Old Frontier: Pony Style

I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Ever hear the theory that there are an infinite number of universes parallel to your own. The ponies in Equestria, they really don’t believe in that stuff. They, however, don’t realize that there is a universe so closely resembling their own, that they actually have perfect counterparts in that universe. The only difference is that there is a lot more violence, corruption, and problems in that universe that some ponies wouldn’t think possible. That universe is currently in the time periods they call the old frontier or Wild West. This is a tale of how one unicorn banded together with 5 other ponies to try and stop the horrors of their world. The only thing is that to solve the problems, they must delve into the problems themselves.

Twilight Sparkle was sluggishly trotting down a barren road as the blistering sun was hammering down upon her. Her surroundings included dirt, sand, dust, and little blades of grass struggling to break through the ground. Miles away on her left, and too far away to give her shade, there were rows of mountains. On her right side was a perfect view of nothing, the same perfect view in front of her. All she had was the duster coat she wore, her holster that carried her double-action revolver, a fedora hat that was not doing a great job protecting her from the sun, and her saddle bag. The bag contained a hunting knife, a canteen that had been recently drained of its contents, a box that had been licked clean of its food, a tinderbox, and 5 hard covered books, 3 of which were recently purchased. As Twilight continued her ordeal, an inner voice started to speak to her.

‘You just had to buy those books, didn’t you?’ it said ‘you just had to spend your last couple of bits on them instead of getting a carriage to the next town.’

Twilight growled irritably. “How was I supposed to know that those folks back in that town weren’t good with distance? They told me it was a hop skip and a jump to the next town!”

‘Still doesn’t justify spending your bits on those old books,’ the voice shot back.

“These books are classics and they were selling them at a cheap price. It would have been a crime not to buy them.”

‘I hope they were worth dying for.’

"I am not going to die here!"

‘Please, you been walking for hours, haven’t eaten in two days, and your out of water in this Celestia forsaken land. Yeah, I can see clear skies from here onward. Your luck is so great right now; you’ll probably be attacked by bloodthirsty bandits.’ it finished with a sarcastic note.

“You know what; I’m done talking to the likes of you!” Twilight shouted, somewhat pleased that she just told off her inner voice.

‘The fact that you were even talking to me in the first place proves my point, you’re screwed!’ and the voice went silent.

Twilight was now fuming that she was beaten by her own imagination and trudged on, although knowing that her inner voice was probably right.

After another hour or so of torture, her surroundings changed. The mountains have now disappeared and were replaced by small hills closer to her. Her road seemed to have led her to a nice pasture with a group of trees not far from her on her right side.  Twilight was now getting off the road and headed to the shady trees, deciding to take a short break. She was debating whether to eat some of the grass from the pasture, her survival instinct telling her to get some nourishment while her pride said they aren’t in that bad of a situation. In the end, pride won. As she was a mere foot or two from the shade, she collapsed. Moaning, Twilight turned so she was lying on her back and shooting daggers at the sun. ‘Stupid sun’ she thought viciously, ‘Of all the days president Celestia decided to raise the temperature to a 1,000 degrees, it just so happened to be the day I was stuck in the middle. You know what I think, I think you just turned up the heat for me’ Twilight’s paranoid/insane side of her was now creeping up ‘You just did this just to mess with me huh?’

“Well it’s not going to work.” Twilight now began to speak aloud and in a crazed tone. “You know why, because I’m gonna beat you now in your little game. You know how? I’ll tell you how; by blacking out.” Twilight laughed half triumphantly and half insanely before blacking out

Screaming, screaming everywhere. Houses on fire, fillies crying out for their parents, parents crying out for their children, gunshots everywhere. Two stallions arguing viciously amongst all the anarchy, then one stallion hit the butt of his revolver to the other one's head, turned quickly, grabbed his younger sister by her collar, hoisted her on her back, and ran, ran from all the chaos. The little sister now saw the whole scene, and tears ran down her cheeks and she yelled.

