Sometimes (We Are All We've Got)
Gaitlinburg was the biggest town in the Smokey Mountains of eastern Tenneighsee. Of course 'biggest' is relative. It was a small town but to an earth pony living in the mountains it may as well have been Manehattan. What Gaitlinburg was most famous for were three things: being the birthplace of country music superstar Dolly Hearton, Dolly's amusement park, and boasting more wedding chapels than any other city in Equestria except Las Pegasus.
Daisy May McColt trotted through town swinging her head back and forth looking at all the wonders of the 'big city' before her. She had come to town with a wagon full of finely-crafted McColt furniture to trade for food and other supplies. And while the ponies at the general store were unloading the furniture and loading up the food, she had taken it upon herself to wander around town and see the sights. And what sights they were! There were museums, parks, and of course the wedding chapels. She sighed. She had little hope of ever finding a special somepony of her own. The only ponies living near her were relatives and those nasty Hooffields. Very few outsiders were crazy enough to visit for fear of becoming collateral damage in the war between the two tribes.
So engrossed was she in the splendor of the town she failed to see the stallion crossing her path until she smacked into him. The two ponies tumbled to the ground and she blushed profusely. "Sorry, sir, I was lost in my own little world there. Are you okay?"
"No problem little missy, I'm fine," he replied, as he looked the grayish-blue mare up and down. He liked what he saw. "Are y'all all right?"
"I'm right as rain."
"And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"
"I'm Daisy May, but y'all can call me Daisy."
"Folks around here call me White Lightning. I don't s'ppose y'all would be interested in accompanyin' me to dinner? Perhaps we could even catch a show afterward."
"I dunno. I really should get back home. If'n I don't leave pretty soon it'll be dark by the time I make it home."
"Oh? And where do you live, if'n you don't mind me asking?"
"Up in the mountains," Daisy replied, completely glossing over where in the mountains. Her family had a reputation. If this stallion was genuinely interested in her she wasn't about to scare him off.
"Well shoot, me too. We don't get many visitors out my way. Certainly none as pretty as you."
Daisy May blushed. "And we sure enough don't get many handsome stallions up my way either." She poured on the charm and brushed the reddish-orange stallion's foreleg with a hoof. She noted his ear of corn cutie mark and smiled. A farmer! Her family would be overjoyed at her bringing somepony skilled at growing food home. "You know, it sure wouldn't bother me none t' walk home in the dark if it meant I could spend the rest of the day with y'all."
"Why, I couldn't think of lettin' a fine mare such as yourself walk home all alone in the dark. I shall escort you home personally."
"That won't be necessary, sugar. My Pa ain't exactly known for his hospitality towards potential suitors, if'n y'all know what I mean."
"Yeah, I reckon my Ma wouldn't like it none if I brought a strange mare home either." He dragged a hoof along the cobblestone street.
"That doesn't mean we can't enjoy each other's company this evening." Daisy May smiled and wrapped a foreleg over his withers.
White Lightning nodded and the two ponies made their way towards Gaitlinburg's fanciest restaurant. He held the door open for her and she was greeted by the restaurant's staff. "Welcome to Hayburger, home of the Hayburger. Will this be for here or to go?"
"For here," Lightning answered as he placed their order. They took their food to a secluded booth in the back of the restaurant and discussed entertainment options before settling on the play Cavallo Romano & Muleiet.
Upon exiting the tragic play, the two ponies said nothing. Lightning was surprised that Daisy wasn't bawling. "Was the play not to your liking?"
"I found it highly unrealistic. I mean, you'd never see two mortal enemies fall in love with one another. It's ridiculous!"
"I'm sorry you had a bad time."
"I never said I had a bad time, sugar. I may not have enjoyed the play but I most certainly enjoyed y'all's company. Perhaps we could meet here in town again next Saturday?"
"I think that can be arranged. How about noon by the statue of the town founder?"
"It's a date!" Daisy proclaimed, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "See you then, you ol' charmer you."
Lightning watched her saunter off, noting that she had gone north. Once she was out of sight he reluctantly made the trek east back to his home.
Daisy returned to the general store and after listening to the clerk complain about how he had to wait an hour after his shift was supposed to end for her to show up, she turned east towards home as well.
