Justice, Integrity, and Service

Braeburn sipped at his coffee, gazing at the mare across from him. They had taken a break from his stories, and in that time Braeburn had tried asking her questions, but Bon Bon would deflect and avoid them. Braeburn decided that Bon Bon didn’t want to talk about her past and decided not to push the issue.

“So, what did you say to the Marshal?”

“Hm?”

“After he offered you the job,” Bon Bon clarified.

“Oh. Well, it took me a bit to get back to him.”

“So there we were, sittin’ on this guy’s front porch. Earp goes knockin’ away but he ain’t comin’. So I say, ‘Reckon we missed him.’ Now right as the words leave my mouth, Brae turns around and says, ‘No we didn’t! He’s right there!’” Doc’s story was interrupted by a chorus of drunken laughter.

“I ain’t kiddin’,” Doc continued. “We all stand there, starin’ at each other before he bolts. So then the three of us are climbin’ over each other tryin’ to get him!”

“I’ll drink to that, Doc!” one of the patrons called. There were cheers and clinking of glasses as the crowd around Doc downed their drinks.

In the far corner of the bar sat Braeburn and Earp, observing the drunken chaos as Doc ranted aloud. All three were a few drinks deep already, but it was a known fact that Doc was a light drinker.

“So I hear Doc gave you my proposition?” Earp asked.

Braeburn nodded. “Yup. I’ve been thinkin’ it over.”

“You decide yet?” Earp couldn’t hide the eagerness in his voice. Everything Silverstar had told him about Braeburn had been true. The stallion was one of the best deputies he’d ever trained.

Braeburn sighed, staring into his cup. “I dunno, Earp. It’s a big thing. I’d have to leave the farm behind. Not sure how my family would take it either. We’re generations of farm ponies after all.”

“I understand.” Braeburn could almost hear the Marshal’s heart sink.

He sighed, finishing his drink. Braeburn watched as Doc waved his hooves around in the air, to emphasize some key points in his story. A smile fell on his muzzle. “Ah, you know what? Screw it.” He looked the Marshal in the eye. “I’ll do it.”

A wide smile replaced the forlorn look on his face. “Now that I’ll drink to.”

Lyra had been listening to Daring talk about her views on fate and luck for the past five minutes. While it was an interesting perspective, Lyra was eager to learn more about her story. She just wasn’t quite sure how to ask.

“Oh, am I rambling?” Daring caught the lost look in the mint green unicorn’s eyes. “Sorry. Braeburn rubs off on me sometimes.”

Seizing her chance, Lyra moved to segway the conversation. “Speaking of Braeburn, what was it like when you two first met?”

To her surprise, Daring laughed and rolled her eyes. “Oh man. My first day out here was something else entirely.”

Meanwhile, in the conference room, Bon Bon had reached the same point as Lyra. “And that was the moment you took up the Marshal’s offer?”

“Eeyup. I packed up my things, handed the farm over to my family, and moved to Dodge.”

“How’d your family take it?”

Braeburn sighed. “Some weren’t thrilled, but they all accepted it. I guess they figured it would have to happen eventually.”

Bon Bon’s gaze dropped for a second. Something in his words struck a chord with her, but she decided to ignore it. “What about Daring? When did you meet her?”

“That happened a few months after I became a full-fledged deputy.”

“So he didn’t tell you?”

Braeburn sighed as a pony shoved his way past them. “No, Doc didn’t tell me nothin’.”

He stood with Earp on the train station platform, which was crowded with ponies on their way out of Dodge. Dodge Junction had the only train station out of the western cities that lead to Canterlot, and that meant it was usually crowded.

Earp laughed. “I should have known. Doc Holliday’s got the mind of a goldfish.”

“What didn’t he tell me?”

“We’re gettin’ a new deputy.”

Braeburn raised an eyebrow at that. “Really? Fresh hire?”

“No. A transfer, from Canterlot.”

“You’re pullin’ my leg,” laughed Braeburn.

“I ain’t. But from what Pinkerton tells me she’s a damn fine deputy.”

“You say that about everyone, Earp. Earth pony?”

“Pegasus,” Earp answered as the train began pulling into the station.

