A few days later, Applejack and Twilight had moved back into Braeburn’s house from the hotel.  As it turned out, they weren’t the only ones; in the barn on cots and in sleeping bags were Cold Steel, Quick Draw and his family, and Coal Dust and his family.  Cold Steel was out of work in the police department, and Coal Dust had been kicked out of his job at the metal workers.  Similarly, Quick Draw and his family were kicked out of their property by the guards and their farm had been commandeered by some of Braeburn’s workers.

Braeburn was pleased to find most of his things had remained untouched, including his hat, vests, and the revolver he had gotten from his father.  To add to his pleasure, Cold Steel had managed to smuggle a few cases containing hundreds of bullets with him from the police station after he had been kicked off.

To pay back the time for their stay, Applejack and the others had been helping to keep what remained of the farm running.  “It’s not the best,” she said, “but we got a small wheat field planted where the mine shaft was.  The flood seemed to clear out most of the debris and we cleared out the rest and the flood re-strengthened the land.  With a simple press, we might be able to make enough to help sustain us for a while.”

“How long has this been happening?” Braeburn asked.

“About two months,” Quick Draw replied.  “Once the guards saw you weren’t around town anymore, most of them started stepping up their aggression.  We’ve managed to keep them off our property and two other farms, but they up and took over the rest of them and most of the town; we have enough tools to keep going for a little while and can still plant enough to feed us, but we can’t hold them off forever.  It seems we’re pretty split down the middle, and things have been getting worse.”

“What kind of worse?”

“All sorts of it,” Coal Dust replied.  “The sheriff’s been either standing by idly or not doing anything, the guards either steal supplies or pay hardly anything, and those who the guards are convinced they’re in league with you have been kicked out of their jobs.  At least a quarter of the town is a ghost town.”

“Most have taken place in one of three farms,” Twilight said.  “There’s about thirteen here, twelve in another farm, and fifteen in a third that are against Blueblood as well as scattered portions through town that aren’t vocal about it.”

“There isn’t enough to fight back,” Braeburn said, rubbing the bandage around his chest and stomach.  “Especially not while I’m in this condition.  Other than myself, we have Applejack, Twilight, Cold Steel, Coal Dust, and maybe a few others from the other farms depending on who made it out.  And there’s no use calling for help from the Equestrian military if Blueblood’s cut us off from the rest.”

“I can fight, sir,” Quick Draw said.

Braeburn sighed.  “You’re too young.  You’d get yourself killed in an instant out there.”

“I am old enough!” Quick Draw shouted.  “Need I remind you I won last year’s deadeye competition, skeet shooting competition, and target competition at the Rodeo and Gun Exhibition in Dodge Junction, not to mention at eighteen I’m old enough to sign up for the Equestrian military.  I own two revolvers of my own, something that we’ll need if the guards have stepped up their game.”

“It’s not just that,” Braeburn said.  “They’re all equipped with guns, supposedly with knowledge from a former escapist from Dodge Junction.  They know that we all are involved because he found out and told them about our plan to dam the river to destroy the mine shaft because they bought him.”

“So it wasn’t just that Silversmith led them to us?” Cold Steel said.  “The bastard went over there because it was better paying than what he had originally?  Perfect!  Old friendships are out the window because of greed.”

“I guess so,” Braeburn said.

Cold Steel growled.  “If I ever get my hooves on that traitor, I am going to wring his neck!”

Coal Dust placed a hoof in front of Steel, who calmed down.  “There’s nothing we can do at the moment,” he said.  “The guards are on high alert since Twilight helped Braeburn escape from prison.  Any one of them could either attack or kill us at a moment’s notice.”

“So we’ll need to wait for a while until Braeburn’s recovered,” Applejack continued.  “If Blueblood is aware of Braeburn’s condition, they’ll be on high alert while Braeburn is weakened and will back off when he’s back up to normal.”

“I can still fire a gun,” Braeburn spoke up.  “I don’t need to be out of a bandage to do that.”

“Yeah, but if you were to get into close combat I don’t think you’d do very well,” Twilight said.  “Your ribs and lungs are in bad enough condition from Blueblood’s beating; it won’t take much more to get you back to being hospitalized.”

