The gallop we had started out at had quickly become a crawl. We followed the thin trail as it wound it’s way up the steep cliff sides of the mountain. The smell of burning flesh had become more prominent the higher we’d climbed. To my knowledge, Timber didn’t have that large of a population, and for the smell to be this bad, I wasn’t sure we’d have anything left to find when we got there. On top of that, a thick bank of fog was quickly descending from the mountaintop, and I hoped that we could get back to the main path before it settled in.

Spending this time behind brightshine’s corpse as she glinted in the afternoon light got me to thinking. There had been a point when this whole train of events started. It was then that one simple choice I could have made differently, changed everything. A simple ‘no’ to Big Shot would have saved me all this pain and suffering. Then there wouldn’t be any Caltrop, no Novocain or Sandy. Like the fool I was, I didn’t make that choice. Now, good ponies lie dead because of me, and more are at risk.

Maybe… maybe stopping now was the best option. If I sat here, perhaps it would all just blow over in time. My body screams at me to stop. To rehydrate and feed it, and to lay down and let it heal. I couldn’t do that. These things were all punishments for my stupidity, and I deserved to suffer through them. Then and only then, might I never make these mistakes again.

I stopped walking, sat down. My eyes drifted and looked down at the rocky path under my hooves. As much as I’d wanted to go back to the way things were, I’d hate myself then. Even though I’ve objected to his presence, Caltrop has done nothing but try to help me. He’s in this situation, because of me, and the same could be said of Sandy. If I hadn’t given her that ring, she could still be living with her family.

“Ya okay there, Boss?” Caltrop asked softly as he put his hoof on my shoulder.

“I didn’t mean for any of this.” I turned towards him and threw my hooves around his neck. “Thank you. For not abandoning me.” I pressed into his warmth, hugging him with all the strength I could muster.

“PC…” He sighed. Slowly, he wrapped his forehooves around me lightly and just held me. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a burden. It ain’t easy havin somepony like me around. It’s why...” I silenced him by pushing off of him slightly and shaking my head. I knew that he was going to tell me that’s how he ended up on a rock in the middle of nowhere for me to find. I didn’t care anymore how, just that he was here now.

“You aren’t a burden.” I looked him straight in the blue eyes I had despised the day I met him. “You’ve been better to me than anypony I’ve ever known.” There wasn’t a single ounce of hatred for me in those eyes.

“Well… umm… ya see...” Caltrop stammered as his cheeks practically glowed red. He leaned back and looked nervously around me. Then his eyes met mine, and that was when I’d realized my mistake. I opened my mouth to tell him this wasn’t what I’d meant, but all I was met with was his muzzle.

I had never been kissed before, at least, not like this. My mind went blank, and I practically melted into his grasp. Even though it’s not what I meant, I won’t deny that it was something that felt right for the moment. Then, from the back of my mind, my conscience had to point something out.

You’ve finally found your somepony to love.

Pushing him away, I snarled at the thought. He didn’t deserve that kind of response, but he’s the one who used his talent or something on me. That’s the only way I’d ever break one of my own rules. With him left speechless, I turned and continued along the path.

What the fuck was wrong with me? Since when did I curl up into some stallion’s legs for comfort? I was every bit as pathetic as Storm said I was, and more so even.

The rocky path leveled off, and widened out into a small outcropping. There, Storm and Lockjaw had apparently elected to take a break and wait for us to catch up. Keeping my ears perked forward, I listened in on their conversation as I approached.

“So I tell you to inform me of what this 'Red Eye' stallion is doing, but I haven't heard you mention him once.” She remarked as she drew out a cigarette and popped it into her muzzle.

Lockjaw shrugged and looked down the slope back towards the prison. “As per the stories I've heard, he's clean.”

She flicked her lighter open and brought it to her muzzle. Taking a deep draw, she shook her head. “He controls an army of slavers, bounty hunters, and mercs larger than anyone over the last twenty years.” Blowing a ring of smoke, she looked over to me for a moment. “Tartarus, even the Alicorn monstrosities leave him alone.”

