Justice, Integrity, and Service

“Woah! Is that an Urban Tactics version four ballistics vest?”

Braeburn blinked and looked down at the vest he was wearing underneath his jacket. “Uh, it’s a vest?”

“I didn’t even know these still existed! The RIS phased them out years ago!”

The stallion looked at his own vest, then at the one Twilight was wearing. He quickly realized they were different. His was much more bulky and thick, with several straps connecting it to his body. Twilight’s on the other hand was smaller and slimmer.

“I’m afraid we don’t have the luxury of new equipment out here,” Marshal Earp replied. The group was headed down the roads of Dodge Junction, with a sheriff’s wagon in tow. “Out here we just gotta make do with what we got.”

“Don’t get it wrong though, these things can still take a hit,” Doc replied. “I’d put my life on it.”

“You kind of do already, Doc,” chuckled Braeburn.

“Shut up, Braeburn. This is the house,” chimed in Daring.

The carriage stopped, and the lawponies gathered in front of a derelict, rundown apartment. Earp’s eyes swept the street, assessing the situation. “Looks quiet, not many ponies around. Shops look closed, skies are clear.”

Blueblood didn’t know what any of that had to do with anything but nodded. “So it would seem. Shall we, Marshal?”

“After you, Agent.”

The inside of the apartment was dark and musty. The windows were half drawn, keeping out the mid morning light. They climbed the creaky stairs to the second floor and proceeded down a long, narrow hallway.

“Well this ain’t creepy at all,” muttered Doc.

Braeburn and Daring were right behind Earp, Doc, and Blueblood. Daring frowned, glancing from side to side. Something didn’t feel right. She nudged Braeburn in the side. “Are you feeling this too?”

The stallion nodded. “Yep. Narrow hall, not much cover. This can get shitty mighty fast.”

The air was suddenly very tense, if only between them. Eventually the posse stopped in front of the door. Blueblood rapped one of his hooves against the door and called out in a booming voice. “Billy Barnstead! RIS, we have a warrant!”

The knocks were met with silence. After a few seconds past, Blueblood huffed in annoyance. “Well, I guess he’s not here.”

“We could go inside,” said Twilight as her horn lit up. “We have a search warrant as well.”

Doc rolled his eyes. He turned around and threw out his legs, bucking the door wide open. “Learned that one from Brae-”

Whatever he said next was drowned out with a deafening crack. “GUN!”

The next seconds were filled with chaos. “Go! Go! Get out! Get out!” Earp shouted. Twilight, Daring and Braeburn ran to the right side of the door. Earp and Blueblood ended up on the left side, closer to the stairs. A gunshot landed above Blueblood’s head, causing him to curse. As experienced as he was, he had never been shot at before.

Doc, who was closest to the door, had tried to run to the left but quickly fell down. “I’m hit!”

Earp froze, turning. Blueblood was fumbling with some black device in his hooves. “I need an HRT down here! Dodge Junction! Can you hear me?! Damn it!” Blueblood ran down the stairs while shouting into the box.

“Damnit, Blueblood,” Earp cursed. “Stay down, Doc!”

On the other side of the hall, Daring was dismayed to find there were no stairs. That meant no escape. The pegasus knew that they had to get out of the building and come up with a new plan as the situation had just gone to Tartarus in a handbasket.

Braeburn bucked one of the apartment doors open. Thankfully it was empty, and the deputies fell on top of each other getting inside. “Fuck, someone’s down,” he cursed.

“What do we do?” asked Daring.

“I don’t know,” Braeburn swore. “This entire thing is shit! What are we supposed to do? We never trained for this!”

“Hey, calm down, at least we’re safe for now-”

“Safety? We don’t even know if this room is safe,” hissed Daring as realization dawned on her. “We haven’t cleared the rooms! We don’t know if there's somepony waiting with a gun in here!”

“Okay, calm down!” Twilight was truthfully just as panicked as the both of them, but knew she had to play the voice of reason. “Just remember what they taught you at the academy and fall back on your training.”