“Are any of them on our side?”

“A nurse and a doctor are on one of the farms, along with their families.”

Braeburn nodded.  “See if they have any pain-killers or even ointments and herbal remedies, would you?  I’ll probably be incapacitated for a few days and need all the medicinal help I can get until I can recover.”

Cold Steel smiled at him.  “You just get yourself back up to speed,” he said.  “We’ll all help take care of the farm.”

“There must be at least something I can do,” Braeburn said.  “I’ll go crazy if I’m cooped up here for a few weeks.”

“Just wait until the nurse comes around,” Applejack said.  “Twilight can probably teleport and get them fast enough so you won’t have to wait for the results.”

Just as Applejack said, the nurse and doctor came over relatively quickly.  While Twilight did teleport over to where the two were, they had to walk back with Twilight to avoid getting too sick; Twilight managed to use a cloaking spell to hide them until they got within the farm’s boundaries.  Almost immediately the two came over with their equipment to find Braeburn lying in his bed.  They asked him to sit up.

“How do you feel?” asked the doctor as the nurse starting checking over his body.

“A little dizzy but not too problematic,” Braeburn said.  Just to prove it, he reached for the revolver nearby though missed it once before picking it up.

“What exactly happened to you?”

“The day before Twilight picked me up I had been beaten up by Blueblood with a police baton.  I was given a shot of some medicine and had a bandage wrapped around my chest and hooves.  I’ve been in this position ever since.”

The doctor nodded.  He turned to the nurse.  “How are the usual areas?”

“His eyes seem to be fine and he has a good reaction time.  His mouth’s nice and wet so I wouldn’t say illness is a problem.  However, if he was placed in bandages I’d wager there’s something underneath that could pose a problem.”

The doctor nodded.  “Prepare a new bandage by soaking it in warm water and mixing it with an antiseptic medicine.  I’m going to peel some of this bandage off to see what’s going on.”  The nurse followed orders while the doctor took the bandage and unwrapped it from around Braeburn’s chest.

The wound was small though what was there was nasty.  Multiple spots all over Braeburn’s chest and arms were a deep purple and he found it harder to breathe with the bandage taken off him.  He told the doctor this, who nodded thoughtfully.

“Well, it’s not good but it’s better than I thought,” the doctor said.  “I would say you have some internal bleeding along with a broken rib.  I can’t do much for the rib besides the suggestion of a glass of milk with every meal and making sure the windows are open during the day – that’ll cover the calcium and vitamin D intake – in addition to placing a new bandage on you.  Otherwise, for the bleeding, plenty of bed rest and salads with a rather large amount of kale and lettuce; that will add some vitamin K to clot the blood in those areas.  I’d say no physical activity for three weeks and no strenuous activity for another two once that time period is over.  The nurse is preparing a new bandage for you.”

A few minutes later, Twilight was helping the nurse put the new bandage, the nurse supporting Braeburn while Twilight did the rest with her magic.  It wasn’t long before Quick Draw was escorting the doctor and nurse back to the farm where they were staying.

“At least you’re still alive,” Twilight said.

Braeburn nodded.  “Five weeks of bed rest,” he said.  “I don’t know if I can stand being cooped up that long.”

Twilight smiled sadly at him.  “Think of it as a rest after three months of prison labor.”

Braeburn motioned to the other side of the bed.  Twilight went and crawled in next to him.  “What was it that took you so long to come and get me?” he asked.

“I didn’t know the layout of Blueblood’s compound.  I can’t fly well, but I managed to get to a small overlook a little to the north.  I kept watching the schedules every day for a few months then started getting myself used to the layout of the compound so that I could just teleport in, grab you, then get out.”

“You never got caught?”

“No.  It’s just like you said: Blueblood wouldn’t risk capturing or hurting me if it meant Princess Celestia comes down on him.”

