Silver Lake

The wind was blowing softly across the plains in the Horseshoe Basin, snow was being carried along on the wind as clouds loomed over head. It was around thirty degrees out even at midday, which was why Turner was bundled up heavily as he walked through the snowy plains. He wore a white jacket and similarly colored fatigue pants, as well as a white knit cap on his head, his rifle was slung on his back while his badge hung around his neck by a leather lanyard though it was tucked inside his jacket. He also had a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck, modified to reduce any glinting in the sun that could arise during the daytime.

Not far behind him was a changeling wearing similar white clothing, Mourning Cloak didn’t carry any other equipment other than their canteens and some spare basic tools. It had been a couple days since Hearth’s Warming, Turner had spoken with Mourning Cloak about getting help tracking down the source of the drugs being run in Silver Lake. As it turned out, those responsible had thought that Changelings would make good guards for a ‘secret project’. Of course, they told the ponies that had come calling to scram, but Mourning had them followed nonetheless. They tracked them about ten miles south of the Changeling compound, at which point the scouts turned back due to poor flying conditions.

Turner and Mourning had parked where the scouts had lost visual and started walking south, there wasn’t a lot out this way in the terms of buildings or structures, but Turner had a couple ideas of where they could be. Sheriff Long Wire had tasked him with tracking down any leads regarding the ZNT peddlers, explicitly saying that nothing took precedence over it. The two of them had been walking for nearly three hours searching for any sign of a larger operation, so far they’d come up with little more than very cold noses.

“There’s not much out here… But they would need some serious space to do what they’re doing.” Turner said tiredly as he stood atop a hill and surveyed the surrounding areas. “Mourning… If you were running an illegal drug ring, where would you hide it?”

“Underground.” Mourning replied as he too crested the hill before walking down it slightly and gesturing for Turner to follow suit. “You’re skylining, get down before you give our position away.” The Deputy quickly nodded and moved down off the hilltop, his silhouette now far less easy to detect against the white snow considering his white clothing. “However, there isn’t anywhere all the way out here suitable for tunneling… I would know.” The Changeling’s eyes scanned over the horizon as well, occasional patches of dead shrubbery poked up out of the snow while the mountains in the distant north were hidden by mist.

“The only places I can think of we checked and rechecked, no abandoned houses, no facilities.” Turner quietly raised his binoculars and began to look at the more distant land. “We only have a couple more hours until we have to turn back, don’t want to get caught out in another storm.” Mourning Cloak quietly picked up his canteen and took a sip from it before he adjusted his coat.

“It could be the place we’re looking for isn’t on any recent maps…” Mourning stated while screwing the cap back on his canteen, the two of them began walking again while taking care to keep their eyes peeled for something out of the ordinary. “So… You never told me what happened with Discord, the details I mean.”

“What’s there to tell, the asshole wanted me to break up with Sam, I told him to go fuck himself.” Turner replied quickly as he trudged down the hill further towards the bottom, Mourning shook his head quietly.

“You and I know that’s not all that happened. I’m a changeling, remember?” The changeling stated, Turner briefly stopped in his tracks and looked over at his friend with a neutral expression. “There’s no one else out here, no bravado to keep up.” After a couple seconds Turner took off his watch cap and wiped some sweat from his forehead.

“I nearly froze to death…” Turner said quietly before pulling the hat back on. “Discord said that if I broke things off with Sam he’d save me, but I told him to go fuck himself. I still refused, and at the end he saved me anyway, said it was some sort of test that I passed.” Mourning hummed quietly before he began walking again, merely nodding his head. “That’s it? No sage advice? No comment on how foolish that was?”

“Was it?” Mourning merely asked as he reached the bottom of the hill and started up the next smaller one. “There’s an old saying among my people… ‘Love is selfless, it is prepared to sacrifice.’.” The changeling walked up the hill a bit while Turner stood there quietly, looking at the ground. “Or maybe I’m wrong, maybe you’re just a stubborn sonofabitch that isn’t inclined to give in to the whims of a chaos god.”

