Her name was Malice.

When I first heard this, I assumed it couldn’t be her real name. Whatever she was born with, she had tossed it aside in favor of this one. It wasn’t uncommon in the Wasteland, a pony changing their name for one reason or another; a mercenary couldn’t exactly have a name like Sugar Cookie. And that’s what I had assumed to be the case for Malice.

Staring into those eyes as they panned around the residents of Four Shoes, murderous visions dancing behind them, I believed to my core that she had never had any other name.

Her armored, scorpion-like tail flicked this way and that idly, unable to sit still, as if it were sniffing for blood. My hooves were glued to the ground. As my eyes darted around, I saw everypony else locked in deathly stillness, not a tail twitch or a ear flick. A clatter of noise broke the rapture enough for me to turn my head. Grit had turned his table into a barricade, two 10-mm pistols hovering in front of him in a blue field of magic, while two of the ponies he’d been eating with had their own guns trained on the invaders.

Malice just shook her head casually, nickering. “Y’all’re disappointin’ me. I mean, I jus’ brought a few friends t’ town, and y’all treat us like this?” She tilted her head and stared right at Grit. “Tell ya what. This goes th’ way I want, nopony gets shot. Mah lil’ ponies have enough manners t’not shoot first, but if any one o’ y’all pulls a trigger, you’ll give us no choice but t’ defend ourselves. And I hope you'll excuse me for braggin', but my friends can be so very creative with their interp’tation of 'defense.'

“So. I think it’s a pretty fair deal. Drop th’ guns.”

Grit stared at her for a long moment, then glanced around at the other raiders. His head turned to scan the rest of the town, and then he faced Malice again, visibly frustrated. I could see his face twisting, but he lowered his pistols, setting them down on the bench he had been sitting on. Nervously, the other guard ponies set down their weapons as well. Finally, the hoofful of shopkeepers that had armed themselves also lowered their guns or moved mouths away from battle saddle triggers.

“That weren’t so hard!” She flashed a genuine smile of warmth, an ear-to-ear grin normally reserved for a filly’s birthday and not forcing a town to disarm.

“Interductions outta th’ way, I got some business here what dragged me out this far. I’m lookin’ for a particular unicorn. Blue mare, blacksmith, way I hear.”

Every word she said after that was lost to my ears. I tried to run. My body wouldn’t listen. Run! My hooves felt like they were sinking into the mud, but there was no mud. Run! It was like in the Ministry building with Chainlink all over again. Hide!

Run!

My legs were welded in place.

“There she is!” cried a voice, very different from Malice’s. It was louder, but said with less confidence behind it, instead sounding more strained and nervous. I snapped my head up to stare at the source. It was the twitchy, brown unicorn that had been with Chainlink at my shop. He stood beside Malice, stabbing his forehoof at me in accusation.

Malice turned to follow his gesture, and locked eyes with me, beaming as her eyes lit with delight. “There y’all are!” She waved a hoof at me, still grinning. “C’mon over here, lemme get a good look at y’all.”

Only now did my body listen to commands - Malice's commands. I slowly lifted one foreleg and dropped it in front of me, then one of my back legs. My whole body shook and shivered even though I was comfortably warm in my barding. I half-expected her to tell me to hurry up or look impatient, but she just kept smiling at me, waiting politely. I couldn’t say how long it took me to get to her, but it felt like hours. I stared at the ground the whole time, my head low and my ears still drooped flat against my head. She was going to kill me. She was going to torture me. The raiders would eat me alive.

I was going to die.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I stopped just a few feet from her, and found my gaze locked with her hooves.

“Aw, c’mon now, I came out all this way t’see y’all, s’rude to jus’ stare at th’ ground all day. Lift that pretty lil’ head o’ yours up for me, wontcha?” Still shivering, I tilted my head up so that my eyes met hers. “There we are. Now wha’s your name, honey?”

I swallowed, my throat suddenly feeling dry and weak. “A-Alloy.” I paused and swallowed again, trying to reinforce my hollow-sounding voice. “Alloy Shaper,” I answered, lifting my head up a little.

