Chapter One: The Evergreens
1
Cypress Evergreen pulled her wagon down the center street of Bridlewood. Her sister, Juniper, rode in the back, her crossbow resting beside her. Sitting in front of Juniper were four ragged and bloodied ponies, all bound at the legs and glaring hatefully at Juniper. She stared right back, her eyes gleaming coldly from beneath her flat-brimmed hat.
The Evergreen Sisters were a pair of bounty hunters. They traveled across the land, picking up jobs where they could, and had made themselves a nice living doing so. Bridlewood had been especially lucrative for the mares - so much so that they almost considered it their new home. Almost. Equestria would always be their true home, though it was far behind them now.
One of the bounties twitched. Juniper's crossbow was on him faster than a blink. She stared him down, still as a statue except for the natural swaying of the wagon.
The stallion scoffed at her. “My nose itches,” he said. “Scratch it for me, babe.”
“With this?” Juniper offered, nudging the crossbow. Her hoof rested just beside the trigger, idling, ready to squeeze at a moment's notice. The playful banter was just a dumb act - these four were ruthless criminals, wanted for theft and murder. They wouldn't hesitate to kill either Juniper or Cypress. She could not afford to lower her guard.
The bounty grunted. “I was just funnin’,” he murmured, and returned to his silence.
“What’s going on back there?” Cypress asked, twisting her head and trying to look back. “Stop antagonizing the bounties, sis!”
Juniper’s only response was a grunt.
They arrived at the jailhouse without any further incident. Sheriff Ironhoof was resting his plump body on the porch, playing cards with his deputies.
“Lookie here, fellas,” Ironhoof said, laying down his cards and standing up. “The fillies gone and gave us a real haul today. Take a lesson from these two - they know how to go out and get it done!”
Ironhoof's deputies, who also happened to be his sons, grumbled and muttered something about ‘mares’ and ‘their places’. Juniper scowled - both at how law was apparently a family business in this town, and how the deputies seemed to forget their place. To them, being in the law meant easy days of lounging around, and occasionally breaking up a bar brawl. They were a far cry from their father, whose storied past will be remembered for generations.
Cypress willfully ignored the grumblings and unstrapped herself from the wagon. “Come now, Ironhoof, we don’t need that sort of competition. Besides, I don’t think those colts could handle these nasty marauders.”
“Sure we could!” one of the sons spoke up, jumping up from his chair. “This ain’t no job for no mare!”
“Prove it,” Ironhoof said, nodding towards the bounties. “Take them boys off their hooves. Both of you! Hup!”
Grumbling and glaring, Ironhoof’s sons worked to remove the bounties from Cypress’ wagon. The bounties weren’t making it easy for them, either - the one who had teased Juniper was now flailing his head around, biting viciously at the deputies. Juniper just sat in her seat, watching the mini rodeo with an eyebrow raised. Meanwhile, Cypress fought down a cocky little smirk. “You boys sure are doing good!” she said, giggling. She relaxed now that there was no real threat, at least to the larger town. If anything happened, Juniper would be on them in a second. So would the old Sheriff. Speaking of which…
“I believe the poster said twenty-five bits a head?” Cypress said, glancing over at Ironhoof.
“Aye, that it did,” Ironhoof said. “Twenty-five alive, fifteen dead. You sure do like that bonus, don’tcha? Oh well, gives my boys somethin’ to do. I’ll go getcher money.”
While Ironhoof dipped into the jailhouse, his deputies finally managed to wrangle the bounties. They led the captures indoors, leaving the sisters alone for a brief moment. “How’re ya feeling, June?” Cypress asked, looking up at her sister.
“Thirsty,” Juniper responded, glancing over at the bar. She set her crossbow down and stretched her wings. “Mind if I go for a quick fly?”
“Go ahead, sis. I’ll see if Ironhoof’s got any other jobs for us, and meet you in the bar?”
“Sounds good.” Juniper took off her duster and hat, letting her long black mane down. She crouched briefly, then took off straight up, soaring into the sky.
Ironhoof came out with a brown, teardrop-shaped bag. The bag clinked with every step, and rattled when he tossed it up into the wagon. “One hundred bits, and I’ll see them nasty customers off into trial.”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” Cypress said. “Got anything else for us?”
Ironhoof blinked, then gave her a chuckle straight from his belly. “You fillies don’t ever stop workin’, huh?” he said. Did Cypress hear a bit of pride in his voice? Mayhap she did. “Sadly, no, I ain’t got any more dogies for you to wrangle. Not right now, at least. You’ve done picked this place clean, I’d say.”
“Damn,” Cypress grumbled. One hundred bits between them was plenty for a while, but having more was always nice. “S’pose I’ll see you later then, Sheriff.” She hitched herself back to her wagon, and gave Ironhoof a quick salute. Of course she’d see him later - Ironhoof was basically a resident of the saloon, as were his kids.
