10
…PEACEMAKER’S TRIAL, NOW
Rarity had gone out of her mind entertaining the idea of moving the stage for the Summer Sun Celebration to somewhere else, which meant undoing all the glorious work they had carried out already. Rarity was diligent when she was in her element, sure enough, but she looked at each of her creations like a doting mother, so she could only be pushed so far when her vision was compromised. Bow Sansy distinctly remembered several incidents where Rarity had broken down and locked herself away in her bedroom like a princess in a tower. Usually these sulking periods lasted a few hours and she could be coaxed out, but it was not unheard of for her to retreat for days on end. Given the scale and significance of their current project, Bow predicted that should Rarity be allowed to be alone with her thoughts, nopony would see her for weeks.
Bow had opted to put her hoof down. “Listen, honeychild,” she had said both kindly and firmly, “we are too good at what we do to give up what we’ve started. The ponies of this town want this dusty old hall turned into a glitter palace for the Summer Sun Celebration, and by golly that’s just what they’re gonna get! This is the most important day in the history of Ponyville, and it’s up to the girls from Carousel Boutique to make sure it looks the part!”
Rarity had looked uncertain for a moment, and then her eyes lit up. “Yes, you’re right!” she had exclaimed, nodding her head and laughing in that haughty way of hers. “Surrender, moi? What was I thinking! That’s ridiculous! Yellow just doesn’t go with my colouring! It’s so…unfashionable! Come along now, Bow, we’ve work to do!”
Her exuberance was a touch more extreme than the reaction Bow had been aiming for, but at least the seamstress was happy again. They had worked non-stop throughout that morning with such renewed vigour that one would think they were finished ahead of schedule, but Rarity was an artist at heart and no artist was ever truly satisfied. She would always find something that needed to be added or taken away, and parts of the town hall interior would undergo several dizzying transformations in a matter of minutes. In her present state of mind, Rarity did not see mistakes, only opportunities. More than once Bow had to stop whatever she was working on to watch in awe the mistress at her craft.
It was a glimpse of something in the corner of her vision that drew her back to reality. She descended to the floor of the reception area in time to see two guardsponies in grey uniforms and peaked caps. These they wore angled, so that they obscured their eyes from onlookers. They walked in perfect tandem, and one was making a remark to the other about the way Rarity’s posterior wiggled as she ascended the stepladder she was using. Bow did not particularly approve, although a few remarks were no cause for concern, especially since Rarity did have a wiggle. What did concern her was that she had no idea who these guards were.
“Excuse me, you pair—?” she began.
“The mayor called us in to keep a check on the prisoner, ma’am,” one of the guardsponies interrupted her. “You remember the dangerous arsonist sleeping right under the floorboards. I’m sure somepony must’ve mentioned it to you.” His voice had an audible sting behind it, and Bow Sansy felt at once both insulted and very stupid.
She remembered, all right. The disaster that had destroyed the sheriff’s office rattled her as much as anypony else. Even more upsetting was the identity of the supposed culprit; after all, just the day before he had been right inside their place of work, and she and Rarity had transformed him from a scruffy desert rat into a delectable young specimen of stallionhood. Bow Sansy did not rate herself highly as a judge of one’s character, that would be presumptuous and arrogant, but he was not a criminal. There was something in the frosty glow of those eyes, something that was not evil.
“Of course,” she said, “but please be delicate about it. The town’s depending on this place for—”
“We’ll be as delicate as we can, so we will,” the same guard interrupted her again. His mate snickered, and that sent a shudder through her for some reason. Now she noticed a slight bulge beneath that one’s uniform. “Pardon us.” They excused themselves before she had a chance to respond.
Bow Sansy watched them go through a dark door at the very back of the room, tucked away so it was almost impossible to notice. The wood was grotty and in dire need of replacing, and the handle scratched all to blazes. Somepony had carved out graffiti in its surface, but it was worn and gouged into senseless scar tissue. She and Rarity could not fathom why it had been left in this sorry state and had decided it best to simply cover it up before the ceremony. She had initially taken it to be a supply closet of some kind, but it was in truth the entranceway to the subterranean storage level which had been converted into a temporary cell. Just before it slammed behind the two guards, she spied a stone stairway going down into the earth.
