Chapter 1: The First Chapter

Before I knew it, I was flipped over onto my back. Just a moment ago we had been face to face, throwing insults at each other. But then my lone foreleg had been swept out from under me and he was on top of me. The blue colt was scrawny. Unfortunately, I was scrawnier. I tried to fight him off, really, I did, but kicks with my hind legs and flailing my wings at him didn’t really do much good. All I could really do was watch as he raised up his foreleg, preparing his strike, and try to take the blow as best I could.

But then I heard a whistle which caused the hoof to freeze in the air just above my face. Somehow, despite being saved the pain, I was even more embarrassed now than I was a few moments ago.

“Run!” The earth pony colt turned and leapt right off of me, headed in the exact opposite direction of the whistle, all three of his friends hot on his tail.

I fell limp as I watched the four of them run off, then laid my head back, closed my eyes, and let out a sigh. What a day.

“Buck!” The sound came from the same direction as the earlier whistle. The voice was accompanied by the sound of galloping hooves. But not one set. There were two. What? “What the hell did you do this time?”

I rolled my eyes behind my closed eyelids before opening them. “I didn’t do nothin’, High!” I rolled over onto my side and looked in the direction of the stallion running towards me. Oh. The filly who was galloping after him instantly slowed down and fell further behind when I looked at her.

The big green earth pony stallion finally came to a stop next to me and took a few deep breaths before letting out a snort. “Don’t give me that, Buck. You did something. And if I let you get two black eyes at one time, your sister is going to kill me when she gets back.” He reached out a hoof to help me up, which after a few moments I finally accepted. Once I was back onto my hooves he continued, “So what did you do?”

All I could do was roll my eyes again and look anywhere that wasn’t at him. I did speak, though. “He started off all normal… Then he started insulting Lily.” As I finished speaking, the dark green filly that had been following High finally caught up to us.

High sighed after I spoke then looked past me in the direction the four foals had run. “Look. Fighting ain’t the answer. You’ve heard me say that a hundred times now. I’m wasting my breath.” He looked back down to me. “At least try to come get me next time? Huh? Go get yourself cleaned up. I’ll go see if I can get Powder and them to admit to it.”

“Yeah… yeah sure.” I finally worked up enough courage to at least look at him. “I’ll try to find you next time.” High smiled and lifted a hoof to pat me on the shoulder, then stepped around and started to trot off after the other foals.

I nodded and turned my head to look after him, letting out a soft snort after he was out of earshot, the feathers on my wings ruffling some. Then suddenly I felt a nose on my cheek. The touch made my ears pin back, the embarrassment coming to a head.

“C’mon, don’t be that way, Bucky. High Times means well and you know it.”

I turned my head back to look at the filly, who was now standing right next to me. She was shorter. Half a year younger. Unicorn. One of those manes that was always covering her eyes which made her constantly have to use her magic to flick the hairs to the side of her face. In a cute way, not an annoying way. Was there even a difference? Well there had to be a difference. I liked it when Inkblot did it, hated it when everyone else did. Obviously there was a difference.

I just rolled my eyes and lifted the tip of my wing up to rub off the area where she’d nuzzled me. “Do ya have t’ call me Bucky?”

She smiled a little. “I will call you Bucky as long as you call me Inky.”

“But that’s yer name!”

“No, it’s Inkblot.”

“Same thing!”

Inkblot huffed then turned and started walking away. “You should thank me.”

I watched Inkblot turn to go, but then tilted my head when she spoke again. “What for?”

“Saving you a beating.”

I just snorted and shook my head a little bit before letting it fall so I could look towards the ground. Dirt was interesting, right? It was all brown and stuff. Sometimes it had rocks in it.

“Are you coming or what?”

I blinked and looked up. Inkblot had stopped walking and turned around to look back at me. “Why would I go with you?”

“Because your cape is ready.”

“Oh!” My cape! Well that made today a lot better. A cape is definitely worth an almost-beating and a massively painful black eye. My wings pushed out to my sides and gave a flap in the air to help push me in the direction of Inkblot, then I hit the ground again and trotted after the filly.

Our walk through town was a fairly quiet one. All the other foals were busy playing with each other. Mid-afternoon, they’d had lunch, all full of energy again. It only took a couple of minutes to get all the way across town. Wasn’t like it was big. It was only all of seven portable buildings. The sleeping tents didn’t really count as buildings. There was the General Store, the Adults’ Building, and the Hospital. I’d seen a real hospital, though. Real ones were huge, and had a bunch of floors and hundreds of rooms. They weren’t like ours with its one room. But then there were the Storage buildings, one for general stuff, one for food, and one for stuff we were going to take to Market. Then there was Inky’s place. It wasn’t the biggest, but it wasn’t the smallest, either.

Inkblot opened the door, then held it open for me as I followed her in. The inside was darker than the outside, but enough light came in the windows to make it easy to see still. It was actually one of the cleaner buildings in town. A couch was off on one side of the room, but everything else was dominated by clothing supplies. Fabric, sewing stuff, a dozen other things that I had no clue what their names were. Inkblot did though. She headed over to one corner, used her magic to pull out a cape from chest, then carried it back over to her sewing desk. The cape still had holes in it.

“I thought you said my cape was done.”

“Hmm?” Inkblot looked over her shoulder at me for a second then looked back at her work, her magic pulling off a needle and some thread as she started to sew in patches on the cape. “It is done. Almost.”

My mouth fell open, but ultimately I just let out a sigh. I stood there for a minute before walking over to the couch and simply collapsing onto it. “Why am I friends with you?”

“Because.”

“That helps, thanks…” She didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t see her face, but I could practically feel her smile. It helped ease my annoyance. Sorta.

A few minutes of quiet followed as she worked on the cape and I started to doze on the couch, but then it was broken by her voice. “So when is Lily coming back?”

I blinked my eyes back open when she spoke. “Huh? Oh… uh… I dunno. Probably inna couple days.”

“How long has she been out?”

“Almost two weeks… like… thirteen days?” I said.

“That’s actually her limit. She’s never been gone without you for more than two weeks at a time. Usually about ten days, but never more than two weeks.”

I lifted my head up and slowly looked over at her. “What are you, a calendar?”

Inkblot simply nodded and pointed over at her wall. I followed the direction in with my eyes and, sure enough, there was a calendar hanging on the wall. “How have I not seen that before?”

“You don’t see a lot of things, Bucky. Like how bad an idea it is to take on four colts all stronger than you at the same time.”

“Oh jeez.” I rolled my eyes and lifted a wing up to cover my face. There was Inkblot’s smile again. I could feel it. After a few minutes I rolled off of the couch and headed to her workbench. I took a seat next to her and laid my head down on her desk. “How long’s this gonna take?”

Inkblot gave me a quick glance but didn’t stop focusing on her work. “Longer if you keep asking. Besides, you can have a little patience.” She paused her work and let out a fake gasp. “Maybe you can get your cutie mark in having patience!”

I just sat there, dumbfounded, then looked up at her without taking my head off the desk. “You serious?”

Inkblot looked down at me and shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt, could it?”

“It could get me bored, that’s what it could do.”

Inkblot leaned down and blew on one of my ears, causing it to flick, then resumed her work once more. “If you’re so bored, how come you never go out with your sister?”

I stretched my wings out behind me as Inkblot spoke, then let them fall limp beside me onto the ground. “‘Cause even when I go out with her I still ain’t doing much. She won’t give me a gun cause she don’t want me to kill nothing. So I’m stuck with my rope. And that’s fine, but then she makes me just sit by the front door’a buildings while she goes in and clears ‘em… and I just gotta listen and hope she don’t die.”

Inkblot was quiet as she continued to work. She only spoke after she finished the patch she was working on at the time. “Can’t blame her, really. I’m like half your size and I can still take you in a fight.”

I let out a huff and rolled my eyes. “I get it, I’m weak, can we move on? ‘Sides… whenever I go out with her I always end up missin’ home and just wantin’ t’ come back. Warm, decent bed, not being on the move all the time, not bein’ surrounded by things that wanna kill, maim, an’ eat ya. Three legs is a good number, ya know? I don’t need less.”

I could hear the sound of Inkblot trying to not laugh too loud. As pleasant a sound it was, it unfortunately got interrupted by another one of her gasps. “You wound me, good colt!” Oh goddesses, what now? “You go on trips with your sister where you are gone for weeks, fighting off ghouls and worse, and all you miss from home is your bed?!”

Admittedly I’d been the teeniest tiniest bit worried. But I closed my eyes and smiled after she spoke. “Oh alright, Ink, I miss you too when I’m out.”

“That’s better. Now get your head off of my desk,” she said as she started to poke my nose with needles.

I sat up and rubbed my nose with a wing. “Those things hurt, you know.”

“Think of them as payment,” she said with a smirk.

“For what?!”

“For the next time I have to run and get High Times to save your hide.”

I just growled at her. There wasn’t much else I could do.

The next several minutes passed quietly, Inkblot simply working away while I plotted my revenge. Breaking her needles? Too permanent. Locking her chests? Maybe. Oh! Stealing her thread! Her cutie mark was a roll of thread, that one oughta get her good. My thoughts were interrupted, however, by her voice.

“Cape’s done.” She was now definitely all smiles.

I let out a chuckle and turned my attention back to her. “About time, slowpoke. Lemme see.” Inkblot pulled the cape over and floated it out in front of my face. As I looked over it I started to smile. It was all nice and clean, back to its bright red colors. The little blue patch with a yellow pony on each flank were cleaned up too. All the holes had been patched. Wait. Wait a minute… All… all the holes had been patched. All of them.

I licked my lips slowly. “Inky…?”

Inkblot was still all smiles. “Yeah?”

“You put patches over the holes for my wings…”

Inkblot just blinked at me. “I… I… no.” She yanked the cape back towards her and started frantically looking over it. “I… I… no! No!” Her cheeks began to flush when she confirmed what I’d said. Reaching out with her magic and wildly gathering up her supplies to get back to work, she immediately turned away from me and began trying to fix her mistake.

It was all I could do to not bust out laughing so loud the entire town heard me. As it was, I was laughing so hard that anyone right outside the building would still be able to hear me. I eventually had to put my wing into my mouth and bite down to get myself to stop. After I had, I shook my head as I watched Inkblot’s needles and scissors fly around the cloak.

“Slow down, sheesh, yer going to hurt yourself.”

Inkblot didn’t even turn to look at me. “I can’t believe I did that.”

I laughed again then reached out with my wings, wrapping them loosely around her neck in a hug. “You’ll fix it. I’m going to go take a nap.”

Inkblot just nodded to the words, so after a few seconds I broke the hug and walked past her, heading on out of her building. Once outside, I looked left and right. Nobody was near the building. That meant nobody heard the laughing. Good. Last thing I needed was somebody going and rushing in on Inky with her so embarrassed. I spread my wings out to my sides, flapped a couple of times, then jumped up into the air and started lazily flying up over the buildings.

That had gone well. My nose said it could’ve gone a lot better, but I disagreed.

I flew over a few of them then came to a stop and landed on top of the General Store. Most of my things were up here. My bed, my saddle bags, the tarp I put over them when it rained. It wasn’t much, but it was away from… everything. My little perch all to myself. After taking a look around and making sure everything and everyone on the ground seemed okay, I let myself topple over onto my bed, close my eyes, and start to drift off to sleep.

Okay. Okay, maybe… maybe my little perch wasn’t away from absolutely everything. What had Inkblot called it? A roost! Maybe my little roost wasn’t away from everything. At some point during the day I was awoken by hushed whispers from the ground below me.

“Ya sure he’s up there?” I was pretty sure I knew who it was, but I’d never heard Adagio’s voice be that timid before.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” a filly answered.

A second colt spoke up. “What if he don’t wanna be bothered?”

The filly sighed. “Ain’t like yer gonna ask his permission. It’s the whole point of the bet.” Clearly she was the ringleader here.

“What if he gets mad?” The voice of a second filly that I didn’t recognize.

“Tri ain’t gonna get mad.” Ah! This voice is recognized. It belonged to a little unicorn filly named Sunny Sea. I started to smile to myself as I realized exactly what was going on here.

“He better get mad, that’s the whole point of the bet!” the ringleader said.

The second filly spoke again, “L-let’s just call this off. Ten caps and a box of cereal isn’t worth making him mad…” D’aw… There’s a good girl. Don’t let the mean ponies get to you!

The ringleader’s voice shot back, “Don’t be a wuss.”

“I’m not! I-I-I’m just… just going to go get High…”

That got the ringleader’s attention. “No! No, okay, yer not a wuss. Jus’ go stand over there.” I could hear the soft padding of the scared filly’s hooves as she moved to follow directions. “Now is everypony else still on for this or what?”

“Yeah, let’s do this,” Sunny Sea said.

“I guess so…” Adagio whispered.

“Alright. Good. Now remember the plan. We get Tripod down here. We say the magic word. Last one to move gets ten caps and a box of Sugar Apple Bombs, got it?”

There was a stretch of silence that I could only assume was everyone expressing their understanding of the plan. Several seconds passed, then I heard a knocking on the wall of the General Store.

“Tripod? We have a question for you!” It was the ringleader’s voice, but I still smirked hearing my nickname. Inkblot had convinced me to start using it around the new arrival foals years ago. Turns out foals mispronounce a lot of words, and attempting ‘Buck’ got them in trouble with the adults a lot.

I decided to play it up and let out a long, low groan. “Whaaaaaaat?”

“We need you to look at something.”

I stood up and peered at them over the edge of the roof. “Hang on.” Making a show out of stretching, I cracked my neck and twisted my body as much as I could. Then I jumped off the roof and circled them as I glided to the ground. “What’s up?”

The five ponies took a collective step back as I stood up as tall as I could in front of them. I wasn’t muscular in the slightest, but being fifteen years old compared to their ten years or younger at least let me be a lot taller than them by default.

“We, uh... just wanted to, uh...” Little Miss Bad Influence reached into her saddlebag and pulled an item out, setting it on the ground in front of her. “Just wanted to give you this bottle of Buckweiser we found!”

I took my cue, closed my eyes, and went into full rage mode. Rearing up and flaring my wings out, I gave a shrill whinny. I pounded the ground hard when I came back down and snorted several times, trying to sound as mean as possible. When I opened my eyes, the only one still standing in front of me was Sunny Sea. The little filly simply had a big smile on her face.

I stared at her while I settled down and folded my wings back to my sides. “I don’t know why I let you convince them that I care about this.” I reached out and knocked the bottle of Buckweiser over with my hoof. It was a sore spot. Being named after alcohol was fine and all, but did it have to be the very cheapest kind? Were Whisky, Vodka, Bourbon, and Tequila all taken already? My full name just made me seem cheap and ordinary. Not.. that… Buck was much of an improvement, but still! It’s the principle of the thing.

Sunny Sea just laughed and walked over to me. She reared up and threw her forelegs around my neck in a hug. “Because I’m a good spy, you really do love me, and a few caps and a snack is the least you can do.”

I snorted as I got hugged. “You really know how to abuse power.” I slipped my wing down beneath her now exposed belly and tickled at it.

Sunny let out a yelp and dropped back down to the ground with a giggle as she kicked my wing away. “It’s fun!”

I chuckled and moved my wing to ruffle at Sunny’s mane after she successfully batted it off her belly, and I was about to speak when Sunny let out a gasp. What was it with fillies gasping around me today?

“What happened to your eye, Tri?!”

I blinked. “Huh? Oh.” I pulled my wing back and gingerly poked around my right eye with my feathers. It was still really tender. Didn’t hurt unless it got touched, though. “I uh… was practicing with my rope this morning. Had a beer bottle up on a fence.” I looked down at the bottle of Buckweiser in the dirt. “Actually it was probably this one. Anyway, lasso’d it, yanked it back, but I yanked it back wrong, bottle came and smacked me right in the eye.” I demonstrated the bottle’s movements in the air with my wing, ending up with my wing covering my right eye as I looked back at Sunny.

Sunny Sea giggled a bit at my motion, but then ran up and gave me another quick hug. “Don’t do that.”

I huffed this time, but used my other wing to return Sunny’s hug. “Not like I meant to.”

“Well then next time don’t!” Sunny broke off the hug then stepped back again.

I rolled my eyes then started to look around the area. “If only it was that simple.” Wait, what? I tilted my head a bit and stepped to the side… yep. I wasn’t seeing things. The small, scared filly from the group hadn’t actually run off very far. She was hiding behind the food storage building, her head peeking around the corner, watching me. I reached out with my wing to tap Sunny’s side then nodded in the direction of the scared filly. “Who is she? I don’t recognize her.”

“That’s Beanie,” she said after following my gaze. “Only been here a few months. Nice, but shy. Don’t like most foals her own age. Too rowdy.”

“You should introduce me.”

“Probably not a good idea, Tri. After that little show she’s gonna be terrified of you.”

I turned back to look at Sunny. “Does she like you?”

“Everypony likes me.”

“Great. You’ll be right there with me and she won’t be so scared.” The look on the unicorn’s face told me it wouldn’t be that simple.

“Okay, okay, c’mon,” she sighed.

I tried to do the opposite of what I had done earlier and make myself look as small as possible as we walked over to her.

“Howdy, Beanie,” Sunny said when we reached the filly’s spot. “You know you don’t have to stand here anymore, right? Everypony else ran away.” Beanie never took her eyes off of me while Sunny spoke. “And hey, since you’re being so good at being still, maybe we can split the bet winnings.” After still not getting a response, Sunny shook her head and pointed at me. “This here is Tripod, he wanted to see you.”

Beanie’s voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t... I didn’t want...” She said more after that, but it was too quiet to hear.

I actually started to feel a little bad. Just a little. The tiny thing couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old. “I ain’t really mad, Beanie.” I slowly worked my body down to lay next to her, then reached over with a wing and nudged some of her green mane away from her face.

“But... they said... and then you...”

“All for fun.” I put on a big smile. “Smiles and laughter and fun.”

Beanie still looked as scared of me as ever. It was kind of cute how she tried to hide her entire body behind her long mane. For several minutes I tried to make funny faces and noises, but nothing seemed to work.

“What am I going to have to-” SPLAT!

I recoiled from the sudden feeling of mud on my face. I looked around and saw Sunny a few feet away with a small hole in the ground next to her. Before I could ask her what she thought she was doing, I heard quiet giggles next to me.

“Oh, so you think that’s funny, huh?” I wiped the mud off my face, grabbed some more with my wing, and tossed a large mudball back at Sunny. The impact left her covered in mud from nose to horn, and the giggles from the little filly turned into full laughs.

After a few minutes, we had succeeded in getting mud everywhere and we had even gotten Beanie to toss a couple mud balls at us. When we were done, we simply laid on our backs in the middle of our battlefield and watched the cloudy sky.

Once again I was awoken by a voice above me.

“I’ve been looking all over for you.”

What was it with today? It had, like, themes. Fillies gasping, rude awakenings… I lifted my head out of the mud and started to look around. Sunny Sea was still on one side of me. You could still see most of her blue coat, but her yellow mane was nearly pure mud. I was going to be in so much trouble… On my other side lay Beanie. Both of them were still sound asleep. I finally looked above me to see Scroll. Paper Scroll, to be exact.

“Can’t say I was hoping to be woken, Scroll.”

“You did look mighty peaceful,” the earth pony colt said, “but we need you to sign out a shipment.”

I let out a sigh. “Can’t Knoll do it?”

Scroll let out a long, drawled, “Nooooo. He only has authority when you aren’t here, remember? You’re the oldest colt, he’s the second oldest.”

“An’ yer third oldest, why can’t you do it?”

“Because the last day you were both out of town at the same time was three years ago.”

I let out a huff and started to work my way up to my hooves. “Fine. What’s gettin’ shipped where?” Once I was up, Scroll started to head towards the third storage building, the one we use for holding things we intend to take to Market. I followed him dutifully, because I had to always do my job, not only do it when I wasn’t wanting to take a nap.

“Two groups of Crusaders came back in yesterday. Had a nice haul. High said that next week some sort of dangerous… things were going to be coming through, and if we wanted to go to Market soon, it had to be soon soon. Not sorta soon.” He continued on in front of me and opened the door to the building. He held it open for me too.

Unlike Inkblot’s building, this one didn’t have as many windows, which made the inside be a whole lot darker. And it was a lot more cluttered, too. Sure, a lot of the goods were lining shelves and such along the walls, but a fair amount of it all was just tossed into the middle of the floor to be picked out and sorted later. By the door there was a large chalkboard hanging on the wall which we used for keeping inventory.

I walked my way over to the chalkboard and went about finding a piece of chalk. “Dangerous things? That’s incredibly specific.”

“Don’t blame me, blame High.”

“Maybe I’ll ask him.”

I found a suitable piece of chalk, then turned and started to look around the room. The layout was messy, but it had a system. Brand new stuff to the middle of the floor. Eventually it got sorted and put on the shelves in the back. The oldest stuff had worked its way down to the shelves in the front, so when we packed up carts for Market we could just take that stuff and be sure to keep the cycle running. Normally nothing stayed more than five or six weeks in this building.

As the oldest colt in town, it was my responsibility to make sure all three storage buildings were kept in line. I had to make sure the food building was fully stocked and that we always had enough in reserve in case a few of our scavenging parties didn’t come back with any. I had to make sure that everything in the item storage building was properly inventoried and that all items taken out were both returned and put back in their proper place. Also, it was my job to keep track of the building we were currently in, to make sure we would always have a good amount of items for trade or sale, and to make sure it didn’t overflow or ever actually empty out.

“Who’s all goin’?” I asked as I looked back at Scroll.

“Me, my brother, and Inkblot.”

I had asked so that I knew exactly how many carts would get pulled, and thus would know how much of the inventory here to sign out. I turned back to the chalkboard and started to write, but then stopped. Inkblot was going? I tapped the chalk against the board a couple of times, then wrote down that two carts would be pulled, hauling all of the first eight shelving sets in the storage room. I followed that with the names Paper Scroll, Paper Plate, and Inkblot. I paused for a couple of moments then added 'Buck' onto the end of that list.

“Woah,” said Scroll when he noticed my name, “You wanna go to Market?”

I bit my lip then nodded as I put the chalk back down. “Yeah, I think so. Change of pace, ya know?”

Scroll just stared at me. “You love your routine.”

“Well, you know, nice to try out new things, right?”

Scroll’s stare continued. “You hate new things.”

I huffed and looked back at him. “Well too bad, I’m going! My name is up there, no going back now.” He started to move past him towards the door.

“You could just era-”

“NOPE! It’s up there forever!”

I walked through the door and let it fall closed behind me, separating myself from Scroll in the process. Once it had, I spread my wings and took to the sky again, once more heading right for the General Store.

Preening was usually relaxing, but the horrible taste of mud was putting a damper on the usual effects. In the past half hour I had coiled my rope twice, packed my saddlebags three times, and made sure there was nothing wrong with my leather vest once. I had no idea why. We wouldn’t even be going to Market until tomorrow. That’s why I had settled down and tried to relax myself with some preening.

Today had started out pretty bad. Don’t forget it got worse. But then it got better. Is embarrassing yourself in front of High and Inky really all that much better? Well, no, but- Well then you’re an idiot. But we had fun! And got to laugh, and then were was a mud-ball fight, and those are always fun. And you’ll get in trouble as soon as High has to be the one to give Beanie a b-

I huffed and spit the mud out of my mouth onto the roof. I hated arguing with myself. I always lost, every single time. The only thing I could do to win was just stop the arguing and think about something else. What else… Today really was a good day. Only a couple of things could’ve made it better.

As if the clouds were reading my mind, a drop of water fell onto my nose. Moments later, more drops of rain started to hit the roof all around me. I stopped my preening and smiled. Rain always made a day better. Tilting my head up, I looked towards the clouds to watch the rain fall. Right up until a raindrop fell directly into my eye. I sputtered and dropped my head to rub at my eye with a wing. That was a stupid idea.

My stupid idea was followed with a better one, though. With all the rain, everyone else was sure to go inside, right? Absolutely. I could finally get that nap I’d been trying to take all day.

As the rain picked up, I curled up and tucked my head under my wing to keep the rain off of it. With any luck, my dreams would be about how awesome tomorrow was going to be.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Scrap Metal, Kibu, and No One for helping me out with catching any errors in plot or grammar and spelling thus far.

Chapter 2: Chapter Names Are Hard

Things happen. You know. Like how when you’re craving a nap you think sleeping out in the rain is a perfectly good idea. You go to sleep and it’s fine, but when you wake up the next morning you’re stiff and it’s hard to move. So you stretch out all nice and slow and your back cracks in three spots. The stretching, the cracking, it all feels so good. So you roll over onto your back, stretch your hooves up to the sky and sigh, and at that moment you come to a horrible realization. Your back was completely covered in mud. Mud that, because you had the brilliant idea to sleep out in the rain, was still very thoroughly muddy. And now you’re on your back, which means your bed is completely filthy, as if getting soaked in rain because you didn’t put the tarp over it wasn’t enough already.

I let out a groan as my mind finished processing what I’d just done. I was so dead. Then again, Inkblot had managed to clean my cape. A bed wouldn’t be too much harder, right? Right. Had to be. One deep breath and head shake later, I was busy rolling back over and getting to my hooves. My wings were damp, my back was still wet and muddy, mane too probably. And the bed was… well it was a mess.

Oh well. I’d have plenty of time to find a way to subtly bring it up to her on the trip to Market. For now I had more important things to worry about. Such as, oh, yep. As I looked over towards the storage buildings, I could already see one cart completely packed while some Crusaders were working on packing up the second cart. If we could get a few hundred caps to bring back, it would set us up pretty nicely. Elsewhere the streets were pretty deserted. Well, not streets, really. It was more like a big open area used for exercise and playing. However, that entire area was now pure mud after the rain. My bet was that High Times had been doing something to keep all the foals from going outside and getting into it.

I still had a job to do, though. I stepped off of the edge of the roof and dropped straight down to the door of the building I’d been sleeping on and immediately went straight inside.

“Well would ya look at that! Featherbrain finally woke up.”

I came to a stop before having a chance to close the door behind me, and looked around. “Huh?”

A red earth pony filly was leaning on her counter, forehooves up on it as she used it to support her front half. She liked that spot. Which made sense seeing as how this was her store. Bottom Line snickered at my response.

“C’mon, Featherbrain. It’s noon already.” She lifted a forehoof and pointed around to the other ponies in the store. “The others have been here for an hour and a half.”

I just stared blankly at Bottom Line as she spoke, then followed her hoof when she pointed around. There were others here! Inkblot, Paper Scroll, and Scroll’s little brother Paper Weight.

“How long d- Noon? Wait are we- What?” I looked back at Line then at the other three in the room before my eyes went wide. “Oh! Shopping list! Right! Crap! Uh…” My mind started to swirl as I tried to remember items that needed to be put on such a list, but it was interrupted by a snort followed by voices.

“Close my door, Featherbrain.” I glanced at Line again then turned and did so. When I did that, I heard a bit of a gasp behind me. Again with the gasping…

“Bucky, your back! What happened? Did you roll off the roof?”

My ears perked and I quickly spun back around to face Inkblot. “I uh, long story. Actually. Very lo-”

Paper Scroll interrupted with a laugh, “Yes, so long. He was sleeping in mud. That was where I found him yesterday.”

I shot Scroll a look then started to walk further into the room, closer to the group up by Bottom Line’s store counter.

Inkblot looked at Scroll as he spoke then simply shook her head in disappointment at me. “How can one colt be so consistently dirty?” she asked as she lifted a forehoof up to flick off bits of mud. Her actions mostly just served to smear the mud further, rather than do any actual cleaning.

Paper Scroll laughed again and motioned to me with a hoof. “Think about it. Pegasus, tryin’ to live with the dirt ponies. He’s just trying really, really hard to be one of us. Of course, I’m pretty sure he’s used to faceplanting into the dirt.”

I rolled my eyes at Scroll, but the earth pony’s last bit caught my attention. “An’ what’s that s’posed to mean?”

“It means I heard about you and Powder yesterday. About how good friends you are with the ground. That’s the problem with a tripod, it’s unbalanced.” Scroll had the smuggest of smiles when he finished speaking. Inkblot had reached up to cover her mouth with a forehoof. I was pretty sure she’d be laughing if she hadn’t.

I smacked my lips and my wings flexed a little at my sides, spreading out then folding right back in. The door to the store opened behind us, but I had more important things on my mind. “I might be unbalanced, but I still got one more limb than you got, so suck it.”

Scroll’s smile widened and he started to answer, but stopped when Bottom Line kicked the top of her counter. “Would y’all make out already so we can get a move on with what we’re s’posed t’ be doing here?”

I turned to look back at Bottom Line, only to see Sunny Sea between me and the store’s counter, having just put a cup of juice onto the counter in front of me. The little filly, however, was staring at Bottom Line now. She slowly turned around to look at me and Scroll. “You two are gonna kiss?!”

It took me a second to process what was said, but when I did, I shook my head rapidly. “What? No. No! We ain’t gonna kiss. No. Ew! No!”

Sunny Sea’s eyes grew wider and wider as I spoke and she was gasping and pointing at us by the time I had finished. “You already did! You already did! Aaaaaah!” She put her hoof back down and bolted for the door. “I gotta tell everypony!”

“What?! No!” I reached out after her with my wing, but by the time I’d turned she was already long gone out the door.

“Four ‘no’s and an ‘ew’? Am I really that gross?”

I looked back at Scroll and huffed at him. “Yer at least worth six ‘no’s and two ‘ew’s, but she ran away too fast.” Scroll snorted, but I immediately turned to Inkblot. “Yer th’ oldest filly. That means yer her boss.” Inkblot nodded slowly, still with her hoof over her mouth to keep her from laughing. “Then you need t’ go tell her to stop doin’ whatever she’s doin’.” Inkblot simply shook her head. “What? Why not?!”

Inkblot finally pulled her hoof down, a little laugh escaping as she opened her mouth to speak, “I can’t break that girl’s heart, her hero finally found somebody and she’s so excited, I don’t think I have it in me to try and tell her otherwise.”

I let out a long groan and pulled my wing over my face. “Y’all ‘re awful.”

Bottom Line spoke up again, sounding somewhat disgruntled. “Yes, we are. Now that that’s settled, can we get to the shoppin’ lists? Yeah? Yeah.”

There was a muffled chorus of acknowledgement from the three of us. Scroll’s little brother, Paper Weight, still hadn’t said a word the whole time. Inkblot started first with explaining the shopping list. She handled both the list for herself and her store as well as the overall list for the fillies of the town. I heard her mention thread and fabric, then various foods. Right about the moment she started listing out mare-care products I succeeded in zoning her out entirely. Why? Because I had a cup of juice. And juice was better than hearing about what growing fillies needed for their bodies. I finished rubbing my face then reached out and took the cup Sunny had brought in. It wasn’t very big, but it was enough to quench my morning thirst.

By the time the juice was gone, Inkblot was done and Paper Scroll had started his list. He dealt with the Crusader excursions. We lived mostly off of the things the groups of foals had gone out to scavenge and bring back to us to either use or sell, and they needed supplies for their trips. Weapons, ammo, materials such as saddlebags, armor, and whatnot.

I wasn’t particularly listening to him either, though. No, the door had opened again and let in a purple, nine-year-old filly. I didn’t actually know her name, but I did recognize her as one of the victims of my scaring last Nightmare Night. I was unfortunately a bit too effective, however, and she’d actually been frightened of me for the few weeks since then too. When she spotted me this time, I saw the flash of fear go over her face. I gave her a quick smile then looked back over at my own gathering, pretending to have stopped paying attention to her. It worked, at least, and she started to come in and head straight for the small candy section.

A couple minutes later I glanced back over her way and saw she was actually still there, trying in vain to reach one of the candy bars that was at the top of the section, just out of her reach. My ears flicked back to Scroll. Yep. Still blabbering on about ammo. I turned and walked over behind the filly, then slipped up beside her. “Lemme help.”

The filly drew back when she heard my voice right next to her, but at least she didn’t seem too scared. I flashed her another smile then reached up, grabbed the bar, then dropped my head down and offered it to her. She hesitated once or twice, but then reached forward and took the bar. I smiled again as she took it, then extended out my wing and made a shooing motion. “Go on, I’ll pay.” The filly looked over at the counter, then at me, then the counter, then me, then turned and made a dash back out of the store. I let out an amused snort and just shook my head.

“FEATHERBRAIN!”

The sudden shout made me jump out of my skin and end up hovering in the air right above where I’d just been standing. I looked around, realized everything was still okay, then turned to Bottom Line. “Oh Goddesses do you really have to yell so much? Jeez!”

Bottom line huffed at me. “What did I just say?”

“My name!”

“Before that!”

“Wha- what? I don’t know.”

Bottom Line shook her head slowly at me. It was either in disappointment or anger, I wasn’t really sure. “Have you been listening at all?”

I stared at her for a few seconds wondering what the right answer could possibly be. “Um… uh… yes. No. Maybe. Uh… Just put the candy bar on my credit.”

Bottom Line didn’t say anything, but she did shift over to her cash register and ring up the few caps the bar had cost. “Now what is on the colt’s shopping list, hmm?”

“Uh… right.” Somehow I didn’t expect that question. I really should’ve, but, here we were. I fluttered back down to the ground and landed next to Inkblot.

The next five minutes consisted mainly of me attempting to remember the different types of food the colts had told me they wanted in the next couple of weeks to varying degrees of success. I’d made it most of the way through, but then yet another pony walked into the General Store, this one openly interrupting us.

“Buck? We need to talk.”

I stopped mid-sentence and looked over my shoulder. High Times had been the one to step through that door. “Uh… we’re uh…” I stopped short when I saw the look on his face. One that said he was in a really big rush and didn’t have time for me to slow him down. “Yeah.” I looked back at Inkblot, Scroll, and Bottom Line and gave a shrug with my wings, then turned around and walked over to the door.

High Times led me just a bit outside of the General Store, then stopped and turned back to look at me. “I just saw your name listed as going along with the carts. Why?”

I tilted my head a bit at that question. Really… weird. But easy to answer, at least! “Be… cause?” What? That wasn’t even a full sentence.

High Times let out a somewhat exasperated sigh. “Look, Buck, we’ve seen bloodwings flying around not too far from here. They’re expanding their territory.”

My eyes went wide. “Wha- really? Serious? Who knows?”

“Me, the adults, except for your sister anyway, you, and the Crusaders that saw them.”

“Right, right right right.” I looked away and turned my head to the ground. Bloodwings… That explained the sudden trip to offload excess junk. My ears perked up and I shot my eyes back to High Times. “We’re moving again, aren’t we?”

