//-------------------------------------------------------// Rough Riders -by Star Shadow- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Meet the Rough Riders //-------------------------------------------------------// Meet the Rough Riders “Woo hoo!” cheered a yellow Pegasus stallion wearing a black leather jacket, with short brown hair, a dark brown fedora on his head, and a curled-up whip on his side as well as on his flank as his cutie mark. “This is one heck of a place! We gotta be sure ta come back sometime. Eh Iron?” he asked to the grey skinned unicorn stallion to his right before downing the last of his cider in one go. The pony he was talking to was currently reclining up against a barrel wearing the same jacket as his friend, with his sleek black hair unmoving in the wind due to the amount of product he no doubt used in it, and black sunglasses over his eyes, yawned before he answered. “Sure, Whiplash maybe someday, but today this place is pretty washed out.” “That’s because you guys practically wreaked the town having fun” muttered another unicorn stallion from his shady spot nearby on top of some boxes. He was pure white with dark blue hair, his bangs covering his left eye, and was wearing the same jacket. “Places would last longer if you didn’t go crazy your first thirty minutes there.” A laugh sounded up above the pony as a teal Pegasus stallion with spiky dark and light-yellow hair wearing the same jacket sat atop a thunder cloud as it drifted lazily through the air. “Where’s the fun in that Tombstone? You know that the funnest part of a party is the first couple minutes of it otherwise it’s not worth our time.” Another earth pony scoffed from his table across the square, where he was counting some bits, that the group was currently at. “Maybe that’s good enough for you Lightning Bolt, but some of us consider not being able to make any money before the place is wreaked a waste of time.” This pony was noticeably cleaner than his companions with his light green coat, light brown hair, and similar black jacket all in excellent condition. “If we don’t make any money in the next town then our cross Equestria trip will be over by the next town.” Lightning Dust groaned, plopping backwards on his thundercloud in annoyance. “You’re such a kill joy Con. Can’t you stop worrying about your bits for our trip and enjoy yourself?” “Yeah!” Cheered the sixth and final member of their group who had just popped out of a nearby shed with a running blow torch in his hoof and a welding mask on top of his head. His dark red coat was even darker thanks to the layer of soot covering his fur, his hair was a mess containing all the colors of a fire, and his own jacket was just as dirty as the rest of him. “If we run out of bits, then we can always scavenge for our food and water like real outdoorsmen! Eating bugs, getting sick from random berries, sleeping in a cave with a grizzly bear! It’ll be just like when I used to go camping with my family!” “Why, in the eternal name of Celestia, would you EVER sleep in a cave with a grizzly Matchstick?” asked Con. “Uh, maybe because shelter is super important when you’re lost in the woods” answered the soot covered pony. “You were lost in the woods?” asked Tombstone, in his regular uninterested voice. “Of course. Haven’t any of you ever gone camping before? You’re supposed to go deep into the woods without a map and try to find your way back before you starve. It’s really fun and we do it almost every year!” replied Matchstick with a toothy grin on his face. “So that’s where you disappear to every year?” said Whiplash. “I always thought that you just got sudden inspiration on a new explosive or something and locked yourself in your workshop” “Nope!” grinned the red stallion. “Though I would LOVE to think of something that would take me an entire week to make.” “We might have to make a shelter if you ever spend a week on something like that” stated Lightning. “Aww, you guys won’t be able to see the boom if you’re hiding in a box” whined Matchstick. “Speaking of boom. Is your new invention done yet Matchstick?” asked Iron. The red earth pony immediately regained his excited smile and ducked back into the shed, emerging a minute later with his saddlebags and blow torch out away. “Yup! I can’t wait for you guys to see these babies!” “Just make sure that you get the safe distance right this time. You nearly scorched off all of our hair last time” said Con, putting away his bits into a rather large bag before putting his own saddle bags on. “Now where’s the fun in that Con?” asked Iron, getting up from his place on the ground and stretching. “Save them for the next town though Match.” “Does that mean we’re finally leaving this dump Iron?” asked Lightning flying down from his cloud, but not before dispersing and causing it to release a lightning bolt that missed an unflinching Tombstone by mere inches. “Yup! Let’s role Riders” shouted Iron, as he and his friends took off down the road towards their next destination. Back at the town, a yellow pony with brown hair watched the group leave from his post on a bell tower and sighed in relief. “They’re gone everypony! You can all come back now!” he shouted. As the townsfolk began emerging from their homes, they gave a collective groan at the mess that the stallions had left behind before they began to clean up their home. Meanwhile a pink mare with darker pink hair approached the stallion as he left the building with the tower. “Figures those punks show up when our mayor is gone” groaned the mare. “Not like it would’ve done much good. Those ponies are crazy” stated the stallion. “Don’t you think that we should try to warn the next town before they get there?” asked the mare. “They could end up just like us otherwise.” “I wouldn’t worry about that” answered the stallion looking over in the direction that their “visitors” had gone. “Why not? You saw how they wrecked our home, so what’s to stop them from doing the same to the next one?” asked the mare. “Because the next town