“NOOOOOOO!” Twilight woke up screaming, which was then followed by a frightened squeal, a bowl of soup dropping on the floor on the floor, and a now frightened mare rushing out of the room. Twilight was breathing heavily from her nightmare and it took a few seconds to get her bearings.

She was laying on a comfy bed with a blanket over her. She was in a rather large bedroom with walls painted blue. On the left side of the room was a rocking chair with all of her belongings, a small mirror, and a cabinet. On the foot of the bed was a large chest. The wall in front of her was covered with pictures and portraits. Above her was a lantern with was not being used since the window to her right told Twilight it must be early morning. The most bizarre thing by far was on her right side which included a dresser and the door out of her room. The door gave Twilight a view of a frightened mare.

“Oh…… hello” she said quietly.

Twilight just waved her a hoof and gave an awkward smile. The two ponies stared at each other in awkward silence for a minute until the strange mare spoke.

“Are you O.K?”

“Yes.” Twilight responded, not really sure what to do. Twilight then spotted the spilled soup and decided to clean it since she inadvertently made the mare drop it. As Twilight took off the blanket and swung her leg, she instantly felt woozy. The mare, seeing this, swiftly rushed to Twilight and gently pushed her back into bed.

“Don’t worry about that, you just lay there and rest while I go get a mop.”

She whizzed through the door and then was back with the mop and a bucket. As she was cleaning the soup up, Twilight studied this mare more closely. She was a Pegasus with a yellow coat, a pink mane that covers one of her eyes, which were blue, pink tail, and a cutie mark of 3 butterflies. After the Pegasus finished cleaning up, she left and returned with a fresh bowl of soup.

“Here you go,” she said kindly, “You look like you haven’t eaten in days.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said as she drank a spoonful. Twilight had never thought soup could be this good and realizing how hungry she was, she forgot the spoon and lifted the whole bowl to her mouth and drank deeply. Twilight smacked her lips and decided to ask the big important question.

“Can I have seconds? And also, who are you and where am I?”

“For the first question, of course you can, as for the other questions, my name is Fluttershy and this is my home.”

Fluttershy then picked up the bowl with her mouth and went to refill it. As Twilight was waiting for more of the heavenly soup, she studied her surroundings more closely. The room itself was very well kept, not a bit of dust as far as she could see. The room was also very organized, as though no one has moved in inch of it in years. Twilight was now focusing on the photos on the wall. The most prominent of the photos was actually a portrait which had 4 ponies in it.  The oldest one was a male Pegasus that screamed masculinity. He had a muscular build with handlebar mustache, a haircut that looked like a perfect square, a gray coat, piercing blue eyes, and wearing a dark orange uniform that she recognized was military. The other stallion was also a Pegasus, but a lot younger. He had long brown hair and a golden mane. He had blue eyes too and was also wearing a dark orange military uniform. The 3rd of this group was a mare with a light yellow coat and had pink flowing mane and kind green eyes. She was wearing a nurse’s uniform. The final member of this little group was a newborn filly. She was a spitting image of the older mare, but with blue eyes. Twilight knew that little filly was Fluttershy, while the stallion and mare were most likely her parents. The older Pegasus might be her grandfather.

“Here you go.” Fluttershy said after returning with a new bowl. Twilight was now taking her time with this bowl, savoring it.

“Thank you, by the way,” Twilight said in between spoonfuls.

“Don’t mention it, there is more if you like,” Fluttershy said sweetly

“Not that, thank you for saving my life.”

“Oh… well don’t mention that either.”

“But I must,” Twilight insisted “I could have died out there.”

“No really, it’s just who I am,” Fluttershy turned to the portrait “My parents and grandpa always said to help those in need.”

“How did you find me anyway? I didn’t see any town near here.”

“We are a small community here, but we’re growing quickly. In a couple of month, we will probably be a bustling town. As how I found you, I was out in the pasture with the cows as they grazed when I spotted you, on the ground and mumbling.”

