//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Hang 'em High // by aceotaku //------------------------------// Flim and Flam carefully inspected through the wreckage of the wagon as Night Light watched from behind. “Can it be repaired?” The two brothers looked at each other and nodded and Flim spoke. “Yeah, it can, but we’ll need some resources to replace what has been damaged, and it may take a while.” “Take as long as you need, ve’re not going anywhere.” The older stallion chuckled. “Speaking of, what even was that?” Flam wondered. “I have never seen something so small cause so much damage in all my life.” “And then there’s that mare that Twilight and her friend chased after.” Flim continued. “This place is way more dangerous than we first thought.” Night Light nodded. “Just vhat is happening in zis town?” The three of them looked up as they heard hoofsteps, seeing Twilight and Rainbow Dash walking behind a white stallion. “Twilight vhere is the mare?” Night Light asked as he and the twins walked over. “Vhat happened?” The unicorn mare lowered her head. “I...I’m not sure dad, to be honest. Some..some monster took her.” Flim and Flam held onto each other tightly as they paled and grimaced. “A-a monster!? L-like an Ursa or a timberwolf or a” “No, no, nothing like that at all.” Rainbow said, shaking her head. “It was...it was some sort of bipedal spirit, it claimed that mare committed some crime and...I dunno, swallowed her I guess? All these posters seem to be of his victims rather than actual wanted criminals.” “Swallowed?” Night Light frowned, eyes narrowing before turning to the white stallion. “And who are you?” “I’m Mayor Hill, I run this town.” The stallion replied, looking down sheepishly. “Well, tried to at any rate. When I heard the commotion here, I came to investigate, and saw these two mares talking to the monster plaguing our town. May I ask who you ponies are?” “Ve are here on behalf of Appleoosa.” Night Light answered. “He had sent messengers after your scheduled trades had failed to be delivered. Said messengers failed to reply to him as well. Am I right in assuming zis...spirit is ze cause?” The Mayor looked between the stallions and mares, sighing as he turned and began walking towards a building visible from down the road. “Walk with me, I’ll explain everything.” The group looked between each before following after him, Flim and Flam staying behind to work on repairing the wagon. “It...it was a long time ago.” Mayor Hill began as they walked. “This town was newly made, and started small, but eventually grew in size as it took in folks from all sorts of places. Ponies, Minotaur, griffon, it didn’t matter, we all for one reason or another came to this place and settled, however due to just starting out we were afraid of bandits and wildlife attacking us and taking what little we had, see this was before we formed a partnership with Appleoosa to secure ourselves a better source of food, money and jobs.” His gaze narrowed. “We were saved from a bandit attack from a passing minotaur, a refugee from the minotaur capital. His name was Hangem High, and he became our sheriff.” Twilight shivered as a cold wind blew past, the sun setting and casting an orange twilight over the town. Rainbow held a wing over her friend’s back to warm her, smiling at her. “At first things were swell,” the mayor continued, “the sheriff protected the town and made sure criminals suffered...but Hang ‘em High said that the twn was a rowdy bunch full of criminals, and he was right, several townsponies, griffons and even minotaurs had begun turning to crime either out of desperation, high emotions or just plain boredom. Hangem High decided to lay down the law and punished every criminal severely....and for a time, it was swell, ponies began to follow the law and began to fear and respect our sheriff...but there was still a few troublemakers causing mischief, so Hangem High did as his name suggested...and hung’em high from a wooden structure with a rope tied around their neck.” Twilight paled, bringing a hoof to her throat. “That sounds awful...” The stallion nodded. “It was, but it was effective....but it still wasn’t enough for our sheriff, who claimed the populace still refused to properly respect him and follow the law, and so..he went after smaller offences, finding little excuses for ponies to break the law in any way, and hung them all just the same. He showed no mercy nor remorse, but we still let him go on, because to do so meant we’d have no sheriff to protect us, and we were afraid that defying him meant hanging ourselves, even I was scared I’d be next if I questioned him...until he went too far.” Rainbow’s eyes took on a steely look. “What happened?” “A foal, just a colt of five, ripped a tag off of a mattress. It was an accident, and it was just a minor offence, at most, but it didn’t matter; Hangem High sentenced the colt to hanging. Upon making that declaration, with the scared colt by his side, in front of the entire town, we snapped. We could excuse everything he did before, but this was