High Times nodded to me. “Yes, and that means you can’t go on that trip. We need to be packed up and getting the town on the move by tomorrow. You need to stay here and help.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but I couldn’t really get anything out. He was right. If bloodwings were expanding their territory, they could very well smell us or keep expanding. There was no way we could fend off a swarm of those things. We’d have to pack up the buildings and haul them off away. At least this would only be the second time in the last two or three years we had to do so.

High Times reached out and nudged my shoulder with his hoof. “Atta boy. We’ve got the hospital and our building, it’s the rest that needs covered.” With that, he turned and trotted off, heading straight for the hospital.

I continued to stand there for a couple of minutes going over scenarios in my head. Most of them were actually rather gross. Bloodwings attacking, sucking all of our blood and leaving a bunch of husks around. But then I worked my way through to all the possible disasters that could happen with packing, like wheels on the bottoms of buildings falling off and the entire building toppling over…

Well! Aren’t those fun thoughts, huh? I shook my head vigorously and forced myself to stop that nonsense. We had to get the town packed, and that wasn’t going to happen if I sat there all day thinking of what could go wrong. I turned around and stepped half way back into the General Store. Now it was my turn to interrupt them.

“Guys.” Huh… they were still talking. “Yo, guys.” Still talking. “GUYS!” There we go. They all stopped and turned to look at me. “I’m not goin’ t’ Market with y’all. I gotta stay behind and organize… ‘cause we’re movin’ out tomorrow as soon as you guys get back. Whole town’s movin’.” Surprise came over all of their faces in unison, but, much like High Times, I no longer really had any time to waste. I backed out, shut the door, and headed on over to the residential tents to get ponies rallied up for packing.

Coffee does strange things to a pony. Other than make them have to pee really badly. Lots of things do that, coffee isn't special there. Coffee, more importantly, makes a pony wake up. Which is great when you have to stay up all night. The foals, even me, weren't allowed to have coffee. High Times said we had enough energy without it, we didn't need to be drinking it and end up causing him even more of a hassle. This night was different, however. We had things to get done. So while the adults were downing it all night, I also got the privilege of drinking it... and boy did I. Stuff was good! All the rest of the foals worked through shifts so that they could still sleep some of the night while we got packing done, but not me. No, I had to organize the shifts and make sure everything stayed on track.

There's a thing about the sunrise after a night of drinking coffee, too. I was exhausted. And I knew I was. If I had the chance, I could've fallen over in the dirt right where I stood and slept... maybe a whole day. At least. But no, my mind wouldn't stop telling my body to do things. It was tired too! But no, it just wouldn't stop. When I saw the sunrise, though, for a little bit, I didn't feel tired anymore. I actually felt excited. It was a new day, I'd made it all the way through the night, and it was beautiful... Then a few minutes later I crashed again and had to go down more coffee.

By the time two o'clock in the afternoon rolled around, my mind didn't even feel like it had things to do anymore. It just wanted to sleep. I suppose it was good that by that point I'd just finished helping pack up the last of the General Store, which was the last building packed overall. It was a shame, but a lot of stuff had to be left behind. That was also part of my job. I determined what was left behind when we moved town, because we couldn't pack everything. The buildings had to hold the residential tents and everybody's personal belongings, and those always got priority over whatever junk was already in the buildings. I had to determine that, I had to organize who was packing what, where they were packing it, make sure they packed it in a way that it wouldn't all come crashing down mid-trip, and then figure out what all wasn't going to fit and thus would get left behind and not packed.

Pack. Pack pack pack. That's a funny word, pack. Pack, lack, gak, snack. Ooooh, a snack would be so good right now. C'mon. C'mon, hooves! Let's go get a snack! Come on, don't just sit there and do nothing, move!

My attempted pep talk was cut short by a hoof knocking at the side of my head. I gave a loud snort as I came out of my day-dreaming daze and looked around, quickly finding Inkblot right next to me. "Yer pretty..."

The dark green filly's eyes blinked rapidly and she pulled her head back a little, clearly shocked by my words. Hey, so was I. Couldn't blame her. She started to smile soon after, though. "Really?"

I looked her over quickly. Dirty, dusty from the trip to Market, hadn't taken a bath in a couple days, her mane was actually somehow still styled, not sure how she managed that one. "Pretty ugly..." What?! No! The coffee! My mind knew that was a horrible idea, but my body apparently thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Inkblot's smile instantly turned sour and she gave me a derisive snort followed by a glare. "You idiot." She reached out with her forehoof and gave a strong shove to my shoulder, which, in my state, sent me toppling right over to the ground. I didn't even try to stop it. Or try to get up. I wasn't even mad, totally deserved that one. "You look like you got run over by a manticore. Also I think your black eye got worse, you look like you fell face first into brahmin crap."

"Can I sleep here, Inky?"

"No, no you can't, featherbutt. Get up."

I heard Inkblot walk around me, and next thing I knew she was wedging her head between my back and the ground, and using her magic to help heave me back up onto my hooves. I grunted a couple of times in protest, but eventually accepted the help and popped, clumsily, back up to my hooves.

Inkblot stepped back around in front of me and started to look over my face, her magic going to work to straighten out my mane and pick some of the dirt out of it. "Idiot. You were up all night, weren't you?"

I nodded a little, my eyes falling closed again.
She let out an exasperated sigh. “What have I told you about doing that?”

I screwed my face up as I tried to think of any reasonable response to that, but I was saved by the bell. Or by the boss. One or the other.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” High Times was just walking up to the two of us as he spoke.

Once more my mouth spoke faster than my mind could stop it, “We were just ‘bout t’ make out!” About three seconds later my mind finally caught up, right at the same time Inkblot’s hoof connected with my cheek. “Ouch!” Despite the sudden pain, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as I rubbed my cheek with my wing

High Times stayed silent as he worked on keeping himself from laughing. I didn’t know whether it was at my joke or at Inkblot kicking me in the face. To be honest I probably didn’t want to know. Eventually he did speak, and I finally noticed he sounded as tired as I felt. “Back on topic, good work, Buck. Everything is good to go, I double checked it all, we’re moving out in an hour.”

Those words snapped me out of my weird state of mind, at least long enough to consider one thing. I pulled my wing down and looked around the area. Not spotting what I was looking for, I turned back to High Times. “Is Lily back?”

High Times seemed to have not expected that question at all. He turned and made the same look around that I had just completed then shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen her. I didn’t even think of that. Uh oh…”

Inkblot spoke up from beside us, “She’s already on her way back, has to be, won’t she be able to find us anyway? She knows the place we’re moving to.”

High Times replied to Inkblot, but I didn’t catch it due to my mind starting to drift. Inkblot… well, she wasn’t wrong. Every time we moved to a new location, a team would get sent out to scout for possible new places we could move to during the next emergency. They’d report back, then High Times and Lily would go out a few days later to make sure they were good and pick the one we’d use as our home the next time we had to move. Generally we tried to find some place that was relatively out of the way, somewhere you could see ponies approaching from a distance, and near some source of food and water. Wait.

“Guys. Water.”

Inkblot and High Times both stopped talking and turned to look at me. I looked between them until I caught on that they didn’t actually realize what I was talking about. “Water. She only leaves fer like two weeks at a time. Inky’s right… but she only takes enough supplies fer two weeks at a time, too… She gets her water outta our stuff, I have t’ sign out for it every time she leaves… She has enough ‘ make it back here,” I stomped my hoof on the dirt below me for emphasis, “not t’…” I waved a wing off to the east, “where th’ town’s goin’.” High Times opened his mouth to speak, but I interrupted before he could. “I haveta stay behind with some water an’ food fer her. We’ll just catch up inna day or two.”

High Times looked rather shocked at the final words, but eventually he let out a long sigh and gave a slow nod.

Inkblot, however, shook her head. “No, nonono. Why not just leave water out for her here and she’ll find it when she gets here?”

I snorted and my wings flared halfway. “An’ what, what if somepony else comes ‘long an’ grabs the bottles ‘fore she gets there to ‘em? Then she’s still outta water. No. Haveta make sure she gets it.”

Inkblot let out an exasperated sigh and turned to High Times instead. “Will you stop him? He’ll listen to you! Look at him, he can barely stand up by himself right now, and you’re okay with leaving him alone?”

Not expecting it to suddenly get turned onto him, High Times took half a step backwards from Inkblot’s little outburst. Before he spoke, however, he took a short calming breath and stepped forward again. “No, Inkblot, I’m not okay with leaving him alone. But do you see another option? He’s right, just leaving water behind is risky. We can’t have a whole Crusader team stay behind, either. We need everyone we can to pull the buildings and make sure nothing goes wrong when we’re on the move.”

Inkblot had her turn to stomp her forehooves into the dirt as she listened to High Times. “Okay. Fine. … Wait. Actually, no.” She lifted a forehoof up and pointed it at High Times. “He stays, I’m staying with him. I don’t help pull the buildings, so there’s no loss.” She then swiveled and pointed her forehoof right in my face. At least it looked like it was right in my face. “And somebody has to be there to make sure you don’t… get lost or get your face ripped off or something because you were too tired to keep watch after staying up all night!”

My eyes went wide and I shrunk back a little as Inkblot started to yell, and while High Times didn’t get startled this time, he was also plainly surprised at how… forceful Inkblot was being. But she wasn’t done yet, as both her voice got a bit louder and her hoof raised up higher.

“Now you go get your stuff! And come back and show it to me so I can make sure you actually got it all and didn’t forget any.” Inkblot gave a strong huff as she finished that time, and let her hoof fall back to the dirt. I, however, was too stunned to think about what she said hard enough to actually move and do it. That was until she noticed I wasn’t moving. “Go, Buck!” My wings finished extending all the way out and I immediately dashed off into the air to head for the rooftop of the General Store. Even with all the packing, all the stuff that I would need was still kept up there.

A sunrise after an all-nighter while wired up on caffeine does things to your mind. Suddenly being deprived of caffeine for three hours straight after drinking it for the entire previous day also does things to your mind. But those things aren’t nearly as nice as the sunrise ones. Not at all.

But that’s where I had wound up. Inkblot hadn’t let anyone give me any coffee after she got back. She took the fact that she had to send me back two times to get more supplies that I had supposedly forgot as proof that I didn’t need help staying up even longer than I already was. Didn’t forget them, though. Just… didn’t need them. Totally. Who even thinks you’d need armor in the wasteland? I definitely don’t… yeah…

Now here I was, wearing it. My leather barding which had been handed down to me from my sister. The nice Crusader cape Inkblot had just finished fixing up was attached over top of it at the neck, and thankfully she’d managed to put the wingholes back into it just fine, so now I could move my wings however I wanted without the pesky cape getting in the way. I was also wearing my saddlebags, which I almost never, ever wore unless going out on a really long trip. They were mostly just stuff with food and water, and some other junk that I’d collected and felt special enough to have to have with me. Lastly I had my trusty lariat. Never left town without it. At the moment it was coiled up on a little hook-like thing that had been put on my armor. It made it so the coiled rope hung down over the hole I’d put my left foreleg through, if I had one.

Inkblot was fairly similarly dressed, actually. The big difference was that instead of a vest of leather barding, she was wearing a shrunken version of the set of stuff all those rich merchants wore, the ones with dozens of pockets all over the barding, for storing stuff instead of protection. Other than that she was wearing the same set of saddlebags as me, and was now sporting the same Crusader cape as me. Unfortunately for me her cape covered up the splotches of black fur over her rump and around the dock of her tail. They were a bit difficult to see sometimes due to her dark green coat, but I’d always thought they were cute. Inkblot didn’t like me saying that, though, because to her it just meant I’d been looking at her butt.

Speaking of butts, mine was planted firmly in the dirt, as I was mostly just too tired to stand unless I really, really had to. Inkblot was standing on all fours right next to me. Both of us were watching off in the distance to the east. The final packing had been completed and the town was moving on out. The land all around us was really flat, so we could see them way off into the distance, but the clouds of dust they were kicking up ended up causing them to disappear from sight long before they actually went off into the horizon.

We’d been sitting in silence, me and Inkblot. Just watching as our home walked off without us. Well, that’s what she was doing. I was too, sorta, but I was also a little too scared to talk. Inkblot had been a bit… mad since she got back. And without the coffee, I just didn’t have the energy to keep up with her. But not having the energy seemed to make her even angrier. Problem was I didn’t actually know what she was mad at. Just that she was mad.

It took about twenty minutes of pure silence while watching the town roll away to finally work up the courage to say something.

“Um… Uh… Inky… are you uh… mad at me?”

I saw her slowly turn to look at me out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t stop looking off after the dust cloud in the distance. “Am I mad at you?”

I slowly nodded. “Y-yeah. Are ya mad at me?”

Inkblot let out a sigh. “Lay down, Bucky.”

My brow furrowed hard. Why was she dodging the question? I finally turned to look at her, but immediately saw the look on her face clearly showing that she wasn’t going to say a word until I did what she said. I gave a huff of my own, but slowly slipped down until I was laying on the ground.

After a moment she followed me down, only she laid down perpendicular to me on my right side, with her front half laying on top of my back. “No, I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at High Times… and the fact that we’re moving. And the fact that you had to stay up all night like that, it’s unhealthy. Don’t blame you for it, though…” She reached over a bit and patted my left side with a hoof. “Put your wing out.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t breathe a sigh of relief when she said she wasn’t mad at me, but her request confused me to the point where I couldn’t respond immediately.

Inkblot shook her head after she saw the look on my face and took matters into her own hooves. And magic. She reached over and grabbed ahold of my left wing in her magic and slowly extended it out, then with her hooves and magic started to pick out all the bits of dried mud that had gotten caked into the feathers.

I blinked a few times and shifted a little when I realized what Inkblot was doing. This wasn’t the first time, I just didn’t expect it as an answer to my question. It felt nice… I opened my mouth but immediately shut it again and slowly let my head fall down to the ground. Not having all the coffee may suck, but at least it let me reign in my big mouth before I said stupid things. Instead, I was able to put a bit more thought into it before speaking. “I dunno why yer mad at High… but… we had to move. A team saw bloodwings.”

Inkblot paused her mudpicking. “Wha- bloo- here? Who saw the bloodwings?” For some reason she started to look around in the sky. Wasn’t even close to nighttime yet.

As for her question, though, I didn’t actually know the answer. “Uh… I… didn’t think to ask. High just said some Crusaders did.”

Inkblot continued to look around for a bit before shaking her head and going back to picking mud out of my wing. “Bloodwings aren’t supposed to come out this far. That’s just… weird…”

I gave a little shrug as my eyes started to slowly close. Her preening actually felt really nice.

When my eyes opened again, it was fairly dark. Except, it wasn’t the darkness of evening. The darkness was coming from… the other direction? Oh! Morning! I lifted my head up off of the dirt and started to look around. At some point during my nap I’d gotten rolled over onto my left side, apparently. As I slowly looked around to investigate my surroundings, my eyes eventually fell onto my wing. Hey, neat, I could actually see my orange feathers instead of just brown dirt. It was completely mud-free! Well, almost completely. There was just a little speck of dirt that was still there, but otherwise it was like night and day compared to how it was yesterday.

But why? Oh, right. Inkblot had been doing some magical preening. Which really was the only way she could do it, since I still had never told her where my preening oil came from. Didn’t really want her putting her mouth there when she just decided to start randomly preening me. Speaking of that area of the body, I looked further down and saw Inkblot’s head! She was currently using my blank flank as a pillow. Which was actually kinda nice. But now I knew she was there, and I had a feeling that I would have an… issue… on my hooves if her head stayed there for too long. An active imagination sucked sometimes. Hehe, sucked… Crap.

I looked around again to make sure nobody was looking. Which was a little stupid, given the entire town had gotten up and walked away. There wasn’t anyone around at all. However, now reassured that nobody would see, I started to slowly scoot my body away from Inkblot’s, inch by inch removing her pillow.

It didn’t go quite as planned, though, as when I finally cleared her muzzle, her whole head dropped to the ground with a thud even I could hear. Her eyes shot open and she lifted her head back up quickly, looking around in surprise, trying to figure out what had just happened. I cringed and bit my lip, as not only did that have to hurt, but now I’d woken her up too.

“Sorry, sorry.” I turned around quickly so that I was facing her and laid back down on my belly, doubly making sure that nothing particularly embarrassing happened.

Inkblot looked very sleepy and a bit dazed at her sudden awakening. “Huh? For wha- wait, you’re up? Finally…”

Now it was my turn to be confused. “Huh?”

Inkblot snorted softly and put her head back down, now using my forelegs as a pillow instead. She let out a long yawn and closed her eyes again. “You fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon. I stayed up real late trying to wait for you to wake up so you could keep watch while I slept.”

My ears pinned back and I bit my lip. Crap. “Well why didn’t ya wake me up?

Inkblot shifted some but settled right back to where she had been. “You needed the sleep.”

“Oh, well, I-”

“And I’m sorry about yelling at you.”

My mouth just hung open. Partially due to being interrupted mid-sentence, partially due to hearing her apologize, which rarely happened, and partially due to not knowing what to say back. Eventually I worked out, “It’s fine, Inky…”

“Maybe. I was mad, and you were being forgetful and stupid, but I still shouldn’t have yelled at you so much.” I hadn’t actually minded the yelling too much, at least once I learned that she wasn’t actually mad at me, but hearing her say this made me feel a bit better anyway. I dipped my head down and nosed at her neck softly. “Now keep watch since you’re up so I can sleep more. Lily should be back soon anyway.”

I rolled my eyes and gave her neck a bite in response to that, only to end up sputtering a bit as I tried to get hairs from her yellow mane out of my mouth. Her comment about Lily hit me just after, though. “How do you know she’ll be back soon?”

“Last time I asked, you said she’d been gone thirteen days, right?”

“Uh… that’s… totally what I said…”

“It is. And two weeks is her limit. And that was three days ago.”

My head slowly tilted to the side. “Coulda swore that was yesterday…”

“That happens when you don’t sleep.”

I stuck my tongue out at Inkblot, though she couldn’t see it. “Wait. If two weeks is her limit, and it’s been… sixteen days? Something’s wrong.”

“Possibly. Or maybe she just got held up…”

“Inky, that means she’s already outta water. She had enough supplies fer th’ trip, not fer th’ trip t’ last three days longer than planned. That’s th’ whole reas-”

A tiny bit of movement off to the south caught my attention. I picked my head back up and narrowed my eyes some as I looked off that direction. After a minute, the most I could gather was that it was a bit of a travelling dustcloud, the type a roaming group of ponies makes. Could be one of the groups that stopped through our town and obviously didn’t know about our move yet. Couldn’t have possibly been Lily, she always travelled alone unless I was with her.

“Get distracted by something shiny, featherbu… bu…” her word was interrupted by another long yawn.

“Somethin’ dusty, actually.”

That got Inkblot to open her eyes again. She shifted and lifted her head up, looked at me, then followed my gaze off to the south. “Huh. Merchants? Do we go say hi and tell them we moved, or do we hide and make sure they’re merchants first?”

I raised an eyebrow then turned to look at Inkblot. “If that is yer question, th’ answer is obviously hide first an’ make sure. Cause what if they ain’t merchants an’ ya jus’ go up an’ say hi? Bad things…”

Inkblot snorted and looked back at me. “Bad things? What might those be.”

“The bad… filly-eating… things… that make you the featherbutt instead of me.” I reached out a wing and poked her with it before getting up to my hooves.

Inkblot batted my wing away with a hoof before getting up after me. We stood there together and looked off into the distance. They were still far enough away that we could only see the small dust cloud behind them.

“Did ya bring… like… binoculars er somethin’?”

Inkblot started to open up her saddlebags but stopped and shook her head. “No. I don’t even have any.”

“Right… We should prob’ly hide.”

There was a moment of silence before Inkblot asked in a rather incredulous tone, “Where?”

I turned away from the dust cloud to look at her, then started to scan the area around us. We’d picked this place because it was open and had a lot of room for the foals to play around in. But it was pretty barren. Mostly just dirt and small rocks in the dirt. Not even really any big boulders to hide behind. It was, however, a bit darker this morning than it had been the previous morning when I’d gotten to see the sunrise. There were a lot less openings in the cloud cover today. We could totally use that, right?

“Can you carry me?”

I stopped looking up at the sky and looked instead to Inkblot. “Uh… should be. Ya ain’t that heavy.” Inkblot pressed her lips together as I spoke. “Ya know. Fer a gi-” Her lips got tighter. “I mean… Yeah. Yes. I can carry you. Just prob’ly not too far an’ not too fast.”

Inkblot smacked her lips as they relaxed again and looked back to the dust cloud. “Good, because that’s probably our only option. Unless you see something else we could do.”

I bit my lip and looked around again quickly. No, I really didn’t see anything. But then again, I wasn’t liking the idea of having to carry her, either. She wasn’t big, but I wasn’t strong. My wings were strong, that was the only hope I had of actually carrying her. “Nope.”

“Alright then.” She let out a sigh and lowered back down to the ground on her belly. “Let’s go.”

I looked back to Inkblot and watched her. Right, gotta pick her up… gonna be rough. I moved around and stepped behind her, then stopped just short of actually straddling her, and just stared at her withers and the back of her head. My active imagination was starting to go again.

I let out a raspy cough then quickly moved back to where I had been and lowered myself to the ground. “Other way. It’s… better. Trust me.” Well, at least I wasn’t lying. As it was I wasn’t even sure if I could hold her up using just my legs. At least now my whole body would be lifting her up.

Inkblot raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. She silently got up, stepped over, then laid down on top of me. After a moment of shifting to get comfortable, she wrapped her forelegs around my neck. “Let’s go.”

I took a few deep breaths as she got on, trying to not grunt from supporting her weight. She had to weigh about the same as I did, despite being shorter. Carefully I started to lift up and get to my hooves, wobbling a bit from being so top heavy, but I was able to do it.

“Okay… no way I can walk, but let’s see…”

I took another breath as I extended my wings out, then started to flap and slowly lift off from the ground. It took a few more flaps and a lot more effort, but I was able to start hovering just above the ground. I could hear Inkblot gasp softly as we lifted off and all I could do was smirk. Too bad I couldn’t give her a really fun flight. We were going to be stuck to flying slow.

At first I started to fly off to the east, away from where the dust cloud had been heading. I stayed just a couple feet off of the ground. Flying any higher would’ve definitely gotten us spotted, but this low we still blended into the ground. Even after just a few minutes, though, I could really feel the effect of the extra weight. My wings were straining harder and I had to slow down for a minute to catch my breath. Once I had, I turned and started to fly south. Eventually I could see that we had passed the dust cloud going in the opposite direction, and at that point I pulled up and started to fly higher up into the air.

Almost immediately I felt Inkblot tense up on my back. Her hindlegs started to squeeze my flanks and her forelegs cut hard into my neck. It wasn’t bad at first, but as we got higher, she only tensed up more and more, to the point where it got hard for me to breath.

I levelled off in the air and managed to rasp out, “Ink… Ink…”

Inkblot had ended up with her head buried in my mane and pressed against the back of my neck. “Wh-wh-what? What?”

“Can’t… breathe… legs…”

“What? Wh- oh!” Her legs loosened, but then suddenly tightened again for a few seconds before they loosened up more, just enough to let me actually breath again.

I gasped in air when I finally could. “Okay… okay. Inky, hold on, but don’t choke me. Yer not gonna fall.”

“Why do we have to be so high?!”

“Because…” I turned our hover slowly in the air until we were facing the little group travelling on the ground. “There’s two places a travellin’ group never constantly checks. Where they just left… and up. An’ now we’re behind ‘em and up.”

“Why don’t they look up?! I always look up!”

I let out a snort. “Cause they don’t get bombed from above every Nightmare Night like you do.”

Inkblot just let out a bit of a whimper in response. I took that to mean she was done for the moment, then started to fly after the group. I approached slowly, both because of Inkblot on my back and because I didn’t want to make any sudden movements that would draw their attention up to us. It took awhile, but I eventually got close enough to actually make out the ponies that were travelling.

There were seven ponies total. They didn’t have a cart, so I was pretty sure that blew Inky’s idea of them being merchants out of the water. Maybe a group of mercenaries? They looked armored, so that could fit. Maybe scavengers. Wait… I started to descend to get a bit of a closer look. One of them… was really small. Looked like a foal. And the foal didn’t have armor on. Neither did another one of them. I could see the big one without armor was purple. Had a cutie mark of… of a…

“No. No… no no no no no…”

Inkblot pulled her head slightly away from my neck. “What is it?”

I couldn’t stop staring at the purple mare. I knew it was a mare. “They ain’t merchants.”

“How do you know?”

“They’re slavers…”

“What?!”

I turned a bit to give Inkblot a better angle to look and stuck out my forehoof to point down to them. “And they have Lily.” I’d never been more thankful in my life that ponies never looked to the skies for threats than I was right then. As I stared longer, I could start to make out the chains around Lily’s fetlocks as well as the foal’s.

Inkblot was quiet as she worked up the courage to actually open her eyes and look down at the ponies I was pointing to. “A-a-are you sure?”

“She has a lily as a cutiemark. It’s Lily. I’m sure.” I took a deep breath then started to gain altitude as quickly as I could.

Inkblot let out a little yelp and put her forehead back against my neck. She tightened around me again until I stopped gaining height and hovered once more. “What are we going to do? How many were there?”

I closed my eyes and just continued to hover there, thinking over Inkblot’s question. I didn’t have an answer for the first one. “Five. There were five…” A couple more minutes passed in silence before I turned my head and asked, “Inky… did you bring yer gun?”

I could feel her face scrunch up against my neck. “Yeah… you’re not thinking of-”

“No. We can’t take on five… but I gotta know anyway.”

Inkblot gulped and shook her head as much as she could in her current position. “What are we going to do?”

“We gotta… we… we gotta… Follow them. Follow them until tonight. They have to stop going at some point, right? Yeah… Then, maybe… I… I don’t… I don’t know… But they don’ get t’ have my sister.”

What to do later was a problem for tonight. For now, there was only one thing we could do. But I also knew I couldn’t fly the entire day. I started to glide back down out of the sky within sight of their dust cloud.

We were going to follow them until tonight. And I was going to get my sister back.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Scrap Metal, Kibu, and No One for helping me out with catching any errors in plot or grammar and spelling thus far.

Chapter 3: Thirty-Three and a Third

I walked forward with my muzzle held close to the ground. My movement came in short bursts as I moved from hoofprint to hoofprint, pausing to look over each one, then scurrying forward to find the next one in the spot that I hoped it would be. After five or ten… or maybe twenty minutes I stopped to catch my breath and lifted my head to look around me. Mostly brown, a lot of grass that looked half dead, whole bunch of hills… but right in front of me was the most prominent feature along this dusty, old, broken road. A billboard. I started to smile and broke out into a run, as fast as my three little legs could take me.

I rounded the corner of the billboard so fast and tried to cut it so tight that I ended up taking a tumble and doing a couple barrel rolls before somehow ending back up on my hooves. When my world stopped spinning, though, I found my prize. A prize in the shape of a light purple earth pony with a flower on her flank.

I hopped into the air and fluttered for a moment, as long as my wings could keep me in the air. “Found you! Found you! Found you!”

Lily lifted up off the ground and ran over to me, catching me out of the air and hugging me tightly to her. “Yes you did! You’re getting so much better! Do you know how long it took you this time?”

I squirmed as she pulled me to her, my excitement making it so I couldn’t stay still. “Uh, uh, uh… an hour?”

Lily giggled and kissed the top of my head before setting me down in front of her and letting me go. “Thirty minutes! Ten minutes less than last time.”

My eyes lit up and I gasps loudly, my voice cracking, “Really?! Awesome!”

She swung her mane over her other shoulder and laughed. “Yeah! You know what that means, right?”

“Uh… what?”

“You did it fast enough to get the special treat!”

My second gasp sucked in so much air I wasn’t entirely sure how my lungs held it all. “YEEEEEEEEEEEEES! YES YES YES YES!”

As tired as I’d been the last time I’d stayed up past my usual bedtime, I sorta thought it was strange I wasn’t tired at all tonight. It was after midnight. Had to be. We’d started following the group of slavers early in the morning. They’d stopped where they saw the wheel ruts from our buildings for a few minutes, but kept on moving to the north. I was very thankful they didn’t turn to follow those tracks east, but then again, I would’ve liked it if maybe they’d gotten closer and I could’ve gotten some help.

They had walked at least sixty miles, if not more. All morning, all afternoon, they didn’t stop until after dinnertime. They’d found an outcropping of large boulders to set up in. Tents, campfire, all protected by a semi-circle of massive rocks.

We had followed them the whole time, For now, we were sitting half a mile off in the distance, putting the boulders between us and them. We had just been laying there now for about five hours, watching as the smoke from the campfire rose from the boulders up into the sky, all the way towards the clouds, not that we could see it up there with how dark it was.

But I didn’t feel tired. Not in the slightest. Then again, I didn’t feel much of anything. Maybe sad… I felt a little sad. I was doing my best to fight that feeling, though.

“Inky… what’s twenty-four times thr- actually, four. Twenty-four times four?

Inkblot, however, was definitely tired, which was plain to hear in her voice. “What…? I…” She let out a sigh. “I’ll tell you if you eat for me.”

Really I wasn’t hungry as much as I wasn’t tired. “Yeah, sure. Promise.”

She slowly rolled off of her side then curled around to pull a package out of her saddlebags. After spending a moment unwrapping it, she placed a box of cereal oats onto my foreleg. “There you go… And ninety-six.”

I barely acknowledged the food sitting on my leg. “And it’s one in the morning, so… ninety-seven.” I let out a derisive snort and shook my head slowly. “Definitely… not worth a treat…” Giving my foreleg a little kick across the ground was all that was needed to toss the box of cereal a foot away into the dirt.

“Bucky… you promised me…” I let out a slow breath, trying to ignore her. “Bucky… c’mon.”

I pinned my ears back and gritted my teeth, then scooted across the ground to bring myself back to the stupid box of cereal. Using my wings to hold it steady, I opened it with my hoof, then used my wing to pour some of it in my mouth.

“Thank you… Now what was that about a treat?”

I didn’t answer her at first. I wasn’t really sure whether or not I wanted to. So instead I dumped a bit more of the cereal in to my mouth, just to give myself another minute or so to chew and think. Eventually, however, I turned my head to look over at Inkblot. “Back… when Lily was teaching me how to track ponies, she had… a reward system. The quicker I followed the tracks and figured out where she was, the better treat I would get. Usually food… sometimes a toy.” I smacked my lips then lifted up the box of cereal. “One of the special ones was some… sugary cereal, in a bowl, with actual milk, even.”

I sighed then looked back towards the boulders and campfire. “This time it took me fifty hours to even realize she was missing, and ninety-six to actually find her. And now that I found her, I don’t even know how to save her.”

Silence once more filled the air as I stopped speaking. After a few moments Inkblot started to get up, only to walk over and lay back down, settling up against me.

“You’ve got food now. That’s a start… It’ll help you think. You haven’t eaten all day.”

I let out a snort and my wings flared a little out above me. “C’mon, Inky. How is food gonna help? There’s five of them down there. Sure, we saw only one is keepin’ watch. But how do ya even expect us t’ deal with one? Much less th’ other four that’re gonna wake up soon as they hear the slightest thing.”

Silence again reigned for several minutes. The only sounds that occasionally were made were the ones of me slowly emptying the cereal and having my first real meal of the day. I still wasn’t even hungry.

“What if you tied up the guy on watch, or tied his mouth shut so he couldn’t shout or anything?”

I gave me head a shake. “You can still make noise without yer mouth bein’ open. Now if I could stuff somethin’ into it ‘fore he realized we were there… that might work.”

“Your sister is good at kicking people in the face, right?”

“Sure, but she’s in chains.”

“Yeah, but… you could get her out of chains.”

I blinked a couple of times at that suggestion and slowly turned to look at Inkblot. “Does my hoof look like a key to you?”

Inkblot bit at her lip and shook her head. “No… but… I have all my sewing needles. They’re like lockpicks, right? We could go try to pick the lock on the chains, that’d get her out.”

I let out a sigh. “That’s… so very risky… but also th’ only idea we got so far. Why didn’t you say that before?”

Inkblot cleared her throat and looked down at my foreleg. “Last couple of hours it sort of looked like you… were in a trance or something. Was scared of breaking you out of it or something.”

My brow furrowed. “I, well, fine. So we have the idea of pick the lock. Do we have anything else?”

Inkblot lifted a forehoof and rubbed over her face. “No… not rea-” Her forehoof slowly fell down back to the dirt. “Do you remember our last Nightmare Night?”

“How could I forget? Sparkler is still scared’a me. She nearly ran ‘way from me when she saw me in th’ General Store a couple days ago.”

Inkblot nodded vigorously and tapped the ground repeatedly with her forehoof. “Yes! But do you remember what scared her?”

I tilted my head a little bit, trying to remember, then nodded slowly. “Uh… yeah… it was…” I paused and blinked. What she suggesting what I thought she was suggesting? I looked up towards the dark clouds above us, then towards the campfire off in the distance. As I watched the smoke rise, a smile started to slow come across my muzzle. “You really think it’ll work?”

Inkblot nodded. “I think it’s a lot better plan than trying to pick the lock with a sewing needle. You make the foals scream all the time, and they already know it’s coming… I bet waking somebody up with that… I bet you could make a grown stallion pee himself.”

My smile only continued to grow. It would take some time to prepare, but we had hours before the sun rose.

The plan was solid. Which was a good thing, because if it failed I stood a chance of getting us all killed. And that would be bad. It took me about an hour to gather up what I needed. With it being so dark, I had to fly carefully around the bottom of the cloud layer to scoop out chunks of clouds and move them around to form a new cloud, a few dozen feet below the cloud layer.

Usually for Nightmare Night I just used a small cloud, one just a bit bigger than myself I could lay on comfortably and fly around with. It was good for pranks and going around unseen. This time, though, a cloud that small wasn’t going to cut it. It would have to be at least as big as the area of their camp, if not bigger. I wanted it to be right up in their faces and seem like it was engulfing them, not just sorta laughing at them from a corner by the boulders.

By the time I was done gathering, I had a big square of cloud, some twenty or thirty feet wide and the same distance long. The next half hour or so was spent working my way around the cloud, working it up into mini-thunderstorm status. It was a bit harder than I expected on a cloud this size, but I’d done it plenty of times on smaller stuff, so it was just a matter of scaling it up to get it done.