Braeburn watched as ponies filed out of the train. The fact that there was only one pegasus on board dismissed any doubts he had as to her identity.

Earp stepped forwards, removing his hat. “Daring Do?”

The pegasus nodded, giving a cocky grin. “The one and only, at your service.”

“I’m Marshal Earp, this is Deputy Braeburn,” Earp said.

“Howdy.”

The two began eyeing each other over, as if searching for any sign of weakness. Braeburn extended a hoof, and the pegasus accepted. Both grabbed and shook hard, looking to walk away with the stronger hoof. To their disappointment they seemed to have the same amount of power.

“Welcome to the west, ma’am. Hope you don’t mind a lil dust.”

The pegasus scoffed. “Drop the formalities. I don’t care much for them.”

“Oh? I thought all Canterlot ponies lived and breathed for-mal-it-ies.”

“What, you have to sound it out? You in grade school or something?”

The statement was matched with an angry glare from Braeburn. Daring just matched his glare, refusing to back down.

Earp sighed as he watched the two. This wasn’t quite what he was hoping for.

“Uh, why don’t we show you to the office, Miss Do?” Earp tried to break the tension between them.

Braeburn brushed off the glare from Earp. He cracked a smile as he took in the new deputy. A softie pegasus from Canterlot, who was probably used to a dainty and proper life? Showing up her would be fun.

“Of course, sir. Lead the way,” Daring responded, flashing a grin of her own. A rough and tumble westerner who was all brawn and no brain? Upstanding him would be fun.

“So you guys didn’t like each other?”

Daring shrugged. “Can’t say that we loved each other. But with Brae being a senior deputy and me being a transfer, I guess we both felt that we had something to prove.”

Lyra nodded in amusement. “Huh. Interesting. Can’t say it’s similar to my first day. I just had a senior agent throwing me around the building, getting coffee for him.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything different from the RIS. Anyways, where was I?”

The office was much smaller than the Canterlot Office had been. Daring had been shown the reception room, the bullpen, the Marshal’s office, the detainment cells, and finally the conference room. What caught her eye was the massive map that was hung on the wall.

The pegasus spent some time observing it and taking in every detail. It was carefully made, she saw, with an amazing amount of detail added.

“That there map took Earp half a year to finish,” Braeburn said from the door. “Or that’s what I’ve been told anyways.”

“I didn’t know he did this,” she responded without looking away. Spending the entire day with the talkative stallion had worn her out a bit. It seemed like he had a story for every corner and a history with every pony.

“What, do art? He doesn’t like to talk about it much, but he’s quite the artist. Anyways, there’s one more thing we gotta do before we can call it quits.”

Daring sighed, turning to the door. “What’s that?”

“We gotta get you a hat.”

She blinked, not expecting that. “A hat?”

“Yep. Come on, let’s get a move on.”

“A hat?”

Braeburn flashed Bon Bon a knowing smile. “A hat. What, you think these things are standard issue?”

The mare paused. “I’ve never considered that actually.”

“Well, there you go. Hats aren’t officially required, which means we gotta go buy our own.” He paused to take a sip from his glass of water. “So there we were, on our way to get her first hat.”

The walk from the office to the store wasn’t particularly long one, but Braeburn’s endless talking seemed to make it longer. She tuned him out, taking in the surroundings of Dodge Junction instead.

Ponies left and right nodded and smiled at them, a few even shouting out to Braeburn. The brown jackets they wore gave them away as deputy marshals, Daring discovered, and she wasn’t sure if she liked that or not.

The jacket itself was fine, as she heard it got cold during the night. Most importantly it had holes for her wings, allowing her to fly without taking it off. She silently thanked Celestia that somepony in the office had the foresight to make a custom pegasus jacket, as most of the other deputies were earth ponies.

“Here we are,” Braeburn suddenly declared. They had arrived in front of a tiny, unmarked store, nestled in between two other wooden buildings. Braeburn trotted up the stairs and onto the porch before heading inside.

By the time Daring had entered, Braeburn had already struck up a conversation with the mare behind the counter. “Pick out whichever one you want,” Braeburn said as he waved a hoof at the racks of hats behind him. “First one’s on me.”

