The smell of burning wood mixed in my nose with the smell of rust and fresh oil, doing little to keep my head from feeling like it was slowly spinning. I don’t know how long I had been out for, but when I opened my eyes, it was darker than I thought the night could be. That is, until there was a loud clank, and the metal door that I didn’t know had been sitting across from me swung open. The bright light of day poured in as that obnoxious bitch climbed into the metal box that I was in, forcing me to squint my eyes and try to look away.

“Ya’ll have got ta try tha sauna here in town, it really is somethin else.” Her magic rubbed an old towel around her fancied up mane. Now that she was cleaned up and not wearing the crud covered outfit from earlier, I realized that she was a fairly decently built mare. Her creme coat had very few blemishes in the way of old injuries and scars, only slightly discolored from the areas she had been hit in during the manticore fight. Her mane was much shorter than it had been before, and was now pulled back into a ponytail, showing off just two stripes of yellow amongst the blond. I had thought there were more, but I couldn’t see them now.

The paralyzing venom must have still been affecting me as I hadn’t noticed that my forehooves had been chained up against the wall behind me. The other perk of averting my gaze, was that I could see that Caltrop was in the same predicament I was, but was still slumped over and unmoving. I pulled at the bindings, which only served to bite the rusting metal into my skin. Now that I noticed it, I was missing my coat and hat! That bitch didn’t even let me keep those, and no pony touches my hat but me.

“Yah know, not too many ponies can shrug off venom like that so fast.” Brightshine leaned against the wall by the door. “Color me impressed!” She spoke with more enthusiasm than necessary and it only served to make me angry.

“You’ll find that I’m not a mare you should have messed with. You’ll slip up again and I’ll end your life faster then you’ll have a chance to even think about begging for it.” These threats were all I had. How could I have been so fucking stupid! I should have listened to my instincts, which Grandma had taught me just so I could keep shit like this from happening.

A groan from my side told me that Caltrop was at least still alive, but the laughter from Brightshine that followed his grogginess took any satisfaction that knowledge gave and converted it to hatred.

“Ya’ll keep puttin on a brave face, but with him awake, ah’m fairly certain ah just needed ta apply more venom than ah did.” Her lighthearted half chuckles as she spoke did little to help me fight past the rusty metal tearing at my fetlocks, but I pulled as hard as I could at the shackles in rage. If I could just get one hoof loose, my magic could pull her head close and I would snap her neck. “Now simmer down there, can’t have ya dyin by tetanus before ah can deliver yah.”

“Hey, Boss. I… I knew that bitch was lyin ta us.” Caltrop thought it was helpful to sleepily mumble his disdain, still obviously under the effects of the poison. Goddesses, can’t he ever just shut the fuck up after he screws something up? I’m sick and tired of always hearing obvious things in hindsight.

“Then you should have spoken up, you dolt!” I kept my anger down to a harsh whisper hoping that he would at least perk up a little if he knew how angry I was. “At least then I could have shot her and we wouldn’t be in this mess.” I should have trusted my training, but no, I had to go and think that I could make friends with every fucking asshole in the wastes. The next time Caltrop asks to help somepony, I’m going to shoot them instead. Then shoot him in the leg again for good measure.

“Can ya’ll refrain from talkin about meh like ah ain’t even here? It’s just a tad rude.” Brightshine taunted us with her large smile and happy voice. Two things I’d gladly wipe from the face of the wasteland if I could just get the chance.

“Why? Don’t like it? What are you going to do, kill me?” If she couldn’t risk killing me, then the best thing I could do is to get her angry enough to leave. Grandma told me that the greatest asset you can have as a prisoner, is time alone. At the very least the quiet would be a nice change. “You said it yourself, your boss wants me alive.”

“True enough that ah won’t, but he was a bit fuzzier on tha subject of kneecaps.” Her horn glowed softly, opening up her saddlebag and drawing out MY #2 from it. I didn’t even flinch as she flicked the safety off and pointed it at me. “Might not be a fun as killin yah woulda been, but it’ll have ta do.” I’ve been shot plenty of times, and a .22 hurts, but the pain is something I can live through. She pulled the trigger sharply, but the gun didn’t fire. “What in tha hell, ah didn’t break yer gun, did ah?” She smirked. “Sorry if ah did, nevah was any good with regular guns anyhow.”

