Shame

Two days after the assault on the farm, things had returned to normal. Jed had come home, the sheriff had come to ask about the explosion that had been heard in the night, and everypony had gone to bed a little early to make up for the previous night. It was on the evening of the second day that Jed told Maria that they needed to do another supply run into town, and gather a few things. The following morning, she and Ruiz hitched up the wagon and started off down the road.

Ruiz did not know the way. He knew it was south, but did not know that it was also east. He hadn't been back to town since before he had come to the farm, and had no desire to return, but also very little choice at the moment. Sure, he could refuse, but it wasn't an unreasonable request. After all, the last time Maria had gone to town alone, she'd been jumped twice. A bit of hired muscle was a good idea.

"Nervous?" asked Maria as they turned the corner.

"A bit, señorita," nodded Ruiz. "We are walking into the Ravens' nest, after all."

"That, and they know we're together now," added Maria. "I think they're going to be a bit harder to trick. Then again, you've been consistently breaking them down, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they're all terrified of you. Hold your head high, and they'll be too afraid to even look at you."

Ruiz shook his head. "I'm not the ghostly spectre you're describing, señorita. Nor am I some immortal being of limitless power. I'm just a vaquero goat. The very fact that I'm wearing a bandage will tell them that I can bleed, and if I can bleed, I can be killed. I'm not special."

"You're special to me," she smiled, placing a hoof on his shoulder. She could feel him shaking. "You know, Sweetwater was a pretty nice place before those Ravens took over. Nice ponies, plenty of water. It was all paid for by the town council, too. If you had the money to do it yourself, you could put in your own pump, but you had to maintain it. The main pump in the middle of the town was beautiful. On hot days, they'd just let it run, and the moisture in the air would leave this beautiful rainbow."

"I can't imagine the town being so colourful," huffed Ruiz. "I suppose that's because I haven't seen it without the Ravens."

"I really hope you have the chance to see it someday. If we can be rid of them, I think the ponies of Sweetwater will come together to return the town to its former beauty. But that means the Ravens have to leave, first."

"How did they even come to take over the town, señorita?"

Maria glanced to Ruiz. "You haven't been told yet?"

Ruiz shook his head. "I was in town for less than a day. The rest of the time, I was with you."

"I suppose that's fair. Really, in order to explain that, I should go back a bit further. The Ravens were always bothersome, but little more than a nuisance from the east. They snuck into town one night and ran off with Ms. Buster, one of the mares that sang at the saloon back when it was safe to do so. The sheriff; not the current one, but the one before him, went after them. He brought her back, but they were both pretty beat-up. She recovered. He didn't.

"Without a sheriff, we were pretty vulnerable. The ponies that lived in town held their end, but didn't want to have to drop their businesses to protect the town, so they petitioned the governor for a new sheriff. Our working theory is that the governor never received that letter, and it was intercepted by the Ravens."

"What makes you think that?"

"None of our other letters have reached the governor. On top of that, the post officer was replaced along with the sheriff. And the new sheriff... Well, you've met him. He lets the Ravens just do whatever they want, as long as they share their ill-found gains with him. He takes a share of any loot they bring in, and he can be bribed to look the other way if they end up being caught."

"Why hasn't anypony gone to the governor to discuss this face-to-face?"

"Aside from everypony being afraid to go claw-to-hoof with the combined forces of the Ravens' improved numbers since the event? A few have tried, and were hanged for disturbing the peace. That's how the old deputy died. He would have been a good sheriff, but he refused the position. Said it was because he was more suited to supporting the law than actually enforcing it. A bit cowardly, I think, but his last act was a brave one. On top of that, with how the Ravens have grown, it'd take an army to remove them now, and we don't have that kind of force. Not to mention that the town would probably end up destroyed."

Ruiz nodded. "I can't say I blame any of you. I think you and your family have the right idea, honestly. Hold your ground against them, take them out slowly, refuse to just roll over."

"Yeah, but we have the added advantage of being capable of fighting back. That's the only reason we've been able to hold them off for as long as we have, and that only works as long as they keep trickling their forces onto us. If they dropped their guises and just sent thirty or forty of them out to the farm, we'd probably be dead, or worse. The ponies in old Sweetwater had the sheriff, and lived in relative protection. Didn't see so much as a coyote. What's a baker and miller going to do when you point a dozen slingshots at their face?"

"I suppose that's a fair point. I really only have my own experiences to go off of, señorita."

"It's alright, Ruiz. At least now you know."

As they finished their conversation, Ruiz spotted the fencepost he had used as a bed that first night. He could see the rocks that the larger gryphon had taken cover behind, and the one that had slammed into his chest, with some dried blood still on it. All of the hoofprints and drag marks had been blown away on the wind, leaving just this rock and his memories as the only evidence of the event.