“He’s not God.” Turner stated firmly as he started walking up the hill behind Mourning Cloak, the two of them trudging up through the snow. “So that leaves the first thing you said, which doesn’t really tell me much… I already know I love Sam.”

“Did you?” Mourning replied, the Deputy narrowed his eyes at him.

“Yes… I just said as much.” Turner stated flatly.

“Did you really?” Mourning asked over his shoulder as they headed up the hill further, the chilling air biting against their faces despite the warm clothes they wore. “I recall sensing some doubt from you when you first started going out with her, not sensing it anymore. Your emotional equilibrium is quite intact and balanced.”

“Correlation doesn't imply causation…” Turner stated quickly as they crested the next hill to look around. “See? I can use big words too.” Mourning Cloak shrugged and looked over at Turner.

“You’re a real contrarian today, you know that?” The changeling said flatly, Turner stared at him like he had lobsters coming out of his ears. “It means you’re doing things the opposite of other people out of spite.”

“Nuh uh.” Turner said flatly, Mourning merely rolled his eyes as they began to descended the hill once more and walk up the next one which was taller than most of the berms they had passed recently. “So, changing the subject, how did you and your guys take the draft letters?”

“What draft letters?” Mourning asked, Turner nodded. “What draft letters?”

“The letters the government sent out, the ones with the draft cards in them.” Turner replied simply, Mourning looked very much confused. “Unless you didn’t get any…”

“We didn’t, why? Did ponies get them?” Mourning asked, Turner nodded as they continued walking up the hill.

“Not just ponies, I got one too. Sam would’a got one, but she’s ‘important to the economy’ so she got a pass.” Turner’s blunt statement caught the changeling off guard, not only had the framework for a draft been set up but they were planning to even call upon oddity species like humans to do it. “Did changelings have a draft?”

“Sort of…” Mourning stated distantly while still taking in the news he’d just been given. He was about to respond until the two of them began to crest the top of the hill, at which point both of them dropped to their stomachs as fast as possible.

Below in a deep valley was a rundown looking industrial building, one that looked like it had been built at least sixty or seventy years prior… It wasn’t on any of the maps, likely because someone had forgotten about it. The road in and out of it only looked recently cleared, and judging by the equipment Turner was betting it had at one point served as some sort of warehouse for the Silver mines that used to be common in the area. What made it special was the fact that it wasn’t abandoned anymore, far from it in fact.

The structure was two stories tall, delapidated and made from thin sheets of metal that looked like they belonged in a scrap heap. Despite that it was sitll standing, somehow. Cracked windows provided brief glimpses into the dark interior while the surrounding area was mostly flat as if to allow carts or other vehicles to be parked there for loading and unloading. It wasn’t large, only about the size of a small aircraft hangar, but it appeared that whoever was using it was utilizing the space efficiency. There was also a considerable amount of smaller buildings, all one story, which at one point had likely been offices or other logistical support structures.

There were at least seven or so figures moving around the compound, many of them wearing odd looking suits and respirators. From the looks of it they were unicorns in the process of loading pallets of boxes onto a couple waiting carts, Turner brought the binoculars to his eyes and looked at the boxes which were shaped oddly like coffins. His view rapidly shifted to three of the figures standing outside near the carts, unlike the ponies loading the boxes these were mostly zebras and earth ponies armed with some serious hardware.

“I count three armed guards, the rest look unarmed.” Turner said under his breath as he lowered the binoculars and offered them to Mourning, the Changeling took the binoculars and examined the scene for himself.

“I don’t think they’re just moving their product through Evergreen County…” Mourning Cloak mused quietly while watching the crates being loaded, he moved his view over to the building itself and confirmed his theory when he spotted numerous lamps through some of the windows. The lights were pointed at several lines of plants with odd looking purple flowers budding on the various stems, there was a pair of ponies standing near them in respirators… He assumed they were tending to the plants. “This is a ZNT production facility…”

“Fuck…” Turner said under his breath, he took the binoculars back and examined the compound again. “They’ve been putting the drugs in coffins, no one's gonna desecrate a coffin to check for drugs. That’s how they’ve been getting it through inspection.” The man looked over at Mourning with an uncertain expression. “That still doesn’t explain how they’ve been getting it out of town, we would’ve noticed a ton of coffins.”

