Old Frontier: Pony Style

          As the carriage ran pass the desert landscape, Twilight and Fluttershy were passing the time by looking out in the window. Fluttershy was enjoying the change of scenery after years of living at WellSpring while Twilight was enjoying not being outside and slowly roasting in the sun. After 20 minutes of scenery, Twilight leaned back on her seat and took out Robinson Crusoe from her saddlebag and began to read. After a couple minutes of silence, Fluttershy spoke up.

“So what’s the plan?”

Twilight looked up from her book and said, “Well, the first thing to do is see what I got to work with. What did you bring for our expedition?”

“Well, I brought some food, a canteen of water, spare clothing, and a box of ammunition.” Twilight looked at either side of Fluttershy and asked, “Ammunition for what?” Fluttershy swung the thin package she was carrying from her back and began to reveal the contents of the package. In it was a Henry repeater in amazing condition.

“Wow,” was all Twilight was able to say, “That must have cost you a pretty bit.”

“Actually, this was my father’s rifle. He bought while in the war. He gave it to me when I inherited the house of my grandfather and moved to WellSpring.”

“So you know how to use it?”

“Well, kind of. My dad tried to teach me when I was younger, but I was never excited about shooting anything.”

“So I got to teach you how to use a firearm; at least that’s one less thing to plan out.”

“After you trained me to shoot, where are we going Twilight?”

“We’re going to Coltifornia.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock, “Coltifornia?!? That’s so far west.” Twilight took Fluttershy’s surprise for nervousness and said, “Listen, if you don’t want to tag along, then it’s O.K. I’ll take you back to WellSpring.”

“No,” Fluttershy said quickly, “it’s not that I’m scared, I was just surprised. I want to go so I can grow. I don’t want to be the pony that runs from anything scary. I want to be stronger and have more confidence in myself, and the  way to do it is to go with you.” Fluttershy said this with such determination that Twilight felt inspired to grow too.

“O.K then, let’s go show Equestria what we’re made of.” Twilight and Fluttershy then hoof-bumped, with Fluttershy only wincing slightly in pain.

Eventually the carriage began to slow to a stop and the two mares stepped out. After a quick “thanks” to the carriage drivers, they turned to look at their first stop. They were standing on a long road with buildings on each side and other ponies walking. Twilight and Fluttershy trotted down the road, seeing the buildings that were either houses or small businesses. They kept walking, seeing the other ponies interacting with each other, until they reached an intersection. To their right was an open space were the town grew their food, to their left was the sheriff’s office, and straight ahead were other carriages and the train tracks. The corners of the intersection had a tavern, store, doctor’s office, and the general post office.

“What do we do now Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, looking around.

“First, we go to the post office” Twilight answered and the two entered the building. Inside were 2 long tables with ponies in suits sitting on one side while ponies that were sending mail were on the other side. Along the right wall were 6 windows that ponies go to receive mail. Twilight headed to one of the windows.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle” she said to one of the clerks, “and I would like to receive a package.”

“Please show identification to receive package.” The clerk pony said in a monotone voice. Twilight used her magic and levitated a sheet of paper and showed it to the clerk. He read it and his eyes widened as he read it.

“My apologies Ms. Sparkle for being an inconvenience,” he said in a slightly less monotone voice. “I will retrieve your package immediately” and he sped off.

“What was that about?” Fluttershy asked.

“I just showed him my I.D.”

“Twilight, who exactly are you?”

Twilight thought for a moment, trying to think of the most appropriate words, and said, “I’m a reporter.”

“Who are you reporting to?”

“The president.”

Fluttershy gasped, “Wow that must be a great honor. What do you report?” Twilight was saved from answering when the clerk returned.

“Here it is Ms. Sparkle. The package arrived 5 weeks ago.” After hearing of Twilight’s occupation, Fluttershy was expecting the package to be something extravagant, but it was a small, plain, cardboard box.

“Thank you and have a nice day.” Twilight said as she took and opened the package. Inside was a bag containing bits, and a box containing ammunition for her revolver. Twilight put both items in her saddle bag and turned for the door.

“Um, Twilight, why would the president send you bits and bullets” Fluttershy inquired as the two left the post office.

“The bits are my payment. The bullets are my insurance. Now that we got my package, we start your training.”

“O.K,” Fluttershy said enthusiastically, “what do we do first?”