“Alloy, huh?” She paused and tilted her head. Her smile was gone, replaced with something resembling curiosity. “You’re shorter’n I expected.” She took a few steps to her left, bobbing her head up and down and side to side, visually scanning me before starting a slow, measured walk around me. I turned my head a little to try and follow her, to try and keep her in my vision, but I still could only barely move.

Malice completed her circle before speaking again. “So you’re the one who killed three o’ mah ponies.” My entire body tensed at once, ready to gallop away as fast as I could from this nightmare, but I was still locked in place as though my hooves were nailed down. Malice saw the truth in my eyes and gave me a small nod, brow arched and wearing a thin, satisfied smile. “I gotta say, I’m impressed.”

There was a pause as her head bobbed again, almost approvingly. Then suddenly, her head snapped to one side to face the twitchy unicorn. Her muzzle contorted in fury as she roared, “YOU’RE TELLIN’ ME YOU RAN AWAY FROM THIS SCRAWNY LIL’ BLUE UNICORN?!” I scurried back a few steps. Half the ponies in town jumped away. The scorpion tail of her armor pointed straight at the slaver as he cowered.

“B-but Malice, she… she killed ‘em all…” He swallowed and sunk lower to the ground. “She ran out… she was covered in blood ‘n’ she…” The buck swallowed again. “She had this sword, and-”

“And YOU had a fuckin’ gun, Red Bean!” She looked up from where her underling was cowering, and took a short breath.

Then she just turned back to me, flashing a polite smile, with all her previous pleasantness restored. “I apologize, gimme a moment here.” She waved a hoof in the air idly. “Management an’ some such, y’know how it is.”

I was too stunned to reply, but she didn’t wait. Her head snapped around to Red Bean again. “Well, WHAT d’you have t’ say for your goddess-damned self?! An’ speakin’ o’your gun, where th’ FUCK did it go, ‘cause you sure as shit didn’ come home with no gun!”

Red Bean took a step back before bumping into a massive raider stallion with a gatling gun mounted to a battle saddle, who just stared down at him impassively. His head spun around to the stallion, and then back to Malice. “I… she… she had Chainlink’s gun, and she… she killed ‘em all… there was a grenade an’ shootin’ an’ screamin’... she ran out with that bloody sword.” He was babbling and repeating himself, terrified of the mare.

She stood up straighter, looking down at him with less blazing fury and more of a controlled contempt. “A sword, huh.” Her attention turned back to me, causing me to jump another step back. For once, Malice wasn’t looking at me with a warm smile. “That right, lil’ blue? You killed Chainlink, Daisy Cutter, an’ Shank with a sword?”

I opened my mouth. My voice was lost to me. I swallowed and tried to speak again, but failed. I nodded slowly.

“In’erestin’.” Her mouth curled into a wicked grin. “Mind if I ask for a demonstration?”

My eyes darted around at the army of raiders staring at me. I focused back on Malice, quietly stammering my response. “I… wh-what?”

Red Bean was apparently equally confused. Malice ignored us both and turned to scan her assembled raiders. She telekinetically grabbed hold of a spiked baseball bat that one buck was clutching in his teeth, and he surrendered it quickly. Malice unceremoniously dropped the bat between her and Red Bean. “I want you t’ fight her, one on one.”

Red Bean’s eyes went wide. “What? With this?” He stabbed a brown hoof at the improvised mace. “B-but I’ve never-”

Malice took a step closer and his pleading stopped. She spoke to him much more sweetly than she had before, a smile slowly creeping across her face with every word. “Bean, I’ve just about reached th’ end o’ my very generous patience with you. You’re gonna fight her, or I’ll throw you in the next bone vine patch we see.” The twitchy unicorn blanched, and nodded slowly. With a defeated look, he picked up the bat in his magic. Malice turned back to face me, still beaming. “I do hope you’ll indulge me this. Consider it Chainlink’s last request.” She inclined her head and stepped back from the two of us.