For a few weeks, it was as though Appleoosa was made of three separate communities.  Blueblood’s compound kept gaining members of the guard that now lived there and took anyone who stood against them to prison.  The main town was split between Blueblood supporters and Braeburn supporters, neither of whom could set foot outside without getting attacked by the other at some point or being harassed by the guards that acted as though they owned the town.  The farms were the stronghold of Braeburn and whoever was fully on his side.

The royal guards and military initially attacked the farms furiously as though to try and recapture Braeburn and put into prison anyone who had sided with him.  Braeburn wished he could take his revolver and go fight the guards, but the others handled themselves well; Twilight teleported among the three farms to shield whichever one was attacked, while strong fighters soon emerged from each of the three farms.  Braeburn only heard of the heroics of other farms, but from his window he could see some of the fights between the guards and those on his own farm.  Quick Draw proved an able shooter, firing off all bullets from his own six-shot revolver in a matter of seconds and hitting whatever target he aimed for.  After shooting three guards in five limbs and killing one with one load, the young stallion came in to see Braeburn.

“Did you see me out there?” he asked.

Braeburn nodded with approval.  “A regular deadeye if I ever saw one.  I’ve never seen anypony shoot so well since my father went into those competitions.”

“That’s how I won,” Quick Draw said proudly.  “The judges said they couldn’t remember the last time they saw someone shoot that fast and accurately.”

Braeburn smiled.  “You’re better than I thought, you know.”

Quick Draw sat at the edge of the bed.  “You’re not the only one fighting for something,” he said.  “It may not be as strong as what you’re fighting for, but ever since my father was killed everything’s been going downhill.  Our farm started to go under when the guards harassed us; we’ve been living on the poverty line for a few months.  I want Blueblood out of Appleoosa just so mother can have some peace concerning my father’s death and so my younger siblings don’t have to live in fear.”

Braeburn sighed.  “I wish there was some way of getting them out of here and on to somewhere more peaceful.  My old hometown of Ponyville would be good.  Green fields, clear skies, no known jewel fields within the town lines.  It’d be a place away from the fighting.”

Quick Draw nodded.  “Mother would like that.  Maybe someday we’ll go there.  Someday when things are better,” he added.

Braeburn nodded.

Quick Draw got up.  “Applejack said she’d be in with some soup shortly.  Keep resting and getting better, Braeburn.  The town shunned you and thought of you as mad before.  Maybe you are a little, but now there’s something even worse afoot.”

Braeburn’s smiled faded.

“I mean no disrespect,” Quick Draw said.  “I don’t think anyone saw any of this coming.  Now that it has…”  His voice trailed away as though lost.  Eventually, he nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Braeburn ate his soup and fell asleep early that night without fuss.

After five weeks, Braeburn’s bandages were changed again and the doctor gave him permission to walk around.  Braeburn’s first walk after the rest let him survey the perimeter of the farm and the new types of crops that had been planted for subsistence farming.  Towards the edges of Braeburn’s property were simple things like wheat and carrots, while other places also had lettuce and berry bushes.  Inspection of another farm revealed it only doubled up on one or two crops from Braeburn’s farm for a wider variety.

A week later and with the pain in his stomach nearly gone, Braeburn put on his hat and vest and holstered his revolver before taking a first look into Appleoosa with Quick Draw and Twilight at his side.  The streets, once thriving with residents that would have been selling goods to help with the planting season, was barren except for the occasional guard from Blueblood, now mostly comprised of unicorns wielding guns with shorter barrels than Braeburn’s that were painted white.  A few unicorns and nearly all the pegasi still carried spears; Braeburn surmised this was mostly because the large amount of money it would take to supply the army with guns would make someone in Canterlot suspicious.

On his first day walking the town, Braeburn and the others got into three gunfights.  One of these started almost as soon as he stepped into the town’s boundaries.  The fights were ended without casualties but someone from the guard went away injured in all of them and they had to learn to avoid streets where supporters of Blueblood’s new order were higher and took streets where supporters of Braeburn were higher.

It didn’t take long for word to spread that Braeburn was back on his feet.  While he was nowhere near top condition, the mere fact that one of Equestria’s ranking gunponies was back to health caused whispers to go throughout the town.  The guards stopped attacking the three farms for fear of being shot at by two of the deadliest marksponies in Appleoosa.  By the third day of walking the town, Braeburn was able to bring back an entire family of supporters to the farms without getting shot at by the guard, who seemed to do their best to avoid him.