“The county road. Hundreds of miles of unpatrolled land right near the rail lines.” Mourning replied quietly as the two of them went back to watching the crates down below. “Still doesn’t explain how it’s been getting on to the trains.” Turner watched the last crate be loaded on the carts below, at which point the two of them began being pulled down the road away from the facility.

“Got a couple more hours in ya?” Turner asked quietly, Mourning nodded and the two of the watched the carts gradually leave.

Once they were underway Turner and Mourning began to shadow them as they made their way through the wilderness by way of a long forgotten access road that lead to the County Road. At one point Turner had to leave to move the truck back up, it took him about an hour to get to the truck before driving it through the wilderness a bit closer to where they were. When he returned and caught up with Mourning he hadn’t missed much, other than the carts seemed to have lost their cautious stance and now looked more like they were trying to play a part.

The sun was starting to set when the carts finally reached the county road, they walked a bit further south before coming to a complete stop beside an area of track siding. Turner and Mourning watched from atop a hill as the carts seemed to be waiting for something. The cold was starting to settle in for the coming night, but the ponies at the carts didn’t seem concerned about being out in the open for too long. Turner briefly looked at his watch, it was nearing four thirty… With as much stealth as he could muster he briefly texted Sam that he would be working a little later than usual, then turned off the phone entirely. Just as he tucked the phone back into his pocket Mourning and Turner heard something in the distance. The howl of a steam whistle.

“Sounds like the four o’clock Freight Runner is on time for once.” Turner mused quietly, briefly looking at the train moving down the tracks. Unlike most of the big trains they saw during the day, the freight runners that ran around morning and evening were generally smaller trains with only around four or five cars in their care at a time. “We been getting complaints from down the line, four o’clock is almost always late.”

The two of them watched as one of the ponies at the carts approached the track lever and gave it a hard yank, switching the track over to the siding as the Freight Runner began to slow down. It’s whistle howled three times as it pulled onto the siding and came to a stop not far from where the carts loaded with the drug laden coffins were waiting. The engineer briefly leaned out and seemed to be talking to the ponies at the carts before gesturing to the last car. At which point the ponies working the carts opened the last car and began tossing out the original contents, what looked like sacks of seed. After which, the ponies loaded the coffins into the car and slid the door closed. They loaded the sacks on to their carts and gave a signal to the engineer, changing over the track alignment once again so it was as if nothing had happened.

“That explains why they’ve been late…” Turner said quietly, he and Mourning had been taking note of every step of the operation below. When the train blew its whistle the carts began to trek back towards the industrial facility, while the freight cars rolled down the track with no one on the other end the wiser. “This is bigger than the two of us can handle on our own.”

“I agree… We should head back to town, you may need the Terries for this…” Mourning replied quietly as the two of them began crawling backwards down the hill to start their journey back towards the truck. “The NEB should also be informed.”

“Yeah… Sheriff’s gonna be pissed.” Turner added as the two began to quietly skulk back towards the vehicle, it was parked about half a mile away in a gulley out of sight of the path the carts had taken. As they were starting to move up a smaller hill Mourning reached out with his magic and grabbed Turner, forcing him down into the snow as he too jumped into the white powder.