For the next two months Daisy continued meeting White Lightning every Saturday. Things were going great until the Saturday the Hooffields started barraging her home with cucumbers earlier than normal, preventing her slipping out under cover of darkness with the wagon. Irate, she loaded up the nearest cannon and started pounding their makeshift structures with hay bales. She scored a direct hit on their barn and smiled wickedly as it collapsed into a pile of broken timbers. "Serves all y'all right for interruptin' my courtship."
Unfortunately the destruction of their barn only made the Hooffields angrier. The cucumbers were joined by tomatoes, squash, and cabbages, all of which rained down on the McColt's fort.
"Whoa nelly, them Hooffields is madder 'an a hungry bear that's run outta honey."
"Yeah, I got their barn." Daisy rubbed her chest. "That seems to have worked 'em up right nice."
"Nice shot!"
"Thanks Big Daddy! That aughta teach them to start tossin' vegetables at us before dawn! I'm right sorry but I couldn't get out to go t' town this morning."
"It's all right. We can survive another day or two on what we've got."
"That ain't th' point, Big Daddy. I get one day a week t' myself, away from all this." She motioned to the cannons and the piles of splattered vegetables. "I really enjoy my time in town."
"I've noticed you've been stayin' out later than usual when you go to town. A couple of your brothers think you found a stallion."
Daisy laughed. "Yeah, wouldn't that be great if'n I could woo us a nice farmer who could grow us some crops of our own."
"Then we would have fresh ammunition to use against them nasty Hooffields! I like the way you think."
"I meant that then we'd have enough food to eat..." but her words fell on deaf ears as Big Daddy had already walked away. Annoyed, she did what she always did when she was miffed. She chiseled out a chunk of rock from the mountain and loaded it onto the catapult. She quickly painted 'We will rock you!' on it and sent it on its way.
The resulting crash took out two of the Hooffields tents but even that failed to cheer her up. She reared and slammed her forelegs down in frustration. "Big Daddy, I'm goin' out. Let them Hooffields just try an' stop me."
"Somepony's spoilin' for a fight. Give 'em Tartarus, Daisy!"
She ignored that and sneaked out the back way. The path was rougher and steeper than the main path. She couldn't have taken the wagon with her even if she had wanted to. But it kept the mountain between her and her sworn archenemies. She only needed to worry about produce that overshot its target. Which she noted, with as much practice as both clans had, was a rare occurrence. Most of their projectiles hit their targets.
She made it down the mountain unscathed and set about on her most difficult challenge. Crossing the dry riverbed and the floodplains to make it to the cover of the forest. She remembered when there was water in the stream. Until her family dammed it in an attempt to keep the water from the Hooffields. Come to think of it, the forest used to be a lot closer too. The constant fighting had really strained their environment.
A flash or reddish-orange caught her eye. Sure enough, there was a Hooffield hiding behind a boulder by the stream. No doubt he was there to try and sneak up on her family, or perhaps he had intended to ambush her when she left for town first thing in the morning. "Well the joke's on you. I'm gonna pound you so hard your next of kin will be born feelin' it," she thought, smugly.
Daisy grabbed a discarded tree branch and crept slowly up to her target. Without a sound she attacked, slamming the tree branch onto the back of the stallion's head. He fell into the dry riverbed and Daisy leapt in after him. She continued pounding the branch into the stallion's back and a shiny diamond ring popped out of the pocket in his jacket as he struggled to turn around and retaliate. "Awww yeah, I even get a trophy!"
"No, please... Do what you will to me but that's for my beloved."
Daisy froze in place. "That voice. No... it can't be." She gently turned the stallion over so she could see him. "White Lightning?"
"Daisy?"
"What are you doing here?" they both blurted out at the same time. "I...live...here..." they both stammered out, the truth slowly unclouding each of their minds.
"You're a Hooffield!"
"You're a McColt!"
"Wait... You were going to propose to me?"
"I was... and I still am if you can forgive me being a Hooffield." White Lightning picked up the ring and bent down before the mare of his dreams.
"I can. I mean I do. I mean, let's just get out of here."