Oh well. The saloon was always a good place to look for a job, at least.
2
Cypress’ favorite thing about Bridlewood was that it was a thoroughfare town. It sat directly between New Horseshoe Bay to the East, and the Capitol city Hoofingstead. This meant that the saloon, The Horse’s Head, was constantly packed to the brim with travelers. Travelers had problems which needed to be solved. It was basically a buffet for the Evergreens.
The owner of the Horse’s Head, a svelte mare named Rose, had put up a job board in order to deal with the volume of travelers and their problems. Cypress trotted in, fully expecting to see the board overfull with papers, and she’d swipe all of them. Little jobs she split between herself and Juniper - easy pickins for a hoofful of bits each. The bigger jobs they worked together, like the more difficult bounties.
The main room was loud and raunchy, as always. The patrons, all of them Earth Ponies, were having the time of their lives - drinking, gambling, dancing. On stage, the pianist was banging out a ragtime tune, swinging along while his hooves danced across the ivory keys. Various drinks flowed from different taps - ale, cider and the like.
Juniper was already at the bar, her hoof around a mug of amber ale. One wing was extended out, guarding a seat next to her, clearly reserved for Cypress. Come to think of it, Juniper was the only pegasus that Cypress had seen since coming to this new land. Nor had she ever seen a unicorn. Mayhap they lived over in Hoofingstead?
Oh well, it didn’t matter much to her. She turned over to the job board… and found it empty. Her eyes bugged - did she see right? Not a single scrap of paper was pinned up.
She trotted over to her reserved seat, reeling a little. “June, did you grab the bounties already?” she asked, leaning into her sister in order to talk to her over the crowd.
Juniper shook her head. “Nope. It was empty when I got in. Rose mentioned that she’s got something for us.”
“It’s true.” Rose popped up out of nowhere, placing a fresh glass of ale in front of Cypress. She leaned forward, and the sisters followed suit. “That stallion in the booth in the corner.” She pointed towards the aforementioned booth. They both looked, spotting a stallion. He shrouded himself in a simple black cloak, and stared at the sisters with a wide, unnerving smile on his pale face which ended in rosy cheeks. “He was asking specifically for you both.”
“Is that so?” Cypress asked. She downed her glass in one go, shook her head, and sighed. “Well, what have we got to lose, sis?”
Juniper frowned. Something about him was fundamentally wrong, but she couldn’t place her hoof on it. Oh well, a job was a job.
* * *
“Hello, ladies!” the stallion greeted the pair as they sat down. His voice was high, boisterous. Despite the background cacophony of the barroom, they had absolutely no trouble hearing him. “I’ve been waiting for you! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is…” There was a miniscule pause, almost indiscernible, but they both noticed. It was as though he had forgotten his own name - or was making one up. “Rusty Flanks! I have a job for the both of you. Simple, for ladies of your abilities, but important nonetheless.”
“We’re listening,” Cypress said.
“Well, you see, recently a pack of Diamond Dogs took over a gem mine not far from here. Slaughtered the workers, et cetera, you get the picture. The truly important part is that those filthy mongrels also stole a precious treasure of mine, and I. Want. It. Back.” Rusty Flanks spit out these last few words with pure venom. “One thousand coins for both of you when and only when you retrieve this treasure of mine. Do with the mutts as you wish.”
The sisters stared at each other, unspoken thoughts running between them. One thousand, did he say? Truly? Diamond Dogs were ferocious beasts, but nothing they couldn’t handle. Juniper was the greatest bowslinger alive, and Cypress was no slouch in hoof-to-hoof combat.
This sounded a little too good to be true.
“It’s not too good to be true,” Rusty said, smiling widely. Cypress started - had he been reading her mind? Was that a thing?
“What’s this treasure look like?” Juniper asked. She was unfazed by Rusty’s theatrics, at least. No, it was more than that. Cypress heard a bit of a sharpness in June’s voice now, as though she wanted this conversation done and over with. Did she hate the stallion in black? It wasn’t like her to hate anypony, despite her cold exterior.
“I promise, you’ll know it when you see it. Even in a mine full of gems, it truly is one of a kind! So, what do you say, girls? One quick job and you’re a thousand coins richer! I’d say that’s a fantastic deal. In fact, I accept this bounty on your behalf! There, the hard part’s over, see? Well, I thank you for meeting with me, but I must be going now. I have a friend I’m supposed to meet in another world. Oh, Roland, why won’t you simply accept that I’ve already won…?”
Rusty Flanks left the saloon, still talking to himself. The girls sat in the booth, dumbstruck. “Hey, sis, did we just get swindled into a job?”
“We did,” Juniper replied.
“Do you think we have a choice now?”
Juniper stared at the door where Rusty had left. She didn’t like this one bit… nor a thousand, for that matter. “No, I don’t think we do.”