The Good, the Bad and the Unfriendly

Homesteading: the act of going out and settling someplace new. Often on the frontier.

It had become more popular as of late with lots of people from the big cities trying to find a new home out away from it all, where they’d be living off the land and making a town of their home. Some did it to find opportunities they didn’t think they could find elsewhere. Some did it just cause they didn’t like the cities. And some did it just because their families and friends were doing it and they had to go along too.

It was going to be a hard life for a while, it always was, but these settlers had grit and determination. They were going to become people of the land surviving off of what they could catch and raise out there and just what they had brought with them in their wagons. It was a noble way of life and a tough decision to have made to pursue this life in the first place. City-slickers had respect for those hard folk that actually chose to leave the comfort and safety of the bigger cities to start something that may not succeed.

Everyone had heard of failed homesteaders, who either had to pack up and return due to their chosen home not providing what they thought it would or were harassed and terrorized by bandits until they left or died. More than just that there were boomtowns that shot up over night and then fell apart just as quickly when the mine or whatever else they were built around died up. You were doing something where the possibility of success was low in the first place and it would take maybe a generation or two before the town you were making really became a real home. It was a gamble. Homesteading was not an easy thing.

“Shining, are you listening to me at all?” Twilight Sparkle asked her older brother as he sat in the front of the wagon, holding the reins of the oxen leading it. She was frowning at him behind her glasses as she held one of the many books she had brought with her from her personal library back at their old home.

“Yes, Twily, I’m listening.” Shining Armor sighed and looked back at her. “You’re going on about how we shouldn’t have done this again?”

She narrowed her eyes and adjusted her glasses. “Yes. And I’m not wrong either, we had a perfectly good and quiet life back in Canterlot. Why are we becoming homesteaders?”

“Because our parents and all of our family friends got the idea to?” Shining sarcastically asked.

“That’s not what I mean! Of course I know that, but I’m asking why? Why are we doing something so dangerous and pointless?” Twilight Sparkle folded her arms over her chest and pouted, sitting on the floor of the wagon.

“Obviously our parents don’t see it as pointless. They wanted a town of their own away from the hustle and bustle of the city, they wanted to do something special. So here we are,” Shining shrugged. “Don’t you think it’ll be cool if it goes well? We’ll have our own town to our names. Something to pass down to our kids, a real accomplishment.”

“Unless we starve. And even if we don’t who’s to say the new town will be successful? We could be living a meager, subsistence lifestyle for the rest of our lives,” Twilight cynically responded.

“You’re being too pessimistic. There are a lot of people helping out with this and even Governor Mare is backing us a little. She wants to see this succeed too.”

Shining Armor had a point. Their wagon train was several dozen long, all made up of friends and other families who had left Canterlot behind. They had a lot of supplies and good people working together to make sure this homesteading venture didn’t fail. And Governor Mare was personally giving them her blessing, since she wanted to renew a lot of the hope in Equestria and faith in her. This homesteading was essentially an experiment to prove new towns could pop up and be successful, showing that Equestria was still safe and a country where the common folk could make a happy living. Twilight Sparkle didn’t believe that that goal should trump common sense and she certainly didn’t see why her family had to go along with it. She loved Canterlot, she loved the safety and security of it and she loved how she never had to leave her room if she didn’t want to.

Now being on the road in a dirty, smelly, rocking, wagon where she wasn’t even allowed to bring all of her beloved books on her attitude was getting worse and worse. Homesteading had not made a good impression on her.

“At least all your friends came with you too. Why not head back to Minuette’s or Moondancer’s wagon and have some fun with them today?” Shining suggested.

“Mrf...” Twilight merely grumbled and stayed seated where she was. “Friends” was maybe pushing it a little. They were just acquaintances or friends of her family in Twilight’s mind. Not that they hadn’t tried to get to know Twilight better and include her, she just… wasn’t interested most of the time. She’d rather be reading, even out here on the trail.

Shining Armor knew that reaction. He rolled his eyes. “Or you can just sit here and be miserable for the rest of the day until we stop and make camp for the night.”

Twilight clicked her tongue. “Fine. But if you see mom and dad tell them that I still want to talk to them about this whole homesteading business.”

“Hehe,” Shining Armor chuckled and reached back to pat Twilight on the head. “That’s my Twily.”

She grumbled at him but didn’t protest before moving to the back of the wagon and pulling open the flap. This gave her a grand view of almost the entire wagon train, since theirs was almost at the very front. Oxen and horse pulled wagons stretched a long distance behind her while numerous lone riders on horseback trotted alongside the trail. Here they were now, traveling south down an old wagon trail leading away from Canterlot and looking to settle someplace uninhabited that was still a good week away. In the middle of their wagon train there was also a small herd of cattle, those cows would be the lifeblood of their new home when they finally arrived. Twilight’s own wagon was mostly filled up with the bare essentials her parents had brought with them from their old house along with some memorabilia like old heirlooms. And of course everything needed to survive out on the trail like tents, tools, nails, dried food and other provisions, and Shining Armor’s guns.

Twilight Sparkle cringed internally as she thought of those guns, looking at the locked box on the floor of the wagon where they were contained. She hated guns. Hated the thought of violence, hated even when some of the homesteaders would go out and practice sharpshooting or go hunting. That was another thing she didn’t like about this whole adventure, she could ignore guns back in Canterlot but out in the wilderness they were a way of life. A necessity even. It wasn’t just for hunting it was for defense against bandits and ruffians—or even worse, a tribe of Buffalo Men. The outskirts of Equestria were plagued by Buffalo Men. At least that’s what Twilight had read anyways.

But at least she could promise herself one thing: she would never use one of those awful things. Shining Armor and her father could be the ones who used the guns in their house. They’d protect her. If they wanted to do this so badly and take her and everyone else out into a dangerous place then it was them who could do the defending around here too.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head and jumped off the back of the wagon—only stumbling slightly—and started walking down the road past the other wagons.

“Hey there, Twilight,” the driver of the wagon right behind hers said. He was an older man around her father’s age, big and burly with shaggy brown hair.

“Hi Joe,” Twilight smiled at him and waved. Joe used to run a small diner back in Canterlot, when he got news of this mission he leapt at the opportunity. Twilight honestly couldn’t fathom why, his place always seemed successful already to her.

“What are you up to, little lady?”

She giggled. And he was always very friendly to her and everyone else. “I’m going to meet up with Minuette and some of the others to see what they’re doing today.”

“Well enjoy yourself. I know it’s probably boring for girls your age to be traveling like this, you probably have about a million other things you’d rather be doing,” Joe chuckled.

An awkward grin twisted up Twilight’s face. “Just about...”

