The next morning, the three ponies went out to survey the damage.  Bunches of holes were found along the sides of the house from where the lances had struck, and the glass in the windows in the kitchen and living room was broken.  Similar holes were found all over the inside hallway, kitchen, living room, and the kitchen table that Braeburn had hid behind.

Applejack came up alongside Braeburn.  “I’m sorry about your house,” she said.

Braeburn smiled weakly.  “It’s not your fault, cousin,” he said.  “It’s Prince Blueblood’s.  If it wasn’t for the fact that Granny Smith had the deeds hidden until recently, this whole thing could have been stopped sooner just by sending a letter to the Princess.  Now…” Braeburn sighed and remained quiet, despite expectant looks from both Applejack and Twilight.

As soon as the stores were open, Applejack and Twilight went with Braeburn to purchase paint, a gel-like substance to fill the holes in the wood, and a few new windows to repair the damage.  The three ponies worked all day to fill the holes in the walls and the floors and spent late into the night putting up the new windows.  The day afterwards, the three continued working by painting the house where the holes had been and let them dry in the hot Appleoosan sun.

Braeburn saw no sign of the guards return in the few days after the attack.  They were bound to come back, but the announcement that Twilight had been in the house with Braeburn had likely startled them; to think of hurting a Princess was unbelievable, and actually hurting one of them – especially the one that happened to be the star student of Princess Celestia herself – would likely have consequences far larger than just a stern talking to.  It was Braeburn’s belief that Blueblood had likely heard about Twilight’s arrival and was considering other routes.

A few days after the attack on Braeburn’s household, Sheriff Silverstar came by the farmhouse.  He came in the early morning while Applejack and Twilight were still asleep.  Braeburn invited the sheriff into his house and poured them both a cup of coffee before sitting down in the living room.

“What exactly happened last night, Braeburn?” Sheriff Silverstar asked.  “It’s not exactly like you to go firing a gun in the middle of the night, not to mention shooting a royal pegasus guard and hospitalizing him for injuries to his wing.”

“A group of them attacked my house,” Braeburn said.  “They came and threw spears through the windows and completely scratched up the side of the house.   I had to spend the last two days with Applejack and Twilight repairing the sides and the windows.  Not to mention this scar on my foreleg.”  Braeburn held out his hoof to show Silverstar where the injury was, a long, thin, pink line going down his leg.

Silverstar examined the spot.  “I suppose I can’t fault you for that,” he said thoughtfully.  “Still, the people came to me afraid of the noise that came from here last night and specifically mentioned gun fire.”

“It was out of self-defense.  Also, did you know that Princess Twilight is in town?  I might not know much about royalty,” Braeburn said, “but I do know that those guards trying to attack this house with the princess in it should be a punishable offense.”

“I’m sorry, Braeburn,” Sheriff Silverstar said with a shake of his head.  “I’m afraid I can’t do anything about that.  Prince Blueblood has higher status and influence than I do, so even if his guards are doing something wrong, I can’t just walk up there and ask him to—”

“What else do you think you should do!?” Braeburn shouted.  “Blueblood needs to be spoken to that he shouldn’t be acting so rashly and his guards shouldn’t be strutting around like they own the place!  What happens if he starts attacking more than just me, huh?  What if his guards decide that it’s not just my house that needs to be attacked, but anyone against them?  Tell me what you would do then?”

Silverstar sat there in silence for a moment, jaw dropped as he stared at Braeburn glaring back at him.  After a while, he put a hoof to his chin in thought, then looked at Braeburn and shrugged.

“Are you kidding me?” Braeburn said.  He gave an exasperated sigh.  “You would really just sit around and do nothing?  You would sit in your office and do nothing like you did last night when they attacked me without warning!?”

“I didn’t know it was even happening!” Silverstar said, voice almost turning into a defensive whine.  “And I didn’t say I would do nothing, I just said I don’t know what I’d do!”

“Which is as good as doing nothing!”

Silverstar flinched.  He gave a tired sigh.  “I don’t know.  Nothing like this has ever happened since this town was established.  I’m kind of at a loss.  I have the others working with me on patrol almost constantly but it’s not easy with the guards around.”