“Mumbling?”

“Yes, you were mumbling something like ‘I outsmarted you, you troll.’ Who is troll? Is that pony a friend?”

“Oh that, well that was just the heat getting to me.” Twilight said, embarrassed.

After a couple of minutes of pleasant silence, Fluttershy said “Well, I should get started on the chores, if you would like more soup; there is a pot full in the kitchen.” Then she turned to the door.

“Wait,” Twilight said, putting the empty bowl aside. “Let me help you.”

“Oh no,” Fluttershy said concerned. “You’re still too weak.”

“I feel fine,” Twilight said as she got out of bed. Her head suddenly felt woozy, but she didn’t show it.

“You don’t have to do that, you need rest.” Fluttershy insisted.

“Don’t worry about me.” Twilight said, now out of the room and into the hallway.

“Well, O.K.” Fluttershy responded uncertainly. As they walked down the hallway, Fluttershy kept shooting nervous glances at Twilight, as though expecting her to drop from exhaustion. Meanwhile, Twilight was looking around the house. The hallway was spacious enough for Fluttershy and Twilight to walk side by side. There were doors along the walls to other bedrooms, 3 rooms on each side. The thing that dumbfounded twilight was the occupants of the rooms. Instead of family members, they were injured animals. In one room was a cow with a broken leg, and in another room were a couple birds with sprained wings. After the hallway was the living room, containing a coffee table in the center, with two sofas, and a wooden radio nearby. There was a door leading outside, a doorway leading to the dining room on her left side and stairs leading upstairs.

Twilight opened to the door to a shaded porch and she was surprised by what greeted her. Fluttershy said this was a small community, now that seems like an understatement. There were at least 14 other houses or small cabins, and the street was currently bustling with activity. There were fillies and colts chasing each other, mares watching the children playing and conversing with each other, and stallions pulling carts around. In the middle of the community were a crowd gathered around something Twilight couldn’t see. The things she could see were a sheriff’s office, a general store, and what seemed to be a small clinic. Twilight also noted that the town was mostly filled with earth ponies and a few pegasi, no unicorns. A large barn was right in front of Fluttershy’s house, which had to be the biggest and fanciest house here.

“And you said this was a small community,” Twilight said in a half dumbfounded and half awed voice.

Fluttershy grinned sheepishly. “Well I did say we were growing.” She turned left and to the end of the porch which had stacked bags, from what Twilight tell, of animal food. “My chores are taking care of the animals here, since it is my special talent. Now, don’t go caring more than you can carry,” she added in a somewhat stern and pleading tone.

“Don’t worry about me.” Twilight responded as she lifted 3 bags with her magic. “I got this.”

“Oh, right.” Fluttershy had forgotten Twilight could use magic. Fluttershy then hoisted two bags on her back and walked to the barn with twilight at her heel.

“So,” Twilight decided to start a conversation while they walked “Does this ‘small community’ have a name yet?”

“We call it WellSpring, since there is a large underwater spring, hence the name and the well is in the middle of town.” Fluttershy pointed to the crowd of ponies and now twilight had a better view of it. There was a well in the center of town and she noticed that all the ponies were carrying large buckets of water.

They reached the barn, but didn’t go in it. They went around it and stopped at the back of the barn, where Twilight saw had lush grass and a couple of cows and sheep conversing. Fluttershy opened the back doors of the barn and called out in a sweet voice. ”Come out my little critter friends, time for breakfast.” She stepped aside as a stampede of animals came rushing from the barn door, with bowls in their mouths, ready to feast.

“So which animal gets what?” Twilight said as she looked amongst all the hungry mouths.

“This food is a special mix I created, it is both tasty and healthy for all animals,” Fluttershy answered as she poured food for a rabbit and dog from the same bag.

