With this rogue changeling hive mission completed, we were going to be spending the next five days in Appleloosa. They had to wait to deal with the ponies that had been liberated from the changeling hive before they could leave and either way, it was a miniature vacation for the Lost Battalion and the people who commanded it. It was most certainly a welcomed bit of respite for many of the dutiful humans and their friends, especially to a pony like Applejack. The small town didn't reject having the extra guests, they saw it as an increased amount of tourism that brought money to the town. Obviously the REA didn't provide more money to the town but the soldiers on break most definitely did. This being a western/cowpony town, it had saloons/bars, which any soldier worth their salt would most certainly enjoy.

Naturally, everyone had mixed feelings that varied greatly amongst each other. Somepony like Applejack would obviously love the idea of spending extra time in Appleloosa as she would be able to spend some time with her extended family. However, someone like Tran, only cared about going back to work. Either way, Appleloosa had plenty of things to do, with it being a town that was known for its cowpony characteristics and it being a hub for less common non-pony creatures, like the buffalo or even the occasional abyssian (giant walking cats).

This mini-vacation started two days after the humans and crew re-arrived back in Appleloosa after their victory against the rogue changelings. They had contacted Ponyville and Canterlot, via magic-fire burnt letter-ash (of which the humans immensely hated the concept of) and relayed the news of their victory and the REA had sent for more hands (hooves) to help deal with the liberated ponies, coming via a trio of airships and a great flock of flying pegasi. With those extra hands(hooves), the soldiers of the Lost Battalion were given leave(official paid time off from active duty), as the task of processing the liberated ponies was handed off to someone else.

Everyone split off to do whatever they wanted, after a quick battalion formation where there was a quick roll call and then a safety brief, where Eric told the soldiers of the Lost Battalion what they could and couldn't do(like being able to drink as long as they weren't by themselves but not being able to go beyond the outskirts of town). Even Princess Luna's Night Sentinels were given time off, the princess believing that she would not be needing protection as she would be accompanying her friend, Tran. At the current moment, the princess had the desire to go to a firing range, where she could practice her shooting skills, extremely so, now that Tran had gifted her a new accessory to her pistol. Said accessory was a silencer, of which, she was immediately smitten with. The princess hated the loud report of firearms and something that would be able to muffle it was essentially a godsend to her.

However, to safely practice her pistol skills, the princess had to find a safe spot where she could fire her 1911, to which the pair were currently searching for the famed cowfilly, Applejack. It was a trouble-free task for them as the princess was currently using a tracking spell, where they were led to a rodeo arena. It was halfway between the morning and afternoon when the duo found their target. Unsurprisingly, the cowfilly was practicing her lassoing skills(how the fuck is she doing that with her tail?), where a good number of ponies were watching her. Sitting in the bleachers were a trio of fillies that Tran recognized, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, who was wearing her tiny REA uniform... And a giant faux cactus mounted to a sombrero that was about just as big as she was in lieu of her service dress cap. Also in the bleachers with the CMC(Cutie Mark Crusaders) was Applejack's cousin, Braeburn, and... Wow, that was a gigantic draft horse.

Applejack noticed the duo approaching her and tipped her hat at them. "Well howdy Luna, Tran! Why'd y'all fancy comin'?" she asked. Applejack was completely unfazed by the sight at the two of them but everypony else was immediately flabbergasted at the lunar princess. Everypony, minus Applejack, went and scrambled to bow at the princess. Notably, the gigantic earth pony, who had been sitting in the bleachers, had, like everypony else, scrambled to go bow to the princess but instead of running down off of the bleachers in a neat manner, he had tripped in the process. This resulted in him rolling down the bleachers, only stopping when he was mere millimeters from the princess. Everypony gasped at the mishap and some of them closed their eyes, not wanting to witness what horrible punishment the princess would execute.

Instead of being offended as everypony expected, the princess was more worried about his health. She used her magic to help lift him up to his hooves while looking him over. "Good gracious my dear countrypony, are you hurt?" she asked.

The earth pony, who was slowly regaining his bearing, realized what had happened and immediately bowed. "Ah'm sorry, princess, ah didn't mean tah!" the behemoth cried out.

The princess realized what was going on and put a hoof gently on the pony's shoulder. "I take no offense to your misgivings, I am more in interested in your well being. Please tell me your name and act as if I am another fellow pony!" the princess insisted.

The behemoth rubbed his head and blushed. "I'm Trouble Shoes and, uh thank yah kindly fer helpin' me up," the horse responded. Now that he was standing up, at full height, his size was now more easily seen. He was easily more than a head taller than Princess Luna and if you counted the alicorn's horn, he would have been a half head taller. Hell, he was probably just as tall as Princess Celestia, including her horn. From his appearance, he was probably a draft horse, something that Tran had never seen before in Equestria, only having seen ponies so far in terms of Equestrians.

The princess looked to the other bowed ponies and frowned but quickly regained her regal composure. She reared up, displaying her wings and full might, being covered in her armor and carrying her two swords. "Arise my citizens, I am a humble guest to your town. Please, continue with your lives!" she declared. Luckily for the princess, the ponies who were groveling to her visage stood back up and appeared to go back to what they had been doing previously, sitting on bleachers, watching Applejack.

Once Princess Luna told everypony to carry on, Scootaloo jumped off of the bleachers and ran towards the duo. Unsurprisingly, Apple Bloom jumped off the bleachers and ran, following behind Scootaloo. Applejack chuckled at the sight of her little sister and trotted towards the duo. Sweetie Belle, after much apprehensiveness, also jumped off of the bleachers and ran with her two friends.

Scootaloo ran up to Tran and hugged his leg. She was barely tall enough to reach Tran's waist and it was an adorable sight to see her attach herself to Tran. Sweetie Belle, who was the last to reach the duo, amongst the CMC. Sweetie Belle was, like many ponies, scared of the humans but as long as her friends were fine with them, she'd try to tolerate being around them. "Tran-y!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

Tran stood stoically like usual but he did pat her on the head while looking down at her. "Hello Stray," Tran greeted. Apple Bloom snorted upon hearing Tran's nickname for Scootaloo, who herself scrunched her nose at hearing the nickname.