over the line. We all ganged up on him, restraining him, fury in our eyes. The sheriff struggled and fought back, cursin’ our rebellion until we finally wrapped a noose of rope around his neck and hun hum as high as we could, watching until he finally choked and breathed his last.” Twilight turned green as Rainbow snarled. “You KILLED him!?” Mayor Hill turned back to her, fire in his eyes. “You damn right we did! He was gonna hang a foal for just being a foal, he killed HUNDREDS of ponies, and do you wanna know why!? Because Hangem High is a sadist and a monster, who only became our sheriff so he could get off on ruling us through fear!” “You could have done something else!” Rainbow argued. “Oh, you mean ask the royal guard or law enforcement?” The white stallion questioned. “We are OUTSIDE the borders of Celestia’s rule, the royal guard CAN’T do anything out here, we had NOPONY to turn to but ourselves! Trust me when I say this, girl: that was the ONLY option we had, and not a ONE of us regrets that decision!” “Now, that ain’t true now, ain’t it, Hill?” A voice growled out from in front of them. The two mares and two stallions turned, Hill paling as he saw the imposing figure in front of them. “After all,” the ghost continued, “I’m still here, ain’t I?” “H-Hangem High...” Hill gulped. The former sheriff twirled his revolver in his hand, looking the group over. “Such a lovely bunch of visitors we have today; and after all the trouble Hill took to making sure no one came here. Guess those Appleoosans were getting worried about their friends not contacting them.” Rainbow stepped over. “So, you’re Hangem High...look, I know what they did to you, and it wasn’t good, but you need to stop this, you’re hurting innocent ponies.” “Innocent?” The minotaur titled his head, chuckling. “Who in this world is innocent? You...you all think I came back just for some petty revenge?” He cackled harshly. “Get real! This ain’t about revenge! This is about justice, because there are ponies out there with a sin and they all need to be punished...every....single...last...one.” He dissipated into smoke, reforming as he lifted up the Mayor by his neck, gazing deep into his terrified eyes. “This stallion and this whole town committed some evil deed of some sort: lying, cheating, stealing, and worst of all killing ME! But it ain’t just them, every pony, griffon, minotaur and whetever else has done something they’re not proud of, and I came back from the grave to ensure their punishment!” Night Light ran over. “Put him down right now! It does not matter what wrong they committed, nopony deserves whatever you have done to them!” The ghost snarled and threw the white stallion to the ground, turning to Night Light. “Oh, while we’re on the subject, let’s get to you, Mr Night Light! Aiding and abetting fugitives! A miiiightyyyyy serious offence!” He pointed his revolver at the stallion. “How do ya plead!?” Rainbow fired a blast of magic at the spectral horror, giving a desperate look to Twilight and her dad. “Run! I doubt our magic can put him off!” Hangem High snarled, firing several bullets, one of which struck Rainbow Dash in the side, making her cry out in pain and collapsing to the ground. “Rainbow!” Twilight yelled, rushing to help her friend up, laying the Pegasus across her back. Night Light pulled the prone Mayor in his magical grip, he and his daughter running together as the enraged spectre chased after them, cackling madly. The pair ran down the street in a panic, dodging the dark sheriff’s bullets as he fired at them. Each bullet destroyed a piece of road or building, causing debris to fall everywhere behind them. Miss Twilight? Mister Nachtlicht?” the voices of Flim and Flam greeted the pair, the twins looking at them worriedly. “What happened to those two? What are ya running from?” Twilight froze and turned, her father skidding to a halt beside her, scanning the street. There was no sign of Hangem High anywhere. “W-wha...?” Twilight muttered, squinting her eyes as if it would help her find their pursuer. Suddenly a rope of fire tied itself around around Night Light’s neck as well as the mayor’s, pulling them both up towards Hangem High, who hovered above them by several metres. “This is my town, I am the law!” He bellowed. “And I will punish all those who break my laws!” He pointed malevolently at Flim and Flam as the Mayor and Twilight’s rather were pulled into his body, their screams silenced. “I’m coming for you two next!” Twilight screamed and tried to reach at her father with telekinesis, but it was no use: he and the mayor were gone. Flim and Flam, pale and frightened, grabbed Twilight and Rainbow Dash, running into a building as the cruel spectre roared in anger, blasting the building into smithereens with several shots from his revolver. The sheriff lowered himself, chuckling cruely, only to blink in surprise at seeing no sign of his prey. “You think you can RUN!? You think you can HIDE!?” He howled as he faded away into thin air. “I OWN this town, and without that hunka junk, you ain’t leaving ANY time SOON!”