Star of Cherrio Ranch,” Pa said with a smile, “Now you best get your gear. Your quarry already has a head start.”