When The Colt Comes Around

Braeburn waved to the caravan as it started to pull away. The past day and a half of traveling with the family had been interesting. He had basically told Prairie and Boss Jack his whole life story: Prairie had been supremely interested, Boss Jack had just sat there and grumbled for the most part. He sometimes let out a rumble that Braeburn took as a laugh.

"Bye Mr.Braeburn! Hope to see ya again soon!" Prairie waved from the back of the wagon. As soon as the wagon was out of sight, Braeburn turned around.

The town known as Fresh Springs was neither fresh, nor did it have a spring. It was a collection of worn wooden buildings that looked like not a soul had touched them in ages, the sand had blasted holes in the wood and left the whole place looking like a ghost town. The few ponies that were walking around looked miserable: They looked thirsty, hungry, and poor. They also shared a common theme with their cutie marks: Either something to do with mining, or farming.

"I'm going to venture a guess and say that you're Braeburn." The colt swung his head and was face to face with, of all things, a unicorn. Her coat was Canterlot High Society White, now coated in dust and grime though.Her mane was sky blue, same as her eyes. What such a pretty mare was doing out here, Braeburn couldn't even imagine.

"Uhh...Yeah, Howdy." He tipped his hat politely. "How'd ya know?"

"Well, you looked lost. Plus, we don't get many tourists around here." Even the way she spoke screamed that she was out of place. Then he spotted the dual holsters on her back...with two revolvers firmly planted in them. "Aaand you noticed my guns."

"What's a mare like you doin' with a pair a' pistols like those?" Braeburn leaned to the side to get a better look at them, at this point he also spotted her cutie mark. It was a gold star.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. I want you to know two things, right now, and commit them to memory." Her horn glowed a dark blue as the guns were drawn out of their holsters. "One: My name is Swift Justice, I'm the mayor and sheriff of Fresh Springs." The revolvers spun and came to a stop pointing at Braeburn's head. "Two: These are the peacekeepers around here, not any fancy Canterlot diplomacy."

"Said the Canterlot pony.." He mumbled to the ground.

"What was that?" He heard the hammers on the revolvers cock.

"Ah said, pleasure's mine.."

"That's what I thought.." She holstered the pistols, her horn's glow dying. "Now..I think it's time to give you the tour now that the introductions are out of the way.." Swift Justice started trotting towards the small collection of buildings she called a town. "This is Fresh Springs, the old washed out mining town in the San Palomino desert!" The sheriff/mayor seemed awfully proud of this hole in the ground.

Braeburn followed the dirty white mare into the town. She pointed out the buildings and explained what they were.

Doctor's Office: Abandoned.

General Store: Abandoned.

Saloon: Abandoned

Water Tower: Empty

The only thing in the town that was actually occupied were a few houses, and the Jailhouse where Swift lived.

"I suppose you can have the old saloon, all of the beds and stuff are in there, all it needs is a good cleaning." She pointed to the saloon, the swinging doors were boarded up, most of the windows were shattered, and there were holes in the walls.

"Quite a....fixer-upper..." Braeburn didn't relish in the thought of doing all of that reconstruction on his own, it just made his hooves and back hurt thinking about the manual labor.

"Yes, but you weren't sent here to be an interior decorator, you were sent here to help with our agricultural needs." Swift pointed to the vast amounts of desert that stretched all around them.

"Yeah...'bout that. This here is a desert. Ain't nothin' gonna grow in the desert. You might as well be trying to get oranges from an apple tree..." He cocked an eyebrow and studied the landscape. He couldn't see any wildlife on the rolling dunes, save for a few cacti.

"That isn't my problem now, it's yours." She started towards the jailhouse, he followed.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me. Ya don't want me only grow plants out here, but'cha want me to do it all by mah lonesome?" As they entered the jailhouse, it took his eyes a second to adjust from the bright sun, to the dark interior. It was what somepony would expect out of a small jailhouse: A single cell with a bed in it, then a desk, a gun case, and Swift's bed. "Kinda....sparse.."

"Yeah? Well, we don't have much around here." The unicorn went over to the gun case and pulled a key out of her mane with magic.

"Ah have a question..." He had to get something off of his chest.

"I might have an answer.." She went to work unlocking the case.

"What's a Canterlot pony like you doin' all the way out here? This place ain't exactly a prime vacation spot for high society." Braeburn watched carefully as the sheriff pulled a rifle out of the case, it was a whinnychester lever-action rifle. It was in good condition, but the silver barrel was a bit tarnished.

"My father, the Duke of Manehatten, inherited this land from his father. When my father passed, I got this land and became the duchess of Manehatten." The unicorn levitated a box of ammunition from the cabinet and set it on the desk while she focused on inspecting the rifle. "I hated it...the politics, the backstabbing...the expectations. I had to leave. So, I had some surveyors come down here and see what they could find. There were some mineral deposits in the mountain, we mined it all out in just a few short months...Fresh Springs died. I stayed here though, I never want to go back to Canterlot and its stuffy parties. It isn't me."

"Yer the duchess of Manehatten..." The mare nodded "And ya'd rather be out here workin' yer tail off than bein waited on?" Braeburn was quite impressed..then she floated the gun to him. "Um...what's this for?"

"Ever heard of the Amphisbaena?" Braeburn shook his head. "Well, you will. They're giant two headed serpents...they walk on legs and like to burrow under the sand. They tend to pop up around here. I wouldn't want to see a government worker swallowed up by one. Do you know how to use a rifle?" Truthfully, Braeburn didn't have a clue. He could see how unicorns and pegasi could, but earth ponies had no way to easily manipulate triggers.

"No...can't say that ah do."

"City ponies..." She trotted over to him, stood on her two hind legs, took a kneeling pose, then took the rifle in her hooves. "You put a hoof here..." She put her left forehoof in a rounded notch of the forestock which had been cut out for that particular purpose, "Then your other hoof here..." She put her right forehoof in the lever, which had been modified to fit a hoof. "Then just cock this lever to load a round into the chamber." She cocked the lever out, then it snapped back into place. "And....fire." She pulled her hoof back against a broad trigger, the gun clicked.

"Ah think ah can do that..." Braeburn had been watching the demonstration, but he had also been thinking of ways to get the town back onto its hooves...and he had just the thing.