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Chapter 1: "Appaloosa County"2,435 words
Chapter 2 "Wild Sandy Yonder"2,540 words
Chapter 3: "Camp" 3,236 words
Chapter 4 "Guns and Liars"3,276 words
Chapter 5 "Hootenanny"3,025 words
Chapter 6 "Dances with Buffalo"2,406 words
Chapter 7 "Friendship...Friendship Never Changes"2,903 words
Chapter 8 "Celestia's Gonna Cut You Down"2,684 words

Chapter 2 "Wild Sandy Yonder"

Chapter 2

“Wild Sandy Yonder”

“You’re a detective?!” Twilight said her jaw dropping a little. “And you know Private?”

I stood up, dusted myself off, and smiled “Yeah, County here was my partner when I worked homicide back when I was on the force”

County smiled proudly “Yep, twenty seven cases all solved. If it wasn’t fer Private and I, Ah don’t think the force could’ve solved half of them cases”

Twilight smiled politely at County and shook County’s extended hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, Private’s current partner”

County tipped her hat at Twilight. “Mighty pleasure to meetcha’ Twilight” She then gestured to Braeburn “Ah trust this handsome stallion ere told ya what’s been going down ere?”

Braeburn nodded “Ah did detective, I must’ve forgotten ta tell em you were the detective though”

Applejack sighed “Somethings never change Ah guess” The cowpony met county and smiled “Ah’m Applejack, a friend of Privates and Braeburn ere is mah crazy cousin”

“Hey!” Braeburn spoke indignantly “Ah prefer the term excitable”

We all laughed a little then County spoke again. “Ah’ll take ya all tah see Sheriff Silver Star” She started walking back to town “He’ll elaborate on what’s goin on round ere”
__________________________________________________

“Ah tell ya! It’s them buffalo that caused this!” A pony shouted when we reached town. He was standing on a soap box with a large crowd surrounding him. He was a large stallion with a bright blue coat and a cowpony hat on his head. “The minute them buffalo leave them bandits start showin up! It can’t be a coincidence!”

Some of the crowd murmured in contemplation. Braeburn sighed next to me “That there’s Gelder, he’s the pony who owns them cattle that we had to herd down”

County snorted “He can’t just go round accusin the buffalo cause he can’t control his livestock”

Gelder continued “Fer too long we’ve had to give up our valuable stock to them buffalo! What have they given us in return!? Nothin!” some ponies shouted in agreement.

It was then that I heard a very deep voice speak next to me “Damn idiot…”

Gelder looked out into the crowd “Who said that?! Ya think ya know what’s going on?!”

The crowd looked around for the owner of that deep voice. I looked to my right and there he was. He was big, like Big Mac big. His coat was bright green like a green apple and his body was well toned and muscular. His mane was a soft auburn that was cut short. I noticed some battle scars on his body. He was a soldier. He looked up to Gelder and spoke in that same deep voice of his.

“I believe you’ve said your piece Gelder. Your cattle were simply scared by the gunshot fired by this pony here” He gestured to Braeburn who flushed in embarrassment. “That’s not cause to blame the buffalo for your own problems…find somepony else to take care of them if you can’t…” He turned and began to leave. Then his gaze stopped at Applejack, it lingered a little as he walked away.

Applejack stared at the strange stallion as he walked off. “Who was that?”

Braeburn shrugged “Don’t know, heard he was some soldier or something from outta town. Those are the first words Ah’ve heard him speak since he got here”

I noticed that Applejack was flushing a little as she watched the strange pony leave. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Applejack, in all the time I’ve known her, look at a stallion like that…

_______________________________________

“Ah thank ya kindly fer comin here Detectives” Sheriff Silver Star said as we entered his office. The sheriff was a tan colored earth pony with a large black cowpony hat and blue vest and a red bandana around his neck. His face sported a mustache that would’ve made Potso proud. Right now his blue eyes were looking at me and County. “We’ve been havin a lot of problems round here and we appreciate whatever help we can get”

I nodded; County and I were sitting in chairs that Silver Star left for us to use. Twilight and the others were outside making sure nopony was peeking in. I spoke first “Braeburn said you’ve been having trouble with bandits?”