My gaze snapped away from Malice as I heard Red Bean scream at me in desperation, charging in a full gallop with the bat above him. At the last second I ducked under the swing and forcibly shook my senses awake.

I jumped to all fours again and drew my sword out as quickly as I could manage, charging back at him with my sword flying through the air next to me. He sidestepped in a fumble. The bat swung at my side, too fast for me to dodge. I tried to swat it away with my sword. For a moment I thought it worked as I heard a clank of metal on wood. Then a blunt shock of pain hit my shoulder and leg. I gasped. Somehow I ended up on my side when I snapped back to my senses. My sword desperately lunged at the first target I saw, and stabbed into his unprotected back knee.

He screamed and I heard the bat drop, and I shot to my hooves, backing away from him as quickly as I could. My shoulder ached with every motion, but my armor had at least deflected the nails, and I wasn’t bleeding. Red Bean, on the other hoof, was curled in a ball and clutching his leg. Neither of us noticed Malice walking up behind him. “Not bad, not bad at all. But I was hoping for a fight t’ the death, y’know. More fun when th’ stakes’re high.” She chuckled a little, then looked down at the brown buck. “Ah well, more fun for me.” The tail of her armor flashed forward and impaled Red Bean through the throat.

He collapsed and began to choke as he died.

“Now then, as much fun’s this was, I believe it’s time t’ get t’ business.” Malice turned back to face me, taking a few steps forward. A handful of the raider ponies chuckled along with her.

My heart thundered in my chest, my eyes darted between Malice and Red Bean’s now-lifeless eyes. In my mind, I saw that bladed tail snapping forward to bleed the life from me. I started babbling half-coherently, desperately trying to think one step ahead of my own words as I backed away from the encroaching raiders who seemed to be getting larger and larger even though I kept retreating. “Wait… I didn’t mean to kill them… Ch-chainlink he… he ambushed me and then… out the window-”

The armored mare clicked her tongue at me in disapproval as she shook her head. “Aw, c’mon lil’ Alloy, I ain’t gonna hurtcha. I just have a job for y’all.” She smiled and stopped her advance, and though she was speaking just to me, her voice carried to the entire town now. “Y’see, I don’t mind so much that y’up an’ killed Chainlink, he was a fuckin’ asshole an’ prob’ly deserved it, but he did have a very important job he had t’do for me.” She shook her head and sighed, meeting my gaze again with a creepy touch of sadness to her voice. “I hate to admit it, but I lost somethin’ very near an’ dear to mah heart, and Chainlink was mah best tracker. An’ with him dead, I may never see my darlin’ Copper again.

“Which brings me t’you, lil’ blue. I could jus’ send out s’more o’ my ponies, but way I see it, you owe me a bit o’ debt. So, I want you t’do what Chainlink was ‘sposed to do, an’ find my lost pet. Track him down, bring him home t’me, an’ we’ll be square, you ‘n’ me. Hell, I’ll even throw in some caps for your trouble.”

She nodded appreciatively of her own plan. “But,” she hesitated, pondering, her voice dropping a little, “this is a time-sensitive job, you understand. I need t’keep you on a tight schedule. So I’ll give y’all… two weeks. If y’all don’t bring him back by then, I’ll jus’ have t’ hunt y’all down and find some other way for you t’repay your debt.” She grinned at me, but it had none of the pleasantness of her introduction. “An’ I promise, it won’t be pretty for you or anypony else what tries t’hide you from me.” She inclined her head and nodded back towards the assembled raiders. “Or we could just skip t’ th’ second option. I’m sure quite a few of my ponies here are just dyin’ to know what I could come up with.”

I immediately and rapidly shook my head. I lifted my head up so that I was standing up straight, trying to recover some of my dignity, though I was still shaking. “I’ll do the job,” I swallowed, trying to wet my throat so my voice wasn’t so cracked and weak. “Can you,” I took a breath. Focus. This was a business deal now. Ignore everypony else. Just another customer. My nerves calmed, and I found a bit of my strength again. “Can you give me any details? I’m guessing that this isn’t your lost radhog.”

