Red Dead Revisited/Growing Where You’re Planted

Jack Marston in Equestria

Chapter 1 Wild Horses

“Do not fear death. Death is always at our side. When we show fear, it jumps at us faster than light, but if we do not show fear, it casts its eye upon us gently and then guides us into infinity” Laughing Bull.

The abandoned town of Tumbleweed was empty again. A few stray bandits had attempted to call it home, but the bounty on their heads was worth clearing them out. Jack looked at the now deserted town. The new Marshall in Armadillo had already collected the bounties from him, both living and dead, and headed back off to his small dirt town.

Armadillo had been fairly prosperous, at one time, but the railway had left the town. A dispute between the former Marshall and one of the fellas that was friends with the head of the Railway company had sealed its fate. Little by little Armadillo was closing up, buildings going abandoned, and it wouldn’t be that long until it was completely abandoned like Tumbleweed had been.

“Yes, sir, you’re John Marston’s boy all right… Damn good at puttin’ fellers into the ground aren’t ya?! Nothing wrong with that though. Nope! I gets along with the dead better anyway… Now… From what I heard those boys had made a major find out here. More money than a man could spit at! Should make up for that damned glass eye,” Seth said

The old prospector looked at a bloodied note left behind by a newly dead bandit. He almost seemed full of glee until a clap of thunder erupted through the air. It echoed through the remains of Tumbleweed, causing what few panes of glass that remained to vibrate on the buildings. Hearing the thunder the old prospector ran straight toward the mansion on the hill. Jack turned toward his mount, that he had climbed off of, only to see it running full gallop away from the town. Seeing no other options he ran after Seth and got into the mansion.

They closed the old doors and the sound of the wind was picking up. The mansion itself creaked and groaned under the assault that nature was giving it. The old timbers sounded as if they wanted release. They went through toward the center of the old mansion, hunkering down while the wind and rain beat the sides of the old building.

“Sounds like a damned twister!” Seth yelled.

His voice barely loud enough over the howling wind for Jack to hear. He nodded, not daring to try to call out over the force of nature that was trying to beat this weathered old town into submission. The wind picked up more, howling louder, and Jack began to wonder how much longer this old building could take it before it groaned its last and fell in on itself. Slowly the wind began to calm, the sound of it ended, and Jack could see the bright light of the sun outside. He walked toward a window and instead of seeing the arid and dusty streets and crumbling buildings there was a green rolling field.

Jack stood in disbelief at the sight before him. He heard a whimper and looked at Seth who looked more on edge than he normally did.

“This… This ain’t right! I ain’t getting screwed out of my treasure again!” Seth roared before he ran out of the mansion.

Jack followed him out and could see the old jail, and what looked like the Church, but it was cleaned up, and almost looked new. He followed Seth toward it and saw the old man scream and pound his fists against the door.

“This door was never locked! The damned lock was broken!” the old man screamed.

The door slowly opened and at first glance Jack saw the familiar crisp white of a blouse, and a long black skirt. He gave a nod while tipping his hat. It was only proper manners to acknowledge a lady. He looked back at her to see a something that resembled both a woman and a horse. The eyes were wrong. They were focused more like a person’s eyes,

She looked as surprised as he was, but he calmed himself down. He’d read stories by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. This wasn’t that different. Something had happened, something he couldn’t explain, and had taken him, and from the looks of it bits and pieces of Tumbleweed to this new place. He looked over at Seth who had passed out.

Here’s hoping that they understand English, he thought.

“Miss, You mind to tell me exactly where it is I am?” he asked.

He noticed several smaller beings like her, the word foals came to mind, and he watched them eyeing him with what seemed like curiosity. She ushered them back inside and stepped out with him. He could see the kind of look he’d seen on his own ma. She was ready to do whatever she needed to do to protect those foals in there.

“You’re just outside of Ponyville,” she answered.

Her voice sounded sweet, delicate, and didn’t carry the accent he was used to. Instead she sounded something like Dr. Riggs fella he’d helped out in the desert. She sounded educated, more so than he was, which was starting to make sense. The more he looked at this place the more it looked like a school house. He’d remember that in some old towns the school would double as the town’s church.

“Thank ya Miss,” he said.

She studied him for a moment and finally she touched his arm.

“What are you?” she asked.

Her hand felt surprisingly human. It was covered with fur, dark pink, nearly light purple, fur, and her hair seemed to be two different shades of pink. He looked into her eyes and could see the shade of green they were. He gave her a grin.

“That’s funny, I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said.

She grinned back at him, her pearly white teeth shining in the sun lightly.

“I’m a pony,” she said.

I suppose that makes sense. She looks kinda like one, he thought.

“Well, I’m a man, a human, and so is old Seth here,” he said as he nudged the old prospector.

“Is he okay?” she asked.

“Demon horse… I swear Lord, I won’t go bothering the dead no more,” Seth mumbled out.