“We go to the tavern.” Twilight said and Fluttershy stared with questioning eyes.  The 2 mares entered the tavern. The tavern was mostly filled with small tables and chairs. In the back, there were stairs leading to rooms upstairs and next to the stairs, somepony was playing upbeat music on a piano. The right side was packed with the counter with stool. Behind the counter were racks of drinks and the bartender, who was currently cleaning an irritating smudge on a tankard. Twilight walked up to the bartender.

“Excuse me sir, but where do you keep your empty bottles?”

“Outback” he grunted.

“Do you mind if I take some?”

“Knock yourself out kid” he said, not taking his eyes off the smudge.

Twilight thanked him and stepped outback, with a confused Fluttershy on her heel. Outside, Twilight levitated two crates of the empty bottles and proceeded to walk to the outskirts of town.

“What are we doing out here?” Fluttershy said as they were now a good distance away from the town. Twilight opened one of the crates and levitated 3 bottles at once.

“Here is your first lesson: shooting. I’m gonna levitate these bottles and you try to shoot them with your repeater.” Twilight then drew a line on the ground and walked a couple of yards from Fluttershy.

“Don’t cross the line. Now, are ready?”

“Yes”

“Ready, aim, fire!” Fluttershy fired and missed. Her grip was too loose since the repeater went sailing from her hoofs. Fluttershy scrambled to retrieve her rifle. As she thrust the lever forward, preparing for the next shot, Twilight noticed doubt forming in her eyes.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy,” Twilight called, “it was just a bad start.” That bad start turned into a bad session as Fluttershy emptied her entire magazine and could not get a shot. The cause was obvious to Twilight; Fluttershy’s doubt has made her a terrible shot. Fluttershy slumped to the floor as Twilight went to her side and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. All you need is more training.” Twilight said. Fluttershy merely whimpered a response. Then Twilight thought of a good idea. She took her revolver from her holster and handed it to Fluttershy.

“Here, use this. It’s much easier to handle than the repeater.” Fluttershy looked at the gun, but wouldn’t hold it. Twilight got impatient and grabbed Fluttershy’s hoof, placed the revolver on her hoof, brought Fluttershy up to her feet, and levitated the 3 bottles.

“As your teacher, I’m not letting you give up after your first try. Now, get ready,” Fluttershy held out her hooves and gripped the revolver, “aim,” Fluttershy aimed, but not whole heartily, “and fire!” Fluttershy pulled the trigger, and as the bullet traveled through the air, Twilight sneakily aligned it with the bottle. The bottle then shattered and Fluttershy’s eyes went from doubt to shock.

“H-how did… did I do that?”

“You sure did,” Twilight said smiling, “now try again.” Fluttershy pulled the trigger again and Twilight realigned the bottles again. Fluttershy was now beaming with pride. For the third bottle, Twilight didn’t do anything and Fluttershy still hit her mark. She was now giddy with excitement.

“Twilight, did you see that? This is so… so,” Fluttershy couldn’t think of a way to express her feelings, so she just said, “yay,” in the softest and cutest voice Twilight ever heard. They spent the entire morning practicing Fluttershy’s marksmanship. Twilight no longer needed to move the bottles, as Fluttershy, with her new found confidence, was able to hit every single one.

“O.K, I think that is enough for today,” Twilight said as another 3 bottles shattered, “I want to start your next lesson as soon as possible.” Fluttershy nodded, to busy smiling to respond. Twilight held out her hoof for her revolver, instead she received the henry repeater. Twilight looked at the gun with wonder.

“If you don’t mind,” Fluttershy said, “could I, maybe, use your revolver. I feel a lot more comfortable with it than the repeater.”

“Wow, this is a really good weapon. Are you sure you don’t want to use it, I mean, it was your father’s gun.”

“I’m sure he won’t mind if I let someone like you use. Here,” Fluttershy took a small ammunition box from her saddlebag, “let me show you how to use it.”

“That’s O.K,” Twilight said. She took the box and loaded 3 bullets into the magazine. She then lifted the last 3 bottles with her magic, and took them out with deadly accuracy and quick precision. She turned to Fluttershy, whose mouth was gaping, with a somewhat smug smile, “I know the basics to using a repeater.”

The mares returned to the town and were currently leaving the store. They had bought bullets to replace the ones they used in practice, two apples that they were currently eating, and another miscellaneous item.