Malice gave me a half-crazed giggle in reply. “Tha’s what I like t’ hear! Right down t’business! And nah, Copper’s an earth pony, lil’ Alloy. Teal coat, blue mane an’ eyes, got himself a big ol’ rock for a cutie mark. He went an’ lost his way ‘bout a week ago, an’ I miss him ever so much.” Her eyes lit up and her tail flicked at the ground as she exclaimed, “Oh! When y’all bring him back t’ me, I want a collar ‘round his neck. Think you c’n do that for me? Don’t have to be no bomb collar, jus’ somethin’ practical.” She glanced back at Red Bean’s corpse and gave it a kick with her back leg. “There’s prob’ly somthin y’all can use in there, I think he kept some spare cuffs an’ collars on ‘im.”

Hesitation threatened to worm into my voice again, but I brushed it aside with a flick of my tail, and insisted to myself that other things demanded my attention. Details. I needed more details. “Fine. Where do I bring him?”

The warm smile turned contemplative. “Well, I did say t’ bring him home, an’ I’m sure y’all could find th’ harbor. But frankly, s’a bit deep in th’ city. Tell y’all what. There’s an old ferry dock next t’ the highway, sittin’ on th’ riverbank. Bring ‘im there by th’ end o’ two weeks an’ I’ll have some friends there t’ take y’all to the harbor.”

I nodded. That seemed to be enough for her, and she returned the gesture. “I s’pose that takes care of everythin’! Pleasure doin’ business with y’all, an’ I look forward t’ seein you real soon, lil’ blue.” She smiled, turned, and walked calmly through the crowd of raiders. Most of them immediately turned to follow her down the road, though a few of them backed away, keeping their weapons trained on the town as they walked out of range. A few lingered before turning to leave, looking disappointed that nopony tried to start a fight. For a long stretch of minutes, the only sound in Four Shoes was the scuffing and clatter of hooves on broken concrete and dirt as the invading ponies simply left.

And then, nothing.

Oppressive silence fell on the town, somehow even thicker than the silence in the Bayou when I made my trips to Shipper. Nopony dared to move. I can’t be sure, but I think I was the first to break the hypnosis. As soon as Malice left my view, I turned in place and immediately walked into my home, locking the door shut behind me. The terror I had managed to suppress burst from me uncontrollably. I dropped to my haunches and hunched over, leaning against my door. The last ten minutes threatened to completely overwhelm me. I shut my eyes tight, hoping to block it all out.

Instead, I saw flashes of Malice walking towards me, her tail dripping with blood, her eyes full of joy at the idea of slowly killing me.

I saw Red Bean screaming and charging at me, desperate to fight for his life.

Goddesses, I even heard his scream again.

Had… had he been crying? I couldn’t remember. I didn’t know if it had actually happened, or if it was just the tears in my own eyes now. She’d killed him… and now I was going to die if I couldn’t find a pony out in the Bayou.

How could I go into the Bayou and just… track somepony down? Let alone survive out there on my own! I couldn’t run away, there was no way I could take everything I wanted, and I couldn’t leave my forge, my anvil, my store! And if I did, what life would be waiting for me? A life of running and hiding alone, always afraid for my life? If I ran and settled down in a new town, I would spend every day for the rest of my life afraid of her finding me, afraid that a sniper would put a bullet in my head and kill me, and if I stayed on the move I’d never last in the Wasteland. And even if by some miracle of Celestia, I managed to track down and find Copper, could I really do it? Could I lock a collar around another pony and drag them to a fate worse than death? If I didn’t, I was going to die. Could I live with myself afterward? My forelegs suddenly itched, and I burst out with a sob, falling to my side as my eyes snapped open.

It was too much.

I started to cry, biting my bottom lip so hard I thought I was going to cut it open. Some part of me still stubbornly refused to sob or make even a whimper, even though tears flowed freely off of my face. I stood up and bucked a wall of my house as hard as I could. I wasn’t strong enough to do any damage to the dilapidated structure. I thought again about my forge, and I walked out to the back of my house.