“Time to get up old timer,” he said as he reached down and grabbed Seth by his shoulder.

The old man looked up at the demon horse again and screamed. He tried to scamper back, falling on his ass instead, and then took off in the direction of the old mansion. Jack watched him disappear into it and then he heard the door shut. Seeing that Seth was inside and most likely wasn’t going to get into any kind of trouble the obvious thing he needed to do was see what he could find out about this place.

“Ma’am, being that I’m a stranger, in a strange land, do ya mind filling me in on the area, or have something that might let me know a bit more about this place?”

Cheerilee studied him for a second, “Unfortunately I have to return to my students, but if you follow the road it will lead you into Ponyville proper. Stay on the main road and you’ll find yourself at the Golden Oak Library. Once there you can speak with Princess Twilight Sparkle and I’m certain that she’ll be more than happy to get you any reading material you need,” she studied him for a second before shaking her head, “School lets out about four P.M. If you get back out here before then I’ll show you around the market place. That way you’ll have a chance to get any supplies you may need.”

He tipped his hat to her, looked at the road, and began the trek toward the town she mentioned. As he walked he noticed how lush and green everything was. In a way it reminded him of the mountains where he had gotten attacked as a boy. Beautiful, but often that beauty hid a danger. As he walked he kept his ear open to the sound of any threats he’d normally encounter. It almost seemed as if there wouldn’t be any reason for the surveillance he was giving his surroundings. Instead the walk seemed to be mostly quiet, or it was until he heard a scream.

Jack rushed toward the sound. He had his father’s cattleman revolver out. The old revolver packed plenty of punch, and it’d certainly saved his life more than once. He looked ahead and saw what looked like a cross between a lion, some kind of winged creature, and a scorpion moving down toward a cream colored mare. Her blouse had been torn open, she was holding an arm across her breasts, trying to back away from the creature, her two toned red mane looked matted on her head, and he wasted no time.

The revolver barked, letting a single forty-five caliber bullet soar through the air toward the creature. It struck, just right, to catch it on the shoulder. He saw it turn toward him, the easier prey forgotten, and instead it looked downright angry and mean. The mare took the chance to run from where she had been almost eaten, and Jack took the moment to see this creature for what it was. It easily stood eight or nine feet tall. There was no doubt in his mind that it could put up a decent fight with a Grizzly.

He fired another shot, his aim went straight for the head, and he walked toward the creature itself. It laid motionless, and he kicked it once to ensure that it was indeed dead. Hunting in Tall Trees had taught him that there was always another predator around. He quickly went to skinning the creature, making sure to take care of its pelt, and then he went to work on the meat. Hunting bears had long since taught him the correct way to take meat from the carcaruses, and this creature had a similar look to it.

He finished up, knowing that creatures near the forest line would finish off the carcass itself. He rolled up the fresh pelt, put the meat into some butcher paper he’d long since learned to bring with him, and he began moving toward the township itself. The school maram talked about a market place. There was a good chance that he could sell the pelt, and the meat, to one of the venders there. Perhaps there was even a butcher in the township that would want to purchase it.

He walked past the forest line, that the road seemed to near, and finally saw a town in the distance. The town itself seemed odd. He’d read stories from olden times, tales about England back a couple hundred years before, and some of these houses looked like that, but others looked similar to some of the old houses he’d seen in Tumbleweed, or even Armadillo. He heard whispering, several of the pony folk seemed to be talking to one another about him. One thing he’d noticed with the school maram, and with the mare he’d saved, was that they seemed to be on the shorter side. The school maram looked to be almost a foot shorter than he was.

That seemed to similar with all of the ones staring at him. He decided to ignore it, as best he could, and walked toward a large tree that had a door in it. The tree seemed to be alive, but someone had made a home out of it. Quickly he decided to put the thoughts of how this shouldn’t be right away. After all, he was in a world that had animal people, weird predator animals, and he just appeared out of thin air here along with part of an old abandoned town.

He knocked on the door, heard it open, and heard the sound of a mare frantically trying to say something.

“Roseluck, I understand that you were attacked by a manticore, but the idea that a pony that wasn’t a pony appeared and saved you is a little hard to believe.”

“Uh, Twi?”

“Not now Spike,” she replied, “What you’re describing sounds pretty farfetched. Have you been talking with Lyra again?”

“Twi, seriously, you need to see this.”

“Spike, I’m busy.”

The little dragon looked up at the creature that was looking at him.

“Twilight, you really need to come here.”

“Ugh! Roseluck, stay right here. Spike what do you ne….” she looked at the creature standing outside of the door.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she took in the being that Roseluck had described.

“I was told that I could come over here and find out ‘bout where I am.”

Author's Note

(AN: A new story?! What's this madness? I've been out for a while. Lots of IRL stuff going on, but I'm going to be updating and writing more, so look to see that.)