How many hours had that poor boy been down there in the dark now?
How long had it been since he had been given any food?
“Rarity, honey,” she called to her partner, “I’m going to make a Studbucks run. I won’t be long.”
“That’s fine,” the unicorn replied without taking her eyes off what she was doing. “I believe I’ve got this arrangement just about right. Ooh! Could you be a dear and get mine with extra cream and one of those luxury paninis? Merci mille fois!”
XXX
“Morning, chief. We’re breaking you out.”
Peacemaker looked up at the two black-clothed figures. There was a lengthy pause, and then he replied, “I am no chief of yours.” He got up on his hooves and fixed his eyes on the speaker. “You were at the library last night. You and one other.”
“Then you know it would be best not to argue with us,” said the second figure, the one with his belt draped across his back. The guns were aglow despite the low light of the room, silently howling inside Peacemaker’s head to be returned to their true wielder. What was there to stop him from simply tackling these idiots and snatching them away?
“I can tell what you’re thinking,” said the first figure suddenly. Peacemaker saw the corners of his mouth turn up beneath his hood. “It’s not a very good idea. We may be the only two you can see, but there’s a powerful sorceress watching over us even as we speak. If you don’t cooperate, there may be consequences.” The sign on his gorget – a flaming eye – seemed to shimmer in affirmation.
“Don’t threaten me, cully,” said Peacemaker. His voice was hard and edged with steel, the voice of an older pony. It made the two intruders flinch, which was incredibly satisfying. “You endangered the lives of the ones in the library. Far as I’m concerned, you’re both already dead.”
“We shall see,” said the first figure snidely. “Now come.”
They ushered him out of the storage room-cum-prison cell and down the gloomy hallway. It was narrow, so they had to walk in single file, with Peacemaker sandwiched between the two intruders. The figure carrying his belt brought up the rear while his colleague, whose demeanour indicated he was the more dominant one, took the lead. A warm breeze blew over them from up ahead, making the trip through the cold passageway a little more bearable.
“Just explain one thing to me, sai,” said Peacemaker. “What’s this all in aid of? I am new to this town. I know nopony in these here parts.”
“Enough of ’em know you, though, gun-pony,” said the figure in the rear. The one in front grunted disapproval, but his colleague continued on, “Know you for a dangerous trim. Far South, he has seen your ilk very well. Thought you was all dead, save ol’ Ramrod.”
“There’s really a Gone Far South?” Peacemaker asked. He remembered the name as the one the sheriff had accused of him of working for. Ramrod had made a real show of that one after the fire. He still had no idea who this pony was, but the name had struck enough of a chord with the populace to prevent them from listening to his defence. “I thought it was Sheriff Ramrod you answered to?”
“Sure enough it’s both,” said the figure. “Ramrod intends to see you in the ground ’fore you can get in the way, boy, but all serve the Red Daddy in the end.”
“Fancies himself your father, does he? And Ramrod’s? He must have been a busy old husk one time, I’ll warrant,” Peacemaker sniped. “And what is there in Ponyville that your Red Daddy could want? A simple town like this has much to value, true, but only to its citizens or to common harriers, and no harrier I’ve ever met called on sorceresses. Mercenary magicks demand a fine bit, and they’re all too stingy to part with it.”
“Met many harriers then, have you?” the figure in the back sneered. “I’ll bet you’ve wandered the wastes for many a year, dispensing justice against us sinners wherever you go, being judge and executioner, like the gun-ponies what came ’afore. I’ll bet your hooves are stained red with the blood of your enemies, little warrior.” He laughed. It was a guttural, unpleasant sound.
“Not in so many words, I fear, but I have met enough, fat thief,” said Peacemaker curtly. The laughter cut off with a dumb grunt, followed by an irritated growl. The insulted intruder may have been about to say something regrettable, but his partner spoke first.
“Stop,” he said, and the line came to a halt. “Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?” the figure in the rear asked.
“That breeze.”
“What about it?”
“You don’t think it’s strange?” replied the first, and his companions both heard the tension in his voice mounting. “When we came down here, we closed the door behind us. And there’s one other thing.” A pause. “I’ve been hearing four sets of hooves.”