She rolled her eyes and wandered about the store. Most of the hats looked the same to her, with slight variations in color. One, however, quickly caught her eye. Tucked away in the bottom of a shelf was a white pith helmet. The sort that someone would wear if they went off on an adventure.

A chuckle escaped her lips as she shook her head sadly. Just another reminder of the dream that she was now leaving behind. And it was further than it ever was. The realization finally hit her as she turned over the helmet in her hooves. She was miles away from her home now, in a completely unfamiliar place.

She had been telling herself that she always had room to turn around, but what if she didn’t? What if she had dug herself into a hole so deep that she couldn’t fly out of it?

Absently, she put the helmet on her head and looked into a mirror, smiling at how ridiculous she looked. “Like someone straight out of a story book,” she said to herself.

“Hey, I like it,” remarked Braeburn as he appeared next to her. “It fits you.”

Daring scoffed. “Yeah, I’m sure it does.”

“You pick a hat yet? I don’t know about you but I got places to be.”

The pegasus rolled her eyes and grabbed the closest hat in her mouth: a brown stetson hat.

Braeburn blinked. “Huh. My cousin’s got a hat just like that. Oh well.” They went over to the cashier, who glared at Daring over her glasses.

“Just the hat or the helmet too?”

Daring blinked. She forgot that she was still wearing the helmet. She raised a hoof to take it off, but something made her hesitate. “I’ll buy both,” she said.

“Suit yourself.”

“I still have that stupid helmet tucked in a bookshelf in my house somewhere,” Daring said fondly.

Lyra rolled her eyes. That just seemed tacky to her but she decided to keep quiet. “So what was your first case with Braeburn like?”

To her surprise the pegasus stood up. “If I’m telling that story again, he’s gotta be there. Come on, I saw him go into the conference room.”

The two left the bullpen and went into the conference room, where Braeburn was wrapping up a conversation with Bon Bon. “Hey there,” he directed at Daring. “What’s up?”

“Lyra here wanted to know about the first case we worked together on.”

Braeburn’s eyes lit up. “Really now?”

“First year on the service. Sheriff of Mustang asked for backup from us to check out a suspicious incident. Tell her what we found, Doc,” Braeburn said confidently.

Doc’s stomach churned as he remembered the case Braeburn was talking about. “I’d really rather not remember that one, Brae.”

“Blood everywhere. Like, seepin’ through the floorboards. There was a body of course. What he did was take a bucket, and -”

“Enough!” Doc shouted. The entire ride to Broken Valley, Braeburn and Daring had been ‘discussing’ their most violent and disturbing experiences. Doc was just caught in the middle of it, with a full stomach nonetheless.

Daring rolled her eyes. In truth that story was a bit mortified, but she wouldn’t show it. “Nah, I still think my story about the Manehattan Monster was scarier.”

Braeburn was inclined to agree, not that he would say it. The way she described it made it downright horrifying to think about.

“Enough, please. We’re here,” Doc said as the group paused on the dirt road. “Let’s just find the pony and go home before I lose my lunch.”

Both ponies simultaneously rolled their eyes. “I win,” they both mouthed at each other.

“Aw, would you look at that,” Doc grumbled. “The sheriff started without us.” Sure enough, a group of badged ponies stood around a blue earth pony, who was arguing loudly. One of the deputies stepped forwards, trying to grab the suspect when the pony suddenly bolted forwards.

The blue pony shoved the out of shape deputies aside and ran down the street towards them. Before any of the ponies could draw their weapons, the blue pony breezed past them.

“Woah! Get him!” In a flash, the three ran off after him. The streets had a moderate amount of ponies, but the suspect’s blue coat stood out against the shades of black and brown, making him easy to spot.

On Main Street, the suspect pony shoved over an elderly mare as he ran by. “Ma’am! Are you alright?” Doc paused, gasping for air. He helped the mare to her hooves, thankful for an excuse to rest. Braeburn and Daring ran right past him, green and violet eyes locked on the fleeing suspect. “Damn it. Careful, you two!”

Doc’s words didn’t register in their ears. “We’re gonna lose him,” Braeburn cursed.