I could hear the murmur of voices rising and falling, it sounded like there was a bit of a commotion going on in town, but I shut it out. I walked slowly over to the old fireplace and sat down, curling my tail around my haunches and hunching over to stare into it. I didn’t try to light it. Not yet. I would soon, I… I felt like I needed to, but for now I just wanted to sit and stare at it.

I wiped my eyes with one of my forelegs and sucked in a deep breath. I promised myself I would deal with things. I would figure out a plan. I needed to figure out a plan.

But not yet. Right now, I just wanted to sit at my forge. The murmur of voices were long forgotten, and I just stared at the dead ashes, letting time slip away quietly so that this tiny little alcove could be my world, where I could have peace. With another deep breath, I stood up. I still felt a twist in my gut from the weight of what had to be done, but I couldn’t run away. I couldn’t lose this.

I walked back into my house, crossing through to my storefront. All of my merchandise was still sitting out, and my eyes briefly widened as I realized I’d forgotten to take any of it inside earlier. I didn’t feel that there was much point to keeping the store open for now, so I started to carefully take everything down, making sure to double-check my inventory to be sure that nothing was taken. Fortunately, it seemed like everypony was too busy making a commotion over the visit of the raiders to engage in petty theft, and none of my wares had been disturbed.

I finished locking up my store, and then quietly went back to my forge, this time carrying a fresh lump of coal. With the fire lit, and a few choice bits of scrap metal floating in the air above it, I began to shape the metal into a single, long piece. A fresh hunting knife. I wanted to make sure I had a useful tool if I was going out into the Bayou, and my sword would dull if I used it day to day for utility. I’d need to take a gun, too, for emergencies.

I pulled the metal out of the fire, still glowing hot but now in one piece. Holding it against my anvil, I struck at it with my hammer, quick and precise swings, folding the metal and shaping it to my mental image, though I knew it wouldn’t come out quite like I envisioned.

Shipper. As I worked, the idea came to me. Shipper would be the best place to start. The zebras who were captured by Chainlink might have heard something. It was a shot in the dark at best, but it was the only idea I had. And it was close enough that I could leave tomorrow morning and be home again in the same day. I could use Four Shoes as my starting point and venture out to see what I could find, and still have a safe place to sleep. Grit might know some of the mercenaries that came into town to protect the caravans. Or maybe he knew somepony who knew a griffon. If I was lucky, I could try and get in touch with the griffon I’d forged the wing blades for. It hadn’t been that long, maybe he was still nearby. Maybe if I worked hard enough, pushed some more sales, saved up my caps, I’d be able to hire one. He could track down Copper for me, capture him even if he was screaming and crying for mercy.

The next hammer swing missed.

I flicked my tail at the air and focused on the motion of the hammer for the next few swings before letting my thoughts connect back to my plan. A griffon would probably be able to take care of things within a day or two. They were good at that sort of thing. Piece of cake. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about how to track, or have to even see Copper before I had to, or be the one to lock a collar around his neck.

I poured all of my focus into the next few swings of my hammer as I felt my neck itch.

I kept working for a few hours as I thought of ways to increase my profits and save up to hire a mercenary. It would take some experimentation, and a little trial and error, but I was convinced I could do it.

* * * * * * *

I had finished the knife by the time light was fading from the sky, and was in my home, studying my sales journal to determine what I could get away with increasing the cost of, and what I could discount a little to push sales, when there was a gentle knock at the door.

That was strange. Nopony ever tried to visit. Admittedly, it had been a strange day, and I’d closed the shop early. Best case I could hope for was somepony wanting to buy armor because of the raiders, but I doubted my luck would be that good. I put away my sales journal and walked to the door, unlocking and opening it with my magic. To my surprise, I was greeted by the plump form of Gumbo. He turned his head from idly staring at a spot on my wall to look at me as soon as the door opened, and gave me a weak smile. “ ‘Evening, Alloy,” he greeted. “Mind if I come in?”