“It’s odd, isn’t it?” noted Applejack after coming with Braeburn on one of his walks through Appleoosa.  “You’d expect that with Blueblood’s money he’d have a larger force and yet Braeburn’s able to walk through town without gettin’ shot at.”

“It’s simply a matter of time,” Braeburn said.  “Blueblood is likely trying to train his men for another attack.  He wants me dead or alive, I’m guessing, and he’ll take whatever methods he can to make sure I’m back on his property.”

“What about the rest of us?” Quick Draw said.  “We’re all aligned with you.”

“But he won’t try and get some of you,” Braeburn said.  “Applejack is out of the question being an Element of Harmony.  Twilight is out of the question being a princess.  The others he might assume are just pieces in the machine, with me being the power required to keep it running.  Without power, the machine cannot run.  If I’m gone, resistance in Appleoosa is crushed.”

“But you’re our main fighter,” Twilight said.  “Without you, Blueblood isn’t afraid.  With you able to fight, Blueblood is either forced to make new decisions to turn and run.”

“But he’s still not up to speed,” Cold Steel pointed out.

“Not yet, anyways,” Braeburn agreed.  “I’m on my way, though.  I still can’t strain too much.”

“We’ll need to find a way to attack Blueblood,” Coal Dust suggested.  “If we managed to take out something of Blueblood’s his own forces might be crushed or hesitant to fight back.”

“That I don’t think is the problem,” Braeburn said.  “The problem is more firepower.  Cold Steel, what was the sheriff’s office like before you left?”

“Still able-bodied and decently well-equipped,” Cold Steel replied, “but they’ve been slow to respond.”

Braeburn nodded.  “How many deaths have there been in the time I’ve been out?”

“Around one a day until the last month,” Twilight said.  “Approximately one hundred and twelve ponies have been killed in the last four and a half months, ninety of those while you were imprisoned by Blueblood.  Eighty-point-three-five-seven-one percent of those have been on our side.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow.  “How much is that?”

“About ninety,” Twilight said.  “Most of those were during the days Braeburn was in prison.”

“That alone is proof of how little the sheriff’s office is doing,” Braeburn said.  “For seven years, Sheriff Silverstar was a trusted member of this community and one of the top two figureheads of the town along with myself; I helped with the farms and helped others manage crops and jobs, and he kept the town safe and running legally, as well as overseeing construction projects.  We need to convince him that his lack of response is a part of what is causing Blueblood and his men to temporarily go berserk with that statistic as proof.”

“Is possible,” Cold Steel said, “but not likely.  Force may be necessary.”

“Alright, then.  We arm ourselves.  We leave a few capable ponies here at the farms to help defend them, then we go in to Appleoosa and meet with Sheriff Silverstar.  He probably is still operating his late hours around the office, so we’ll go then when the heat’s died down.”

After the meeting was finished, Braeburn went to his room to lie down for a minute, still feeling the pain in his ribs every once in a while.  The energy stemming from his own enthusiasm had worked him up and caused the pain to resurface.  He had lain down and just closed his eyes when a knocking came on the door.  He opened his eyes and looked up to see that Coal Dust was standing at the entrance of his room.

“How long were you standing there?” he asked.

“Not very long,” Coal Dust replied.  “Only opened the door about a minute ago.”

“Forgive me,” Braeburn said, straightening himself up.  “My ribs were acting up again and I figured I should lay down for an hour or two.”

“I promise I’ll make my statements quick,” Coal Dust replied.  “I simply had a question about a certain phrase in our meeting.”

“Ask away,” Braeburn said.

Coal Dust cleared his throat.  “By what exactly did you mean by ‘heat’?  Did you mean the sun or did you mean the police?”

Braeburn shrugged.  “I half assumed they would be no different.”