“Twilight, none of us went to the academy,” Daring responded.

The unicorn blinked in surprise. “Really? Wait, that’s… not important.” The mare thought hard for a second, remembering the dozens of training scenarios she had practiced in. “Okay. I can make a shield spell to protect us in the hall, but we need to find a way out of here.”

Daring took a deep breath. “You’re right. There’s a window outside. We might be able to fit through it.”

Braeburn nodded, unslinging his rifle. “I reckon I can do that. Alright, let’s do this.”

The smile was completely gone from Braeburn’s face now. He paused and reached for a glass, only to realize the glass was empty. Daring wasn’t looking at him, but instead had her eyes fixated on the map across from them.

They both knew where the story was going to end up. There was no way around it. But Bon Bon and Lyra were staring at him expectantly. He took a deep breath and continued.

Earp was scared for the first time in his life. Bullets were still flying out of the door and through the walls. There was no way to get him, unless he fired a lucky shot through the walls, but that wasn’t his concern at the moment.

His concern was with the pony laying in a heap near the doorway. Doc hadn’t moved since he went down, and Earp had no idea where he had been shot.

Earp glanced up to see that Twilight had formed a shield on the other side. The shield extended to the edge of the hallways, effectively protecting them from the doorway.

“Doc! Can you hear me?”

There was no response. Earp holstered his weapon and ran towards his old friend, keeping his head as low as possible. He wrapped his hooves around Doc and dragged him back to the stairway.

The sound of shattering glass stole Earp’s attention. He looked up to see that Braeburn had shattered the window with the butt of his rifle. “Marshal! Is Doc alright?” Daring shouted.

He decided to listen to the more rational part of his brain. “Go with Braeburn! Jump out the window. I’ve got them.”

“But-” Twilight’s interjection was cut off by another gunshot.

“Go!” he snapped.

Earp then turned his attention to Doc. From down the stairs he heard the voice of one of the deputies. “Sir! Are you alive?”

“I need towels, a tourniquet if you have one,” Earp shouted. “If not then a belt of some kind!” The marshal flipped Doc onto his back. First he saw the blood trails on the floor. Then he saw the open eyes and the empty stare.

Time seemed to stop for Earp as the truth hit him. He froze, unsure what to do for the first time in his life. “Damn it Doc, don’t leave me now.” Earp searched desperately for something, anything to put his mind at ease. But he found nothing.

No pulse. No breath. No movement. A sense of crushing despair struck Earp. Doc Holliday was dead.

The words hung in the air for a second. Even after so many years, saying those words crushed him. Braeburn wiped his brow, trying to fight off the memories of loud gunshots, echoing down the halls. Of breaking the window with his gun, and looking back to see Doc lying motionless on the floor. Of the blood, so much blood.

They had questions, but Braeburn didn’t notice. He continued almost robotically.

The next few hours had been a complete blur for Braeburn. He remembered crashing out of the window with Daring. He remembered Blueblood spending a very long time shouting into some tiny box.

The Sheriff of Dodge had gathered enough ponies to form a perimeter around the apartment and enough doctors for each of them. Braeburn remembered the fear in between everyone.

Daring and him were scratched up and bruised from falling or jumping through a window. But then Earp came out, with Doc draped over his back.

They knew he was gone. They could see it in Earp’s eyes.

Still the doctors whisked him away, although everyone knew it was a useless task.

“What happened?” someone asked.

“The walls,” replied Earp in a hollow, absent voice. “He was shooting through the walls. It hit him in the head. He never had a chance.”

A strange feeling set in on them. It was a feeling of loss, a feeling of failure. The feeling that told them they could have, no, they should have done more. That it was all their fault.

The rest of the day was just a haze. Someone got on a bullhorn and started shouting instructions towards the building. Twilight was running around trying to coordinate a plan. Was there anyone trapped in the apartment? How many shooters were there? Did he have any hostages? Nobody knew.

At some point someone remarked that the shooting had stopped. An eerie silence fell over the streets. Then a group of heavily armed ponies clad in black body armor and heavy weaponry showed up.