The princess looked at the precious sight of Scootaloo's attachment to the usually emotionally distant statue with a raised brow. "Pray tell, what is happening? Do you know this filly?" the princess asked.

Tran picked up the filly and stuck her on his shoulders, giving her a piggyback ride. Scootaloo wrapped her hooves around Tran's head who, as usual, showing no emotions on his face. It was a rather mentally jarring sight for the princess to witness such interaction from her usually emotionally distance friend. Tran could see that the princess was dumbfounded. "This filly was the first pony I met when I arrived to Equestria. I had to save her from being captured by enemy soldiers in Baltimare," Tran answered. "I've long since taken on the roll of being one of her caretakers." Later on, he would tell her more of the truth. Her parents weren't dead but they were, however, missing ever since this war had started. Her parents had been around Manehattan when the griffons initially invaded and captured the city. There was the high likelihood they weren't dead as Scootaloo's parents weren't military but they were still absent for the time being. The little filly hated being present when that topic was brought up so Tran had waited until he was alone with the princess to tell her.

The princess looked at the little filly and was surprised, not expecting someone like Tran to take up a roll such as a filly's caretaker. That was when she realized what the filly was wearing, a smaller version of the REA uniform and her heart sank. 'It can't be. Please, don't,' she thought. She pointed at Scootaloo's uniform. "That's a nice little costume you're wearing. Do you dream of being a soldier when you're older?" she asked.

Scootaloo sitting on Tran's shoulders, raised an eyebrow at the princess. "Costume? I'm already a soldier! This is the uniform the Royal Equestrian Army gave me when I enlisted!" she boasted with pride.

The princess expression dropped and her heart sank further. "H-How old are you, little filly?" she asked with much trepidation.

Scootaloo was oblivious to the mental trials that she was subjecting to the princess and grinned. "I'm fourteen!" she gloated.

The princess mind broke as she realized that she was in the company of a child soldier. She had already known that the war was at this point and she hated it. Every time she was reminded of it, it was another dagger that tore at her heart. How many more child soldiers did they employ in their military? How much children had they subjected to this hell that not even adults weren't able to face? How many children has had their childhood and innocence forcibly ripped away?

Tran looked at the Princess with tired eyes, knowing exactly what the princess was thinking. "She's technically part of the Lost Battalion, but part of the quartermaster's section, not part of any combat team," Tran told the princess, trying to comfort her. "I try to keep her away from battle... And trouble."

Scootaloo frowned and tapped the top of Tran's head. "And its boring! I joined to help fight!" Scootaloo boasted.

Both Tran and Princess Luna were shot in their hearts upon hearing that statement. The ignorance hurt both of them and Tran had remembered how much the little tyke had been suffering, when he first met her, and how every time she was subjected to battle emotionally damage she had gained from fighting in the war. Any time she had to participate in the terrible hell that was war, she was only ever scared. No matter what Scootaloo asked for, Tran only ever gave her what she needed, not what she wanted. Princess Luna surrounded Scootaloo in her magic and lifted her off of Tran and onto her own back. "Here!" the princess declared. "An alicorn ride! You may never know when you will get another chance, ever again!" Princess Luna reared back and took flight, all the while, Scootaloo laughed with childhood innocence and glee.

Meanwhile, Tran looked at Applejack. "The princess wanted to test out her new firearm. Where's the closest firing range we can use?" Tran asked.

Applejack glanced at the princess who was currently flying around this rodeo arena, giving Scootaloo one of the most exciting pony rides she would ever experience. "Bout damn time she got a gun!" Applejack exclaimed. She looked back to Tran and smirked. "And tah answer yer question, here!" She gestured to the rodeo arena that she had been practicing in. "Equestria's national rodeo competition is happenin' tomorrow! Ah thought ah wouldn't have gotten the chance tah try out this year but our little trip here brought me here just in time!"

Tran folded his arms. "Well that's good for you. I hope you win," Tran told her.

Applejack chuckled. She was still holding her lasso with her tail so she quickly flicked her tail at Tran. The lasso flew and went around Tran, falling down and circling around Tran's boots. She pulled lightly and they lightly cinched around his legs. "Hell, why don't yah try a hoof in the competition? It'd be fun to have yah in it!"

Tran raised an eyebrow at Applejack's suggestion but then shrugged. "Sure," Tran replied, thinking about his promise towards the princess to "have fun" instead of working all of the time. He looked at the lasso lightly wrapped around his lower legs and stepped out of the entanglement. "What do I need for it? Gun, lasso?"

Applejack whipped her tail back and brought her lasso back to herself. "Ah got yah covered. Ah'm sure the Apple family can lend yah the stuff yah need," she replied.

Princess Luna finally landed back around Tran, Applejack, Trouble Shoes, and the other two Crusaders. Tran walked over to the princess and lifted Scootaloo off of Luna's back. The instant Scootaloo touched the ground again, her hat fell down over her eyes and the other two crusaders, clamored over to the princess for their own turn on Princess Luna. The princess chuckled and she magically shepherded Apple Bloom onto her back for a turn, taking off quickly afterwards.

Scootaloo, now that she was on all four hooves, tugged at Tran's coat. "Oh, you should meet our new friend, Trouble Shoes!" she suggested.

Tran looked over at Trouble Shoes who blanched now that he had the human's attention. Tran could clearly see the giant draft horse shaking in his skin and it seemed like he was somehow trying to hide from plain sight, obviously failing with his size. "And exactly how'd you meet him?" Tran asked with slowly narrowing eyes.