Eventually it was indeed done. I flew back to the edge of the top of the cloud and landed there, then looked down below at the camp a long, long ways down, and off in the direction I knew Inkblot was in. Really, I had to just hope that she would not have fallen asleep in the last hour and a half. Leaving the cloud would risk some of it dissipating or causing it to revert to just a normal, storm-less cloud. If that happened, I’d have to just do all this work again and start pushing really close to sunrise.

I spread my wings and started to flap, angling myself so that I was pushing the cloud down. Down, down, closer to the camp. I could see it clearly, as the campfire was still burning and providing the only real light on the ground for miles. There was still only one awake guard, though this one was a different color than the one we’d seen last time we checked in on them. That was the only bit I could see of him, though.

I continued to slowly push the cloud down further, not wanting to move too quickly and draw attention to myself and the cloud before the proper time. I stopped once I was about one hundred feet above the camp. I stepped back from the edge of the cloud and moved over towards the center, pausing there and taking slow, deep breaths as I did a final check over the cloud. Everything was in order… and really it was now or never…

With a grunt I jumped up and landed down on the top of the cloud, causing a lightning bolt to come out of the bottom and strike down towards the ground. The lightning lit up even the top of the cloud and the surrounding area for half a moment. The deafening crack of thunder that followed it rattled my bones. I didn’t stop there, though. Every time I landed I immediately jumped as high as I could and came down with as much force as possible, working my way around the cloud. I wanted to milk this for all it was worth.

And it was effective, my ears were already ringing from the blasts of thunder caused right beneath me, each one seeming to get louder than the last. After the second, I heard a shout, followed by a shrill scream. I recognized that scream, that was one of a terrified filly. Normally that cued the time for laughter, but right now was definitely not the time for that. The shouts from the slaver guard got angrier after the filly’s scream, but that didn’t last long as the sleeping slavers jolted from their tents with their own yells of shock that I could just barely hear over the constant echoing of thunder.

BLAM! BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Yes! Gunshots! She hadn’t fallen asleep! I was able to make them out between my own cracks of thunder, and I could hear the cries of shock and fear from below me. But I couldn’t stop. I had to keep the lightning up. Make them think the very sky was after them, wanting to punish them for their crimes. You know, like I wanted to do. It was too bad I could make lightning but not exactly control where it went.

Inkblot’s entire magazine fired off and there was a pause as she reloaded, but the gunfire immediately came back again once she had. I could still hear the voices, but they had… moved? Jumping again after landing, I used my wings to take to the air and get all the way to the edge of the cloud to look down at the ground.

They had moved! They were running away from their camp! I quickly jumped back and flew to the other side of the cloud and started to push it so it would be following the fleeing slavers. Every few seconds I stopped and flew to the top of the cloud to unleash a few more lightning bolts before moving back to the side to continue the pursuit.

I followed them for at least ten minutes, making sure they stayed running away from this cloud that really, really badly wanted to see them fry to a crisp, but eventually I stopped. I couldn’t chase them forever, and I had to get back to the camp to make sure Lily was alright. Once it had gone on long enough, I gave a few final bucks to the cloud to give them one last scare before jumping into the air and taking off as fast as I could back for the camp.

Flying full speed, it took a lot less than ten minutes to make it back. I used the light of the campfire in the distance to guide me, and once I came into sight, I could see that they even left their tents behind. They just got up and ran once the gunfire came in on top of the lightning. Or… not?

As I got even closer, I saw a… body. Of one of the slavers. It was just laying on the ground by the campfire. I started to wonder what it was doing there, but my eyes then spotted Inkblot and Lily. Inkblot and Lily!

“Lily! I did it! I did it! Did ya see it?!” I dove down without even the notion of slowing down and plowed into Lily, wrapping my foreleg around her neck in as tight a hug as I could managed as I sent both of us tumbling across the dirt.

Lily let out a yelp of pain at being struck so hard, but seemed to shake it off as she managed to end up atop of me after our tumbling had ended. “Yes! I saw! You idiot! You could’ve gotten hurt!”

I just looked up at her, nothing she could say able to wipe the massive grin off my face. “But I didn’t! An’ I saved you!”

Lily seemed to struggle to find words appropriate to scold me with, but in the end just gave up and held me tightly to her. After several seconds she moved and kissed the top of my head, then got up from on top of me. It was at that point I realized her chains were still on her forelegs, attaching one foreleg to the other.

“Ain’t ya gonna get those off?” I scrambled my way back up to my hooves, using my wings to help push me off of the ground.

Lily looked down then motioned back over towards the body of the slaver. “Ink’s looking for keys.”

Inkblot was indeed looking for keys, rummaging through the pockets and the saddlebags of the apparently dead slaver. “There’s just so much junk in here…”

I looked at the slaver, then Inky, then the slaver, then back to Lily. “How’d she die?”

Lily cleared her throat. “One of Ink’s shots actually landed, hit the mare in the shoulder… I jumped up, wrapped the chain around her neck, choked her to death. Then with gunshots and one of their own dead, the rest ran off.”

I blinked a couple times as I listened to Lily. “Oh, so… you-”

“Got them!” Inkblot levitated a set of keys out of a pocket of the slaver mare and brought them over towards Lily and started to unlock the chains. “Now we can get out of here before they decide to come back.”

I gave my head a shake. She never would’ve had that chance if I hadn’t done my part. I knew that. Stupid to think otherwise. My wings fluttered at my sides as my enthusiasm started to return. “Oh. Oh! Oh uh, filly?”

Lily breathed a sigh of relief as Inkblot unlocked her chains, and she immediately backed off and stretched out her legs. It clearly felt good to her to stretch like that. “Thanks, Ink.” She looked to me after I spoke, then turned and pointed to one of the tents. “You scared the crap outta her, Buck. Pretty sure she broke my ears or something. Anyway, you get her, I’ll get much stuff, then we can bug out. Where’s the town anyway?” She didn’t wait for an answer and started moving towards a different tent than the one she’d already pointed out.

“Um… long story…” I motioned for Inky to give me the keys, which she did, then walked over towards the tent Lily had said the filly was in.

Reaching out with my wing, I peeled open the tent flap and poked my head inside. I immediately regretted it. In the back corner was a small, red filly, seven or eight… maybe a short ten year old at the most. Her forehooves were also chained, but more importantly, she was curled up on herself and quietly sobbing. Her mane was an orange color, a lot like my own coat, but it also had little streaks of yellow in it. At least I was pretty sure it was yellow… it was hard to tell with how filthy the filly was. Lily hadn’t been that dirty… which meant… the filly must’ve been walking with the slavers even longer than Lily had been.

I cleared my throat softly before stepping fully into the tent. “Hey…” I said softly, “Hi.”
The filly seemed to be startled when she heard my voice and her head lifted up to look at me. She looked… terrified. And me being there didn’t really seem to help all that much.

I put on the best smile I could. “What’s your name?”

I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t particularly surprised when she didn’t answer. She just laid there, curled and cowering.

My smile started to fade, but I quickly forced it to stay. “Well, I’m Tripod. See?” I turned my body a bit so she could see all my legs, and the distinct lack of my left foreleg. “Tripod? An’ I’m here t’ set you free.” I held up the keys in my wing to where she could see, then started to slowly walk across the tent to her.

She still looked frightened, but she didn’t actively try to get away from me as I walked closer, which I guess was all I could’ve hoped for, really. Though as I got closer, I could tell her crying had at least stopped. The tear stains were still plainly evident, but no more were being added. That was a plus.

I crouched down as I got to her, then laid down on my belly. I put the key in my mouth then slowly reached out with it and my hoof to pull the lock on her chains towards me. The lock clicked as it unlocked, then I gently used a wing and my forehoof to slide the hoofcuffs off of the filly. She was shaking, but not running. So probably still better than I could’ve hoped for.

Once the chains were off, I scooted back a little and looked the filly over again. She was too dirty to really tell if she was hurt or not, or how she had been treated. “Say, um… th’ purple earth pony, that’s my sister. Came t’ save her… But we can totally take you too… if ya want. I mean, if ya wanna jus’... be free and go wherever you want, that’s cool… but… Where I come from… we take in a lot’a foals. Orphans, mostly, like me. There’s like… at least thirty kids there. Some yer age, too.”

I licked my lips and paused for a bit, letting her mull that over in her mind, as she didn’t seem to give much of a reaction at all to it. “Anyway, um, I think it’d be a nice place for you. But you don’t have to come if you don’t want. There’s some food here we can give ya if you just wanna go off some other place…” I looked over my shoulder towards the exit of the tent, then looked back at the filly and tilted my head. “Kinda gotta decide now, though… the slavers may come back soon. Um… so whaddya say? You wanna come back with us?”

The filly still didn’t give much reaction, other than the occasional wet sniffle. After I finished speaking, though, she gave a very slight nod of her head, so slight I almost missed it.

When I realized it was a nod, I smiled again. “Alright. Now… you can walk, or I can carry you, but uh, we need to get going.” I motioned for her to follow me, then got up to my hooves and walked quickly back to the exit of the tent and held the flap open, waiting for her.

The filly watched me walk away, then ever so slowly got back up to her hooves. She looked very weak and unsure of herself, at best. She managed just fine, though, and silently walked across the tent and out the flap back outside. I walked out after her, just at the same time as Lily stepped out of the other tent with all of her gear back on. The filly’s eyes went a little wide and she shied away from Lily back over towards me. I had no clue what that was all about, but now wasn’t really the time to ask.

“Okay, so, the town moved east… so let’s go.”

This was going to make two all-nighters in four days. Inky was gonna be pissed when she realized that…

The first day of the trip was largely uneventful. We were all pretty tired, with me and Inkblot having not slept at all the previous night, so there wasn’t much talking. We spent most of our combined energy on just trudging forward, trying to make sure we left the slavers in the dust and got as far as we possibly could towards our destination. I did have questions, though, which I finally got a chance to ask during one of our stops for a quick snack.

The filly we’d picked up had needed a latrine break, so she had gone off a few dozen feet to the side. Far enough for her to be out of earshot, anyway. We all alternated between getting little bits of food for ourselves and watching as the filly took care of her business, just making sure she didn’t get swooped up by something. Like a manticore.

“How didja even get caught by slavers, Sis?”

Lily paused in the middle of her chewing and slowly looked back at me. She licked her lips, finished chewing and swallowed, then gave a strong clearing of her throat. “I was on my way back. Found plenty of loot while I was out, too. But, couple nights into the trip back, this… group of ponies wandered by the little nook I’d settled to sleep in. They just went right on past, never even knew I was there… which was the point of sleeping there in the first place. But they made enough noise to wake me up, and I wanted to make sure I was safe. So I went to check on ‘em.

“And that’s when,” she turned to look back at the filly and nodded towards her, “I saw her with ‘em in chains. I… I had thought I’d be able to save her. And… I almost did, too. They made up a camp, one guard… I took him out quietly, then went to get her, but when I grabbed her, she let out this... scream… I woke her up, I guess I never could really blame her. I’m pretty sure she thought I was just another slaver and… who knew what I was going to do, grabbing her and waking her up in the middle of the night?”

Lily sighed and looked back at me. “Anyway, her scream woke up all the rest, and I couldn’t outrun them… so I got locked up too. That was… three… or four days ago. We’d been walking north ever since. They were going somewhere specific, but I never managed to figure out where. They never said where I could hear it, at least.”

I nodded here and there, then moved over to Lily as she finished. I stretched up to nuzzle at her neck. “Well, we got ya. An’ her too. So… in th’ end ya still saved her. Right?”

Lily smirked a little, then lifted a forehoof and put it around my body and gave me a hug before tilting her head down and kissing the top of my muzzle. “Yeah, something like that.” She paused for a few moments, just looking down at me. “That was dangerous, you know. You could’ve gotten killed… could’ve gotten your fillyfriend killed too.”

Inkblot’s suddenly joined the conversation with a loud, “No! Ew! No, no, ew! Don’t go spreading lies!”

I blinked a couple times at Inky’s outburst and glanced her direction. I honestly couldn’t tell if her reaction hurt my feelings or not. “Really, Inky? Three ‘no’s and two ‘ew’s?”

Inkblot snorted, speaking before taking another bite of food, “You’re worth at least a couple more, Bucky.” She popped the food into her mouth and started to chew, a slight smirk forming as she did so.

I opened my mouth to reply, figuring it would come up with something witty before my brain caught up to it, but I was interrupted by Lily’s hoof reaching up to physically turn my head so I was looking back at her.

“Lemme finish before you two start bickering.” I huffed softly and nodded a little. Lily smiled. “Thanks. Now, it could’ve gotten you both killed… it was dangerous, and you shouldn’t have come after me with just the two of you… But… You did. So, thank you.” She gave a little chuckle and nudged my muzzle with her hoof. “I’m proud of you.”

I started to beam. Blah blah reckless, blah blah danger, blah blah near death. She was proud of me. She was proud of me. I jumped up on my hindlegs and wrapped my foreleg around her withers, then nuzzled into Lily’s neck. “Yer welcome, Sis.” She gave me a quick hug back, but then I stepped backwards and went back down on all threes. “Now um…” I glanced back at Inky. “What were we bickerin’ ‘bout?”

Inkblot shoved the rest of the food into her mouth then waved me off with a hoof. She then, for the first time in recent memory, mumbled something out with her mouth full, “Something, something, I have to talk to Sunny when we get back, yadda yadda.” She paused then looked at Lily. “Three days south, did you see any bloodwings?”

Lily thought for a moment then shook her head at Inkblot. “No, no bloodwings, why?”

Inkblot waved Lily off as she had just done to me. “No reason.”

My brow furrowed and I tilted my head. What did Sunny have to do with anything? Whatever. Lily was proud of me.

Our total trip back lasted two full days, with us getting back to our new town location on the evening of the second day. We’d really been pushing it. Travelling longer than we should’ve, faster than we should’ve… I’d actually had to carry the filly for some hours each day when she was just too tired to continue on. She still hadn’t given us her name. Really she didn’t talk at all, except to tell us when she was hungry and when she had to poop. And for that matter, she actively avoided Lily, always staying near me on the opposite side of me from Lily. She didn’t have much positive or negative reaction to Inkblot.

As we neared the town, though, all our paces started to pick up. We didn’t seem nearly as tired, now that our goal was so close to our reach. The three ground-bound ponies were all walking while I flew just a few inches off of the ground. I wanted to shoot ahead and settle on my rooftop bed, but we had things we had to do before I could think about resting.

The last stretch seemed to go on forever, but eventually we made it. The town here was set up almost identically to the last location. Only it was less muddy… the ground seemed to be a lot firmer here. Pretty much all but the youngest would be thankful for that. Nopony was out playing right now in the big central area, however. After dinner, they were likely all still being lazy and waiting off the sleepiness that came after eating, off in their tents, or in the General Store, or elsewhere.

It didn’t take long for me to spot who I was looking for, though. And apparently he was looking for us, too. High Times stepped out of the Adult’s Building and broke into a canter to meet us. I fluttered down and landed on the ground, all smiles. If he knew we were here, that meant the watch had been set up and was working properly. Second in Command Grassy Knoll was apparently good for something, at least. Nice to know not everything fell apart in my absence.

High Times called to us as he ran, “Welcome back guys! We were starting to get worried there! No, we were worried already, we were starting to consider a rescue mission!”

Lily gave a bit of a laugh, half genuine, half nervous, but her nerves seemed to disappear a little as High Times rushed over and gave Lily a massive hug, which she readily returned. After many seconds their embrace broke and High Times took several steps back to look us all over.

“Good work, you two. You were gone long enough, I’m sure you have a story or two to tell, I’m going to love hearing th-” he did a double-take as he finally noticed the red filly just to my right. “Oh? And who is this, that look like they need a bath?”

He started to move towards her, but the filly was having none of that. She had been fine, but as soon as High Times put his attention on her, she got nervous, and as he started to move, she immediately bolted for shelter. Except… the shelter she chose was that of the area beneath my belly. I blinked and look down, then reflexively dropped one of my wings down to the side. Any good shelter needed a roof and walls, after all… right?

High Times looked a bit surprised, but immediately stepped backwards again, not wanting to scare the filly. “Okay, that’s fine.” He looked at the rest of us, running things over in his head. “Well, first off, who is she?”

All three of us shrug, but I answered first. “She ain’t told us yet.”

High Times nodded slowly, then lifted a forehoof slightly and pointed at me. “Alright, first things first. We can welcome her here if she wants to stay. Free food and a free bath up for offer either way,” he occasionally glanced down beneath me as he spoke, but didn’t want to put too much attention on her and scare her further. Which was probably a good thing, because as it was she was busy using my hindlegs, tail, and the wing I’d put down there as a sort of curtain to block off her view of High Times and Lily.

Inkblot cleared her throat and spoke up, “She’s a filly, I’ll deal with the food and bath.”

High Times shook his head. “Sorry, Ink. I need you to come with me back to the Adult’s Building… like… now.”

Inkblot sounded as confused as she looked. “What? Why?”

“It’s… well it’s something we need you for.”

“All… right…” She looked over at me and Lily. “I’ll, uh, see you two later.” She looked back at High Times then started to trot off towards the Adult’s Building.

High Times gave her an apologetic smile, then gave me and Lily the same one. “Lily, your tent’s been set up already, I made sure of it. All your stuff is in it just how you left it.”

Lily blinked. “All of it?”

High Times bit his lip for a moment then nodded. “Yes, all of it.”

Lily started to blush. What was embarrassing about that, I had no clue. Did she not like him touching her pillow or what? Lily, however, let out a huff and started to trot off towards the tents. “I’ll go, uh, make sure. Yeah.”

I watched her trot off, my head slowly tilting further and further as she moved away, but then my attention was drawn back to High Times.

“Buck, could you…” he motioned back towards me and the filly that continued to hide underneath me, “handle welcoming her to our home for me? It appears I won’t be able to, and our lead filly is occupied.”

I raised an eyebrow at High Times then waved him off with my other wing. “Whatever. I’ll do it. Jus’ go off an’ do… whatever.”

High Times chuckled softly, then nodded and turned to trot back to the Adult’s Building, following in Inkblot’s hoofsteps.

I let out a long sigh. I was now standing alone in the middle of town with a scared filly underneath me. I knew I had things to take care of before I rested, but this was definitely not part of the plan. I gave my head a shake, then slowly lifted my wing out from below me and dipped my head down so I could see the filly.

“They’re gone now… It’s just us.” I waited as she looked around, confirming with her own eyes what I’d just told her. Once she’d looked all around I asked, “You wanna take a bath?”

I see could her settle down a little, and eventually she gave me a small nod. I smiled back at her, then slowly started to step around her and walk off towards the storage buildings. “Let’s get you a bath then.”

I had picked the most private spot I could think of in the area around town. The work room in Inkblot’s building. The only time anyone ever came in here was if they were Inkblot or if they had business with Inkblot. And right now Inky was off with High Times. Plus night was falling, so not only did nopony have business here, but that meant that I got to also take advantage of the fact that this building was one of the only three that actually had lighting inside that could be used when it was dark.

"It's sorta weak fer a bath, I know, but it does the job, gets ya clean, and, well that feels kinda nice sometimes." We didn't exactly have a bathtub, and even if we did, we didn't have the water to waste in filling up a whole bathtub. So our form of bath was simply a bottle or two full of warm water and a washcloth.

I had guided the filly in, let her pick the room, pick the spot, then started to get the washcloth ready. I was just about to start rubbing her face off with it when I got a little surprise of my own. She spoke.

"W-... why... why don't... why don't you have your cutie mark?"

I pulled the washcloth away and blinked at her a few times, first working on registering the fact that she asked a question, then working on an answer. I could only say the first thing that came to mind. “Well, why don’t you have yer cutie mark?”

She glanced at me for half a moment before looking back in front of herself at the wall. “B- because… I’m not old enough yet. But you’re… you’re old enough…”

I licked my lips then snorted softly. “Yes…” I reached back out with my wings. One of them had the washcloth in it. Slipping the other gently under her muzzle to steady her head, I used my washing wing to lay the washcloth over her face and rub off the grime. After I’d cleaned off her face, cheeks, and horn, I switched wings and slowly cleaned off her muzzle.

Once that I was done I pulled back again and started to re-wet the washcloth. “I shoulda gotten my cutie mark a long time ago… But you see… I’m jus’ not special. So no cutie mark.”

The filly hadn’t moved at all while I washed her face. Which surprised me, I expected her to shy away or something. But she didn’t. “But… but… everypony is… everypony is special, somehow…”

I tilted my head a little bit. She wasn’t stuttering. No… this was different. She didn’t sound scared of talking, either. It didn’t have that… soft, shy quality. She was just hesitating. This… this was like… she was scared of saying the wrong thing.

“Well, ya ain’t wrong… You wanna hear a little… theory?” The filly shifted her weight then actually turned her head to look at me and nodded, continuing to look at me after doing so instead of looking back at the wall. No, she wasn’t shy… Not deep down, beneath… whatever this was.

“It ain’t so much my theory as it is… uh… High Times’.” I decided now wasn’t the best time to associate that name with the guy she’d been so afraid of just ten minutes earlier. “Anyway, it goes… that a long time ago, there were no raiders, no slavers, grass grew from all th’ dirt, pegasi controlled the clouds an’ weather, earth ponies made plants grow, and unicorns did… magicy things.” I motioned with a wing to the filly’s horn. “An’ this time was all nice an’ wonderful an’ everyone got along, even if some bad stuff happened now an’ then.

“Theory says ponies thrived in that time, an’ that’s what we’re really all truly made for, all th’... harmony or some crap that went on back then. But that’s not here now, an’ it wasn’t always there ‘fore that time, either. An’ in the time ‘fore that time and now… not all ponies get their cutie marks. ‘Cause if all ponies got cutie marks in the wasteland, then that’d be th’ world sayin’ that ponies are made fer the wasteland, an’ we all belong here, an’ that so long as we belong here we’re gonna keep on continuin’ th’ wasteland, fer good or bad. But there’s really kinda a whole lot more bad than any little good…

“Point is, theory says that as long as some ponies don’ get their cutie marks, it’s a sign that th’ old times are still possible, an’ if we can work on gettin’ back to it, we can get back to a point where everypony gets their cutie marks. Cause like, what if my special talent was… I dunno… museum stuff? I ain’t ever even set hoof in a musuem. Or uh… playin’ some… instrument er something. I ain’t ever heard an orchestra in the wasteland… ‘cept when the DJ plays one, anyway. Anyway… so, idea is, jus’ some ponies won’t ever get their cutie marks ‘cause their special talent just ain’t something the wasteland actually has t’ offer.”

I cleared my throat softly as I finished speaking. The filly had been listening intently the whole time, even her ears had turned towards me to help catch every word. She gave a little nod, then looked back in front of her. “I… I… don’t… I don’t like it.”

I blinked and tilted my head. Instead of waiting, though, I went ahead and continued cleaning her, starting with her ears, mane, and neck, moving and massaging the washcloth over her to get all the dust and dirt off. “Don’t like what?”

“The… the idea…”

“Why’s that?”

“It… it doesn’t seem fair. That some ponies just wouldn’t get cutie marks.”

I let out a soft snort, then slid the washcloth further down and started to clean her left forehoof. With a small amount of prodding, she shifted her weight and let me control her leg without any fuss. “There ain’t a whole lot that really is fair, ya know? Like… Do ya know where you are now?”

She shook her head.

“Well, where ya are now is a town called Asylum. It uh… basically means a place of safety from like… the wasteland. An’ all th’ bad stuff in it. Which… is one of the reasons there’s so many orphans here. We find them, an’ we bring ‘em back so that they don’t have t’ fend fer themselves anymore. They can get… ya know… asylum. But it’s th’ same thing fer adults, too. We got one adult here, her name is Junkie.” I paused as I switched sides and began cleaning her other foreleg. “Talk about unfair…

“Junkie’s mom kept doin’ a whole bunch’a drugs when she was pregnant with Junkie. When she gave birth, th’ baby was already all kinds of addicted an’ screwed up… Junkie still ain’t all right in the head, and she’s like… twenty-five or thirty now, I dunno.” I gave another soft snort. “She got her cutie mark, though. So it’s like… five kinds of unfair goin’ both directions on that one. We don’t usually call this place Asylum, though. We usually just say ‘Town’ or ‘Home’.”

The filly listened quietly as I spoke, still letting me clean her just fine. She didn’t seem to want to say much yet, and I was happy to let her mull things over in her mind. It sure had to be a lot to take in, going from being a slave to being offered a place among orphans. I worked my way back from her forelegs onto her belly, sides, and back. There were whip marks, that much I could tell. Scars, I could only guess. But there didn’t seem to be any more serious injuries or scars. Whips were bad, especially from slavers, but at least they weren’t life-threatening at this point.

I then re-wet the washcloth and move a bit further back, being more careful now. If she flinched away I’d stop, but if she didn’t, I’d keep going. And she didn’t flinch away. She wasn’t nervous, wasn’t scared… As the cleaning had gone on, she actually started to look like she’d been enjoying it. I finally allowed myself a breath of relief, though, after I finished cleaning her rear legs and moved onto gently scrubbing her hindquarters. Again she didn’t flinch away. She may have been a slave, but at least they didn’t horribly mistreat her.

I blinked and looked up towards her head when she decided to speak again, though I continued to scrub her hindquarters as it was the last bit left to clean.

“You said there was food?”

“Lotsa food… Most of the time, all ya can eat. We don’t have t’ do rations much, except fer in an emergency. See, we have groups of foals that stick together an’ go out an’ scavenge around. We call them Crusaders. They bring back all th’ food they find, as well as anything else of value they can carry… an’ all the food goes into our storage to help feed everypony.”

I finished my scrubbing and leaned back, tossing the filthy washcloth onto the mostly empty water bottle. She looked like an entirely different pony. Still red with an orange and yellow mane, but so many shades brighter. “Alright… that’s a bath… How was it?” I stepped back around towards her head then slowly laid down on my belly next to her. My head was now about level with her head. “An’ do ya think you can tell me your name now?”

The filly turned in a circle as she bent back to look at herself. She ended up pointing her original direction, then turned to look at me. At first she just gave a nod, then slowly after it came a soft, “Thank you…” Several seconds later she added, “Firestorm.”

A small smile cracked across my lips. “Yer very welcome, Firestorm… You ‘member my name?”

She gave another nod. “You’re Tripod… or Buck… or Bucky…”

I gave a soft snicker and nodded. “You can call me Tripod, or Buck, or Tri.”

“Okay… Um… food?”

“Oh, yeah. Here,” I reached back into my saddlebag and pulled out a can of cram. I opened it, then held it out for Firestorm. “There ya go, Stormy. Have the whole thing.”

Firestorm looked a little surprised by the sudden appearance of a nickname, but the surprise was apparently overridden by her hunger, as she immediately went for the cram, going silent until it was all gone. I simply sat there in silence with her, watching her eat and making sure she didn’t choke or anything.

When she finished, I broke the silence once again. “So, Firestorm, tomorrow, or the next day, I’ll ask again if ya wanna stay with us… like, permanently. But you don’t haveta decide right now… um… A thing you do haveta decide, though… is… It’s dark out now. And, that means sleep soon… You could sleep in here… or you could go sleep in one of our living tents we have set up… or… uh… You could go sleep with me. My bed is on top of one of these buildings.”

Firestorm didn’t seem to keen on her options, but her ears perked up a bit when I said my bed was on top of one of the buildings. “You mean… you mean your bed is… you have to fly to get there? Up to a building?” I gave her a firm nod. “Um… can… can I do that one?”

I smirked and nodded. “Sure ya can… We can head up there right now, if ya want. Jus’ hop on my back.”

Firestorm looked around, then stepped over and grabbed ahold of the washcloth before walking back and carefully climbing up onto my back.

“What’s the washcloth for?”

“It’s… um… it’s um, for a pillow…”

I laughed as I slowly got to my hooves, careful not to throw off her balance. “Well, you can use it fer that if ya want, but, I do got a pillow, so you’ll have a proper one to put your head on. If ya want.”

I walked on out of Inkblot’s building, shutting and locking the door behind me. I then spread my wings and slowly took off. I could hear another soft gasp as we left the ground, but unlike the one from Inkblot a few days ago, this one didn’t have much fear in it, it was more just the gut reaction to lifting off the ground for the first time. I flew on over to the General Store, and, well… unlike Lily’s, my stuff hadn’t been laid out for me. Given that I was the only one that could actually reach the roof.

I settled onto the roof and laid down, letting Firestorm get off. “Just gimme a minute.” Once she was off, I got back up and quickly started to unpack my things. Not everything, just the relevant stuff. The tarp, the mattress, the pillow, and a couple of blankets.

After getting it all out and situated, I quickly stripped off all my gear and flopped onto my nice, soft mattress and let my head hit the pillow. “You can sleep anywhere you want up here, Stormy. On the roof, on the mattress, either one, it’s fine. Jus’ take a blanket if you want it, an’ you can use th’ pillow too.”

Firestorm nodded and looked around, but after a few moments she proceeded to just lay down where she was on the roof and curled up. I let out a little sigh, but… it was her choice to make. Even if it was the uncomfortable one.

I rolled over and shifted a bit as I worked my way into a comfortable position on the mattress. It was so much nicer than dirt, or rocks, or anything, really. Everything except a cloud… but a cloud required maintenance to keep around all night, and I didn’t quite wanna bother with that, really.

Tomorrow I needed to bug Lily. I also needed to find out what was so urgent that High Times had to pull Inky away right then and there to take care of. Plus I had to figure out what had gone wrong and what had gone right in the move while I was gone, so I knew what to do now that I was in charge of stuff again…

My eyes blinked open, interrupting my train of thought. I felt some movement, and soon after I felt a warm, damp presence pushing up against my back. After a few seconds it settled down and curled up again, firmly against my back, but definitely on the mattress. I started to smile as I shut my eyes again.

“Goodnight, Firestorm…”

Silence, followed by a quiet, “Goodnight, Tri…”

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Scrap Metal, No One, and Kibu for helping me with grammar, spelling, and plot thus far.

Chapter 4: Our Diets, I Should Mention, Are Mostly Vegetarian

My eyes cracked open, first one and then the other. It was light outside, which I figured was a good thing. The sun hadn’t forgotten to rise or something. Another good thing was my apparent lack of dreaming… My dreams lately had been… well… resulting in things completely inappropriate for the filly sharing my bed.

She was still there, right? I shifted a bit and turned my head around so I could see slightly behind me. Yep, there she was, her red belly slowly rising and falling with each breath. Slowly, not wanting to wake her, I worked my way all the way around so my own stomach was facing her and I could watch her without breaking my neck.

She looked so peaceful. And it was a well deserved rest. No more worrying about slavers, no more having to get up too quickly for another way-too-long day of hiking. I moved my wing from my side and over her body, then used my feathers to carefully pet down her back between her breaths. The scars on her hide wouldn’t ever disappear, but I was hoping that, if she hadn’t been a slave for too long, maybe a few months here in town would help her return to the filly she’d been before she got captured.

Granted, having another filly in town that trusted me and would feed me information would be nice, too. High Times had authority over… everypony. And everypony listened to him. He was worth listening to. But there were too many equines here for him to be able to deal with all of them every single day by himself. So the foals themselves had to take some of the responsibility. And, rather quickly, we found out that colts were usually more comfortable talking to or getting help from other colts, while fillies were usually more comfortable talking to or getting help from other fillies. Sure, there were exceptions, but in general, it was true.

So, to be more effective, everything was basically split into two. The colts and the fillies. The oldest ones, me and Inkblot, were in charge of our own groups. Then the second oldest had their own duties and were second in command, then the third oldest had their duties and were third in command, and so on down the line. One of the important parts was that the two chains of command were completely separate. No filly, no matter how young, was forced to listen to anything a colt told her to do, no matter how old. Likewise, no colt had to listen to anything a filly told her to do, no matter what.

Usually it wasn’t an issue. Most of the foals knew that the older ones probably knew better, whether filly or colt, and should probably be listened to. That is unless they were just plain stupid, which did happen sometimes. But foals are often smart enough to tell who is just plain stupid, so that wasn’t too much of a problem, either. The real problem came from the troublemakers, and there were always a few, on both sides. They’d try to start fights between the fillies and the colts, or mess around in other ways… And ultimately it fell upon me and Inkblot to settle that kind of stuff.

In order to help us with that, we had spies. I had Sunny. Used to have another filly, too, but she… well she wasn’t around anymore. Inkblot had a couple of colts reporting on ‘the other side’ for her, Adagio and Cherry Cola. She knew I had Sunny, I knew she had those two. When problems start to come up, we’d use our contacts on the other side to help spread messages or smooth things over, and almost without fail whatever crises the troublemakers were trying to stir up got calmed right back down.

Speaking of Sunny, I had to go see her today. Tell her about Firestorm, since I was pretty sure the filly would eventually choose to stick around. Actually, I had a lot of things I had to do today. But… they could wait for later, right? I had a sleepy little unicorn in my bed.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Or… not.

“Featherbrain.”

It wasn’t a question. It didn’t even sound like a call for attention. It was just… there. I let out a long sigh. Guess it couldn’t wait for later. And I wasn’t about to keep Bottom Line waiting. That particular red filly was a lot more feisty than the sleepy red one in my bed.

I carefully slipped back then got up to my hooves, then stuck my head over the edge of the building and spoke down to Line, “What?”

“Need t’ talk t’ ya.”

I huffed softly. “Can it wait? I’mma bit busy…”

Bottom Line snorted. “With what?”

“Firestorm.”

“Who? Wait, don’ tell me ya brought home another featherbrain.”

“No,” I hissed down at her, “She’s not e-” I stopped short then looked back at my bed. Firestorm must’ve still been tired, because she was still asleep. I stepped off of the roof and glided down, landing next to Bottom Line. “She ain’t even a pegasus. She’s a unicorn. An’ she’s the new filly in town. Former slave, so don’ go callin’ her a featherbrain.”

Bottom Line snorted at me again, then looked back up towards the roof. She was silent for a bit, then glanced back at me. “She gonna stay with you?”

I gave a shrug with my wings. “No clue, it’s her first night. Figure she’ll want a place’a her own eventually, though.”

Line gave a slow nod. “I can get her a tent for you. Full set of welcoming gifts?”

I blinked, not sure whether she was offering or selling. Because that’d be expensive to buy. “Would you?”

Bottom Line gave another nod. “On the house.” She began to head for the door to the General Store. “Now c’mon.” She opened it then looked at me expectantly.

I gave her an odd look but for some reason did what she wanted. I followed after her, then walked past her into the General Store.