“Someone’s out here…” The changeling whispered, Turner remained quiet as the changeling looked at the sky overhead. “Very faint, listen…” Turner turned his head slightly, sure enough he could hear flapping from overhead. The sky was starting to darken, but he could barely make out the faint outline of what looked vaguely like a pegasus flying overhead. “Don’t move…”

“Getting any emotions?” Turner whispered softly, Mourning shook his head. His vision was more adapted for seeing in the dark, to him the silhouette was clear as daylight. It helped greatly, as the pegasus didn’t seem to realize that there was a changeling on the ground. The way they were flying, it was clear they saw something. They dodged from cloud to cloud, never staying in place for too long. To an eye like Turners it would be almost impossible to see, but for Mourning…

“Get ready to move…” Mourning whispered, Turner nodded and slowly moved his arms to his sides to get ready to push himself up. Mourning’s horn glowed softly, after only a second an arc of green light went up into the sky. There was a surprised groan from above, after a couple moments Turner saw the clear form of a pegasus tumbling from above. Not falling out of control, their descent was easily slowed. Turner got up with Mourning and moved towards the site where the pegasus had landed in the snow, Turner took his rifle from his back as they got closer in case the pony happened to be armed. Laying in the snow, dazed with some ruffled feathers, was a white pegasus with a blue mane, he was wearing navy colored coveralls.

“Evergreen County Sheriff’s Department.” Turner said calmly, holding his weapon steady as the stallion looked around and took note of the human and the Changeling standing above him. “Hooves up.” The stallion blinked but slowly raised his hands, after a couple seconds he shook his head and let out another groan of pain.

“I’m going to reach very slowly into my pocket, okay?” The stallion said nervously, Turner nodded quietly while Mourning hovered in the air to get a look around them and make sure no one else snuck up on them. The stallion reached into one of the pockets on his coveralls and withdrew a wallet, he opened it and showed it to the Deputy. “I’m Agent Bust of the NEB…”

Turner took the wallet from him and examined it quietly, it was too dark for him to see any real detail. He handed it back to the stallion and quietly gestured for him to stand up.

“Too dark to tell if this is real… Get up, we’ll walk you to our vehicle.” Turner ordered, the stallion nodded quietly and got up. The group began to trudge through the snow towards the truck’s location, taking a roundabout path to get their just in case anyone had staked out their original path. When the arrived Turner cuffed the stallion claiming to be Agent Bust to the front bumper of the truck, then took the wallet with him to the cab and grabbed his radio. They were just within range of town, which made things a lot easier. “Dispatch, Unit Two.”

”Unit Two, Dispatch. We read you, a little fuzzy. Send traffic.” Buckeye’s voice replied over the radio, Turner smiled slightly as he heard the familiar voice. Something about getting stuck outside in the dark surrounded by snow was still a little jarring considering his last encounter with Discord.

“Got a stallion here, was shadowing us on our investigation of that report the holdouts made. Claims he’s Agent Bust of NEB, but I don’t recall anything about there being NEB agents operating in our county.” Turner explained, there was a silence on the other end before Buckeye’s voice returned.

”NEB has several agents operating in the county, apparently… Agent Bust is among them. Ensure he’s on the level. Sign is Knight, countersign is Paladin.” Buckeye said, Turner nodded and walked around to the front of the truck where the stallion was waiting patiently.

“Knight.” Turner said simply, Agent Bust looked at him for a second before quickly blurting out his reply.

“Paladin! Paladin!” The pegasus said quickly, Turner shrugged and uncuffed him, appearing somewhat annoyed by his presence. “Thanks…”

“The fuck are you doing in our jurisdiction?” Turner asked bluntly as the stallion rubbed at the points where he’d been cuffed, the Deputy put his hands on his hips while Mourning was keeping three sixty security from the bed of the truck. “NEB wasn’t invited in.”

“We weren’t sure that your office could handle the caseload that comes with drug trafficking…” Bust said with a shrug, Turner scowled and looked over at Mourning. “Besides, if you’re actively working with changelings, it seems your office might be in need of some help.”

“Fucking feds, man…” Turner said with an annoyed expression as he kicked the snow, then looked back at the Agent. “Get in the truck, Sheriff’s gonna have some serious words with you when we get back to town.”

Bust reluctantly complied, and ended up sitting in the middle between Turner and Mourning. He appeared uncertain of what was more uncomfortable, being seated next to a human or being seated next to a changeling. Either way, he’d have to deal with it for the entirety of the four hour drive back to Silver Lake. Adding to his displeasure was the addition of the western radio channel playing on the truck’s stereo, but Turner and Mourning didn’t look like they were in the mood to change the channel of asked. Both of them had sour looks on their faces, occasionally looking at Agent Bust with minor disdain.