“Nah. You’re going to lose him,” Daring laughed. She hopped into the air and spread her wings, taking to the sky. From high above, Daring was easily able to make out the form of the blue pony and prepared to dive at him.

However, the pony was smarter than most. He ducked into the farmer’s market, where the large crowd and close proximity of the stalls and wagons made it hard to dive. Braeburn kept pushing forwards, breathing hard and moving as fast as he could.

The pony knocked over a barrel of apples, forcing Braeburn to jump at the last second. “Deputy Marshal! Make way!” The crowd was slow to react, forcing him to nudge and shove others aside.

“Woah!” Braeburn had to jump to the side again as a wagon almost hit him.

“Watch it!” Braeburn cursed, sweeping the market again but failing to find the suspect.

Then, Daring’s voice came from above. “He’s by the bank, Brae!”

Braeburn quickly located the building and headed towards it.

“Moving towards the red building now!”

He continued to follow Daring’s instructions until he saw the stallion again. Braeburn growled, pushing himself harder again. As strong as he was, he couldn’t keep this up all day. They had just run halfway across the town, but the pony had yet to show signs of stopping.

The suspect turned, wide eyed, and sped off again.

“Give up! The market’s surrounded,” Braeburn shouted at him. The suspect grimaced and ran faster. With a final burst of speed, the suspect pony crashed through a market stall, and headed to the outskirts of the market. A grin fell on his face. However, he had forgotten the reason he ran towards the market in the first place.

Daring saw her chance and took it. She dove down, beating her wings fast and hard, before landing right on top of the surprised pony. They both grunted as they hit the ground. Daring, using the suspect as a cushion, recovered quickly and drew her pistol. She heaved herself onto her hind legs and steadied the gun with her other hoof. Just like we trained, she thought.

Braeburn came up behind her, drawing his own pistol. “Don’t you move now.” Behind him, a few deputies jogged over from the marketplace.

“Thanks, we got him from here,” one of them said as they wrestled the suspect into hoofcuffs.

The two holstered their weapons and dropped back to the ground in exhaustion. “I swear you’re tryin’ to get me to wear myself to death,” Braeburn panted.

“Not my fault if you can’t keep up,” Daring replied, wiping her brow.

“It would be if we lost him.”

“I wasn’t going to lose him!”

Braeburn rolled his eyes. “Hey, where’s Doc?”

Daring laughed. “I think we left him back on Main Street.”

“Should we get him?”

The pegasus rolled her eyes. “Eh, he can wait.”

“And if it wasn’t for me, Brae would have lost them.”

Braeburn gave Daring a light punch on the shoulder. “I think you mean that if it weren’t for me, you would never have gotten him.”

Daring shrugged, smirking. “Whatever you say.” She went over to the window, noticing that it was getting dark. “What time is it?”

“Shift just ended,” said Marshall from the doorway. “I was wonderin’ if you needed anythin’ from me before I left.”

“Nah, get on out of here.” Braeburn leaned back in his chair, stretching. “Damn, shift’s over already? You two sure did get me talkin’.”

“Yeah, once Brae starts he doesn’t know when to stop,” Daring agreed.

“Real funny. You two stayin’ the night?”

Bon Bon nodded. “Yeah, we were planning to stay and work the case until it’s done.”

“There’s a motel setup down the street from us. You flash your badges at the receptionist and she’ll give you a discount,” Braeburn said. “In the meantime, I’ve got a few reports to sign off on.” He held the door open as the mares left the conference room.

“Will you be back here tomorrow?” Lyra questioned.

“Bright and early. And we’ll see if anyone’s found that pony you two were lookin’ for,” Braeburn assured. “Now get outta here.”

The two deputies watched as their RIS counterparts left. Around them the bullpen was mostly empty, the other deputies having left for the day. Since there wasn’t anything urgent going on, there was no reason to keep ponies in the building at night, which meant Daring and Braeburn were the last two in the office.

“Well. Those two are quite the hoofful,” Braeburn chuckled.

Daring nodded. “Yeah. You figure out what they want from us yet?”

“Haven’t a clue. I don’t get it, what do they get from our old stories?”

“Who knows, Brae. Who knows. Let’s get this paperwork done so we can leave.”