“You asked me to listen for stories, and that's what I've done. He only controls this much because he took out all of the other slavers, and paid enough that the mercs and hunters would be foolish to refuse.” Lockjaw got back to his hooves and straightened up the rigging that held Brightshine to him. “From what I saw from my time inside, he's put far more dangerous ponies away than he's let go. I dare say he's shooting to outshine you even as he rebuilds his city.”

“It’s not his city. Not to mention he’s rebuilding it with slaves.” Storm spat as she too rose back up. Looks like break time was over. “Even if he's put these ‘dangerous’ ponies away, how can he justify what's been happening? How can he justify the suffering?”

“As far as I'm able to tell, I'm not sure he knows about what goes on outside the Fillydelphia walls.” Lockjaw grunted and started toward the next path up. “As I said, Flint is in charge of gathering the slaves. I'm sure all Red Eye ever see's is the numbers to prove he's efficient. The head may be pure, but the limbs are infected.”

“Flint.” I spoke up. “He was the stallion who put the bounty out on me?”

“So long as that guard wasn’t lying,” Storm chuckled. “Then again, why would he have lied? He thought we weren’t going to let him go if he did.” She tilted her head just enough that she could shoot an annoyed glance my way. She let out a puff of smoke and shrugged. “Go ahead. Take vengeance on him if you want. I know you want to pay him back for screwing up your life.”

As much as I’d wanted too, I don’t think I could. I’ve never even heard of this stallion before today. Going after somepony with only their name was a good way to get yourself killed. If I wanted to take him down, I would need resources. Something I’ve not got a lot of at the moment.

My answer to her was simple. “No.” I trotted forward and pushed past her before she could reach the next ledge.

“Good.” She stated back. “Let’s just focus on getting whatever has happened at Timber sorted first.”

The fog was a blessing and a curse. We were trailing behind somepony or some ponies. We’d found multiple hoofprints on the trail back to town, and we were moving at a snails pace with our eyes wide open. Sandy and I took the lead. With her nose, we might be able to smell them before we see them. If so, I could use #2 to put them down without alerting any others that might be lurking around.

But that’s only if they didn’t find us first. I had to assume that these were fresh tracks, and that whatever ponies left them were still around. Thankfully, the howl of the chilled mountain wind was the only thing that met my ears. Then again, no happy ending ever started with ‘there was nothing but silence’.

Winding through the field of boulders outside of town was like a maze. Several times I had to stop and squint to see if I saw somepony. Each instance it turned out to only be a pony sized boulder. Every part of the old me screamed that this was a mistake, and that we needed to get the hell out of here before we got killed. The part of me who wanted to change though, new that we needed to press on.

Sandy stopped and sniffed a few times. “Something around here smells funny.” She whispered to me before crouching low. She practically crawled along the dirt. She stopped when she found a small dirt mound with a yellow rock poking out of it. “Oh, what's in this thing?” She used a paw to wipe the dirt from it, revealing three pink butterflies stamped on a yellow case.

It was a case I’d seen a thousand times in my journeys, but never once had I seen one with a black box taped to the side of it. Something in my mind connected the two and I focused my magic forward.

“Sandy, NO!” I shouted and gripped around the box with my magic. Sparks shot from my horn as I lifted the box and propelled it as far as I could. I pushed off the ground with my legs towards Sandy, sailing through the air over her before crashing down into the dirt. There was a loud click as the box smacked a rock up ahead. Then came the boom.

The makeshift explosive detonated with a thunderous crack. Sandy flattened herself to the dirt next to me with a scream. The concussion of the blast pelted me with rocks, but I didn’t feel any hot pieces of shrapnel slice into me. As the ringing in my ears drained away, I heard Sandy crying softly next to me.

“Shhhh, Sandy. It’s alright.” I sighed. Quick hoofsteps came from the trail behind us, and after a moment, Storm appeared through the fog. Lockjaw appeared behind her and looked down to the loose dirt that the bomb had come from.

“I’ll look for more traps.” He stated simply before trotting past us.

“No, everything isn’t alright.” Sandy sniffled. “All I do is screw things up and hurt everyone.”