I gave her my own asshole grin. “Next time you might want to check the ammunition.” Saved by the fact that a full box of corroded .22 was 4 caps cheaper than half a box of well kept .22s.

She growled and kept her grin as she put the gun back into her bags. “Oh, that’s alright, ah shouldn’t be riskin ya anyway. Ya’ll are gonna earn me a whole heap of caps in good condition.”

“Actually, on that note, what is the price on my head if you don’t mind telling me.” I leaned myself as far forward as I could and used my magic to pull my mane back, twisting it up into it’s proper bun. I didn’t have a mirror, but I could tell I wore that style better. “I just want to know how much I’ve pissed this guy off is all.”

“1500 dead, 2500 alive.” She smirked and kept her gaze off of me, instead turning her head out to the street and staring at it. Damn, what the fuck did I do to this guy? This goes way past simple revenge or a heated rivalry, and right on into me being a threat to something big in the works. But what pony would need a bounty hunter like me out of the way for that much? “Don’t yah get too smug now, cause that other bitch has double what yah’ve got on yah head.” Other bitch? “With a reputation like her’s though, Ah didn’t expect her ta be so easy ta get captured, but that’s why he’s tha boss ah guess. Guess that bird’s sung it’s last.”

There was only one other hunter with a name that matched and contract like me. “FUCKING WHAT!?” Bluejay? That… she… how the fuck was she worth more than me!? The better question was who wanted two of the best hunters on this coast out of the picture? “Who the fuck hired you?”

Brightshine laughed. “Oh heavens, why would ah evah spoil that?” She winked to me as she hopped from the room, letting one of the guards climb in. “Keep an eye on ‘em, and just make sure they don’t try anythin until we get ta Timber.” She waited for the guards confirmation before looking towards the front of the train. “Alrighty! Let’s get this train movin!” She wrapped a hoof around the guard’s fetlock, turning him back towards her. “Oh, one last thing. If ya get tha urge ta ‘have fun’ like yah do? Make sure ya’ll keep it quick an see that they dun get too banged up, got it?”

Wow, I can’t tell if she meant that, or if she thought that kind of scare tactic actually worked on me. Sure my line of work means I’m no stranger to being threatened by a stallion, but I’ve always managed to come out on top. Granted the last time it happened was with Bluejay, I can normally handle them with the steps Grandma told me. First, play along. Get them worked up and let their mind wander, then when they give you the slightest amount of control, you geld the fucker and keep hitting him till he stops breathing.

The guard gave an approving grunt as the whistle on the train sounded. The doors shut and his magic pulled down a pair of slatted vents on the walls, letting in just the barest amount of light as I felt the floor rumble lightly. We were locked in a train car and I hadn’t even known it. The sound of rusty wheels and old couplings filled the air as we pulled away from Driftwood, the feeling of the train slowly speeding up was translated through the cart as it started to wobble.

“Woo, I like trains!” Caltrop slurred as I shut my eyes and did my best to relax. I took a deep breath, pausing and swinging my ears around before letting it go. There had to be something here that I could use, a splinter of wood, a shard of metal. Hell, I’d take a decent sized rock at this point. Breathing in again, I tried to repeat the process, but our escort was breathing through his mouth and it got to be quite hard to focus on anything else.

“I’m going to ask you this once, but can you shut your muzzle for a minute?” I opened my eyes and glanced over to the stallion as I spoke. His glare of annoyance was all he gave before he wiggled himself against the wall and got comfortable, shifting just enough that the stun stick he carried on him dropped to the floor under his back. Startled by the noise, he turned and hoofed it further behind him before going back to shutting his eyes and breathing through his mouth again. I waited for a moment to contemplate this guard’s stupidity. He really thought it was alright to fall asleep with a stun stick in plain view? I focused my levitation, wrapping around it and drawing the weapon out from behind him.

Everything was fine until the thin wire running from it to his belt ran out. The tug my magic gave stirred a growl from him, his own horn wrestling mine for control of the stick. I smirked as his weak magic allowed me to turn it around toward him and push it closer. I could tell he was straining himself, and I could feel it as he pushed back, only trying to turn the head away from him. I concentrated on the round button on the grip, pushing it in and switching the prod on as it pressed forward ever so slowly. He gave the handle a quick nudge and turned it off, barely giving up any ground in the process.

