//------------------------------// // A Villian In The Hoof Is Worth Two On The Rocks // Story: A Long Hot Day // by Short Blade - The Oak //------------------------------// It was midday as Sheriff Silverstar of Appleloosa looked out from under the edge of his cowboy hat. As he gazed out on the hot day, a grim look plastered across his face. Celestia had raised the sun a full two hours and 37 minutes earlier, and that bothered the hell out of him. During his time in the royal guards he only knew of three things that stopped her eerily clockwork sense of time. The first was a potential invasion from outside Equestria. The second was some internal problem within Canterlot she needed to sort out. The last was usually due to a visiting dignitary. Regardless of which, it always meant more work for everypony. Well, whatever the reason, it was a problem beyond him now. His station these days was Appleloosa and that was that. The ground shook softly as though a minor earthquake had just occurred. Silverstar lifted his hat slightly to that. "Been happening a lot lately," he thought to himself briefly as he once again brought the hat to it's original resting position. His thoughts returning to his daydreams. Resting comfortably and his mind once again wondering. He could see the heat of the day causing the ground to look like a boiling pot of beans on a stove. "Refrat... refrigid... refayion... Bah!" He gave up on trying to remember what that was called. "Hot lines," he stubbornly spoke aloud and to himself. Despite this rather stubborn disposition, Silverstar rarely liked to impose his will on other. Unless of course the law was involved. In fact most ponies rarely saw his speak. On any given day they just saw him leaning on that post in front of his jail with his hat drawn over his eyes. On the times he had to speak though, everypony listened. For he was once a member of an elite squad of the Canterlot guard, and their duty was simple. To hunt down and apprehend dangerous criminals throughout Equestria. And with no exception, Silverstar and the rest of the stallions of unit 606, always got their mark. This duty saw him travel from one end of Equestria to the other. For fifteen years he trained, he fought, and he served. It was a hard job, but by the end of it he was entirely grateful for the experience, good and bad. Heck, in his opinion everypony should give themselves to Equestria at some point. His smile faded with the memories of danger and adventure on high as he looked up at the golden spear leaning next to the door of the jail. The spear was of normal length and weight, yet intricately designed with several metals all coming together in a floral pattern. To the untrained eye it looked like a unusable hunk of metal. One that you simply hung on the wall as a decoration. To soldiers like Silverstar however it was a finely crafted instrument of war. A parting gift given to him for fifteen years of dedicated service. Presented to him by none other then the former captain of the guards himself, Shinning Armor. Normally he kept the spear locked away, hidden. But today was different. Ruffback was out there. His focus once again turned to the desert beyond, the same place he had been staring at all morning. His posse had been tracking the villain for some time. Now he believed they finally found his hideout, Box Back Canyon. A network of canyons that stretched a seemingly impossible distance. It was a situation he was not happy about. While he trusted his posse, they were no elite guard. Every time they went out somepony did something stupid that got himself hurt. A mistake you couldn't afford with someone like Ruffback. He knew this because villains like Ruffback always had a certain pattern to them. And the slow progression of his crimes were getting bolder and more violent. In short, Ruffback was becoming a killer. Silverstar's face saddened at the thought. He wished he was stronger, faster. But his best days were behind him, and the golden rule for facing someone bigger and stronger then yourself, was to be faster then them. Ponies were going to die this day. There was no fancy way of saying it. But there was simply no other way to return peace to Appleloosha, and that was Celestia's honest truth. The earth shook again, much stronger this time. Silverstar could hear something glass like shatter on the ground somewhere, but he ignored it. As soon as the heat of the day was broken they would be off, and finish this. No sooner had the thought left his head, then a huge object came hurtling to the ground. It smashed through the corner of the roof on his porch. Bounced off the ground once, twice, rolled some, then came to a stop in the middle of the street. Silverstar jumped out of his sitting position, grabbed his spear, and ran to take a look at the object that inexplicably came from the sky. "RUFFBACK!" Silverstar said in disbelief. Not so much at the sudden appearance of the villain, but rather the condition he was in. His left eye was meshed up so bad he couldn't open it. Both claws were sliced off right to the hinges and his poison stinger was nothing more then a stump. One of his horns had been completely broken off, and blood still poured from a place on his nose that once sported a nose ring. A large cut, which began at his stomach, went straight up his chest and ended at the lower part of his chin. This large cut seemed to frame several other, deeper, nastier looking wounds. Silverstar could only quietly marvel at the life force of Ruffback. Celestia knows, he couldn't survive such a fierce beating. But what disturbed the sheriff the most, was the fact that each of the deep wounds and biggest cuts looked like they had been sealed with some kind of red hot iron... blade shaped. The scorpinor struggled to look up with his one good eye. As his gaze fell on the sheriff he weakly pleaded. "Help me!" Before the sheriff could react a pair of shadows crossed his back. Silverstars eyes darted back in forth as a pair of pegasi landed. The silver one landing on Ruffbacks chest, the other, a dark tan one, right at his side. Both immediately began dancing about as they touched down. The tan one put her hooves into her mouth and whistled loudly, then quickly broke into a strange sort of cheer. But no sound really came out. Only a rather weak, gurgling "aaaaa" sound was heard. The silver one raised his hooves into the air together in a self-congratulatory manner. Then began posing in quick successions of muscular flexing. Sheriff Silverstar just looked on in the same way other ponies on the street were. A moment passed then the sheriff's attention began to focus on the ponies themselves, more to the point the dull brown cloaks they both wore. "These are shadow ponies," he thought. 