//------------------------------// // The Cowboy Who Started The Fight // Story: When The Mare Comes Around // by nanashi_jones //------------------------------// As soon as Matthews said, “Cash” the bar erupted in movement. Half the patrons made a break for me while the other half tried to tackle the ones coming at me. I hopped on the bar and ran the length, trying to get outside. I skidded at the end of the countertop, slamming into the jukebox. Music kicked up (link to Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation) and I thought, Great. Fight music. A chair slammed down in front of my muzzle. I growled, slammed my front hooves down and snapped Bucky McGigillicuddy out. The owner of the chair dropped with a howl. “Oh lighten up,” I said. “That was a love tap.” Which was true. My body packed serious muscle. AJ could buck apples out of trees with a kick. If I went full buck with either of my legs, I’d break bones and do real damage. So the kid shoes were on for this dance. “Holy shit!” a familiar voice squeaked through the noise of grunting, fighting patrons. I looked up and saw Jay, the bouncer, filling up the doorway with May on his shoulder. Ann stood next to him, staring at the mass of people tearing into one another. Jay glared at me. “You were just going to talk, huh?” “In my defense, who I talked to turned out to be a huge asshole,” I said. “Fine,” he spat. “You’re helping me clean up.” “Sold,” I said. Jay waded into the brawl, forcing people apart or just shoving them down until he met someone almost his size who was spoiling for a fight. May jumped down as soon as the other mountain of a man grabbed the bouncer. She skittered over to me. “This isn’t safe!” I yelled at her over the din. I dodged a flying bottle. “No shit!” May said. “We running?” “Not without Matthews!” I said. Speaking of... Where was that asshole? Six o’clock! AJ yelled. Kicks McGee fired on auto. I heard a grunted “dammit” followed by a groan. “How are you doing that?” May yelled. “I got a good partner,” I said. “You get outside! Stay with Sam!” “I got her!” Ann said, picking up May and tucking her close to her body. The redhead then shot out a powerful leg toppling a guy twice her size by taking out his knee. She looked like she’d done it before. “Thanks!” I yelled. Someone crashed into the jukebox and the music changed again. The atmosphere in the room changed instantly. My back hoof was tapping. I felt a little light headed and everyone briefly looked like they were moving in slow motion. What’s going on? I asked. Just go with the flow, AJ said. Before I could say anything else, something in me... clicked and I knew what to do. I launched to the bar in rhythm with the music, kicking one, two, three four glasses, and pinging them off one, two, three, four heads. Each one hit on a downbeat, adding echo to the drums. I dodged as a fist came, twirled and fired my legs, being sure to not put too much force in them. It was like dancing. Everything happened on the beat, everything moved in rhythm. When the guitar riffed hard I kicked, when the drum beat went solid I double kicked. When the song made it to its midway point where it was getting ready for an insanely fast part, I swear the room went still to stare me down. I spat and beckoned with my hoof. They all launched at me as one big, freaking mass of people. I responded on beat, in rhythm. I was like Jackie Chan and Fred Astaire’s pony lovechild. As far as my body was concerned, I was Black Betty and I went wild. I have no idea how I did it. Though they launched as a mass, they didn’t land as one, as I whipped around and popped a guy each with both hindlegs. They went down and I felt someone get a hand on my foreleg. Rearing up, I slid free and gave another love tap, knocking him out. People were piled on the floor, all scrabbling around each other for me, for each other. I bounded over them and fired all four legs at once as four patrons came at me. Headshots across the board. I dropped, rolled, missed getting tackled by a man in more leather than a kink club and kicked a barstool. It flipped, the seat knocking leather daddy in the head and someone grabbed my hindlegs, dragging me across the floor. I bucked my body and whoever had me let go, not risking my hooves of doom. Back on my hooves, I wheeled, glared at the man, who raised his hands and got socked across the jaw by Ann. She smiled, finishing the move with a knee to his groin then she kept moving. I smiled back and leapt to the bar’s countertop, knocking guys off left and right. Then I got two solid forehooves around one guy and