Coal Dust nodded and closed his eyes for a second.  “That’s what I thought.  It should be noteworthy that Blueblood has unofficially announced a curfew.  Some of the deaths that have happened lately have been because Blueblood has started making his guards get a little more aggressive a few hours after nightfall.  Problem is, the only ones he’s told about this are his guards; even his supporters don’t know about the curfew.”

Braeburn paid a little more attention now.  “This does pose a problem,” he mused.  “Do you have any suggestions?”

“Early to late evening would be a better time to try and confront Sheriff Silverstar,” Coal Dust replied.  “The road nearest to the farm is fine, but if you were to go two farms over the street is filled with Blueblood supporters, but because it’s close to the farms the guards don’t often go as close since they’re afraid of retaliation.”

“But what about the time?”

“I’m getting there.  When the shift changes a few hours after nightfall, the guards that come out are much more aggressive, as are the ones that take the morning shift.  The reason I suggested early to late evening is because the guards are going to be hot from a long day in the sun, and the ones on patrol often take no rest.  By that time they’re tired and not as combative.  Early to late evening means safer passage and less harassment.”

Braeburn mused about this as well.  “Do you have any experience with a gun?”

“Little,” Coal Dust admitted.  “I’ve mostly been a miner and swung a pickaxe around.  Never have handled a gun before.”

Braeburn nodded.  “I want you to come with me when I go to the sheriff in two days’ time.  Find a tool that could be used as an appropriate weapon.  Swing it around a few times and see how hard you can hit.  I’ll need someone who is good at close combat.”

There was a moment’s silence.  Cold Steel didn’t leave.

“Of course,” Braeburn added, “if you don’t mind.”

“It would be my pleasure.  But what about Applejack?”

“She knows how to run a farm.  It’s soon time for the next part of the planting season and I’ll need her out of combat so she doesn’t get as banged up as I am.  I’ll probably be not much use since I can’t bend myself so much for the time being.”

“Fair point.”  Cold Steel nodded politely and left the room and left Braeburn to rest.

The day after the meeting, the farms were allowed a reprieve.  Braeburn confined himself to his own home for the most part and anyone who wanted to see him had to come to his farm.  The guards didn’t harass them at all, for which Quick Draw’s family in particular was thankful for.  Applejack and the other farmers began busying themselves with the next stage of the planting season.

Despite the rest, the air was tense.  Everypony on the three farms knew what was going to happen tomorrow and how much the result could help.  It would depend entirely on how well things had gone between Braeburn and Silverstar.  Despite confining himself to the house to keep his movement to a minimum, even Braeburn was restless and kept moving around the house in a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

On the second day, Braeburn got himself ready and asked for Twilight Sparkle and Cold Steel to prepare themselves.  Braeburn refilled his revolver with bullets, Twilight gave her magic-reducing amulet to Braeburn to hide, and Cold Steel picked out a rather large hammer from the tools in Braeburn’s barn.  The three waited until late evening, when the sun had touched the horizon, to leave Applejack in control of the farm and head into Appleoosa.  Quick Draw watched them as they left, standing guard with his own revolver.

The three entered Appleoosa as Cold Steel had previously mentioned, using the entrance from the farthest farm from Braeburn’s.  While the street seemed to have a hostile air, no one attacked them as they entered town; a knock at a door caused one of the residents to hiss that Braeburn was unwelcome on Blueblood’s property but they didn’t go farther than that.

“I would have thought,” noted Twilight, “with a street full of Blueblood supporters that one of them would have attacked us by now.”

“The guards on this shift are tired,” Coal Dust said.  “They’re not willing to patrol as much.  They’re all hiding or exhausted from the heat.  Without the backup and firepower of the guards, they won’t try and fight.”

The same was true for two other streets they used to cut across the town.  They encountered a guard on one of the streets, but as soon as he aimed his own gun at them the windows on half the street opened all revealing ponies getting ready to chuck items or armed with their own tools to throw at the guard.

“Blueblood’s a thief and a despot!” one of the ponies cried.  “Get out of here!”

The guard fled quickly and they continued onwards without much fuss.

