A Poor State of Affairs in Appleloosa

Jim nodded in agreement when Wesson replied. These guys needed to be brought to justice, and a local hero seemed perfect for lifting the town's spirits. In fact he was already revving up to go when he noticed a stallion knock out Wesson. Jim reacted immediately- he went up to the pony and gave him a smack in the face. This warranted a grunt but not a stumble, and Jim felt a heavy object smash into the side of his head. He reeled, tripped and cracked his head on the side if a building, falling down into darkness.

The first sense that Wesson had to suggest he was awake again was a pounding headache and a large bruise on the back of his head that ached painfully. He attempted to feel the injury with his hood, only to feel them bound with rope. His eyes shot open and took in his surroundings.

Beside him lay Jim, with his hooves bound too, as well as his wings. They were in a white tent which was almost completely bare. Wesson spotted his waistcoat and hat dumped in a pile by the exit. Listening intently, he could hear movement outside, which suggested they were in a camp of some sort.

Smith Wesson turned his attention back to Jim.

"Hey, Jim," he whispered, shuffling close enough to nudge him several times with a back leg. "Wake up ya lazy doctor."

Jim opened his eyes and groaned- being a doctor didn't make anything less painful, and his head was certainly throbbing like hay. He attempted to stand up but found he was tied up. This resulted in the doctor falling flat on his face. He growled in frustration then looked to Wesson.

"Any ideas on getting out of this?"

Jim was certainly not having a very nice day. First he gets sent to a hellhole which desperately needed his help, then the climate did him in a bit and now he was tied up in a camp undoubtedly populated with ponies who would want to shut them up after making their discovery. Jim tried fruitlessly to gnaw at his ropes but they were too strong, so he sort of groaned and rolled over.

"For the love of celestia, this is turning out to be a fun little day isn't it?"

"Ya got that right," replied Wesson, struggling against his bonds in an ultimately pointless endeavour.

The resourceful stallion scanned the tent around them for any possible means of escape but could see nothing. Just as he was wondering if their day could get more 'fun,' an earth pony entered. He wore a black stetson that matched his fur.

"Looks like you boys stumbled into somethin' big," he sneered, "Didn't ya mamas ever tell you not to go poking' snakes? Else they might just bite."

His cold blue eyes set on Jim as he gestured to Smith Wesson. "So what's an educated fella like you doing round a no good gunslinger like him?"

Jim watched the new pony enter. He listened to the little speech, then gave his answer in a mocking version of the stallion's accent, which had much more of a slow drawl to it than Wesson's.

"We-al ah hayve tah sayee thayit you shid ree-illy know thayit ya rootin' tootin' varmint." He snickered, then answered genuinely. "I'm here to investigate the water thing, mate. I'm guessing you won't let us go, so I guess I can only ask: what are you gonna do with us?"

He spat on the floor. He was getting a bit miffed- if there was one thing Jim hated, it was being restrained. Kind of a metaphor for how his work as a doctor was going right now. He looked to Wesson, a sort of plea in his eyes for the tougher stallion to do something.

The stallion's response to Jim's reply wasn't exactly calm. He growled and kicked at the ground, sending up a spray of dust.

"You better watch ya mouth boy, else I'll break your jaw," he threatened, as a couple more ponies entered to lift Wesson and Jim over their backs. "As for what we're gonna do to ya, let's just say your gonna take a lil' swim."

As the ponies carried them out of the tent and through the bandit's camp, Wesson caught Jim's look. His nod back was probably not that comforting but Wesson's mind was working away to come up with a course of action. His gaze set on a sheathed knife being worn by Jim's carrier. It wasn't possible for him to speak so he gestured towards the blade as best as he could from his position, hoping Jim would understand.

Jim was about to bite back at the big stallion but was hoisted up before he could open his mouth. He was held in a position which made it difficult to speak so he just gave the occasional frustrated growl. He caught Wesson's look and followed his gaze, seeing the knife. Jim nodded and his mind raced about how he was going to do this.