After wishing him well she kept walking back down the train. The wagons were going incredibly slowly since most of them were heavily loaded up and only being pulled by a couple of oxen each. She could’ve easily walked beside one and kept up with it if they were both going the same direction. She didn’t like walking out on the rough ground too much if she could avoid it though. A frown and a bit of discomfort and she looked down at her feet. Boots. Big brown boots. Not like the shoes she used to wear back at her real home. She still hadn’t gotten used to them and traveling over the rough ground out in the wild had left her with sore feet and blisters. Her father said they had to start wearing more practical and fitting clothes, Twilight didn’t really care about fashion but she still didn’t like having to switch out a lot of her wardrobe. She was used to wearing dresses, not jeans and flannel shirts. Of her “friends” it was only Minuette who had seemed to fully embrace this new lifestyle. She was always smiling and eager to help out with any work that needed to be done, she took to it well. Moondancer, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine were a little closer to Twilight, but still more optimistic.

Twilight took a deep breath and sighed, looking out across the wilderness briefly. At the moment they were traveling over a wide open plains but by tomorrow they’d be hitting a much rockier and hilly area. And soon after that they’d have to start pulling their wagons through the mountains. Thankfully they weren’t high enough to have snow or anything like that but it was going to be an even tougher journey than it had been already soon. Twilight Sparkle didn’t envy the oxen and horses that were going to be doing the heavy-lifting around here.

After a little more walking she made it to her destination for the day. Minuette and Moondancer’s wagons were the last two before the big herd of cattle in the middle of the train. The first week or so they had been out here Twilight was almost unable to survive the smell but she had gotten used to it. Constant exposure will do that to you.

“Hey, Twilight! Twilight!” An exuberant voice shouted at her.

Twilight looked up and saw the form of Minuette hanging out the back of her wagon, holding onto the canvas covering with one hand and waving at her with the other. Minuette was a pretty young woman with short blue and white hair and a smile that was almost infectious. Almost since Twilight Sparkle still held a blank face upon getting greeted by her. Minuette wanted to be friends excruciatingly badly with Twilight and to be frank about it, Twilight was more often just annoyed by her efforts. She appreciated Minuette’s friendliness but that didn’t mean she wanted to be stuck palling around with the ball of energy all day.

“Hi, Minuette,” Twilight said.

“You coming to hang out? Come on up! Everyone else is here already!” Minuette said.

“Yes, I’m coming up,” Twilight said and waited for the wagon to pass her by a little before taking the offered hand of Minuette and pulling herself up into the wagon.

She and Minuette plopped themselves down in the back of the large wagon and Twilight Sparkle found herself facing her group of fri—acquaintances. Moondancer was right across from her, an even thicker pair of glasses than Twilight’s own on her face, and wearing a white sundress. Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts were on either side of her, they were slightly more fortunate than Twilight, getting to at least wear pretty blouses over their pants. Moondancer probably got to wear her dress just because her parents were coddling her while they made the trip. It was an unfair thought for Twilight to have but that was just her cynical nature sprouting up again.

“Okay! Now Twilight’s here, what are we going to do?” Minuette enthusiastically asked everyone.

“Hi, Twilight.”

“Hi.”

“Good morning.”

The three other girls all said to her while Twilight smiled and waved back at them. She didn’t know what crazy ideas Minuette might have for them today, other days they had typically done stuff like cleaning up the wagons or doing the laundry with the other women, but today was more free. Since it wasn’t going to be a busy day they’d probably just end up playing poker together or one of the board-games Minuette had brought with her from home like chess or checkers. Unlike Twilight she was allowed to bring a number of more recreational things with her. That was a good thing though since it meant there was at least some entertainment on this dreary and difficult wagon drive.

“Come on, come on, let’s hear some suggestions!” Minuette said to the gathered girls.

“How about something where we don’t have to go running around the dirt?” Twinkleshine suggested. “You know I don’t mind it and I know we’re gonna need to do more of it in the future but for now can we just relax and talk in the wagon?”

“Actually I wouldn’t mind if we did do something out on the trail. I’ve always wanted to learn how to ride a horse,” Lemon Hearts said.

“What do you need to learn that for?” Twilight frowned and asked her. “When are you ever going to need to ride a horse, Lemon Hearts?”

The girl shrugged. “I dunno, just felt like it might be useful out here. And horses are cute.”

“Riding seems a little scary but I wouldn’t mind learning how to take care of them better,” Moondancer said.

“You’ll just have any boy that fancies you give you a ride, right?” Twinkleshine teased her.

Moondancer blushed. “W-Well I know I’m not the only one who’s thought about it!”

Now it was Twinkleshine’s turn to blush. The pink-haired girl fidgeted and started curling up her hair around one finger. “We are getting to that age where we should be getting married soon after all. Especially since now out on the range we’ll probably want to settle down as young as we can and have kids fast.”

“It was different back in the city where guys would court us...” Lemon Hearts sounded almost wistful. “Now we don’t exactly have anybody we can choose from, I think our parents are just gonna tell us who to marry and that’ll be that.”

The thought was not a pleasant one to Twilight Sparkle. Marriage and starting a family interested her even less than having friends. That was another issue she had with this homesteading business that she wished she could avoid. She barely knew any guys her age aside from her brother in the first place, the idea of being forced to marry someone who was practically a stranger and then have kids just to get their new town stable… it almost made her sick.

“There’s still Shining Armor~” Minuette said, wiggling her eyebrows at the other girls.

If they had been drinking anything the girls would’ve spat it out, instead they just sputtered while Twilight glared at Minuette.

“Let’s leave my brother out of this, shall we?” She said.

“Oh come on, Twilight,” Minuette grinned at her. “You can’t deny that your brother is popular. And still single. He’s going to end up marrying one of the girls from the wagon train, that’s for sure.” Her eyes flickered over to the other girls. “And why not have it be one of your friends? That oughta make things better, right?”

“Or awkward and embarrassing,” Twilight snorted. She then took a look around and noticed all the blushing on the other three girls’ faces. “You… you’ve all thought about this already, haven’t you?”

Moondancer started pushing two fingers together, averting her eyes from Twilight’s gaze. “He is really handsome...”

“And so gentlemanly,” Twinkleshine sighed.

“He’s always acted so strong and cool this whole time,” Lemon Hearts added.

Minuette’s grin widened as she raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “See?”

“Ugh!” Twilight threw up her arms in frustration. “You’re terrible! All of you!”

“Relax, Twilight. I’m just teasing. Your brother is really popular though,” Minuette put an arm around her shoulders. “Maybe we can invite him to eat with us tonight, hm? Instead of eating with just our families.”

Twilight gingerly picked Minuette’s arm off her and narrowed her eyes at the girl. “Not on your life.”

Minuette stuck her tongue out at her. “You’re no fun.”

A vein throbbed in Twilight’s forehead but she managed to contain herself. “Can we please just change the subject now? Why don’t we get to playing cards or something?”

“I’m up for that!” Moondancer said before the situation could escalate further.

“Me too!” Lemon Hearts said. “I want to try playing Old Maid, I really sucked the last time we tried it.”

“You can’t bluff to save your life,” Twinkleshine giggled.

“You’re hardly any better...”