threw him down the bar, slamming him into the jukebox, silencing the music on the last note. Panting, I looked out over the tavern. The fight was over. The only sound came from a single, naked light bulb, which swung back and forth on its cord. Shifting shadows spilled over groaning and downed people. “What the hell was that?” I shrieked. That, AJ said. Was a bit of pony music magic. “Pony whoosee whatnow?” I said, less shrieky. Musics important to us ponyfolk and sometimes it moves through us, guiding us, gives us inspiration and tells us things. Also makes for some dang good hoofwork sometimes. Y’got good rhythm there, anyone ever tell you that? “I was in marching band,” I replied absently. “That. Was. Awesome!” May squealed. I turned and saw Ann dropping a bottle on top of a guy as May hopped from her shoulder. Ann had a cut on her cheek, but it didn’t seem to bother her. “Seconded,” Ann called, grinning fiercely. “This is going to be a pain in the ass,” Jay rumbled. “This ain’t fuckin’ Roadhouse!” I turned the other way and saw Jay step over the huge guy he’d been wrestling. The other guy looked decidedly unhappy. He also looked purple on one whole side of his face. I realized that I didn’t see a particular rumpled suit amongst the groaning and injured. “Hey, where’s-” I was cut short by a hand grabbing my neck and pulling me off balance. “Ack!” I spat. I reared my legs, prepared to start a whole new drumbeat. The sudden feeling of metal against my skull silenced that urge. “Now, now,” Matthews said too close to my ear. “Let’s not do anything rash.” I was a hostage. Sweet fucking damsels, I was a fucking. Hostage. What the fuck happened to my life?! Jay didn’t move, his gaze locked on us. Ann may not have had his height or build, but she matched him pound for pound in dirty looks. May had frozen in shock, but her mouth broke free. “You fuckin’ put her down!” she bellowed, her suddenly loud voice filling the space easily. If I wasn’t so busy having a gun pointed to my temple, I’d have been impressed. Any chance of a repeat of the highway moron? I asked AJ. Any chance you can tell how crap his gun is pressed against yer temple like this? Point. “I don’t think so,” Matthews said. “Now. I’m going to leave and the pony is coming with me.” He shifted his grip so that he had me by the barrel. He grunted as he pulled on me. Earth ponies were pretty sturdy. He managed to get me moving, but I made him work for it by trying to make my dead weight as dead as possible. “I so fucking hate you,” I growled. “You made me drive through the boonies of upstate New York,” Matthews said hotly next to my head. “The feeling’s mutual.” He stepped through the opening at the side of the bar and made his way to the front door. Jay, Ann, and May tracked us every step of the way. He paused at the door and gave it a kick. It opened without resistance. “Love these hole-in-the-wall, biker joints,” he said. “So classy.” “What do you think you’re going to achieve here?” Jay asked, his voice level, his eyes sharp. “Seriously. I know what your car is. I know your face.” “You wouldn’t be the first,” Matthews said and he backed out the door. Right into Sam’s jaws. I heard a growl, a bark. Then Matthews was cursing, and Jay was moving, and I was dropping. I hit my rump and turned to fire my legs again when there was a phoont! noise. Twice. I gasped just as my legs shot out and felt a hot lance of pain in my flank. I heard Sam yelp. My hooves whiffed air, so I turned to reorient. This turned out to be a little too much to ask as the world suddenly set itself to tilt. Matthews, Sam, and the front porch wobbled about in my vision. “The fuuu...” I groaned. Wait. Matthews’s gun. I squinted up and saw it wasn’t a firearm- it was a tranquilizer gun. Well, that explained why I was having trouble standing and why Sam- SAM! She was on the deck, her chest heaving. “No...” I whispered and my back legs dropped. I was an earth pony. This meant I was hardy as hell and could run all day if I paced myself right. Sam was a sickly dog who just got pumped full of enough tranquilizers to slow me down. That couldn’t happen. She’d die. I couldn’t let that- More pain. This time a lance into my barrel. My front hooves dropped. My jaw hit the porch, but it was a far away feeling. It was like someone had hit me with a firm pillow. Liana flopped off my head on impact. Shaking the stars from my eyes, I tried crawling to Sam. I needed to get that needle out. I needed to save Winona! I needed to save my dog! It wasn’t enough. I heard May scream. I felt Matthews’s hand on me. Darkness wrapped me up.