My Little Western

by Laurence Brown

The Showdown

The two unicorns eyed each other carefully, looking for some sign of what the other was planning. Seconds passed as they both stared each other down, waiting for some signal of movement. Finally, The Coyote Colt made the first move. A brief flare in the aura around his horn was the only warning Trixie had before the knives he held beside him came racing at her. Trixie reached out with her magic reflexively and tried to wrest the blades away from her opponent's control. She found her efforts rebuffed, but at least she had succeeded in bringing the projectiles to a halt a couple of feet in front of her. Seeing The Coyote Colt levitate an additional knife from his bandoleer, she increased the strength of her spell as he sent it hurtling towards her.

The expanded scope of her magic was able to bring the third knife to a halt in mid air, this one a bit further away form her than the first two. "Is that all you can do?" she taunted her opponent. "You saw my performance, you should know that mass manipulation is easy for me!"

The Coyote Colt smirked. "Oh, I'm quite aware of what you are capable of. If you think this is all that I can do though, you're vastly underestimating me." Two more knives left his bandoleer, and this time he sent them off to each side in an arc, forcing Trixie to further expand her area of concentration to catch the blades that were flying in from each side of her. "Looks like you're slowing down some. Let me show you what it means to be the fastest spell in all of Appleloosa!"

Trixie scoffed. "Fastest spell in Appleloosa? Have you looked around at the residents lately? I think I've seen two other unicorns since I arrived! So you're claiming to be the best of what, at the most half a dozen?" She let loose with a mocking chuckle. "Nice to see that you maintain such high standards!" Flaring her power, she pushed at all of the knives in the air at once, and sent them flying away from her, scattering them onto the ground.

The Coyote Colt stood still for a moment, eyes wide, and then lifted his head back and laughed. "Oh, please, as if you're one to talk! How many times a day do you have to remind yourself just how great and powerful you are, hmm? At least my name was given to me. It was earned." His horn flared with power, and behind him, dozens of coins rose into the air. "Can you say the same?" As one, the coins all flew forward, a metallic swarm racing towards Trixie.

Trixie dove to her left while doing her best to deflect the coins in that area, but still winced in pain as several bits struck her. Quickly jumping back to her hooves, she saw another wave of golden coins flying in her direction... and a flash of something silver amongst them too. Focusing her attention on that, she bore the stings of the coins as they hit her. She smirked, knowing that she had made the right decision. A few welts tomorrow would be an easy price to pay to avoid being cut by the knife she had deflected to the side.

"Is that all you know how to do?" she chided as she wove a spell of her own. "Throw things around? How inelegant!" The Coyote Colt's glanced backwards, his attention drawn by one of the bags of coins emptying itself on top of Braeburn and almost burying the earth pony under a pile of bits in the process. The bag flew at The Coyote Colt and swallowed him up. Trixie laughed loudly. "See? That's how it is done! Behold the skill of the Great and Power... Eep!" Trixie was startled as the bag she was using to trap The Coyote Colt exploded. Shreds of fabric flew in all directions, some of them on fire. The Coyote Colt dropped the short distance to the ground, looking singed but unhurt, and landed on his hooves.

"As a matter of fact," The Coyote Colt said in a bored voice, "I actually can do a few other things. I just prefer to not go around advertising what I'm capable of if I can help it." Horn glowing, he reached out and levitated up the knives that he had previously thrown at Trixie. "I myself would never have held an exhibition showcasing my talents." The knives settled into an evenly spaced circle, orbiting The Coyote Colt chest high. "For example, you showed me that it wouldn't be a very bright idea to try tossing anything fiery at you."

Trixie laughed. "Oh, please, as if it would even be possible for The Great and Powerful Trixie to reveal every single sorcerous skill she had at her disposal! Let me show you another trick I have in my repertoire!" From her mane, a pair of small pellets flew out and hit the ground in front of her with a flash of light. Quickly, a dark cloud filled the air obscuring that part of the street from sight. Holding her breath, Trixie stood still in the center of her smokescreen. A few seconds later, her patience was rewarded as knives flew past on both sides, followed by a muttered curse from in front of her.

Casting a quick spell, she gathered in the smoke from behind her and sent it flying straight ahead, to where she had heard The Coyote Colt. The muttered curses became full blown expletives as the outlaw found himself surrounded by the obscuring haze. Trixie wasted no time, and raced out of the smoke, hoping to be able to further utilize her magic to use the smoke as a trap against him. As she exited the cloud, she found herself coming up short. Right in front of her was The Coyote Colt, who seemed equally startled to find his own opponent right in front of him.

