When Snake Eyes awoke, he was lying down near a fire. The sun had not arisen yet, and the fire lit the ground around him. Snake Eyes stood up, looking around, only finding sand and a cactus here and there. He had wondered who had helped him out. As he looked around for some food, he was interrupted by a deep, scratchy voice.

"Ah, you're awake. Finally."

Snake Eyes turned around to see a elderly unicorn, the color of the ground below him.

"And you are..?" Snake Eyes asked suspiciously.

"My name is unimportant. You need to get on your feet again." the old unicorn said.

"You rescued me?" Snake Eyes asked.

"The past is unimportant, young one. The only thing that matters is your future."

"But, did you rescue me?" Snake Eyes wouldn't give up easily. The unicorn saw this as well.

"Yes I did. And I'm not going to do it again, so you need to watch your own back." The strange elder looked around as a ray of light touched the ground. "Sun is coming up. Follow me."

Snake Eyes followed the old unicorn for about twenty minutes, until they reached a cave.

"In." was all the elder said,

Snake Eyes looked around. There was only one torch to light the entire cavern, as small as it was. There was two beds, a fire in the middle of the cave, stalagmites and stalagmites around the walls, and a headstone near the edge of the cave.

"Who was that?" pointed Snake Eyes.

The old Unicorn sighed.

"His name was Gabriel. About your age."

"Oh..." Snake Eyes found out what happened to the last unicorn that was expelled from Appleloosa.

There was dead silence for a few moments. The only thing that could be heard was the steady dripping of water from the ceiling of the cave.

"How far away are we from Appleloosa?" Snake Eyes broke the silence.

"A couple miles, I suppose. You need to get back after you are done with training."

"Training? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you got your flank kicked. You need to take back what was yours."

Snake Eyes was utterly confused. What was his? The only thing he ever owned was his black cloak, which was nowhere to be seen. Zofia must have taken it from him.

"I saw how you handled being threatened by that Zofia character. The first time, that is." Chucked the elder. "You need to figure out how to take that badge away from her."

"What?"

"I think somepony has to take Appleloosa back from Zofia. The city has been a wreck ever since she put that badge on. Making her own laws, not letting anypony have a speak for themselves, no matter the species. Despicable is what it is."

"I just don't understand why I had to leave. What did I do?"

"You broke the so-called peace of Appleloosa by your presence. Have you never entered an Inn? Why would a pony who has been traveling the entire desert turn down the best Apple Cider ever tasted? What is your major issue?" Said the now irritated elder unicorn.

Snake Eyes was thoroughly mad now. He hated being insulted for things like being a unicorn, and being poor, or both.

"I... just didn't know what to say." Said Snake Eyes, holding back the anger.

"What do you mean, don't know what to say? You say 'yes'! Its a simple three letter word, darn it!"

"And no is a two letter word." Snake Eyes' sarcastic side took over.

"Don't get smart with me, rat. Why aren't you angry? Why aren't you threatening to stab my face too? Huh?"

Snake Eyes did not understand why they were having this conversation. Did this old sack of dung want him out of his cave? Did he want him on his way? Why did he invite him in anyway???

"If you want me out of your domain, you can just tell me." Snake Eyes whispered.

"I don't want you out. I wanted to see how you reacted. Its not only amusing, its telling me how you are going to take the so-called sheriff otta town. Well done." Smiled the Elder.

Snake Eyes thought about what just happened for the next hour,

"So, Snake, how come you dont have a mark?" the Elder approached Snake Eyes, who was sitting by the fire.

"I never did anything besides travel, mister. "

"Well, there has got to be something you are good at. You know levitation, anything else?"

"Nah. Levitation is just something my father taught me."

"What about combat?"

"You have seen how good I do with that." spat Snake Eyes.

"Well, those are the only two things that can get you anywhere out here, so you might as well get better at both and see what happens." The Elder grinned.

For the next few hours, the Elder taught Snake Eyes some transfiguration, a stun spell, and how to block a punch, which Snake Eyes failed to do the first couple times, causing some more pain. The days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into one month. With about ten hours a day of hoof-to-hoof combat training and magic learning, both felt that Snake Eyes was ready.

"Why can't anypony just take Zofia out? You know, just impeach her themselves?" Snake Eyes asked one night.

"Not an easy thing to do, Snake Eyes. She is a lieutenant in the Equestrian Royal Guard."

"Really? You tell me this now?" Snake Eyes angrily said to the elder.

"If I would've told you earlier, you wouldn't have been so happy to train." grinned the elder.

"Well, how come she isn't still guarding one of the princesses?" Snake Eyes asked.

"She was sent to protect the edge of Equestria. And she said she had direct permission from Princess Celestia herself to take the position of Sheriff. I guess the was just angry she couldn't take the fact that she wasn't at Celesta's right hand."

"So, you want me to beat a highly trained soldier in combat?" Snake Eyes worried aloud.

"You did earlier."

Snake Eyes remembered, earlier today, while the two were sparring, Snake Eyes came out on top for the first time since, well, ever. Snake Eyes grinned.

"What rank were you?"

"I never saw combat, I just trained hundreds upon thousands of fillies and colts how to defend our Princesses. And Zofia was one of them. She was always very strong. I never thought she would do something like this, conquer her countries' city." the Elder was clearly angry of what he created, and he hoped inside that Snake Eyes teaches her a lesson.

Snake Eyes rolled over to sleep, and the Elder thought to himself, maybe there will be hope for Gabriel.