The five girls played Old Maid together for quite a while, well past the time they should’ve broken to eat lunch. They just got caught up in it, even Twilight. Minuette’s father (who was out driving the wagon) at one point peeked his head back inside to check up on them and see if they wanted to eat but when he saw how much fun they were having he just smiled and let them carry on. On the latest round they were playing, Twilight was the one in current possession of the Old Maid and she was doing a rather terrible job of keeping that fact off her face.

“Oh no, which of these cards should I take?~” Minuette said with a melodic teasing quality to her voice as she hovered her hand above the cards Twilight currently held.

Twilight desperately hoped she would take the Old Maid and finally get that load off her back but it wasn’t to be—Minuette grabbed one of the other cards and Twilight was still stuck with the short end of the stick. After that the frustration was clear on her face.

“You have a terrible poker face, Twilight,” Moondancer awkwardly smiled at her.

“I’m well aware,” Twilight grumbled and frowned hard at her few cards left. It was now her turn to pick from Lemon Hearts, she hoped she could at least make a pair with some of the other cards she had in her hand. At least at this point things wouldn’t really get worse for her even if she didn’t. A useless card would just end up being another she could try and use to obscure the Old Maid with.

Twilight breathed in and out through her nose and without even giving it much consideration plucked a card out of Lemon Hearts’ hand.

Nothing of any use to her.

She groaned in annoyance and waited as the others went through their turns, this day of Old Maid was turning out to be very long indeed and Twilight Sparkle didn’t look like she was going to have a good record when it was over. Minuette was infuriatingly the best at it since she always had the same stupid smile on her face while Moondancer was generally okay and both Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were about the same as Twilight. This was how all their card games ended up going, and why the last time they had tried playing Poker Twilight almost threw the cards out the wagon. She’d rather have been reading anyways.

And as this game of Old Maid was finishing up she realized she’d still rather be reading.

Twilight ended up being the loser when Minuette made the perfect pick and left her with the Old Maid. She tried to not be too much of a sore loser but it was tough.

Now they were still a few hours before suppertime and Twilight was tired of playing cards. She was tired of hanging out with her “friends”. With the way the whole day had been going it was just making her dwell on her dislike of her family’s decision to homestead. There wasn’t a single good thing she could think about it.

“Maybe next time we can try Pinochle? Or Hearts?” Lemon Hearts suggested.

“I’d rather play a board game next time, I’ve had enough of cards,” Twinkleshine said.

Twilight could at least agree with that. “Me too.”

“So what then?” Minuette asked. “I’ve got a backgammon set, we haven’t played that yet.”

“I don’t know how to play that,” Moondancer said, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine also nodded along with her.

“Well me and Twilight can teach the three of you then.”

“Twilight and I,” Twilight corrected her.

Minuette rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah...”

“If you girls want to play some more you might have to do it tomorrow,” an older man’s voice said from the front of the wagon, it was Minuette’s father, peaking in again between the front flaps.

“What do you mean, dad?” Minuette asked as the other girls looked on at him, surprised by his sudden announcement.

“We’re stopping soon, Twilight’s parents rode through here while you were playing cards not too long ago, we’re forming up a wagon circle for the night and we’ll have a little party. Keep up the spirits and all that for the trip. Gonna be dancing too if you girls are interested in that,” he winked.

“Ooh, that sounds fun!” Twinkleshine said and clapped her hands together.

The other girls agreed, but not Twilight. They were going to spend hours getting every wagon together and that was going to slow them down a lot tomorrow morning. Did they really need to put on a celebration for no reason? Traveling to their new home was already going to take so much time. Now someone was going to pull out a fiddle and everyone would eat an excessive amount of food while drinking and dancing. If she was in charge they’d only be holding such a celebration when they actually arrived at their destination.

“You girls will help get everything set up, right?” Minuette’s father asked them.

“Of course, dad!” Minuette jumped up in the wagon and turned to the other girls. “Come on, let’s get out there and see what needs help doing. I bet we can help everyone round up the cows, or tie up the horses, or hitch the wagons together, let’s do it!”

Twilight didn’t share her enthusiasm, this was supposed to be a day lacking those kinds of things. Moondancer, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine obviously felt the same way but at least weren’t going to complain about it like Twilight probably would end up doing. Once the girls opened up the back flap of the wagon Twilight noticed that in the hours they had spent playing cards their wagon train had made sizable progress and was now in a fairly different area of land. A river ran by them to the west, probably one reason they were stopping here, and there were a number of trees for shade while the rest of the landscape was still flat and easy to travel over. Not only did it make a good place to park their wagons but they could see far in every direction so any possible attacks would be spotted quickly. It was something you always had to keep in mind out here.

Either way there were still a few hours left before the sun would set and they had to use that time efficiently. Twilight ended up working with the others to get the oxen to the river for a drink while the men on the wagon train rounded up the cattle and set up the wagons. A few were also kept on lookout duty. While the oxen from her family’s wagon were drinking their fill, Twilight watched a few young children run around playing with each other, she envied that kind of carefree attitude. They were allowed to do what they wanted to cause they were too young to help out. Meanwhile Twilight had to leave her books behind in the city and was now acting as a glorified ox-wrangler.

With how much work it took to do all that though the time flew by pretty quickly and the sun started to set. Fires were set up in the circle of wagons and people began to bring out their pots and pans to start cooking while everyone else could start dancing. Just as Twilight knew it would happen, someone brought out their fiddle and everyone started acting totally carefree along with the music.

“This is so dumb,” Twilight muttered as she walked among the huge crowd of people inside the wagons. Her future neighbors. Possibly her future extended family.

Shining Armor was setting things up over a fire and for the first time today, Twilight Sparkle saw her two parents as well. Night Light and Twilight Velvet were both with him, their horses now hitched up alongside their family wagon. Twilight Sparkle practically steamed when she saw them thanks to all the pent up anger she felt today. So many thing she wanted to just explode at them over, from the silly party being put on right now to the homesteading in general.

“Hello, mom, dad,” Twilight ground out as she stomped over to them.

If they noticed how annoyed she was they were ignoring it. Velvet just grabbed her up in a big hug immediately. “Twilight! Haven’t seen you all day!”

“How ya doing, little lady?” Her father asked her. “Have fun with your friends?”

Twilight grumbled and pushed her mother off of her. “Yes, it was fun.” She spat out and glared at her father.

Night Light rolled his eyes and motioned to Velvet and Shining to get the cooking started while he talked to Twilight. “You wanna talk about something?”

“I’ve got a few things I want to talk about,” Twilight sarcastically snorted. “I think I’ve been doing a decent job of holding myself back-”

Shining Armor bit back a laugh.

“But really, father, this whole homesteading trip is insane! I feel like I’m going crazy that so many people would just up and leave a great place to live to—to maybe just die out in the desert or something!”

