//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Dead-Eye Darling // by totallynotabrony //------------------------------// Frank had never been inside a dress shop before, but even with the pony-shaped clothing forms, he surmised that he was inside one now. It was dark with the blinds pulled. Rarity was making little squeals of excitement and prancing around the room. Frank spotted a few decorations that matched the mark on her hip and surmised she was being quite literal about being “home.” Which meant that Frank had a big problem. Granted, maybe not as big as being in custody of malevolent aliens, but big enough. There was a sudden drumbeat of hooves outside and the door was thrown open, letting in a shaft of sunlight. Five ponies of various colors poured inside, all of them talking quickly and loudly in a cacophony of noise. They were followed by a purple and green lizard and three small ponies who soon started adding to the din. “I’m so happy to see you all!” Rarity exclaimed. She started to move forward for hugs, but realized just how much trail dust had accumulated all over her. The makeup she’d used as camouflage was also no help. She was bombarded with questions. Twilight wanted to know where she’d been and how it left such a large energy signature. Rainbow poked at her saddle, asking why it looked so weird. Applejack smirked and questioned where Rarity had found all that dirt. Spike said, “What’s this cowboy doing here?” “This is Frank,” Rarity introduced him. “He and I...well, it’s a rather long story.” There was a long moment of silence as every eye turned to Frank. He shifted uncomfortably. “Hello.” Pinkie let out an extended gasp. “Hi Frank! What kind of cowboy are you? Have you always been a cowboy? Do you have a last name? What’s your favorite color? Where are you from?” “Pinkie, don’t ask him too many personal questions,” Rarity interrupted. “It’s impolite.” “Well, how are we supposed to learn about this guy?” Rainbow asked, gesturing at Frank with a hoof as she hovered in front of him. “We don’t know anything about him.” “Take my word for it,” Rarity replied. “I’m vouching for him.” The lizard, Spike, quickly dashed off a letter to the Princess with a message about Rarity’s return. Frank watched the procedure, deciding that if Spike breathed fire, he must actually be a dragon. From the old campfire stories, he thought dragons were supposed to be bigger. A more attention-grabbing thought was why Spike seemed to know what a cowboy was. “We really need to know what happened,” Twilight said, turning back to Rarity. Grabbing a piece of fabric to wrap the diamond in so as to prevent accidental dimension-traveling, Rarity told what she knew. “This teleportation gem you gave me for safekeeping malfunctioned, Twilight.” “Sorry,” Twilight said. “I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. But at least we know it works.” “Wait, this thing teleports?” said Pinkie, grabbing the diamond. “Stop!” Rarity shrieked. “Put that down!” “Okay, sheesh.” Pinkie did as ordered. “I just wanted to know more about it. Maybe that would explain why I saw Twilight leaving your boutique after you disappeared only to come back later and act like she’d just discovered you missing.” There was a silence. Rarity said, “Oh, this is bad.” Also realizing the situation, Frank said, “They made duplicates of your friends?” “Who?” Applejack asked. “Twilight, have you been abducted recently?” Rarity demanded. “Uh, no! Of course not!” The purple pony began to back towards the door. The other ponies had sensed her sudden shift in attitude and were beginning to turn towards her suspiciously. Frank stepped into the doorway and blocked it. Twilight backed into his legs and jerked in surprise. Frank pulled out his knife. “You’re not going to like this, but we need to see the color you bleed.” “I’m sorry, but that’s true,” Rarity added. There was another long pause. Without warning, the purple mare’s jaw suddenly flashed open wide and she leaped at Frank. He caught her charge on the sleeve of his leather duster, using the momentum to spin and plant her body hard on the floor. The knife drove to its hilt in her chest, spurting green blood and unnatural gore. The body twitched, and then lay still. Mouths gaped and eyes popped as Frank straightened up slowly, wincing at the pain in his bruised ribs and wiping his knife off. Fluttershy suddenly burst into tears and the entire crowd started talking again, quickly. Spike looked lost, disbelief at being short a companion clear on his face. Frank quickly knelt between him and the body to give the dragon something else to focus on. “Was Twilight close to you?” “Yeah, like a big sister,” he mumbled. “I can’t belive…” Spike shook his head and shifted his eyes look at Frank. “How did you get here? You’re supposed to be from a comic book.” “A what?” Frank raised his eyebrows. Their conversation was interrupted by a sudden flurry of wings as a chariot landed in the street outside. The stallions that pulled it wore uniform metal armor. Stepping down from the chariot were the two tallest ponies Frank had yet seen. “The Princesses are here, they’ll know what to do!” said Applejack. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what is going on?” Rarity asked. “We have seen disturbing things in the night sky,” Luna replied without preamble. She looked with distaste at the dead alien on the floor. “It’s clear that we need to find where Twilight has gone,” said Celestia. “Also Sweetie Belle.” The young filly who had been standing quietly up to that point snarled and made a break for the door. Rarity whipped out one of her Colts. She hesitated, time seeming to slow as the imposter fled. But she wouldn’t escape. Rarity blew her away, splashing green blood across the walls. Rarity turned on Celestia. “They took my sister?!” “It looks that way, yes. Right now, we need to form a plan, and-” There was a deep rumble and a shadow passed over the town. Frank poked his head out the door to see a menacing spaceship overhead. He hadn’t yet seen such a thing in the daytime. If anything, it looked even stranger than at night. Frank addressed the room. “They’re here!” “How could they have found us? Did they follow the diamond?” Rarity wondered. She pushed through the crowd to the door, standing with Frank and looking skyward. “We might have a situation,” Celestia understated worriedly, watching as the ship came around and began to descend towards the town. “If they seem to be as involved with energy weapons as we’ve seen so far, magic might not affect