Scootaloo was completely unaware of the situation where Tran was scrutinizing the draft pony for any reason to mentally condemn him, because her giant cactus sombrero hat was still covering her eyes. "We met him when me and the crusaders got lost in the desert and we became friends when we broke him out of jail and got him a job as a rodeo clown!" Scootaloo deftly answered as she tried to readjust her hat to not cover her eyes.

Tran stared into Trouble Shoe's eyes with an ever increasing disapproving glare. "Broke him out of jail, huh?" he said. "My name is Tran, are you aware of who I am. Buck?" He asked, the last word causing the stallion to flinch.

Most of Equestria was, by now, well aware of the four humans, having heard of their achievements and shenanigans and this stallion was clearly not exempt from this.

"Y-Yeah and its not what you think!" the stallion quickly stammered out. He opened his mouth again to explain but Tran's petrifying gaze caused him to mentally blank out, being put on the spot. He opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to restart his speech but his mind was unable to produce any words.

Luckily for the stallion, he was quickly saved by Applejack's intervention. "Yah gotta stop doin' that tah ponies. Yer scarin' the poor fella half inta an early grave!" Applejack admonished. She turned to the draft pony and poked him in the side with a hoof. "Trouble Shoes has some mighty bad luck, 'specially when he was a young-un, and he got into accidents all the time and ponies wrongfully blamed him fer it!"

Also, luckily for the stallion, Scootaloo had finished readjusting her had and could see Tran's disapproving glare, specifically this one, which was worse than the usual one he had. She elbowed Tran in the side of the leg to get his attention, to which she did, and gave him a disapproving glare of her own, one that she had tried to get as close to mirroring his. It was more cute than admonishing, but the thought counted. "He's a good pony!" the little filly added in.

Tran looked away from the filly and back to Trouble Shoes, this time with the usual emotionless face he gave out. While others were used to it, this stallion wasn't and it only unnerved him. "A good pony, is that right?" Tran asked.

The stallion swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. "I ain't never done nothing wrong in my life, on purpose," the stallion explained.

Tran paused for a second, giving a moment of awkward silence that only discouraged the stallion even further. He finally did something by bringing his hand up for a shake. "Tell you what, compete in that competition with us and I'll give you a clean slate in my mind," Tran offered.

The stallion stared at the man's offered hand, still wary of the man. Applejack nudged him in the side. "Come join us, Ah'm sure ya'll have some fun!" she said. "And don't worry 'bout needin' anythin', Ah can loan ya some stuff and whatnot too!"

The stallion sighed and reached up to grab Tran's hand. Only ever being used to shaking hooves with ponies, having Tran's cold fingers grab around his hoof was not a very comforting feeling. "O-Okay, I'll do it," the stallion finally agreed.

The Next Day

A few hours after the sun rose, ponies gathered up in the center of Appleloosa's biggest rodeo arena. The arena was a big oval and had bleachers running along one half of it and inside the arena close to the bleachers, there was a massive stage that held two long tables separated by a few meters. One table sat two ponies, both of which had microphones in front of them. The other table, a table that was twice as long as the other one, sat a buffalo and two ponies, Princess Celestia and Granny Smith. Noticeably, Granny Smith was wearing a suede brown leather pants and jacket that had suede brown leather fringe running along her coat's sleeve and base. Sitting in the bleachers was half the town, most of the REA soldiers that had been sent to deal with the changelings, the human and pony leaders of the Lost Battalion, and assorted buffalo. Everyone was happily munching on street fare as they waited for it to start.

"Good morning Equestria!" one of the ponies sitting in front of a microphone yelled, getting everyponies' attention with his loud speakerphone magnified voice. "Are we ready for Equestria's fifty-second grand national rodeo competition!" From the bleachers, ponies immediately yelled or whistled in approval, stomped their hooves, threw hats into the air, and some even shooting some pistols wildly into the air! "This year, our first guest judge is the great leader of the buffalo, Chief Thunderhooves!" Of note, all of the buffalo in the bleachers stomped their hooves, giving everyone sitting down a good shake through their bodies. "Then, we have our own great leader, Princess Celestia!" Said princess stood up and turned around to wave at the ponies in the crowd who cheered on to voice their approval. "Aaaaaaaaaaand finally, our last guest is a very special one. Gracing us from retirement with her presence, it's the very, Calamity Maaaaaane!" Granny Smith, despite her age, stood up and waved at the crowd. The then immediate amount of gunfire that was shot into the air made it sound like a battle was going on, surprising a number of ponies and buffalo. The first field announcer got up from his chair and trotted over to Granny Smith to help her back to her chair.

The other field announcer chuckled, his laughter being magnified. "It looks like we have some Calamity Mane fans in the crowd!" he said.

The first announcer returned to his chair and pulled his microphone in closer. "Indeed we do! Before we start, let's bring all of our contestants into the arena!"

From one gate from one end of the arena, a hundred contestants strode out in front of the bleachers and stage for everyone to see. There were mostly ponies, most of which were earth ponies, but there were a small handful of buffalo included and obviously one human. Each contestant strode in, one at a time, and as they did, the announcers named them off. Once every contestant was standing in the arena, Equestria's national anthem was played before every contestant returned to their own set of sets.

The competition was composed of five events, shooting, tree bucking, lassoing and roping, bull riding, and buffalo wrestling. When competitors competed, their performance would be graded by the judges from a score of 1-10. At the end of the competition, whoever had the most points, won. A minimum amount of gear was needed by the competitors as unlike a rodeo competition in the human world, you didn't need horses or saddles, for obvious reasons. You did, however, need a pair of revolvers or one revolver if you wanted the handicap, a lever action rifle, and a double barrel or pump action shotgun for the shooting event and a rope for the lassoing and roping event. The other events, all you needed was your body.