“Listen to me pup.” Storm spoke out, kneeling down next to her. “We’re all born with something we’re meant to do.” She paused as sandy wiped at her eyes and looked up at her. “For some, it means that they are really good at building things. For others, it means that they can heal the sick.”

“But… I can’t do anything like that.” Sandy curled herself up and pulled her yellow vest over her head.

“No, but what you can do, is keep ponies safe.” Storm reached over and nudged the vest away from her face. “Strength like yours is not something everypony out in the wasteland has, Sandy. If you can learn to use that strength to help those around you, then you will never be useless.”

“Sandy, why is it you keep thinking you aren’t welcome with us?” I asked slowly. Storm gave me a momentary look of shock before giving me a small nod. I realized that it was a surprising question to come from my muzzle of all places, but Sandy seemed more afraid to let us down than anything else.

“I was never useful to the den.” She whimpered and pulled her vest back onto herself. “All the other dogs hated me… Papa hated me. And I deserved it.” Calming down, she looked up to me with her watery pink eyes. “But then I found you. You were the first to not hate me. I just… I wanted to help you, but all I seem to do is screw things up.”

“If it weren’t for you, I’d have been killed in that bank vault. If it weren’t for you, I would have rotted away in that prison.” I shook my head and slowly pushed myself up. “I need you and Caltrop. Without you two, I...” The kiss from earlier floated into my mind again, and I hated that I enjoyed it. “I just need the two of you, mistakes and all.”

“Hey, up here.” Lockjaw bellowed out through the fog. “You’re going to want to see this.”

Storm pushed past Sandy and I, while from the fog, Caltrop hung back. I looked to him briefly, but he averted his gaze. With a sigh, reached over and pat Sandy on the head.

“Come on, Sandy, let’s go see what they found.” I gave her a brief smile and was relieved to see her nod. Turning, I wandered in the direction of Lockjaw’s voice and soon found myself walking on the dirt roadway that ran through the middle of town. The stench of burned flesh got more pugnant with each step, and the closer I got, the more the fog seemed to clear. It wasn’t until I reached a small boulder that I had to cover my nose. Perplexed, I stepped a bit closer until the fog mostly lifted.

It wasn’t a boulder.

It was a twisted mass of burned ponies. They were all too charred to identify, but seeing as nopony else was around, I had to assume that they were the towns folk. There had been nothing we could have done. My actions brought Ash’s force down onto this town, and they had paid for it with their lives.

“PC.” Storm snapped. “Over here. Now.”

I grunted and hobbled my way toward her voice, my nose pinched as tightly as I could squeeze it. Both Storm and Lockjaw stood facing a single, oddly shaped pony. As I reached them, I stood between them and stared at the third figure. There, tied to a post and beaten bloody, was Brightshine’s brother. Blood dripped from a bullet hole in his skull, while my legs trembled. A piece of parchment had been nailed to his chest, it slowly fluttered in the breeze.

I had been so damn cocky, both with his sister and with him. I’d failed, completely and utterly. Storm stepped forward and put a hoof on the paper. She tore it off of him and pulled it close, reading the words that had been written on it. After a minute, she let out a low growl.

“Fuck.” Was as she spat as she hoofed it toward me. I took it in my magic and read the hastily scrawled letters.

‘Dear fuckwit and fuckwit’s grandaughter,

Nopony fucks with me. Not even my wife fucked with me, but then you had to go and fucking kill her, didn’t you? Your have taken everything I’ve ever had and burned it to ashes. I’ve waited too long to repay you, and I will do so in kind. Consider the townsfolk of Timber the warm up for what I’m going to do to every pony you’ve ever loved or cared for.

To PC. You had your fucking chance to go with me back in the day. Now, I’m going to make sure all of your contacts suffer for turning me down. And when you least expect it, I’ll be back around to kill you and your little stallion friend too.

To the old cunt. I'm sorry I couldn't stay to kill you just yet, but I'll leave my dearest apologies with your daughter.'

“We have to go help mom.” I tossed the note onto the ground in disgust. I should have expected this from Ash. We should have killed him when we had the chance.

“No, not we. Just me.” Storm shook her head and checked the straps on her satchel and rifle sling.