The Coyote Colt wasted no time. Turning with a snarl, he bucked at Trixie as hard has he could and connected. Trixie yelped, more in surprise from being physically attacked than from the pain, and was sent flying unceremoniously to the ground several yards from the outlaw.

Standing back up, she huffed, "Resorting to base and vulgar tactics like that? Even though you are a miscreant, The Great and Powerful Trixie somehow expected better than that from you!" Weaving the smoke in the air into a cohesive screen, she began to manipulate it to entangle her opponent.

The Coyote Colt laughed derisively and his horn glowed brightly. Trixie continued to weaving her spell while trying to anticipate what kind of attack The Coyote Colt might launch. She was surprised when instead of another knife being thrown at her, a strong wind picked up and blew the cloud her smoke pellets had created away.

Realizing that her current effort was a waste of time, she instead looked around for something she could use to help her. Seeing a brown cowboy hat laying on the ground in front of the bank, Trixie levitated it and tried to blind The Coyote Colt with it. With an irritated glance, the outlaw sent a knife to pin the floating hat against the wall of the bank. "Really? That's the best you can come up with to pester me?"

Seeing The Coyote Colt's horn glow brightly, Trixie again kept an eye out for flying projectiles, only to be surprised when the dirt at her feet shot up, filling her eyes and mouth with grit and gravel. Blinking furiously, trying to clear her sight, she blindly pushed away from her with her magic in all directions. It was draining, but she felt it was worth it when she felt a pair of knives be deflected by her blind gamble. Spitting a mouthful of grime to the side, she said, "Is this all you know how to do? Inelegant tactics and boorish attacks? No wonder you no longer have your cutie mark. I bet it left on its own, ashamed to be a part of a unicorn such as you!"

Trixie was taken aback by the murderous glare The Coyote Colt shot at her. In a pained, hoarse voice that seemed almost louder than a yell, he said, "Don't you ever. Ever. Talk about my cutie mark like that again." Stunned by the sheer malice in his voice, Trixie could only stare as The Coyote Colt stood there, raggedly drawing in breath. "You have no idea what you are talking about!" His horn flared brightly, and Trixie tried to shake off her shock to gather up her magic in return. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA!" The Coyote Colt screamed, sending all eight of his knives flying at Trixie at once.

Any self congratulatory thoughts Trixie was harboring for finding a button to push on her opponent were quickly forgotten as she tried desperately to keep the weapons flying at her from reaching their target. The blades flew at her so fast, she could hardly follow them. Still, she somehow managed to turn them aside in their flight, although she still felt the need to take a step backward afterwards. That had been too close for comfort!

To her surprise, the knives returned to The Coyote Colt, who was chuckling and shaking his head. "Well done." he said grudgingly. "You really had me going there. Not many can do that - bring out that side of me. And I should know better than that too! That's how you win! You find the other pony's weakness, their soft spot. Whatever it takes to throw them off of their game." He spat to the side. "Enough of this. I've had my fun. I've seen enough of what you can do. This ends now."

Trixie started to voice a rebuttal, but before she could do more than open her mouth, The Coyote Colt sent his knives flying at her again, this time from several different directions. Trixie felt her abilities strained as she reached out. The ones coming straight at her she stopped with her telekinesis first, and then she arrested the ones angling in from the sides, the ones to the left first, then the ones to the right. Stopping the last group just a few feet from her flank, she allowed herself a small smile when she realized that she had indeed managed to halt all of the knives.

The Coyote Colt nodded. "Yes, you're getting good at that. That's another thing I noticed about you, while you were doing your show. As long as you're comfortable, you can pull off some amazing feats. However..." Trixie felt the strength of the spell pushing the knives increase, and she found herself struggling to match it. "The moment something upsets you or knocks you out of that comfort zone, you tend to fall apart. For example, say somepony was to prematurely launch your fireworks? Or maybe meddle with your record player, turning it off and on? What happens then, I wonder?"

Trixie gasped at the revelation. "That was you?" she asked furiously. Her anger was quickly choked down when she realized that he had distracted her from the knives around her. They were slowly closing in now, barely moving at all, but Trixie knew that she didn't have much room to spare. She wanted to close her eyes to help her focus, but didn't dare take the risk.

The Coyote Colt laughed. "Oh yes. I wanted to know just what you were capable of. Honestly, I'm disappointed that you didn't want to join up with me and my gang. With the way you carried on, calling yourself 'Great and Powerful' all the time, I though you had the right attitude. Plus, having somepony with your talents would have been something else. I wouldn't have to stoop to just robbing the bank. No," he gave her a low chuckle, "we could have taken over the whole town!"