“Gumbo,” I answered, a creeping edge of suspicion in my voice. I looked back inside, then at him again. I didn’t really want him in my home, but I’d had enough confrontation for one day. “I suppose not.” I stepped away from the doorway to let him in, and he immediately busied himself with craning his head around to scan my home.

He turned to close the door behind himself, then looked back at me. “Uh, so,” he paused a moment, looking me in the eyes, “how’re you holdin’ up? Quite a day we’ve had. Quite a day.”

I nodded slowly as the vivid memory of Malice staring me down returned, making me shudder a little. “You could say that. I’ve got things under control, though,” I told him, bleeding off far more confidence than I felt. “I’ve got a plan.”

He winced, looking away from me, slowly dropping his gaze to the floor as he started pacing back and forth restlessly. “Actually, I uh… I came here t’ talk about that.” I felt my body tense, but I said nothing, staring into his eyes as they actively avoided mine. “Some o’ th’ other merchants were talkin’, an’ were concerned, y’see.” He was stalling, and I knew it. And every word he said that wasn’t getting to the point just spiked my anxiety. “They had some concerns… an’ there was a good amount o’ talk.” His eyes darted to mine and then back to the floor. “Grit didn’ like it one bit, and defended you, but y’really shoulda been there t’ speak for yourself.”

I flicked my tail at the air, finally speaking up. “What do you mean?”

He grimaced again and then stopped his pacing with a sigh, closing his eyes for a few seconds before meeting my own, though his voice was still unsure. “I’m afraid that… you’ve gotta leave, Alloy. Th’ others don’t want you around town while your two weeks’re tickin’. They,” he swallowed, looking down to the floor for confidence, then back to me, “they wantcha out in the Bayou searchin’ for this Copper fella. An’ you can’t come back til’ after y’finish th’ job.”

My mouth fell open a little, and I felt my gut plummet into a chasm. I tried to answer, to say anything at all, but I couldn’t. No words would come to my throat as all my planning, business strategies, everything just collapsed. Gumbo became fascinated by the floor again, and didn’t watch me start to tremble. Finally, he said, “I’ll… I’ll see to it tha’ your shop stays secure while you’re gone.”

Finally, I was able to speak again. I tried swallowing some spit to wet my cracked throat, but my voice still wavered. “You can’t be serious.” He nodded, not taking his gaze off the floor “Gumbo,” my head darted to the wall and back, “two weeks in the Bayou?”

He cleared his throat weakly. “I’ll, uh… I’ll get you squared away with some supplies. Food, water, an’ some such.”

I looked at him incredulously. I couldn’t believe this was happening. “Gumbo, this… you can’t.” He continued looking at the floor, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. With a snarl, a roar of fury, I bucked my table as hard as I could, sending it crashing into my wall. He to jumped to his hooves, meeting my eyes. I stomped a hoof on the floor, and shouted hysterically. “You can’t be fucking serious! Th-this is a fucking death sentence!” He backed away from me slowly. “I had a plan! I had a fucking plan! It’s not fair!” I dropped my voice low as my ears drooped. “It’s not fair.”

“You,” he licked his lips, “y’killed those slavers, Alloy. You brought this whole mess down on th’ town, an’ th’ other ponies don’t wanna take th’ chance Malice comes back for ya.” He backed away to the door and opened it quickly.

“I’m sorry… y’gotta leave tomorrah mornin’.”

I took another step towards him, but he quickly stepped outside. “I’m sorry,” he threw back at me and closed the door behind him, leaving me alone in the empty room.

* * * * * * *

I expected that I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep that night. I curled up in my bedroll, pulling it tight around me as if it I could hide inside it. My mind churned, trying and failing over and over to think of a way to make my old plan work. I thought my worrying would keep me up all night, but the truth was I was so completely drained that I promptly fell asleep.