“Fuck you, she's my mother!” I stepped forward and pushed Storm back. In my anger I’ve done some stupid things, but touching Storm was never something I did that ended well. Predictably, she hooked around my hoof and redirected my momentum. With little effort on her part, she flipped me over and I crashed down onto the dirt with a groan.

“She's my daughter.” She growled out as she put her hoof on my chest. She pressed down and kept me pinned as I tried to roll over to get up. “What do you think happens when we both go strolling back into Baltimare? Use your head.”

I stopped squirming. As much as I wanted to go, she had a point. Ash had to expect that we would go after him, and that both of us would try to attack. Playing right into whatever plan he had set up was a stupid idea, but knowing I couldn’t help didn’t ease my worry. Mom and Storm are all I’ve ever known. I can’t afford to lose either of them.

“Ash was my fault. You were at least right about that. He's my problem, so I'll solve it.” She lifted her hoof off of me and held it out. I begrudgingly took it and hooked around her fetlock. “If he’s doing what he said, you don’t have anywhere safe to run.” With a grunt, she yanked me back up to my hooves. “Lucky for you, I have somewhere you can hide.”

“So, what? I’m supposed to just go sit somewhere and hope you and mom don’t die?” I didn’t like that at all. There had to be something I could be doing. “This Flint guy, he’s the one who wanted me. What if…”

She cut me off. “If you suggest killing him…”

I turned it around and cut her off. “Fuck no! I’m going to tell him the truth! Hating me or not, he’s letting Ash run around fulfilling a personal vendetta on his purse!” Storm smiled a bit on that. “If I’m lucky, I can convince this ‘Flint’ that it’s the only reason Ash wanted to be in charge of the contracts out on Bluejay and I…” I paused.

I’d nearly forgotten that Bluejay had already been captured.

“It’s too risky.” Storm sighed and put her hoof on my shoulder. “Get off this mountain and head north. There’s an old settlement a day and a half from here you can wait in.“ She gave me a pat and turned to Lockjaw. She gave him a nod and walked off, canting her head back to speak. As she did, she picked up her pace into a run. “Once there, you’ll find safety under a tree! I’ll come get you when I’ve made sure you mother is safe!”

After a few moments, she and Lockjaw disappeared into the fog, and after a minute, I couldn’t even hear their hoofsteps. I let out a sigh and uncovered my nose. I didn’t care anymore about the smell. I deserved to suffer.

“Where do we go now?” Sandy asked softly.

“North, like she said.” Giving one last look at Brightshine’s brother, I made sure to remember him this way. I needed to do better, to be better from now on. Once, I was sure I was the best bounty hunter in the wastes. Maybe someday I will be again, but that’s far down the road. “Come on. We’re going back to the prison.”

“What, why?” Caltrop finally broke the silence he’d had and spoke up.

“Unless you have and food or water, we need supplies.” I pushed myself up to a trot, wincing as I felt a warm feeling on my side. Looking back, I found that the stitching had been torn when Storm threw me, and I was bleeding again. It wasn’t life threatening, just another fucking agitation amongst the others.

The walk back down the mountain seemed to be more grueling than the walk going up. To make things worse, it had been completely quiet. I know that’s what I asked for, but whenever Sandy tried to ask a question about something, Caltrop never even answered. I hadn’t meant to foul the mood, but it was his own damn fault. When we came up on the small clearing where Storm had taken her smoke break, I stopped and sat down.

“We’ll rest here for a while. I need some water.” I said, raising a hoof expectantly to Caltrop. He walked over and shucked his bags off of him with a huff, dropping them into the dirt before turning and walking to the other end of the outcropping. Unimpressed by his hissyfit, I opened the bag and started to go through it.

“I thought he was your friend.” Sandy asked hesitantly as she came up to me. “Why don’t you like each other.”

“Alright, dat’s enough.” Caltrop spat out. Getting to his hooves, he walked over and glared at me. “Why do ya hate me when I show ya nothin but love?”

“Why? It's because you want love!” Tossing the bag aside, I prodded at his chest with my hoof. “I meant what I said, we can be friends, but that's where it stays.” I couldn’t believe the fact that he still expected he could take it further. “Don’t forget, you signed on with this before we even got to Baltimare.”