A light came on, although Peacemaker could not discern its origin, and he saw that standing before them, with the stairs a short distance behind her, was Bow Sansy. She dropped the tray she had been balancing between her teeth, spilling coffee and a kind of food the gun-pony thought of as a popkin all over the stone floor.
“You think she heard us?” asked the figure in the rear.
“That generally happens when you gossip with the assignment, fathead,” replied the one in front. A piercing whine split the air, and little motes of light swirled around the eye on his gorget. “You’re real lucky, pegasus. You’ll meet your end nice and easy.” Bow Sansy’s own eyes widened and she slowly began to back away on trembling legs. There was no room for her to fly and the way she held her wings close to her body made her seem small and vulnerable. Peacemaker realised that if ever there was a time for action, then it was now. He would save her and himself, and prove that the doubts which he had tortured himself with over the past few hours were wrong.
“GET DOWN, BOW SANSY!” Peacemaker roared, and he bucked as hard as he could, driving both his hind hooves into the chest of the figure at the rear. The figure went down with a choked cry and the belt flew up into the air, landing across Peacemaker’s back and locking itself in place as if it had a mind of its own. The first figure reacted to the sudden chaos by turning, but by then the gun-pony was already rearing up and drawing one of the blued metal totems into his grasp. A bullet ripped free of the barrel and struck the sign of the eye. Just at the same time a bubble of green light was growing out of the engraved pupil, the flickering motes orbiting it like a cluster of moons, and when the gorget shattered, so too did the bubble.
XXX
Sister Fluttershy made her way into Ponyville to shop for a new flower vase. Her rabbit, Angel, had kicked the old one off her mantelpiece and shattered it into at least a dozen fragments. She would have been within her rights to feel angry, but it was said her ability to forgive was almost supernatural. Although not true, the sentiment was entirely understandable. She had stood amid the debris, water soaking the fur on her fetlocks, and felt relief that the only damage caused had been to the vase and not her mischievous pet.
“No harm done,” she had said, then cleaned up the mess and went back to her household chores. She had bagged the pieces rather than thrown them away. The vase was made from clay and she knew a potter who would never turn down some spare material that could be softened back to its purer form for future use. Still, the mantelpiece seemed incomplete without the vase, and so she decided to push her usual shopping day forward and pick up a new one at the same time. That was the plan anyway.
When she saw the wreckage of the sheriff’s office, she dropped her basket and covered her mouth with her forehooves. “Oh, my goodness!” she said to nopony in particular. “What happened?”
“You didn’t hear?” replied an earth pony she was not familiar with. “It’s that guy Peacemaker. Sheriff says he’s really working for the outlaw prince, Gone Far South.”
“But that simply can’t be!” Fluttershy protested.
“Why, do you know him?” asked the earth pony incredulously.
“Well, no, not really,” Fluttershy admitted, deflating.
The earth pony put a hoof against her shoulder. “Take my advice, Sister,” he told her in a matter-of-fact way, “you ought to be careful before you get mixed up with that sort. Somepony as gentle as you, why, they’d eat you up for breakfast, and they’d do it smiling.” He picked up her basket and held it out to her.
“Thank you,” she said quietly, accepting it. She felt an urge to get away from him. Whether it was something about his posture or just the way he nonchalantly described the horrific details, she could not tell. She just needed to put space between her and him as quickly as she could.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, when he was gone. Fluttershy looked all around her. There were quite a few ponies out that day, even if they were keeping their distance, and he seemed to have vanished completely into the crowd. She tried to pick him out when she realised she could not recall what he looked like. Not the colour of his coat or even his mark. The memory of their meeting seemed to just disintegrate from her mind, leaving her feeling rather foolish and even more disturbed.
“Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy jumped with a start, but it was only Twilight Sparkle and her baby dragon. She offered a meek greeting.
“I take it you heard about this disaster,” said Twilight, gesturing toward the ruins.