The moment I walked in, I could feel the air change around me. Gone was the pleasantness of the outside, and in its place was… tension so thick I could’ve caught the air with my rope and drug it around. Three ponies stood inside the General Store. Adding me and Bottom Line, who stepped in after me and closed the door behind her, made it five. The other three were Inkblot, High Times, and Grassy Knoll. And the first two were staring right at me.

Inkblot looked tired, like she didn’t sleep very well last night. Her mane was actually a bit of a mess and her eyes looked bad. High Times looked normal, but I could tell he was thinking very, very hard and didn’t have the answer yet. Grassy Knoll, however, looked incredibly uncomfortable. I looked the brown coated and green maned colt over for a few moments. What had him all tussled up? Bottom Line, however, ignored all of them and went behind her desk, pulled out a binder, and started to write something down.

I looked the three of them over and slowly walked towards them. “So uh… what’s… up, guys?”

High Times was the only one to speak. “We have a problem, Buck.”

I tilted my head a little bit and took two more steps before stopping. “Ya don’ say?”

High Times gave a slow nod. “We’re out of food.”

It took a second before my brain actually processed those words. “We’re outta- we’re WHAT?!” My eyes went wide and my wings instinctively flared out.

Grassy Knoll reached up and rubbed at his neck with a forehoof as High continued to speak. “During the trip here, Grassy did another food check. It was reported that you had only left us with two days of ration, even though your last repor-”

“Bull! Three weeks! I left three weeks of food in there!”

High lifted a hoof up, attempting to look sympathetic and help me calm down, but it wasn’t exactly working. “I know that’s what you counted. But isn’t possible that your count could be wrong?”

My head slowly tilted as I looked at him, wondering if that was even possibly a real question. “Are you… are ya… wha- Three weeks is like twenty days! How could I possibly screw up twenty with two?”

“You could’ve accidentally wrote a zero after the two on the board.”

“C’mon, High…”

Grassy put his hoof down and lifted his head back up. “We already know you were not thinking clearly, and forgetting stuff, and stuff like that ‘cause of all the coffee.”

Inkblot broke in, “Pfft, ha! No. The only proof of that you have is after I showed back up, which was twelve hours after he made that count. For all you know, Grassy, he was counting perfectly fine when he did that.”

Grassy worked his mouth a couple times before forming words, “I- it’s- it’s still possible he did mess it up. Maybe he was hallucinating or something, I don’t know. It’s just… I don’t think if he’s making mistakes that bad, because one way or another, either he lied or he made a mistake. I don’t think if he’s making mistakes or lying that bad that he should still be in charge.”

I slowly turned to look at Grassy, my gaze hardening as I got him in sight. “You what?”

Grassy seemed to flinch back a little from me, but High Times stuck out a hoof between us. “Buck, please.” I gave a short growl as I turned my eyes to look up at High, now giving him the same look. He didn’t seem phased by it, though. “Thank you. Now,” he looked to Grassy, “please, explain why you don’t think Buck should be in charge. He’s either made a mistake or he’s lying, and either one is very bad in this case. I’ve had to send four Crusader teams out to try and quickly get food. But at the same time, it’s only one mistake…”

Grassy gulped nervously then looked up at High, seeming to get a little more confident as he spoke, “Because it’s not just one time. He’s- he’s unreliable. And dangerous. He goes around scaring everyone for fun, and picking fights, he’s not a good influence on the younger foals, and he is just in it for the power trips, he doesn’t actually care about anyone else.”

My glare started to fade. For the moment I wasn’t even mad, I was shocked. Were my ears playing tricks, or was he really saying these things? I looked at him, then High, then to Ink. And why weren’t they defending me? Inkblot especially, she was avoiding looking at me at all. I didn’t know whether to feel betrayed or not.

High spoke with the same cool voice he had always used. “That is a lot of bad things,” he looked over at me for a moment then looked back to Grassy. “Maybe Buck shouldn’t be in charge anymore. But if not him, who should take his place?”

Grassy shifted uncomfortably on his hooves before answering, “Well… me. I’m second oldest. Second in line. I’d take his place.”

My ears pinned back flat against my head and I snapped around towards Grassy, “Is that your angle?! You just wanna get rid of me and take over for yourself?”

Grassy took a step back when I rounded on him. “No. No! It’s not- no! It’s just, you’re… you’re unfit. I don’t want to take over, but if you can’t do it, I have to.”

High stuck his hoof out again. “Let’s not get angry here, boys… Let’s just talk, alright?”

My tail started to twitch behind me as I looked back at High. “He is tryin’ t’ lie, an’ tryin’ t’ turn y’all against me, an’ tryin’ t’ kick me out an’ you want me to talk nicely?!”

Grassy shook his head, “I ain’t lying! It’s true! There were just two days of food there after you left!”

High kept his eyes locked on me. “Buck, please.”

I was fuming. Nearly every muscle in my body was tense, and they were all screaming at me to go buck that ferret-faced fink right in his ferret-face. But with High and Inkblot there, there was no way they’d let me do that. So all I could do was sit there and bite my tongue. Hard.

High let out a small sigh when I didn’t say anything more. “Thank you.” He turned back to Grassy. “Now, Grassy. If Buck isn’t fit, and you believe you would take his place, and if you aren’t lying… then maybe you could answer a question or two to confirm all of that?”

Grassy was now outright fidgeting in place. He looked away before looking back up at High when the stallion turned to him again. “Uh… yeah, yeah sure. Anything.”

“During our last headcount during yesterday, there were two foals missing. Both colts. Powder and Scout. Where are they?”

Grassy blinked rapidly. “Wha- what?” He shook his head then pointed at me, “Shouldn’t you be asking him that question? Knowing where everyone is, that’s the job of the colt in charge.”

High nodded. “Normally I would ask him. But both Powder and Scout were here at the time he left. That means they disappeared while you were in charge, Grassy. That means it’s your responsibility. So tell me, where are those two colts of yours?”

Grassy started to stutter, not able to come up with a response. I, however, was still capable of thinking, and suddenly I realized what was even more fishy. “Not only that, but Powder and Scout are your friends. They’re on yer Crusader team! Even if ya ain’t in charge, yer gonna know where those two went off to!”

Grassy looked at me and his eyes went wide. He started to look back and forth between myself and High, then he just froze. In that moment, the last thing I expected happened. Grassy burst into tears. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t, I didn’t mean to! It’s- it’s, they took the food! I didn’t want them to but they did it anyway!”

High Times let out a long, disappointed sigh. He kicked the counter softly behind him and moved over towards Grassy, putting a foreleg around the crying colt and pulling Grassy towards himself.

Inkblot finally made herself known again, blowing air out through her nostrils as she took a step away from the desk and towards me. “What about the bloodwings? It was your team that said they saw them, Grassy. Were there really bloodwings?”

Grassy pushed his head against High Times and shook it. “No! There weren’t! It- it- it was slavers!”

“What?!” High, Inky, and myself all spoke in perfect unison.

“We- we- we… We were off in a town a bunch of days south, and… I got to talking to a stallion in a bar. And I mentioned our town, and all the foals, and how it was mostly foals, and it was fine… nothing out of the ordinary! It just… When we met back up and started to leave town, we saw that stallion again outside of the walls, and… he was with a few other ponies, and then we saw the slaves. They… they were chained up by their hindlegs.”

Slavers, with slaves, chained up by their forelegs, south of here. No… couldn’t be…

Grassy had to pause to clear his nose of snot. “I got scared. I just… I didn’t want everyone to know I’d screwed up that bad. I told slavers where we lived! There’s no living that down! So… so… so when we got back, I said we saw bloodwings. I- I- I knew that would get us to move, so we would be safe from the slavers and they wouldn’t be a threat to us, and plus nobody would hate me forever because I gave up our town to slavers. I thought it was a perfect cover…”

I gave my wings a powerful flap. They were driven by my strongest muscles, so I actually could do that. I wanted to know more about those slavers, but there was a more immediate concern. “What’s that gotta do with this food bullcrap, Grass?”

Grassy turned to look at me through his tears. “Powder… Powder hates you. And after the other day, he got convinced that he’d never get a proper fight with you, that somebody would always step in to break it up. So he… he… he got a plan to get rid of you. He’d steal the food while we were moving, since it’d be easier to do, and we’d frame you for screwing it up so bad that you would get kicked out… or not be in charge… or something… then you wouldn’t be protected. I told him it was a bad idea, that I didn’t want to do it, but he went ahead and did it anyway. He said, he said if I tattled on him that he’d tell everyone the truth about the slavers… So… I just… I went along with it… I’m so sorry…”

I closed my eyes and pulled my head back, starting to rub over my face with my wing. “That little… moron is making everyone starve because he wants to beat me up. Hell, I’ll let him beat me up if it means that he’ll stop being su-”

“No you won’t.”

I pulled my wing from my face and looked at Inkblot. “Sure I will.”

Inkblot shook her head. “No. You won’t.”

“You don’t get t’ decide that.”

“Yes I do.”

I snorted at her. “Says who?”

“Says me.”

I wasn’t sure what threw me off more. The words, or that she said it like it was the most obvious, matter-of-fact thing in the world. “What?”

Inkblot snorted back at me. “If after this you go to let him beat you up, I’ll kill him myself before he gets a chance. Or, if I can’t, I’ll go tell Lily. And I know she can do it.”

I just stared at her, mouth agape. I didn’t know whether to be mad, or to be proud, or what. And she didn’t say anything more to help me out, either. She just gave a little shrug, like it was no big deal.

High, seemingly ignoring both of us, gave another long sigh and gently stroked Grassy’s back. “Well, now you’ve told us about the slavers yourself. Powder can’t get you in trouble for that anymore. So, do you know where Powder and Scout went with the food?”

Grassy shook his head a little. “I think… I think their plan was to take it to Market and sell it, then buy some nice things with all the caps… You know… three weeks’ of food for thirty people… lot of caps there…”

Bottom Line piped up from behind her counter for the first time since entering. She appeared to still be writing in her binder while sitting on her cushion. “Forty-one ponies, ration at five caps per meal with two meals per day for nineteen days, ‘bout seventy-eight hundred caps. Oh plus water ration, at what, eight caps per day for a bottle’s worth, forty-one ponies, nineteen days, ‘bout sixty-two hundred caps… So total of almost fourteen thousand caps.”

High turned slowly to look at Bottom Line, then sadly shook his head. “Lot of caps indeed…” He then looked at myself and Inkblot. “I already sent another Crusader team with another cart to go to Market to try and buy food if there is any. Presumably… they’ll make it there after Powder and Scout do. Or maybe since their cart is empty they’ll make it first. I’m not sure. But somebody with this news has got to go down there and help them all sort that mess out… I’m just not sure whether I should send you or ask Lily to go.”

I finally tore my eyes away from Inky when Bottom Line spoke up, then ended up looking at High when he turned to us as well. “I dunno… Like, I trust Scroll t’ run stuff fine while I’m gone instead’a Grassy. But Lily’ll be able to get there quicker. I mean, I could fly, but I don’t think you’d wanna send me alone. If I was alone an’ did run into Powder an’ Scout… Powder’d pummel me and leave me fer dead, prob’ly.”

High took a deep breath and nodded. “True. I’ll ask Lily to go. See if she doesn’t mind. It’ll be nice to have you two here to help bring some order back. Half the Crusaders being gone is… tough on a lot of the rest. Plus Grassy and Opal aren’t all that great at… motivating them. Plus… somebody needs to keep them calm until we actually have food again… I’ll have my fill trying to keep the adults from freaking out.”

Inkblot and I both nodded slowly, but she was the first to speak. “We’ll get right on that, High.” She turned and walked in front of me, her tail flicking my foreleg as she passed. “C’mon, Buck.”

I blinked and looked after her, then looked back at High. I started to say something, but then was interrupted by Inkblot repeating her request. I huffed, then turned and followed her out.

The instant the door to the General Store closed behind us Inkblot spun around towards me. “Before you get too mad at me, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you last night, but High wanted to see your reaction to hearing it like that. He wanted to be sure you weren’t lying, so he made me promise not to tell you.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure, fine, but what, didja believe all that other crap? Why didn’t ya say nothin’, huh? He was makin’ me out t’ be some sort-”

“Because it was part of High’s plan, Bucky. I couldn’t say anything. The plan was to let Grassy talk himself into a corner and get him to just confess it. And it worked!”

I took a slow breath then looked at her. “So you really didn’t believe none’a that stuff he was sayin’?” Inkblot just stood there, looking into my eyes. I gave another puff of air through my nostrils at her. “Ya can’t get away with sayin’ nothin’ ‘gain this time, Inky. Didja agree with him er not?”

She continued to just stand there for awhile. Suddenly she moved to the side, lifted her foreleg up to one side of my face to keep it steady, then leaned in to give a long kiss to the other side of my muzzle. My eyes went wide when I realized what she was doing, and that wasn’t the only reaction. My wings involuntarily left my sides and flared out above me! What the heck was THAT?! They were just… stuck like that!

After a few seconds Inkblot pulled away and let my head go, then raised an eyebrow when she spotted my wings. She still didn’t say a word, though, and just turned to trot back towards her building. “See you for lunch.”

I just stared after her, but eventually stopped trying to make words go from my stunned brain to my mouth, because that just wasn’t going to happen. I don’t actually know how long I stared, still frozen in shock. It was probably only a minute or two, but it felt like an eternity At some point after she entered her building, my wings began to relax and come back under my own control. I pulled one of my wings up and felt at the side of my muzzle where she’d kissed me.

She’d kissed me… And I had no idea what it meant… I was so doomed.

“Tri… Tri… Tripod…”

I blinked, then started to look around. Where was that coming from? I didn’t actually even see any other foals outside right now. Where was… oh… oh crap… I gave my wings a test flap and, once certain I could use them properly, I flew up to hover level with the rooftop of the General Store.

Sure enough, there was Firestorm. The little filly was standing in the middle of my bed, doing a strange little dance with her hindlegs.

“H-hey, Firestorm! Sleep well?”

She bit her lip hard. “I… I gotta poop…”

A trip to the latrine turned into a full tour of the town area. It started with said latrine, though it wasn’t even actually dug yet. Probably because half the Crusaders were out of town. From there we moved on to the storage buildings, the General Store, and the residential tents. I showed her around the tents and where ponies slept, and what she would get if she decided that she wanted to stay and wanted one of the tents. After that, however, Firestorm had a very good question.

“Um… what about food?”

I let out a little sigh and looked over some of the tents before looking back at Firestorm. “Well, food usually gets stored in one of th’ buildin’s I showed you earlier, the one that’s kinda empty right now. But, tell you what. You ‘member Inkblot?” Firestorm gave a nod. “Good! An’ you remember where her buildin’ was?” She nodded again. “Nice. Now, what you should do, is you should go there and ask her a question. Tell her that I sent you and that you wanna know when the first Crusader team is comin’ back in today. That’ll be when today’s breakfast is. Think ya can do that?”

Firestorm gulped, then nodded. “Tell her… you told me… to go ask when the team is coming back. I can do that, yeah.”

I smiled, then reached out with a wing to pat her back. “Good. I’ll be along in a bit. I gotta see somepony else here. Jus’... shout my name reaaaaaaaal loud if ya need me, ‘kay?”

Firestorm gave another nod, then looked around, then stepped away and moved off in the direction of Inkblot’s building. I moved a bit so I could keep track of her and make sure she was at least heading in the right direction.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna replace me with the new girl.”

I jumped at the sudden voice behind me and spun around, just in time to see Sunny Sea slipping out from between two of the tents. The blue filly was giving me a mock look of disappointment.

I rolled my eyes. “Clearly yer job is super safe. You’ll always be my number one spy.”

Sunny’s fake look was gone in a flash and she let out a giggle as she ran up the rest of the way to me, leaping up to give me a hug. “I missed you, Tri! Your eye looks a lot better.”

I huffed, but leaned down to put my head against her withers and use my wing to return the hug. “Missed you too.” I gave her a squeeze with my chin and wing, then slowly let her go and pushed her back a little so I could look her in the face. “How much do ya know, Sunny?”

She gave a little sigh as the hug broke. “I know… we’re outta food. And…” She glanced around us, then turned and started to trot off. I looked around following her lead, then walked after her. She went a ways down the row of tents, then slipped into one, hers. I followed her in and laid down on the dirt while she hopped up onto her mattress and curled up, putting her head down on a pillow facing me, like she was getting ready for story time. “What do you need me for?”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I ran over what I knew in my mind. “First off, it was Powder and Scout that stole our food. I’m… pretty sure they just ain’t gonna be allowed t’ come back after doin’ something like that. I dunno how they thought they’d do it without gettin’ caught, but… I dunno.”

Sunny’s eyes went wide. “Wooooow! Well Powder really isn’t the smartest one… Kind of has that big thick skull… that he uses to headbutt you with.”

“Ironic, that,” I said before smacking my lips. “Apparently th’ plan was t’ blame me fer not countin’ th’ food right, an’ gettin’ me kicked out fer it instead’a him.” Sunny just gave her head a little shake. “Also, big point, there were no bloodwings.” Her head tilted on top of her pillow. “Yeah, no bloodwings. Grassy accidentally told our location t’ a buncha slavers. But he didn’t wanna tell us he did something so stupid, so instead he told us there were bloodwings. Now… I need you t’ spread ‘round that we might need t’ move again. We prob’ly won’t. But just in case, ya know? Me and Inky, we saved Lily from slavers. An’ they passed right by where th’ town used t’ be, but they didn’t turn and follow it, they jus’ kept goin’ the same direction. So I’d bet they won’t come lookin’ again. ‘Specially not, what, two days off track from where th’ town was supposedly s’posed t’ be.”

Sunny nodded slowly, but then let out a little gasp. “You fought slavers?!”

I chuckled a bit but shook my head. “Didn’t fight, exactly. We sorta… scared ‘em off. Ya know what I do on Nightmare Night? I did that t’ them, too, just… with a cloud like a hundred times as big instead’a just one’a th’ little ones.”

“Woooow…”

I let out a laugh. “Yeah, it was loud. And bright… and awesome. But… yeah, didn’t fight ‘em. And, we also saved Firestorm along with Lily. That’s the red filly I was jus’ talkin’ to. She’s like… between eight an’ ten, I think. So yer age. But I dunno how long she was a slave. So… it’d be great if, ya know, ya helped her out a little bit. Maybe introduce her t’ some of th’ fillies, maybe introduce her to Beanie. They seem compatibly shy.”

Sunny rolled her eyes. “Two shy ponies don’t work all that well together, Tri. They end up not saying much at all.”

“That’s what yer for! You talk an’ get ‘em t’ find something they both think is fun, then get them going from there.”

“Pfft. I didn’t say I couldn’t do it. I said it don’t work well.”

I smiled and reached out with my wing to ruffle Sunny’s yellow mane. “That’s my girl.” I pulled my wing back and looked at the ground, then glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. “Can I ask somethin’ that you won’t ever tell nopony?”

Sunny almost looked offended. “Is that a serious question?”

“Yes, it is. Now… Does Inky like me?”

Her eyes narrowed and she stared at me like I was a complete idiot. “Is that a serious question?”

I blinked a couple of times before it hit me. “No! I mean, yes, it is. I mean… Yes, she likes me. But does she ‘like me’ like me? Ya know… like… special like?”

Sunny continued to look at me like I was stupid until what I meant finally got through to her. “Oh. Oooooh… you mean, you wanna know if she wants to have sleep-overs with you.” I hesitated, but then nodded. “Well…” Sunny looked down at her pillow. “I actually thought she only wanted to have sleepovers with fillies… But she hasn’t actually had a sleepover so I guess that’d be guessing…” She looked back up at me. “Why?”

I sighed and shook my head. That only made the whole ordeal more confusing. “Well, she kissed me.”

“She kissed you?! Where?”

I unfurled my wing and touched my feathers to the point on the side of my muzzled Inky had kissed. Almost was like I could still feel her doing it.

“Oh, that’s… Well she don’t want to sleep over. If she wanted that, she would’ve kissed you here, silly.” She reached out her hoof and poked my lips with it. “Which, if she don’t wanna sleep over with you, then she has got to only wanna sleep over with fillies. Can’t imagine any other reason she wouldn’t want to.”

I worked my mouth a little after Sunny poked it then let out a snort. “So I’m so awesome that th’ only reason a filly wouldn’t wanna be my fillyfriend is if they were gay?” Sunny nodded firmly. “Well then…”

I looked down at my forehoof, then tilted my head and looked back up at Sunny. “But that would mean that in a few years I’d have t’ worry ‘bout you chasin’ after me.” Sunny just gave me the biggest possible smile she could. I rolled my eyes. “Ugh. Yer impossible…” After giving my head a shake, I got up to my hooves and leaned over to nuzzle Sunny’s cheek. “I gotta go. See ya later, Sunny.”

Sunny just giggled and nuzzled back. “Bye, Tri!”

I turned and walked back out of her tent. That filly was going to be the death of me. No, wait. Fillies were going to be the death of me. All of them. All of them, everywhere, of all time. Or at least the four that were in my life. And half of those had already enjoyed screwing with my head today. It wasn’t even noon yet!

I turned and trotted across the tent area until I got towards the back of it. I had to go see her, so why not try to make it three out of four fillies that have tried to break my brain before noon? When I got to it, I simply slipped through the flap of Lily’s tent.

Lily was inside, currently on her bed, repacking her saddlebags. She stopped, though, when she saw me, and instantly smiled as she held a foreleg out, motioning for me to come to her. I smiled back and did as she wanted. She pulled me into a hug when I got close enough and nosed at the top of my head.

“I’m sorry, Buck, but I’m going to be heading back out again.”

I sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I know… I sorta… was there when that was decided.”

“Oh yeah?” She pulled her head back a bit to get a better look at me.

I nodded again. “Guess High already came an’ told ya? Anyway… we gotta stay, help maintain everything… plus if I ran into Powder out there he’d jus’ try t’ beat me up, an’ he’d win… So… yeah.”

Lily gave me a squeeze, then slid her hoof down and stroked my back. “Think of it this way. I can go farther in a day than any of you can, unless you were flyin’. Plus I’m not carrying a cart. Figure I’ll catch up to those two halfway to Market, long before they actually get there. Then I can take it, bring it back quick, then we can catch up and do stuff together. How’s that sound?” She nosed at the side of my head again, then looked down my body. Her hoof slid from my back, between my side and my wing, and pulled my wing a little from my side. “You need to preen. Your feathers are all over.”

I nodded slowly. Everything she said made sense… so it should work out. I grinned and nodded faster when she talked about getting back. “Yeah! An’ maybe you could stay fer a bit longer time than normal. Maybe.” I blinked and looked back at my wing when I felt her hoof there. “I uh… yeah. I do. Um… Sis…”

She pulled her hoof back and let my wing go back to normal. “Yeah?”

I bit my lip for a few seconds then turned my head all the way around to look at her. “Our mom was a pegasus, right?” She nodded. “So you know a bit ‘bout pegasuses, right?”

She nodded again. “Yeah… a bit. Why?”

“Well… what’s it mean when my wings do…” I slowly extended my wings out above me as far as they would go, “that?”

Lily didn’t seem to quite comprehend the question, but after taking a good look at my wings she cleared her throat a couple of times and leaned away from me a bit. “What happened right before your wings did that?”

I coughed. “Uh… I got… I got kissed.” I pulled my wing down again to show the spot of the kiss.

Lily immediately started to smirk. “It means… Okay, you know… Let’s see…” She paused for a bit to chew over her thoughts. “All parts that… extend… on a pegasus colt, work the same. If you know what I mean.”

My jaw dropped. “Ya mean stuff’s gonna start comin’ out my wings?!”

She burst into laughter, laughter I didn’t quite understand, because this seemed like a really bad thing to have happen! “No! No, just… your wings get excited when… you know. Exciting stuff happens.” She leaned back over quickly and gave me another hug. “Nothing’ll come out your wings. I promise. It’ll always be the same like when you got kissed. But… who kissed ya?”

Well, at least finding that bit out made it… not as bad. I fidgeted some when Lily hugged me again. “It was Inky…”

“Ooooh! Told you!”

“But she ain’t my fillyfriend! An’ Sunny said she don’t even like colts! An’ I don’t really think she likes me like that, she was just… I don’t know.”

Lily let me go again and leaned back to look at me. “Then ask her.”

“Ask her. Her. I won’t get nothin’ outta her, you know that.”

Lily’s smirk came back instantly. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” Now she had my attention. “Maybe not today, or tomorrow… but ask her about it right as she, or both of you, are about to go to sleep. She’ll tell you. Promise.”

Now it was my turn to look at somepony like they were stupid. “What, she’ll tell me just ‘cause… what, she wants t’ get t’ sleep quicker?”

Lily laughed and shook her head. “No, nooo… it’s… more complicated. But trust me, okay? She’ll tell you.”

I let out a sigh. “Alright… okay. I… guess I might as well try it.”

She gave me a nudge, then got up to her hooves and put a few last things into her saddlebags. “You won’t regret it. Unless you don’t like the answer you get. In that case you might regret it a little. But hey, getting an answer you don’t like is better than not knowing. I can promise you that, too.”

I shook my head. “Maybe. You know what I think?”

“What’s that?”

“I think y’all are all workin’ together t’ confuse me an’ make my life complicated.”

Lily snickered, then leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Not this time.”

I gave a shrug, then blinked. “Wait, this time?”

Lily slid her saddlebags on then moved for the tent exit. “You heard me. See you later, Buck! I’ll try to be back within two days!”

“Wait, you, I-” I stuck my wing out to stop her, but she was already halfway through the tent flap then gone a second later. I gave an aggravated yell, ran my wing over my face, and rolled over onto my back on my sister’s mattress.

Yep. I was right. Three for four. I would put a large sum of caps on the notion that if I got off of this mattress and went to find Firestorm that she would manage to find some way to make my brain hurt worse than it already was.

Screw today. I was staying right here on this bed for the rest of it.

Or… not.

I had spent what felt like hours feverishly going over scenarios in my mind. Who was right, Lily or Sunny? If either of them were right, what did it mean? What if both of them were wrong? Did Inky actually mean anything by it, or was she just messing with me to mess with me?

Right about time I was nearing the meaning of life in general question, I heard a loud cheer come up from the direction of the center of town. I started to ignore it, but, that wasn’t something I could ignore. A cheer? Could mean anything.

With a sigh followed by a grunt I rolled over and go to my hooves. Time to throw myself back into the lion’s den. Or would that be the filly’s den? Either way. I stepped out of the tent and trotted back towards town.

I didn’t expect to see what I saw. Every single foal and adult had come outside to the courtyard to welcome back the first returning Crusader team. And the first team had returned with a serious catch. Several bloatprites, two hogs, and something else I couldn’t exactly identify. I let out a cheer of my own, which was quickly followed by a groan. I had to get to work.

I gave my head a quick shake and cleared my throat. Time to focus.

“Alright!” I spoke up so everyone could hear me as I trotted towards the returning team. “Good work! Now, let’s get a fire started! You guys,” I pointed out a group of three with one wing, “you do that.” I looked back to the Crusader team. “Cut up th’ bloastsprites first. They’ll cook quicker an’ they’re easier t’ cut. Get those t’ th’ hungriest. After they got food, start cuttin’ up th’ hogs. There’s more meat there, but it’ll take longer t’ get ready, so let’s fix th’ quick hunger then focus on feedin’ th’ rest after. Let’s go, let’s go!”

The foals parted as I trotted up, then broke off to do as I’d ordered. The three went to the storage building to get materials for a fire, and another group of foals went to help the Crusader team start working on the bloatsprites, getting the pieces ready to be put onto the fire.

It might be meat, but at least they hadn’t gone hungry for more than a day.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Kibu, No One, and Scrap Metal for helping with grammar, spelling, and plot thus far.

Chapter 5: Catbutt

Food! Glorious, wonderful food! Well, it was meat, for the most part. So not all that wonderful and glorious. If I ate too much of it my stomach started to feel all… rumbly and unsettled. But even that was better than being hungry.

The next few days were largely taken up by receiving the various Crusader teams that had come back with food. We had to clean the animals or bugs, cook them, store them, and I had to manage who they went to and the portions they got them in. Normally that was simple enough, if time consuming. But this time I had to answer at least one question about every decision I made or order I gave. The worst part was it wasn’t even the Crusaders questioning my judgement. They all did what I said.

Firestorm was the one asking all the questions. Why cook that meat first? Why does this filly get more food than that colt? Why does one get pork and the other get ant meat? Why is there a lot of meat and not normal food? How come all these other foals have cutie marks if the world is all supposed to go back to be nice and have harmony and stuff?

For three days all I heard were questions. She barely even talked to anyone else. There must’ve been just one tiny little crack in her shell, and that crack was pointed right at me. The only time away from them was when Sunny had managed to drag her off to play with other foals. Not that I didn’t try to get away other times. But somehow she always knew exactly where to go look for me and ask me what I was doing in such a weird place.

Thankfully after four days I didn’t have to make all the rationing decisions and thus she had less to question. On that day Lily returned with the cart Powder and Scout had stolen, notably without Powder and Scout. The decision had been made to not allow them back in with their histories after the theft they’d attempted to pull off. Lily, however, wasn’t willing to just leave them out there alone with nothing, so she gave them each a week’s worth of food and escorted them to within sight of Market, then let them continue on towards it while she turned back and pulled the cart as fast as she could to get back home.

I hadn’t even seen Inkblot except for a bit during lunch time when she came to get food on each of those four days. She was busy leading projects around town, getting this one set up like our last one. The latrine and the playground, among other things.

Lily had been a bit disappointed about my lack of ability to get answers out of Inkblot. But it blew over quickly enough as we got into spending our first day together, just the two of us, in over three weeks. I’d managed to get Sunny to promise to keep Firestorm busy the entire day.

My legs went limp and I dropped straight to the ground, causing Lily to fly right over me and land face-first into the dirt behind me. I gave my wings a quick flap, got back to my hooves, and spun around to face her. She was getting up the same, but an earth pony couldn’t do it as fast as me.

I reached down and grabbed my lasso from its hook on my armor, then started taking steps backwards as I got it spinning above me. As Lily turned and started to rush at me, I sent the rope flying out. She saw it and tried to turn, but I still managed to catch one of her forehooves in the loop as I yanked backwards to tighten it around her limb. I gave a muffled cheer, spread my wings, and took off straight into the sky, holding onto the rope as tightly as I could. As I hit the full length I felt the rope snap, followed by a yell from Lily as her leg was suddenly jerked away from her, which caused her to take another tumble to the ground.

I started to circle around, still holding the rope taut, but Lily got an idea. She reached up and curled her other forehoof around the rope, then gave a solid, sudden yank towards herself. The motion caused me to do a sudden front-flip in the air as it pulled my head down, and the rope got ripped right out of my grasp and fell limply to the ground.

“Hey! Not fair!”

Lily laughed. “Of course it’s fair! Don’t keep the rope tight like that after you do that. Either get slack or get the lasso out of their hooves. What are ya going to do now?!” She rolled over and hopped back to her hooves.

I hovered in place and looked around. We were in an open area just outside of town. Nothing to hide behind. Nothing to improvise with. Or… was there? I reached my hoof up and undid the knot that held my cape around my neck. I climbed up, then turned and dove straight down at Lily, whipping my cape off at the bottom of the dive and swooping past her. She tried to kick me out of the air, but I was too fast for her. As I passed, though, I left behind my cape, draped right over her face over her eyes.

“Gah!” She stumbled a bit and worked on getting my cape off. I took my opening, though, and circled around to do another pass and get my rope back. It was easy since she was preoccupied with my cape. By the time she could see again, I had my rope spinning above me and I was hovering in mid-air.

“Okay, wasn’t expecting that. Good one.” She tossed my cape to the side and looked back up at me. “What now, hotshot?”

I snorted and my tail flicked beneath me. I turned mid-air and dove down again at her, which got her to strike out at me, but I was expecting it this time. Hoping for it. I pulled back, never actually getting in range for her to hit me, and threw the lasso out at the same time. She was mid-strike, so the shot landed, slipping right over her head and around her neck. I yanked my head back and tightened the loop, which made it slide right back up her neck, then get stuck right beneath her head at the smallest part of her neck.

Her eyes went wide as she felt the rope tighten around her throat and she started to pull against the rope, but stopped again just a moment later. A smile started to come up on her face. “You won. Fly up, hang me, you won.”

I gave a hoofpump and dropped the rope as I opened my mouth to yell, “Yes! Gotcha! Ha!” I dropped to the ground, my breathing heavy. “Told ya I’d gotten better with it!”

Lily laughed and worked for a minute on pulling the rope off of her neck. Once it was off, she tossed it back towards me. “You must’ve been practicing a lot. Either that or I’ve gotten slower.”

I caught the rope and quickly coiled it back up and placed it on its hook on my armor. “Practice! I got smaller. I mean, my targets. Usin’ beer bottles now.” Nevermind the black eye I gave myself. That part’s not important. I walked over past Lily to the other side where she’d thrown my cape and tossed it up onto my back.

“Really? Good job. Those things are finicky. Maybe one day use them for shooting practice, too. Here, lemme help.” She caught up with me after I picked up my cape. She situated it on my back, then stepped around in front of me, sat on her haunches, and started working on getting the knot back into place around my neck. That wasn’t exactly something I could do on my own.

I lifted my chin up when lily started tying the knot. “Really? Shooting practice? Yer gonna lemme have a gun?”

Lily snorted softly. “Eventually, yes. I’m still not sure, when, though.”

“Why not now? I woulda had ya a lot easier if I had a gun.”

“Pfft, yes. And you would’ve been dead first if I had been using my gun. If you get into a firefight, you’re already screwed.” She finished tying the knot and gave it a pat before standing back up and giving me a quick hug. “So just stay away from anyone who has a gun that might be apt to shoot you with it.”

I gave a somewhat aggravated grumble as she hugged me. “Yes, sis… still.”

She nodded. “Still.” She then turned and began walking back towards the town. “Word has it that you gave yourself a nasty hit to the face just practicing with your rope. I don’t want to know what kind of trouble you’d get into practicing with a live gun on your own.”

My ears went back and I gave a snort as I started to follow her. Bet it was High… Those two spent too much time together… and worse I couldn’t shut him up by giving him candy.

Lily headed for the tents and turned to go to hers. I stopped short, though, and looked past them towards the town for a moment before following her. “I gotta… like, go see High some time today.”

Lily paused outside her tent and looked back at me. “Oh yeah? What about?”

I wingshrugged. “Ain’t sure, exactly. Just everything’s goin’ back t’ normal an’ he wanted t’ talk t’ me.”