“Twilight, I know you feel that way and I’m sorry you had to leave a lot behind in Canterlot but what we’re doing right now is important. And besides, you’ll be able to collect more books eventually in our new town once we get settled in. Why not just think of the opportunities to experience new things out here? You’re always reading up and learning everything you can, why not try and just get over it and realize you can do the same sort of thing while homesteading?”

“And what about possibly having to start a family?” Twilight folded her arms over her chest. “That kind of thing will inevitably get in the way of any studying and learning I try to do. I wanted to go to the Canterlot University in a few years.”

Night Light grimaced awkwardly and rubbed his head. “Well… are there any guys you’ve taken a liking to while we’ve been traveling?”

She glared at him. “So it’s true.”

“It’s an important part of starting a new home, Twilight. It’ll strengthen the bonds of everyone in the community and the town will grow.”

“Well let Shining Armor get married and have kids! For your information, no, there isn’t any guy I fancy and I swear you better not try and force me into anything!” Twilight shouted at him.

Night Light held his hands up in an attempt to calm her down. “Easy there, little lady. We’re doing something difficult here and we need to get along and work together. Besides, this is a party we’re having tonight, we should just be celebrating and having fun, alright? And you don’t need to worry about anything. I wouldn’t force you into a marriage you didn’t want.”

“Thank you...” Twilight’s anger slipped away a little but she still wasn’t exactly happy.

“Come here,” Night Light sighed and wrapped his daughter in a hug. “I know its tough and it seems unfair to you, but at least we’re all here together.”

“Yeah...” Twilight nodded and slowly lifted her arms up, returning the hug.

“That’s my girl,” Night Light smiled. “Now let’s eat and see if you can’t have some fun dancing.”

Twilight grimaced at the thought of her actually dancing. “I wouldn’t count on that.”

Despite her anger and nearly melancholic state she had been in earlier in the day, Twilight was able to at least quiet down and have a nice meal with her family. They were using some of the salted meat they had along with carrots and potatoes to make a thick and rich soup. It was a heartier meal than usual and they were allowing themselves bigger portions tonight. All part of the celebration. Along with that came bread and butter, and even something that they only had a little bit of right now—honey. Twilight Velvet was able to bring the best out of everything they had and it made for a great supper tonight.

Now despite the rest of her family’s wishes she really had no desire to dance. The fact she couldn’t and didn’t know how to dance was only the part of the reason for that. So in the end she slowly drank down her stew while she watched others in the large circle of wagons start to dance around the various fires and in the open areas. Minuette was dancing around from group to group, not with any one guy or anything but just dragging anyone along she could to make things more festive. Twilight looked over to Moondancer’s family and was pretty sure she saw Moondancer glancing at Shining Armor for a split second before looking away. That was starting to annoy Twilight, she looked around for Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine and saw them doing pretty much the same thing, making her grit her teeth. She did not want any of her “friends” to become her in-laws.

“Why don’t you go out and dance with someone, Twilight?” Shining suddenly asked her.

“Why don’t you go dance with one of your admirers?” She bit back at him.

“Admirers?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, her big brother was as oblivious as ever. “Never mind.”

Their parents weren’t quite so oblivious though and Night Light clapped his hand on Shining Armor’s shoulder. “You really should get out there too, son. Let Twilight eat for now. I know there are plenty of gals who would love to dance with you. Like...” he scanned the crowd of people. “How about that nice Minuette girl? You get along with her don’t you? And she’s one of Twilight’s friends.”

Twilight nearly spat out some of her stew before angrily looking out at the dancing Minuette and glaring at her, not that she noticed.

“She’s coming around here, it’d be perfect,” Velvet said.

“Well alright, I don’t exactly mind,” Shining Armor awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “I wasn’t sure if it would be right to dance with my little sister’s friends or anything but okay.” He raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “Are you okay with it?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight ground out.

When Minuette did show up around their fire, Shining Armor waved to her and called her over. The blue-haired ball of energy greeted their parents and said hi to Twilight too before Shining Armor took her by the arm and started walking away with her. It was funny since she was actually probably the least interested in him from her group of friends but it didn’t make it any less aggravating.

“Have fun,” Twilight growled to his back when he was out of earshot.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go out and join him?” Velvet asked her. “You don’t have to find someone to dance with, you can just have fun by yourself.”

“That would be even more embarrassing,” Twilight muttered as she watched Shining Armor dance hand in hand with Minuette. With a few glances to some of the other fires in the wagon circle she saw Moondancer, Lemon Hearts, and Twinkleshine all watching the dancing pair intently. And there were probably a lot of other girls who were watching with just as much interest and envy too.

Twilight Sparkle instead just decided to eat some more stew and bread right up until the moment her parents finished and also joined in on the dancing. Then she was left all alone by their campfire. Probably intentionally by her parents to make her feel awkward so she would willingly get up and come dancing too. But that wasn’t going to happen, even if one of the guys from the wagon trail saw her here all alone and asked her to dance she was going to say no.

Shining Armor spun Minuette around as she laughed and giggled, they were dancing much faster and more energetically than most people out there. It wasn’t very romantic looking, just fun. Minuette probably wasn’t really interested in him like that. Or she was just being considerate of her friends who she knew were. After a couple minutes more of dancing, Twilight believed her assumption was right when Minuette led Shining Armor over to Moondancer. Moondancer was a bit shy but with Minuette’s urging she started dancing with Shining Armor too.

“Of course,” Twilight said and rolled her eyes. Another glance at Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine now showed them eagerly awaiting their turn while Minuette came over to talk to them.

So now Twilight indeed had to enjoy watching her big brother dance with all her “friends”. She wanted to hop back into the wagon and grab something, anything, to read by the candle light. Maybe a guide on all the poisonous spiders, scorpions, and snakes out in the wild so she had something else to criticize this ill-conceived homesteading trip over.

She sighed as she thought about all her books. If there was no getting out of founding this new town than at least she was going to promise to herself that one of the first things she would do there would be to establish a library. Her parents could do the ranching or farming or whatever they planned for their family to do, Shining Armor was probably going to become sheriff, so she could be the town’s librarian. That at least make things somewhat bearable. It was possibly a pipe dream though since for at least the first couple of years everyone was going to have to work hard and work together to get the essentials up and running. Things like making sure you had a working well with plenty of water, renewable craps, and healthy enough cattle. Not to mention all the construction.

Twilight Sparkle nearly cried as she looked with downcast eyes towards the ground. Her whole life, everything she wanted, seemed like it was slipping away from her.

The following morning she was woken up by a rough hand jostling her shoulder.

“Twilight? Twilight? Wake up.”

The young girl shifted about in her shaggy blanket before grimacing and blinking a few times, looking up at the source of the voice. Her vision wasn’t every good without her glasses on but even then she could still easily make out the appearance of her big brother. What was he doing inside her tent? She remembered last night turning in for bed earlier than most of the others.

“Shining? What is it?” She asked him and then yawned.

“We’ve got something to do today, come on and try to get up,” Shining told her.