Fluttershy thought she should nod. After all she had heard about it, but could not remember where or who from. She then considered shaking her head, because how could she trust an idea that might not have any real foundation? It could be that she had simply been intimidated by the grim, soft-spoken Peacemaker and made the association between him and the fire by herself, which she thought did not seem like her at all. Lying would be wrong, not to mention pointless, so in the end she opted not to move her head at all.
Her eyes must have reflected her confusion however, because Twilight told her anyway, or at least what she could tell. Twilight and Spike had both been asleep when it all started, but they had been awoken by the smell of burning and the sound of raised voices. The building had been totally ablaze by then, but thankfully there had been no fatalities. Twilight also told her that they had just been to the hospital to visit Jack-a-Nape, who was apparently recovering just fine.
“I’m glad nopony was hurt,” said Fluttershy, “but what’ll happen to Peacemaker?”
“Well, the plan is to see if we can help put together a case to prove his innocence,” said Twilight, “but we need to get his side of the story first. That’s where we were going now.”
“I sure hope you’re right,” said Fluttershy, then she smiled. “I’m sure you are. I mean, you two must know him really well, right? You were together all of yesterday, weren’t you?”
That seemed to give Twilight reason to pause, and Fluttershy felt her smile droop.
“Oh, dear,” she mumbled.
“Peacemaker’s cool, Fluttershy,” Spike chirped. “Once we find out what really happened from him, I bet it’ll all make sense and we can smooth this whole nasty incident out.” He snapped his claws for emphasis. “Just like that.”
There was a cataclysmic bang. The front doors of the town hall flew off their hinges as green-grey smoke whooshed out in a thick, rolling wave that blanketed the ground for several feet. Any nearby ponies darted away from it, gasping and gawking. Others came closer to investigate what had occurred for themselves, but wisely chose to keep about a yard’s length between themselves and the bizarre, glowing cloud.
“Did I do that?” asked Spike, staring at his claw-tips in amazement.
A shape staggered out of the town hall, and as it pushed through the smoke, they could all see Rarity and Peacemaker carrying Bow Sansy between them. Three pegasi whooshed in from above, circling the town hall until the resultant wind tunnel carried the cloud up and dissipated it across the heavens, where it was swallowed up by the blue morning. The three of them, now clearly visible as Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane and Cloudchaser, alighted on a nearby rooftop and watched the scene with nervous interest like birds of prey.
Bow Sansy was set down on the ground, and the ponies immediately crowded closer, bombarding them with questions and hurling insinuations, most if not all of which were aimed at Peacemaker. Twilight and Fluttershy did their best to appeal for calm, but it was nigh impossible to be heard over the chaos.
“All right, ya’ll! That’s enough!” a new voice hollered. “Give ’em some breathin’ space, for cryin’ out loud!” The voice was Applejack’s, and she was presently walking side-by-side with Big McIntosh. The behemoth stallion’s bulk forced the crowd to part like water before the prow of a ship, allowing the siblings to come within reasonable range.
Peacemaker stared at her silently, unblinking. “Sai Applejack—” he started.
“Later,” she said, with a hint of a smile. “I’m glad that you’re okay. We were in town resupplyin’ when we heard the explosion an’ rushed right on over.”
“Yup,” Big McIntosh agreed.
“What happened in there?” asked Twilight, looking at Peacemaker.
“There’s more going on than we realise, sai,” the gun-pony explained, “but this is not the place to explain.” He knelt down beside Bow and rested a hoof gently on her shoulder. “Bow Sansy, do you hear me? Are you all right?”
The pegasus coughed, and a wisp of green-grey mist rolled off her tongue and broke apart on the ground. She gingerly opened her eyes, which were sore and watering, and turned to look up at him.
“I think I’m fine,” she said. “You saved my life.” Peacemaker breathed a sigh of relief, then helped her up on her hooves. Rarity wrapped her forelegs around the pegasus in a tight hug, then gratefully did the same to the gun-pony. “What about the two others?” Bow asked. “The ones who tried to kill us, aren’t they still in there?”
A pulse of worried murmurs coursed through those who had heard it, quickly meeting the ears of the ones who were standing further back.
“Looks like the smoke out here’s all cleared,” said Twilight.
“YOU’RE WELCOME!” Rainbow Dash called down from her perch.