Braeburn sighed.  “It’s not like I don’t understand what you’re thinking, Sheriff Silverstar,” he said.  “I’m just frustrated that you haven’t even spoken to him.”

“Have you tried?”

“I have.  Twice.  One time at the place he was staying in the hotel back in the town and once when he came out here.  He wants the deed that I own for the town of Appleoosa and the one for Dodge Junction, and I’m sure he isn’t leaving until he has both.”

“So why do you want me to try if you didn’t get him to leave?”

“You’re the law enforcement of this town and, as far as most of those ponies out there are concerned, the head of the town.  I just own the land and let you do as you see fit considering you know what to do.  But these ponies are after my land.  They trespass on my land, they violate my land owning rights, and now they’re out for my blood.  As a pony of the law, you ought to be able to do something about it.”

Silverstar took a long drink of his coffee and set an empty mug on the table.  “I’ll try and see what I can do,” he said.  “I don’t know how much influence I’ll have, what with him being nobility at the least, but I’ll try if it means that much to you.”

“Thank you,” Braeburn said.  “Even if you don’t convince him to leave, I’ll be happy if you just tried to get through to him.”

Silverstar nodded, shook hooves with Braeburn, then left the house.

After Silverstar left, Braeburn took his and the sheriff’s coffee mugs and went to the kitchen to wash them.  He was taking a towel to dry the mugs when he heard hoofsteps coming from behind and turned around to see Twilight in the entryway.  Her eyes were looking at him questioningly and her wings were neatly folded in.

“Are you okay?” she asked.  Her voice was quiet, yet nervous.

Braeburn smiled at her to try and alleviate her nervousness.  “Everything’s alright,” he said as warmly as he could.  “I was just having a little conversation with the sheriff about what happened a few nights ago.”

Twilight didn’t look convinced.  “There’s no need to hide it from me.  I heard the whole thing.  After what happened last night, I can always write a letter to the princess and let her know that Blueblood is doing this.  She’ll call him out on it right away.”

Braeburn nodded and set down the dry mug.  “How long will it take for you to get a letter to her?”

Twilight shrugged.  “When’s the next train supposed to come around?”

“Not for two more days.”

“In five days I’d be able to get a letter to the princess.  One day to wait, three days to get back to Ponyville by train, and the following day to send it; by the time I return, Spike will likely be asleep and I can’t wake him with how late we get back.”

“That doesn’t matter.  Besides, it’ll probably be best if you get out of here before things get too heated.  Wouldn’t want your pretty little princess wings to get hurt, now would we?”

Twilight chuckled at the remark, but upon seeing the concerned look on Braeburn’s face as he went to stare out the kitchen window, she stopped.  Instead, she went over to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder.  Braeburn turned around and looked at Twilight and noticed the wider violet eyes and the eyes staring at him questioningly again.

“Braeburn… after I’ve sent the letter, I’ll come right back.”

“No,” Braeburn said.  “I can’t let you.  If things get too rough around here, I’m afraid you’ll get hurt.  You should stay in Ponyville until a response from the princess arrives.”

“And if you get in over your head,” Twilight said a little more forcefully, “you’ll need someone who can either hold you back or provide a voice of authority on par with Blueblood.  He might not listen to me or Celestia with the power he seems to hold, but if anything you’ll need someone on your side with power.”

Braeburn had to consider that; the mare had a point.  Right now, all he had was a land deed and a vague knowledge about the laws surrounding it.  Twilight not only would have read up on most of those laws due to her library and studies, but had connections to the princesses and the guard plus a large knowledge of magic if things got a little hectic.

Braeburn nodded.  “Alright,” he said.  “Also, while you’re in Ponyville, I need you to bring some books on laws and see if you can find anything about the Land Management Committee.  Maybe check recent publications or newspaper archives.  If Blueblood has as much power as he says, there’s got to be a way to balance it out somehow to make sure the system runs smoothly.”

Twilight nodded.  “I’ll do that.  But please, don’t do anything reckless while I’m gone.  If you do, I’m not sure how well you’d be able to protect yourself from the law.”