Twilight yawned again and frowned, rubbing her eyes she sat up, clad in a purple nightgown. Her right hand reached for the spot she had put her glasses in and found the case after a few attempts. When she finally put her glasses on she noticed a few things that were unusual. It was still dark out, she could tell through the thin canvas of the tent, and Shining Armor was not only fully dressed in his work clothes already but he was holding some kind of tightly wrapped sheet under his arm.

“Are we getting back on the road early?” Twilight asked. It was usual for things to begin at the crack of dawn or soon after so everyone could make the most of the day, but it looked like Shining Armor had woken her up earlier than that.

Shining Armor shook his head. “No, and actually we’re going to stay here and rest for another day, fill up on water and give the horses and oxen another day.”

“Oh,” Twilight frowned, thinking this journey had taken long enough already. Her eyes drifted to the sheet Shining was holding. “So what are we doing?”

He looked at her with a serious expression and took a deep breath. “I’m going to teach you how to shoot a gun.”

Twilight gawked at him. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am,” he nodded. “It’s something long overdue.”

Despite her disbelief and protests, Shining Armor still made her get up and get dressed and they started a short hike out from the wagon circle into the wilderness around them. Light from the sun was peaking over the horizon and giving them enough light to see and by the time Shining Armor felt they had gotten to a good spot it was practically dawn already. It was somewhat chilly this morning but not windy and Twilight was thankful for that small favor.

“This is stupid, I don’t want to learn how to shoot a gun, I hate guns! What do I need to learn to shoot a gun for?” Twilight complained to her big brother.

“Really, Twilight? You know as well as I do that it’s important.”

“No—I know guns, as much as I hate them, are important. Me being able to shoot one is another matter entirely.”

“Because you can never be sure,” Shining frowned at her. “There are tribes of Buffalo Men, the Shadowbolt gang, and all kinds of other criminals out there. It’s better to be safe than sorry, Twilight.”

“I always just figured you would protect me...”

“And I will. But there’s always the chance that I might not be around or it’ll be too much for just me to handle. That’s why you need to be able to protect yourself too. Do you understand?”

She glared at him. “Yes, I understand.”

“Don’t be like that, you know I’m right.”

“Right?” Twilight’s teeth clenched. “What’s right is that I shouldn’t even be in the situation to be having this conversation! I am not going to pick up one of those things and start shooting—anyone or anything! You’ve always been the one who liked guns, and once we started doing this you said you’d take charge of protecting the wagons and the settlers. If you want to teach someone else how to shoot and defend themselves then teach Minuette and the rest of my friends!”

Twilight stiffly turned around and made to march off but she was stopped by Shining Armor grabbing her wrist. “You’re being immature, Twilight.”

“I’m not like you!” She shook her wrist out of his grip. “I’m not taking to homesteading and living out of Canterlot like a fish takes to water like you!”

“And that’s why I’m trying to help you!” He said, a little more forcefully.

“That’s not the kind of help I want. I want to retain at least a shred of normalcy and familiarity with my old life,” she said right back to him.

Shining Armor stared hard at her but she refused to back down. Eventually he sighed and lifted his free hand to his face, dragging it down his eyes in weariness. “What am I going to do with you… mom and dad aren’t going to be happy with the way you’re acting.”

“Well that’s their own fault,” she snorted.

A small smirk tugged at Shining Armor’s lips. “One thing that hasn’t changed about you because of this trip is how strong-willed you are. That’s still the same.”

And she couldn’t help a small smile from appearing on her face either. “And my big brother is just as caring and protective as ever.” She stepped forward and hugged him affectionately, something he was happy to return with his one free arm.

“Thank you,” he rubbed the small of her back and sighed. “So then… I was thinking instead we could meet in the middle?”

Twilight looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Meet in the middle?”

He nodded. “I wont make you hold or shoot any guns yourself, but I want you to watch me practice with mine, I’ll show you how they work and how to use them. Just in case something bad happens. Are you okay with that?”

Twilight frowned but eventually she nodded too. “I’m okay with that.”

“Good, let’s get started then, we’ve got a long day ahead of us,” Shining Armor patted her head and separated from her, finally unfurling the large sheet he had been holding with him. It rolled open to show three different rifles all strapped to it along with several pistols.

Twilight paled the moment she saw them all.

“Don’t be scared right off the bat. A gun on its own can’t hurt you, there’s nothing good or bad about it, remember that.” Shining Armor told her.

He laid the sheet out on the ground and pulled out the large rifle at the top, showing it off to Twilight. If she had held it it would’ve looked almost comical thanks to her height and thin frame. She wasn’t even sure if she could’ve held it properly.

“This is a Flim & Flam Model 1A Supreme. It’s the best long-range rifle on the market right now. Truthfully I would think you’d prefer learning how to shoot a rifle compared to a pistol since that forces you to be up close and personal but with this you might never have to even see the face of whoever’s attacking us.”

The thought of that made Twilight’s stomach turn. “R-Right...”

“It’s good to have a pistol on you too though. You can carry it around or even hide it much easier and it’s better for if someone manages to sneak close to our wagons or breaks into our new home whenever we’ve made it,” Shining Armor said. “Right now though I’m going to go over every mechanism of this rifle with you, okay? I’ll find something out here to fire at too once it’s a little brighter.”

“Okay,” Twilight nodded.

He smiled. “Good you still love to learn new things too.”

The next hour was essentially lesson time for Twilight Sparkle as Shining Armor went over everything he knew about guns and how they worked. He showed her each part, the name for everything from the stock to the barrel, how some of them were loaded in different ways for other, and he even told her how much each cost. Twilight did like to learn new things so she tried to be as academic about it as possible. It was her best way of coping. The last gun he showed her was a small pistol that would’ve fit near perfectly in her hand, in fact because of that she frowned up at Shining Armor.

“You bought that pistol specifically for me, didn’t you?”

He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “I knew we were going to have to do something like this at some point on the trip. I wanted to be prepared. I wanted you to be prepared.”

“Since you only did it because you’re considerate I’ll let it slide,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “But I’m still not touching that gun.”

“That’s fair, like I said we’re compromising today.”

“So what do I need to learn about the revolver then?” She raised an eyebrow as her eyes peered over the small six-shooter Shining Armor was holding.

“You aim it at the person you want to shoot and pull the trigger,” Shining Armor said. “The revolver is made to be the ultimate equalizer and it’s simple and easy to use. Just make sure you’ve got at least one bullet in the chamber.”

“Very detailed.”

“I already taught you how guns work and everything, with the revolver you just need to hold it extra steady since you aren’t bracing it against your shoulder. But it’s light so with two hands that shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“If I ever shoot it in the first place.”

He chuckled. “Yeah. If.” With a yawn he put the pistol back in the sheet and grabbed his long rifle again. “Okay, but now I’m going to show you what shooting one of these is like.”

As Twilight gulped, Shining Armor looked out across the wilderness to find a worthy target. The sun had come up and bathed the world around them in its light. Now Shining had to find something noticeable both before and after shooting it out here.