them.” “But we’ve got guns, right?” said Spike. He pointed to Rarity’s pistols. “Can I borrow one? I know how they work from reading.” “Spike, darling, I appreciate the offer, but this might be a job for somepony more experienced.” Rarity’s mouth set in a firm line. “I’m going out there.” She stepped out the door, Frank right beside her. The two of them traded glances before taking up defensive positions, covering each other’s backs. “You don’t have to do this,” Rarity said as they moved off down the street. Frank shrugged. “You might need help.” That was what Rarity had expected of him, but she had felt the need to be polite and give him a choice in the matter. It was interesting how she’d met him just a week ago and was now willing to trust him with her life. The man’s word was his bond. Frank had taken the big rifle and chambered a round. The large ship overhead seemed to have settled on a course for landing in the center of town. A few flashes from the ground designated frightened unicorns attempting attack. As the Princess had predicted, the spells bounced off a shimmering layer of energy on the ship’s hull. Rarity stepped in front of Frank. He leaned forward, resting the heavy rifle across her saddle for stability. He fiddled with the vernier sight. “How far away do you think that is?” “Hmm, perhaps half a mile and closing,” Rarity said. Frank nodded. “Good enough to start with.” BANG A light cloud of smoke bloomed from the front of the weapon as the heavy bullet went whizzing away. Rarity began to quickly call out her estimates of decreasing range as Frank kept jamming cartridges into the rifle and firing them. As the spaceship roared towards them, the front window was plainly visible. On Frank’s third shot, Rarity saw it crack. Four shots later, it exploded inward and the ship careened sideways, heading for a crash landing in the Everfree Forest. Even from outside of Ponyville, the sound of the impact sounded sounded like a dozen trains derailing. Frank jumped in the saddle and Rarity took off at a gallop. Her hooves beat hard the bridge over the stream that marked the boundary of town. A few minutes of hard running brought them to the crash site and the two of them arrived prepared. Six-shooters blazed as stunned aliens tumbled out of their wrecked vehicle. Some offered resistance with their lasers, but the broken trees at the edge of the forest offered ample protection. Firing from behind cover, Frank and Rarity kept up a steady stream of lead going downrange, coordinating their reloads. Blooms of green blood splattered every time a slug found its mark. When it was clear to do so, the two of them moved forward. Frank and Rarity slipped inside through a large rent in the hull. The inside of the ship was quiet and seemed to have lost power. An alien suddenly appeared and Frank kicked sideways with one of his riding boots. The force sent the enemy reeling towards Rarity, who was prepared to buck. Her much more powerful kick slammed the alien’s body squishily against the wall, and after that it didn’t move. The two of them cautiously advanced, making their way to the captive area. It took a few minutes to find it. The lights in the corridors were dim and seemed to not be powered. Perhaps that was the reason that all the cells stood open when they found them. Ponies of all colors and kinds were being held there, many with ugly medical apparatuses affixed to their bodies. Rarity quickly located her friend and her sister. The two of them were in bad shape, but only minutes later the Princesses and the medical ponies they had called began to make their way onto the scene, escorted into the ship by Frank and Rarity. Twilight was barely conscious as she was being attended to. Her treatment in captivity had been deplorable, but it looked like she would recover. Twilight was able to murmur, “Rarity, what happened?” “Extraterrestrials had some nefarious plan,” Rarity explained as simply as she was able. This was not a time for Twilight to be overanalyzing things. “I’m not sure exactly what the plan was, but we seem to have put a stop to it.” Twilight’s head limply lolled to the side, staring at Frank. “Who’s this?” “This is Frank. He’s a friend.” Twilight squinted, possibly wondering where she had seen the man before. She had only glanced at Spike’s comics, though, and the answer couldn’t seem to come to her. Seeing that everything was being taken care of, Rarity allowed herself to relax. She ran a hoof through her severely mussed mane and looked at Frank. “What will we do now? What will you do?” Frank looked uncertain. “I don’t know where to start.” “You can stay here in Equestria, if you like.” “I don’t know,” Frank said. “Well, you’re wanted for murder back in New Mexico,” Rarity pointed out. “What?” yelped Twilight. The Princesses, too, had suddenly turned their attention to Frank. “He’s no threat to us,” Rarity quickly assured them. “And I should mention that the charges are false.” “Very reassuring,” said Celestia, calming down. She gestured to the interior of the alien ship. “I suppose now that we have defeated the initial invasion, we can focus on long term defense should these enemies ever return. Frank, you perhaps best know how to accomplish that.” Rarity nodded in agreement. “Would you like to make your new home in Equestria?” He put his hand up, shoving his hat back. “Well, I didn’t really have an old home, but I suppose your offer to stay is very generous, thank you.” “Excellent.” Celestia nodded and smiled. “Now, would you mind signing my copy of Cowboys #1?” That evening, Rarity had finished stripping the trail dust from her coat and the dye from her mane. Her gear was laid out carefully and she felt strangely light for not wearing it. It had been a very long, very strange trip. Finding out Princess Celestia was a comic book collector had just been the icing on the cake. They still did not have all the answers about the aliens, but hopefully those would be forthcoming. Rarity sighed, looking at her guns. Frank’s code must have really rubbed off on her. She better understood herself now, and how to be her own pony. It felt liberating, but carried with it a sense of responsibility. She was not about to tolerate or simply let bad things happen to those who did not deserve it. She was ready to fight for what she believed in, but hoped such a thing never had to happen. It was a curious thing, knowing what she did now. Meanwhile, Frank snuggled in bed happily, preparing for the first good night of beauty sleep since this whole crazy ordeal began.