Braeburn smiled at her, and this time the mare returned it.  “I’ll try.  Of course, if anything, I can always say Blueblood or his guard started it.”

Prince Blueblood paced back and forth across the living area of his suite.  Captain Lancer stood at attention at the door of the suite in his gold armor, watching as Blueblood went across the floor multiple times until the carpet had a defined portion where the fibers were pressed down.  Afterwards he sat on a chair facing the door and Captain Lancer and sighed.  His eyes darted around the room as the and eventually placed their sights on the Captain, who immediately pulled his eyes away to avoid eye contact.

“How is the guard with the injured wing?” Blueblood asked.

“He’s in the hospital,” Captain Lancer replied.  “The wing will heal, but it’s likely he won’t be able to fly for a couple of weeks.”

Blueblood nodded and grabbed a cigarette.  He placed the cigarette in his mouth and pulled over a lighter.  The cigarette didn’t light immediately, the lighter was shaking too much and the fire kept going out.  Blueblood had to keep clicking the lighter over and over before it stayed on long enough to bring it back up to the cigarette and lit it.  He took a puff and released the smoke in one long breath.

“What do we do with him, sir?” Lancer asked.

Blueblood took another puff from his cigarette.  “Who are you referring to?”

“Braeburn, sir,” Lancer said.

Blueblood shrugged.  “I know what to do about the guard, though.  Once he’s cleared from the hospital, send him back home on leave for three weeks.  Let him have time to rest up and make sure he gets his pay.”

Lancer nodded.  “But, I do have to ask, is all this really worth it for a vein under a farm?”

Blueblood started at Lancer.  “What do you mean, ‘is all this really worth it’?  Of course it’s worth it!  Those two prospectors that came to us told us it reaches well under that orchard.  If we could get our hooves on the land, that would be one heck of a payday!  We’re talking potentially hundreds of thousands of bits depending on how deep it goes!”

“I do suppose I have to ask the question of how do we sway the townsponies?  Many of them are heavily sided with Braeburn, not to mention a few ponies have come here from Dodge Junction that haven’t liked what we were doing there and likely won’t be on our side doing it here, especially since they worked for Braeburn this past harvest season.”

Blueblood took another puff of the cigarette.  “What exactly has Braeburn done that these ponies like him so much?”

“Well, he’s the single most prosperous farmer of Appleoosa, he’s known for being a volunteer at the sheriff’s department during the winter and summer when there’s nothing to do with the plants, and he’s mostly responsible, along with local Sheriff Silverstar, for stopping a crisis between the Appleoosans and the buffalos when the town was initially started.  Town’s been doing good for seven years and half the townsponies seem to agree that Braeburn has something to do with it.”

Blueblood motioned for a nearby ashtray.  Lancer went over and brought it over to him, placing it on the small table next to Blueblood’s chair, but the unicorn didn’t use it, taking another puff of the cigarette.  “So, he’s a town hero, is he?  Yeah, he’ll be hard to take up off his land.”

“I don’t see why you’re getting so aggressive,” Lancer asked.  “If Princess Celestia finds out what you’re doing, all of us will be going to Tartarus and back and even then she won’t be done with us and I don’t know which is going to be worse.  I mean, you’re violating a contract that came into place before the Land Management Committee was even formed.”

“But because of the recent laws put into place, the Land Management Committee currently has hold and rule over them.  We overdo those laws if it is, and I quote, ‘for the good of the ponies inhabiting the land or the good of the Equestrian government’.  All I have to do is say he’s going against the government and whatever actions I take are justified.”

“But Celestia could wave her hoof and all those laws are overruled.”

Blueblood didn’t say anything in response.  He took another puff of a cigarette and put the remainder in the ashtray, squishing it.  “Yes, she does have rule over me.  I do want to help her out with the ruling, but she doesn’t think I’m good enough.  She says I’m too detached.”

“I wouldn’t say so, sir,” Lancer said.

“Yes, but the others don’t,” Blueblood replied.  “They don’t see the fact that things would be better around here.  Dodge Junction has been pulling in more money than ever since the mine was started.”

“But sir, if there are some here from Dodge Junction, then what do you make of that?”

Blueblood shrugged and started to light another cigarette.