I snapped awake in a cold sweat, jumping to my hooves like I’d been jolted me with electricity, but for the life of me I had no idea why. I blinked wearily at the bed and poked my head outside. Four Shoes was lit by the early morning grey light, and a couple of the other merchants were in front of their shops, getting set up. One of them glanced in my direction, and I slinked back inside, closing the door gently.

My actions from that point on were all automatic, as if I was watching somepony else puppet me along. I righted the card table in the middle of the room. Donned my barding and saddlebags. Rolled up my bed. Tied it to the top of my left saddlebag. Strapped my sword sheath to my right. Packed my canteen. And the entire time, all I could think was that I had nothing. My plan was completely shot. I probably could live at Shipper in my exile, and that was still my destination, for lack of anywhere else to go, but I had no plan for finding Copper. I couldn’t sell enough to hire a mercenary in the isolated village. And weighing me down even further was the thought that to live past two weeks, I would have to lock up another pony in chains.

Somepony had deposited Red Bean’s saddlebags in front of my door last night, probably Gumbo, and I took a moment to look through them. There was a 9 mm pistol with a holster, a spare magazine and extra ammo, two pairs of hoofcuffs, and what I could only imagine was a collar with a chain lead on it. I just stared at them for a long moment, unwilling to pick them up, even with my magic.

After a minute, my neck and forelegs started to itch and sting.

I shook my head violently and quickly snatched up the chains and cuffs, depositing them straight into my saddlebags before busying myself with attaching and securing the holster of the pistol, trying my hardest to ignore the jingling of the chains in my bags.

Something finally decided to go my way when a knock at the door gave me reprieve from my thoughts. I walked over and opened it, and found myself muzzle to muzzle with Grit. The sandy-coated buck was wearing his typical Stable 15 barding with a few extra bits of armor on it, but he also had a pair of large saddlebags on. He flashed me a nervous smile. “Hey, uhh, g’mornin’. Mind if I come in?”

Wordlessly, I stepped back from the doorway and walked over to my table, sitting down on my haunches and staring at him with a cocked eye. What was he doing here? As if he’d heard my unspoken question, he jerked his head back towards his saddlebags. “I brought you the food an’ supplies Gumbo promised.”

I felt my mouth twitch in disgust as I was reminded of Gumbo’s declaration that he’d be tossing me out on my flank. “Thanks,” I answered venomously, and Grit winced. I sighed and scratched a hoof at the floor, softening my voice. “I know you’re just running the errand. Gumbo told me you were against the whole thing.”

“Against it?” Now it was his turn to sneer, and I was surprised by how irritated he sounded. “It’s fucking bullshit is what it is. None of ‘em wanna let you have a chance.” He growled and shook his head. “They’re scared, I get it, but just… it’s not fair t’ toss you out on your own. An’ Gumbo,” he spat onto the ground like he’d tasted something foul, “just let ‘em canter all over him. Didn’t even try t’ take charge.”

I got up and shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. Thanks for bringing the food over, but I better get on my way. Could you give it here? I’ve still got enough room in my saddlebags.”

He looked back at me, his cheerful demeanor restored. “Well, I figure I’d hold onto it. Since I’m comin’ with you, if you’ll have me.”

I fell back on my haunches, too stunned to care that he was basking in my reaction. “Grit, that’s crazy! You realize it’s two weeks out in the Bayou, right? It’s-”

“Suicide? For one pony, sure. But for two ponies, travellin’ together, odds look a lot better.” He puffed his chest out proudly. “Not t’ mention you’ll be with the best caravan guard in th’ business. I can’t stomach hangin’ you out even if th’ rest of ‘em can. I’m sure the others can hold things together for a couple weeks.”

“Yeah, but are you sure you…” Wait. That was it.

Caravan.

That was it! My voice trailed off, but as the dots connected in my head, my eyes lit up and I couldn’t resist surging forward and hugging the surprised stallion. “That’s it!” I quickly pulled back from him and reasserted my calm professionalism, clearing my throat. “That is, if you’re sure you want to come with me on this.” In my head I was praying to Celestia and Luna both that he would.