Twilight followed her lead and started pouring the food, which looked like colorful vitamins. As she poured the food, twilight spotted a couple of things. She saw that some of the animals were a weird addition to a farm. She saw some eagles, gazelles, ostriches, snakes (which she kept her distance from), cats, ferrets, squirrels, dogs that looked more like wolves, and tortoises. She also saw that each animal’s bowl was monogramed with what she presumed were their names.

After about 5 minutes Fluttershy said “Hey, where’s Jamie?” She went to the barn door. “Jamie,” she called out. Next she said “Oh there you are. Where you over sleeping again?” she said in a fond voice.

Twilight turned from feeding the critters to look at this newcomer. What she saw made her heart stop, drop the bag, and reach for her revolver, which she left back at the house. Fluttershy was currently scratching the ear of a huge, menacing looking manticore! Twilight was then sprinting to Fluttershy, ready to levitate her with magic and getting out of there. As she was doing this, the manticore did something that left Twilight very confused; he gave a frightened cry and was then cowering in fear. Fluttershy then saw Twilight running toward with her horn glowing and she cried “WAIT!” Twilight skidded to a stop and was left with a confused stare.

“Don’t hurt him.” Fluttershy urged.

“But…but…but,” Twilight tried to find a way that say what she wanted. Reaching a decision, she said “How? Manticores aren’t supposed to be this far west, and why isn’t he ripping us to shreds?”

Fluttershy comforted Jamie first before answering her question. “It was a year when I found him. He was all alone and hurt pretty badly. I managed to get him better, but he didn’t know or was too afraid to go back to wherever he came from. So, I have been taking care of him for this whole time.”

“Do the villagers know about this?”

“Yes, it took a while to persuade them, but they grew to love him as much as I do.”

Twilight doubted that anyone could love a ferocious beast as much as Fluttershy, but she didn’t voice it. As Twilight took a step forward, Jamie went back to cowering. Twilight suddenly had an idea of how the manticore got here. No doubt someone wanted to sell the manticore fur and claws on the black market. It would explain why the manticore was so beaten up when found and why he is so traumatized.

“It’s O.K., Twilight won’t hurt you.” Fluttershy was trying to calm Jamie again. She then turned to Twilight. “Do you think you could scratch his ear? He likes it when I do it and he might trust you more.”

Twilight was still apprehensive of the beast, but she nodded. She raised her hoof to scratch the ear, but was a little too sudden that the manticore flinched.

“Could you go a little bit slower?”

Twilight nodded and she raised her hoof in a slower motion. When she reached the year, she scratched it softly. Jamie’s ear perked up and he was purring.

“Aw, I think he likes you now,” Fluttershy said as Jamie started to nuzzle Twilight. Twilight was now smiling. Who would have thought she would ever be nuzzled by a manticore? After another minute, all the animals finished eating and were now frolicking around the grassy area. Twilight and Fluttershy enjoyed watching the playful critters.

“Amazing,” Twilight finally said

“Yes, the animals are amazing,” Fluttershy said, smiling fondly at the animals.

“Yeah, and you too.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you really are amazing Fluttershy. Not only are you great with animals, you are no doubts the kindest pony I know. You nursed a manticore back to health when any other pony would have left it to die and kept him, even though they are notorious. Then you saved my life, a total stranger who was armed, and showed me great hospitality. You really are amazing.”

Fluttershy was now blushing furiously after the huge compliment. “Oh, I’m not that amazing,” she said feebly. Twilight simply smiled and continued to watch the animals. After a while, Fluttershy turned and walked off to the streets and Twilight followed.

“Are there any more chores?” Twilight asked

“Not at the moment. Would you like a tour of the community?” Fluttershy offered.

Twilight grinned, “Even more hospitality. If I didn’t know any better, I could swear you were seducing me.” Fluttershy face was now beet red. Twilight giggled. “I’m only joking; yes I would like a tour.”

“O.K.”  Fluttershy said, still blushing. And so the two mares trotted on, not knowing what the coming hours would bring.