After a minute of looking, he saw something.

“Alright, look out there, Twilight. Follow where I’m pointing,” he said and pointed out at something in the distance.

Twilight had to squint but she indeed saw something that was a little more colorful than the rest of the surrounding wilds a few hundred feet away. It was a dot of pink on top of something green that stood a few feet off the ground. And the well-read Twilight Sparkle was fairly sure she knew what it was. There was only one naturally occurring thing out in these plains that would have that color combination.

“A cactus flower?” She asked him.

“Yep, that’s it,” Shining Armor smirked. “I’m going to shoot it right off the top of the cactus.”

He leveled his rifle and steadied himself, Twilight watching him the whole time. Shining Armor first took a couple of deep breaths and squared his legs to brace himself while holding the rifle firmly so the kickback would do next to nothing. Already he was strong and used to firing guns like this, were it Twilight they both would’ve been worried that firing a rifle or shotgun would knock her on her behind. He squeezed one eye shut and lined up the pink flower that was barely more than a speck at this distance perfectly with the sights of his rifle.

Shining Armor held himself still there for a second longer to make sure everything was just right. Then with a simple squeeze of his finger he pulled the trigger.

Twilight winced at the loud sound of the rifle being fired, she blinked and held her hands up to her ears right as it happened but once she took them down and looked out at the cactus she saw no more pink flower atop it. Shining Armor’s aim was true.

“Well, it’s not too difficult to hit a stationary target. It’s different when they’re moving and returning fire. But still,” Shining Armor said with a grin on his face.

Twilight Sparkle didn’t return it. The gunshot was nearly deafening and frightening to her. “I still don’t like guns.”

In two days they had reached the mountains Twilight had known they were going to be traveling through soon. It was certainly an event to watch the oxen struggle to pull up some of the heavier wagons, a few men had to get out and help push them up until they were over the first incline. Now the whole train was going through the mountain pass, curving through the rocks and past the cliffs. Their new home was somewhere on the other side of these mountains and every homesteader was eager to reach it.

She sat on the side of the wagon’s bench, next to Shining Armor, while her parents rode along on horses next to them. It had been a quiet morning so far and Twilight had spent the time looking at whatever caught her interest. Currently their wagons were traveling close by a fast paced stream that poured from a spring higher in the mountains. She wouldn’t want to swim in there since considering the geography it most definitely ended in a waterfall somewhere down the line.

Twilight Sparkle blinked and looked up at her brother, there was something about his attitude today that was making her nervous. He was wary. And so were her parents. A couple of things had happened earlier in the day that set them and a lot of the others in the group on edge. Even though so far the trip through the mountains had been quiet and uneventful.

“Shining?” She asked, despite knowing he didn’t want his attention divided. “Are you really worried right now?”

“Mm,” he grunted for a second as he kept his eyes on the trail in front of them and occasionally looking at the rocks and ridges to the right of their wagon.

“Is it because of those tracks earlier?”

When they had gotten to the top of the ridge, Shining Armor had noticed fresh horse tracks in the dirt overlooking it. Wild horses were a possibility but unlikely—it was more likely that the horses that had made these tracks had riders. There were a good deal of them and they would’ve been at a good enough vantage point that they could’ve been watching the wagon train coming for hours before the wagons would’ve been in a position to really see them. Shining, Night Light, and a few others had taken it as a sign that they might be being watched even now. And in a place like this you had to assume the worst if you wanted to survive. Which meant Shining Armor believed that an ambush was coming some time sooner or later.

He nodded his head but didn’t look to her. “And things are just a little too quiet here for my tastes. Do you hear any animals? Or really anything at all besides that stream?”

“No,” Twilight shook her head, a shiver of fear running through her.

“I don’t want to scare you Twilight but I think something bad is going to happen today,” Shining Armor reached over and put a comforting hand on her leg.

“Outlaws? Buffalo Men?”

“Can’t say right now—but if I had to guess I would say Buffalo Men. Your average group of outlaws doesn’t have the manpower to take on a wagon train our size.”

Twilight gulped. She, every girl from the cities, had heard horrible stories of what the savage Buffalo Men did. Especially to girls like Twilight. She knew some of it was probably just fear-mongering but she never wanted to be in a position where she could find out for sure. Even if Shining was wrong that still meant it could be something as bad as the Shadowbolt Gang going after them. But there were so many men here protecting the wagon train, they had a lot of guns, would outlaws really risk attacking them?

“I hope I’m wrong, Twilight, I really do, but I’m not taking any chances,” Shining said and looked over at his parents, who both had rifles holstered on their horses. “Neither is anyone else. I want you to go back to my gun box and bring me the Iron Will Repeater Rifle I showed you yesterday—and take the revolver for yourself.”

Her eyes widened. “But-”

“Don’t argue, Twilight.” He sharply looked at her with a glare in his eyes. “Not now. This is serious. Get plenty of ammunition for me and fill up your pockets with some too.”

She meekly acquiesced to his demand and went back to the box that held his guns sitting in the back of the wagon. Twilight Sparkle was smart enough to realize this was no time for talk. Opening it up she was able to quickly grab the rifle and revolver, despite how foreign and just plain wrong they felt in her hands, and returned to the front of the wagon. Shining Armor laid the rifle out over his legs—barrel pointed away from Twilight sitting next to him of course—while Twilight was forced to keep the revolver. It shook in her hands and it was hardly because of the vibrations of the wagon. The cold lead inside her jeans weighed against her leg, making her feel awkward.

A single glance down at the revolver showed that it was already loaded too.

A loaded gun. She was holding a loaded gun. Were it not for the situation she were in she might have fainted as her mind finally processed that fact.

Things were too quiet for her to focus on anything else now too. The other wagons were mostly bereft of noise and the riders on horseback that guarded and scouted around the wagon train were mostly keeping close and forming a perimeter. By this point they were probably about midway through the mountain trail with nowhere to really turn to. Who knew what the rocks around them concealed.

“I want you to get back in the wagon and stay there for now, Twilight. I don’t want you out in the open,” Shining told her.

“But you’re going to be staying out in the open...”

This time he did offer her a tiny smile. “Because I’m the one protecting us, remember?”

“I… I know. I’m sorry about some of the things I said yesterday. Be careful, please.”

“I will. You know me.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled at him and turned around to go back into the wagon right as an arrow shot between them and embedded itself into the bench. She froze up but Shining quickly knocked her back over the bench and into the wagon.

“Get down!” He yelled as a hail of arrows came at their wagon, some from the front and others at the side by the ridge. The wagon was peppered by them, some tearing through the canvas cover and landing in the floor of it right around Twilight.

She heard screams and gunshots begin to erupt from across the rest of the wagon train. A battle was breaking out after the initial attack from their assailants. Twilight’s eyes drifted over to one of the arrows now stuck in the wagon and she fearfully gulped. Buffalo Men. No one else would be using arrows to attack their wagons. That was made even more obvious when she heard the yelling and battle-cries that were well known to be used by Buffalo Men mix into the other noises. Against her better judgment, Twilight sat up and looked out of one of the newly torn holes in the wagon’s canvas.