“That’s the RIS’s Emergency Response Team,” Twilight explained. “Blueblood called them earlier but it took them awhile to get out here. They’ll take it from here.”

Eventually the team went in. Branstead was already dead. Whether he killed himself or someone shot him, nobody knew.

There were ponies asking questions. The HRT left. The Sheriff offered his condolences. Earp didn’t care about any of it. The skies were clear. Doc was dead.

Braeburn blinked a few times, regaining his senses.

Whatever questions Bon Bon had, they died on her lips when she saw the forlorn look on both deputies’ faces. It was a look of hopelessness, of loss.

A few more seconds passed before Braeburn continued in a low voice.

The office was quiet. No one had slept the night before, that much was clear. Most of their nights were spent at the crime scene or at the hospital, getting cleared by doctors. Then there was a trip to the morgue to escort Doc’s body.

In a way it was strange that they had all shown up for work the next day. Yet here they were, gathered in the bullpen, trying not to look at Doc’s empty desk.

“Just send your reports to the District Attorney,” Earp said. His voice was empty and his eyes staring off into space. “They’ll launch an investigation. And the RIS will launch their own. Just send in your reports.”

Earp turned and entered his office.

Daring didn’t quite understand how she was feeling. It was a mix of anger and sadness, but she mostly just felt numb. Like she had no idea how to feel. It was strange, she knew. One of her oldest friends was gone, never to be seen again. She would never hear him laugh or see that twinkle in his eye again, yet she couldn’t feel anything.

In a fit of anger, she slammed her hoof on the desk. “Damn those stupid RIS ponies!” she cursed. “If that dumb stuck-up piece of work hadn’t run off we might have had a chance!”

Braeburn said nothing in response.

“What was he thinking?” she continued. “He knew that any backup he called would take ages to get here!”

Normally Braeburn would have tried to calm her down, but in reality he agreed with her.

Earp stuck his head out of the door. “Daring,” he said in an unenthused warning.

“What? Come on, can’t we all agree that Blueblood should have stuck around and fought instead of running off?”

“Marshal Earp?”

The deputies and Marshal Earp froze at the sound of Marshall’s voice from the door. His brown eyes flicked to the doorway before going back to the group. “The, uh, RIS ponies are here again.”

Daring narrowed her eyes as the ever familiar face of Agent Blueblood appeared. The stallion was attempting to hide behind Agent Twilight, who herself was intently staring at the ground.

The tension in the room was high. Twilight cleared her throat, deciding to speak first. “On behalf of the Royal Investigative Services, we would like to offer our sincerest apologies.”

“Thank you,” Braeburn said in an eerily flat tone. “But apologies don’t change the fact that one of our own is dead.”

Blueblood scowled but remained silent.

Braeburn felt Daring tense up next to him. “Darin’, don’t,” he whispered. “It’s not worth it.”

“Please, is there any way we can help you?” Twilight’s violet eyes flicked between the deputies, desperately attempting to dissolve the tension.

“A pony is dead,” spat Daring. “You’ve done enough.”

“And we said we’re sorry,” replied Blueblood.

Daring took a step forward. Braeburn stuck out a leg, his green eyes pleading with her to stay back.

Whatever the pegasus was feeling earlier, it was being replaced with pure anger. To think this stuck up piece of work had the nerve to show his hide around here, right after what happened?

“Can’t you see this looks just as bad for us as it does for you?” sputtered Blueblood. It probably wasn’t what he meant to say. It definitely could have been worded better, but it was too late.

With a snarl, Daring spread her wings and lept forwards. She charged at him, unsure of what she would do when she reached him. But she never did. Braeburn had somehow reacted faster than her and managed to grab her, pulling her back.

“YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!” She screamed.

“Daring!”

“DOC’S DEAD! AND IT’S YOUR FAULT!” she pointed a hoof aggressively at Blueblood, who’s eyes went wide in fear.

