The carriage was being pulled by two large stallion horses that easily pulled the carriage along. As we talked more I found that he was more sociable and it just took a little getting used to his sheepish nature. I was wondering earlier if he too was a pegasus like me but it turns out he was actually an earth pony. It also turns out that he wasn’t actually non-social but rather he was a little sheepish around mares or to put it in his own words: “I’m not good with words when talking to pretty mares.” His comment made me blush a little.

He was wearing that brown duster coat of his along with brown trousers and a white undershirt. He had a black cow-pony hat and spurred boots. I began to talk about my past and asked about his, making sure not to ask about his foal-hood but rather recent tales.

“Well… after I broke out of that goddess forsaken orphanage I met a mare who… sort of took me under her wing, quite literally. She was a pegasus gunslinger and a frontiers-pony from when every-pony first started cultivating the lands. She taught me everything she could about guns. We went on many adventures together and she was kind of like a mom but… well anyway, eventually we went our separate ways.” He told me. The story made me feel sympathy for him.

“I lost my parents too. I was too young to remember and was brought up by my aunt. Five years ago, when I was fifteen, I took an interest in firearms and went under the tutelage of my mentor who taught me how to properly operate guns.” He nodded as we continued along. In the distance I could see a small town… well it couldn’t really be described as a town, more like a few houses that were undergoing construction.

Eventually the carriage pulled up to the town and John, which was the name I was giving him, parked it by a recently completed town hall. We both hopped off the carriage and looked around the small town. It had one dirt road that went right through the center of town and made a circle around town hall. In the very far distance I could make out a somewhat large farm that looked better than most of the town did combined.

Almost as if he read my mind, John leaned over and whispered into my ear. “Don’t let the looks fool you. The place has just started to grow after that farm over there gained business.” I nodded and he led me towards a small little house which actually must’ve been the hospital, or what passed for a hospital. It had a big sign with a red cross on it.

We entered through small set of swinging doors. A rather fine looking stallion in a white doctor’s gown looked over to us. He got up and nimbly made his way over to us. He had glasses on his face which made him look kind of funny. His fur was white along with his mane and his eyes were a purple haze. As he greeted us his voice took me aback. It was high pitched and rather educated for what seemed like a one-pony town.

“Oh hello. I’m Doctor Heart Hooves but everyone around here just calls me Red… how can I help you?” he asked and John spoke first.

“Just need some medicine Red. After effects of Death Whistle.” He replied and Red immediately went to his shelves and pulled out a small vile of what I assumed to be medicine. John gave two bits to Red then accepted the medicine. “Thanks Doc, that’ll be all.”

After giving Red a nod, John began to leave and I followed him. As we left the hospital John gave me the vile. “Oh uhm thank you but… I don’t feel sick anymore” I stammered.

“You might feel okay now but the effects of Death Whistle linger around in you system for about two weeks, unless you take this medicine. You’ve only been out for a week so…” he trailed off but he didn’t need to say anything more. I didn’t want to feel the way I had for the last couple of days.

I accepted the medicine and downed it quickly. I swallowed the small amount of contents in one gulp but then the aftertaste struck me hard. “Guh…” I spat as I tried to get the horrid taste out of my mouth. “What is this stuff?” I gasped and John chuckled as we continued along.

“It’s comprised of Poison joke and hard cider. It’s the only known thing that gets ride of the symptoms of Death Whistle. Hey look on the bright side, you didn’t have to taste the medicine needed to cure you of your poison.” John laughed and I didn’t ask what was in the medicine he mentioned. I had a feeling that if I did I might puke.

We continued on through the dusty streets. As the wind blew it would tuff up some sand and make dust. John’s duster coat flapped in the small wind as we walked along the trails.

Eventually we came to a very basic train station. It was just a wooden platform near the railroad tracks and a small booth for buying tickets. “Why are we at a train station?” I asked hesitantly. He didn’t answer at first. “John! Why are we at a train station?” I asked again, this time a little more sternly. He looked over to me.

“To get you home. Trust me kid, I’m twenty one years old and have been doing this a lot of years now. You want my advice, give this stuff up. You’ll either end up dead or… well I guess you’ll just end up dead, trust me.” His words made me think for a moment but still didn’t deter my decision. He stepped forwards and approached the attendant booth. I grabbed John by his shoulder and spun him back around to face me.

“John I’m not leaving. I… don’t really have a home and don’t plan on going anywhere until I get what I came here for.” I informed him and he sighed.

“And what did you come here for? To experience ‘The Wild West’? To find fortune in a land that has been unscathed? Trust me kid, all you’ll find is a bullet to the gut and a one way ticket to a cemetery, if you’re lucky.” He told me plainly. What happened to his nice timid side? This side seemed more cold and harsh.

“John… Black Mane stole something from me and I intend to get it back. Now I don’t care how I do but by goddess I’m gonna get my treasure back, or die trying.” I told him. He simply stood there in silence for a few minutes then sighed.

“My mentor.” He replied and the comment took me off guard.

“What?”

“Those dresses you wore. They belonged to my mentor. You reminded me of her and for that reason I don’t want to see you hurt. Not by Black Mane, not by his gang, not by any-pony.” He told me. His words were touching but didn’t change my mind.

“Well then. I guess you better help a lady find her lost treasure them, hmm?” I asked and he let out a sigh of defeat. “You weren’t trying to argue with me, were you?” I asked jokingly as we trotted away from the train station.

“Ms. Daring Do ma’am, with all due respect, there are two methods to arguing with a mare and neither one works.” He told me and I chuckled from the humor in the comment. He had a point.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I laughed as we continued down the dusty road towards his carriage. Suddenly a very posh looking stallion rushed up to us.