“But there might still be some floating around inside,” Twilight finished. “We should send somepony in to retrieve the two—”
“They both disappeared the moment I shot off the siguls they were wearing,” said Peacemaker. “Don’t ask me how. One second they were there, the next they were gone.”
“That’s a load a’ bull!” someone shouted.
“Yeah! What’d you do to them!?” crowed another.
“Who said that!?” Applejack demanded. “Come on! You’re brave enough when there’s a nice cosy crowd to hide ya, you’re brave enough to say it face-to-face!”
Big McIntosh nudged her. “Nope,” he mumbled, shaking his great head. Applejack understood that he was telling her not to rise to it, but she was mad now. She kicked the dirt with a forehoof in frustration.
The crowd started to recede once again, and the gathered group felt a crackle in the air, as if a storm were building rapidly on the horizon. The shape of Sheriff Ramrod approached, with the smaller, primmer visage of the town’s elected official close behind. Mayor Mare was so puny beside him that it was almost comical, but those who knew better understood that there was nothing humorous to be said about the law-pony. Peacemaker eyed the belt hanging around his middle. Stuffed into the holsters were guns. Huge, nasty-looking ones crafted out of dark metal that rippled with blue and purple patterns where the sunlight hit them. The grips were red and smelled like cedar.
“An’ jus’ what’s goin’ on here?” Ramrod asked, feigning confusion. He lowered his gaze on Peacemaker, and for a split-second the gun-pony registered a glint of surprise there. Of course Ramrod must have been expecting him to be accompanied by his two visitors. It would look so incriminating, the courageous sheriff catching the agent of Gone Far South escaping with the help of his criminal partners. It would look so good for him too.
The mayor gasped. “How did you escape your cell?” she demanded, as if his presence were a personal affront to her.
“I didn’t escape,” said Peacemaker. “I was invited out. Seemed rude not to answer.”
“Somepony seize that outlaw this instant!” the mayor cried. “Sheriff, can we add unabashed cheek to the list of charges?”
“No need for that, ma’am,” said Ramrod. “Lockin’ him up’s just invited more trouble, we all see that. Reckon we’ll settle this the ol’-fashioned way instead.”
“You mean a duel,” said Peacemaker. “Interesting. Single shots at twenty paces? That’s the way it always used to be.”
“Nay,” said Ramrod. “Double. And we’ll make it ten paces.”
“Were those the conditions when you killed your father with his own guns and ran away?” asked Peacemaker, and the crowd uttered a horrified sound at this statement. Behind his handlebar moustache, Ramrod’s teeth clenched together.
“Peacemaker, this isn’t necessary,” said Twilight. “Bow Sansy was in there with you. Nopony here has reason to disbelieve her if she tells them what happened.”
“I cry your pardon, but our ideas of what is necessary differ, sai,” Peacemaker replied.
“Oh, dear,” mumbled the mayor. “Sheriff, this seems just a touch extreme.
“The young cully’s right, ma’am,” said Ramrod, and snorted derisively. “Let me lay down the word a’ the law an’ put him outta our collective misery.”
“Time for talk’s done,” said Peacemaker.
“Aye. So it is,” Ramrod agreed.
And so there was no more talk, and no more arguing. The two gunslingers faced each other ten paces apart in the middle of Ponyville’s Main Street. All was silent in the town, which until that day had known little of terror or bloodshed. Battle had descended on Ponyville. The citizens watched from windows, doorways, alleys and rooftops, but nopony remained on the dusty street itself. That place had become sacred.
None could rightly explain why they allowed this to happen. Perhaps it was that the gun-ponies exuded a natural aura of authority, or that they could sense there really was no alternative. Whatever the reasoning behind it may have been, what followed was a performance unlike anything they had seen before, and many would never see again.
To the onlookers, an eternity seemed to pass during which the fighters were completely motionless, but they were wrong. Each was tense, his muscles bunched tight, his vision as sharp and penetrating as a shard of glass. They were watching for the slightest twitch or tell-tale sign of hesitation. One was determined to see his opponent dead, the other was bent on proving himself, and neither of them would or could afford to compromise. Mouths thinned to lipless scars. Eyes narrowed to shining slits. Forelegs flexed, ready to draw.
