It was roughly midday when the foals reached the Dodge City outskirts for the second time. Much to their surprise, a large crowd seemed to be gathering in the middle of town, and it looked organized. “Wait here. I’ll see what’s going on.” Shadow Shroud whispered. The others nodded, and she snuck towards the town.
As she neared the back of a building, the foals could see her flip into her disguise dress. It wasn’t quite as western-esque as all the other fillies and mares were wearing, but it had to do. She innocently trotted towards whatever was making a spectacle.
Spiral Galaxy grimaced. “Ugh…That dress looks awful on her!” she commented. “Maybe she and I can find a store in Baltimare to replace it when we go there.”
Fire Fight shrugged. “I think it looks just fine.”
Spiral looked at him as though he’d just said that 2+2=5. “Fire Fight…” she sighed. “Look, I love the both of you. You’re my friends and all, but…….you have no taste.”
“Pfft! Well, excuse me, princess! I don’t wear dresses!” He retorted.
Spiral rolled her eyes, and shook her head. “Colts…” she whispered to herself.
*****
Shadow Shroud slithered though the crowd to reach the front, and see what all the hype was about. Nopony seemed to pay her any mind as she finally conquered the maze of bodies surrounding whatever the point of interest was. Oddly enough, much of the crowd also comprised of ponies who were clearly not native to the town amongst all those that were. Those that weren’t seemed like normal ponies they’d see in Ponyville, or Hoofington; she even thought she saw the two mares she overheard on the train. She was met with the sight of a stallion in the middle of the clearing that the crowd surrounded behind a fence that looked as though it had been built into the town square. Various show equipment were scattered around him. The crowd eagerly waited for him to speak.
“Good afternoon, Dodge City! Boy, oh boy, oh boy! It was cryin’ shame we had postpone the show this year, but it’s a shame no longer! Startin’ shortly will be our annual Rodeo Show!” the stallion exclaimed. The crowd cheered vibrantly, ‘yee-haw’ing and everything.
Shadow Shroud was frazzled. “It was postponed!?” she thought to herself. Surely it didn’t take the train they’d stowed away on that long to reach the city from where they bailed, did it? Plus, it had been a couple days since then before they actually arrived. What could have possibly caused them to have to postpone a simple show for that amount of time? She decided not to inquire for the risk of blowing her cover if the answer was as obvious as ‘Oh, there was a massive sand twister that tore through the whole town’, or something. It was incredibly fortunate for the foals since they’d get to see for themselves if this ‘gun colt’ existed, and if so, what all the fuss was about him.
The announcer stallion began speaking again. “I can’t tell ya how mighty thankful Ah am for Sheriff North Fork, and his deputies for quietin’ down them varmints. We’ll be doin’ nice n’ special for ‘em later on, but that’s all Ah’m gonna say until then! Have a hootin’ hayseed happy time, y’all! Yee-Haw!”
So whatever held them from holding the show on schedule so severe enough to warrant the Sheriff’s attention. Who, or whatever these ‘varmints’ were became a secondary concern for Shadow Shroud. She took what she heard, and snuck back to her comrades.
“You serious!? What went down?” Turf War asked, shocked to hear what Shadow Shroud had relayed to them as was everypony.
“I wish I could tell you. Though it sounds as those the city had….at the very least a pest problem. As to the identity of the…*ahem* varmints, I haven’t the slightest idea. Though, they were troublesome enough to warrant the intervention of their Sheriff.” Shadow Shroud explained.
“Did you happen to catch a glimpse of our pony of interest?” Air Slash asked.
“No. I did not see him. I would imagine they’d save an act like his near, or possibly at the end, so I’d suggest we get a move on if we don’t want to potentially miss him. Plus, the show itself might be fun to watch altogether.” Shadow Shroud said.
Fire Fight chuckled. “You really want to watch the whole show, don’t you?” he asked.
Shadow Shroud blushed slightly, and looked down at the ground. “O-Of course. After all, that colt might be partaking in it, correct? It’s…a necessity for us to watch it.” She said.
Spiral Galaxy giggled. “Shroud, it’s ok to have a little fun every now and again. I think we’ve earned a little R&R anyway, don’t you think?” she said.
“I think you all know by now her idea of fun.” Air Slash said.
Shadow Shroud glared up at him, and drew her kunai. “I’d be happy to give them a demonstration in case they forgot! Care to assist?” she hissed at him.
Fire Fight held down her hoof that was holding the dagger. “We haven’t. Now knock it off, you two!” he reprimanded. He released her hoof as she sheathed her kunai. “Shroud, are you sure we’d be able to blend in well even though we’re not armed?” he asked her.
Shroud nodded. “The crowd is big enough to make even us look like we belong. Plus, tourists from out of town came to witness the event, correct? They’d pass us off as mere spectators, a group of foals who wanted to spend the day together to partake in the fun.” She explained.
“Dat sounds tight! Even if da show turn out to be whack, we’ll finally see what the deal is ‘bout dis colt.” Turf War said.
Fire Fight chuckled. “Turf War, if the shows goes cold, we’ll leave to you to lighten it up, ok?” he joked.