“Please help. That thief… no, that BANDIT, stole my money!” gasped the stallion. He had a dark brown mane, brown eyes and a lighter brown fur colour along with a white cent symbol as his cutie mark.

John was about to say something when suddenly a gunshot went off and ricocheted off something metal nearby. John ducked and pulled me down with him. The stallion in front of us screamed like Equestria was ending and simply fainted.

A few dozen yards away, a lone stallion galloped off with a bag of what appeared to be money, based on the green $ sign on the bag. John cursed to himself and quickly rushed over to one of the large horses currently attached to his carriage. He quickly untied the horse from the ropes and ties that kept it bound to the carriage and quickly lept bareback onto the horse.

He quickly spurred the horse with his cow-pony boots and pursued the ‘Bandit’. It only took a few moments for John to catch up to the bandit who now saw John pursuing him and began to fire wildly at John with his revolver but missed every shot.

John unsheathed a lasso and quickly spun the loop above his head in a very western style then tossed the lasso end at the bandit. The lasso landed perfectly around the bandit who in turn lost his balance and collapsed on the ground, struggling to break free.

John stopped his horse then dismounted it and immediately proceeded to hogtie the bandit. He picked up the petty thief and placed him on the back of his horse before returning to us with the bag of money. At this point the stallion who had informed us of the thievery had recovered and was squealing in delight.

John pulled the bandit off the back of his horse and tossed his body over to the stallion along with the bits. The stallion was nearly speechless and was obviously very impressed. “Oh thank the goddess you came when you did mister… please accept this as a token of my gratitude.” The stallion said and handed John a large jar of rainbow coloured fluids.

John nodded in appreciation and placed the jar in his saddle bags. The posh looking stallion began to give light kicks into the bandit’s side as both John and myself left the scene. John tugged the horse along by a halter and as we approached the carriage he sighed to himself then looked to me.

“If we’re going after Mane then we won’t be needing this carriage. You can have Nostalgic here, he’s a good riding horse but he never really suited me like Marry did.” He informed me as he unhooked Mary from the carriage. He tied them both to a riding post then led us over to a store with a sign that read ‘Ponyville General Goods’.

We entered the store and were greeted by two ponies who waved us over to them. One was a mare with blue fur and a purple mane where the other was a stallion with red fur and a pink mane. Both had a cutie mark resembling hay bales.

“Howdy” John called out as he tipped his black cow-pony hat in a gentlecolt manner then proceeded to the front desk. The ponies behind the counter both nodded as John walked up to them.

“What can ah do yah fer Ranger?” the stallion asked in a very southern accent. John pondered the thought for a question then pointed out the window to his carriage.

“How much is that carriage worth to you? It has a very rigid suspension and can really haul.” John told the stallion who rubbed his chin in thought.

“Well… without the horses… ah’d give yah… hundred an fifty bits.” He offered and John nodded.

The stallion was about to pull out some money but John stopped him. “Trade in. I want two Winchester 94s with five boxes of .30 caliber rounds.” He told the stallion who in turn did a quick mental check.

“Well that’d be cuttin yah short… those rifles together sell for fifty bits a piece but...” He began but John cut him off before he could continue.

“FIFTY BITS! That’s insane!” he gasped and the stallion nodded.

“Well they are bran’ new, right off the assembly line an straight to my market. But look at it this way, if yah want ah’ll sell yah ten boxes a ammo an even throw in an ammo belt fer that pretty little mare there. Make it closer tah yer money’s worth.” He offered and John sighed.

I didn’t know that much about bartering but I knew that fifty bits for a rifle was a rip-off. Even for a new rifle with such fine quality craftsmanship as a Winchester still wasn’t worth fifty bits, not by a long shot. Heck, the factories sold them for less than twenty. It was probably because this was a newly developed town that was just taking its first breath.

“Throw in two saddles for our horses and rifle boots then you got yourself a deal.” John bartered. The stallion nodded.

John nodded and accepted the bargain and the stallion and mare grabbed the things he had ordered. John grabbed most of our stuff and I got the ammo. We walked back over to the horses and sat down as we distributed everything. John only took fifty rounds of ammo for his Winchester because the majority of his bandolier was filled with shotgun shells.

That meant that I got the rest of the ammo which was one-hundred and fifty rounds. He also split what little pistol ammo he had. It turns out his revolvers were .45LC just like mine. After quickly distributing everything John placed the saddles on both horses then placed his Winchester in the rifle boot.

I strapped the Winchester lever action rifle across my back but then looked to the horse in front of me with disappointment. I hadn’t ridden a horse in the longest time and looked to John for help. “Uhm… John… a little help?” I asked. He looked over to me and nodded.

He helped me up onto the saddle which rested on the horses back. If I remembered horse breeds correctly then these were both Kentucky Saddlers. I think they were anyway. I was paired with Nostalgic while John took Marry, just like he planned.

We stayed in town for a few hours and trained me in horseback riding. I followed his motions and soon everything about horseback riding returned to me and I was easily able to ride the big stallion.

Satisfied with what I had learned we both mounted up then began to ride our horses out of town. We rode side by side, our horses kicking up small fumes of dust as they trotted along at a rather fast pace.

I looked to John who was focusing on the path ahead. The sun was setting over the horizon and soon it would be nighttime. “So John… what’s the plan?”

Author's Notes:

Okay before anyone says anything like "Bad editor", he's not. This chapter just hasn't been edited yet, nor the next chapter. I can usually cough up about 10000 words in a day if I'm not working but then usually end up waiting for the edited copies to come back. So I figured (Since I plan on making this a longer story) that I'd release the un-edited versions and as I got the edited versions then I'd replace the un-edited versions with the edited ones. It'll work better during the weekdays because I work 14-16 hour days so I'll only be able to write one chapter (I'll try to make it long chapters) so it'll hopefully run pretty smoothly.