"We're out of sight of our families here. They may have been watching you attack me. Both sides are probably sending reinforcements as we speak. We're trapped. Our secret's going to be out real soon."
"Not if I can help it," Daisy replied. "Stay low and act injured."
"Act?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry about, you know, beating you severely."
"I know you didn't mean it. Well, y'all meant it, but you didn't know..."
"Hush." Daisy placed a hoof over his mouth. "We're wasting time. I'll give y'all a proper apology later, but right now I'm gonna climb out the other side and make a break for the forest. Meet me in Gaitlinburg. Our normal spot, I'll be waiting for you." She kissed him.
Hours later Daisy was beginning to lose hope that White Lightning was coming. "Maybe my family got to him first. Maybe... maybe he changed his mind?" She choked back a sob. "No, I mustn't think like that. He'll be here. He just has to be." She sat quietly on a bench by the statue of the Gaitlinburg's founder. She had read the inscription so many times in the last few hours she had memorized it. Her stomach growled but she ignored it. Nothing was going to make her move from this spot.
"Sorry I'm late."
"White Lightning!" Daisy jumped to her hooves and threw her forelegs around him. "Oh my gosh, I was so worried for you, my love."
"Now what?"
"We get married, silly. Assuming you still want to, sugar?"
"I wouldn't have bought that ring if I didn't." He leaned over and kissed her. "So, uh, take your pick of wedding chapels. This town's got dozens of them."
Daisy returned his kiss. "The nearest one." She dragged her limping fiance into the closest chapel.
"A Hooffield... and a McColt? You two want t' get hitched? Are you serious?"
"Very serious," Daisy replied. "And if you won't perform the ceremony, I'm sure there's another chapel in town that will."
"I never said I wouldn't do it. Just as long as you both know your families will never approve of this union."
"We plan on being out of town long before they even hear what happened," White Lightning chimed in.
"A wise plan. I'll make this a quick ceremony. Do you take this stallion to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I definitely do!"
"And do you take this mare to be your lawfully wedded bride?"
"I do."
"Then by the power invested in me by the Royal Sisters, I declare you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
The tender, passionate kiss was broken three minutes later by the sound of a train whistle. White Lightning pulled away. "Come on, we've gotta catch that train."
"Where's it going?"
"Who cares. It isn't here."
The next day dawned overcast but free of produce. Big Daddy McColt paced around the inside of the fortress. The rest of the family was gathered in front of him and he took his hat off. "Daisy May never came home last night."
The others gasped. Big Daddy continued, "She went out to kick some Hooffield flank. I fear they may have overwhelmed her strength and courage with sheer numbers. At this very moment they may have her tied up as a hostage. Who knows what horrible things those monsters are doing to her."
A solitary pumpkin landed inside the fort and rolled to a stop. Big Daddy picked it up and found a note attached.
We know you blasted McColts have White Lightning. Give him back to us and nopony gets hurt.
"Who's White Lightning?" The rest of the McColts looked to one another and shrugged. Big Daddy scrawled a note and attached it to a hay bale. He launched it towards the Hooffield camp, deftly avoiding hitting anything.
Please return Daisy May to us or there will be consequences.
Ma Hooffield read the note to her gathered kinfolk. "Looks like they're threatening to harm White Lightning if we don't hoof over this Daisy May. So go release the prisoner."
"Uh, we don't have no prisoners."
"What? Than who is this here Daisy May?"
The rest of the Hooffields looked at her and shrugged.
Another pumpkin landed inside the McColt's fortress.
We don't have any Daisy May. Now please hoof over White Lightning.
Big Daddy read the message to the rest of the McColts. "You heard them dirty rotten Hooffields, if they don't have her, that means they killed our sweet little Daisy May in cold blood!"
"That's a new low, even for them!"
Big Daddy picked up a pitchfork. "For Daisy!"
"For Daisy!" echoed the rest of the family as each grabbed the sharp or blunt object of their choice.
It was three weeks before either family made it to town and finally heard about the wedding. It was three years before any of them actually believed it. And that was only because of the card each family received with pictures of the happy family smiling back at them. White Lightning, Daisy May, and an adorable little colt. There was no return address.