1000 years ago, in the months before Princess Luna's betrayal and her banishment to the moon. She gathered together a group of orphans and taught them the ways of the night. All in an attempt to heal some of the bitterness in her heart and find her place in Equestria. It was for naught though, the dye had been cast and the evil she had allowed to grow within her eventually erupted. A tragedy that forced her to leave her adopted children behind. In the aftermath of the battle between sisters though, not one of the adopted ponies could be found, nor were there any record of them... until now. One year ago, in the dead of night, a group of four powerful ponies made their way into Canterlot. There was a brief fight with the palace guards that was quickly stopped by the appearances of Princesses Celestia and Luna. Upon seeing Luna they prostrated themselves before her, revealing that they were the distant descendants of the 20 original orphans that she took in all those centuries ago. As it turned out, the descendants of the 20 all decided that if their princess was banished, then so should they remain in a self appointed exile. Over the course of several generations they kept out of sight and journeyed south of the Badlands. They eventually settled in a near uninhabitable place called the Deadlands. Afterward, Luna and Celestia brought the remains of the tribe. A scant 30 ponies north from that nightmarish place, and into the much more hospitable environment of the Northern Badlands. Well hospitable to them at least. There was more to it then that though. Their story was actually quite tragic. One that was filled with pain, triumph, and death, all over the span of 1000 years. While Silverstar didn't know it all, he could at least claim to be one of the few who knew the whole story of their exodus from the Deadlands. For he had kept in touch with his former unit and they trusted him enough to share the story. At least the parts of it that never made it into the papers. Silverstar started to say something when both ponies ears shot up, they turned their heads in unison and before Silverstar could say anything they darted off flying close to the ground. Then shot up to the top of a nearby porch where a simple lamp hung. The mare who was hovering next to the strange object, tapped it with her hoof a couple of times. The stallion landed on the roof. Then with his back legs hooked on an exposed piece of timber, hung over the side. With his forelegs, he held the lamp in his hooves as though inspecting it. All of a sudden his back legs slipped. He flipped over, and with wings unfurled in surprise, began to swing from the lamp. The mare briefly looked as though she was laughing then grabbed the other pony around his stomach. Both momentarily swung from the lamp before the hook attached to the roof broke off and the lamp came crashing to the ground. In the instant the hook gave way the two peggasi let go and hovered in the air. A look of joy on both their faces. Around this time Braeburn, and a couple of other members of Sheriff Silverstar's posse, came running up. "Sheriff what's all the commotion. Gahhhh!" The young stallion yelled at the sight of Ruffback on the ground. "Get that scum to the jail now, and call Doc Butterspread, he's hurt pretty bad." Braeburn looked at the two peggasi. He wanted to know more about what was going on right now, but knew better then to question the sheriff. He nodded to the other two stallions. "You heard the Sheriff, get a stretcher now!" The other two shot off in the direction of Doc. Butterspreads office as Braeburn looked after Ruffback. The sheriff ran to the two ponies who were busy pulling up a board on a nearby porch. The stallion pulled up a floor board with his hooves then the mare stuck her head in the hole to looked under. As the sheriff approached he spoke. "Now I know you two are shadow ponies from the south, and I am grateful for your help apprehending that villain, but I have a few questions for you." The two peggasi looked at him from behind their dark goggles. They leaped off of the porch and onto the hot dirt right in front of the Sheriff. There they patiently sat, looking up at the taller pony. For a moment there was nothing but silence as the sheriff just stared. After a moment he cleared his throat. "First of all I'm Silverstar, Sheriff of Appleoosha," he said as he gestured with his spear the town around him. "Who might you brave ponies be?" The two stared at him for another uncomfortable moment then wrote in the dirt with their hooves. As they finished they looked up again. Silverstar could read the names easily since both had written backward and upside down from their sitting position. The silver stallion with white mane, name's read 'Turnip'. The dark tan mare with a stark red mane, name's read 'Tulip'. No sooner had the sheriff read the names then both ponies shot off again in another direction. An older mare wearing a dress and a parasol in hoof was walking across the street. The two peggasi made a