“Um, Twilight,” Fluttershy said as the two were turning right and walked down the road, “why did we buy 5 yards of rope?”

Twilight tossed the last bit of her apple into her mouth and said, “That is more lesson number 2: money-making.”

“Are we going to get jobs?” Fluttershy asked as she ate her apple.

“That would take too long. We need to get quick money and since gambling is too risky, we are going to the next big thing,” Twilight stopped in front of the sheriff’s office and pointed to a bulletin board next to the entrance, “bounty hunting.”

Fluttershy was eating the last bit of her apple and began to choke once she heard the news. Twilight gave her a hard smack on the back.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy coughed, “but Twilight, isn’t bounty hunting really, really dangerous?”

“Only if you’re after high profile bandits,” Twilight walked up the steps of to the bulletin board and took one of the flyers, “These posters have information on minor criminals, from petty theft to assault. The sheriff is usually busy dealing with bandits so he would need an extra hand to deal with the small fries.”  She handed the flyer to Fluttershy and started to trot off. “The poster contains the name of the criminal, an image, the crime he or she committed, any location that they might be in, and the price on his head. As part of your lesson, please familiarize yourself with the flyer. Now, tell me the details.”

Fluttershy scanned the photo, an earth pony with a dark green coat and gray mane, and read the details aloud, “His name is James Jenkins, he owns a shack about half an hour from hear,”

“Great, that must be where he is. Please continue reading.”

“It says that his bounty is 20 bits. Wow, that’s a lot, I wonder what he did?” Fluttershy read below the bounty to see the crime and gasped.

“Twilight,” she said in a nervous voice, “Jenkins has 2 counts of attempted murder!”

Twilight shrugged that comment off, “Don’t worry about it too much, the sheriff wouldn’t put any really dangerous bounties on the board; if you want those bounties, you got to ask for them in person. Now,” Twilight turned to Fluttershy dramatically, “let’s ride.” And she rushed down the street and out of town.

“Wait Twilight,” Fluttershy yelled, putting the flyer in her bag and running after her, “you’re going the wrong way!”

After a little over half an hour, the 2 mares arrived in a clearing that was slightly in the shadow of a small mountain. There were large boulders all over, all sunk deeply in the ground. The only other thing around was an old shack, with what looked like kitchen utensils hanging from an awning. The two of them stopped a couple of feet from the door.

“Alright,” Twilight said, “There are many different ways to deal with getting the wanted pony, but for today we’ll deal with the simplest.”

“Which is what?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight turned to the door, quickly ran to it and knocked 3 times, and backed away in a single bound.

“The simplest is to knock and back away because 80% of the time, the culprit would slam the door open and try to get in a cheap shot.” The next second, the shack door slammed open.

“See, I was right,” Twilight said with a smile and turned her head from Fluttershy to the now open door, “alright Mr. Jenkins, come out with your hooves up hi-“ She stopped when a pony stepped out the door and her eyes widened with surprise. She quickly turned, grabbed Fluttershy by the waist, and threw her and herself behind one of the sunken boulders. As they were falling, the ground they were standing on exploded as James Jenkins fired his double-barrel shotgun. Twilight took a small peek around the boulder and saw their target. Jenkins’s mane was filthy, no doubt he has been living here for a while, and he looked unsteady, as though he was going to topple any moment.

“Who’s out there?” he said, slurring his words and Twilight groaned.

“What is it?” Fluttershy said in a slightly panicky voice.

“The only thing worse than an armed bounty is a drunk, armed bounty. Those idiots are so unpredictable. “

“So what do we do now?” Fluttershy said, her voice going slightly higher.

“Normally, I could take him out from where we are, but this is your lesson, so,” Twilight looked around and saw another boulder that would provide great cover a couple of feet away. She pointed to it, “I’m gonna go there, get his attention, and you take him out.”

All the panic Fluttershy was hiding was now completely obvious, “I can’t Twilight,” she said in a shaky voice, “I’m too nervous. And besides, you can easily incapacitate him out with the repeater.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Twilight then proceeded to take the repeater from her back and handed it to bewildered Fluttershy, “I could take him out if I had it, but I don’t have it now, do I?” Fluttershy tried to think of a new argument, but Twilight put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, “Don’t worry Fluttershy, I know you can do this because I believe in you.” Twilight then ignored Fluttershy’s pleading eyes and ran to the other boulder, narrowly being hit by buckshot.