“Alright.” She held a forehoof out for another hug and I ignored my annoyance long enough to oblige. She gave me a hard squeeze and kissed the top of my head. “Today was fun. Sorry I was gone so long.” She reached back and ruffled my feathers with her hoof before putting it back down on the ground. “You just need some muscle and you’d be scary in a fight.” She smirked at me, then nodded off in direction of town. “I’ll catch up with you for dinner. Go get High out of the way.”

I unfurled then refurled my wings, getting some of the feathers back in order, then smiled and nodded to Lily. “Alright, yeah. But if I knew how t’ get muscles, I already woulda gotten ‘em. See ya later.” I spread my wings again and took off, this time flying lazily over towards town.

I wasn’t exactly sure where to find High. Probably the Adult’s Building. Or he might be out playing with some foals. Or he might be- oh, found him. I banked and turned towards him, then pulled up short as I saw who he was with. None other than Sunny and Firestorm. They were talking about… something. I gave my lip a thorough chewing. Did I want to go over there? Firestorm was… I gave a long sigh. She was just asking questions. I wasn’t even mad at the questions, they were just exhausting. But I’d gotten today off from questions, all of it.

Oh well. If she asked a question, then she asked a question. I continued flying towards them and set down lightly on the ground nearby. Both the fillies heard me immediately and gave me big smiles.

High followed their turn of attention and nodded. “Hey, Buck. Good to see you.”

“Hey, High. Sunny. Stormy.”

The fillies spoke almost as one, “Hi, Tri!”

As I expected, Firestorm started to slowly shift from where she had been standing over next to me. At least she wasn’t hiding from High Times, now. At least not as visibly. That was an improvement.

High Times looked over the three of us then looked to me. “You came at a good time. I was just finishing up here, was about to head back and start working on some stuff. I can talk to you now if you’re able.”

I nodded to High. “Yeah, was just comin’ t’ look fer ya.”

High smiled and looked to the fillies. “You girls have fun. And Sunny, I’ll be sure to catch your story time tonight before bed. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He turned and started to trot off towards the Adult’s Building.

Sunny beamed and lifted a forehoof to wave. “Bye, High!” She turned to me, “See ya, Tri. I gotta go make up stories!” She turned as well and ran off the opposite direction.

“Later, Sunny.” I watched the two of them run off, then looked down. Firestorm was still right next to me. “You goin’ anywhere?” Firestorm shook her head. “You gonna follow me?” She nodded.

I gave a soft snort then began following High. Sure enough, Firestorm was no more than a few steps behind me the whole way.

High led the way into the Adult’s Building, through the tiny entry area, and over into his small office. The office was actually smaller than one of the residential tents, but it was set up for keeping track of things, not sleeping. He quickly went around behind his desk and flopped onto a cushion, looking over his desk at us as we entered. “Oh, hello, Firestorm.”

I entered the office right behind High and pulled over a cushion for myself to sit on. A moment later I pulled over another one for Firestorm. “She can stay, right?”

High gave a quick shrug. “Fine by me.” He gave Firestorm another smile before reaching into his desk and pulling out a binder with some paper in it.

I nodded then settled down on my cushion. I reached a wing over and patted the other one, after which Firestorm took her place on it. Her eyes were everywhere except for myself and High, though. She was busy taking in every detail of the new room she could, as quickly as she could.

I watched her for a minute, but then shook my head and looked back at High. “So… what’s up?”

High flipped through many pages in the binder until he stopped somewhere in the middle. “Team restructuring, actually. Grassy… has been removed from, well, everything. He’s no longer second colt in command. He’s no longer got seniority for any of the related things being second oldest would get him. He is also no longer a Crusader team leader. Powder and Scout are both no longer with us, meaning their teams are short-hoofed. So, we’re doing just a general re-do of it all to settle it again, and update who is teamed up with who.”

The news wasn’t… surprising, but a full completely new set of Crusader teams in the entire town? That was big. Would take some getting used to. “Alright. So what am I here for?”

High Times opened another drawer and pulled out a pin. “I need the names you want for your team.”

“Wait, wait wait wait. I get t’ pick this time?”

High nodded. “Anybody you want.”

I let out a snort. “Inkblot.”

He let his head sway back and forth, then wrote down my name with an underline followed by Inkblot’s name in the binder. “That would mean giving up leading her own team, but I don’t think she’ll decline. Will have to ask her before confirming, though. Who else?”

“Paper Scroll.”

High shook his head. “Sorry, not exactly anybody you want… Scroll is second in command now that Grassy is out. I can’t have the first and second oldest colts be out of town every time a single team leaves.”

I let out a sigh. “Alright… uh…” My brow furrowed. I knew almost all the foals in town. Was friends with most of them. But… none of them were exactly the type I would like to have along on a trip out into the wasteland. “Um… Lily?”

High chuckled. “That won’t work and you know it.”

“Yeah…” I gave my head a shake. “Sunny?”

“No foals under ten get put on Crusader teams, you know that, too.”

“I’m ten…”

Both me and High turned to look at Firestorm, but I was the first to speak. “You are so not. Can’t be ten.”

Firestorm gulped and nodded at me. “Am… am too.”

I blew out a puff of air. “But yer so small. An’, an’... and…” I blinked rapidly a few times as I realized something. “You’d just follow me anyway… right…” I sighed and looked back at High. “Sure, she’s ten… might as well… put her on the team.”

High gave both of us a rather dubious look, but after a few seconds leaned forward and put Firestorm’s name down below Inkblot’s. “Alright. One more.”

I gave another sigh and rubbed over my face with my wing. “I don’t… I can’t think of anything. Can it… like… wait? Maybe see who is left after all th’ other teams choose?”

High thought about it for a bit before nodding. “Sure. I do want you and your team to head out tomorrow for a run, but you can wait to make your last pick until after you get back. See who all is left.” He put the pen back in the drawer then closed the binder.

I gave a quick nod. “Good…” I looked back over at Firestorm. “Are you really ten?” She nodded. “No, seriously. Be honest. Yer name is already down in th’ book, can’t be taken back. Yer ten?”

She fidgeted a little and nodded again. “I really, really am. I’m just… small. Some… times ponies would call me shorty. ‘Cause I was short.”

I blew a puff of air out through my nostrils. “Well… sorry, then. Didn’t mean t’... like… mention it.”

Firestorm looked down and away for a bit before looking back in my direction. “How come you get to decide everything?”

It took me a second to realize she was talking to me. “Uh… because… I’m th’ oldest…”

“But… what’s that matter? And why are there so many foals and so few adults? Where do all the foals that grow up go?

I blinked a few times. “Uh… that’s… uh… I’ve… always been…” I looked at Firestorm then looked at High. “Uh… High?”

High Times cleared his throat. “That is a very good question, Firestorm.” Firestorm looked from me to High Times. “Well, you see, this town isn’t all that old. I suppose it is in terms of the wasteland, maybe, but overall, not really.” He gave a little chuckle. “Thirteen… fourteen years ago, right around there, I stumbled onto a pair of foals. It took awhile… but… I got them to trust me, and I helped nurse them back to health. I set them up at my place, but, as they got older, they wanted to… be included. But they didn’t want to separate. So, in the end, we decided to try and help out more foals who had been like them and just needed some help.

“So technically, we still have our first foal. Only she’s an adult now. We also still have our second foal. And that’s why our second foal,” he nodded to me, “gets to make the decisions, because he has more experience doing this stuff than all the others. Same goes for the other oldest ones.”

Firestorm let out a long, “Oooooooh,” as if everything in the world made sense suddenly.

I blinked rapidly. “Wait, wait what?”

High looked at me and leaned back a little bit. “You never heard that story?”

I shook my head. “No! I thought… I thought we were born… here… I mean… we weren’t?!”

High shook his head slowly. He chewed on his lip before saying, “You should ask your sister.”

I let out a huff. “I do! She never tells me. It’s always some different fake story.”

“I’m sorry, Buck, but she should really be the one to tell that kind of thing to you.”

“Ugh.” I shook my head and started to get up. “Thanks, High, but that ain’t happenin’. Been tryin’ t’ get her t’ tell me the truth fer years.”

“Do you want me to talk to her about it?”

I paused and looked back at High. “Talk t’ her ‘bout what? Tellin’ me?” He nodded. “She’d prob’ly be upset that ya mentioned ya knew th’ truth er something…”

“I can bring it up in a way that won’t get her upset. I’m not saying I can change her mind, but I am saying that I think it’s worth a try. If you really want to know the truth.”

I worked my jaw for a minute. “Yeah, sure, alright.

High gave a final nod. “I’ll let you know what happens, Buck. See you later.”

I gave a half-hearted wingwave to High. “Yeah, see ya. C’mon, Stormy.” Firestorm scrambled up to her hooves and followed after me as I walked out of High’s office.

“Inky! Is her cape done yet!”

“If you yell at me one more time, I’m going to come stick this needle through your ear and hang you from the ceiling by it.”

I snorted at her reply from within her building. I was currently leaning against the front door of her building. Firestorm was next to me, wearing a small set of lightly armored barding and a pair of saddlebags we’d borrowed from another pony for her.

I settled for yelling back to her, halfway back into her building, “Well yellin’ is like th’ only time I can get ya t’ talk t’ me anymore!” I started to feel a bit of a tingle on my ear. “Oh sh-” I yanked myself back from the doorway and flicked at my ear with my wing repeatedly, trying to make sure her magic could get ahold of anything.

About twenty seconds later Inkblot came walking out of her building, fully dressed in her own travelling gear. Behind her was a cape, floating in her magic. It was just like mine, and just like all the other Crusader capes, but smaller. Firestorm sized.

She gave me a nasty look then turned around to the filly. “Here you go, Firestorm.” She floated the cape around, placed it on Stormy’s back, then spent a moment to do up the knot around her neck. “How’s it feel?”

Firestorm got a gigantic smile as the cape got tied to her. “It feels great!”

Inkblot chuckled and ruffled Firestorm’s mane, then turned around and glared at me again. “Now you, young stallion…”

I let out a puff of air. “What?!”

“There you go yelling again. Stop it.”

I set my jaw and took a very deep breath, letting it back out slowly. I licked my lips then attempted to speak softly, “Is this better?”

She gave me a small smile. “Yes, it is. Thank you. Now what was it you were trying to say?”

“I was trying… to say… that two days ago when asked ‘bout th’ teams, ya sorta just answered then disappeared… Then yesterday when I reminded ya ‘bout doin’ up a cape, ya practically pushed me back out th’ door.”

Inkblot snorted and stepped towards me, stopping in front of me and putting a forehoof up against my chest. “Two days ago I was busy working. And yesterday I had five fillies in the back room, and the last thing we needed was a colt barging in on our talk.”

I pulled my head back. “Five fillies in th’- what? What were they doin’ in there?”

“Group counselling.”

“Group… who was it?”

She snorted again, louder this time, and gave my chest a light shove before she took her hoof off and started to walk past me. “I won’t tell you that.”

Firestorm scuffed the ground with her hoof, then quickly followed after Inkblot when she started to walk.

“Why won’t ya tell me?” I turned, not intending to let Inkblot get away again, and followed after her.

“Because it’s none of your business who was there.”

“Well… no. But what’s that matter?”

Inkblot continued to walk, heading first past the buildings, then started to leave the edge of town, heading east. “Because they don’t want anyone to know. I only even told you what it was because I know you won’t tell anyone else.”

“Maybe… maybe I will! Then… then-”

“Then you’ll have ruined at least some of the trust that those fillies put into me, and undermine everything I’m trying to do, plus help screw over everything you and me have got working together.” She glanced back at me over her shoulder as she finished speaking.

My ears drooped back. “Well it sounds bad when ya say it like that…”

She simply nodded. “Yeah.”

I sighed then gave my head a shake. What were we even talking about? And why was I following Inkblot? And why was Firestorm following me now instead of her? Wait, no, that last one was easy to answer. Firestorm always defaulted to me at some point. I lifted my head up and looked around, finally realizing we were actually leaving town. “Wait, where are we going?”

“You couldn’t possibly have forgotten the entire reason we’re all dressed up and gathered.”

“Uh… we’re setting up t’ go out on a scaven- wait a minute!” I spread my wings, hopped, and gave a flap, propelling myself into the air and over the head of Inkblot. I landed again just in front of her and resumed walking the same direction. “My team, I lead.” Inkblot watched as I flew over her, but let out a goofy giggle when I spoke again. I looked back at her. “What?”

She shook her head quickly. “Nothing, Bucky. Nothing at all.” I narrowed my eyes. “Something a squirrel once said.”

“A squirrel…”

“A squirrel.”

I shook my head and looked back ahead of me, content to drop the conversation and hope a round of silence would eventually bring up a topic I could have the upper hoof on.

The silence only lasted a short while, though, as Firestorm spoke up from the back. “What did the squirrel say?”

Inkblot seemed to have been thinking about something else entirely, as her initial response sounded like she was in a daze. “Hmm? Squirrel? Oh, squirrel, right. The squirrel said that leadership is an action, not a position.”

Firestorm let out a long, “Oooooh.” What was she even oh’ing? There’s no way a squirrel actually said that. Squirrels don’t talk. Unless you cast magic on them.

“Do you have a magic spell er somthin’ that makes squirrels talk?”

Inkblot shook her head at me. “Nope, I just speak squirrel.”

I sighed and ran my wing over my face. Impossible.

If we went far enough east, we’d hit the ocean. I knew that much. I also knew there was supposed to be some ruins… somewhere to the east. But we didn’t know exactly where. Which was a good thing, actually. If we didn’t know the exact location, that meant it wasn’t as well known, which meant there was some chance that the entire place hadn’t been entirely looted clean yet.

It was almost a full day away. We’d stopped and had lunch, told a few funny stories, then got going again. It was getting into evening when we actually came upon the first signs of… anything at all since we’d left home.

Firestorm was actually the first to spot something. “Is that it?”

Me and Inkblot both looked back at her then followed her hoof off into the distance. “Well it’s somethin’ alright…”

The view wasn’t much. Asylum’s new location was amongst some rolling hills, and we’d just recently come out of them and onto flatter land. Off to the north-east, where Firestorm had pointed, we could all see some bumps in the horizon. Building shaped bumps. That alone was a good sign. I changed course and led us all in the direction of them.

Compared to the rest of the day, it didn’t seem to take us that long to actually get there. The town may have been small, but it was giant compared to home. And it was definitely in ruins. Three out of every four buildings had at least one wall collapsed. The others were fully standing, but looked like they hadn’t been touched in a very long time.

“Be careful. Don’t want nothin’ fallin’ down an’ trappin’ us while we’re here.” I looked back at Inky and Firestorm to make sure they heard me, then continued on. As we passed the first buildings and entered the area that could be called a street, I lifted off and hovered along just above the ground, so that my hooves didn’t hit anything.

The streets didn’t criss-cross here like I’d seen the one time I was in Manehatten. They just zigged and zagged and opened up into… weird open circular spaces with nothing in them seemingly randomly. The buildings were randomly spaced, too. Some sections had them right up against one another, other sections had several or dozens of feet between each building.

I was pulled out of my sight-seeing suddenly when I felt a sharp tug on my tail. I jerked around to see Inkblot pulling her head back away from me.

“I said, let’s go look at that one.” Inkblot looked at me then pointed past me towards a building that looked fairly intact.

“Oops…” I settled back to the ground and coughed. “Sorry, didn’t hear ya th’ first time.”

I turned towards the building. It looked safe enough. There were a set of double glass doors out front, which somehow hadn’t been broken. All the windows were broken, but the doors weren’t. I walked up to the doors and tried to look inside, only to find that they were too dirty and the inside was too dark to actually see. I looked back at Stormy and Inky and waved my wing, motioning for them to get in line behind me.

Once they were, I gently leaned against the door. It didn’t budge. I pulled back and leaned harder, and this time it opened with a loud crack as the hinges moved for the first time in… who knew how long. The inside of the building was… well it was definitely a store. Of some sort. Somepony had been through here at some point, though. There were plenty of things still laying around, but there was less dust in some areas, around places where shelves were empty.

Inkblot and Firestorm hurried into the store past me, and I shut the door after they’d entered.

“Clear it, then check it out.”

Inkblot glanced over her shoulder, her magic coming alive to pull her pistol out of its holster. “Yes sir, Bucky sir.” I rolled my eyes and she let out a quiet giggle as she slipped deeper into the store.

Firestorm started to follow after Inkblot, but suddenly stopped when Inky pulled a gun and went deeper. Her head slowly tilted and she looked back at me. “I don’t have a gun.”

I watched Firestorm stop with a raised eyebrow, then simply nodded. “I know ya don’t. That’s okay. Yer not really here t’ fight anyway. Yer here t’ be with ponies ya know, plus help us look for things an’ help carry stuff back.”

Firestorm didn’t appear to like that answer. “But isn’t that… dangerous? Shouldn’t I have a gun too?”

I snorted softly and stepped towards her. “How would you use it? If you put it in yer mouth, it’d go flyin’ right out when ya tried t’ shoot it. Does yer magic work yet?”

She gulped and looked up towards her horn, then looked back at me. “Kinda…”

“Kinda?”

“Sometimes… it does what I want it to.”

“Only sometimes?”

“Only sometimes…”

I gave her a little smirk and reached down to pat her back with a wing. “All th’ more reason t’ not use a gun with yer magic, then. ‘Sides, we usually try t’ avoid places where other people would be. Don’t usually have much t’ worry ‘bout anyway. Now, you go with Inky, just give a big shout if ya see anything poss’bly threatenin’ that she ain’t already pointed out t’ ya, alright?”

Firestorm gave a nod. “A-alright, Tri.” She darted out from under my wing and trotted off to follow Inkblot.

That left me alone in the front of the store. What kind of store was this, anyways? I walked around for a bit before finding the store’s counter. There were signs on it, though most seemed to be rotted away. There were a couple signs still intact, though. I used my wing to get the dust and dirt off of them. One warned of no smoking and no laser weaponry. Seemed like an odd combination… The other had big fancy lettering, reading, ‘Bed, Bath, & Beyond! Beyond any store of its kind.’

I took a step back and read the sign again, just to make sure I hadn’t missed something. Nope, it was all there. “That… has… gotta be th’ dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.” I glanced up and around the store again. What was even beyond a bed and a bath? Sleep? Did they sell sleep back during the war? Or did they just sell baths? Would ponies come here to just take a bath then leave, or maybe take a bath and sleep then leave the next morning? I gave my head a shake “Ponies b’fore th’ war were weird…”

I moved around the back of the counter and opened the register. Some bits and a key. Not completely worthless. I picked them out and dumped them into my saddlebag, making sure to separate them some so they didn’t start clinking against each other every time I took a step. Floor? Dust. Shelves? More dust. No, wait, that’s dirt, actually. I had just turned to leave when something caught my eye.

Hidden in the corner, built into the back wall, was a safe. It was fairly out of the way and hard to see under so many layers of dust and dirt. Which was probably good for a safe. I turned and walked back to it, once more using my wings as a duster to wipe off the safe so I could see it better. I bit my lip and pulled the key back out of my saddlebags. With a little bit of luck…

Turns out I was lucky! The key fit and turned easily, opening up the safe. Perfect. I broke into a smile and put the key back before pulling the safe all the way open and going after what was inside. My smile faded once I actually saw the contents, though. There was just one package in see-through plastic. It was… some sort of blue… robe. That’s what it was, a big blue robe. Worth ten or twenty caps, max. I turned the package over to see if maybe something else was inside, but all I found was a note.

It read, ‘Steamer, you’ve worked hard lately. Hard enough to be employee of the month! Congratulations! Here’s a little gift. Keep it for yourself, or maybe give it to your girlfriend, tell her you saved up for a couple of weeks to get her something nice. Either way, enjoy, and keep up the good work.’

I turned the package back over and looked at the robe again. Gift for a girlfriend, huh? Was this what they gave to each other back then? Robes?

“Bucky! You got to come check this out!”

I lifted my head up and looked towards the back of the store. Inky didn’t sound in danger, she sounded excited. I looked back down at the robe in my wing. Might be worth something after all… I stuffed it into my bags then took off on a trot towards the back of the store.

When I got there I found two giggling fillies both spraying some sort of mist into the air. After they sprayed it, they would both stretch their necks out to stick their noses into the mist and inhale it.

I just stared for a few moments. “Are you guys doin’ dash, er… wh-”

“Tri! Come smell!” Firestorm lifted up her bottle and sprayed a few bursts in my direction.

“Smell? Are ya sure you ain’t high?”

“Oh just do it, Buck.”

I huffed and stepped forward, reaching my head out towards the mist. I watched the two fillies carefully, making sure they weren’t… playing some sort of trick on me. When I finally sniffed, my eyes shot open. “Woah! That’s… good!”

Inkblot gave an excited hop. “Right?! We need these. We need all of these.” She turned around and started using her magic to get all of the small bottles like that off the shelf and just started dumping them into her saddlebags. Firestorm was close behind her, grabbing the ones off of the bottom shelf that she could reach.

I just watched as they emptied shelves into their saddlebags. “You actually plannin’ on fillin’ up all yer space with that?”

“Yes!”

“But why?”

Inkblot snorted, then turned to me after she finished with the shelf she was on. “Tell me, Buck, what do you smell? Right now?”

My nose wrinkled up a bit. “Kinda… I dunno… kinda smells like a flower.”

Inkblot smirked for a moment, but as soon as it came it was gone again. “I don’t mean the stuff we sprayed. Back up a few feet and tell me what you smell.”

I looked at her like she’d gone crazy, but obeyed, backing up several feet and sniffing the air again. “Uh… I… I don’t smell anything?”

Inkblot shook her head. “Yes, you do. You’re just used to it, so it smells normal. You smell radroaches, and rats, and all the scat they leave around, and rotting wood, and… and… and so much other crap. But this… this smells good, Buck. Do you have any idea how much we could sell this stuff for if we find the right people?”

I had to admit… I hadn’t considered that yet. “Uh… twenty… th… thirty caps per… bottle-thingy?”

She gave a barking laugh. “I’m not talking at Market. I’m talking somewhere richer. Where sheer survival isn’t the biggest issue. We could get fifty to one hundred caps for each one of these.”

“Pfft. No way.”

She just nodded. “Yes. Now…” she picked up six more in her magic and promptly floated them over and stuffed them into my saddlebags. “Can leave your bags open for other stuff, but at least a few.”

I simply watched her work. “Alright, alright.”

As Inkblot went back to filling her bags, Firestorm stopped in front of another section of the shelves. “Should we get these?”

Inkblot stopped again and looked over. Firestorm was pointing to some candles. “Oooh, yes. Good catch, Stormy. Take three or four, I’ll get a few more.”

I sighed and glanced around the store again. “There’s prob’ly more stuff we need t’ grab from here, ya know.”

“Oh, yes. There’s bedding, and blankets, and-

“I can’t carry anymore…”

Inkblot looked to Firestorm again. “That’s okay. I’ll get the rest. We need to make sure we can all carry our packs back.” She looked back to me. “We need to come back down here with a cart. Either us or another team. No way we can carry all the stuff we should take from here. But with a cart we can. So we need to just make sure to tell High when we get back.”

I nodded slowly. “Right… I’ll keep my bags empty in case we find something we really need t’ carry, if y’all’re fillin’ yers up.”

Inkblot went back to work filling her bags up. Meanwhile I decided to just search around the rest of the store. They were right. Our bedding was old, a lot of it had holes in it. We could really use some new stuff. There was a whole section for things called mattress pads, which sounded nice, but someone had already come through and taken all of them. There were a couple pillows left, though, but that was another thing that we couldn’t carry back ourselves. Come to think of it the sleeping pads we brought out on trips like this were pretty well used too, but this store didn’t seem to have any of those.

I stopped in the middle of the store, my ears flicking back and forth as I could’ve swore I’d just heard something. Not the fillies in the back. It was almost like lightning… except… not. What made lightning sounds? I turned around and walked off towards the front of the store, planning on stepping outside and looking up into the sky. Before I got there, though, there was a tremendous crash and the air filled with the sound of something metal impacting the ground. Hard.

I shouted back into the store, “Stay here! I’ll check it!” They had to have heard it too. I darted out the front door of the store and started trotting in the direction I’d heard the noises from. The area was clear near the store.

Roughly a couple hundred feet away from the store is where I found the wreckage, right in the middle of the street. It looked like a big carriage. Or what had at least used to be a big carriage. Now it was a mangled scrap heap. At least the front half of it was. The back half looked mostly untouched. I stopped where I was and looked up into the sky. Nothing… Then what was that first sound?

I looked back to the carriage and started to see if maybe something was in it, but I turned around when I heard hoofsteps behind me. I had already dropped my head to get my rope when I saw it was Inkblot and Firestorm. “Didn’t I tell y’all t’ wait there?”

Inkblot snorted. “I’m not letting you go out by yourself.”

Firestorm shied away a little, but then nodded after Inkblot spoke. “That. Um… yeah, that. Me too.”

I gave my head a shake then turned back around to the wreckage. “Well it don’ look very dangerous anyway. I jus’ can’t figure out how this got here.” I looked back up to the sky again, just trying to make sure nothing had mysteriously appeared up there while I wasn’t looking. There wasn’t. I walked slowly around the wreckage over towards the back of it, the two fillies following me.

After making a complete circle around it I shook my head again. “Well if there’s anything in there, must be dead already.” The carriage had probably been ten or fifteen feet long, but half of that was either missing completely or crushed when it hit the ground. It didn’t hit level, either. It dove in. The front half was crumpled up, and the back half was still poking out of the ground at a slight angle, and still in good shape. I went around to the back and tried to open the door there, and it still worked just fine.

The inside looked… well… like the outside did. There were a few seats in it, but mostly boxes of some sort. There was tarp laying over a few boxes on one side. Further forward, though, the seats ended and you could see the ground through all the twisted metal. Whoever was up front was definitely dead. Assuming they didn’t die and that was the reason this thing fell out of the sky in the first place. Because they certainly hadn’t been going across the ground. Those sounds and this kind of destruction didn’t happen unless something had dropped from really high up. Plus it didn’t have any wheels.

I hopped up the foot gap between the ground and the back of the carriage then slipped inside. There was nobody to check on in the seats, so instead I went for the boxes. The ones closest to the back were easily opened. I just used my wing to undo one of the top flaps and it all went on from there. Nothing particularly valuable were in those boxes. Paper, mostly, actually. I pulled a few sheets out, but I couldn’t understand it. I was pretty sure it was written in Equestrian, I just had no clue what it was saying.

I moved farther down the right side to the boxes covered with the tarp. I reached down, grabbed onto the tarp with my teeth, then gave it a yank to pull it back. I gasped when I saw what was underneath. That wasn’t a box at all. That was a griffin!

The griffin didn’t look nearly as shocked to see me as I did to see him. He pounced out of his curled up spot behind the boxes and lashed out at me with his talons. I managed to dodge the first one, but the second strike caught at the back of my jawline and suddenly my skin felt like it was on fire.

BANG BANG BANG!

I stumbled backwards and tumbled to the ground, pulling my wing and foreleg up to try and make the pain go away. It didn’t go anywhere. My scream was drowned out by the blasts from Inkblot’s pistol, which was followed by yet another scream. I tried to look at myself, but I couldn’t see anything. I pulled my wing away for just a moment and saw it covered it blood. Suppressing another scream, I tried to press my wing back against my neck as hard as I could.

“Move one muscle and I’ll put another in your face!” I heard hoofsteps on the metal floor of the carriage. “Bucky! Bucky, you’re fine, it’s okay!” I felt Inkblot’s magic form around me as she used that and her hoof to roll me over. It was pretty easy for her to do, given that I was doing my best to keep myself from crying out again. She pulled my wing from over my neck to take a look at my wound. “Oh Goddesses… uh, I mean, you’re gonna be fine.”

I still couldn’t see a thing, only now it was because my eyes were squeezed shut as tightly as I could manage. The next thing I felt was something soft being pressed against my neck over the gash, followed by Inkblot’s voice again. “Firestorm, come here.” Another set of hoofsteps, lighter and quicker. “Hold this here, okay? Press it on him. Firm. It hurts him, but this is how he’ll get better, okay? Okay.” Inkblot removed her hooves, and a second letter they were replaced by much smaller ones.

The bigger filly moved away from me, and I heard her voice call out again, further towards the front of the carriage. “Now. You. Explain.”

I was honestly a little surprised the griffin was still alive enough to talk to. Though I was also assuming all of Inky’s shots had hit. After a moment the griffin croaked out a response to her, “Please, just, don’t kill me. I’ll explain… explain everything.”

“Yes, do that. I like the answer, I’ll fix you.”

“I-I-I’m sorry. I saw wings… I thought… We were trying to go home. And we got shot down by the Enclave. And I thought they were coming down here to finish the job.” The griffin was definitely a boy, and he wasn’t all that old, either. Maybe my age… and in a lot of pain.

“Who in Luna’s name is the Enclave?”

“What?”

“It’s a simple question, really.”

My attention was separated from their interrogation by a sudden shift of pressure on my neck. No longer were Firestorm’s hooves there. No, instead, she’d changed position, and I could feel over half her body laying down on top of my neck. The immediate sting of my injury was gone, but a very powerful ache and burn was still there. Not to mention the feel of little knives stabbing me every time Firestorm shifted her weight. I started to open my mouth a little, but then I felt a small nose prodding my cheek. She nuzzled there, then worked her way up the side of my head to my ear.
I flicked my ear a bit, trying to get her nose away from it. “Stormy, you’re hurting me.”

Stormy’s muzzle drew back when I flicked my ear, but then she simply laid her head down directly on top of mine. “I know.”

“Can ya stop?”

“No. I don’t want you to die.”

I gave a long sigh. “I ain’t gonna die, Stormy… Can ya please get off?”

“No. Inkblot said it’d hurt but you need it.”

I grumbled softly and totally would’ve shaken my head, but there was a filly on it. Plus doing so would’ve really hurt. Instead I lifted my wing up a little and gently patted Firestorm’s rump. At the very least she listened extremely well.

I let my wing fall limp again and tried to turn my attention back to Inkblot and the griffin. Inkblot was speaking. “-bleeding is stopped, now. So the Enclave is all pegasi. Up in the clouds.”

“Y-yeah. They… they shot us down. They were after my mom and dad.”

“Really? Why were they after them?”

“Because… well… becau-”

The griffin was interrupted by a sound none of us wanted to hear. A loud shriek from outside echoed through the air, followed by a group of answering calls. My eyes shot open for the first time since I pulled that tarp back. We did not need ghouls right now.

Inkblot looked around frantically, then turned back to the reddish griffin. She pulled out a healing potion and held it in her magic in front of him. “Let’s make a deal. You help us fight these ghouls instead of flying away, we’ll show you where you can get food down here, since I don’t think you’ll be going back up above the clouds any time soon.”

The griffin perked up a bit when he saw the healing potion. “Deal.” He reached out and quickly grabbed it, then downed the potion. A few seconds later he was up on his paws and moving past Inkblot towards the exit.

Once he was out, Inkblot rushed back over towards me. “Off, Storm, off.” She used her magic to help Firestorm get off me quickly, which helped ease the pain that caused a little bit. “Buck, I need to stitch you up. But I’ve got to boil my stuff before I can do that.” She lifted my head up in her magic, then took out another pair of bandages and wrapped them around my neck in a way that would keep the bandage directly over my cut in place. “Now, let’s go fight. And do try to not get hurt, Bucky?” She turned and darted away to stand at the exit of the carriage.

“Yeah, yeah.” After Inkblot turned I slowly started to work my way up to my hooves. I slipped up a couple of times, but then Firestorm moved around behind me and helped push me up to my hooves. “Thanks. An’ see? Didn’t die.” I chuckled and turned my head to look back at her, which stretched my skin, and caused me to quickly jerk my head back and bite my lip to keep from yelping. Okay, that still hurt. It was like every little move of my neck sent a whole new wave of knife-stabbings through me. I didn’t exactly have much of a choice, though. If I wanted to do anything, I’d have to just deal with it. And try not to end up crying.

I grabbed onto the end of my rope, then went for the door, taking off into the air as I moved past Inkblot. The scene outside isn’t quite what I had expected. By the time I was out there, the griffin had already cut down three of the ghouls, leaving only three left. I saw him going for another one, so I just decided to pick the next closest one. I started to spin the lasso, got it going, then let the loop fly through the air at the ghoul, grunting a curse at the same time from how much that action alone still hurt.

Ghouls were still pones, right? Like, they had to breath and everything, surely. My heart soared as the lasso landed around the ghoul’s head, and I gave it a yank back, tightening the loop as it fell down on the zombie’s neck. I instantly flew straight up, intending to choke the thing to death. But right as I hit where the rope would snap tight, it immediately went loose again.

No! I spun around, thinking I’d see a break in my rope. But instead I saw something a whole lot worse. Or better. Or both. The ghoul’s head had simply popped off, and was now laying on the ground next to the body. The body was still standing upright, motionless. That was… disgusting. But I couldn’t look away. I just stared at it for I don’t know how long until I heard a sudden cheer below me.

I peeled my eyes away from the grossly dead ghoul and looked down to see the griffin surrounded by the last two ghouls, both already dead, and their guts all over his talons.

It was also now that I actually got my first good look at the griffin. His top half was a reddish-brown color, and he looked a lot like some hawks that I’d seen before. His back half, though, was a deep orange. A lot deeper than my coat. And it had stripes. Like a zebra, but they looked different than zebra stripes. And only the top of his back half was orange, the bottom portions were white. Not to mention the griffin looked really… buff. He was definitely only my age, and only a little bit bigger than me, but he had a lot of muscle. He looked… good.

I stopped staring at the griffin when Inkblot stepped out of the carriage and called to both of us. “Good work!”

I cleared my throat and called back, “Yeah! Now let’s get outta here! We can make camp on th’ way back.”

Inkblot nodded, got Firestorm to follow her, then stepped out of the carriage and walked over towards the griffin. I worked quickly to get my lasso coiled back up and put back on its hook on my armor, then flew down there to meet them.

The griffin looked ready to say something to Inkblot, but then looked up at me instead when I got down low and close. “Look, I’m really sorry. I thought you were gonna try to kill me.”

I simply snorted. “An’ why shouldn’t I think ya’d try t’ do it again?”

The griffin sniffed a little. “Well, do you have a thing against bounty hunters?”

Inkblot blinked. “Bounty wha-?”