“There is one more thing you should know, sir: Princess Twilight is in town.”

Blueblood dropped the cigarette.  “Twilight Sparkle?  You don’t mean Celestia’s student and the recently-crowned princess?”

“The same.  She is currently staying with Braeburn.  She was there when we staged the attack on the house.”

“You attacked the house with Twilight inside?”  Blueblood shot upright and advanced on Lancer, smacking him across the face with a hoof.  “Are you a fool!?  Imagine what would happen if she told Princess Celestia about the attack!  It wouldn’t matter what the laws say, she’d automatically send us to Tartarus!”

Lancer brought a hoof up to rub the spot where a blue bruise was already forming.  “I was trying to tell you that earlier…”

“But you didn’t tell me about Twilight!”

“So… what exactly happens with Twilight in the mix?”

“Twilight, as a princess and former student of magic under Princess Celestia, will have direct contact with the Princess.  If Twilight manages to get a letter to the Princess about what’s going on here, Celestia might ignore any laws, write up a law between her, Luna, and Cadence, then the land from here to the Crystal Empire will be under their control.  I’ll be booted out of the nobility, you might get demoted to grunt duty, and both of us might have to pay out of pocket for the destruction of the mine, the recall of the soldiers, and the reparations to both Dodge Junction and Appleoosa!”

“It’s not just that, sir; Twilight’s one of the Elements of Harmony, as is Braeburn’s cousin, Applejack.  If word gets out, the rest of the Elements of Harmony could come.  The simple thing to do is prevent Twilight from leaving Appleoosa.  If we can break off connections, we can make it where none of the other Elements can reach here and Twilight can’t get somewhere to contact Celestia.”

Blueblood raised a hoof to his chin and scratched it.  “Where is the next train coming from?”

“Dodge Junction, sir.  It’s due here in two days’ time.”

Blueblood nodded.  “Take some of your guard and fly to Dodge Junction; the next train will be coming from there.  Once you get there, tell the men at the station to keep the train from coming by order of Prince Blueblood.  If you need to, have your men make the train unable to function by whatever reason necessary.  Go quickly before the train leaves the station!”

“Yes, sir,” Lancer said.  “I’ll leave a few men here for the time being.”  Then he turned around and left the room.

Later that afternoon after the sheriff had stopped by, Braeburn walked through the town with Applejack and Twilight at his sides.  While initially the two were scared to go out after being attacked by the guard, Applejack was eventually getting stir-crazy and Twilight wanted a chance to stretch her wings.  So, hiding the revolver in his saddlebags, Braeburn took Twilight and Applejack onto the town for a little, browsing through stores if only just to look.

The three were in a tool store after a while after Braeburn realized he needed some new shovels for the upcoming flood season.  Before the floods came around, Braeburn always dug small ditches around the apple trees to allow the ground to absorb more water; the flood waters came through and would fill the holes to keep the ground fertile with minerals instead of passing by when the land was flat.  The holes around the apple trees kept the minerals in the same location.  Cold Steel and Coal Dust had offered to help out with digging the holes this year, so Braeburn needed to buy a few new shovels to replace his old ones sitting in the barn.

It wasn’t long before a few guards came in, two dark grey unicorns with gold armor and their spears pointed up towards the ceiling.  They approached the owner of the shop, a light grey pony with dark brown eyes, and stood at attention.  As they spoke, Braeburn tilted an ear in their direction and watched them from over the shelves, his hooves still examining the shovels on the racks nearby.

“Excuse me, sir,” one of the guards spoke up.  “I was wondering what your price per hammer is, as well as how much for a box of nails.”

“Well,” the shop owner replied, “one hammer is four bits.  But if you buy in bulk it costs three bits per hammer.  Same with the nails; normally it’s three bits for a box of one hundred nails, but buying in bulk makes it two bits per box.”

“How much would you consider as buying in bulk?”

“Oh, I’d give it ten or so of each.”

“What about lumber?  You know of any places around here where we can get lumber?”

“No, sir.  All the farmer’s properties around here are off limits unless one of them were to offer you some.  Otherwise, it’s all got to be imported from somewhere else, like the Canterlot Mountains.  Best lumber, though, comes from Phillydelphia and the oaks that grow around there.  Automatically water-tight and structurally sound from the get-go.”