Shooting Event

This event had three stages. The first of these stages had two barrels, one staged slightly behind and to the left of the other, being behind ten meters away from the competitor and had three glass bottles that sat atop each barrel. The idea was to hit all of the bottles in as few shots in as little time as possible with pistols. The second stage occurred when the shooter ran thirty meters to their right and involved five steel full-sized pony targets that were progressively staged to the right and behind the next. In this stage, you had to put one round on each target in again which would fall down in a single shot, with as few shots and time as possible, this time with a lever action rifle. The final stage involved shooting three large steel buffalo targets. When you hit a buffalo target, it would fall down and in the process of falling down, it would launch a clay pigeon in the air that you would then had to hit before it impacted the ground, using a shotgun. Like the other two stages, this was to be accomplished in as little time as possible. All of your weapons would be carried on your body, in addition to your ammunition. You were allowed to reload, if you missed your shots and ran out of ammunition in your weapons.

Trouble Shoes was the first of the three notable contestants(himself, Applejack, and Tran) to compete. Like Applejack had promised, he had been loaned some equipment to use, a pair of revolvers, a lever action rifle, and a double barrel shotgun that came from Big Mac. The big stallion got up in position to start, right as a pony trotted up to him. This pony was a safety judge that was meant to follow him and stop him if he broke any rules or did anything that was dangerous.

What signaled the stallion to start was a loud buzzer and the instant Trouble Shoes heard it, he reared up on his hindlegs and drew a revolver. However, he was not used to quick drawing a revolver and did the most remarkable thing. He accidentally threw up the revolver into the air where it spun a few times and when he realized what he had down, he reached up to grab it. Once he had his hooves on the revolver, it inexplicably went off, hitting one of the glass bottles on the first barrel before hitting the iron band on the second barrel and ricocheting back and hitting another glass bottle on the first barrel. Trouble Shoes reached up with his other hoof to cock back the revolver but accidentally fired it before he was ready and hit the last of three bottles on the first barrel before the bullet hit another of the second barrel's iron bands, ricocheting forward before hitting another iron band, this time on the first barrel before ricocheting back and hitting a bottle on the second barrel.

Of course, these first two shots that Trouble Shoes had fired were completely accidentally done on his part but none of the judges or spectators had known that. He was absolutely gobsmacked but he then cocked back the revolver and once again, it fired before he was ready. Despite being another accidental shot, it somehow managed to hit one of his remaining two bottles, shattering it. He had no idea what was going on today with his life, like usual, but went along with it like he did and went to cock back the revolver's hammer again. This time, me made sure not to accidentally fire the revolver again and took aim, firing it and hitting the last bottle. He was quite surprised at actually managing to hit his last target, as he wasn't used to things going right in his life and decided to go along with it, holstering the revolver.

Running to the next stage, he ran to the next stage, unslinging the lever action rifle off of his back, cocking it. Being a different gun, he wasn't used to it and he had accidentally fired it like he had done with his revolver. Despite his intended target being the first target to his left, he hit the fifth target, furthest to the right that was five meters back and to the right of the first target. Being Big Mac's rifle, it fired an absolutely enormous round and was easily knocked down the steel target it hit. Miraculously, it also it ricocheted forward into the back of the closest target which knocked it down forwards before ricocheted backwards and hit the front of the second target, knocking it down back. Trouble Shoes had no idea what was happening as all he saw was that he now only had two targets so he worked the lever to his rifle and fired, this time hitting the 4th target where it ricocheted and hit the 3rd target, much to everyone's surprise.

Trouble Shoes was about to work the lever of his rifle to fire again but realized there were no other targets left standing. He started to wonder but was quickly urged on by his safety judge. At the final stage, Trouble Shoes took aim with his double barrel shotgun and fired at one of the three steel buffalo targets. His shotgun had enough spread that he managed to hit two of his steel targets, knocking both down and sending both of their clay pigeons into the air. This was possibly the only stage where Trouble Shoes actually thought he was going to hit any of his intended targets with any decent accuracy so when he say the clay pigeons fly into the air, he took aim at one and fired. Once again, his shot managed to hit both of his targets. Reloading as quickly as he could, he took aim and fired again, hitting the last of his steel buffalo targets and sent the clay pigeon flying into the air. With one round left, he took aim and fired his last shot, obliterating his last clay pigeon.

For a few seconds, the crowd and the judges were stunned. That had been quite possibly the fastest anypony had ever completed any of the stages, with as few shots ever possible. When the awkward silence was gone, everyone was in an uproar and the judges had awarded him 10 points each, totaling thirty. They actually wanted to give him 11 points each but 10 was the max.

The next notable competitor was Tran who gave the normal performance that everyone expected. Having done cowboy competition shooting in the past, he sped through the pistol targets with no missed shots, thumb fanning the hammer to get the speed he wanted. When he advanced to the second stage, he once again missed zero shots and nailed each the last target by the time the 1st target fell. At the last stage, using a pump action shotgun, had shot all three steel buffalo targets, one after the other with enough speed that he was able to ignore the clay pigeons until he had shot down the third and final steel target before doubling back and hitting every airborne clay pigeon before they could hit the ground. This performance was evenfaster than Trouble Shoe's and earned him his 30 points.

The last of the three notable competitors was Applejack. For the first stage, she missed none of her shots, firing fastest out of every competitor, as natural from the "legendary Cowfilly of the Equestrian Army". As for the lever action rifle shooting, she didn't miss any any of her shots but definitely took her time. For the last stage, despite her good speed, she was penalized for missing one of the clay pigeons. Her performance earned her a respectable 27 total points.

Tree Bucking

The next event was a pretty simple and fast affair. There was a fake tree that you had to buck as hard as you had to. The tree was equipped with a mechanical sensor that tested your bucking strength. You had to perform three separate bucks and technique didn't matter, as long as your bucking strength was good.

Trouble Shoes, despite not having much tree bucking experience, performance amazingly. It was barely a challenge as he was a massive draft horse. His first two bucks managed to max out the readings on the bucking machine and on the final buck, he outright broke the fake tree. This naturally netted him a perfect 30 out of 30 points.