I furrowed my brow, still hovering just above the ground. “I guess not… depends on who they’re… bounty...ing…”

The griffin looked back at Inkblot and started to speak, but he paused and his happy demeanor instantly deflated. “Uh… Bloodclaws. One of the best bounty hunting families in all the griffin lands…” He gulped then coughed. “Except now my mom and dad are dead. So that’s…” he gave a short, dry chuckle, “that’s the end of that.”

I narrowed my eyes a bit. “So y’all were bounty hunters… an’ th’... Enclave? Shot ya down… an’ killed ‘em?”

The griffin took a deep breath, steadying himself, then lifted a messy talon and pointed towards the carriage. “They were both up front. We were supposed to be given safe travel… but the Enclave screwed us over… shot this massive… thing… it just… it made the front part where they were just... disappear.” He sniffled. “They’d told me to hide in the back before that… so I did. And then it crashed, but… I was fine. Then you pulled the tarp off, I saw wings…”

I blinked and shook my head. “Hold up, how did ya possibly survive that entire fall in th’ back’a that thing?”

The griffin looked over at me. His eyes were watery, but for the moment he seemed to be a bit upset at me questioning his story. “Sky wagons are designed to have magic in them to make it so falls don’t really do very much damage.”

I looked off at the carriage again, then shrugged. “Alright… Anyway… let’s get goin’... What’s yer name, anyway?” I didn’t wait for him to answer, and instead started flying off back to the west. Inkblot and Firestorm didn’t wait, either, and quickly started trotting behind me. Last thing we needed was more ghouls showing up. Almost like they could smell dead ones and would rush to them.

The griffin watched me fly, but didn’t move. “Kari. Kari Bloodclaw.”

After I got a ways away, I turned in the air to avoid stretching my neck to look back. Kari hadn’t moved. I called back to him, “Ya comin’?!”

Kari blinked a couple of times. “What, with you?”

“Yer an orphan, right?”

Kari’s beak opened, but nothing came out. He did a slow circle, looked back at the carriage, then up at the sky, then looked back at me. “Yeah…”

I flew back a short distance towards him. “Then I am contractually obligated to offer you a new home.”

He looked stunned. “Wait… huh? Home? Contract?”

I snorted. “Th’ contract part was a joke. Th’ other part was real.”

“But I tried to kill you… and… she tried to kill me,” he pointed a talon at Inkblot.

I glanced back at Inky then looked to Kari again. “I’m willin’ t’ believe yer story… even if a whole group’a pegasi livin’ somewhere sounds completely absurd. I’ve seen like… four. Ever.”

Inkblot let out a sigh even I could hear a few feet away from her, then added, “And I only tried to kill you because you tried to kill him.”

Kari still seemed to not know what to do. “But… you actually want me to come with you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Ya fight good. We could use a good fighter. An’ if ya do something stupid an’ don’t get along, we’ll send ya on yer way, or if ya really hurt anypony on purpose, Inkblot’ll shoot ya or I’ll choke ya. Now. Yes, we want ya t’ come along.” Kari continued to just stand there. I waited for about a full minute before snorting again. “Fine, if ya wanna stay on yer own, with nothin’ at all, in a weird place, no food, no clothes, nowhere t’ sleep, with nobody ‘round t’ help ya… be my guest.” I turned and started to fly west again.

Inkblot spoke quietly as I flew back past her, so that Kari couldn’t hear, “Bucky? That was…”

I shook my head. “Jus’ follow me. Watch. You’ll see.”

Inkblot gave me a weird look, but did turn to follow me again, following after Firestorm who turned to follow first. I led them off at a slower pace.

For a few minutes, there was silence. The fillies walking while I slowly flew just above the ground. Slowly, however, we started to hear the quiet sound of flapping wings behind us, and then they stopped when we heard a soft impact on the ground. All three of us looked back, and Kari had caught up with us, and was now walking at the back of the pack, trying his hardest to not make eye contact.

I simply smirked and picked up the pace a bit. Night was falling, and I didn’t want to be anywhere near those ruins when it hit.

I cringed and tried to jerk away, but Inkblot’s magic was holding my head and neck down so firmly that there was no chance I was going anywhere. “Is this really necessary,” I strained out. I was doing my best not to yell out in pain. Firestorm and Kari were both down on sleeping pads and either close to sleep or already sleeping.

“Yes, it is, Bucky. If I stitch it up before cleaning it out, who knows what could happen. It’s just a little alcohol.” She leaned over a bit and started to run a hoof through my mane. “It’ll sting for another minute or so, then it’ll go away and I can stitch you up proper.”

Sure, mane petting was nice and all, but it didn’t exactly counteract the fresh pain in the six inch open wound on my neck. After leaving the ruins, we travelled for a few miles before it got too dark to really see where we were going. We then settled down and made a campfire, sharing a bit of the meat we’d brought along from home with Kari and eating the vegetarian stuff ourselves. Inkblot also got out a bit of water and boiled it over the fire, needing it to sterilize her needles and thread. That took awhile, since the fire wasn’t very big. There was mostly just various types of grass around to make a fire out of, no real logs or trees in this exact area.

Firestorm was exhausted after walking so far in one day, so she went out quickly after dinner. Kari lasted a bit longer, but he seemed more emotionally exhausted. He didn’t talk much, other than to thank us for the food. He mostly just either stared at the dirt, the fire, or up into the sky. Eventually, though, he also rolled over on my sleeping pad I was letting him use to go to sleep.

Inkblot and I took that opportunity to head off away from them, so that I wouldn’t wake them if I didn’t take the pain of stitching up the wound too well, though I was still laying so that I could easily keep an eye on Kari and Firestorm in the campsite. She was using her own horn to light up the area around us.

I let out a long sigh and flicked my tail behind me. “I think it’s stopped now.”

“Hmm? Oh.” Inkblot pulled her hoof back from my mane and put it on my neck, slowly pulling a little on my skin in various spots as she got a closer look at my neck. “Just a bit further down and he would’ve hit the artery…”

“I didn’ need t’ know that.”

“Still. You said he was a good fighter. He nearly killed you with one swipe. Though I might’ve been able to save you with a potion and a bit of creativity.”

“Ya coulda jus’ said he really was a good fighter, Ink.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t, so nyeh.” She stuck her tongue out at me, then used her magic to pull out her needle and thread. “This isn’t exactly proper, but it’ll do. Try not to yell, Bucky. I’m trying to make this hurt as little as I possible can.”

“Yeah…” I can’t say that getting my flesh punctured by a needle repeatedly and then getting thread pulled through the tiny little hole was a good feeling, but compared to the initial hit and then the alcohol, it was barely anything.

Overall the last part of the process went fairly quickly. Other than the painful prick every twenty or so seconds, she was able to stitch it up in just a few minutes. It felt weirdly tight, like something was tugging on my neck there, but it felt… better.

Inkblot pulled back a little and smiled when she finished. “There. See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

I gave my wings a little shrug. “Guess not.”

Inkblot laughed softly then put her gear away. “Now don’t tear these out, or I’ll just have to stitch it up again. You need to not do anything too… busy for a couple days.”

I snerked. “Did you just give me doctor’s orders to nap for two days straight?”

She seemed to consider that for a moment before nodding. “Yes. Which… you can probably start right now. I’ll take the first watch if you want.”

Now that seemed like a good offer. I started to say as much, but I stopped myself. I took my eyes off of the campsite and looked up at Inkblot, bathed in the light from her own horn. It was late at night… it was about the time she’d normally go to bed… and I finally had her where she could use some excuse to get away. “Inky?”

Her head tilted slightly. “Yeah?”

“How come… ya never answered my question?”

Her brow furrowed. “What question?”

I took a breath and let it out in a huff. “”Bout th’ stuff Grassy said.”

She blinked rapidly. “You’re still caught up on that?”

“Whaddya mean I’m still caught up on that? Ya didn’ answer, then ya kissed me outta nowhere, then ya avoid me fer like five days, and I-” I was interrupted by Inkblot’s hoof pressing up against my mouth.

She gave her head a little shake, let the light on her horn die out, then slowly slipped down and laid next to me. “I didn’t mean to not talk to you for so long, you know. First we were both busy dealing with the aftermath of all that stuff. Then I had some orders to fill… then you decided to come by at literally the worst possible time. It just happened, not what I meant for.”

I let out a slow sigh. “Then talk t’ me now?”

She gave a quick nod. “Let’s talk now.”

“Finally…” I closed my eyes for a few moments then opened them again. “So what’s with th’ kiss?”

Inkblot looked down and kicked a bit of dirt on the ground. “I wanted to shut you up, but I didn’t want you to feel hurt. So-”

“Shut me up? You agree with him, don’t-”

“No!” She shrunk back a little when she realized how loudly she’d spoken. We both looked over at Kari and Firestorm, but neither of them seemed to stir. Slowly Inkblot turned to look back at me. “I mean…” She groaned quietly. “He’s… he’s not right. But he’s… He’s half right.” I wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to interrupt her again. “You are… dangerous. Like, you use lightning for fun. That’s dangerous and you shouldn’t be doing it. Especially around little foals. Which… makes you not a great role model… for that. And… and you do pick fights. But you don’t just pick random fights. You only pick the fights that mean something. Like last week you weren’t going to fight Powder, then he insulted Lily and it changed everything.

“You’re not unreliable. You’re… completely reliable. And you do care about others, obviously. And those parts make you a good role model. So, no, I don’t agree with him, but he is partially right. But he’s also wrong too…”

Well it wasn’t great, but it was better than I’d feared. But that still left a glaring problem. “So why kiss me? Why not jus’ say that stuff?”

She pursed her lips then smacked them softly. “Why not kiss you?”

I just looked at her, dumbfounded at that answer. “Because… it’s confusin’? Like, what does it mean? Does she agree? Does she disagree? Does she like me? Does she wanna sleep over? Is she jus’ messin’ with me?”

Inkblot was listening silently for the first half, but as I got into the second half she started giggling. “You really thought I wanted to sleep over?”

“I-I-I didn’t know what to think!”

She snickered again then shook her head. “How long have we known each other, Bucky?”

“I dunno… ten years?”

She nodded. “Now do you really think I would kiss you… or ask… Or would I just find a ladder and come sleep over?”

I blinked a few times. “Well ya have done th’ ladder one before…”

“Exactly.” She leaned over slowly and gave my cheek a gentle nuzzle, not disturbing the edge of the switched up gash on the back of my jawline.

I turned my head a little bit to return the nuzzle, wincing slightly at the pain. “Do you like fillies or colts?”

She pulled back quickly. “What kind of question is that?”

I snorted. “A relevant one.”

Unfortunately it was too dark to really see if she was blushing, but I was pretty sure she was. “Colts. I think. Maybe. All my dreams are about colts at least.”

“Really? All of them.” She nodded. “Weird… mine are mostly about fillies, but there’s some colts in there too…”

She gave a little shrug. “How is this relevant at all, anyway?”

“Well-”

“No, wait, are you wanting to ask me to sleep over?

“Uh…” Was I? I didn’t actually know. Did I want her to? Maybe, I wasn’t even sure about that. If I didn’t even know if I wanted her to, how was I supposed to know if I was asking her or not? “Um… n… no…”

She snickered again and reached out with a hoof to gently shove my chest. “Words, Bucky.” Yes, words. How did those things work again? There were sounds, and they had an order, and they meant different things… Now if only I could get them from my brain to my mouth. After a few more tries and me not being able to really come up with anything, Inky shook her head. “Stop trying so hard, would you? What’s the worst that could happen if you say something.”

Now that I had an answer to. “You’d hate me ferever an’ never wanna see me again, an’ yer more popular ‘round town so they’d pick yer side an’ I’d get kicked out an’-” Once again her hoof was against my mouth, making it impossible for me to speak.

Her head was tilted down and moved closer to mine. “Buck. You are. An idiot. Got that?” I nodded slowly. “The worst that happens is I say no, and we go on being best friends, and I keep stitching you up, and you keep making me laugh, and we keep telling each other our weird dreams.”

“Why are you so much more sure ‘bout that than me?”

“Because I read books.”

“Books? They’re borin’...”

“Some. But some also give lots of good information on how stuff like that works.”

I sighed then shrugged. “I guess so.”

All was quiet for a few minutes as we simply laid there next to each other. Inkblot was the first to move, getting slowly up to her hooves. “I’ll come for a sleepover… not tomorrow night after we get back home, but the next night.” She leaned her head down and nosed at my cheek. “As your best friend, because I feel bad for making you feel bad the last week. Now, sleep well.” She turned, flicking her tail against my side, and walked back over towards the campfire.

I was a little uncertain about that, but I couldn’t keep myself from smiling some. Lily had been right. It wasn’t the answers I wanted, but… they were still good answers. Even if I didn’t understand half of them.

The next morning we all woke up and continued heading back home. I had taken the second watch while Inkblot took my spot on her sleeping mat. The trip home was fairly uneventful, but as we came into town, High Times was actually out and about right on the edge of town.

“Hey, High!”

He paused what he was doing and turned to look at us, first smiling, then with a bit of curiosity. “Hey, Buck! Back already?”

I nodded, then glanced behind me at Inkblot, Firestorm, and Kari. I smiled then looked back at High. “I think I found the fourth for my team!”

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Scrap Metal, Kibu, and No One for helping with spelling, grammar, and plot thus far. And chapter titles!

Chapter 6: Something to Think About

My eyes blinked open slowly. They almost hurt to open. At first everything was blurry… and… decidedly red. I blinked a couple of times and felt the red thing against my nose. It was soft. And fuzzy.

I blew a puff of air out of my nostrils and pulled my head back, giving it a bit of a sha- “Ow!” I let out a grunt and my head fell back down to where it was. My neck was so sore… I blinked my eyes again and finally they cleared up. I glanced around and quickly realized what the red thing in front of my nose was. It was filly tummy. Firestorm was laying in front of me, half curled around my muzzle. While… reading a book?

“St…” I swallowed and cleared my throat. It was like it was clogged up or something. “Stormy? What’re ya doin’?”

Firestorm did a quick double-take before realizing I was speaking to her. “Um… reading.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why are ya readin’ right-” I stuck my tongue out quickly and gave her tummy a lick, “-here?”

She giggled and jerked away from my tongue. As she jerked away, her hindhooves came up and kicked right into my jaw. I bit my lip hard.

Her eyes went wide and she shrunk back a little after kicking me. “S-sorry, Tri…”

I groaned then simply said, “It’s fine…” I closed my eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath. At least she hadn’t hit my neck. “So my question?”

“Oh. Oh uh… ya kept… like… groaning. In pain… I wanted… I wanted t’ make sure you kept breathing. So you didn’t die. From not breathing.”

She might have some of the weirdest methods, but at least her little heart was in the right place. “C’mere.”

“Huh?”

I snorted and smiled a little. “C’mere, Stormy.” She finally worked up the courage to get closer after several seconds. “Closer.”

She slowly started to lean in closer, creeping forward little by little until her muzzle was just an inch away from mine. I snickered softly and blew a puff of air at her nose before lifting my head off of the bed and giving her a gentle nuzzle.

“So whatcha readin’?”

Stormy’s nose wrinkled up, then after I pulled back she lifted her forehoof and wiped at the place I’d nuzzled. She was smiling, though. “Um… It’s a book.”

“I know it’s a book…”

“It’s a… a…” she scooted back across the tip of my mattress and quickly closed the book. “Inkblot let me borrow it.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Well what’s it ‘bout?”

“Stuff…”

“What kinda stuff?”

Firestorm glanced back at me for a moment then looked right back at the book. She stuck a hoof out and pushed it a bit further away.

“Oh c’mon. What could it be?” I lifted my head up far enough to see the cover. Blah blah blah… “Principles of Unicorn Magic. Huh.” I lowered my head back down and looked back to Stormy. “Why hide that?”

She looked down at her hooves sheepishly and shook her head a little. “Because…”

“Aw, ‘cause why? I had t’ learn how t’ fly, ya know. I didn’t jus’ do it. Took awhile t’ figure out an’ get better at it. Sure, got teased ‘bout it… but ya already told me that yer magic wasn’t real good an’ I ain’t teased ya ‘bout it yet. Why’d I start now?”

Firestorm fidgeted some, rubbing her forehooves together before glancing over my way. Not at my face, actually. Behind my head, at my stitches. “I can’t… I can’t do anything.”

It was my turn to be confused. “Huh?”

“I can’t…” she gave her head another shake, “I couldn’t… stop the catbird from hurting you… and I couldn’t do anything to help fix it… and I couldn’t kill any of the ghouls… Can’t use a gun. Can’t-”

“First, griffin. Not catbird.” She blinked at my interruption, her eyes falling down closer to my face. “I mean yeah, they’re catbirds, but they’re called griffins. An’ second… yer totally not useless. Ya helped out… with th’ bandage. And… whatever it is yer doin’ now.”

She gulped and looked back at her book. “I’m uh… I… wanted to make sure… nothing… happened. Something I could do.”

I let out a sigh. “Hey, Stormy?” She sniffed and looked back at me. “Could ya get me a bottle’a water? There’s one in my saddlebags.”

“Oh, oh uh…” She scrambled up to her hooves and walked across the roof to my bags. I heard her open up one of the bags and rummage around, then closed it and opened up the other one. Eventually she found the water and brought it back to me. She sat down on the mattress in front of me and fought with the cap for a minute before getting it off.

I gave her a smile. “Thanks.” I lifted my head up and rolled over onto my belly so that I could pick up the water bottle in my mouth and actually drink out of it instead of all the water spilling out of the side of my mouth. Once I’d gotten a few drinks in me, I set the bottle down beside my mattress and rolled back over onto my left side. “So. Unicorn magic. Tryin’ t’ get it under control?”

Firestorm watched me drink then quickly put the cap back on the bottle after I’d set it down. “Uh… yeah. Sometimes it works… and that could, um, be useful. So… getting it to work would be… good.”

I gave a little nod. “Yeah, it would.” That water hitting my stomach was making me realize how hungry I was. Gosh, how long had I been asleep? Well, it was morning. Inkblot had rushed me home after we got back to town, and I had gone to sleep before it was even close to being dark outside… so… a really long time. And some cereal would be delicious right about now. “You can keep readin’, ya know.”

Firestorm looked between her book and me a few times before asking, “You sure?” I gave her a little nod. She delayed for another bit, but eventually settled back down on the front of my mattress and opened up the book once more.

I closed my eyes as silence came back. I was still tired, but I wasn’t sleepy. But every movement was making my neck ache, and only laying still was making it not hurt as much. But my stomach was telling me really loudly that it needed food. So… the decision for whether to get up or not was still tied.

I opened my eyes again after a few minutes and looked over Stormy. She’d moved over to the side this time, apparently no longer feeling that she needed to use her stomach as a test for whether I was breathing or not. I wasn’t sure whether I should be more focused on appreciating the gesture, or more worried with why she’d wound up so focused on me since we’d rescued her. Probably the first one… “Thanks fer keepin’ an eye on me.”

Firestorm pulled her head out of her book and glanced back at me, a little surprised at hearing me speak again. After a moment a smile started to spread across her muzzle and she looked back to her book. “You’re welcome.”

I gave a soft chuckle, but it was cut short when I heard something. Wings. Definitely weren’t mine. And judging from Firestorm looking around, she heard them too.

It didn’t take much work to figure out who it was. Even if I didn’t know I was the only one in town with wings, the voice gave it away. “Hey… is he up?”

Firestorm looked off to my side at Kari who was hovering somewhere out of my vision. She stared in that direction for a few seconds, then looked back at me. I took a deep breath then let it back out in a sigh. I rolled over onto my stomach and carefully turned my head towards Kari, trying to not hurt my neck. “Yeah, I’m up.”

“Oh! Good.” He ran a talon through the feathers on top of his head. “Can I…?” He motioned towards the roof.

I gave a slight nod. Kari flew forward and landed on the edge of the roof on my left side. Firestorm quietly looked between us two, but as the griffin landed, she closed her book and simply scooted backwards across the mattress until she was up against my left side, vaguely between him and me.

I watched her for a few moments, then looked back at Kari. I never thought that I’d be the more forgiving one of any given pairing. “So what’s up?”

Kari rubbed at the back of his neck for a bit before answering. “I… wanted to apologize again. For, you know. And, there was some other things I was confused about. But that one filly, uh… green, with a yellow mane-”

“Inkblot,” I said with a nod.

“Yeah! Inkblot. Her. She kept saying that I should go talk to you if I wanted an answer, since it was your call or something, and she couldn’t answer the question for me.”

“Alright… what’s th’ question?”

He cleared his throat and was clearly thinking of the right way to say it. He looked from me to Stormy, out to the town behind him, then back to me. “Am I supposed to be working here… or… what? I only know how to do one thing. A-”

I raised my brow and interrupted, “That one thing being?”

Kari blinked rapidly. “Bloodclaw… remember?”

I wingshrugged. “Never heard it b’fore.” I blinked when I felt a bit of pressure on my side. I turned my head a bit farther to see it, but it was just Firestorm suddenly leaning a bit more heavily into me. What was she- oh. Oh right. Bloodclaw isn’t a very nice thing to hear from a griffin that just tried to murder your friend… two days ago now, was it? I lifted my left wing a little, spread it halfway, and lightly draped it over Firestorm’s back as I looked back up at Kari.

He seemed to be shocked at my words. “Seriously? Never ever?”

I felt Firestorm shift a little under my wing, though I couldn’t tell if she was relaxing or not. “Never ever.”

Kari looked down and ran a talon over his head again. “Right… uh… my whole family are bounty hunters. Me… too. For a few years now. Started when I was twelve. Bloodclaw is one of the biggest names in the business at home… I guess you don’t get a lot of griffins down here, do you?”

I started to shake my head, but stopped when I felt the stitches stretch. “Not a lot, but they’re around. Mostly mercenaries, though. Which, I guess are like bounty hunters. Just less strictly murderous…”

“Hey, it isn’t murder.”

I snorted and laughed. “What? Since when ain’t killin’ ponies murder?”

Kari let out an exasperated sigh. “Because we only go after people with bounties on them. Generally, if there’s a bounty on your head, you’re not some little good guy running around. You’re some… jerk that did something wrong and there’s a completely good reason somebody wants you dead. So it’s fine by law. Plus at least half the bounties don’t actually require a death anyway.”

I snorted again, but before I could say anything, Stormy spoke up from under my wing. “But… but what if I paid you to kill Tri?”

He seemed a bit thrown off guard at her speaking, but recovered quickly. “Who?”

I cleared my throat and raised my right wing a little. “That’d be me.”

Kari’s brow furrowed, then he shook his head. “Well… why would you put a bounty on his head?”

Stormy was quiet for a few moments, then shrugged. “Just ‘cause.”

“That’s not exactly a good reason to put a bou-”

“How would you know why I was paying? I could lie. Or just not say.”

Kari closed his beak and looked at Firestorm for a few seconds. “If you lied, then that’s on you. Not on us. We do try and figure out why the bounties were placed so, like, we don’t accidentally end up working for some slavers or bandits or the Enclave or something. Or killing some goodie two-paws who’s better off being alive.”

Firestorm started to answer, but I gave her a soft squeeze with my wing against my side and cleared my throat to interrupt again. “Back on topic, y’all.”

Stormy nickered and pressed her head against my left shoulder. Kari covered his beak as he coughed then looked back to me. “Sorry. Again. Um… Anyway… I’m a bounty hunter. I can’t… what am I supposed to do here?”

I started to run my wing softly down Firestorm’s back as I answered Kari, “Well… like I said… yer a good fighter. You can stick ‘round an’ help us out that way. Maybe teach some of th’ younger foals, help us fight off anything that might attack us… travel with my team an’ help keep us safe when we go out scavengin’. More than th’ youngin’s contribute, honestly, an’ we still take care’a them.”

Kari let out another sigh, this one sounding a little sad. “I don’t really have much other choice, do I?”

I licked my lips slowly, then looked down a little. “Hey Stormy? Is the ladder still up?” She nodded a little. “Wanna do me a favor?” Her head pulled away from my shoulder and tilted her head up until she was looking at me. “Wanna get me some breakfast? I’m really hungry.”

She gulped, looked at Kari, then looked back at me and nodded. “O-Okay, Tripod. Um, be back soon.” She scurried out from under my wing, turned and trotted across the roof, then hopped down onto the ladder and went out of sight.

“Really? You let her call you Tripod?”

I turned my body to watch Firestorm head down, then turned back to Kari. “Why not?”

“Isn’t it a little… mean?”

I pulled my left wing back up to my side and shrugged. “Got three legs, get called Tripod. It fits. An’ since my real name is Buck, it prevents th’ little ones from mispronouncin’ it an’ makin’ all th’ adults an’ teenagers giggle.”

Kari seemed to start wording things in his head until he had a moment of clarity and realized what I meant. “Okay. Still seems weird. Like calling an idiot Dull Knife.”

“We have a mare addicted to drugs here that we call Junkie.”

His beak fell agape. “Really?!” I nodded. “Wooooow… ponies are cruel.”

I laughed. “Says the bounty hunter.” His look went deadpan and I only laughed harder. “Look, c’mere. Lay down.” I motioned with my wing to a spot on the roof in front of me.

Kari hesitated, but soon enough accepted the offer and laid down. For the first time I noticed that his eyes had almost the same brownish-red color that the feathers on his top half and head did. They almost blended in. As I looked around the rest of his face I realized something else was missing, all of the dust, dirt, and ghoul guts from the previous two days. He’d clearly had a bath. Suddenly I felt a little self-conscious about how dirty I was. There were probably still bloodstains on my right wing.

I spread my wings out to my side, shifted my weight a bit to try and get comfortable again, then pulled them back into my sides. “Why are ya so worried about bounty huntin’? Just cause yer whole family does it?”

Kari looked down for a few moments then looked back at me. “It’s our whole name… it’s what we all live to do. It’s like… okay, ponies have, like, cutiemarks, right? It’s what you’re supposed to do? Griffins don’t have those, but, this is like… my family’s… you know.”

I held up a wing for him to stop. “Right. It sounds weird, but whatever. I ain’t a griffin, so whatever. We have bounty hunting down here, too. Ya jus’ generally haveta go t’ a larger town t’ see any of ‘em. Market occasionally has some, but you’d have better luck in a place that isn’t just fer merchants. Point is… I’d be okay with you going out and… doin’ yer thing, so long as ya still stuck with us th’ rest of th’ time… and… so long as ya didn’t do anything that could possibly hurt anyone here, or anyone in th’ th’ wasteland that actually likes us an’ helps us out.”

He pulled his head back a little. “Really? You’re okay with it?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. But yer ability to tear through ghouls… an’ I’m guessin’ smarter targets like ponies too… is valuable. An’ I ain’t gonna lose it jus’ cause yer normal job unsettles ponies. Don’t get me wrong… I ain’t sure I trust ya either. Yer on a short leash, but I figure it’s worth a shot.”

Kari swallowed and nodded slowly. He fell silent, thinking things over, then spoke again after a couple of minutes, “I’m not going to wear those capes.”

I snorted. “It’s tradition… but it ain’t mandatory, so I guess that’ll be okay too.”

He just shook his head. “Just too dangerous. They could get caught up in anything, get you killed…”

“But they look awesome!”

“Rather be alive than awesome.”

I let out a long ‘pfffft’ noise. “Bein’ alive ain’t much use if ya ain’t awesome.”

Kari lifts his talon up to his face and rubbed, muttering “Ponies,” under his breath. I just snickered and leaned over, taking the cap off of my bottle of water to take another drink of it. After another minute he got tired of the silence again. “So, no butt drawing, huh?”

“That’s what yer callin’ it now?” I looked back over at the griffin, eyeing him up.

“Well, that’s what it is. Cutie mark just sounds dumb, anyway.”

“What, an’ butt drawin’ don’t?”

“It’s more correct. I’ve seen ponies with like… blood and skulls on their butt. Nothing cute about that.”

I paused, my mouth open in the middle of starting a reply. He actually was right about that. Never had thought of it that way. One bright spot of not having a cutie mark, I guess. A blank flank was a whole lot cuter than a knife. “Also, that th’ first thing ya saw? Ain’t that a little weird too? Ya said griffins don’ even have cutie marks, what ya lookin’ there first for?”

“Uh…” Kari glanced again back at my hip then snorted and pointed at my left shoulder. “Saw that first, actually. Just figured pointing it out right after gouging out your neck would be a little rude. Like, ‘Oh! I nearly took off your head. I see your leg is also missing, but I didn’t do that one. How’d that happen?’” He looked back at my face. “See?”

I snickered before letting out a proper laugh. I turned my eyes away and looked off towards the center of town, doing a quick check on the foals that were out there at the moment. “I can see why ya wouldn’t… Then ‘gain, Tripod. So yeah.”

He gave a short chuckle then fell quiet again for several seconds. “So uh… how’d… you lose your leg?”

I pulled my eyes away from the view off the edge of the roof and looked back to Kari. “Well… a dragon bit it off. Whole thing, all in one bite. Was pretty epic. Then my sister drove this massive metal pole through its heart t’ kill it, but it had already swallowed my leg.”

Kari just stared blankly at me. “You’re kidding.”

I smirked a little. “It’s either that, or there was this time we were out onna boat in th’ ocean, an’ a big giant tentacled sea monster rose up an’ grabbed onto me, tried t’ pull me overboard. My sister grabbed th’ other side, an’ there was this massive tug-o-war, an’ in th’ end my leg popped off an’ that was all th’ sea monster got, while my sister pulled th’ rest of me back into th’ ship.”

Kari continued to stare at me.

I just laughed a little and shrugged. “Every time I ask she tells a different story.”

“Who does?”

“My sister.”

“But wouldn’t your sister know how you lost your leg?”

I nodded. “Yeah, she would. But she won’t say. An’ I sure don’t know, cause I don’t ever ‘member havin’ one in th’ first place.”

Kari tilted his head. “How do you not remember having one?”

“Caaaause… it was gone ‘fore I could ‘member stuff? Er maybe I was born with three legs… I’unno.”

He shook his head. “Seems like a weird thing to keep a secret.”

“I know, right? But there we have it… I’ll give her one thing, her stories are always really cool.”

His question did remind me of one thing, though. High mentioned that he’d try to talk to Lily and get her to tell me a bit of the truth. Not today, though. Today I just wanted to rest. And eat. And maybe sleep. But I couldn’t do that yet. There was a griffin on my roof.

“So… yer parents…”

“Anything but that.”

“Sorry.” I cleared my throat, trying to get out that hoof I’d jammed in there. “So uh… how’d ya get yer muscles?”

Kari started to answer, but both of our attentions were broken as we heard steps coming up the ladder at the back of the building. A few seconds later, Firestorm poked her head up and scrambled onto the roof, carrying a small sack in her mouth. Oh good. Now I could remove the hoof from my mouth and stuff food in it.

The three of us ended up eating and chatting over lunch for awhile, and actually continued to talk after finishing the food. Firestorm had somehow found her way back underneath my clean wing at some point, but once I realized it I decided to just leave her there. Stormy eventually settled down and was a bit less hostile towards Kari, which he seemed to appreciate. She’d also started to really slow down after eating, rapidly becoming more and more tired, and then mentioned how she’d not really slept the previous night because she’d spent so much time making sure I wasn’t going to up and die in my sleep.

Turned out Inkblot had already given Kari the introductory tour around town for me. Though much like our capes, he didn’t seem too awfully excited about the other foal activities. He was weird. After a couple of hours, Kari left. Mostly because he was hungry for actual meat, and partially because Stormy had fallen asleep next to me.

After he left, I decided to just sit up in my roost and play living blanket while watching the playing foals off in the half-built playground. If anypony broke anything, they’d probably call me or Inkblot anyway, but it was still fun to watch them all run around together. My alone time didn’t last too long, however.

I slowly turned my head around when I heard steps on the ladder behind me, stretching as far as I could without hurting myself. The first thing I saw was an orangey-reddish mane, and I quickly relaxed and looked back forward. “Quiet, Lily.”

Lily stopped on the ladder. “Quiet?” I lifted up my left wing slowly, exposing Firestorm. Her response came softer, “Oh.” I snorted and lowered my wing back down, curling it up a little around Stormy.

Lily climbed the rest of the way up onto the roof and walked towards me, promptly settling down on my right side and looking at the cut on my neck. “Two things… one, you’re filthy.”

I rolled my eyes. “Skip t’ number two. Unless yer gonna give me a bath.”

Lily snickered and shook her head. “No. I’ve had enough of giving you baths. So not unless I have to. You know how many baths I’ve given you?”

I snorted softly and turned a little to look at her better. “This is gonna be good…”

Lily smiled at me. “One day, sooooooo long ago, you made me really mad. You couldn’t even talk yet. I had to give you a bath because you’d been rolling around in mud, so I took you out to the latrine first,” she pointed in the direction our new latrine was in, “to make sure everything would be good.

“So we go out there, and I’m trying to get you to take care of your business, but you just won’t do it. Half an hour, I guess… nothing. So, I figure you’re empty, and I take you off to give you a bath. And it goes good. Mostly. But right as I’m finishing up, the floodgates open. Just… you make a mess all over yourself, all over me, all over the floor. I was so mad… but all you would do was just giggle. I’d try to get you to stop, giggle. Yell at you? Giggle.” She snorted and pointed at me. “Just like that!”

I snorted and bit my lip as I tried to stop my giggling. The image of ruining Lily’s time was just too funny to not laugh at. “Hehe, sorry… uh… continue.”

She smirked faintly and gave my right shoulder a little nudge with her hoof. “Anyway, I had to clean up the mess on the floor first. While I did that, I made a promise to myself. I’d count every single bath I had to give you, starting with the second one that day because I had to clean you up again, and when you were older I’d make you make all that time up to me.”

“Really?” That seemed a little… “So… what’s th’ number…?”

Lily shrugged. “No clue, actually. I lost count somewhere around five hundred. Back when you were three or four years old. So I just said screw it and didn’t start up another count.”

My brow furrowed. “Why’d ya stop countin’?”

“Because…” She looked away from me and then looked back a few seconds later, “at some point I realized that I wasn’t counting the baths in order to keep track of time you owed me. It was nice to think about when you made things difficult, but I was never actually going to do it.”

“Oh…” My brow furrowed harder. I didn’t know what it was, but something was… weird. It wasn’t the bath thing. Of course she’d never force me to do stuff for her because of something as stupid as a bath. It was something… wait… I looked back in the direction she’d pointed during her story, then looked back at her. “Lily… how much of that story is actually true? I know I wasn’t born in Asylum, so ya didn’t take me t’ th’ latrine…”

Lily cleared her throat and cast her eyes down to the roof. “It uh… Yeah. High came and talked to me yesterday.”

