Dead-Eye Darling

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 7

Rarity did not consider herself to be athletic. Sure, she did some toning exercises now and again, but that didn’t really help when she was forced to gallop at full tilt across the desert with an uncouth primate on her back.

Frank had not made things any easier. His legs were tight around Rarity’s barrel and he kept prodding her to go faster with his heels. She put aside her complaints for the moment, but fully intended on giving him a lecture later.

The town was still distant, although much closer than before. The cloud of smoke thrown up by the idling steam engine was like a beacon drawing them in. Frank kept his head low, peering out from under his hat. Rarity was not the fastest mount he’d ever ridden, but she had heart. Everything had to count in a moment like this. The pace was not backing off, and she struggled through her fatigue.

There came the sound of two long whistles. The train was ready to depart.

While Rarity might not have understood the exact code of the signal, the way Frank tensed indicated that their time was up. She threw everything she had into sprinting.

They were coming up on the tracks at an oblique angle, drawing closer to the train as it began to gather speed. The train was mixed, with passenger cars separated from others carrying freight. Near the middle were two flatbed cars, one loaded with a pile of logs and the other carrying what looked like some sort of machinery covered with a tarp.

It was the tarped car Rarity was closest to, and with one final effort she managed to jump aboard. There was just enough room at the end of the flatbed for her to land, but she didn’t managed to remain upright.

Frank grunted in pain as she fell on top of him and rolled. It was lucky Rarity wasn’t horse-sized or he might have been crushed outright. Rarity quickly scrambled to get up, while Frank lay there for several seconds wheezing.

“I swear, Frank, if you ever use spurs on me again…” Rarity panted, catching her breath. Frank didn’t respond, clutching at his abdomen. Anger melting, Rarity bent her head to down with concern, tentatively poking him with a hoof. “Are you all right?”

Frank winced and his fingers tentatively slid over his chest and sides. “I might have broken some ribs.”

He struggled to rise, going slowly to deal with the pain. Rarity nudged her head under his shoulder and let him lean on her. They both swayed as the train moved, continuing to pick up speed.

“Where do we go from here?” Rarity asked. She looked forward and back. The two flatbed cars where they had ended up were located between taller cars containing cargo and passengers.

“We want to find Thomas Landy, but if he sees us on the train there could be a problem. Inside a crowded passenger car is not the place for a shootout.” Frank frowned.

“What if we approach him when he gets off the train?” Rarity suggested.

“That could work,” Frank agreed. “Although we’ll have to be careful that he doesn’t spot us before then at a stop along the way.”

After a moment, Rarity added, “And speaking of being spotted, we don’t have tickets.”

Frank shrugged. “We’ll pay for ‘em whenever we get the chance.”

The conversation lulled for a moment. Frank walked a few steps away, leaning on the tarped load that rested in the center of the car. Rarity took a look at the landscape. It was just as flat, arid, and featureless as before. “Do you know where this train is going?”

“Maybe Roswell. It’s the only decent-sized city in these parts.” Frank was about to elaborate when the door to the nearest passenger car slid open to reveal Thomas Landy. Unlike Frank and Rarity, he did not look surprised.

Landy crossed the short gap from one car to the other, his pistol out and held level. Raising his voice above the wind and noise of the train, he called to Frank, “Why are you after me?”

“Just hoping to meet up with Teal Jack again,” Frank replied, doing his best to project his voice through the pain in his ribs that spiked every time he took a breath. He straightened from where he leaned, his hands dropping slightly towards his gunbelt. “He robbed me a few days back.”

“I know,” Landy retorted. “I’d be an idiot if I didn’t recognize that hat your pony’s wearing. On top of that, forgetting faces is never a good idea in my line of work. Trust me, I remember very well that I met you a few days ago. But that doesn’t explain why you’d do a fool thing like come after me.”

“I want Teal Jack,” Frank said. “Just tell me where he is.”

Landy shrugged. “Don’t know. We split.”

“Why?”

Landy considered that for a moment before deciding to reply. “Hanging out with Teal Jack any longer was going to have an effect on my mental health. After what happened with that flash of light and that big diamond he picked up, I decided the best thing was to get away from him and get some time to myself.”

He glanced sideways at Rarity, who stood closer to him than Frank. Landy paused, as if aware that something wasn’t quite right about her. He stared for a moment and muttered, “Speaking of that diamond…”

He started to raise the gun and Rarity reacted instinctively, whipping a hoof at his face. Her flexibility was so unexpected and the blow so powerful that Landy was knocked off his feet and landed heavily on the deck of the car.

It took him only an instant to roll and get back up, but that was all the time Rarity needed to swap ends and line up her hind legs. She bucked him in the gut, the force folding his body and casting him into the air off the moving train.

There was silence for a moment as Rarity straightened up and looked from the edge of the car to Frank and back again. “Good heavens! I didn’t mean…”

“Well, I’m just glad you didn’t underreact,” Frank said. He didn’t go on, having a hard time resolving his thoughts on the matter. Rarity was strong enough to casually throw around man, or, like she had proven before boarding the train, to lift an overturned wagon, yet she didn’t seem to be fully aware that it gave her yet another advantage over people, and him especially. Perhaps Frank was lucky that he hadn’t encountered a pony less ladylike.

Rarity took a deep breath and sat down. “I hope he’s all right.”