“Yep” was his response “They’ve been attackin our town fer weeks on end; we’ve managed to fight em off with the battle saddles. But Ah hold no illusions about Appaloosa’s defenses” He took a swig out of a whisky glass “It’ll only be a matter of time before the place falls”

County spoke up “With all due respect partner. This is a job fer the royal army not a couple of homicide detectives”

“Ah know that” Silver said waving a hoof to get our attention “What Ah need though is fer somepony to look fer Deputy Bronze Star”

“Your deputy?” I deduced

“Yep, Ah sent him out with a group of local militia to see if he could take out them bandits” He shook his head solemnly “They haven’t returned in three days”

“And ya want us to find him?” County deduced

“Ah would go myself but there’s always that chance that them bandits will attack again” He took another swig of his whisky bottle “Ah hate to ask ya to do this, but if it’s to help mah town I’m willin to do anything”

County and I looked at each other. We both knew this was crazy but the bandits couldn’t keep attacking the town. We both agreed without speaking to each other about it. I turned to Silver Star and spoke simply “Where was your deputy seen last?”

_____________________________________

“Out west?” Braeburn said as we were packing up supplies “Nothin out there but sand and cacti”

I had tried to convince the others to stay. I’m honest this time! But Braeburn said he wanted to come to protect his home and Applejack wanted to come to protect her cousin. I couldn’t honestly leave Twilight behind. Even if I flatly refused for her to come into the desert with me she would’ve followed anyway. For some reason she’s been rather…close to me since I came out of the hospital.

Right now though she was too focused on her check list to think about anything else “Right, canteens are full? Check! Food stocked up? Check!”

Braeburn sighed “That’s the forth checklist we’ve had to go through today”

“You’re lucky” I said as I packed ammo for the battle saddles into a saddle bag. Man those bullets were big! “Usually she has three checklists dedicated to making sure all the other checklists have been double checked”

“She’s just making sure we don’t go unprepared” County said taking a swig from a bottle attached to her belt. “Desert is a very dangerous place if yer unprepared”

Twilight looked over at the bottle County had “What are you drinking?”

“Whiskey” County said as if Twilight asked what two plus two equals.

“You’re bringing alcohol on this trip!?” Twilight said indignantly

I shook my head bemused “Don’t try and talk her out of it, many a pony has tried to get her to kick the habit. She’ll just start licking any nearby rock if you don’t let her have her whiskey”

“That only happened once city boy!” County said after putting her drink back on her belt.

I laughed and slung the saddle bags over my back. I then noticed that we were one head short. “Has anypony seen Applejack?”

Everypony shrugged until the orange cowpony came in with some more ammo for the battle saddles. “Sorry it took so long, got held up at the ammo shop”

Braeburn raised an eyebrow “But the ammo shop rarely has customers, how could ya have gotten held up?”

Applejack suddenly looked flustered “Nah reason! And it had Nothin tah do with that stallion from earlier!” She then realized she just spoke that part aloud “Horseapples…”

I smiled wryly “Applejack, is there something that the element of honesty is keeping from us?”

Twilight giggled a little as Applejack’s face turned from orange to red as one of her apples. We all laughed a little as Applejack shouted at us “Ain’t none of ya alls business!”

____________________________

I slipped off my hat and wiped my brow for what had to have been the twelfth time. We’ve been walking in the desert for hours on end. Braeburn was leading the pack ready to fire at any bandits with his battle saddle. County and Applejack also had battle saddles. Twilight was the only one among us unarmed. Though with her talent for magic I’ll bet she could just make a pony’s head explode without trying.

“Not much farther to where the deputy was supposed to camp” Braeburn called from the front “Keep yer eyes peeled though, bandits can attack from anywhere”

Twilight fell beside me and looked me over “Are you okay? You’ve been sweating like a leaf”

“I’m fine Twilight” I spoke reassuringly “Just getting used to the heat is all…”

Twilight’s amethyst eyes looked at me “If you ever need to stop and rest let me know okay?”

I nodded; Twilight seemed way more concerned for my well being than usual. I didn’t mind her wanting to help. I just hated being coddled and feeling helpless. I remembered my stay in the hospital, I felt like I was going to climb the walls any second. I wanted to be able to do things and being asked to sit still and rest up didn’t help much. Still I didn’t want to concern Twilight too much.

Braeburn spoke up “Ah found their camp!”