Tran, being a human and having zero bucking experience, performed terribly. He had his magically enhanced supernatural strength but that didn't even come close to helping him in this event. Even using a technique that would generate the most strength, a backwards door breaching kick technique, it didn't help. Out of the hundred possible competitors, he had the second worse performance, earning him 5 out of 30 possibly points.

Applejack, being an apple buckin' member of the Apple Family, she performed almost as good as Trouble Shoes. Her lifetime of apple bucking meant that it was barely a challenge for her. She even performed better than the buffalo competitors. All three of her bucks maxed out the reading on the bucking machine which also gave her a perfect 30 out of 30 points.

Lassoing and Roping

The next event involved the challenge of roping in another pony and tying him. You had to do this twice, on two separate ponies, one at a time though. Two factors were important in this event, how fast you could lasso a pony down and how fast you could hog tie the fellow. The pony in question was given a five second head start before you had to chase him down for the event.

When Trouble Shoes was up to perform, his performance was both entertaining to watch and productive. On his first pony, when Trouble Shoes chased after him twirling the lasso to throw, he accidentally lost track of the lasso and sent it flying into the air. It flew for a good while before flying into the pony, which sent him falling in a tumble. When the pony had finished tumbling, he was already hogtied up! When the second pony was sent out, Trouble Shoes went running with the lasso again. This time, he wasn't twirling it and when Trouble Shoes went to lasso the pony, he managed to trip and send himself into a tumble this time. In the process of tumbling, Trouble Shoes went crashing into the pony he was meant to lasso and when they were done tumbling, both of them were hog tied! Everyone got plenty of laughs as Trouble Shoes was awarded 30 out of 30 points.

As for Tran, he didn't perform very good nor did he perform terribly. It took him a good amount of time to chase and lasso his target pony but he managed to make up some time by quickly hogtying his target. When the second pony was up, Tran repeated his previous performance but only faster. He earned a total of 14 out of 30 points.

The last of the three, Applejack, had an easy time with this event. She was the second best performer, behind Trouble Shoes. She quickly caught up to both of her target ponies and hog tied them faster than anypony else could. She earned the max 30 out of 30 points.

Bull Riding

The fourth event was a simple but especially difficult task. You started out the event by sitting bareback on a bull who would then start bucking. You had to hang onto dear life as the bull would be trying for his life to buck you off of his back. You only had to perform this task only once and this was an event that was graded only once everyone had finished their performances, points given out on longest times.

Normally, an event like this would be difficult. For somepony like Trouble Shoes, it proved to not be. Trouble Shoes was so big that the bull, a very strong and heavily built example of one, was rather appalled. This was the only time in Equestrian rodeo history where the rider outlasted the bull as the bull was dead tired after a relatively short bucking performance. Naturally, he scored first place with 30 out of 30 points.

After a backup replacement bull was sent in, Tran performed second best. Being a human meant he had hands which meant he could more easily hold onto the bull. He managed to hold onto the bull the longest out of anyone else in the competition. This netted him 29 out of 30 points.

As for Applejack, she didn't score very high. She was an experienced cowfilly and all but that didn't change the fact that she was a pony. This meant she had hooves which weren't very good for holding onto a bull and that she didn't weigh very much, compared to the bull, so she was relatively easy for the bull to buck off. Still, she had a decent performance and scored 20 out of 30 points.

Buffalo Wresting

This was considered the hardest challenge out of the five events. For this event, you started facing a buffalo, a full sized one, that you would have to wrestle to the ground. Like the previous event, it was scored only when everyone was finished with the event, where you would be given points based on how fast you accomplished the task. However, this task was assumed to be one that not everyone would be able to accomplish so performance would also be taken into account for score.

Like the previous event, Trouble Shoes performed amazingly with his natural strength and size. However, be as big as he may be, he was still not bigger than a fully grown male buffalo. Wrestling was also not a skill he had developed much in his life but his bad luck prevailed. The instant the event started for him, he took hold of the buffalo and the two of them were at it for a while before his klutzy nature took over and he had tripped in the process where the two of them were send bowling to the ground. Overall, he earned 27 out of 30 points.

As for Tran, he was finally the top performer for one event. To be fair, he also cheated in his own unique way. When the event had started, for seemingly no apparent reason, his opponent suddenly became demoralized and despondent which made him a very easy adversary. Combined with magically enhanced supernatural strength and being a bipedal human, he was able to easily knock the legs out from under the buffalo. He earned 1st place at 30 out of 30 points.

The last of the three notable opponents, Applejack, did not perform as well as she previously did. She was strong for a mare but she was still a small pony facing against a buffalo. Like many other competitors, she failed to knock the buffalo down. She did, however, give the judges a decent show of doing so. Overall, she earned 12 out of 30 points.

The End of the Competition

With all 100 competitors going through all 5 events, the points were quickly tallied and added up. Then, they had all of the competitors lined up in front of the stage so that winners could be called out and prizes be given. Prizes were secret until the competition ended but everyone knew the prizes were good judging from every prior year with a lot of cash prizes involved.

Taking first place was easily Trouble Shoes, much to everyone's surprise, the most surprised party being Trouble Shoes himself. He didn't expect to perform good enough to place at all, much less take first place! For his amazing performance, he received a giant gold trophy and a massive grand prize of 5000 bits. It was quite the king's ransom and was seen as a life changing amount of money, especially for the stallion.

Taking second place was neither Applejack or Tran but a random buffalo. He earned 1500 bits and a silver trophy. This was still seen as a very good amount of money, being a little more than what the average pony made in a year. The buffalo was a native to Appleloosa and made his tribe, who were in the crowd watching, proud.

Taking third place was still neither Applejack or Tran, but a random pony. He received a bronze 3rd place trophy, 150 bits, and a paid three day vacation to Canterlot. He was a complete unknown but he performed decently in every event.