“You know damn well I will, son. I put on a cowpony hat and e’rything, and start bumpin’ to some o’ dat ‘bluegrass’ music, or whatever d’hey call it…..Nah, maybe I’ll rap instead. I come rollin’ in on a ball, and be like, ‘Yo! Howdy, y’all! Nah, I ain’t gonna fall! I got paid too much to stay on, LOL! Where some water at, ‘cause it hot as hell! If I don’t find some soon, I’m a jump down a well! Yeah, I might get buried, but yo, it’s all good! Dirt don’t feel like nuttin’ when you get out the hood!’.” He rapped.
Fire Fight, and Spiral Galaxy laughed happily at their friend’s little performance, and even clapped. Air Slash just smiled and shook his head as he chuckled. Shadow Shroud did the same, but rolled her eyes. Turf War bowed as if he was a professional showpony.
Still laughing a little, Spiral mustered a little suggestion. “You should juggle random stuff while you do that!” she said.
“Ooooohhhh. Yo, Air Slash, lemme borrow yo’ swords for a minute.” Turf War joked.
“I think water would be the least of your concerns if such a thing took place, Turf War.” He chuckled.
Fire Fight finished laughing. “Ok, ok. We’d better get going before we miss anything.” He said. They agreed, and let Shadow Shroud take the lead on sneaking over there.
When they got to the building that Shadow Shroud had previously reached, she flipped back into her dress, and led the others to the crowd that was still gathered around the fenced in show area. In the time that it took for them to get there, four sets of bleachers had been placed around the stage that many of the spectators had occupied; the foals just decided to stick to the ground, and head up front to the fence for their own front row seats. When they did, a rodeo clown was performing.
His humorous antics were a nice introduction for what all the foals would see next. The ever stoic Shadow Shroud was holding back fits of laughter whenever the clown would intentionally fall over and miraculously land on his head and smile as though he meant to do that…..which he kinda did. After that came a dance troupe, a strong arm that lifted weights twice his size, a cowpony who bucked a stack of hay bales one by one perfectly out from under the other like Jenga pieces, hoop performers, and various other spectacular acts. Looking over at her, Fire Fight could clearly see that Shadow Shroud was enjoying herself; she was actually smiling, and not devilishly like she normally does under given circumstances, but rather as happily as a filly being entertained at her cute senora. Seeing her like this made Fire Fight smile. Despite knowing next to nothing about his enigmatic friend, he had made a fair assumption that she’s had a grueling childhood what with the hellish training she must have endured if Air Slash’s father was any indication. He was glad to be able to give her this opportunity to just….be a foal.
“Having fun?” he asked her.
Shroud looked over at him upon hearing his question. She was a little surprised at first, but smiled. She eyed the ground as she let out a little chuckle, then looked back up at her fiery friend. “If you’d like to put it that way, I suppose so.” She replied.
Spiral Galaxy nudged her lightly. “Come on, Shroud! Don’t be so gloom and doom all the time! Fire Fight and I can both tell you’re really having a good time.” She said.
Shroud sighed happily as she rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright. You’ve caught me.” She said.
The announcer came back out after the last act finished. “Alright, y’all It’s time for the main event, the big act you all came to see! Even if they haven’t been Equestria for very long, this ‘ere young colt knows how to use ‘em like he knows how to breath!” he said as he pointed to the stage entrance in the fence.
Entering through it was an Earth Pony colt about their age wearing a navy blue cowpony shirt, a leather vest, a red bandana around his neck, and a brown cowpony hat. Holstered at his sides were what looked to be the fabled ‘guns’. They were exactly as Turf War remembered from his past experience, and how Shadow Shroud remembered her masters describing them to her. The colt’s coat was a bumblebee yellow, his eyes a deep blue, and his cowpony-styled mane and tail a burnt orange. His Cutie Mark depicted the two guns crossing by their barrels, and firing.
“So he does exist!” Air Slash said in awe.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, please give a mighty big Dodge City applause for Kickback and his twin colt revolver guns of which he has named Sound, and Fury!” the announcer said.
‘Kickback’ tipped his hat, and smiled politely. A group of fillies obviously native to Dodge City were screaming his name manically, desperate to get his attention. He simply glanced over at them, and shot them a gentlemanly wink as he tipped his hat at them. They went crazy, and nearly fainted.
“Damn. Forget ‘colt’ revolver. Homie out d’here a filly revolver. HEhe!” Turf War commented.
Shadow Shroud suddenly noticed that there was a stallion in the bleachers eyeing the colt with clear disapproval. He didn’t seem hostile, but she easily got the impression that this stallion wasn’t at all excited about the upcoming performance.
“Now, for all of ya sittin’ there in the bleachers, Ah’m awful sorry to have to ask y’all to step down from there. This here’s a dangerous act he’ll be performin’, and there’ll be less room for error if y’all aren’t up in the air.” The announcer said.
Gasps and looks of worry overtook the crowd. Those on the bleachers complied with the safety precaution including the unhappy stallion that Shroud noticed. Some stagehand unicorns moved some tall, but thin boxes to hug the inside of the show fence. Everypony up front whose vision was obscured by the boxes was given a small crate to stand on including the foals. The stage unicorns seemed to set a timer on each of the boxes, and ran out of the stage area.
Kickback stood in the center of the stage with his hat held just over his eyes. He patiently waited like a statue watching time flow. The tension in the air had the foals on edge as they anxiously waited to see what this fabled colt would do.