We all ran up and sure enough there was the camp. Only I should say there was a camp. The place was strewn with bodies everywhere. We walked cautiously down to the camp. I walked to the body of a young earth pony stallion. He had a badge of bronze on his vest that read “Deputy”. I looked over as the group gathered around the body “I think we found our deputy”

County bent low and looked over the body “Looks like cause of death was a shot to his stomach…punctured his lungs and went out his back”

Applejack was starting to look sick and both me and County gestured to a nearby rock for her to throw up behind. I looked at the deputy’s back “That’s a pretty big bullet hole”

Braeburn then picked a battle saddle bullet out of his saddle bags. “Ya think this could’ve caused it?”

I levitated the bullet and sure enough the caliber matched. “Whoever shot him had battle saddles ready and primed”

Twilight had finished examining the other bodies “Same thing with the rest of them. All of them were shot by battle saddles”

I looked over at Bronze Star...he had a smaller bullet hole in his head. It looked like it was .44 caliber...

Braeburn shook his head “This doesn’t make any sense, how can a buncha bandits get a hold of so much ammo?”

County looked over at the cowpony stallion “Have the saddles been stolen lately?”

Braeburn shook his head “Nu uh, we take special care in guarding our saddles so that nopony misuses them”

I nodded slowly “Then the only logical conclusion…is that the bandits somehow have access to the saddles”

County looked over at me “They would have to have somepony in town give them the key somehow…”

“Which means that the bandits are close to the town?”

“Too close if ya ask me, Ah’m getting the suspicion that a pony in town is responsible here”

“You think that a townspony is one of the bandits?”

“Have to be, how else would somepony get battle saddles without them goin missin?”

“You have a point; still we should try and figure out where the bandits went”

“And when we find the bandits”

“We find our killers”

Both County and I turned to see Braeburn and Twilight staring at us. “What?”

Twilight just raised an eyebrow “Do you two always do that?”

County shrugged “Only on cases, otherwise I can’t get two sentences without hearin somethin that fall under the lines of:” She imitated my voice “County ya need tah kill that habit of yers!” “Why can’t ya be a responsible citizen like me?”

Twilight and Braeburn laughed at the impression of me. I frowned at the cowpony. “I only say those things because I care”

County smiled at me and punched me in the leg. “Ah’m a big girl Private, ya don’t always need to hang over my shoulder”

“It’s not me hanging over I’m worried about…”

“Ya keep tellin yerself that hun”

“Hey ya alls!” We heard Applejack shout. The four of us went to the country mare as she was standing over some tracks. Hoof tracks. She looked at me “They’re several days old but Ah think they belong to the bandits”

Twilight bent down to look at the tracks her horn aglow. “My tracking spell should work…the extra weight from the battle saddles would explain the depth”

Twilight’s horn glowed and the tracks became highlighted by magenta magic. County’s eyes grew wide “Might impressive trick ya have there hun”

“I had a good teacher…” Twilight said trying to sound modest.

“Let’s go” I said taking the lead.

_______________________________________

We followed the trail of tracks into the sand. Twilight and I led the way of the pack. Twilight kept looking over at me whenever I stopped to wipe my brow. I wasn’t used to the heat but that didn’t mean she had to keep looking at me like I’m about to fall over.

Suddenly Twilight stopped “The tracks…they stop”

County looked over at the tracks which stopped. She ran a hoof along the sand “That probably explains it. Three days in the desert ain’t good for tracks”

Applejack looked over at the tracks “Wait…this track ere…” She gestured to a track that didn’t glow “This kind ain’t made by ponies, too big”

Braeburn looked at the tracks “They’re buffalo tracks!” He looked on “They’re heading that way!” Suddenly the stallion took off into a run.

“Braeburn wait!” Applejack shouted as she gave chase. The rest of us quickly followed as the tracks kept going away from where we were originally heading. Suddenly Braeburn climbed a small hill and stopped at the top. Applejack climbed up after him “Braeburn! What in tarnation are ya…oh Celestia…”

Twilight came up second “What’s going on- oh no…”

County and I went up last and just gazed at the most horrible sight I’ve ever seen. Dozens of buffalo…all dead on the plains…with bullet wounds to the head…some of them…didn’t have fur anymore.

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