Ramrod moved.
“PEACEMAKER!” Applejack cried out.
On that day in Ponyville, everypony heard two shots ring out.
Ramrod reared up and drew both weapons. The triggers twanged, and the guns burst apart. Ramrod howled in agony as molten slag burnt the fur from his fetlocks and shards of metal dug into his skin. The heat blackened the tips of his silver moustache and spotted his face and mane with dozens of tiny burns. He fell to the ground, cursing and spitting.
Peacemaker had been a split-second too fast for him. He had risen into position and cleared leather in a single fluid motion, pulled the triggers, and his bullets had plugged his opponent’s barrels just as the hammers on Ramrod’s weapons clicked. He fired a third shot, taking the hat from the old stallion’s head, then a fourth that stuck in his sheriff’s badge, which split down the middle and clattered into the dirt. Peacemaker blew tails of white smoke from his gun, then twirled them, holstered them and dropped back down to stand to all fours.
He walked slowly and deliberately towards Ramrod, and when he was close enough to be heard, he said in a quiet, stern voice, “This is what sets me apart from any outlaw, and from you. I am a lord who is merciful. On this day I have remembered the face of my father…while you have forgotten yours.”
Ramrod, former elected sheriff of Ponyville, fled.
Peacemaker turned to face the stunned audience of citizens. “You were ready to believe his words before without question!” he cried. “Because he was your sheriff, and when the sheriff talks, you all pin your ears back and listen! That’s fine, that’s all fair.” He lightly kicked one of the split badge pieces, and his expression turned fierce. “Now I’m talking, so this time you’ll listen to me! I’ve beaten your sheriff and chased him out! He ran because I was strong enough to beat him without taking his life! I don’t know what he did to make you all follow him so fervently, but I want you to stop and think, just for one second, that that was the pony you all depended on to stand up for law and order in this town! A full grown stallion, who ran away because he was beaten by a colt, who did not run even as we stood in the light of that blaze!”
“That doesn’t prove anything!” some fool was brave enough to cry. Applejack would swear it was one of those who had called them out before. “How’re we supposed to know what you did or didn’t do last night?”
“Try asking Jack-a-Nape!” Peacemaker retorted. “He’s in hospital right now, recovering from the fire I pulled him out of! Or ask Bow Sansy, she’s right there among you! Who here did not see sai Rarity and I haul her from the smoke before it could suffocate all three of us?”
Mutters, voices expressing points to both camps. Peacemaker felt the corner of one eye twitch. Something fell out from between two buildings behind him, wrapped up in an ash-coloured cloak. Looming over it was Rainbow Dash, whom both Thunderlane and Cloudchaser only then realised was no longer standing between them on their roof. The cyan pegasus pulled back the fallen shape’s hood to reveal the unconscious face of Deputy Hammer.
“Check out who I found skulking in the dark,” said Rainbow Dash. “This slug was firing up one wicked-looking spell just now. Aimed right at your back too, chief. Sheriff must’ve put him there to cover his rump if he lost.”
“But that has to mean he was hopin’ for this duel,” said Applejack. She had walked up beside Peacemaker, and now Fluttershy, Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Bow Sansy and the mayor were all coming out to join her.
“It was a set-up from the very beginning,” said Twilight, and frowned.
The mayor looked at Peacemaker incredulously. He smiled humourlessly and pushed his forehooves out slightly. “This really has been quite an eventful morning,” she said once she was satisfied he would not draw on her, “and I’d like to have avoided this kind of excitement so close to the Summer Sun Celebration.”
Twilight decided it was best not to bring up her own worries regarding the upcoming holiday. Emotions were already running rampant and the last thing anypony needed to hear about was the revival of a thousand-year-old evil from the dawn of civilisation. “If I may offer my thoughts on the subject, ma’am,” she said, “perhaps it would be prudent if you told everypony to just stay focussed on the preparations.”
The mayor wrinkled her snout for a moment, then nodded her head. “Yes, you are correct, Miss Sparkle. As far as they’re concerned, this was all a misunderstanding and it has since been settled. You, Miss Sansy, Mister Peacemaker and I will reconvene at my office in ten minutes. That is if Miss Sansy feels up to it after her ordeal.”