“I doubt it,” muttered Frank. “The train’s doing at least sixty and even if the fall didn’t kill him, he’s stuck out here with no supplies and no horse.”

“Well, at least I feel bad about it!” she shot back. “I’m having a very hard time trying to regulate my emotions. So far from home, so far from my friends and family, I’m simply not acting like myself. It’s worrying. I’m concerned that perhaps with none of them to influence me, I’m reverting to more primitive ways.”

Frank nodded. “I think I know what you mean. When I came out here, I knew I would be alone. I had to set some rules for myself.”

The Code of the West, Rarity realized. It sounded so simple, but if it worked… She shook her head. “I apologize. I understand that things are different here, but I can’t compromise what I believe in. It’s what my friends would want. I’ll do my best from now on.”

She was mostly talking to herself, but it helped resolve things. Seeming content with her revelation, Rarity’s face relaxed.

The door slid open again. “Thomas, are you out here?”

Rarity, sitting with her back to the door, looked to the voice. Clay Dixon had come out of the passenger car. He wore a long leather duster that, like the rest of his clothes, looked fancy and well tooled.

Dixon must have robbed someone else to get his hands on both the coat and a train ticket. Rarity was sure that during their first encounter with the man she and Frank had taken the money Dixon had on him.

Not that it mattered now. Dixon was here, and Rarity had been caught sitting down. If Dixon had come looking for Landy, then chances were good that Landy had told him what he knew about Rarity and Frank.

Not seeing Landy anywhere, but spotting Rarity and Frank, Dixon’s hand flashed to the side, clearing his coat back from his holster.

Frank saw the man standing just a few feet from Rarity as she began to rise. There was a sparkle of magic from under her hat, but he didn’t know if she would be able to react in time. Frank had gone for his own gun as soon as the door opened and was already leveling his pistol as Dixon grabbed iron.

The gun in Frank’s hand fired five times, as fast as he could fan the hammer. Dixon jerked, blood blooming across the front of his shirt. He staggered, his pistol clanking to the deck. His mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out as he fell forward.

Frank was already reloading, shoving cartridges into his gun as he advanced, doing his best to ignore the pain in his ribs. Dixon didn’t move. Frank reached the limp body and stopped, looking at five holes in the back of Dixon’s coat.

Rarity stepped up beside Frank, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Frank finished reloading and holstered his gun. He knelt and rolled Dixon over. The man was dead.

Frank let out a breath he’d been holding practically since the shooting started. He took a step back and looked away.

“I had no idea your hands were that fast,” Rarity commented, her voice just barely audible over the sounds of the train. Frank glanced at her but said nothing. He turned and moved a few steps away.

Rarity gingerly lifted Dixon’s body with magic and pulled back his coat, taking a quick glance over the man’s front. The five bullet holes were spread in a pattern a little larger than her hoof.

She quickly checked for anything valuable and then rolled the body over the edge of the car. If Frank heard the thump Dixon’s boots made as they left the speeding train, he didn’t show it.

Rarity set her eyes on the fine coat she’d saved at the last moment. It was a simple matter to clean the blood from it and once she got a feel for the leather it took a slightly more complicated spell to mend the holes seamlessly.

After inspecting her work, Rarity folded the coat neatly. She turned and walked to where Frank had taken up station by the machinery in the center of the car. She presented him with the long duster.

He held it for a moment and then looked at her. “You’re giving me something from a dead man?”

“Do you have something against letting things go to waste?” she asked. “And how is this different from me wearing a saddle taken from a dead horse?”

Frank unfolded the coat, running his fingers over the leather. He noted that there were no longer any holes in it and glanced at Rarity before turning it around and putting his arms through the sleeves.

Rarity nodded in satisfaction. “That’s exactly the fashion I was thinking you would look good in. We’ll still need to get you cleaned up, but you’re looking much better already. Fabulous!”

Frank stared at her for a moment before a grin worked its way across his face and he cracked up laughing. The situation - a unicorn had just given him an expensive coat and told him that he looked fashionable - was just so ridiculous. It helped take the weight of the gun fight off his mind.

Rarity allowed herself a laugh, but as the door to the passenger car again slid open she abruptly changed to amused whinnys.

A bookish-looking conductor, appearing out of place on a western train, looked out of the doorway. He took in Frank, Rarity, and the spot of blood left on the deck of the flatcar.

“What are you doing out here?” he called.

“Just stretching my legs.” Frank walked closer.

“I heard shooting,” the conductor said.

“I’m sure you did.” Frank moved his hands slowly and took out some money. “Now, how much are tickets?”

Author's Note:

Guest editing by American_Brony

Comments

[Lordmiak]

Perhaps Frank was lucky that he hadn’t encountered a pony less ladylike.

[Divine Path]

They take their next step on their journey!
What will Roswell bring them in this barren land?

Awaiting further releases.

[Wiriamuzu]

And he whips out the money like nothing happened at all... Like a boss.

[DJ-Pon3FTW]

B
Hmm, two of Jacks bandits split, one of which claiming it's best for his mental health? This is gonna be interesting I think.

[metallusionsismagic]

We're going to Roswell? Cowboys and aliens and ponies, oh my!

[djthomp]

3211823 That's gotta be what everyone was thinking. I know I was.

[BlueNinja]

Please tell me she got whatever money he had before dumping the corpse. Oh, and the boots! Can't forget the boots!

[Mattricole]

Dis is gud.