“Well, sure. I wouldn’ta offered if I wasn’t sure.” He looked pleased, if a bit puzzled. “But uh… y’mind tellin’ me what’s goin’ on?”

I met his smile with my own. “A caravan. You and I, we’ll be a two-pony caravan. We’ll grab as much of my merchandise as we can carry, and sell stuff where we can. Gather information, if we can find any. We might have to do a lot of walking to the closest settlement besides Shipper, but it’s something.” If I was being honest with myself, I didn’t have the slightest clue if there even were any other settlements closer than Appleloosa, and that was both weeks away on hoof and a slaver town, but a scrap of a plan was better than no plan at all.

Grit thought for a moment, and then mused aloud, “We could prob’ly stop by 15.” I frowned and shook my head, clueless as to what he was talking about. “Stable 15. It’s a ways away, maybe two or three days on hoof t’ the east, but there should still be ponies livin’ there. An’ I’m sure somepony would be happy to see good ol’ hometown colt Grit return.” He grinned and jerked his head back to indicate the yellow “15” emblazoned on his back.

It wasn’t much, but it was better than I had ten minutes ago. “Alright, but I still want to stop by Shipper first. They might be able to help.”

He cocked an eye quizzically at me. “S’that the home of your mysterious tradin’ partners?”

I hesitated a moment. If he was going with me, he’d learn the whole of it sooner or later. It seemed like a petty time to be concerned about my privacy. “Yeah. It’s a village of zebras. Pathway starts out past a wreck of a carriage, that way.” I indicated with a hoof the direction that I’d walk to get to the start of the path. Cardinal directions be damned, I just knew it was ‘that way.’

Grit thought for a moment, staring at the wall in the direction I had indicated, frowning. “Ain’t that…” he mused to himself, then pulled up his PipBuck, pressing a few buttons magically and staring at the screen. I was trying to peek around him, curious as to what he was doing, but he put his foreleg back down before I got a good look. “Nah, I was wrong. Stable 15’s off t’ the south, but s’long as we don’t cross th’ Bridle, shouldn’t be much farther to 15 from here or Shipper.”

I shook my head. “No, my route crosses a few ravines and waterways, but definitely not the Bridle.” He gave me a nod and I turned to my safe. “Well then. Next order of business: if we’re going to be a trade caravan, we better stock up on inventory.” I unlocked it and spread out the contents. Assorted bits of jewelry, knives of varying size and intent, three sets of barding, a collection of tools, and all of the caps I had saved up. We distributed the load between the two of us, and I added in the rest of my scrap metal. All in all, our packs were heavy, but manageable. Grit was stronger than I had expected and took most of the load.

As the two of us trudged through the town, saddlebags loaded with the entire inventory from my store, we drew a few stares, and I caught a few glances of resentment shot my way. Ignoring them, while at the same time grateful that more ponies weren’t out and about to see us off, I led Grit to the start of my route to Shipper, past the rusted husk with the ‘X’ on the hood.

Our pace picked up a bit after we were out of Four Shoes, and Grit flashed me that wide smile he wore all the time. That bright, beaming grin. How the hell was he always so optimistic? I was tempted to ask him, but I shelved my curiosity for now. He started happily chatting away, just filling the air and dispelling the usual silence that I was used to in the Bayou. I gave him my attention, listening to his stories working with caravans and the little tips the traders told him they use over the years.

Somewhere in the in the back of my mind, I knew that the next two weeks would be grueling. But at that moment, and somewhat surprising even myself, all that mattered to me was that I wouldn’t be facing them alone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Footnote: N/A

Alloy Shaper’s Smithy - CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Alloy Shaper’s Travelling Smithy - NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Author's Notes:

Hey look, a chapter that doesn’t end in a cliffhanger. I forgot how that felt. You might have noticed a change in the title format, it was an idea I was batting around in my head, and now it is done for all chapters, and will be done going forward.

Because I will never be able to say it enough times, thanks again to my amazing editors, Mondo and Pipistrelle. And of course, thank you for reading this far!