that they’re heading towards is Ponyville. As in, the Ponyville that Princess Twilight Sparkle lives in. If anypony will be able to get those guys under control then it’s her and her friends” stated the stallion. “I suppose your right” agreed the mare. “They’ve dealt with crazier things before I’m sure that they can handle a group of trouble makers.” With that the mare returned to helping everypony else in cleaning up the mess leaving the stallion to continue staring off towards the horizon. ‘Well, at least I hope she they can’ thought the stallion, suddenly lacking the confidence that he had a minute ago. Author's Note I've actually had this idea ever since I started watching MLP during Season 2, but I never really got around to actually doing it. Anyways, please let me know what you all think about the RR in comments and thank you for checking this out! //-------------------------------------------------------// Respect meets Rebellion //-------------------------------------------------------// Respect meets Rebellion It was a beautiful day in Ponyville as seemingly half of the town was enjoying their leisure time in the park, including Twilight Sparkle who was currently enjoying a good book beneath a shady tree. ‘Ah,’ she sighed, ‘it’s so nice to finally be able to relax for once. No princess duties, no friendship problems, mystical threat from over a thousand years ago returning to destroy Equestria. It’s just perfect.’ “Twilight!” shouted Spike in a panic. ‘Well, it was perfect’ groaned the alicorn as she stood up and put her book away into her saddle bag as the dragon approached. “Twilight, you have to come quick!” shouted Spike in breathless gasps as he reached the princess. “Slow down and tell me what’s wrong Spike” Twilight said calmly. “It’s the castle! A bunch of stallions just burst in and started wreaking the place. Eating all of the food, knocking stuff over, I tried to stop them, but they just ignored me” explained Spike. “Seriously!” shouted Twilight. “Who in the name of Equestria just bursts into somepony else’s home and starts messing up their house!?” The purple alicorn then teleported the two of them instantly to the castle’s foyer only to find that it was suspiciously quiet, but also a total wreck. “Oh my- “ The princess started to say before she cut herself off when a black haired, grey skinned, leather jacked and sunglasses wearing unicorn stallion entered the hall from the door to the kitchen chugging down the rest of a bottle of apple cider. “Oh, hey there princess!” he called, acting like they were old friends or something. “Was wondering when you were gonna show up? You weren’t here so we just made ourselves at home. That cool?” Twilight brought herself out of her shock and instantly became angry. “No, it’s not cool. Who gave you permission to just barge into my house and wreck the place?” “Well, it’s the duty of all princesses to care for her fellow pony, and since my brothers and I’ve got no where to stay while we’re here and you’ve got this huge castle with tons of empty rooms I’d say that it’s the least you could do for your humble subjects” said the stallion mockingly, taking an exaggerated bow at the “humble subjects” part before he looked back up at her from behind his glasses, dark blue eyes staring at her and a smug smirk on his face. “That’s ridiculous,” stated Spike. “there’s a hotel right down the road that you could stay in. So why don’t you and you’re friends-?” “No Spike” interrupted Twilight, with an annoyed sigh. “It is a princess’s duty to provide shelter to anypony who needs it.” “And seeing as how we’re broke and can’t afford a hotel” explained the stallion. “Well, I’d say we need it. So, if you would permit your purpleness I’ve got a hayburger and some onion rings I bought from that place down the road waiting for me in your dining room.” “Wait, I thought you said you were broke!?” shouted Spike. “Am now!” called back the stallion. “Wait, I don’t have a dining room” stated Twilight before she took off after the stallion in a panic. Upon entering the room he did, she saw that he was eating his food off of a deactivated cutie map while sitting on her chair. “Hey!” shouted the princess now seething with anger before stomping over to the still snacking stallion. “I don’t know who you think you are buster, but you don’t just get to sit on my throne and eat off of my map!” Receiving no response from him as he chugged down his milkshake Twilight was about to yell at him again when he held up a hoof to tell her that he’ll answer her in a second. Finally when he was done and let out a long and satisfied sigh he turned to her. “Sorry about that princess. The name’s Iron Ore, and let me just say that was the best milkshake ever! Woooo!” he cheered before teleporting off to another part of the castle leaving his trash on the map. Twilight yelled in anger before she teleported after him, leaving a newly arrived Spike alone in the room. “Geez, I’ve never seen anypony rude to a princess before. I wonder if his friends are just as bad as he is?” questioned Spike, before he started to clean up the room. The young dragon then realized something. “Wait, come to think of it I haven’t seen his friends since we got back. I hope they aren’t in Ponyville causing more trouble than Iron is.” - Meanwhile on the other side of Ponyville A charming little bell rang as the front door of a familiar dress shop opened. “I’ll be right with you~!” sang a dignified voice from upstairs. The pure white stallion who’d entered scanned the store’s front room before his eyes; or rather his one visible eye, stopped on a sparkling jewel encrusted dress that shown brilliantly in it’s expertly placed over-head spotlight. “Ouch.” Author's Note Sorry this chapter took a while to come out. Life happened and I wasn't sure exactly how to write this one. Anyways, this story takes place during season 5, so Starlight isn't in Ponyville yet. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please let me know what you think in the comments below. Thx!