“Thank you, sir.  We might be coming around later if we can’t find another store in town.”

“But there aren’t any other stores.  I’m the only hardware store since the town’s so small…”

“Who said we had to go to another town?”

Braeburn growled, but he felt Twilight’s hoof on his shoulder.  Braeburn turned to look at her and she merely shook her head.  For the time being, Braeburn’s anger subsided.

Despite that, the guards had noticed Braeburn’s growl and started wandering over to where he was standing in the shelves, both of them pointing their spears at him.  They approached the two and pointed their spears both at Braeburn’s chest.  “You have a problem with that, son?” the second guard asked.

Braeburn nodded.  “You happen to know where the lumber is going?”

The two guards looked at each other.

“My orchard.  Or, the one that won’t allow it there.”

“It’s by order of Prince Blueblood,” the second guard said.  “It doesn’t matter what a simple commoner says.”

“I’m no simple commoner,” Braeburn replied.  “I own the land.  I own it here, too.  I signed the deed along with Princess Celestia saying I have the right to do with this land what I want to do with it.”

“Recent laws dictate that the Land Management Committee has the power to do whatever it wants with the land if it is for the good of the ponies living on the land and the good of the Equestrian government.”

“What good is certain debt?” Braeburn said.

The first guard looked put off for a second, and turned to his companion again.  “It is going to take a lot of money for the job…”

“We’re talking about my land and you’re going to squabble over money?  I’m just going to head this off at the pass and say that if you’re going to think about building on my orchard without my permission, you can just get off right now.”

“The gold vein on that land belongs to the Equestrian government,” the second guard said.

“It’s on my property,” Braeburn replied.

“Your property matters not to royal affairs.”

“If you want to talk royal affairs, you’d better speak with me first.”

Braeburn turned to see Twilight walking forward to face the guards.  “I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle, student of Celestia and crowned alicorn princess a little over four years ago.  At this point, I have more power than any of you and a direct connection to Princess Celestia, so I advise you back down before I do more than just send a note to my teacher.”

The second guard scoffed as Braeburn grabbed a shovel in defense.  “You’re just sending a letter to your teacher.  What’s the big deal abo—oof!”

There was a flash of purple light and the unicorn guard was thrown across the room and harmlessly into the floor.  He flailed about trying to get up, causing his companion to rush over to his side to make sure he could get onto his feet.  Twilight’s horn was still glowing with a translucent purple hue and was aiming it at the guards.

“When the teacher is the alicorn of the sun, I think it’s a big deal,” Twilight said.

The guards lifted themselves up and looked at the unicorn who got hit by Twilight’s spell.  A trickle of blood was running out his nose and down his face and he wasn’t able to stand straight up for very long.  Despite this, both guards were picking up their spears and pointing them in the trio’s direction.

“I say we book it before this store gets too messed up,” Applejack said.

Braeburn didn’t need telling twice.  The three ponies shot out of the store with the unicorns in pursuit, running through the streets of Appleoosa.  Crowds parted ways as the three ponies ran by, and jumped even further out of the way when the unicorn guards passed by soon afterwards, with two more joining the chase.  Braeburn and the others galloped towards the farmhouse, yet even then the unicorns ran after them when they passed the property line.

“Hey!” Applejack called back.  “Y’all aren’t supposed to be on this land!”

“We’re enforcers of the law!” the guards called back.  “We go where we need to if we need to catch a wrongdoer!”

The three ponies ran for the back of Braeburn’s farmhouse, though the unicorns soon found out what they were trying to do.  Before the three had realized it, two unicorns had run around one end and the other unicorns had run around the other end, trapping them in front of Braeburn’s barn.  The three ponies looked around at their pursuers and the ridge they had trapped them against.

“Get the princess out of the way!” one of the guards shouted.  “Blueblood’s orders: she cannot be hit!”

“She can’t,” Braeburn said through gritted teeth and the shovel.  “But you can.”