Frustrated, I used my magic to flick it back on, but he was smarter than I gave him credit for and used that little bit of pressure I put on the button against me. He reversed the direction he was trying to spin the baton and twisted the handle right into his muzzle. Once he bit down, I knew it was over. No amount of my tugging would free it.

“Fuggin Cunth.” The stallion didn’t bother making his tone subtle, which was fine, plan B has always worked. His magic undid his simple leather barding and dropped it to the floor, stepping over it and towards me as I got a look at just exactly what I was contending with. By no means was he anything special, but even at half mast, there is no way I’d even want let this guy near any part of me. In just a few more steps, I’d…

He craned his neck and powered on the shock prod before shoving it onto my flank. I let out a scream as the pain lanced through me, making me tense and wrench at my bindings. He pulled the rod away, letting me relax for only a moment before forcing it against me again. My eyes felt like they locked themselves shut with every jolt, and my whole body rebelled against me, twisting and turning with no way to find relief.

“Fuck you...” I managed to get out, only to have him hit me hard across the cheek with his hoof. My head snapped to the side as it hit the steel boxcar wall, the taste of copper starting to form in my mouth. I gasped a few times and got out a laugh before he hit me again. I coughed and dribbled some bloody spit onto the floor. “Don’t damage... the goods.. remember?”

I looked him in the eye with a smile, finding that his gaze was far different than the anger I expected. He was smiling brighter than a stallion in his position had any right too, and his look was so distant, that I knew that he had to be insane and this whole situation was a giant mistake. He pushed the prod down on my chest, waiting for me to decide when to get shocked. I relaxed slightly as I thought that might have given me time to think, but that was exactly when he activated it. I arched my back, and screamed again, pressing back against him as he got in close, hitting me with the shocks over and over.

For the first time in a long time, I cried between the screams. Not out of pain, but out of fear. I had absolutely no control in this situation. I needed something, anything to help me turn the tides, and there was nothing left for me but to beg. I knew how much he was enjoying this, I could feel him jabbing himself against my chest, grinding his length across me as he took his time to wear me down. I slumped myself as best as I could when he stopped this time, hanging limply as I just wanted it to be over.

“P… please don’t… no more.” I muttered out with a whisper. His smile turned to a grimace as he spit the shock prod to the floor next to me. I wanted to grab it, I wanted to make him pay for what he was going to do to me, but I couldn’t focus at all. I was going to end up like Mom, only this time Grandma wouldn’t be there to save the day at the end. I just had to clench my eyes shut and wait for it to be over.

“Ey, Dich!” I cringed at the voice, pulling myself up as the stallion above me turned. The sound of the shock prod going off again made me scream. My ears picked up the sounds of hoof to hoof fighting and another few assaults with the prod before a loud snap filled the air, a heavy weight was then pressed onto my legs. I pulled myself up against the wall as tightly as I could and just continued sobbing. Goddesses why couldn’t it all be over? “Boss, it’s me, it’s alright.”

I felt a hoof on my shoulder and whined, and even as I knew it was Caltrop’s voice that was speaking, I couldn’t stop shaking. The squeaking and jostling of my shackles preceded the soft click of them opening. Immediately I lost all control of myself and fell to the floor in a ball, shaking and crying as I couldn’t think about anything other than how scared I am. I want to go home and crawl into mom’s hooves and never leave.

“It’s alright PC, it’s all over.” His voice was like the warm breeze on a summer night. It didn’t help much, but I wanted something safe, something familiar. “Why don’t ya take a few minutes ta rest and then we can get da hell off dis train.” Caltrop had taken away the pain, he saved me, and as he put his hooves around me, I didn’t fight it.

As I sat on the floor of the dark boxcar in his warm embrace, I cried for a lot of reasons. For what had just happened, and how I had no control over anything anymore, and even for how I had treated Caltrop. But the biggest reason I cried, was because I could finally get it out of my system about just how much I wanted him to be here with me. No pony has regarded me in the way he had, and even through all my bullshit, he still fought to save me.