Around her, some of the other deputies left their desks to stand next to her. Braeburn kept an iron grip on the pegasus, knowing that if he let her go it wouldn’t end well. But his heart was with the others, and he found himself agreeing with every word his old friend spoke.

Twilight looked around the room, sensing a feeling of rising anger. The deputies stood unified, each wearing a disapproving frown or a scowl. She lowered her ears in defeat.

Earp stepped forwards. “I think,” he said in an emotionless voice. “It would be best if you left and never came back.”

With a nod, Twilight turned on her hoof and left quickly. Blueblood blinked and began to follow, but Earp grabbed him for a second. “Brae,” he said while looking at Blueblood. A look of pure malice overcame him. “If you ever see this bastard around here again, don’t hold her back.”

“With pleasure, sir.”

Blueblood had never left a room faster.

Bon Bon’s eyes widened. “That’s… wow.”

Braeburn sighed. “Wasn’t our finest hour, I guess, but that answers your question. After that we stopped getting visits from the RIS. And any agency, for that matter. I guess word got around.”

“I would have hit him for saying that,” Lyra said.

“I think we all would have.” Braeburn replied. “He got reprimanded pretty heavily and lost most of what he had. Is he still in your office?”

Bon Bon shook her head. “No, he resigned a while ago. He’s in politics now or something. But what happened next?”

Braeburn opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Daring.

“I cried.”

Once the agents had left, Earp herded the two into his office. When the office door shut, Earp collapsed in his chair and held his head in his hooves. He didn’t speak for a few seconds.

Daring’s anger began to fade. “Sir? What do we do now?”

“I have no idea,” he said softly. “No FUCKING IDEA!”

Braeburn and Daring flinched. None of them had ever seen the Marshal like this. He slammed his hoof on the desk, knocking papers and pencils aside. His black eyes were burning with an anger they had never seen from him.

“Sir?” started Braeburn.

“Don’t call me that,” Earp said. “I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve it because I’ve failed you, I’ve failed this office, and I’ve failed Doc.”

Before either of them could speak, Earp cut them off.

“You all are my deputies. You’ve placed your trust and your face in my hooves. And I’ve lost it. I couldn’t protect Doc when it was my job to.” He took his badge off of his jacket and set it on his desk. “I don’t think I’m worthy of this badge anymore.”

“Sir, that’s nonsense,” Braeburn interjected. “We knew what we were signin’ up for. Don’t go beating yourself up.”

Earp took a deep breath. “Maybe. But it doesn’t change the fact that someone- no, that my friend died on my watch.” He stood up shakily. “I need to think this through. Plan the next step. You two are the most senior deputies I have now that Doc’s gone. That means I’m leavin’ you two in charge. I don’t know when I’ll be back. But we lost one deputy already, I don’t want to lose anymore. Am I clear?”

“Crystal, sir,” replied Daring.

With another nod, Earp left the office.

The two left silently to find a mostly empty squad room. Daring went over to her desk and took a deep breath. She turned around and bucked her chair as hard as she could, sending it flying across the room. “Fuck, fuck FUCK!” she shouted.

The weight on her shoulders came crashing down around her. Doc was dead. The pony she had joked with, talked with, and drank with was dead. Her friend was dead, and she had watched it happen. She swung her leg, sweeping all sorts of objects off of her desk and sending them crashing to the ground. Then she turned and punched the wall as hard as she could.

“Hey!” Braeburn’s shout barely registered in her mind. She kept punching the wall, fueled by a blind rage. She ignored the pain shooting through her system, too angry to stop. Braeburn wrestled her to the ground. “Dairn’! Stop!”

Then the floodgates opened. She drew a shaky breath and the tears came flooding out. She sobbed, lying on the office floor, helpless to do anything else.

“It’s okay, Dairn’. It’s okay,” Braeburn was saying. She looked up to see that he had tears in her eyes too.

He hugged her, and she hugged him back. She buried her head in his chest and cried, while he rubbed her back and whispered in her ear.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said absently. They both knew that it wasn’t.