Trixie's eyes narrowed, and she felt her magic flare. The knives stopped closing in, and now she was starting to push them back away again. "I do enjoy being the center of attention. And I may also find it fun to try to prick the egos of others. But never at the cost of another pony's life!" She chuckled. "After all, if you kill everypony else, who will be left to cheer you on? Who will be able to acknowledge your greatness if you scare them all away?" With one last push of her power, Trixie reached out and wrested the knives away from The Coyote Colt's control, and turned them to face him. "HA! Now what do you think?"

Trixie drank in the look of shock on The Coyote Colt's face with glee, and then sent the knives flying in at him. As she had hoped, he was forced to focus on defending against the blades, which gave Trixie the opening she was looking for. Straining herself, using every last iota of strength she had left, she reached out and tore the cowboy hat free from the knife that was holding it against the wall, leaving a small patch of it still pinned to the bank. She then further unraveled it, tearing the brim off of the rest. Satisfied that it was large enough to make a blindfold, she sent it towards The Coyote Colt. "I suggest you surrender now, before I end up hurting you." she warned him, hoping to bring the duel to an end.

"Ironically," The Coyote Colt replied, "I was thinking about how I was going to hurt you. I think I have it figured out now, thanks." The knife that Trixie had left in the wall of the bank suddenly pulled free and turned to face her. "I believe I'll do... this."

Trixie found herself releasing the hat and trying to deflect the knife, but it was moving so fast! Seeing that it was aimed right for her head, she tried to drop and roll to the side, anything to keep the blade from hitting her face. Her world filled with pain as the knife struck her horn, embedding itself in its side. She fell to the ground, losing her hold on her spell as it fizzled out, and screaming in agony.

The Coyote Colt walked over to her slowly, a wicked grin on his face. "Not exactly what I was aiming for, but you know what? I think I like this even better than me blinding one of your eyes! I wonder what would happen if I did even more, if I went and broke your horn, hmm?" Trixie could only lay there, whimpering in pain, sparks and small arcs of magical energy flickering around where the knife was stuck.

"I think you've more than enough for now, outlaw." The Coyote Colt turned to see Sheriff Silverstar back on his hooves. "Look around, and tell me how confident you are of getting out of this alive, if you decide to cross that line."

The tunnel vision that the showdown had induced in him disappearing, The Coyote Colt saw that the ponies that had been sent to deal with the distraction from earlier had returned. A couple dozen stallions blocked the street, looks of grim determination on their faces. Reaching behind him, The Coyote Colt levitated the knives that had fallen to the ground when Trixie had been hit, and brought them back into an orbit around him.

"Well then, sheriff," The Coyote Colt said, "what do you suggest? Because I sure ain't going to surrender. Looks like to me we have a Mexicolt Standoff on our hooves here."

The sheriff nodded. "It makes me sick to even think of it, but seeing how the others in your gang seem to have run off, how about you do the same as long as you keep your knives from hurting anypony else. Of course, the money stays here."

The Coyote Colt looked around, disgust on his face. "I reckon that will work to my favor just fine for now. You best better make sure nopony tries to follow me home though, or they won't live long enough to regret it." Reluctantly, several of the bystanders made a path for him, and the Coyote Colt galloped out of town.

Watching to make sure the outlaw kept on going, he yelled out, "Somepony get Sawbones here now!" A couple of the watchers raced off to find the town's doctor, while another pony came up to the sheriff.

"Sheriff Silverstar! I have some good news, sir!" the young pony said.

"Well, I sure could use some. What is it?" Silverstar asked, looking at the scene around him.

"We have one of them outlaws as a prisoner! We found him all tied up and everything!"

The sheriff looked down at Trixie, who was on her side and in obvious pain. "Not an even trade at all." he muttered. "All right. Get the prisoner to the jail. Braeburn! You okay, son?"

The yellow earth pony was slowly standing back up. "I am sheriff, although the same sure can't be said about my hat." He shook his head to get the last few coins that were still in his mane to fall to the ground. "Need me to do anything for you?"

"Yeah, stay here, make sure the doctor takes good care of her. I'll be making sure the jail is ready to house our new guest." He turned to the crowd that had assembled. "Okay folks, the show is over. Everypony head home. We'll get this mess straightened out a lot easier without you all getting in our way." The crowd slowly dispersed, concern and worry plain in their manner as they left.

Shortly, Doctor Sawbones came running up, carrying his black medical bag in his mouth by its handle. He took one look at Trixie's condition and swore. Dropping his bag to one side, he knelt down next to the blue unicorn. "Ma'am, what I'm about to do is going to cause you a lot of pain. I could give you something to drink to help blunt it some, but I'll be honest, I don't think it will do enough. But I have to pull that knife out. The sooner I do so, the quicker you'll be healing, and you should be in less pain too."