“Get off my property!” the drunken pony yelled. Twilight noticed he was still staring at Fluttershy’s boulder, so she popped her head from cover and shouted, “Hey Jenkins, I’m right here! Or are your eyes bad as your aiming?!?” she then ducked as bullets soared over her. As this was going on, Fluttershy composed herself slightly and took out her revolver. She aimed with trembling hooves and took a shaky breath, and then she fired. The bullet soared true, if she was aiming for the open sky. Twilight resisted a groan and said, “It’s O.K Fluttershy, just nerves.” Jenkins, still standing by the door, turned to Fluttershy’s direction and Twilight stuck her head above from cover again.

“Hey! I thought we already establish that I was here, or do you really need a map for 20 feet?!?” and she ducked again. Fluttershy emerged from her cover and fired again. This time, she hit one of the walls of the shack. Jenkins, however, ignored this as all of his attention was on the purple thorn on his side.  He reloaded his gun and then he took a shaky step forward.

‘Oh no, now he’s moving’ Twilight thought, ‘this is not good.’

'Was it a really good idea to leave your life in the hooves of a terrified Pegasus?' The voice was back, and it was not happy.

‘Shut up!’ she thought-told it, ‘Fluttershy can do this.’ She took a peek above the boulder and immediately ducked, though was not fast enough as her fedora was shot off her head.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy cried, “Are you O.K.?!?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Twilight said, her heart going a couple miles per hour. Jenkins took a couple of steps toward Twilight.

“O.K,’ Twilight thought, ‘now we have a problem.’

'Are you just figuring that out?' the voice said, 'The only chance you have of survival now is in the form of a trembling Pegasus.'

The voice was wrong. Fluttershy has stopped trembling after seeing Twilight almost bite the dust. She breathed deeply and aimed. Her hooves were slightly trembling, but her eyes were full of determination. She fired and the bullet soared over Jenkins’s head. Then the bullet somehow hit a pan hanging from the awning, ricocheted off the pan, and hit Jenkins in his flank. He dropped his gun and started hopping up and down in pain. Twilight took this chance, jumped over her cover, and tackled Jenkins. She then proceeded to choke Jenkins to incapacitate him, but Jenkins had the same idea. The 2 were now rolling around the ground, trying to outlast the other. Jenkins was now on top of Twilight, grinning wickedly as he strangled Twilight. She tried to get the upper hand, but it proved to be unnecessary as there was suddenly a loud clank, then Jenkins’s eyes became unfocused and he slid to Twilight’s side. Fluttershy was standing over the two and she evidently hit the butt of her revolver over Jenkins’s skull.

“Are you hurt?” Fluttershy said as she helped Twilight to her feet.

“I’ll survive,” Twilight said as she massaged her throat. She then walked toward her hat, which now had a gaping hole in it. Twilight simply put it, this time inserting her horn through the hole; stylish and effective. She turned to Fluttershy, “That was a nice shot by the way.”

Fluttershy slumped her head modestly, “It  wasn’t because of my marksmanship, I just got lucky.”

“O.K fine, it was a nice lucky shot. It sure is hard to give you a compliment. Now back to business, Fluttershy, please hand me the rope.”

The mares began to tie Jenkins, who was still snoozing, until he was in a nice cozy cocoon. They both trotted back to town closely together as they were both carrying Jenkins.

“Oh, wait a moment.” Twilight said and she ran into the shack. She emerged with 2 small boxes of buckshots and she picked up the double-barrel shotgun. She then handed it to Fluttershy.

“Here you go, take this as a memento of your first bounty.” Fluttershy gave Twilight a grateful smile and she lifted the shotgun onto her back.

After half an hour, they returned to town and were trotting toward the sheriff’s office when they saw some commotion. An angry stallion, who they assumed was the sheriff, was hastily loading his Winchester rifle while he was yelling at a younger stallion, who they assumed was his deputy.

“…cannot believe anyone can be so reckless,” the sheriff was yelling at the scared deputy, “what was going on through that thick skull of yours!”

“I-I didn’t k-know-“ the deputy stammered.