It was chaos. There were dozens of Buffalo Men up on the ridge raining arrows down on the wagon train while warriors with tomahawks were riding down it on horseback towards the wagons. She saw numerous men and women she knew riding their horses and returning fire up at the archers and trying to shoot any of the others before they got close, but already there had been casualties. There was Joe, lying on the ground with a number of arrows in him, and others Twilight only vaguely recognized. Still, there were far more dead Buffalo Men already—but the Buffalo Men also clearly outnumbered them greatly.

Their bronze skin and painted faces overwhelmed the ridge and their shouting drowned out everything else. Twilight hadn’t even realized she had been holding her gun in a white-knuckled grip until it started to hurt, then she looked down at it and only fear kept her from throwing it away. A shout and then a sequence of gunshots came from Shining Armor and Twilight watched a Buffalo Men’s head split open like a watermelon while he rode his horse down the ridge. He fell off it like a rag doll while his horse bucked around in fear and Twilight nearly threw up inside the wagon.

She watched as her parents rode in front of their wagon, trying to keep the oxen from getting spooked by the arrows coming at them and the loud noises. Her mother had her rifle leveled and was firing off at the archers up above them.

Twilight Velvet’s attempts at protecting the wagon train were cut short when an arrow embedded itself into her horse’s neck. The pained spasms of the beast knocked Velvet free of the saddle and onto the ground—hard—and the horse went down soon after. Night Light went to help his wife and Shining Armor jumped down from the wagon too. Meanwhile more Buffalo Men were coming down the ridge, some even on foot, hooting and hollering as Twilight Sparkle watched her family in danger.

Another wagon pulled up alongside theirs and Twilight saw Minuette’s father out in front, the entire wagon train must be in chaos if he had driven it up here, while Minuette laid across the bench next to him. Twilight’s eyes widened in shock as she thought the worst at first but then she noticed an arrow was merely sticking out of Minuette’s right forearm. She was deathly pale and bleeding but as long as she got some medical attention soon she should be okay. Unfortunately in her father’s haste he had driven into a wasp’s nest as Buffalo Men started encircling his wagon. This distraction allowed Shining Armor to help their mother into the wagon, but Night Light wasn’t going to leave Minuette’s family out to dry. He whipped his horse’s reins and galloped over to them, pulling a pistol from his hip and shooting any Buffalo Men who got close to the wagon.

“Twilight! I said get down!” Shining Armor yelled at her and tore her away from the side of the wagon.

“But dad-”

“But nothing! Get down and look after mom, I’m getting this wagon moving!” He said and went back to the bench outside the front flap.

Twilight slid over to her mom and held her up, finding a blanket for her to rest her head on. “Mom! Are you alright?”

Velvet weakly nodded and smiled up at her daughter. “Yes… just hit my head a little when I fell.” She reached up and pinched Twilight’s cheek. “Don’t you worry nothing about it.”

It didn’t do much to assuage Twilight’s feelings, not with everything else still going on outside. The noise was cacophonous and she still heard screams of terror and pain mixed in with the gunshots. Suddenly the wagon lurched as Shining Armor whipped the oxen into a frenzy, making sure they were going as fast as possible. She could feel the wagon weave around the one in front of them, riding closer to the river to try and put some distance between them and the ridge and make it harder for the archers to shoot them. Shining Armor was still looking out for them.

She heard more gunshots and the yelling of Buffalo Men mixed in with the galloping of horses towards them and she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped it would all be over soon. Twilight had never been so scared or felt so helpless in her life. What was the point of this gun she was holding?

Shining Armor shouted from the front of the wagon—something was happening and Velvet knew it too. One of the wagon’s wheels hit a large bump and knocked the two women around in the back and then they heard one of the oxen scream.

What happened next for Twilight Sparkle was terror.

Something crashed into the side of the wagon as Shining Armor tried to make it sharply turn and the entire thing flipped over onto its side. Twilights Sparkle and Velvet flailed around inside as the wagon crashed and all their boxes and belongings went everywhere, something hit Twilight in the head and she went temporarily senseless even as she continued to tumble about. Everything was vague for her after that for a little while. She heard things breaking, shouting, more gunshots, and a ringing in her ears. She ended up crawling on her hands and knees on the… dirt? Had she fallen out of the wagon?

Twilight looked up in a daze and realized she was facing the river only a short distance away. The noises of everything else besides the ringing in her ears was still muffled and she had to blink a few times before the world totally came back into focus. What she saw when she looked back towards the wagon, the trail, and the ridge, snapped her back to reality as a knife of fear plunged into her heart.

Her mother was on the ground by the destroyed wagon, unconscious with blood dripping down her face, and their oxen were dead. Fighting was still going on around the other wagons and Twilight couldn’t even count how many dead Buffalo Men there were.

But that isn’t what concerned her at the moment. Even her father’s whereabouts didn’t concern her at the moment.

The thing that truly horrified Twilight were the two Buffalo Men standing over her brother.

He was out just like their mother and he couldn’t defend himself, one of the Buffalo Men, holding a knife while the other held a tomahawk, grabbed Shining Armor by the hair and lifted his head up. His knife went to the top of Shining Armor’s forehead, right under his hairline, right under his scalp. And Twilight Sparkle’s pupils turned to pinpricks as she realized what he was going to do to her brother.

Something else grabbed the attention of her eyes just then. Her gun was lying on the ground, just right there an inch away. She looked from it back to Shining Armor, the knife was right at his skin and ready to cut in. There was no time for thinking. Thinking might have been Twilight’s strength, but she didn’t have the time to think about how much she hated guns, or how many nights of sleep she would lose over killing someone, or the nightmares and depression that would plague her. She had to save her brother.

The gun was snatched up from the ground as Twilight turned around, still just on her knees, and aimed it at the Buffalo Man. The benefit of being such a good listener and observer was that single good lesson from Shining Armor was really all she needed. The gun was loaded, she was holding it steady, the barrel was aimed at her target’s center of mass, the sights were dead on, and all she had to do was cock the hammer and pull the trigger.

When the gun fired she hadn’t been expecting the kickback to be so strong—combined with the loudness of it and the shock from it and Twilight Sparkle ended up accidentally dropping it. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut at the same moment it fired too. Did she hit the Buffalo Man? Had she saved her brother?

Twilight opened her eyes and saw her brother still lying on the ground with a discarded knife by his head, the Buffalo Man who had been holding it was collapsed against their wagon with a bullet hole in his chest that blood flowed freely from. The other Buffalo Man was shaking him, crying out his name in their foreign language, before his eyes turned to Twilight. She realized then looking upon him that he was clearly the brother of the man she just shot. Rage gripped his features as he jumped over the still form of Shining Armor and ran at her with his tomahawk in hand.