“Oh really?” He groan out sarcastically. “Cause those were some pretty mixed up fuckin signals back there! First ya tell me dat ya don’t want ta be friends, then ya say ya do, then ya say we are, and then ya hug me! What the fuck was I supposed ta think!”

“Did you ever stop and think for a moment that just maybe you were just misinterpreting things?” I shot back at him. He took a step back and contemplated that for a moment, still leaving me with an annoyed glare. Reaching for the bag, I started to rummage through it again. “Or maybe you aren't thinking with the right head.”

“Just stop it!” Sandy shouted at the top of her lungs. He voice squeaked so high, both Caltrop and I had to cover our ears. “Stop fighting! Friend’s don’t fight with each other!” She sniffled and started to cry again. “If that’s how you treat your friends…” She got down onto all fours and shook her head wildly. “Then I don’t want to be friends with you at all!”

Like a blue bolt, she tore through the dirt and rock, digging herself a hole. The two of us sat there in silence for a moment. To be honest, I’m not sure what we were waiting for. The howl of the wind accompanied the awkward silence, and when it was clear she wasn’t going to pop up again, I gave out a sigh of disappointment.

“Look..” I began to say.

“I’m sorry.” Caltrop spoke over me. “Maybe I did misread some of the signs. And ya right, I did agree dat it ends at friends. I was just kinda swept up in the heat of the moment, ya know?”

“Yeah.” I said softly. “I think that’s just all that happened. There’s just been so much going on… I’m sorry I yelled.”

“No, I get it. It’s been a hell of a week for the two of us. ” He grumbled and nodded. “Funny how it took her ta point this out. I can see why ya kept her around.”

“I needed her, and she needed me.” Slowly, I walked over to the hole Sandy had torn through and looked down into it. It went far enough into the mountainside that I couldn’t see the bottom. Still, I had to try to make up for this. “Sandy? I’m sorry I yelled. Caltrop and I are alright now.”

“Ya were right.” Caltrop yelled into the hole. “We won’t be yellin at each other anymore.”

A small whimper echoed through the tunnel. “Do… do you promise?” Sandy cried out weakly.

“I promise.” Caltrop said back. “Cross my heart and hope ta fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

I looked up at him quizzically over the gibberish that just erupted from his muzzle, but I could forgive it for the sake of Sandy’s friendship. We needed her friendship. It may sound wrong of me, but she was a powerhouse in a fight. She doesn’t realize her own strength, and on top of that, she lets her instincts do the fighting. She just can’t help but take down her enemies.

A pair of pink eyes looked up through the dark tunnel and slowly got closer. Both Caltrop and I smiled as she climbed her way up. Caltrop was right, it was stupid that it took someone like her to point out that we were just too angry to see that there could have been mistakes on both our parts. Even if I’m still certain he’s more at fault than I am.

“What… why would you stick a cupcake in your eye?” Sandy asked softly as she climbed from her hole.

“It’s an old way of sayin ‘I promise’. I read it in a book a long time ago.” Caltrop answered with a chuckle. “Maybe one of these days, we’ll visit my home and I’ll let ya read it. Sound good?”

She nodded with a smile before scrunching up her muzzle. “What’s a cupcake?”

Author's Notes:

It's been a while since I did this, and I apologize. Most of it is absent mindedness, and part of it is that I want the chapter up as soon as it's done. It's no excuse not to give out what's owed.

Thanks to Kkat, Somber, Mimezinga, No_One, Stonershy, Hetnu, Xjuan, Relyet, and a TON of others. Without these author's stories to inspire me, there's no way I could bring you all my own. One Author I'd like to thank in particular is Tinker Chromewire for allowing me to use Lockjaw the deadmare in my story. I consider his story canon with my own, and I hope he considers mine for his canon as well. Go read FoE - Second Wind though, great stuff along with more behind the deadmare that make such interesting characters!

As a special shout out, I'd like to Thank RevelRomp for his continued support and constructive comments that he's sent me. You are one hell of a fan, and I appreciate it greatly.