I waited for her to say more, but I eventually got the clue that she wasn’t planning to. “He talked t’ ya and…?”

She let out a sigh and looked up to me again. “I have an offer to make to ya.”

I blew a puff of air out. “This’ll be good too…”

Lily pursed her lips then continued a few moments later, “I was planning on making a shorter run. Manehatten. Leave tonight, try to make it fast and be back in five days instead of the normal seven. Inkblot showed me the stuff you got on your trip after you got back yesterday. She’s right, it’s good stuff, but it won’t sell at Market. I want to go down to Tenpony and Friendship City, see if we can get good prices for it there. Then dump it all there, take the profits, maybe get a few things for the town, maybe go back and invest it at Market.”

I nodded. “An’ th’ offer?”

“While I’m there I’m going to pick up a couple of things for me. If there’s anything you want… tell me, I’ll get it for you. Also… I’m gonna pick up a gun while I’m there for you.”

My eyes went wide and I leaned away from Lily. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Seriously.” She took a breath and looked towards the stitches in my neck again. “I’m sorry. You need range, or at least the option. And I need to learn to deal with it.” She looked back to my face. “Nothing too big. A starter. Something you can control but still has enough power to stop an attacker from rushing straight at you.”

A smile started to spread across my face. I kept waiting, expecting her to take it back, but after long enough I carefully moved over to the side, put my wing over her back and pressed my head against her neck. It was an awkward hug, but it was the best I could manage at the moment without hurting myself or waking Stormy up.

Lily chuckled softly, and carefully leaned into me. She turned her head around and kissed behind my ear before whispering into it, “The story was true, though. It didn’t happen here, no, but it did happen.” She pulled back a little, “I’d tell you now, but you’ll have questions… and I don’t wanna leave when you have questions. So… I promise I’ll tell you everything when I get back okay?”

I blinked rapidly. She was actually going to tell me? I’d waited fifteen years… another five days wasn’t going to be much of a big deal. I gave her a little nod. “I’m gonna hold ya to that… Yer tellin’ me when ya get back… an’ if ya don’t… I’ll… I’ll… I’ll pee all over yer tent!” I grinned madly, then bit my lip when I felt a shift against my left side. Okay, maybe that had been a bit too loud.

Lily broke back into a smile and laughed. “Only you…” She got back up to her hooves, then kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be back soon, Buck. Love you.”

I flicked my tail and lifted my dirty right wing to wave at Lily as she turned to walk away. “Love ya. See ya.”

As Lily headed back down the ladder, I lifted my left wing a bit and looked under it to find Firestorm still curled up and half asleep. I needed to get her back to her tent and on her own mattress. I had a sleepover tonight and there was not any room for her in it.

Delivering Stormy to her tent had gone fairly smoothly. It was all dead weight, but at least she didn’t weigh as much as Inkblot. She didn’t eat as many snacks. From there I went and tried to figure out a way to give myself a bath, but quickly found that without being able to properly move my neck, there was just no way that was going to happen. As it was I already couldn’t reach my whole body. Without moving my neck, I could get… my chest and head, at most. Maybe Inkblot wouldn’t notice it? Ah, who am I kidding, of course she’d notice it. Maybe she just wouldn’t say anything about it.

My next stop was at the food building. I got into the rations and took a few of the nicer things. A bit of the sorta fresh food that came back from Market during that emergency trip that was made. I didn’t know whether or not she would’ve eaten before coming, but just in case I wanted something there for her. And me. Because either way I’d still need to eat.

The rest of the day passed quickly. The nap I took after getting back to my bed with the food may or may not have had something to do with that. By the time I woke up again the sun was starting to go away and night was rapidly falling. That’s weird. She should’ve been here by now. I rolled back over to my belly and took a drink of water. Before I’d even finished I heard hoofsteps on the ladder behind me. Well, how’s that for timing.

Inkblot came up the ladder, only she had apparently come prepared. Floating alongside her in her magic were two water bottles and a pair of rags. When she got to the top and saw me she grinned widely. “Oh, you’re actually up this time.”

I stared at her blankly. “Huh?”

She snickered and climbed up onto the roof. She used her magic to pull the ladder up behind her, closed it, and laid it down along the edge of the roof. “I came over an hour and a half ago, but you were completely out of it. And while I was here, I saw what state you were in… so…” the bottles and rags lifted in her magic as she said the final word.

I let out a sigh. “Right… dunno why I thought ya wouldn’t notice…”

She smacked her lips and walked towards me, using her magic to toss one of the rags at my head. “Don’t be like that. This isn’t even about being filthy. You didn’t even get the blood off of your wing. Do you know how unsanitary that is? And kind of gross, too. But like, all kinds of bad stuff would be all over that.”

I snorted when my vision cut out due to sudden rag attack. I lifted up my wing and pulled the rag off of my face. “I’m gross to you now?”

Inkblot stopped behind me and slapped my rump with her forehoof. “You’ve always been gross to me, Bucky. Now get off your bed, we don’t need it getting wet.”

“Pfft. Gets wet all th’ time, don’t hurt it.” Nonetheless, I did slowly get up to my hooves, walk a few feet over, then lay back down on my stomach on the rooftop itself.

Inkblot walked over to my saddlebags and started looking through them. “Yes, because you forget to put the tarp over it when it rains, and then you let foals young enough that they still have sleep-peeing issues onto your bed. Oh, oh, I still have to come up with something to compensate for the mud I had to clean off… what, nearly two weeks ago now?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Mud, an’ all that. An’ other stuff. I’m sure you’ll come up with somethin’ truly terrifyin’.”

Inkblot snorted as she pulled the jug of abraxo out of my bags then walked back over to me. “I will. Wait, other stuff? What other st-” She paused for a few moments, “Oh… oh. Right. Well at least you never made me clean that up. … Right?”

I groaned. “No… Inky… No I haven’t.”

The confidence came back to her voice. “Good. Now.” She walked around in front of me, opened a bottle of water, and got one of the rags wet. Without any warning she simply plopped it onto my head and started washing my face.

I closed my eyes in time to avoid getting them poked by her magic. Honestly it did feel good, but I’d enjoy it a lot more if it was for fun rather than a necessity. I never had been able to give myself a full bath. I could reach parts, but not everything, not with just my mouth. “Hey…”

“Yeah?” She finished with the top of my face and started to do my muzzle, cheeks, chin, and throat. As it was getting darker, her horn was starting to produce a gradually growing light to help see by.

“Have ya ever kept count of how many baths ya’ve given me?”

Inky paused to give me a confused look, but then went back to focusing on not missing any spots. “No. Why?”

I grunted softly. “Just… apparently Lily had started keeping count at one point a long time ago, but then stopped again.”

“But… why?”

“T’ keep track’a how much time I owed her, er somethin’.”

She snorted and shook her head, moving now around to the back of my neck and my shoulders. “That’s dumb. It’s her job. She can’t make you pay her back for her doing her job.”

“I gue- wait, if it’s her job, why d’ you do it?”

“Well… it’s my job too.”

“How’s it yer job?”

“Because.” She lifted up the bottle, poured some water on my back, then got to scrubbing it with the wash rag. “You’d give me a bath if I couldn’t give myself one, right?”

My tail flicked back and forth behind me. “I guess…”

Inky scoffed. “Doesn’t give me much confidence, there.”

I sighed. “Sorry, yeah, yeah I would.”

She snickered softly. “And you wouldn’t expect something from me, right?”

“Well… no.”

“See? Job. There you go. Now…” She finished wiping off my back, rump, and hips, then tossed the rag and got the second one. “You want me to just do your wings and sides, or also your belly and junk?”

I blinked a couple of times, then my ears dropped back sheepishly. “Uh… uh…”

She scoffed again. “No telling when the last time that got washed. Here, roll over and let’s make it quick.”

She put her hoof against my side and gave a little push. I resisted a little, but on her second push I gave into it and rolled all the way over onto my back. She poured water onto my belly and started to scrub. Inkblot started at the top and worked her way down, making sure everything was nice and clean, much to my chagrin, then started working on my my wings. Once she finished, she walked around to my other side and helped push me back over to my belly.

She finally decided to help me out by breaking the awkward silence of the sponge bath as she started finishing off my right wing. “Two things. First, you really need to let me do this more often. It’s a lot quicker to clean something when it’s less dirty. Second, why are your feathers in such bad shape? They look like they got run over by a cart. Broken and pointing every which way, really hard to get all the dirt out of them too.”

I tried to open my mouth to speak, but my voice cracked and clamped my mouth shut again. I finally gave it another try after clearing my throat several times. “Well… uh… two… two things. Um… first… I haven’t… I haven’t been able t’ preen in… at least as long since I’ve taken a bath. Can’t reach my wings without hurtin’ my neck. Last time I did was… ‘fore leaving on that trip… so… four er five days. Second... uh… how come ya talk like my sister?”

“Right, preening, I can do th- what? I talk like your sister?”

I licked my lips and slowly opened my eyes again. My face felt like it was returning to normal somewhat, so I glanced over at Inkblot, who was now using her magic to comb through the feathers on my right wing, the second wash rag having been discarded alongside the first one. “Ya know… all… all proper like. I dunno… just ya both did th’ whole ‘two thing’ thing an’ made me think’a it. Though yours is more proper… she kinda slips outta it now an’ then.”

“Well… I’m still from Tenpony. So I guess I picked it up and never dropped it? Your sister, though… I don’t know. I always thought she talked like you. Or, actually… now that I think about it, she used to talk more like you, but sort of ended up speaking more proper over time.” She gave a little shrug. “I don’t know. Does it matter? Why don’t you ask her? What made you even notice?”

I shrugged. My face finally felt like it was back to normal. “She’d prob’ly give me th’ same answer like she gives ‘bout other stuff. I dunno… just, last few days been thinkin’ about stuff that I stopped thinkin’ ‘bout a long time ago. Which… oh yeah! Uh, she’s actually gonna start tellin’ me stuff ‘bout th’ past when she gets back from her little trip. Did you know I wasn’t born here?”

Inkblot gave me a look like she was wondering if I was stupid. “Uh… I figured, yes. Nobody’s born in Asylum, Buck. You and Lily found me and brought me in, and even back then it was only… three foals? Now we’re at thirty-something and still none of them were born here.”

I huffed at her. “Yeah well… I’d… never considered th’ possibility that I was born somewhere else. Just always figured it was here, it’s all I ‘member.”

“Guess you’ll get to learn more when Lily gets back.”

I nodded. “Speaking of tri-”

“How do you even do this preening thing with your mouth? This is hard with magic.”

I blinked and turned a bit more to be able to more easily see Inkblot. She seemed to be halfway through trying to align all my feathers, and pulling out the broken ones. “I’m… used t’ it? Plus th’ oil makes it a lot easier.”

She looked up at me. “Oil?”

Oh crap… Now I was gonna have to tell her. Either that or just let her start searching to find it. Telling her was safer. I let out a sigh and nodded slowly, then lifted my wing up above her head. “Look under my wing joint. See that… slick spot?”

Inkblot scooted closer to me under my wing and stuck her head up by my wing joint. “Yeah?”

“That… is where I get the oil from. I lick it, it gets on my tongue, then I spread it over th’ feathers when I preen. That’s why they’re shiny after I do it but not after you do it.”

“Ooooooh! I saw that before, during baths, I just thought it was from water. Wait, you lick it?”

“Like ya said, I use my mouth. Can’t get it with magic er some other cheaty thing.”

“Huh…” Inkblot leaned a bit closer, and I could feel her breath on my side as she sniffed just under my wing joint. Then I felt something that… I really should’ve expected, but I was hoping she wouldn’t actually do. She licked across the spot to gather some oil up, but immediately pulled backwards and shook her head. “Ew! It’s all… waxy! Greasy!” She started repeatedly licking her foreleg to get it back off of her tongue.

I couldn’t help but snort and break into laughter. “Really? Really? All ya do, an’ what we just did, an’ it’s this that gets ya? Really?”

She left her tongue hanging out then shook her head again, “How do you stand it? It just coats it and… ew!”

“That’s th’ idea! It coats over th’ feathers an’ keeps ‘em nice an’ straight an’ not broken.”

Inky shivered and then reached out and kicked my side with her foreleg. “Why’d you let me do that?”

I grunted from the kick. It didn’t hurt too bad, but she sure wasn’t holding back much strength. “Yer blamin’ me? I ain’t th’ one that told ya t’ lick it. I just said that’s what I do, cause I do.”

Inkblot huffed at me, but didn’t say anything else. I felt her magic pick back up along my wing, and this time I felt her hoof reach out and rub across the spot under my wing joint. She used her hoof to spread the oil along my feathers, then her magic to get it just right from there. A couple times throughout working on my wing, though, I did spy her taking careful little licks at her hoof then making an icky face afterwards, but I didn’t say anything. For the moment, anyway. I still had another idea I needed to run by her.

Eventually she finished with my right wing and moved around to do my left wing, once again using her hoof to get the oil from my left side and spread it over the feathers.

“So… whaddya think ‘bout uh… me takin’ Kari down t’ Market t’ show him ‘round a bit?”

“Hang on.” Inkblot sped up the work on my wing some, and finished after a couple more minutes. She gently pushed my wing back up to my side, then gathered up the dozen or two orange feathers she’d pulled out of my wings. “Just the two of you?”

“Well… yeah.”

Inky picked up all the feathers in her magic, then walked back across the roof and laid down on my mattress with them. “Why just you two? The fillies aren’t invited?”

I cleared my throat and got back to my hooves, followed her back to my mattress, then laid down next to her on it. “Well I guess you can come if ya want. But jus’ th’ two’a us flyin’ would make it a lot quicker trip. Firestorm, though… I don’t think she should-” I paused and did a quick double-take, looking at Inky. She was putting a couple of the pulled feathers into her muzzle and running her mouth up and down them. “What th’ hell’re ya doin’?”

Inkblot pulled the feathers back out of her mouth quickly. “I’ve always done it with my magic, it’s about time I learned the right way to do it.”

I just stared at her. “But… but why?”

“Everything’s better if it’s done the right way.” She said it quite matter-of-factly.

“I… I…” I pulled my own wing up and ran it down my face. “Whatever. Anyway, Stormy ain’t happy ‘bout him bein’ a bounty hunter, an’ I’d be showin’ him that we got bounty huntin’ down here too, so he ain’t completely outta place.”

Inky put my feathers down and gave me a look. “What, are you going to go grab a bounty or something?”

“Well…” I shook my head, “No… jus’ go show him where they get posted, like… I told him that we wouldn’t stop him from goin’ an’ doin’ it so long as he stuck ‘round here an’ helped out when it was needed. He wants t’ live up t’ his family name er somethin’.”

“Right…” She let out a sigh, then shifted and leaned against my right side. “Promise me you won’t let him talk you into something stupid.”

My brow furrowed when she leaned against me. “Promise you?”

“Yes.”

“What you consider stupid ‘r what I consider stupid?”

“Me.”

I sighed. I gave a slow shake of my head, then wiggled my right wing out from between us and laid it out over her back. “I promise I won’t let him talk me inta something you consider stupid.”

“Good.” She pressed her head into my neck, but then pulled away again and started inspecting the wound on that side. “I can probably take these out in a couple more days. Maybe tomorrow or the next day. I think… tomorrow you should be good and not have to worry about splitting it open again or breaking the stitches.”

“Is it gonna scar up?”

Inkblot clicked her tongue a few times. “Yeah, but I don’t think it’ll be too bad. Plus when your coat grows back over it properly, it’ll cover it up and make it real hard to see unless you’re looking for it.”

“Well I’ve got that at least.”

“It’ll make you look tough. Godesses know you need that.” She leaned forward a bit, let the light from her horn fade away, then grabbed one of the apples I’d brought from the storage building in her magic and took a bite out of it.

All I could do was roll my eyes. “Thanks, Inky.” She simply gave a muffled giggle, then held the apple in front of my muzzle to offer me a bite. I thought about telling her where she could shove that apple, but I was hungry.

After I took a bite she pulled the apple back. “If you looked tougher, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten attacked like that in the first place.”

I simply snorted and shook my head. Useless to try to argue, really. After swallowing the apple I asked, “Why am I friends with you again?”

She snickered. “Because.”

I sighed. “That helps, thanks…”

“What was your first kill?”

My head tilted and I looked over at Kari. That… was an odd question. And five minutes before we were gonna land at Market seemed like an odd time to ask that odd question. “Uh… it was… a ghoul, I think. Was tryin’ t’-”

Kari shook his head, “No, no, I mean pony or griffin or whatever. Not ghouls and animals and junk.”

I chewed on my tongue for a moment, then looked back ahead of me, making sure I didn’t drift off course while we flew. “Uh… I… I ain’t never killed a pony. Or a griffin. Or, ya know, anything like that.”

“Really?”

“Uh… really. You have?”

“Bounty hunter family, remember?”

“Right…” I blinked a few times before squinting to try and keep the wind out of my eyes. I wasn’t exactly sure I wanted to know, but it was polite… “So uh… what was yer first kill?”

“A thief. Griffin. She’d stolen some… I don’t even remember what, but she’d stolen it, and the owner wanted it back. Actually he wanted her alive, wanted to question her. He didn’t think she was working alone or something. It was my… second contract.”

I glanced back over at Kari, “Wait, if he wanted her alive, why’d ya kill ‘er?”

Kari used his talons and forelimbs to shrug. “I tried. But she heard me coming, and she was real trigger happy. That was also the first time I got shot… We shot at like the same time, but mine killed and hers just hit here,” he patted his right shoulder.

“Didn’t ya say you were twelve when you started bounty huntin’?”

“Yeah.”

“An’ ya survived gettin’ shot?!”

“I’m tough? I don’t know. Well… my mom was outside and she fixed me up real quick after.”

“Guess that ‘splains a few things…”

“Huh?”

I gave my head a slight shake. I’d been thinking that Inkblot must not have really hit him hard with her pistol back in the carriage, but… maybe she had. Wasn’t about to actually bring that up again, though. I stuck my foreleg out in front of me and pointed at the settlement that was appearing in the distance in front of us. “That’s Market.”

Kari continued to look at me for a bit but then followed my gesture and looked down at the town. “Kinda… small, isn’t it?”

“Small means it draws less attention from somepony who’d wanna rob it. Not a lotta room t’ hide, an’ good guard… means it’d be hard t’ get ‘round in an’ get ‘way with stuff.”

“Oh… well. Just seems weird.”

“Welcome to the wasteland!” I laughed and tilted downwards, picking up some speed as I descended down towards Market with Kari right behind me. I pulled up short and landed at a fast canter, then slowed down to a walk as I pulled my wings in.

Market even had a token wall built around it with a large gate at the front. A couple of caravans were entering in front of us while yet another was in the middle of leaving. Mostly ponies, but a couple of the mercs guarding the carts were griffins. I glanced back at Kari to see if he saw them, but he didn’t seem to give any sort of reaction at all. Honestly I didn’t know if that was weird or not.

As we got closer, the other caravans got cleared to enter or exit, leaving the gate area empty except for a few travellers who were still coming or going. When we got to the gate itself, one of the guards, an earth pony mare, came out and held up a hoof to stop us. I slowed to a stop, but Kari stopped right in his tracks. I glanced back at him to see him eyeing the guard mare and sizing her up carefully.

She looked us over, looked at my cloak, then looks to me, “You guys are back already?”

I looked back at the mare, tilted my head, then remembered we’d just had a cart come through here like just over a week ago. “Nah, we’re jus’ visitin’.”

The guard mare shrugged then stepped back and waved us in. I gave her a nod then continued walking on. Kari hesitated for a moment, but followed after me a few seconds later.

Once we were well inside and away from the wall I slowed and looked back at him. “Dude. Relax. What was that about?”

Kari caught up to me quickly and shook his head. “Just… nothing.”

“I seen nothin’, an’ that ain’t nothin’...”

That ruffled his feathers. Literally. “Look, it was nothing, okay? Can we go where we’re going?”

I leaned away from him a little then shrugged with my wings. “Alright, if ya say so… An’ we’re headin’ this way.”

More griffin weirdness could be dealt with later. When we weren’t in a miniature sea of strange ponies. Would that be a pond? A lake. No, pond. Not big enough for a lake. There were big aisles set up with little stands on each side of the aisle. The travellers walked through the middle and could see and purchase or trade… or even sell goods on either the left or the right. There were a good four or five aisles that took up just over half of Market. The other half was an inn, a bar, a little government building, some other buildings that I didn’t actually know what they were for, and the spot where they kept all the carts for purchase or rent.

I lead him on past the aisles and to the far side of Market, back where all those buildings were. The largest chore was just getting past all the travellers and merchants without getting stepped on. They didn’t really tend to look down, so anypony shorter than them was liable to get a hoof somewhere they didn’t want one.

The area actually past the main market area was much less busy, though. I took a deep breath once we got out of the crowd and gave my body a shake.

Kari stepped up next to me and tapped my shoulder with a talon. “Why didn’t we just fly over all that?”

I blinked a couple of times. “Uh… Flyin’s… totally… off limits… er somethin’...” I coughed into my wing. Yeah, totally. “This way!” I broke into a trot and ran for the government building.

It wasn’t so much that building we were after, but rather the side of it. The entire length was made up into one giant bulletin board that pretty much anyone could put up notices on. Jobs, items for sale, items somepony wanted to buy, missing ponies, even bounties. There were a few other equines looking at the board as me and Kari trotted up. Two ponies and a zebra. They all definitely looked the mercenary type.

“And here’s th’ big board, Kari. It’s just general purpose, but chances are ya can find what yer lookin’ for.”

Kari stepped past me after I spoke, getting up closer to the board to start reading some of the papers. I started to look around, but my eyes got pulled down. To Kari’s tail, actually. It was long and skinny, and just the normal layer of fuzzy coat all along its length. Orange at the base, but it faded towards white at the middle and end, and all along it were black stripes ringing around it.

It was so different from a pony tail. I mean, Kari wasn’t the first griffin I’d seen, but he was the first one I’d spent more than five minutes in the same general area with. It was just flicking back… and forth… and back… and forth… the end curling up more than the rest as it swung. It was kinda mesmeri-

“Are you staring at my butt?”

I jumped backwards, my ears flattening and a blush instantly forming at hearing that question. I shook my head. “No! No no. I was just… yer… yer tail, it was-”

Kari snorted, “It was what?”

“It was… was… it was doin’ tail things!” I heard snickering from off to the side. One of the other ponies who’d been there at the board. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to think about that.

“Right. I’m just going to choose to believe you.”

I felt a piece of paper flick against my nose and I opened my eyes. Kari had torn off one of the notices and was holding it for me to read.

‘Wanted: Female unicorn, tan, olive tail, green eyes. Thief responsible for stealing food from hungry family. Reward: Up to 500 caps for capture and return.’

I blinked, my blush fading a bit as my mind now had something else to think about. “If they have five hundred caps, what’re they so hungry for? An’ how could anyone find th’ pony off’a that?”

Kari simply snorted again. “You really have no idea how this whole thing works, do you?”

My brow furrowed, I looked up at him, and I shook my head. “No…”

He grinned wide at me. “Then come watch and learn.” He turned and started to head around for the front of the building.

I bit my lip hard, then slowly started after him. Was he really planning on taking up a bounty and doing it right now? I’d just been planning to show him where he could find them…

We rounded the corner and he opened the door. “First step, answer your first question. Five hundred cap bounty most likely means it’s not put out by the same people who got stolen from.”

Oh, good… so now even more ponies were thrown into the mix… that always made things simpler. I bit my lip again, then hurried in after Kari before the door shut behind him. I was really hoping this wasn’t something Inky would consider stupid.

“And keep your eyes off my butt. That’s the last thing we need when talking to them about this stuff.”

There’s the blush again! “I-I wasn’t staring, I… I’m not, I’m not even g- not even…” I let out a groan and rubbed my face with my wing. This was going to be a long day.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Kibu, No One, and Scrap Metal for grammar, plot, spelling, and stuff.

Chapter 7: How to Train Your Griffin

Inside the Market government building was strangely a lot like the outside. At least the outside right around it. There was an entrance lobby with ponies milling about… probably waiting. And there were two desks with a pair of mares working them. They were both doing paperwork at the moment.

Kari started moving for the one on the left, but I reached up and tapped him with a wing before pointing to the one on the right. I recognized her. She was brown… but for the life of me I couldn’t remember her name.

Kari nodded and swerved right, going directly to her desk. “We’d like to see Dusty Star. Or ask if you know of Dusty Star’s current location.”

The mare replied without ever looking up from her paperwork, “Do you have an appointment?”

“No, but it is a private and urgent matter.”

That got her to lift her head. She looked up and was about to speak when she realized what she was looking at. She slowly looked to me, then back to Kari, then me, then Kari. “A cub and a Crusader have ‘private and urgent’ business with Dusty Star? Really?”

Kari simply nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

She looked Kari over for a few second then glanced at me while lifting her hoof slightly to point at Kari, “Is this true?”

I cleared my throat and nodded. “Yeah. Uh. Yes. … Ma’am. It’s pretty private. An’ prob’ly urgent.”

The mare let out a long sigh before giving her head a shake. “Fine. You’ve got ten minutes unless Dusty Star tells me otherwise. Today is busy. Third door on the left.”

Kari had turned and was moving before she’d even half finished her sentence. “Thank you, ma’am!”

I hadn’t realized Kari was leaving so quickly, so I gave the mare a quick smile before darting off to catch up with him. Once when we were in the hallway I moved up even to him to speak. “Who’s Dusty Star an’ why we gotta see him?”

Kari reached out and stuck the note in front of my face again. Only it was the back of it this time. I looked at it, and on the back was written simply, ‘Dusty Star’. I started to ask a question, but Kari got to answering it before it ever came out of my mouth.

“The issuer is always written on the back. Front’s reserved for target information. Because, if the target themselves see the bounty, you don’t want them to know who issued it. But the bounty hunter has to know, obviously. So it’s written on the back. Be pretty risky to go up to your own bounty letter to look at the back, good chance someone nearby would recognize you from it and try to catch you.” That… made sense. Maybe. Seemed… well it wasn’t fool-proof, anyway.

“As for why? The bounty said who it was, right?” I nodded. “But it didn’t give any hint at all as to where we could find her, did it?”

I blinked a few times. “Oooh… right. Duh. How’d ya know she was in here, though?”

He shrugged as we walked. “I didn’t, but what kind of town leadership doesn’t know the basic information of those in their town? If Dusty Star wasn’t here, they’d be able to tell us where he was.”

There wasn’t any time to respond, as the moment Kari finished we’d hit the door. He turned, opened the door, and walked right through. Okay, this was completely stupid. … Had to follow, though. Couldn’t just ditch him.

There was another mare behind another desk in the room. Only this desk was a lot bigger and fancier... and so was the unicorn mare. She was pink and tall, and slim. And startled at our sudden entrance. She looked over at the door when Kari simply walked through. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Kari walked up to her desk, reached out, and put the bounty notice on her desk. “Are you Miss Dusty Star?”

She let out a little snort then looked down at the piece of paper. “Yes. Now my answers?”

Kari took a step back and gave a little bow. “I’m sorry for the rude entrance, ma’am, but your secretary outside said we only had ten minutes, so I wanted to be fast. We’re interested in pursuing the pony listed on that paper, but we need more information.”

Dusty Star narrowed her eyes at us, her horn lighting up as she picked up the paper in her magic and read it. “Oh…” She blinked a couple times then looked a bit disbelieving. “The two of you are here for this?” She held out the paper a bit towards us, and Kari simply nodded. Wanting to fit in, I gave a nod as well. She gave another snort and looked back at the paper. “Well… whatever help I can get, I guess…”

The mare lightly tossed the piece of paper back on the desk in front of Kari and stood up behind her desk. My eyes went a little wide as I had to tilt my head up to continue looking at her face. Gosh she was tall. “What information do you need?”

Kari had to tilt his head up as well. “First, I must ask, I’m guessing you are not the hungry family the mare stole from?”

Dusty Star shook her head. “Heavens, no. The thief actually has stolen from a few ponies here, over the past six months or so. She leaves and comes back intermittently.”

Kari clicked his beak as he nodded. “What will you do when we capture her and bring her back?”

She tilted her head lower and looked down her muzzle at Kari. “Isn’t that none of your concern?”

“Technically, yes. You are correct. It is information I like to have, though.”

It almost sounded like Dusty Star chuckled, but I couldn’t be sure. “She’ll be forced to pay back the cost of her thefts. If she doesn’t have the caps, she’ll be forced to work for Market until the debt is paid off. At which point we will offer to continue employing her for continued pay, or she can choose to leave and we’ll give her a few days of food and send her on her way, with a warning that if she steals from us again we won’t be quite so nice.” I gave a little laugh at the mare’s last words, but quickly cleared my throat and shut up again. Kari appeared to have this handled.

Kari nodded slowly. “Is the five hundred cap reward included in her debt to Market?”

“Of course not. Neither is room and board. This is to make sure she stops stealing and pays us back, not slavery.”

“Very well.” Kari reached out and grabbed the slip of paper the bounty was written on. He glanced over it, then held it out to me. I gave a confused look, but quickly took it in my wing. After I had the paper, Kari looked back to Dusty Star. “Do you know where the mare was last seen?”

She turned a bit and pointed off in a direction. “She always runs off east. Or did the two times we saw her run off. Beyond that, we don’t know. She probably doesn’t go far, though. She keeps coming back every couple weeks, would be dumb to go out too far if you just keep coming back and you need the food you steal to live off of. Presumably.”

“East, close, got it. Thank you very much, ma’am, don’t want to take up any more of your time.” Kari turned around. He gave me a quick smirk and a wink as he walked past me, then headed right back out into the hallway.

I gave Dusty Star a quick nod and smile, like I had to her secretary, then left quickly and shut the door behind me. Kari was already halfway down the hall, so I flapped my wings and sorta fluttered to pick up speed and catch up to him.

He laughed when I caught up. “And that’s how it’s done. Now let’s head east.”

My brow furrowed. “Wait, ya wanna go do this whole thing t’day? Like, right now?”

Kari slowed a bit and looked at me. “Yeah. Why not?”

“‘Cause… like… it’s gonna take time? We were s’posed t’ be back… t’day. Er t’night at least.”

Kari shrugged with his wings. “Do you actually have to be back?”

I bit my lip for a second as I thought about that. “Well… no… I don’t have t’ be. But ponies’ll get worried if I’m not.”

Kari sighed and waved a talon. “We’ll be quick then.”

“We gotta be… you ain’t even got any gear. Nothin’... I mean I’m carryin’ an extra bed mat, but seriously…”

Kari raised a brow then looked back at his naked body. He wasn’t even wearing a set of bags to carry stuff in. “We can sleep on clouds, Buck. Why bother with the ground and bed mats? It’ll be fine. Like I said, we won’t stay the night out. We gotta get back like you said.” He turned back ahead of him and picked up the pace again.

I let out a quiet grumble as I trotted after him. This was definitely something Inkblot would think is stupid.

“Which way is which again? Can’t see the sun down here with all the stupid clouds.”

I let out a sigh and came to a hovering stop next to Kari. “It ain’t that hard, seriously.” I glanced up at the cloud layer and looked at it for a bit. Couldn’t see the sun, but could still see some light on the clouds from it. Rises in the east, sets in the west… and I knew it was afternoon…

I spun back around and pointed the directions as I spoke. “West is Market. North-west is Asylum. North is… well whatever town we found you in. North-east is ocean. East is more ocean. South-east is Manehatten. That clear ‘nough fer ya?”

Kari spun around with me, then nodded. “Yeah… better. How far is Manehatten from here?”

“Fer us or her?”

“For a dirt pony.”

“Uh… day an’ a half? Ish. Normally takes them ‘bout a day t’ get t’ Market. And… like… about two days t’ get t’ Manehatten, but Market’s a bit outta th’ way from Asylum t’ Manehatten… so yeah.”

Kari nodded. “And how far to that town we crashed in?”

I lifted my lone forehoof up and scratched at my head. “Uh… I’d guess still ‘bout a day.”

“Right.” Kari looked in the directions of the various places again then shook his head. “She wouldn’t go to Manehatten. I’ve heard of Manehatten, it’s big. If she went there, she’d just stay there and steal food from there. More possible targets. She wasn’t in the town we met. Else the ghouls would’ve been over her already, or she’d have killed them already, or we would’ve seen her. One of those.”

I bit my lip and looked off easterly. “Which leaves… th’ ocean?”

He nodded again. “Which leaves the ocean. Or some sort of shelter. A cave? Or I guess you guys would build a house or something down here, wouldn’t you?”

I shrugged. “A cave would work. So long as there ain’t a bear in it.”

After a good laugh, he kicked it into gear again, gained some more altitude, then started flying east once more. It didn’t take me long to catch up and fly alongside.

The search began for real once we got a bit more distance away from Market. Surely she wouldn’t just sit right by the town. She’d run off somewhere and hide… But where? It was a big wasteland… and the parts we were flying over were pretty barren. There were some old roads we could make out, billboards, grass, hills, some trees. Rocks. There were some pretty big rocks.

Every time we saw a big outcropping of those rocks we’d fly down and check it. Same for any possible cave entrances we saw in the low rolling hills. But we didn’t find a thing. So we went north some. Then south some. Then west some to double-check, then back off to the east. Nothing. A couple of times we even managed to find little lone houses sitting off out in the middle of nowhere, but other than a few odds and ends inside, there was nothing and nobody to be found.

The searching was fine… but as time went on I started to get a little more fidgety. Was the mare going to be around this rock? Inside this cave? Behind this door? No, no, and no. But that didn’t make things any better. To make things worse, actually, it was getting dark. Quick. We started to fly faster as it got darker, but eventually it got so dark that we had to stay real close to each other to be able to keep track of ourselves. That was enough.

“Kari, we gotta stop an’ head home.”

“No! This is, like, the best time to search! Think about it. She’s gotta use a campfire, right? It gets chilly at night. She’s got to keep warm. Or a flashlight to be able to see in the dark.”

I groaned and came to a stop, hovering in the air. “An’ what if she just goes t’ sleep when th’ sun goes away?”

After a few seconds Kari realized I’d stopped, then turned around and came back to me. “Even better! When we find her, she’ll be asleep and real easy to grab. C’mon, quicker we find her the quicker we can take her to Market and get back.”

He started to turn but I shook my head. “No, Kari. No.”

He huffed and looked to me again, “Why not?”