“So… You get anything nice for Hearth’s Warming?” Mourning asked, looking past Bust at Turner. The Deputy nodded quietly as he gripped the wheel of the truck, occasionally as the truck hit a berm Bust would bump up against him.

“Sam got me some new tools for the barn, hinted at some other stuff that ain’t got here yet.” Turner explained, Mourning nodded quietly and looked out the window. “Weren’t sure what to get her, thinking about getting one of them new shotgun type spellguns but I settled on a purse what McSnare’s wife makes.”

“She does good work…” Mourning mused distantly, the conversation was needless to say awkward as the Agent was sitting quietly in the middle of the two of them. “Probably good you waited on that spellgun, let her get familiar with handhelds like your sidearm first.”

“Mhmm.” Turner said with a nod as he turned the wheel, the truck turned onto a road that would eventually lead them back to town. “General store got that cornbread coming in from Basin County this week, reckon y’all should stock up for the rest of winter.” Agent Bust looked between the two of them, his expression somewhat perplexed by what he was listening too. Neither of them were willing to discuss the case in front of him, for the simple reason that it was none of his business as he’d violated jurisdiction already just by being there. “How’re the kids? Been meaning to ask.”

“Doin’ pretty good, all things considered. Growing like weeds, lemme tell ya.” Mourning said with a slight chuckle, he looked back over to Turner for a second before stopping as Agent Bust was staring at him. “Aphid’s wondering if you could teach Morpho how to play harmonica, he’s been driving her crazy and she wants him to have a hobby or something.”

“I’ll see what I can do…” Turner said with a nod, at this point Agent Bust let out an annoyed sigh of his own and cleared his throat. Turner and Mourning quietly looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

“For the love of Celestia.. Shut up, please.” The Agent said with his hooves crossed. “I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here, but if I have to hear you yokels talking about ‘that darn cornbread’ for any longer I’m gonna shoot myself.”

“Yokels?” Mourning and Turner said in unison, Agent Bust winced slightly at that.

“The Sheriff’s gonna love this guy.” Mourning said with a slight chuckle as he shook his head, Turner merely nodded and continued driving along. Turner chuckled himself and looked ahead at the road as it was getting considerably darker. The Deputy and the changeling both remained mostly quiet for the rest of the trip after that, seeing as anything else they said would likely warrant more complaining from the Agent between the two of them. After four hours or so the truck was rolling past the buildings on the edge of Silver Lake and rapidly closed in on the Sheriff’s Office. When the arrived Turner hit the brakes, stopping just out front of the building before throwing the truck into park.

He stepped out of the truck while Mourning got out the other side, at which point Agent Bust reluctantly got out as well. Turner closed the door firmly after grabbing his rifle from the gun rack inside and adjusting the knit cap on his head, the Agent found himself feeling rather nervous as he was lead up the steps to the door. The human deputy was whistling an odd sounding tune, it wasn’t Equestrian as far as he knew. In fact, it was a Civil War song known as Kingdom Coming. Turner didn’t care for the lyrics, but the melody was certainly upbeat. He pulled off his knit cap just as they were walking through the main door, then leaned his rifle up near the door.

“Sheriff, look what we found.” Turner called out as he ran a hand over his hair, the Sheriff was sitting at his desk. When he saw the Agent standing with Mourning and Turner he went several shades of red and purple that the deputy had never seen before. “We got some info on where them drugs is comin’ from too, an’ how they movin’ it round the county. Was on our way back when this’n started flyin’ overhead.”

“Damn NEB Agents have this notion that jurisdiction is just a suggestion, y’all are rapidly becoming more trouble than you’re worth.” Sheriff Long Wire said with a groan as he looked at Agent Bust before he turned his attention back to Turner and Mourning. “Mourning, I appreciate you helping Turner out with this. I just need you and Turner to fill out some paperwork, then you can get on out of here.”