Taking fourth place was finally Applejack. Despite how low she placed in the victors, she still made her family proud. Also, the rodeo competition was happy to see her compete again, not having seen her the previous year. As for prizes, she earned a decently sized medal, 100 bits, and ironically enough, a free 3 day vacation. The ironic part was the vacation destination. It was to Ponyville... To live in the princess of friendship's castle... Applejack wasn't amused.

Fifth place was Tran. It was interesting to have him compete and the crowd got some enjoyment from his performance but not everyone was happy to see him. Some were scared, having heard the rumors of him. At least he still got a prize. He earned 50 bits, a week's worth of ration cards/books/coupons/tickets for 5 people, and two dozen pies. Because no one was expected to eat two dozen pies before they went bad, they were magically enchanted to stay hot and fresh until they were eaten and had a decent variety. It was quite the shame that Tran was not a purveyor of sweets nor did he need ration cards/books/coupons/tickets as his special "position" in the REA netted him whatever resources he wanted.

Applejack, Trouble Shoes, and Tran, now that the competition had ended, met up with Granny Smith who was being helped around by Big Mac. Trouble Shoes graciously returned the firearms he was loaned back to Big Mac, being the only pony who had anything remotely big enough for Trouble Shoes to use and even then it was still small for him. Meanwhile, Tran returned his borrowed equipment back to the pony he borrowed it from, Granny Smith.

Tran looked over to the massive pony and held out a hand to shake his hoof, fixing him with a stare from his usually emotionless face. Like earlier in the day, all it served was to unnerve the stallion. "I knew from the start you weren't a problem. Don't worry about," Tran said to the stallion, holding his hand out.

Trouble Shoes sighed and reached up to shake Tran's hand and like the first hoof/hand shake, Tran's cold, corpse-like touch was not a comforting thing to feel. "Y-Yer a scary fella," Trouble Shoes replied.

Applejack smirked and nudged Trouble Shoes in the side. "That's how he always is. Ya hafta get used tah it," Applejack said reassuringly to the stallion.

Once Tran broke the handshake, he eyed the pair of saddlebags that Trouble Shoes wore, the ones that were carrying his competition winnings. "Be careful with that money and don't get into trouble now. I don't need the tyke breaking someone out of jail, again," Tran said jokingly.

The stallion chuckled, finally getting a little used to the usually frightening man. "Yes sir, I will. It was nice meetin' yah," Trouble Shoes said before he finally trotted away from them. Applejack bid the stallion adieu with a subtle hat gesture and he left the four of them.

With Trouble Shoes gone, Granny Smith went over and gave Applejack a hug. "Good job in the rodeo," she lauded. "Ah'm proud to have yah as mah grand daughter."

Applejack hugged her back and blushed. "Ah love yah too, Granny," she said back.

Granny broke away from the hug and waved Big Mac over, who trotted over. "Why don'tcha spend some time with yer brother for once. Take a break from all of that army, nonsense," Granny said. Both Applejack and Big Mac shot the matriarch a worried glance but she waved them off. "Consarnit, ah'm a grown pony, many, many times over. Ah can take care of mahself. Plus, I want to have some fun around town alone."

Applejack and Big Mac looked at each other before she looked back at Granny. "Well, Granny, please be careful. Yer hip still isn't the best," Applejack said. Granny harrumphed and waved for them to go already so Applejack turned her attention to Tran. "What are yah goin' tah do wit the rest of yer day?"

Tran shrugged. He had the rest of the day to himself and he had nothing to worry about. "Drink with the soldiers? Its been a while," Tran replied.

Applejack snickered at the thought of Tran relaxing for once. "Don't go startin' any saloon brawls. Take care!" Applejack said before she trotted off with Big Mac, leaving Granny Smith and Tran alone with each other. Applejack and Big Mac had expected Granny and Tran to part ways and have fun with their own escapades so they didn't wait to watch them walk off.

Granny Smith waited a good amount of time to make sure her two grandchildren were out of earshot. Now that the two of them were alone, Granny gave Tran a grin. "Now that we have some alone time, yah got mah stuff?" Granny asked.

Tran, despite the fact that he had a backpack, reached into his coat and pulled out two bottles of whisky. "Right here and even your fave, too," Tran replied. He walked over to the elderly pony and reached out to help her trot around. Before he walked off, Tran looked around before focusing on a seemingly random spot. Now that it was the evening, it was getting dark and Appleloosa was soon switching to its night life where ponies drank and had fun.

Granny Smith gave Tran a curious look. "Whatcha got eatin' yer mind?" she asked, looking at the general direction that Tran was staring off at.

Tran didn't answer and continued staring. Said spot was between two buildings, where the darkness was especially concentrated. He clicked his tongue twice as if he was challenging somepony. Granny Smith damn near had a heart attack when a large pony walked out of the shadows. Said pony was Princess Luna who had a light smirk on her face. "Astute as ever, my friend!" the princess exclaimed.

Granny Smith gave out a sigh of relief upon seeing the princess. She then frown at the princess with a disapproving expression. "Yah may be a princess but yah still hafta have manners! You can't sneak up on ponies like that!" Granny admonished.

Princess Luna chuckled before trotting up to Tran. "I had the desire to join in your festivities to celebrate your success in the tournament!" the princess said.

Tran pointed past Princess Luna. "With a guest?" Tran asked.

Princess Luna had no idea what Tran was talking about and shot him a look of inquisitiveness. She was about to turn around to look at what Tran was pointing at when something tapped her on her shoulder. Princess Luna had expected to be alone so she shot up into the air, jumping out of her skin. There was playful giggling from behind the princess who was transitioning to battle mode, drawing a sword.

Coming out of the shadows, behind Princess Luna, was none other than Princess Celestia. "Gotcha!" the solar alicorn said while lightly snickering. She winked at her sister who touched back down to the ground and sheathing her sword. Celestia winked at Luna with a mischievous grin. "I didn't want to miss out on the fun, too."