Twilight fired more magic at the guards, taking advantage of the order they had just shouted out.  Applejack managed to buck a unicorn’s horn and made him lose his magical grip on the lance he was carrying.  Soon, both mares were taking on three of the guards, Twilight using her wings every once in a while to fly above the range of the guards’ hooves and casting magic while Applejack continued to buck and kick and even punch the guards.

Braeburn found himself facing only one guard.  Gripping the shovel in his mouth, Braeburn waited for the guard to attack.  The moment he thrust his lance, Braeburn swung in the direction and knocked the lance harmlessly out of the way.  The guard thrust his lance again, and once more Braeburn swung the shovel at the weapon and knocked it harmlessly out of the way.  The unicorn picked up speed and soon Braeburn had to jump out of the way.  Eventually, the unicorn came close enough that he slammed his lance into Braeburn’s chest, causing the stallion to drop down to the ground and the wind to get knocked out of him.

The guard turned the lance around and started to draw it back to ram it into Braeburn.  However, the stallion had refused to let go of his shovel and before the unicorn could draw his lance all the way back, Braeburn whirled around and slammed the unicorn in the back of the head with the shovel, causing a massive wound to appear in the back of his head as he himself went to the ground.

The unicorn was still alive but badly wounded and bleeding and had lost his grip on his lance.  He staggered to his feet and weakly tried to pick up his lance again, but the magical energy kept fizzling out.  Eventually, he staggered back towards the cliff edge, trying to get ready a charge at Braeburn, but he ended up stumbling onto a piece of loose rock at the edge of the cliff.  The unicorn shouted for his companions to help him, but his cry was cut off as he slipped down the cliff face, his body hitting the cliff and eventually slamming head first on the ground below.

Everything stopped.  Twilight’s magic fizzled out.  Applejack stood on three legs, one having previously kicked a guard, who was knocked over and still looking, along with the other two, at the place at the cliff where the guard was knocked over.  The three unicorn guards dashed over to the ledge and looked at their companion sprawled out over the land below in the shade of an apple tree.  One of the leaves, turning brown, fell off the tree and floated down and onto the guard’s head, immediately turning red from the blood staining its surface.

The guards forgot about the fight between them and the three ponies.  Instead, they charged down to where their companion was, one of them dropping his spear as though out of disbelief.  Braeburn watched from above as the three ponies approached the fallen guard, each one nudging him as though he was merely asleep, though the body did not move.  One of the guards fell down and started crying at the body of his comrade, his sobs carrying up to the cliff face to where Braeburn was watching.

“He’s dead!” the guard cried out.  “I hope you’re happy!”

“I’m not!” Braeburn shouted back.  “It was in self-defense!  He would have killed me otherwise!  And he fell off the cliff; I didn’t push him down!”

The guard cried out in anguish, accepting the defeat.  Eventually, the three remaining guards took their companion across their backs and walked up to the top of the ridge, where Braeburn came over to them.

“I’m so—” Braeburn started.

“DON’T TELL ME YOU’RE SORRY!” the lead guard shouted at Braeburn.  “You think you can just apologize and make it all go away?  Well, that doesn’t matter!  You’ve taken a life!”

“You think I don’t know that?” Braeburn shouted back.  “Let me tell you something: I’ve only killed a pony twice in my life.  I’ve never, ever felt like I did the right thing; I only did what I had to do.  Your companion would have killed me if I didn’t fight back.  And what do you expect from the pony who your beloved prince is trying to kill just so he can have my land for the gold underneath it!?  You expect me to just stand by and let him take it from me?  This is my home and my property, and it’s my right to do with it what I want to.  So you can march your little asses right back to your prince and tell him that if he plans to take my land by force, he’ll have to expect a fight in return.”

The guard actually flinched from Braeburn’s shouting and stood there paralyzed by the reaction.  Eventually, he lowered his head and sighed.  “We’re just like you, you know.  We have families, homes, a need to protect them.  But this… this is not how I prefer to do it.”  Then he walked off, his two companions behind him carrying the fallen body.

Applejack walked up to Braeburn and put a hoof on his shoulder.  “Are… are you alright?”

Braeburn shook the hoof off.  “I need to pay for the shovel,” he said, and walked back in the direction of Appleoosa.

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