“Well that’s no surprise! Now quit your bellyaching,” the sheriff readied his rifle, “grab your gun and if we leave now, we might be able to fix your mistake!” He then began to run, only to stop almost immediately when he saw Twilight and Fluttershy carrying Jenkins. The sheriff’s mouth was hanging and he quickly went up to the mares and examined Jenkins’s face. The deputy also examined Jenkins and his face went from completely terrified to unimaginable relief.

“Oh thank Celestia.” The deputy laughed. Twilight and Fluttershy shared a confused look.

“Um, what’s going on?” Twilight asked. The sheriff chuckled slightly.

“What’s going on is you just stopped a sheriff from beating his deputy.” He said with a small smile. Twilight and Fluttershy still had bewildered stares so the sheriff said, “Do you know who that man on your back is?”

Fluttershy took the bounty notice from her bag and showed it to the sheriff, “Isn’t this James Jenkins?”

“Yes he is, but he isn’t just some random criminal, he is notorious bandit leader from the next county over.”

“What,” Twilight looked at the unconscious drunk pony in disbelief, “this guy is a bandit leader?”

The sheriff laughed, “Yeah, he doesn’t look like it does he? Jenkins tried to rob a bank 2 days ago, but marshals got wind of this and setup a trap. He suffered heavy losses and ran. I got word that he owns a shack around these parts and I was about to check it out until someone," he gave his deputy an angry look, “went and put his face on the bulletin board.”

“I didn’t know it was the James Jenkins.” The deputy said in a small voice.

“So I have been on edge once I’ve heard someone going after Jenkins, but it looks like it was for nothing since you 2 manage to take care of the problem.”

Twilight and Fluttershy were both grinning with pride after they heard of their amazing feat. The sheriff and deputy then took Jenkins from the 2 mares and carried him to the sheriff’s office. The sheriff then returned with a bag in his mouth and passed it to Twilight.

“Here is your pay for bringing in Jenkins and I took the liberty and tripled your pay. Well, happy trails.” The sheriff then trotted back to his office. Twilight opened the bag and was greeted by shiny, golden bits.

“This should cover our expenses for a good while.” Twilight said as she put the money in her bag. The two then proceeded to trot down the road to the intersection.

“What do we do now Twilight?” Fluttershy asked as they turned the corner.

“We done all there is to in this town, so we keep moving toward Coltifornia.” The mares were walking down the road toward the train station when the train left the station.

“Oh no, we missed our train.” Fluttershy said.

“We’re not taking the trains Fluttershy, from here on out, we are taking carriages to Coltifornia.”

“What? Won’t that take weeks, maybe months, for us to reach Coltifornia.”

“I probably would, but I have been thinking that the best way to teach you to be strong is the adventure itself. So the longer we travel, the more you would grow.” They stopped in front of the train station.

“So you are willingly taking the long way, so I can become stronger?” Fluttershy said with a grateful smile.

“Yeah, that what best friends do, right?”

Fluttershy looked as though she couldn’t believe her ears.

“Best friends?” she said

“Well, yeah,” Twilight said, looking uncomfortable, “I just assume after going through two life-threatening situations that we were now best friends.”

“Twilight, this may sound strange, but I never had a best friend before.”

“Me neither.”

The two ponies stared at each other and then burst out laughing. After the laughter, the two were still smiling.

“Alright best friend Fluttershy,” Twilight said brightly, “are you ready for the greatest adventure of our lives?”

“Yes I am best friend Twilight.”

“Then let’s go!” Twilight and Fluttershy then walked to the stallion in charge of the carriages.

“We would like a carriage.” Twilight said, feeling great about having a best friend.

“No” the stallion said. Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s happiness was replaced by bewilderment.

“What, why not?”

“The last carriage was just sent out while you and your little friend were conversing, which was very touching by the way.”

Twilight sighed and turned to Fluttershy, “Looks like we are going to be here a while.”

“That may not be as true as you might think.” Somepony said.

Twilight and Fluttershy looked around until they saw somepony they didn’t notice before. She was a unicorn, with an azure coat and very pale blue mane. She was wearing a tacky suit under a cape with stars on them and a wizard hat on her head.

“I have a carriage and would take you to the next town.” She said, “I only ask you for a small favor.” Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged looks.

“What kind of favor are you talking about?” Twilight said suspiciously.

“All you have to do is help me with a business venture.” Her horn began to glow with a pale magenta aura and a carriage appeared from behind a building. On the carriage, in colorful letters, said,

The Great and Powerful Trixie

and her

Great and Potent Elixirs