A Long Hot Day

The sun was finally going down by the time the clean up effort was finished. The 'Burroworm', as the town would later learn it was called, was an ancient creature that inhabited the Deadlands to the south. A-sexual by nature they only fed during the day just before they gave birth. At which point the surrounding desert would have been infested with the carnivorous creatures for many years.

No longer then a generation though. According to the few books that could be found on them. The beasts could only thrive in a truly arid environment. Even the parched lands surrounding Appleloosha were luckily too wet for them to survive in for too long. Not to mention anything else further north. Turnips warning turned out to be a godsend of a rally cry. Something the folk of the town would not soon forget

It was latter decided from a counsel put together by Princess Celestia that this one had been driven north due to the rain that occurred in the Deadlands once every 100 years. Around the time the royal sisters brought the refugee shadow ponies up from the Deadlands.

It was late afternoon by the time the cleanup effort had finished. The sun's glow bathed the town in it a soft orange light as Sheriff Silverstar walked across the main street and towards a nearby water barrel.

Water cascaded over the side of the barrel as he plunged his head in. As the water calmed he could see the reflected light dance and bend all before him. He closed his eyes against the kaleidoscope of confusing, tiring images and let the coolness of the water transport his inner thoughts to a calm dark place.

As the seconds passed, several bubbles rushed out of his mouth and to the waters surface. When the last of the air had finally escaped his lungs he lifted his head.

The water gently ran down his weary features as he stood staring at the wall.

He was tired, more tired then his old body had felt in years. After a moment he wiped the water from his mustache, then curled it to it's normal handle bared position. The streets were empty now. The other stallions had headed to the river to clean up.

He was alone.

He surveyed the town, or at least what was left. The clock tower had fallen, there was a big gaping hole in the middle of the street, a couple of buildings had collapsed due to a sinkhole caused by the worm, and signs of the battle between him and Turnip could be seen here and there. His fair town.

"But they were alive!" A small voice in his head spoke out.

He thought of the way Fanny and Goldstar emerged from the alleyway after the worm was slayed. Her gentle smile, reassuring him that they were both ok. His legs grew weak as he was briefly overcome with emotion.

He leaned on the water barrel and covered his eyes with a hoof as he tried to get a hold of himself. Tears streamed, but after a moment his willpower took over and he stood again. Wiping his nose with his foreleg.

"They were all still alive!" The voice said again.

He heard the sound of hoof steps not to far away. Silverstar finished slowing down his breathing and composed himself just as several mares and foals came trotting into town from the direction of the apple orchards.

"Now that all that awfulness is done, it's time for some supper." Silverstar heard one of the mares say.

"Braeburn must have let them know we were finished" He thought.

His spirits picked a bit as he watched the ponies. After all the chaos and fear, normality was finally returning.

The moment was disturbed when an alarm set off by the sheriff's sharpened instincts alerted him to danger from behind. He quickly turned around.

Out of an alleyway behind him came the two pegasi. If they saw Silverstar they didn't show it. They just strolled on out, stopping as they entered the main street. Each had their outer cloaks and goggles draped over a front hoof with an apple nuzzled in their ankles. They enjoyed the treat as they watched the beauty of the town in the soft glow of the late afternoon.

The sheriff's eyes became hard again. While this well practiced look was always about him, it was never voluntary. He truly did believe in friendship and forgiveness, it was how he had kept his sanity in the face of the terrible things he had witnessed over the years.

That being said, he still did have a few lingering hard feelings towards the silver pegasus. Despite of what he did for him and the town.

Sensing eyes on him, Turnip turned his head toward Silverstar. He eyed him for a moment. Then tossed the remainder of the apple into his mouth as he walked toward silverstar. Tulip imitated him exactly then came up on Turnip's flank. When her eyes fell on Silverstar her head picked up slightly.

"Guess we're all thinking the same thing." The final thought crossed the sheriffs mind as his adversaries came closer.

With their cloaks and goggles off the sheriff could finally get a good look at them. Both ponies were shorter then average height, half a heads length the sheriff thought. Turnip was a stallion with a Silver coat, white mane, and steel blue eyes. Silverstar could see several age marks at the proper places.

"He's older then he seems, probably around the same age as me." He said to himself.

Tulip was slightly taller then Turnip, but sported a dark tan coat with a stark red mane. Silverstar did a double take as he looked at the mare. Mostly it was her red eyes. They showed the same age as the other but seemed to shimmer and almost sparkle, like rubies in the right light. Yet behind the sparkle, there was a strange blank emptiness he couldn't explain. Like looking into the eyes of a scorpion.

As he managed to pull his eyes away from hers he also noticed the uniform she was wearing had no rank. Nor did it have any insignia other then a leg band that bore the symbol of the same elite squad that was on the other pegasus leg, 'The Night Hunters'.

That only deepened the mystery as Turnips Uniform had all the 'bells and whistles' one would expect to see from an Equestrian captain. His anger rose slightly as he looked at the pony. He honestly couldn't figure out what was worse. The fact that he once wore a similar uniform, or that Turnip was of a higher rank then he use to be.

They stared at each other for a moment. Then Turnip began by writing in the dirt with his hoof. He wrote upside down and backwards so the sheriff could easily read. As he wrote, Tulip extended a wing and began sweeping away the writing a couple of words past what Turnip was currently working on. And so did the conversation progress in this manner. With both ponies moving together like a typewriter.

"Guess we aren't finished yet?" Turnip wrote.

"No, I guess we ain't, and drop the act! I know you can talk" Silverstar quickly replied.

Turnip smiled slyly as he looked up without raising his head.