'Right, I guess I should nick it really quickly then give him a stab... Wait, I can't kill him! That'd be horrible! Grrrrrr.... Wait, he's still a pony...lets see his tendon here would be a way to keep him down if I caught him there alright... Ok, let's go!'

Jim slammed one of back hooves into the stallion carrying him's back. The guy gasped, caught by surprise. Jim used the oppurtunity to grab the knife and cut himself free, only just dodging Wesson's stallion who made a grab for Jim. He cut Wesson free while the carrier was on the ground and jumped back, brandishing the knife. He didn't want to kill anypony but a stab should keep them at bay for a bit.

As Jim exploded into action, Smith Wesson waited for his chance. The moment his bonds were cut, he lunged at the stallion who had been carrying him. Wesson swiftly hit the bandit's head against a rock. The stallion's eyes rolled back in his head as he fell unconscious.

However, there was no time to celebrate as the other earth pony charged knocking them both to the ground. They two ponies brawled on the ground but Wesson's attack got the advantage by rolling over onto of him and pinning his legs down. As hooves came up to his throat, Wesson tried to get free as he struggled to breath.

"Jim!" he spluttered, as his face started turning bright red.

Jim stood there, watching his friend getting strangled. The other stallion was massive- Jim wouldn't be able to shift him, even if he caught him by suprise. He saw that Wesson was starting to go- a few more seconds and he'd be out come, and due to asphyxiation would probably die within a minute if Jim didn't get to him quick enough. Therefore, the doctor grabbed the knife and drove it into the big stallion's fleshier bit. He convulsed in pain and Jim pushed him off Wesson. The stallion tried to stand up, but saw Jim had caught one his tendons- moving would cause a lot of pain.

Jim sat down for a moment, breathing heavily. He'd knocked a few ponies around but this was too much- the other stallion was in a lot of pain. He'd live but it certainly wasn't a pleasant experience. Jim looked to Wesson.

"How do you do this stuff? I feel awful for stabbing him like that....

The sweet relief of fresh air flooded into Wesson's lungs as his attacker let go. A wave of coughing ensured as he cleared his throat and recovered from the near-death experience. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd had it…

"It don't get easier, Ah'll be honest," he replied horsely, "But sometimes it comes down to a lesser of two evils."

Smith Wesson's gaze turned back to he campsite. They weren't far away from it but thankfully, no pony seemed to have noticed the fighting. He looked back at Jim.

"Somepony's gotta stop 'em. If you ain't comin', that's fair enough but Ah need your help with all that science stuff. Who knows what they done to the water."

Jim nodded. He didn't like hurting anypony so he wouldn't help in the fighting, but he desperately wanted to fix up the water. He got up and looked to Wesson.

"Of course I'll help with that. This town needs fixing and I'm not gonna give up just cause I didn't like stabbing a bloke very much."

Jim took a drink from the stallion's pocket- the one that had been choking Wesson- then passed it to the aforementioned cowpony.

"It should be fine. I wouldn't give corrosive water to one of my employees. If I had any of course."

After getting a response, Jim looked over the camp. There weren't many ponies about- they were probably waiting ahead for wherever Jim and Wesson would've been carried. That was where the stallion that He'd smack-talked went. The big guy must've been really excited for whatever was going on and ran ahead.

"I think we got lucky there- nopony else is about. They're probably waiting on us arriving. How should we get there so I can test that water and fix it wothoit getting noticed?"

(Sowwy- been feeling like arse a bit and even after I got over that I had chrissymas stuff to attend to. Should be back on track now though :3)

Now that was the big question. Time wasn't on their side, as every second they wasted cost valuable time for the suffering ponies of Appleloosa. Wesson surveyed their surroundings carefully, noting the river that run beside them and past the camp. His eyes followed it down as it past the camp, right beside one of the tents.

Looking back beside them, the earth pony's eyes widened as he stepped over to a bundle of thick river reeds. He pulled two from the ground and inspected their hollow insides.

"Ya know how to swim?"