“Really, I’m fine, ma’am,” said Bow pleasantly, “and I’d be happy to help.”
“What about the rest of us?” asked Rarity.
“You heard what Miss Sparkle said,” the mayor replied. “The matter is settled. Just return to whatever it was you were doing before.”
“But if Bow’s going to be at the office, I’ll have to do all the work by myself!” the unicorn protested.
“I’ll help,” Spike piped up with a huge grin and pink love-hearts in his eyes.
Rarity tittered. “Well, aren’t you just the most precious thing?” She rubbed the baby dragon’s head. Twilight resisted the urge to press her own forehoof into her face.
“I’ll ask Miss Dash to put Deputy Hammer somewhere he can’t cause any more trouble,” said the mayor, “and alert the staff at the hospital to keep an eye on Deputy Tongs’s room. Gentlecolt, fillies, I’ll see you in ten minutes.” She tilted her head respectfully to Sister Fluttershy, and then trotted off to address the townsfolk.
The group began to dissipate, with Spike floating through the air after Rarity and Fluttershy saying her sweet goodbyes and drifting away into obscurity. Peacemaker glanced at Applejack, then turned to Bow and Twilight. “May I request that you leave us, just for a moment?” he asked.
Twilight looked at him oddly, but Bow smiled her understanding. The pegasus nudged the unicorn, and they left the two earth ponies be. The mayor did her job well, for soon enough Ponyville had returned to its previous happy flow. It was almost disconcerting how the events of the past ten minutes seemed never to have taken place at all.
They walked together out of the fray to some relative privacy behind a building, where they came to a halt. The branches of an old tree hung over them, casting bars of shadow that brought to mind images one associated with conspiracies, secrets that must only be known to a select few. Applejack had seen old films at the town picture-house, and although that technology had never thrived in Gallowad, Peacemaker could easily conjure such images from beloved old stories told around the hearth. The shadows crackled in their nerves, although the feeling this produced was not of nervousness, in fact it was peculiarly comfortable. They could have stood like that for hours beneath the boughs without needing to say a word, but Peacemaker had to know.
“During the duel,” he said, “you called out my name.”
“Well, course I did,” she replied. “I ain’t never seen a real gunfight ’til today an’, well, I was worried ’bout ya.”
“But you didn’t stop me from going out to fight him. Shouldn’t you have done that instead?”
“Why’re ya interrogatin’ me?” Applejack asked with a snort. “I saw the look in your eyes when ya told Twilight to back off. I reckon me tryin’ to stop ya would only have gotten ya riled up.”
Peacemaker nodded sagely, and bowed his head to her. “I cry your pardon, sai. It was wrong of me to question your intent. You say true and I say thank you.” He straightened up. “One more question?”
“Shoot,” said Applejack. The ire that had been building in her was ebbing, but she was on her guard now.
“You being in town right as this all happens seems kind of a coincidence,” he said.
“Just what’re ya insinuatin’?” Applejack demanded. She was standing closer to him now, her blazing emerald eyes locked on his ghostly blue ones.
“Nothing,” he said, “I’m just wondering, were you coming to check on me?” A voice inside his head prayed that her answer was yes. For a long while she continued to gaze into him, and he found himself returning the gesture, or lack thereof. When she finally nodded, the little voice inside his head whooped with joy.
“Somepony needed to,” said Applejack. “Didn’t know for sure if anypony else was gonna, what with the whole town bein’ so busy. It wasn’t easy to find a good chance to get down here, though…”
Her voice trailed off into another long, enveloping quiet, and the reply he was formulating died on his lips. There was nothing more to be said. Those first kisses were the best in his life, and would never be forgotten, even if the moment was a fleeting one, cut short by a sudden harrumph of disapproval. Big McIntosh had come looking for his sister, and was less than ecstatic at how he found her now.
“I don’t suppose ya can let us finish ’fore ya drag me off home?” Applejack asked. She and Peacemaker were both as red as her sibling’s coat.
Big McIntosh snorted. “Nope.”