"No." He drew.

Silverstar braced against the desire to throttle this pony. He quickly released his anger. Even if he had the strength to continue fighting. His only weapon was lost inside the gullet of the beast. Beside, the mare would probably join in this time, and there was something rather unsettling about her.

The fur around the sheriff's ears stood on end as his eyes fell upon Tulip. She was staring at him again.

Tulip held the blank gaze for a moment before her attention once again focused on Turnip and her sweeping duties.

"So, sorry about that tower over there," he nodded his head towards the fallen clock tower. "It was kinda a piece of crap, so I thought it should come down."

Silverstar's mustache almost bristled out of it typical well groomed place at the remark.

"Piece of crap? Why you little foal! You know how much time and effort we put into building it!?"

"Yeah, and I destroyed it with a simple cut from my Fentblade." Turnip wrote as he gave Silverstar a strange look.

Silverstar was a little taken aback. At this point he truly couldn't deny the clock tower was a dangerous hazard. But what really stung his stubborn pride was the simple fact he never allowed himself to realize it. All he could do in the face of an overwhelming failure was stomp his hoof on the ground in anger.

Tulip smiled softly as she glanced at the bristly mustached weirdo.

"So your kin ok?" Turnip continued.

In truth Sheriff Silverstar wanted to thank these two for what they did for the town, for what they did for him! However he also couldn't let go of the desire to beat the hell out of them for what they had done. 'His stubborn streak', as most ponies said of him. All he could do at this point was to use every ounce of his concentration he had to keep himself civil.

"Yes" He said flatly. "For what you did for us I'll overlook your crimes. But I want your word you'll behave yourself while your in this town."

Turnip snorted then sharply turned around.

"No," he wrote with his hind leg before walking away.

Unable to conceal his emotions any longer Silverstar's face exploded with anger, his normally groomed mustache bristling like an old broom. He breathed heavily as his hooves moved on their own, taking a couple of steps forward.

Tulip meanwhile continued to stare at the sheriff, not moving in the wake of the fiery tension. The sheriff's angry eyes fell on the mare as she walked towards him.

Turnip turned his head noticing Tulip wasn't there.

The mare walked right up to the sheriff then stopped. She never blinked, never took her sparkling eyes off of him. Sheriff Silverstar reared his head back slightly, obviously a little uncomfortable at being so close to her.

All of a sudden Silverstar could see something in her eyes. The blank emptiness seemed to lift as some light, some spark of recognition began to take shape. That spark grew as fast as the smile that stretched across her face. Then before Silverstar could react, Tulip threw her hooves around him and she embraced him in a hug.

At first Silverstar tried to back away, but only succeeded only in dragging Tulip across the ground.

"Hey! get off me!" Silverstar protested.

Tulip nuzzled her face against the sheriff's hot neck.

Silverstar noticed as he tried to pry her off that she was incredibly strong for a pegasus.

"She won't let go." Turnip explained.

Silverstar looked up, a little shocked by his sudden speaking.

"Seems she's taken a liking to you. She's sick in the head you know, some fancy doctors up north said she suffers from..." Turnip put his hoof on his chin trying to remember. "Schizophrenia, and something else called Psychopathy something-a-rather..." Turnip waved the second part away.

Silverstar looked down in astonishment as the puzzle of this little pony started coming together. During his time at the academy, before he joined unit 606, Princess Celestia had them all read a mountain of books, and take several ethics classes in preparation for dealing with the kind of villains they would be hunting. This included those who suffered from mental disorders.

"Full of shit if you ask me." Turnip interrupted the thought. "Sounded like they just want to label somepony because they really don't know the pony they are trying to 'help'," he said mockingly. "They don't know HER! Bastards!" His face contorted with contempt at the onset of some terrible memory.

"That's all good and well, but please get her off of me!" Silverstar insisted.

"No..." Turnip replied defiantly. "Her world is sooo small. She wants to be your friend and I'm going to let her."

"Well I don't want her friendship! Now why don't you take her and just get the hell out!"

Silverstar did yell, but there was a hollowness to his anger. He was genuinely having a having a hard time with Tulip hugging him. By no means was he the touchy feely, kind of pony. Usually only in the most extreme of circumstances, or when he was alone with his wife Fanny, did he ever show the inner part of himself.

"No", Turnip said softly. Any obvious attempt to and make the sheriff angry was gone. There was just this peaceful, yet sad look on his face.

Before Silverstar could react. Turnip was on the other side of him giving him another hug. As Tulip felt Turnip's warmth next to her she began to make cooing sounds then hugged all the harder in the wake of her validation.

Silverstar tried to pull away. But his thoughts kept betraying him with images of his own family floating around his head. The heart rendering sight of nearly losing them to that beast, and their miraculous saving at the hooves of those he once fought. His eyes became misty as he tried his best to push away the memories. But the flood of emotion was just too overwhelming.

As his heart sank he looked at Turnip. Was everything he did this day just a distraction for Tulip? After what he just heard and everything he had seen, there was just no other explanation. This crazy pony seemed absolutely willing to turn the entire world on it's head. Just for the sake of one little pony, his twin, his family.

Silverstar thought about it for a second. Was he any different?

As that final thought echoed in his head a look of utter defeat washed over his face. He bent down low to return the hugs.

"Daddy was right..." he thought to himself, "you just can't win against fools!"

Breaburn and a couple of others who arrived late, just stood there. There were no words. Nor did any of them think they had a right to interrupt even if they had. And while they still didn't fully understand the whole story, too much had happened this day to let it end sadly. They all just stared at the strangely sweet sight, as the sun sank ever closer to the horizon.