Grandma was right all along, friends do make a difference. Caltrop needed a friend this whole time, and I couldn’t see that I needed one too. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry...” I whispered into him as he undid my mane, running his hoof through it softly as he hummed a slow song.

“There once lived a colt, young Fin was his name. And out to find treasure, was his heart's true aim.” Caltrop was now… singing. “But one fateful day, his gaze fell upon her. A life filled with trinkets, his heart wanted no longer. Years later they took her, and the ransom was set. Fin lured them with treasure, yet they would not relent. Thus save the maiden, his heart told him so. And in a great fight, he was struck by a blow. His breaths growing weaker, Fin slew to the last. And in saving the maiden, he then finally passed.”

The whistle from the front of the train filled the air, cutting off Caltrops song as the entire train shook and tilted back, starting it’s long climb up the mountain.

“Thank you. Your voice, it’s beautiful.” I whispered as I reached my hoof up, wiping the tears from my eyes. He looked down to me and smiled, the warmth he gave off doubled. “But I think that ending is horrible.” I needed the distraction he was giving, I couldn’t be trusted with my own thoughts yet. “He dies? What kind of story finishes with that?” I looked up to him and threw out my best smile, but only managing to barely muster what was probably a neutral look.

“Dat’s cause there’s one more verse.” Caltrop chuckled and started humming again, finding the tune quickly. “When the maiden gave birth, the foal was a colt. She had named him young Fin, same as the legends they wrote.” His voice had raw emotion to it when he sang, and I have no doubt in my mind that had the end of the war not happened, he would be one of the top Equestrian radio stars of all time. “Yeah, I was one a the only foals ta ever read anythin they left in that old stable. Found that in a book of old bards songs and parables, but I nevah much cared for the endin myself.” He put his hoof under my chin and lifted it. “Are you going to be alright?”

“I… I don’t know. I’m a complete mess, and I don’t even know where to start.” I pushed myself from his hold, tensing up at the feeling of the cold floorboards under my back. “Lets just get off this train. Contract or not, I want to go home.” I wanted to use my magic to feel out for the door latch, but the second I closed my eyes to concentrate, my mind cropped up in fear of getting hit with the prod again which sent me out of focus. Instead of only finding the latch, my magic grabbed the upper hinge pin and yanked it up.

The rusty pin sheared loose, and tilted the heavy door down with a groan. The added weight on the other corroded pin caused it to snap off, dropping the door to the dirt as we sped over it. The screech of bending metal came from a ways behind us as I assumed the door struck whatever cars were back there. Caltrop and I both stepped up to the open side of the car, gazing in annoyance at the sight before us.

We were twisting around the inner curve of the mountain, and just a few feet off the tracks in front of us, was the steep cliffs and hills that lead back to the lowlands. If that wasn’t bad enough, most of the dead tree husks that lined the cliffs and hills looked like they would impale us if we jumped. But if there was a chance we could make it, we have to try.

“I need to test an idea.” I shouted over the whipping air, turning around to the corpse of the guard. It was dark enough that I hadn’t noticed it before, but with the door missing, I could clearly see that his neck was bent at a near right angle around the shock stick. “How did you manage that? I didn’t think you were that strong!”

Caltrop nudged me with a smirk. “One of the other books I read, the third in a series of physics texts. It was about applying leverage.”

“Good enough for me!” I shouted and tried to concentrate on the body, never having lifted somepony this heavy before. As I got his chest up, his head flopped forward and onto the floor, laying just at the right angle to where it was if he was looking at me. My mind panicked and I pulled with my magic, sending a painful stab down my horn as my levitation threw him out of the boxcar. His legs smacked Caltrop and sent him sprawling towards the door, where my horn and body then took over without my thinking it. My magic enveloped Caltrop and pulled at his flank as it slid over the edge, his eyes going wide as he scraped his forehooves at the wood flooring, dangling off the car as I nearly dove for him.

“Grab my hoof!” I screamed to him, holding my legs out as my horn glowed brighter than I’ve ever seen, shooting pains throughout my skull and sending off sparks from the tip. He yelled and threw his foreleg forward, hooking it over mine.