“Alright, Sheriff.” Mourning said with a nod as Turner and he walked over to his desk, Agent Bust meanwhile sat down at the Sheriff’s desk where he was about to receive a dressing down the likes of which he had experienced since his first couple days at the academy. Over the course of the next hour and a half Turner and Mourning filled out the various paperwork and made as detailed notes as possible about what they’d observed over the day. At that point it was nine thirty, Mourning finished his work and gave Turner a nod before taking off for home. Turner, meanwhile, had to stick around until the Sheriff was done with the Agent so that he could give his full report.

He passed the time as he usually did, pulling his harmonica from his shirt pocket. He played softly enough that it didn’t bother the Sheriff as he talked through everything with the Agent, most of the songs he played were from the Civil War. They were easy enough to learn, and they had a nice bit of history behind them. After finishing a rendition of ‘Turkey in the Straw’ Turner set his harmonica down and took his phone from his pocket. He turned it on and checked for any new messages, Sam had sent him one or two acknowledging his previous messages.

“Turner.” Long Wire called out from across the room, the man turned just as he was about to start typing a message to Sam on his phone. He stopped and tucked the phone, as well as his harmonica, back into his pocket. Agent Bust looked like someone had just read him the riot act, Turner hadn’t really paid attention to what was said but the tone in the Sheriff’s tone said he wasn’t in the mood for bullshit. “First things first, I want you to escort our ‘guest’ here to the train station. Make sure he’s on the next train out of town. Don’t care where it’s going.”

“Okay, boss.” Turner said with a nod as he walked towards the Sheriff’s desk.

“Next up, seems that this fine Agent here filled me in on the details of what you saw today… So tomorrow I’m calling in the Terries to put that drug den out of commission. I want you out there with ‘em, make sure they don’t get lost.” The Sheriff said firmly, Turner nodded once again quietly. “I want it deep sixed for good, Deputy. Burned to the ground. I’d go myself but I’m too damn old to be any good that far out.”

“There won’t be nothin’ but ashes left, boss.” Turner said determinedly, the Sheriff wordlessly gestured to the Agent before he went back to his own paperwork. “Come on, you. See ya later, boss.” Long Wire nodded quietly and hummed while Agent Bust stood up sheepishly, the stallion followed Turner out the front door of the Sheriff’s Office towards his truck. He grabbed his rifle and pulled on his knit cap once again. “Git in.”

“I’m goin’.” Agent Bust replied with an annoyed tone of voice, he struggled to open the passenger side door for a moment but managed to get it and climb in. “So, when’s the next train?”

“‘Bout twenty minutes, give’r take.” Turner said with a shrug as he started the truck and backed out of the parking spot, the ride over to the train station was about as eventful as usual. They came to a stop next to the platform, at which point Turner parked the truck and took his phone out again to text Sam a quick update of what was going on. With that done, he looked over at the stallion who was watching the train tracks quietly. “What’s yer guys’s deal?”

“Our ‘deal’?” Bust replied, Turner nodded quietly. “What do you mean?”

“Well, most NEB agents I’ve dealt with turned out to be pricks… That part of your hiring policy er what?” Turner asked simply, Bust narrowed his eyes at him in brief annoyance. “Look, y’all come out to our county and conduct investigations without telling us, damn near got you killed earlier today. How’d you feel if’n we rolled up on one of yer cases and said ‘Nah, we got this.’.”

“I suppose I see your point…” Bust mumbled as he looked down the line, the light of the next train from the north was very barely visible. “You guys have a small department and a huge area to cover… As I told your Sheriff, we just want to help.”

“Shit… Most terrifying words ever uttered by man were ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’.” Turner spoke in a flat and somewhat irked tone. “Ya got in our way today, damn near gave us a heart attack. Weren’t for Mourning you’d likely be in a lot worse shape than just gettin’ yer feathers ruffled.” Bust remained quiet at that, just watching the train coming down the line. “We got the Terries if’n we want the government’s help, and if that don’t work we got each other.”