Trixie whimpered, and nodded her head. "Forgive me, ma'am." the doctor softly said, and quickly reached down, grabbed the knife with his teeth, and pulled it out. Trixie tried to scream, but passed out instead, the shock just too much for her to handle. "Well, I guess that's for the best." he muttered.

The doctor looked around. Braeburn stood off to one side, watching him nervously as bank employees gathered up all the coins and returned them to the bank. Motioning for Braeburn to come on over, the doctor said, "Help me carry her, please. We should move her now, while she's still unconscious. I have a sickbed at my place, with her there it will be much easier for me to care for her. Just mind the horn, please." Braeburn got down on his knees, and the doctor got Trixie onto his back. Slowly, the two transported her to the doctor's house.

---

Well cousin, it seems that you won't be the only pony with some exciting stories to tell at the next family reunion. So much happened last night, I don't even know where to begin. An attempted robbery at the bank. The sheriff asking ME to help him out. Trixie and The Coyote Colt in a showdown that will be talked about for months if not years.

I only wish Trixie had come out in better shape afterwards. She was still out cold when I left the doctor's house. He was still searching through his medical manuals, trying to find out what a cracked horn means for a unicorn. At least she kept the money from being stolen, and apparently was the one who tied up another of the outlaws. We now have One Winged Willie in the jail, although he refuses to talk to anypony.

I'll add more if I find anything else out before the train arrives tomorrow. I'm off to go check on Trixie, and see if there is anything I can do to help the sheriff.

On his way over to the doctor's house, Braeburn saw the sheriff heading that way too, and picked up his pace to walk next to him. "Anything new, sir?"

Sheriff Silverstar shook his head. "The pegasus won't say a peep. He just keeps on pacing around his cell occasionally, and when he isn't doing that just lies on his cot."

The two ponies walked in silence the rest of the way to the doctor's house. Seeing the front door open, they walked in and saw the doctor giving Trixie a glass of water. The unicorn was propped up on the bed, a gauze bandage wrapped around her horn. "She just woke up maybe twenty minutes ago. I was about to share with her what I learned." He turned to his patient. "Do you mind of they also hear what I have discovered?"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not mind if they hear it." she said in a soft but proud tone of voice. She looked at the sheriff and Braeburn. "You two were the ponies defending the bank, correct? Tell me, how did events there turn out?"

"The robbery was averted, thanks to you ma'am." Sheriff Silverstar answered solemnly. "Also the pegasus you tied up in now in jail. Thank you."

Trixie managed a small smile at the news. "That, at least, is good to know."

The doctor cleared his throat. "Some other good news that I have discovered is that your injury will fully heal too. It will just take some time."

Trixie nodded. "You say that as if there is also some bad news to go with it."

The doctor walked over to a table, and motioned at the small pile of books that were on it. "It took me some time to find out what a cracked unicorn horn involves. It will take several months for it to heal. During this time, you will still have some access to your magic." Seeing Trixie's eyes light up, he raised a hoof. "Please, it is not as good as it sounds. Your strength will be greatly diminished, and even using the smallest of spells will cause you pain. Also, should you push yourself too hard, it could cause additional strain on the horn. This could lead to the crack in the horn growing, and to your injury taking even more time to heal. In the worst case scenario, your horn may even snap."

Trixie's eyes grew large. "Snap? What do you mean, snap? As in, break into two pieces?"

The doctor nodded. "Exactly. If that were to occur, well, you would then lose your ability to use magic forever. I advise you to abstain from using any and all magic until your horn is fully healed."

A silence settled over the group as Trixie took in the ramifications of her injury. "Well then," she said, "what about The Coyote Colt?"

The sheriff grimaced. "He got away, as well as the rest of his gang." He stamped his hoof in frustration. "I just wish I could get something out of that pegasus! If I even had a clue as to why The Coyote Colt was doing this, I'd have a much better chance of stopping him."

Trixie slowly got out of bed, brushing off attempts to either help her or keep her in bed. "My horn is hurt, not the rest of me!" she snapped. She faced the sheriff. "It seems that I know even less than you do about what is happening, and yet events have dragged The Great and Powerful Trixie in without my realizing it. Tell me what you know on the way to the jail, and I'll see if I might have better luck with getting the pegasus to talk."

"It's a long story." Sheriff Silverstar warned.

"That's okay." said Trixie, slowly walking towards the door. "It's going to take a bit to get my hooves back under me. We'll have time."

Comments

[mrmayortheiv]

This is REALLY good, where are the comments???? I like the fact that you aren't taking the traditional Trixie redemption route, but it seems to be headed in that direction, which is always good.

Also, WESTERN and PONIES.... nuff said