Luna glowered back at her sister. "You win this time, sister," she admitted.

Celestia snickered and turned her attention back to Tran. Using her magic, she teleported in and held up two bottles of liquor of her own. She floated one bottle over to her sister who took it with her magic. Luna's magic's glow revealed it to be a bottle of moonshine, a joke/pun on Princess Luna's character. The other bottle, revealed by Celestia's magic glow, was a bottle of brandy. Celestia looked over at Tran and Granny. "Shall we?" she suggested.

-X-X-X-

Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Tran, and Granny Smith sat around a small campfire situated at the outskirts of Appleloosa. All four of them shared drinks while socializing and just generally having a good time. The two bottles of whisky that Tran had sourced for Granny Smith was spiced pear sour whisky. It wasn't an apple related whisky or cider as anyone would expected from a member of the Apple family. In general, Granny Smith was rarely able to drink due to her advanced age and the fact that her grandchildren tried their best to keep anything alcoholic away from her.

Granny Smith took a sip from her bottle and roared in laughter that she hadn't been able to produce in a long while. None of them had cups, instead just passing around the bottle whenever any of them wanted a drink. Both princesses were no longer wearing their crowns, instead Tran wearing Luna's crown and Granny Smith wearing Celestia's crown. "And he goes and asks her anyways!" Granny Smith said, completing her story.

Both Princesses laughed while Tran had a small smile, the closest thing he would come to laughter. Celestia looked at Tran and took a long drink from the bottle of brandy. "Ever since the war started, I never get the chance to relax like this," Celestia said. Tran, still smiling, reached into his backpack and produced a box, containing one of the apple pies that he had won from the rodeo competition. Celestia's eyes lit up and she used her magic to rip the pie from Tran's hands before he could even blink. She was devouring it as if she had been starving for days.

Luna laughed, seeing Celestia's joy in the destruction of the pastry. "She made the decision, as did I, to abide by the ration system the rest of the populace endures, to support the common folk. She rarely ever has the ability to partake in her fondness of sweets," Luna explained. The ration system was a food program to help support the war effort. Ponies willingly agreed to ration their food nationwide. You still got plenty to eat, you just didn't get to eat in excess or have anything extra, like sweets.

Celestia had quickly devoured the pie in record time and looked back at Tran with puppy dog-esque eyes, pleading for more, knowing he had more. Luna rolled her eyes at her sister's shameless display while Tran dug into his backpack, producing four more boxes of pies. Celestia squeed at the sight of the pastries and took all of them in her magic, before she started quickly eating another pie, all the while, Tran drank from Celestia's bottle of brandy and Granny Smith took another sip from one of the bottles of spiced pear sour whisky.

Granny Smith tossed the empty glass bottle behind her, the sound of glass shattering happening a few seconds later. Tran grabbed another of the bottles of spiced pear sour whisky and started opening it. "So, Granny, why pear whisky? I thought you Apples liked apples?" he asked.

Granny Smith went stiff before upon hearing the question. Sadness started to fill her mind and her eyes started watering. "Mah son's wife, my daughter in law, and Big Mac, Applejack, Apple bloom's mom, wasn't an Apple," she explained. "She was a Pear, another family o' earth pony farmers, that farmed pears." Granny Smith sighed. Normally, she hated talking about this, it was a thorn in her hoof, mentally. However, there was alcohol in her veins and she was a bit more loose with her words and history. "Yah see, us Apples have had a long standin' feud with dem Pears but mah son, mah grand children's father, rest his soul, fell in love with a Pear. Ah hated her at first." Granny Smith paused as tears started to fall from her eyes, she reached up with an old hoof to wipe them away just as Tran sat beside her and gave her a reassuring hug. "Thank yah, sonny. Ahem. Only when Ah started lovin' her as if she were mah own flesh and blood daughter, I... We lost her."

Tran was, like usual, had an emotionless expression on his face but his eyes were ones of sadness for her. He patted her on the back while he had her in a supportive embrace. "We always lose them once they're finally family," Tran said. Meanwhile, Luna had her bottle frozen midair held in her hooves as she had been about to take a drink and Celestia had stopped her annihilation of the pies. Celestia wiped some of the pastries from her mouth and trotted over to her sister and wrapped a wing around her, nuzzling her, her sister returning the gesture. "Love them when you have the chance, otherwise, you will regret it."

Tran finished opening the bottle of the whisky and handed it to Granny who took a long drink. "Ah still miss her," Granny Smith said.

Tran nodded at her. "Good, that means you still love her," Tran replied. He held up Celestia's bottle of brandy and Granny Smith clinked her bottle to Tran before the two drank from their respective bottles. "Granny, I appreciate you for everything you've done for me," Tran thanked.

Granny, despite her age and eyesight, nuzzled Tran. "Ah don't care if yah ain't an Apple or even a pony. Yer mah grandson in my old eyes," she said.

Tran chuckled and hugged her back. "Thank you Granny Smith, especially for giving me your gatling gun," he said, jokingly.

Granny Smith chuckled back in response before takin a sip from her whisky. "Yah better take care of mah boy. He's been through a lot," Granny said, referring to the gatling gun. "Its from my Calamity days."

Luna, who returned to drinking, looked at Granny Smith with a look of curiosity. "Yes, we heard you referred to as Calamity Mane. What is the source of that appellation?"

Granny Smith let out a pained sighed and took a long drink from her bottle. "All of y'all are really tugging at mah heartstrings, ain'tcha?" she said. "Ah was a famed cowfilly, one of the best but... One of the worse." She took another drink from her bottle and looked at down at the ground, ashamed. "Ah started out as a bounty hunter, lil after mah settlin' days."

Luna leaned forward, wanting to hear more. She had a inquisitive look on her face. "Pray tell, wouldn't that be a proud history, taking in criminals?" she asked.