beeline straight for her. Tulip ripped the parasol from her hooves. Flew into the air slightly then tried to use the parasol as a makeshift parachute. It worked for a moment. Then a snap was heard and Tulip flopped on the ground rear first. Turnip meanwhile was pulling at the mare's dress a little, apparently a little curious as to why anypony would wear so many clothes. The mare for her part began screaming at the sudden violation of her personal space. Silverstar was starting to get angry. "Leave her alone!" He ordered the two pony's. They obeyed, but took the strange parasol and flew to the top of a roof in order to more closely inspect it. At that point Braeburn came running up to the sheriff. "You want me to get the posse sheriff?" Implying these two ponies seemed rather dangerous. "No, I don't think that will be necessary. These are shadow ponies, and you met some of them same as me. They are a honorable group." As the sheriff spoke Braeburn remembered when the shadow ponies first started journeying out of their new home in the northern badlands, a still unnamed town. On occasion they visited Appleloosha, always traveling in groups of three, and always wearing the same dusty brown cloaks that covered from head to back hoof. But the sheriff was right, while they were a little... odd. They were in the end still ponies of Equestria, and clearly good hearted folk. Although, if they always traveled in three's why were these two alone? Braeburn wanted to look around for the third but the sheriff was still talking. "We must be patient and trust in Princess Luna's judgment!" Silverstar finished with his typical 'matter of fact' way he had when he spoke. They were looking at each other as they spoke and failed to see the two shadow ponies flying to the town's clock tower. Sitting at the base of they looked at it for a moment. Tulip pointed at the corner. There was a sound of metal gliding on metal as Turnip raised his hoof in a backhoofed motion. The blade glinted in the sunlight which caught the sheriffs attention, then he made a single cut at the corner. Silverstar's mustache bristled as he yelled "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?" There were four distinct sounds that happened after that. The first was one of the sound of one of the main support beams falling out of place and jutting down right between the two ponies. The second came from the braking apart of the countless tiles that decorated the clock, as the whole of the tower lurched forward. The third sound was the ruffling of feathers as each peggasi took to the air. The last came from the clock tower as it came crashing to the ground. The sheriff and Braeburn looked on as this scene played out, mouths open in astonishment. The whole town had put so much effort into rebuilding the clock tower after the incident with the buffalo tribe. In fact they rebuilt it five times. Each one falling down mostly due to the fact they didn't know how to build a proper clock tower. The first one they outsourced to an architect when Appleloosha was first founded. Now, it was destroyed once again. While everyone was distracted Ruffback somehow made it to his feet. All eyes were on the clock tower so he moved unnoticed towards an alleyway. Mostly unnoticed, the same mare that the pair of peggasi molested screamed as Ruffback came near. As the sheriff turned, Ruffback grabbed the mare and began backing away. "I want no trouble, j-just let me leave and I won't snap this silly little mare neck like a twig!" The sheriff stopped in his tracks. He silently berated himself for getting so distracted, and trusting a bunch of fools to take care of his responsibility. A shadow quickly passed over Ruffback. His face became frozen in fear as he looked around. Suddenly, he howled in pain then fell to his knees. As he did he let go of the mare in order to keep his already exhausted body from falling over. Out from behind him came Turnip, a grin stretched across his face, blood dripping from a pair of blades on his front hooves. All of a sudden Tulip's leg came crashing down right on Ruffback's head. As the blow landed he made a sputtering sound. Silverstars body began moving forward on it's own. He could see the look on Ruffback's face began to show the signs of a living being giving up on life after a horrible experience. "This isn't justice," he didn't think, but would later recall he felt. Both peggasi hovered around Ruffback in a circle, each in the throws of their strange silent laughter. Then Tulip's blade extended and she to drifted forward to make the killing blow. Turnip just grinned at the sight. Ruffback knelt there as Tulip came closer. The only thing he could do was close his good eye, ready for what was to come. Tulips blade struck not the wounded scorpinor, but against Silverstars spear. Sheriff Silverstar had enough, and began to enforce what was saw was right. Ruffback, exhausted, just fell over as he passed out. "You stop right there little lady," the sheriff growled. "This one has had quite enough." But Tulip didn't stop. Her face became wild as though someone had just stolen a prize from her. She shot forward with her blade in a series of several strikes. As they continued, a bad feeling crept up on Silverstar. There was something terribly wrong with this pony. He didn't have any evidence other then her feral smashing of steel on steel, and a feeling. One that told him she needed to die! As the thought passed, he saw Tulip swung wide for a powerful blow. Although he was in no position to execute his own killing move. He did have the ability to kick her, hard. Tulip re-sheathed her blade as she flew back. She let the momentum carry her a ways before unfurling her wings and dropping her legs, spinning in the dirt as she came to a stop. Silverstar started to chase but was intercepted by Turnip. As the silver pegasus came between the sheriff and his prey.