“Don’t let go of me, Boss!” He screamed and kicked his legs out, trying to find something for them to latch onto. I grunted and hooked around his foreleg with both of mine, straining and pulling at him while my magic started to waver.

“Then quit kicking and pull!” My back was going to be sore tomorrow if we even got out of here, but there was no way I was letting him die now. As I pulled, I could feel him pushing himself higher with his other forehoof and leaning forward. We were doing it!

The train jolted sharply and gave an ear shattering squelch as the wheels locked and tossed both Caltrop and I to the front of the boxcar with a slam. The air in my lungs hurt as it forcibly left and my horn gave a soft sizzle as we flopped down, my legs flailing to find the exit again even before I got my breath back.

“What in the hell was dat!” Caltrop either hadn’t hit the wall as hard as I had, or it was that earth pony resilience I had always heard about. “Hey, Boss! We’re slowin down!” He laughed and walked over to the open door where I could see as well that the trees were passing at a marginally slower rate. I finally gasped and filled my burning lungs again, panting heavily as Caltrops smile dropped. “Shit, but dat was… Boss, we gotta go!”

Pushing myself back up, I ground my teeth down as my aching leg decided to act up, feeling wobbly under my weight as I hobbled my way to the door. I poked my head out, just in time to see the fact that the railway that bridged the gap over this valley was on fire, and no longer lived up to it’s structural namesake. That was all the evidence that I needed for my instincts to agree with what he was saying. We need to jump.

“Caltrop, get on.” I pressed up against him, trying to keep my legs steady. Levitation was hard enough with multiple objects, and even harder to perform with big objects, but I had seen Bluejay slow her own fall with it, so how hard could it be?

“PC, I don’t think dis is the time for that.” He was blushing bright red through his coat. Admirable, but I didn’t have time for jokes. I threw myself under him and pushed with all my might, useing my magic to press up against my hooves as hard as I could. For a moment, I thought it was going well, as we hadn’t hit anything yet. I dared to open my eyes to see our rate of descent, but the moment I did that, I lost focus and the spell dropped us.

We hit the dirt and started tumbling, I lost track of Caltrop when he let out a yelp further up the hill. I tried to keep my legs tucked in close as I rolled, but my bum foreleg was weaker than the others and gave up listening to me. I felt the snap throughout my whole body as my leg caught on a downed tree, both stopping me, twisting me over it and racking me with pain. It hurt more than any other injury I’ve had, so much that I couldn’t even find the will to scream.

Shaking and bleeding from several other gashes and cuts, I knew that I had to get back to Caltrop. If he was in any better shape than I, he was our only hope, but if he was in any worse shape? My mistake will have just cost us our lives. I whined as my rear hooves tried to find a hole in the dry, rocky dirt of the hillside, finally digging in and allowing me to turn. Even though I couldn’t do anything about the pain, the sound of crunching bones and open flesh didn’t prepare me for what I saw.

I had broken my legs before, and the way they sat always made it hard to believe it belonged to me at the time. The way this looked made it hard to believe it belonged on a pony at all. My foreleg had pretty much turned into one of the medical posters that I had glanced at back in Novacane clinic, looking as if somepony unzipped my foreleg to show off each muscle and bone that sat in sharp and jagged pieces. The sound of slow hoofsteps from up the hill was music to my ears, pulling my gaze from the sideshow my leg had turned into, up to the smiling face of Brightshine. Behind her, the train had stopped a bit further up the tracks just before the busted bridge, and the rear door to the caboose hung open, presumably being where she had come from.

“Once again, Ya’ll have impressed me.” She sat down and levitated a sparkle cola from her bag. “Sad ta tell yah though that ah’m tha best nurse around, an tha only one who came along on tha trip. Ah take pride in mah work, but ah think ah’m just gonna watch ya suffer a while before ya’ll pass out.” Her magic twisted the cap off of her drink and lifted it to her lips as she sat and stared at me.

The moment she mentioned passing out, it didn’t sound like too terrible of an idea. Even though I knew she would just put me back on the train, my eyelids began to droop, slamming shut with the weight of an out of control train. I was able to mutter my last thought, hoping she would at least give me an answer before the darkness came and took me. “Cal...trop.”

Sadly, all I heard was her laughter as I slumped against the log and was lost in a sea of painless darkness.