Twilight Sparkle had barely enough sense left to get up and run, but run she did. She screamed in terror as she scrambled to her feet and just ran, sadly forgetting about the gun on the ground. The Buffalo Man shouted after her and for the first time Twilight was thankful she wasn’t wearing a dress.

The problem was the stream going through the mountains was right in front of her, Twilight wasn’t a strong swimmer and it was going too fast, she’d never be able to get across it. All she could do was keep running alongside the river, over the rocks and through the brush, hoping she could outrun her pursuer. She knew that was unlikely. She wasn’t out of shape but she wasn’t used to running either, meanwhile he was a Buffalo Man warrior who was used to traveling over terrain like this. Twilight didn’t want to think about it, she had to just keep running.

It was a gruesome death that awaited her if that Buffalo Man caught her. Twilight blinked and suddenly found tears pouring out of her eyes.

Why? Why? Why? She thought to herself over and over.

It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair. How many people she knew back there were dead? Was Minuette okay? Was her father?

“This stupid trip...” Twilight sniffled as her feet carried her as best they could over the ground.

Unfortunately unknown to her the raging stream curved slightly and was about to cut her off up ahead. Twilight didn’t know this and while still running at full speed almost ran through some bushes and then fell into the river. She stopped herself just in time at the ledge and teetered there, surrounded by rocks with nowhere to go. She frantically looked around for someplace to hide or escape to but there was nothing for her.

Turning around as she heard someone charging through the bushes she saw the Buffalo Man emerge with tomahawk still in hand.

“Please… don’t,” Twilight choked out, holding her hands up for mercy.

He didn’t care. With a mad yell he raised his tomahawk over his head and charged at her. His face was like that of an enraged monster to Twilight, she had never seen such raw anger before.

Naturally she took a step backwards to try and get away from him, forgetting in her fear and haste that there was nothing left behind her. Twilight’s foot slipped off the loose soil of the embankment and she started to fall backwards right as the Buffalo Man reached her. Right as he was bringing the tomahawk down at her head she fell away from him and his missed swing and momentum carried him off the ledge with her. Despite him grabbing onto her and practically tackling her they became separated from each other once they hit the rapids of the water.

Twilight was disoriented once she fell into the water, her glasses were washed off her face and she flailed about in the quickly moving stream as she struggled to try and get her head above the surface. She knew how to swim but she had only ever done so before in calm pools back in Canterlot. The way the water was carrying her and beating her down, throwing her around, she was worried she would drown before she managed to do anything.

She thought she felt something brush her leg, the Buffalo Man maybe trying to grab it, and she accidentally opened her mouth in a panic and water rushed into her lungs. Her panicked struggling grew but she wasn’t even sure if she was facing up or down. The strong current was treating her like a doll.

At last her head bobbed up out of the water and Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath of air. She was saved for now, choking and coughing as she was, but things weren’t over for her yet. She didn’t have the strength to fight the current and swim out of the river and she knew other hazards were soon approaching. Regardless of whether the river had rocks in it that she might get smashed up against, or the Buffalo Man catching and drowning her, she knew a waterfall was coming up. Probably not a big one but it was coming and there was noting she could do about it.

Twilight tried to float as best she could, the one benefit of a waterfall coming up was despite the current getting faster the water was calmer at the same time and she was able to keep her head up.

But so was someone else.

An angry scream came from behind her and Twilight was just barely able to look to see the Buffalo Man also floating along in the river, just a person’s length or two behind her. Twilight screamed and tried to weakly paddle towards the side of the river but things were moving too fast and she couldn’t even really get into form. Up ahead the river seemed to vanish into thin air and the sound of raging water smashing into itself began to drown out the other sounds of the world.

Twilight knew she was about to go over it, her eyes squeezed shut tight and she took a deep breath. The next thing she knew she was tossed over the side with the water carrying her down.

It was only about a twenty foot fall before she ended up in the lower portion of the river but the force of the fall pushed her underwater again when she landed at the basin of the waterfall. She somehow managed to hold her breath and began to swim back up to the surface, the current not as strong down here, and tried to reach the side of the river so she could pull herself out to safety. The edge of the river was muddy and she felt her feet start to drag against the dirt and pebbles on the bottom of the river. Before long her knees hit mud and she could start crawling out of the cold water, desperately panting and gasping for as much air as possible.

She was a sopping wet mess but she was alive and she wasn’t about to stop and rest here either. Twilight crawled on her hands and knees until she was fully out of the river. The wagon trail should’ve been somewhere ahead of her, if she could find it she could start traveling back up it and-

A gasp bellowed out from behind her and Twilight looked to see the Buffalo Man pulling himself out of the river as well. Twilight turned over, dragging her tired body away from him while he stared her down, the tomahawk unfortunately still in his grip. She didn’t have the strength to get up and run, but he had enough to stand. Furiously glaring down at her he started walking through the mud towards her. Twilight wanted to beg for mercy again but she couldn’t speak, she only cried as the warrior came forward to kill her.

The Buffalo Man stood over her and raised his tomahawk up, with a single swing he’d split her skull in two.

Twilight closed her eyes and hoped it would be quick-

A gunshot rang out and she opened her eyes again. Looking up into the face of the Buffalo Man she saw he had gone crosseyed and a trail of blood was dripping down from a hole in the middle of his forehead. His arms went slack and the tomahawk fell out of his grip before his body collapsed backwards into the mud.

Twilight laid there, panting hard, before she finally managed to look behind her.

A lady was standing there with pistol in hand, she had come out of the brush by the trail. She was tall with alabaster skin and a beautiful flowing green, pink, and blue hair. Twilight Sparkle could only blink. Was she dreaming?

The lady walked up to her and looked down with a reserved but still concerned look on her face. “Are you alright?”

Twilight was too shocked to respond, she only dumbly looked up at the lady’s piercing eyes.

“I heard gunshots and came to see what it was, but things are quiet now. What happened?” The lady asked.

“W-Wagon train...” Twilight finally managed to say. “We were attacked by Buffalo Men.”

The lady peered down at her for a second longer, as if seeing something in Twilight’s eyes. “I see. Were you traveling with your family?”

“Yes,” Twilight nodded, thoughts of Shining and her parents shooting through her mind.

“Do you want me to take you back to your wagon train? I was going in that direction anyways.”

“B-But what if-”

“I’m sure your family is fine,” the lady confidently stated and offered out a hand to Twilight to help herself up.

Twilight was still breathing heavily but she took the hand and pulled herself up on wobbly legs, using the back of the hand she tried to wipe away some of the tears around her eyes. “Thank you...”

The lady smiled and turned to walk back towards the trail. “Come on, let’s go.”

Twilight caught up beside her and looked up at the tall lady. “Um, what’s your name?”

“It’s Celestia. And you?”

“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia’s smile dropped for a second as she reached a hand up to feel around the length of a golden necklace around her neck, before the smile returned and she glanced down at the young girl. “Let’s go bring you back to your family.”