“You’ve got to face facts, Deputy. This is bigger than Evergreen County, whoever’s running this ring is all over Equestria.” Bust explained as the train started to get closer. “You’re a human, right?” Turner nodded. “You don’t… Uh… Don’t talk like a human.”

“Yeah, that’s cause ya ain’t known me long enough.” Turner shrugged, Bust looked slightly perplexed by that. “Ya spend enough time with a person, get’s easier to understan’ what they actually sayin’ as opposed to what it sounds like, y’know?”

“I suppose? Never gave it much thought.” Bust hummed quietly, by now the train was getting closer and he could hear the whistle blowing in the distance. “Deputy, I called you a yokel earlier, I’d like to apologize. It was unprofessional of me.”

“Accepted. I apologize for the whole blastin’ you out of the sky thing, so I’d say that makes us even.” Turner said with a slight shrug as he opened his door and got out, Agent Bust followed suit and followed the Deputy as he walked up onto the station platform. The two stood next to one another as they waited for the train to pull into the station. “You mean what ya said earlier, ‘bout this bein’ bigger than Evergreen County?”

“Every word.” Bust said with a nod. “ZNT has been popping up like wildfire all over the country, Evergreen County isn’t the first, or the worst.” Turner quietly adjusted his knit cap and wiped his forehead briefly before looking at the pegasus who was watching the train coming in closer. “Seems like your department has a serious hatred for these guys though, burning down an entire building is a little overkill… Even by my standards.”

“Y’all up in Canterlot don’t get it, everythin’ affects everyone in a town like this.” Turner explained as the train began to get closer and closer still. “We fix our own problems, if’n we had the right tools for the job we’d be in much better shape…” The Deputy’s expression turned to a small frown. “That’s what irks me about you bein’ here, the money they spent sending agents into our jurisdiction without our knowledge could’a helped us a lot.”

“I’ll pass that along…” Bust said, Turner merely scoffed and shook his head. “What? I can go to my superiors and tell them you need more funding.”

“We already done that. Sheriff and I went to Canterlot on two separate occasions... Not at the same time.” Turner’s exasperated tone told Bust that he wasn’t kidding. “Each time we talked to the Princess herself, each time she says ‘We’ll take it seriously’, and each time we’re left swingin’ in the wind.” The Agent was a little perplexed by that, surely if the Princess knew what was happening she would’ve sent more help. The train was closing in by now, its brakes squealing and scraping as it slowly came to a stop.

“This my ride?” Bust asked, Turner nodded and gestured to one of the passenger cars. Meanwhile, the crew of the train was getting out to top off the water in their engine at the water tower. “How do I get back to Canterlot from here?”

“Take this down ‘bout two more stops, which point you’ll be at the Sand Dune County switching yard. Tell the station master what’s up, he’ll set you in the right direction from there.” Turner said quietly as he lead Bust towards one of the rail cars and gestured for him to get on. “Sheriff doesn’t want to see y’all in town again, ‘less you got a damn good reason for comin’ back it’d be best to just stay out.”

“I’ll try to remember that, though I’m not sure my superiors will care either way…” Bust said as he stepped up onto the train. “Thanks, I guess… For seeing me off.”

“Don’t thank me, I’d sure as shit be happier on my way home right now.” Turner said as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “Still… Happy trails.” With that he turned and began walking back to his truck, looking over his shoulder every now and then to make sure Agent Bust stayed on the train. Not that it’d do much good, the stallion was a pegasus after all, but it was the best Turner could do.

He climbed into his truck just as the train was starting to blow its whistle, it started to pull out of the station and with that Turner put his truck into reverse and pulled out so he could get back on the main road. Tomorrow was going to be a doozy of a day, with the Terries coming in to bust up that drug den it was sure to be a big dust up. For now, though, Turner focused on just driving home. He wanted to be with Sam, take a bit of time to rest his bones after a long day of hiking. With that as his motivation, he drove off into the night…