The sheriff’s office was towards the center on the opposite side of town.  It was a small two-story building that had both offices and sleeping quarters and was located next to the town jail.  Braeburn looked into the windows as they approached and saw most of the officers inside were sitting around wooden tables playing cards or drinking.  Braeburn opened the door and entered, Twilight and Coal Dust.

One of the nearby officers looked up at them from his drink.  His dark eyes were filled with disdain.  “You three got any business in here?  I’m afraid we’re off duty at the moment.”

“I’m not here for you,” Braeburn said.  “The name’s Braeburn.  I’m looking for Sheriff Silverstar.”

The officer’s eyes slowly widened with shock and surprise.  “V-very well,” he said.  “Sheriff Silverstar is in his offices up top.  It’s the door at the end of the hallway with his name on it.  Don’t’ cause a fuss.”

Braeburn nodded.  He walked to the staircase and climbed up, feeling the eyes of the officers on the floor following his every move even when he was on the second floor and hidden from them.  He walked to the door with the sheriff’s badge on the front, turning around as he approached it to see if they were still watching him.

Braeburn opened up the door to see Sheriff Silverstar at his desk writing something and chewing on a stalk of wheat.  A book was splayed open on the desk, matching an empty spot in a nearby bookshelf.  On the wall closest to the desk, there stood an old telephone where Silverstar received incoming distress calls.  A door off to the side revealed a bedroom where Silverstar himself lived, while behind the desk stood a large window that looked out into the town.

Sheriff Silverstar looked up as Braeburn entered.  “It’s been a long time, old partner,” he said.  “It’s been a while since you last volunteered here at the department.  I thought I’d be expecting you once the harvest season was over.”

“I’m not here for volunteering,” Braeburn said.  “But I need your help.”

“Help?” Sheriff Silverstar asked.  “You have any idea how trying it is to keep this city under control?  One hundred and twelve recorded deaths in the last few months.  It’s been Tartarus trying to keep track of them all.”

“That’s why we need your help,” Braeburn said.  “There’s about sixty of us hidden in the farms just outside town.  Blueblood’s guards have prevented us from roving freely and forced us into hiding.  It’s been because of Blueblood and his attempts to implement the policies in the town he technically doesn’t have control over that all these deaths have occurred.”

“You think I don’t know?” Silverstar replied.  “Every single time someone’s been killed, a guard has had blood on his spear when we show up on the scene.  I know very well that it’s them.  And believe me when I say I’m as sick of it as you are.”

“Obviously not enough to do something about it,” Braeburn fired back.  “I have a feeling that with our combined firepower we could find a way to fight back against Blueblood and keep him from causing further destruction.”

Silverstar sighed.  “I don’t want any more blood on these hooves,” he said.  “I don’t want to have more innocent blood be spilt.”

“And you are well aware that Blueblood’s hooves are guilty and have innocent blood spilt on them.”

Silverstar nodded.  “What more will fourteen ponies do?  Even if we do combine forces, that’s only seventy-four ponies.”

“There are more in the city that are against Blueblood.  They hide because of the guards, but with the knowledge of the police force on their side, they will be braver and be more willing to fight.  Once they see the backing they have, they will fight for whatever cause.”

Silverstar nodded.  “I should long like to see this place be the prosperous community it once was,” he said, turning to look out the window and down to the streets.  “I should like to do something about it.  But can I?”

The statement caught Braeburn off guard.  “I’m not sure what you mean by that.  Is there something holding you back?”

“I’m just still not sure,” Silverstar said.  “Give me a few days to think it over.”

Braeburn sighed.  “What is going on with you?”

“I’m just not as sure as I used to be,” Silverstar said noncommittally.

Braeburn and the others turned around.  “You know where to find me.”

Braeburn, Twilight, and Coal Dust left the room.  Sheriff Silverstar followed them and closed the door behind them.  As Braeburn walked out of the hallway, he could hear the ringing of the phone sounding a distress call, knowing there was a high likelihood that Silverstar wouldn’t answer it and wouldn’t respond to the frantic caller on the other side of the line.

I would have answered that, Braeburn thought to himself.

Next Chapter: Chapter 16 - Loss of Reason and Order Estimated time remaining: 20 Minutes