Granny Smith stayed silent, unmoving. Then, she took a long drink from her bottle. "It was easier tah bring in bounties iffin they're dead," Granny replied. "When ah finally decided to retire from my cowfilly days, Ah did shows fer a while but then I went and settled down, havin' a son, mah past didn't want to retire with. Someponies wanted revenge. They didn't get what they wanted but ah didn't win either." Tears started to build up in her eyes and she took a long drink from her bottle. Tran put a supportive arm around her and she let out another pained sigh. "That's how Ah loss mah daughter. Mah son wanted revenge but he wasn't as good as Ah was. Ah lost him and was mad. Ah found them and killed them all, as painfully and slowly as ah could but once ah was done, they were still gone."

Luna was aghast, as was Celestia. Their wide eyed and opened mouth expressions showed it all and they knew the pain Granny had gone through. Despite being millennia older, they felt young in the presence of Granny Smith, somepony who had gone through so much. The two sisters looked at each other and gave each other a familial hug, embracing their ability to be with each other. Celestia soon had tears in her eyes, remembering the years she had to spend without her sister. "Those years lost. I don't ever want to be without you, ever again," Celestia said.

Luna embraced her back. "I had so much hate, waiting on the moon but once I saw you again, it all disappeared," Luna replied.

Granny Smith drank from her bottle and looked over at Tran. "Yah better keep my grandaughter safe, yah hear?" she demanded. "As an honorary Apple, she's yer family too."

Tran nodded slowly. The two clinked bottles again and they drank. "She and I have a family bond, one forged in blood. I will die before any of my family die," Tran said. Granny Smith nodded back and took a drink from her bottle, Tran following after her.

Tran walked over to Celestia and grabbed himself two slices of pie, to which it looked like Celestia wanted to bite his hand off. He shot her a disapproving glare. "They're my pies, I won them fair and square," he said while eating a slice. He returned back to sitting next to Granny Smith, handing her the other slice.

She took the slice and started eating it with her hooves. Pie in one hand and bottle in the other, Tran held his bottle to toast again with Granny Smith, who was doing the same, pie in one hoof, bottle in the other. They clinked bottles and drank while eating pie. "Ah don't get ta touch a drink near Mac and Jack, they're scared ah might so much as keel over if ah so much a get a whiff." She chuckled and took another drink, as if to spite them. "But that means they care. They're good, young'uns. Sides, ah know bout how much they get o' the drink themselves. Ah've seen Jackie's secret still 'n that flask she carries around!"

Luna wrinkled her nose, remembering having to drink from Applejack's flask. "That swill your granddaughter calls moonshine is an affront to sanctity of moonshine," she said with a spit of disgust. Just remembering it's taste gave her shivers.

Granny Smith groaned. "Yea, ah've had a nip of it when she wasn't lookin," she said, remembering the taste of it. "She thinks strength and only strength makes good moonshine, no smoothness tah her brews."

Celestia raised a brow. "How strong is it?" she asked. "It can't be that bad." With her age, she had tasted a lot of alcohols, especially when Luna was serving her stint on the moon.

Tran smirked and dug through his coat and revealed a flask, a very familiar looking one that was engraved with three apples. "Nicked it off of her," he said before tossing it to Celestia who caught it with her magic.

She used her magic to open it up and the first thing she did was sniff it, which she would immediately regret. Her nose hairs felt like they had been set ablaze from such an olfactory assault. Her next mistake was sipping from it. The second a drop hit her tongue, the magic that was enveloping and holding the flask up faltered and it dropped a foot before she recovered her senses and telepathically caught the flask. All the while, she was coughing up a lung while Luna laughed with schadenfreude. It took a good while before Celestia recovered enough of her composure to speak. "Nope. That's the worse drink I've ever had!" Celestia said with tears in her eyes.

Tran walked over to the solar princess and took back the flask. He then took a big swig before swishing it around in his mouth to prove that he actually drank some. He swallowed it down without any complaint before offering the flask to Granny Smith. With much common sense, she refused. Taking one final drink from the flask, he tucked it away and returned to where he originally sat. "Its not the worse or the strongest I've had but its up there," Tran commented.

Celestia took a swig of her brandy to take the taste away. "She needs some lessons," Celestia said before taking a bite of pie to further give herself a taste of something to take her mind off of it. "The fact that you're able to tolerate any drop of it makes me question what's the worse you've had."

Tran shook his head while taking a drink from Luna's bottle of moonshine. "You don't want to know," he answered back.

Luna used her magic to sneak away a piece of pie from Celestia, who shot her an angry glare the instant she noticed. Luna stuck her tongue out in defiance before taking a bite from the pie she stole. Granny Smith took a drink from her bottle of whisky, polishing off the bottle. She tossed the bottle behind herself and turned to Tran. "Thank yah, Tran, fer the mighty fine meal and the mighty fine drinks!" She had a decent buzz to herself after all of these drinks and she was getting mighty tired.

Tran turned his attention to the two princesses who were feuding off in minor ways. "Let's hope for a quick end to this war," Tran said.

The two princesses paused in their sibling battles and looked at the human. "I'm glad you and your friends came to Equestria and we would be glad to have you as a citizen," Celestia said.

"And I am glad to have made you my friend," Luna said. As if they had practiced it, the two of them simultaneously stood up and took a seat on opposite sides of Tran. He was quite surprised when the two princesses simultaneously gave him a kiss on the opposite sides of his face. For the rest of tonight, the four of them continued drinking and eating but they eventually peacefully fell asleep around the fire. It was nice to relax every once in a while.

Author's Note

Ever since I started dying and retired from the military. I keep in touch with all of my military friends. I told all of them that now that I was dying, I will be the first to die, not anyone else. It brought tears to my eyes that I lost one of my friends, not to conflict but to the mental war that all veterans face. His PTSD won and he's gone now. I miss him dearly. Check up on your friends. You may never know what they are facing. Goodbye Lynch the Grinch, I'm expecting to meet you again once I go.