“‘Cause this is dumb, Kari. It’s super dark out here, th’ town’s gonna be worried if we don’t show up on time. An’ what if we don’t find her at all? What’re ya gonna do then?”

“I don’t know, keep searching? And dark is fine, it’s not like we’re going to run into anything up here.”

“No, dark ain’t fine. What if we run inta each other up here? What if we get too far ‘way from each other an’ we can’t see each other again?”

Kari scoffed. “Well if that happens, that’s just dumb flying. We can just make that not happen.”

I huffed back at him. “What’re ya gonna do if we do find her, huh? Like, what, tie her up an’ haul her back t’ Market?”

He nodded. “Well yeah, I can do that, no problem. Just come on, it’s no big deal, we’ll find a cloud to sleep on if we’re out too long.”

“I ain’t gonna sleep out here, ‘cause I’m gonna go home… ya know, th’ place we’re supposed t’ be tonight. What’re ya gonna do if ya find her an’ she’s got a gun?”

“Sneak up on her and don’t let her use it?”

I growled a little. I totally would’ve stomped a hindhoof if I had ground to stomp it on. “Yeah ‘cause that sure worked with Inky. Ugh. No, Kari. Look, if yer gonna be stupid, then be stupid. But I ain’t followin’ after ya. I’m gonna go home. Like ya promised we would when we were in Market.”

Kari snorted loudly. “Fine. Go home. I’ll see you tomorrow, Buck. And you’ll see what I meant when I show you the five hundred caps.” He flapped his wings harder and spun around, immediately heading off east again.

I turned and watched him go, kicking at the air in anger. Stupid… birdfaced… catbutt… argh. Stupid… But, wait… Okay. That. Was unexpected. Usually… when you tell somebody they’re stuck on their own they don’t keep doing the thing they were doing… I mean, it’d even worked on him last time. What… was going on?

Ugh. No. Screw him, let him go search. He’d come back when he got hungry.

I turned and flew pretty much the opposite direction, back off towards home. If I was fast I might… maybe… just possibly make it before midnight. Maybe Inky would still be up and be… less pissed at me than if I had to wake her up to tell her I was home.

After about half an hour I started to get a knot in my stomach. This was… so stupid. Whole thing. Dumb. Bad. I’m going to get home and she’s going to beat me over the head with a pillow. But she’ll understand because I’ll tell her I was trying to make him happy, and I did the best I could, but that I stuck to the promise…

I stuck to the promise and ditched him. Completely alone. In the middle of nowhere. With no gear. And he has no clue how to tell direction without seeing the sky… The knot in my stomach got tighter. He was going to get himself killed… or get completely lost and then get himself killed.

I pulled up and back-winged, coming to a near immediate stop in the air. This was so bad. I turned and looked back and forth between the way I was going and the way I’d just come from. Disappointment. Ditching… Breaking a promise. Danger of being alone… My head lowered and I held it in my forehoof.

“Sorry, Inky…”

I spun around and flew as quick as I could back the way I had just come. With any luck he wouldn’t have gone too far and I’d be able to easily find him again. If not, maybe I’d grab my flashlight and shine it around a bit until he saw it.

Half an hour of backtracking had passed and I still hadn’t seen him. Which was to be expected. I was now back where we’d split. So I turned and went east. Yeah, yeah okay. This was good. There was only so much room between here and the ocean. He’d have to turn back once he hit it. We’d probably run right into each oth-

Squawk!

My eyes went wide and I back-winged to a stop again. That was… a bird… in distress. And north. Yeah, north. Definitely. And distant… that was the bad part. I turned left and went full speed, my eyes peeled out for anything.

It didn’t take long before I saw something. Flashlights, actually. Or flashlight. I couldn’t be sure. No, actually, yep, one flashlight. And it was shining on… there was a pony laying on the ground, looked like she’d been tied up. And there was the figure of another pony standing over her. The one with the flashlight. Unicorn. I could see the faint glow on its horn and on the flashlight and… on something else too. Long and skinny… maybe a bat.

When the flashlight moved a bit, I saw the other thing I was hoping to not see. A griffin was laying on the ground, just a few feet from the pony. It was Kari… but he was still alive. Moving, at least. As he started to move, though, I saw the bat shift position and fly over Kari’s body. Oh no… no you don’t. That was going to be bad.

I sucked in a deep breath. Bending my head down, I took my lasso off of its hook. I wasn’t going to get a second chance… I tilted my body down and dove through the sky, right for the standing unicorn. The moment I heard his voice, I threw the rope towards his head and pulled up as hard as I could, my wings pumping as I climbed again.

A second into my climb I felt the rope go taut. I’d landed it! Yes! Then my teeth slammed into each other as the rope was yanked right out of my mouth. No! I rolled over in the air to be able to see the ground. The flashlight had gone flying, but so had the unicorn. He was completely off his hooves. This was my chance.

I dove down again, this time not planning on pulling up. He was already halfway to his hooves, but I was going to make sure he stayed down. I aimed by shoulder straight for his head, pulled in my wings when I got close, and- “Ow!” Ow! Pain! My neck!

I tumbled across the ground after the impact. I went to get up and fell right back down. Dangit legs, work! Why is the earth spinning? Stop it. Stop. Spinning.

“Buck? Buck! No… no no no… Please be alive…”

I felt a talon mess with my face a bit, though I too dizzy to know what it was even doing. The next thing I knew I was in the air, then deposited on something warm… and feathery. Well my face was on feathers, anyway… it was soft… Maybe closing my eyes would make the spinning go away. Oh… oh yeah… that’s good. Much better...

“Aaaaah!”

I awoke to the frustratingly familiar sensation of a needle poking my neck and firm magic holding me down so I couldn’t move.

“Shhh, shhh, Bucky.” Inkblot moved around into my view, her forehoof rising to stroke the top of my mane.

I blinked a few times and my heart slowly calmed down. Okay… it was okay. Everything was fine… safe…

“Welcome b-”

Inkblot took half a step back and turned and pointed right at Kari, who was standing in the farthest corner of the room away from us. “Did I give you permission to speak?”

Kari cleared his throat softly. “No… no ma’am.”

“Then don’t. One more word before I do and you wait outside.” So maybe not everything was fine.

“Yes ma’am.”

Inkblot snorted then looked back at me, her hoof returning to my mane. “As for you, what happened to ‘I promise’, huh?”

My ears went back and I gulped hard. “It uh… it uh… was… uh… either do somethin’ stupid ‘r… ‘r not be there an’ let him get beat t’ death with a bat.”

She gave her head a little shake. “Wrong answer, Bucky.”

I blinked at her. “Huh?”

“Right answer is not going along with the idea to go grab a bounty, especially when you were both in your conditions.”

“R-right… sorry…”

Inky sighed softly then nuzzled my cheek before moving back over my neck. “Now stay still, you ripped this thing open again and I have to shut it. At least I have proper sutures this time.” I felt her magic form around my head and neck again, then felt her start going to work on the stitching. “You can speak now, Kari.”

Kari cleared his throat and started to walk towards the area just in front of me and the table I was laying on. “Uh… welcome back, Buck…”

I snorted softly. “Being asleep hurt less… what’d ya do t’ Inky, anyways?”

Kari scratched at his throat then pointed a claw at Inkblot, “Got you hurt. Twice.” He hesitated for a moment then added, “You really should’ve seen it though, Inkblot. He choked this stallion and made him do a flip, then came back around and body-slammed his head… Knocked him out cold. It was awesome.”

Inky paused halfway through stitching my neck. “Was it now? And why did he do that?”

I gave a little wingshrug. “All I heard was a really weird bird noise…”

Kari reached his talons further and scratched at the back of his head, and I was pretty sure a slight blush was appearing, but it was hard to see for all the feathers. “I uh… I saw a flashlight, then it turned off, so I had thought the mare was alone. So I waited a bit, snuck into her saddlebags, she was asleep, got some rope, and started tying her up. She woke up, knew she would, but she yelled for help… I tried to get her out of there as quick as I could, but the stallion came up behind me with the bat… dropped me with a couple of hits. I was… I was gonna be fine though. Snatch it out of his magic then use it against him when he was hovering it over me. But uh… yeah…”

He coughed awkwardly then looked back at me. “Um… thanks… for coming back. It uh… Not sure if you were asleep or not, but I got the mare back to Market then came here. I put two hundred and fifty caps in your stuff.” He started slowly nodding, then cleared his throat again. “Anyway, I’ll uh… sorry, again. For causing tonight. See you… tomorrow.” He lifted his talon and gave a little wave, then turned around and trotted for the door.

My brow furrowed as I listened. “Uh, see ya, Kari. Yer… welcome.” I licked my lips and watched as he walked out the door, then I lifted my head a tiny bit and glanced at Inkblot. “Is it just me ‘r is he actin’ strange?”

Inkblot didn’t say anything until she finished stitching up my neck for the second time. After she did, she grabbed a washcloth and started cleaning the blood off of me. “A bounty hunter since he was twelve? My guess is he isn’t comfortable with apologies. Or admitting he was wrong. Or being told he was wrong. Loudly. By a filly less than half his size.”

It took a second, but it dawned on me what she meant. “How many ponies did ya wake up?”

“Not me. Sunny Sea.”

I blinked. “Oh…”

“I calmed her down, though. Told her I’d fix you up, that I’d get High Times to properly punish Kari, that you’d be okay, and that she should get some sleep so that she could be good and awake in the morning once you woke up.”

“Oh. Thanks. That’s…” I let out a long sigh, “Last thing she needs is t’ be up all night worryin’ like you do. … Wait, High?”

She tossed the rag away and moved back in front of me. “I’m not actually going to get High involved. You’re both idiots, he doesn’t need to be called in for that.” My ears drooped back and she smirked a little. “Now, it’s almost three in the morning… let’s get you to bed.”

If nothing else, I learned at least one lesson as I woke up the next morning. Don’t ever tear open stitches. My neck wasn’t hurting as bad as it was the first time, but the soreness… it just ached. Constantly. Even when I was laying still. So not worth it… Maybe I should’ve just tried to find and grab my rope again in the darkness.

Wait. My rope. I opened my eyes and lifted my head up a bit. I was laying on my left side again, so it was a bit difficult, but after a few attempts I got my head twisted around to check my stuff. Okay… there it was. My rope was laying on my bags. Kari must’ve gotten it… Actually… Kari must’ve carried me all the way back. Plus the mare… how strong was he? Mental note: never, ever, ever, ever fight him. Ever. At least not fairly, anyway.

And why is there something on my stomach? I turned my head back the other way and did a double-take before I was sure of what I saw. Inkblot was laying perpendicular to me and using the side of my belly as a pillow. She had definitely not been there when I fell asleep last night. Also at some point after I fell asleep she had pulled my wing all the way out and was using it as a blanket. Alright then.

I pat her side lightly with my wing then laid my head back down on my own pillow, looking back off the edge of the roof. If I had to guess I’d say it was just after breakfast time, some of the foals were trickling out of various places and starting up what appeared to be a game of tag in the big middle area. After awhile I saw a few more foals join in, one of them was Beanie. That made me smile. Slowly but surely she’d make friends and fit in somehow. I recognized all of them, but the rest had been here longer and hadn’t been quite so shy as her.

Over the next hour or so more foals came out, and I started to get hungry myself. But Inky was still sleeping… and I didn’t really wanna wake her up. Though, after another few minutes, my grumbling stomach seemed to do it for me.

I felt some movement under my wing, then her head repositioned itself on my side. At least until the next rumble. Her head moved again, trying to get away from it, but the third one woke her up proper and she lifted her head up and started to rub her eyes.

I snickered softly watching her come around, then slowly pulled my wing off of her and folded it up at my side, the feathers covering up where her head had been. “Mornin’, Inky.”

She let out a dull grunt and stayed still for a few moments. After about a minute she started to scoot forward. “How’s your neck?” She lifted her hoof up to the stitches to help her get a better look at them.

I sucked in a breath and grimaced when I felt her hoof, then used my wing to gently push her away, “Better when ya weren’t touchin’ it.”

Her ears went back and she pulled away quickly. “Sorry.” She groaned again, then scooted up a bit farther, now parallel with me, and laid her head down on my pillow. “I need more sleep…”

I pulled my head back a bit when Inky stole my pillow from me, then just let out a little laugh. I rolled over onto my stomach, sidled up next to her, and put my wing over her back again. “Prob’ly ‘cause ya spent th’ night half off’a th’ mattress…” She just grunted. “Well… you sleep then. I’m gonna go get food… I can bring ya back some. If ya want.” There was a short delay before I heard another grunt. That one was a yes. I leaned down and nuzzled the top of her head. “I’ll be back with food when ya wake up.”

After spending a minute to rub her back with my wing, and when I was pretty sure she had fallen asleep again, I carefully got up to my hooves and slinked off of the mattress to avoid disturbing her. I mean really, it was the least I could do… I stepped to the edge of the roof and spread my wings, but something caught my eye before I walked off the side.

There was a cart coming into town from the north-west. Not one of our carts, either. It was bigger, longer. And pulled by an adult. I hadn’t been the first to see him, either. He was already attracting the attention of a hoof-full of foals, as well as a couple of adults. Specifically Junkie and Matiba, the zebra mare that worked in our little hospital building.

I decided to wait to see where the cart was going. He bypassed the stuff on the outskirts, and I could tell he was talking to the adults and the kids. After another minute he ended up pulling up to a stop in the big courtyard of the town, just a short distance in front of the General Store. Now he was drawing even more attention from the foals.

I snorted softly, then stepped off the edge of the building and landed a few feet away from the small crowd that was starting to build. I picked out one of the younger colts on the fringe of it, walked up behind him, and tapped on his back.

He looked startled at first, but then turned around to look at me. “Hey, Tri!”

I smiled down at the little blueish colt. “Hey, Water Gun. How’s it goin’?”

His face lit up, “Great! I won tag!”

I gave a chuckle, “Nice! Gotta be quick t’ do that… hey uh, think ya could do me a favor?”

“Yeah!”

I smiled again, “Could ya go get High fer me? Bring him out here t’ see me?”

Water Gun gave a furious set of nods then turned around and dashed off some direction. I didn’t pay attention to which one. No, I was already turning my eyes back to the… merchant?

He was a well built earth pony stallion. Deep purple with a black mane. His cutie mark was… well it looked like a jug of alcohol or something. And he was wearing that typical merchant barding, the one with the tons of pockets to store stuff in. “Say, anypony here know how long ‘go y’all moved in?”

I took a step forward, trying to speak before any of the younger ones did, “Good question! Who are ya an’ why ya wanna know?”

The stallion looked around when he heard a new voice and broke into a big grin once he saw me. “Ah! There ya are. Howdy, sonny! Name’s Moonshine.” I blinked and glanced at his flank again. Okay, definitely alcohol. Yep. “An’ I’s jus’ curious, cuz I make reg’lare trips through here, an’ this place sure wadn’t here a month ago. I was comin’ on through this time, wasn’t sure if it was real ‘r if maybe I’d drank a little too much’a my own product!” He broke into a hearty laugh, then turned his head and worked himself out of the harness to his cart.

“Right…” I smiled, but didn’t really laugh. He wasn’t going to get far if he expected to sell alcohol to a town full of foals. Well maybe the adults… but we’d have to watch them… and make sure Junkie didn’t get her hooves on any. While he worked on the harness I started looking the cart over. It looked… like a fairly standard merchant cart. A lot of random goods thrown around in it. On the back there was some other contraption… actually it sorta looked like a thing I had seen in the bar in Market. The thing they made alcohol in. Maybe that was his main produce name-sake.

I looked back at Moonshine after he was free of his cart. “We moved over here… two weeks ago now, I think.”

Moonshine gave me a surprised look. “Jus’ pick up th’ whole town an’ move it?!”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Wow! That’s crazy.” He cleared his throat then stepped around to the side of the cart. After picking out a key from his saddlebags, he opened a lock on the side of the cart, which made the entire side fold down and display a sort of shelving system, which more goods were stored on.

Once he’d adjusted it a bit, he turned around and picked up his voice so everyone could hear. “Everythin’ ya see on this cart’s fer sale! All’a it! Even th’ cart if ya pay ‘nough! All y’all’re welcome t’ come look ‘round it. Ya see anything ya like, ya can see if th’ price is written down in th’ cart, ‘r come ask me if it ain’t!”

The foals gave a collective cheer and rushed at the cart, competing with each other to try and get a better spot to see whatever goodies might be inside of it. Moonshine gave another laugh and carefully pulled himself away from the mob of ten year-olds. I was content with watching. I didn’t have anything I wanted to buy, plus somebody had to stay out of the chaos.

I was pretty much the only one staying a bit back, though. And as such, Moonshine ended up standing next to me. “Say, son, ya look purty tough. Like ya been in a good few fights. What’s yer name?”

Missing leg… giant aching cut on the side of my neck… maybe Inkblot was right about that whole scar thing. I tilted my head up to look at the stallion. “Name’s Buck.”

He started grinning again. “Buck! Well, nice t’ meet ya, Buck!” He stuck out his hoof to shake it, but started to sheepishly pull it back in. “Sorry.”

I snorted and stuck out a wing, wrapped it lightly around his hoof and gave it a little shake. “It’s normal.”

Moonshine let out a sigh, “Oh, thank ya kindly. Anyway, my name’s Moonshine, like I said. Make this trip once a month ‘r s- Howdy, stranger!” He looked up and lifted a hoof, waving off to the side.

I followed the direction he was looking and found Water Gun returning with High Times. I smiled and waved Water Gun over to me with my wing. He ran right over and I leaned down to whisper into his ear, “Thanks a bunch, next time ya grab somethin’ from th’ General Store, tell Bottom Line I’ll pay.”

Water Gun gasped then turned around and ran immediately for the General Store, completely forgetting the cart and crowd. I chuckled then looked back at High. “Hey, High. This here’s uh… Moonshine.” I pointed to the stallion, then looked at the merchant, “An’ this is High Times.”

High nodded and walked around in front of me, sticking his hoof out and shaking Moonshine’s. “Welcome to our little town. What brings you around?”

“Oh, jus’ travellin’ business, ya know?” Moonshine laughed then pointed off south, “I normally walk right through here t’ Manehatten, but saw this place, ain’t never seen it ‘fore, figured I’d stop in fer a look-see. Honestly I ain’t never seen so many foals in one place in my life!”

High Times smiled softly then turned halfway to look at the group that was still searching through the cart. Some were finding things, some weren’t. “Yeah, we do collect them, don’t we?” He looked back to Moonshine. “How long are you going to be around?”

Moonshine took a moment to think before saying, “Well, I had jus’ really started my day, but I ain’t in any rush.” He started to smile, “Plus th’ atmosphere is nice, so many youngters runnin’ ‘round. Reminds me of my daughter… I might stay th’ day an’ night, see if maybe anypony here has anything a merchant can get fer ‘em. If it’s all th’ same, anyway.”

High nodded a little. “So long as you behave yourself, we don’t have any issue with guests.” He turned and pointed to the Adult Building. “We have some sleeping room you can use in there, as well as some refreshments.”

Moonshine nodded, then gave what looked like half of a bow. “Thank ya kindly. I’ll do m-”

“How much is this?! And this?!”A pair of foals had found something they wanted and had run up right in the middle of the three of us, holding the items up for Moonshine to see.

The stallion gave a chuckle then looked between me and High, “My ‘pologies, duty calls.” He looked back down to the foals and guided them back over towards the cart.

When he was back in the crowd around the cart, High looked to me and walked closer. “Thanks, Buck. How’s your neck?”

I let out a sigh, still watching Moonshine as he walked off and started making deals. “It’s fine. Hurt it again, but Inky fixed it up.” I blinked then looked at High. “Actually, uh, she’s still on my bed. I came down t’ get food.”

High looked a bit surprised at Inkblot sleeping on my bed, but gave his head a shake then nodded in the direction of the General Store. “Go get something to eat. I’ll keep watch out here.”

“Ya sure?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

I nodded back. “Alright, thanks.” I turned and trotted off to the General Store, and I started noticing how hungry I was again.

When I got to the General Store, I opened the door, walked through, and didn’t make it three steps before I was assaulted by fillies.

“Triiiipooood!”

Firestorm and Sunny both charged at me, plowing into me full speed, Stormy into my foreleg and Sunny rearing up to hug the base of my neck. With a yell I fell over to my side again, but the fillies stayed firmly attached in their chosen locations.

“Hi, gals, but do ya gotta do that?”

I heard a snort from over towards the desk, followed by Kari’s voice. “You don’t get to complain about a bunch of girls fawning over your, Buck.”

“Yeah I do!”

Sunny nuzzled my neck then got up again. “You worried me so bad!” She reached up and poked my neck, “And your ne-”

“OW!”

She sucked in a breath and hopped back. “Sorry, Tri! But it looks weird.” She stared at it for a moment longer then broke back into a smile, rushed up to me again, licked my cheek, then turned around and dashed back off for the counter area.

I just shook my head a little, then looked down at my foreleg and the red filly attached to it. “What about you?”

Stormy nosed at my foreleg, then slowly peeled off of it while speaking much quieter than Sunny, “Happy you’re okay… I didn’t even know you were leaving town.”

I gave a sigh. “Sorry, Stormy… I... I promise I’ll tell you next time, okay?” She gave a little smile and I reached out with a wing to ruffle her mane before getting back up to my hooves. “Y’all’er gonna kill me, I swear…”

Kari snorted again. “Still say you don’t get to complain.”

I glanced over at him, “Meh meh nyah blah blah blah.” I stuck my tongue out at him, then my attention turned back to Sunny, who had run back over to me with a box of cereal in her mouth. I barked a laugh then reached out with my wing to take the box. “Thanks, Sunny… can ya get another fer Inky?” She nodded and darted off again.

The next voice I heard definitely belonged to Bottom Line from behind her counter. “Yer gonna run me dry, featherbrain. Gonna have to raise prices. What’s all the ruckus outside anyway?”

I looked up at her then nodded towards the door, “There’s a travellin’ merchant out there with a big cart sellin’... everything, ‘parently.”

Her eyes went wide. “Really?” She opened a drawer, pulled out a pouch, then in a single bound leaped over her counter and ran right past me out the door.

I blinked and stepped out of the way to make sure I wasn’t run over yet again. “Alrighty then…” Sunny made a noise to get my attention, so I turned back and took the second box of cereal from her. “Thanks.”

“Well duh.” She just grinned at me.

I shook my head then looked between the three of them. “What’re y’all all doin’ in here at th’ same time anyway?”

Firestorm pointed to herself and Sunny, “We were waiting for you to wake up and come down for breakfast.”

Kari then raised a claw, “And I just happened to run into two more of your angry fangirls. So I had to stick around and get an ear-full…”

Sunny turned around and stuck her tongue out at Kari, to which both he and I just rolled our eyes. I reached out my other wing and flicked the back of Sunny’s head lightly. “Stop that, be nice. It ain’t all his fault. ‘Sides, he carried me all th’ way back here.”

Sunny looked back at me with a big pout. “But your neck is all hurt and it’s all ‘cause he’s here.”

I nodded slowly. “Well th’ first time was his fault… second time wasn’t. So at least be mad at him fer th’ right things. Now… you two… I got two hundred an’ fifty caps. Why don’t y’all go outside, look around, an’ see if there’s anything ya might want? I’ll get it fer ya.”

Sunny’s pout just got bigger, but she walked up and nuzzled my chest before heading for the door. Firestorm started to smile again and follow Sunny, but she stopped halfway to the door. “Aren’t you going to come with us, Tri?”

I nodded. “I’ll be right out, Stormy. Just gotta drop th’ food off, then I’ll be there.”

She nodded quickly then followed the other filly out the door. Once they were both gone I took a deep breath. Those two risked me pulling the stitches out again just out of their sheer excitement when they tackle me.

“Hey, Buck…” I looked back over to see Kari had stepped up next to me, “I uh… I’m not sure how much you really remember about last night. But. I’m really sorry about getting you in that mess.. and uh… Thanks… for coming back for me.”

I lifted up my free wing a little and gave Kari a dismissive wave, “It’s fine. Jus’ next time don’t be so stupid, ‘kay? I mean, goin’ out by yerself right after sayin’ ya had no clue how t’ get home?”

He cleared his throat and nodded. “Yeah… I just… wanted to get the bounty.”

“Hell, ya said it was like a freakin’ cutie mark, if that’s what gettin’ a cutie mark does t’ a pony, then I’m happy not havin’ one fer a long, long while longer.” I sniffed then waved towards the door. “I gotta go wake up Inky, I’ll be back down there in a couple minutes. See ya.”

Kari nodded and followed after I walked for the exit, but when I took to the air he continued on towards the cart.

I simply hovered straight up, getting back to the edge of the roof. Inkblot was still sprawled out on my mattress and… was… drooling on my pillow. Lovely. I flew up a bit higher, then landed on the edge of the roof and laid down along the front of the mattress. Time to play wake-up.

“Inky…” Nothing. “Iiiinky…” Still nothing. I reached out with my forehoof, put it against her nose, and started to wiggle her nose in a circle. “Iiiiiiinkyyy…”

At first there was nothing, but quickly her ears and nose started to twitch, and then I got caught by surprise when she sneezed powerfully all over my hoof. “Ewww! Ugh…” I pulled my hoof back and started to wipe it off on the mattress.

Inkblot lifted her head up and started sleepily rubbing her nose with her hoof. “Huh?”

“Nothin’... here.” I picked up one of the two boxes of cereal and plopped it down next to her other forehoof. “Breakfast.”

She gulped hard. “Oh… thanks… I… water.”

I got back to my hooves, stepped over her, and got a bottle of water out of my bags. After I offered it to her, she tilted her head back and downed half of it in one solid drink, then put it back down. “Oh that’s better… why am I up here? … What’s going on down there?”

“Figured you’d know th’ first one… down there’s a merchant, though.”

“Oh really? Cool…”

“Wanna go see his stuff?”

“Yeah…”

I snorted. “Alright, c’mon.” I laid back down next to her and prodded her with my wing. Once she realized what I wanted, she lifted herself up a bit then plopped back down on my back. I flew her down to the ground near the cart then reversed the process, turning to give her a nuzzle after she got off.

She returned the nuzzle and offered a quiet “Thanks” before slipping off towards the crowd and the cart.

Well, besides the snot, that went easier than expected. But… oh yeah. I looked around, found High, then trotted over towards him. Once I got near I spoke up, “Hey High, I’m back. You uh… you gonna go get th’ other adults?”

High turned to me and nodded. “Yes, actually. Was waiting for you to finish with breakfast. You good to take over again?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. Go get ‘em.”

He smiled and turned, trotting off towards the adult’s building. Half of them could hardly take care of themselves, much less do a whole lot of travelling away from the town. Merchants coming through didn’t happen often, but they were a nice bit of excitement for them.

I flew up, got my cereal, then flew back down to take a watch over the crowd and the new-comer stranger.

After a minute, well before High got back, Moonshine took a step away from the cart and cleared his throat repeatedly. Once a bit more of attention was on him, he spoke out, “I really hadn’t wanted t’ ask any’a y’all young folk this, but it’s naggin’ at me… Seeing a group’a y’all like this actually gives me a bit’a hope. I know it’s a long shot… but have y’all ever heard’a a filly named… er I guess she’d be a young mare now… but have ya heard’a a filly ‘r mare named Absinthe?”

I, and pretty much everyone else, slowly shook our collective heads.

He let out a sigh then nodded. “Well, thank ya kindly fer listenin’. I’ll find her some day.”

Moonshine turned and went back to dealing with price questions at the cart. I tilted my head a bit and looked over the crowd, which at the moment consistent entirely of foals. Not exactly a pliable crowd if you’re searching for sympathy deals. They don’t deal with the emotions of others well… Then again he could’ve just been telling the truth.

At the end of the day, the girls had spent two hundred of the caps earned from the bounty reward. It was fine, though. Watching them tear through the stuff and play with their new things was worth it. Plus the deals were all really fair, the merchant didn’t seem to be going for the whole pity angle after all.

Sunny was pretty satisfied with the outcome of the day as a whole, but Firestorm was still a bit uneasy. She ended up insisting that she sleep up with me for a few days, because she was worried about me. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was having none of that.

Really the only difference was the fact that we would have to leave the ladder up at the back of the General Store all night, in case she had to go to the latrine or something. Wasn’t like that was going to be a real issue, though.

On the bright side, Lily was going to be back in… two days. Hopefully. Then I’d finally be able to force her to sit down and talk. But for now, sleep.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Kibu, No One, and Scrap Metal for help with spelling, grammar, plot, and titles.

Chapter 8: Spidey Sense

“How many times am I gonna haveta read this same thing?”

“I don’t know… Until it works?”

I rolled my eyes and pulled my head back from the book. Firestorm was standing next to my bed on the roof of the General Store. “I don’t think there’s that much light left.”

She looked back at me with a big pout. “Can’t you use your flashlight?”

“I could. But I ain’t gonna use th’ batteries fer a book.” I glanced off towards the sky again. Maybe another hour or so before the sun went down and it started to get really dark. “Look… one more try, okay? Then break time.”

“Awww… Tri…” She reached out with a hoof and tugged on my Crusader cape, the only thing I was wearing.

“Ah! Ah! Don’t even start that.” I snorted at her then looked back down at the book. “Now…” I let out a long sigh and started back at the top of the page. “Close yer eyes an’ focus on th’ tip’a yer horn… Ya should feel some… sensation which would be magical energy…”

I glanced over at her when I paused. She had begun following the instructions once again, which was good. Her horn wasn’t glowing, though. Inky’s glowed when she did magic, so… I blew a small puff of air then looked back at the book. “Once th’ sensation grows stronger, open yer eyes an’ attempt t’ use yer horn like ya would yer hoof t’ move something.”

Once more I looked back over at Stormy and she was still following the instructions. Her eyes had opened and she was sort of slowly waving her horn back and forth, aimed in the general direction of my pillow. Nothing was happening, though.

After about a full minute of trying she let out a frustrated squeak and stomped her hooves. “Why can’t I do it? It’s not supposed to be hard.”

I gave a sigh and closed the book before pushing it off my mattress and onto the roof. “It ain’t a big deal. Ya’ve had that book fer… what… a couple’a days now? Ya jus’ gotta prac-”

“I been practicing for a lot longer than that, Tri! But it don’t happen when I want it to happen.”

“Well…” I looked back at her, “Maybe that’s why. Yer jus’ tryin’ too hard. I start not bein’ able t’ hit nothin’ with my rope if I’m tryin’ too hard.”

She just stared at me for several seconds before snorting and stomping her hooves again. “That’s just dumb.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ya jus’ need t’ relax…”

“I don’t wanna relax.”

“Too bad.” I stretched my wing out, curled it around the far side of her barrel, and drug her towards me until she was against my side. She fought for a short bit, but then gave up and just slumped into me. “Relax… enjoy th’ rest’a th’ day.”

Stormy gave a ‘hmph’. “Don’t wanna.”

“Well, there’s food. Ya want some food?”

“No.”

“Ya want some water?”

“No.”

“Wanna play tag?”

“No.”

“Mud fight?”

“No.”

I groaned then looked down at her head which was poking out from between my wing and my side. “Well what do ya wanna do?”

She snorted at me. “Magic.”

I shook my head. “Do ya even know what kinda magic ya wanna do?”

Stormy blinked a couple of times before saying, “The… magicy… kind?”

“That’s what I thought…” I bent my neck around and nosed at the top of her head before starting to pet her back with my wing. “Do ya know how long it took Inky t’ be able t’ thread a needle usin’ just her magic?” Firestorm seemed to relax a little bit from the back scratch, which I was thankful for, and shook her head. I snorted softly, “A looooong, long time. Actually I don’t even think she could do it ‘til after she got her cutie mark.”

Firestorm let out a groan, “Another thing I have to get my cutie mark to be able to do…”

I bit my lip then shook my head again. “No, that ain’t what I meant. I meant… I meant it takes a lotta time, an’ if ya worry ‘bout it it’ll just take even more time.”

She fell silent for a minute or so, then piped up with another question, “But I thought you said you stopped worrying about your cutie mark.”

My brow furrowed a bit and I glanced back at her. “Yeah? What about it?”

“Well… you stopped worrying and you never got it. So you can’t just stop worrying about it…”

“Uh…” Not where I thought that was going… “This ain’t ‘bout me, ya know. It’s about you. An’ everypony gets their cutie marks differently. Oh! Maybe you’ll get a cutie mark for relaxing!”

Stormy didn’t seem too amused by that. I could tell from her face, and also from the fact that she kicked my shoulder with her forehoof. I just snickered and kept rubbing at her back. She’d settle down eventually.

Roughly an hour later, the light of the day began disappearing, and Firestorm had indeed settled down. At least enough to have a bite to eat for dinner and just watch as dusk fell. That was enough, really. Just get her mind off of magic and the dumb book and onto something nicer. Like food. Food was nice.

“Tri?”

“Hmm?”

“You hear that?”

I blinked and looked down at Firestorm, then started to look around us, my ears swivelling to try and pick up any noises. “Hear what?”

Clank. Clank.

I turned a bit farther. I heard it that time. “It’s the ladder.” I cleared my throat and spoke up a bit louder, “Inky, if yer comin’ up here yer already too late, I have another filly.” I snickered and flicked my tail a bit as I waited for whoever it was to come up, though I was pretty sure I knew who it was.

However, my eyes went wide when I saw a purple stallion come over the edge of the rof on the ladder. That. Was not Inky. That was not Inkblot at all. That was… Moonshine. “Didn’t ya leave this mornin’?”

Moonshine gave a sheepish smile and a bit of a chuckle. “Yer quite right, son. However, I never did make it too far. I spent th’ last several hours tryin’ t’ get my cart unstuck… but… I ain’t got no luck.”

I just stared blankly at him. “And yer here… why?”

“Well! Haha… funny story that. The cart was stuck in some mud, but in tryin’ t’ get it outta there, I en-” he shook his head, “long story short, it’s stuck down a little whole, basically. I need somepony with wings t’ actually get it back out, ‘cause flyin’.”

I nodded slowly. “Right… Kari might be better fer that, actually.”

Moonshine shook his head. “Yer… elder? Mayor…”

“High Times?”

He nodded. “Yeah! He said I should come see you ‘bout it, ‘cause th’ griffin ‘round here was busy.”

I let out a long sigh and looked back towards the town. What was Kari busy doing? Ugh… whatever. “Yeah, yeah… how far ‘way is it?”

“Oh, not far at all!”

“Right…” I gave a second sigh then looked down at Firestorm, my wing lifting off of her a little bit. “Can I trust you to stay here?”

Firestorm shook her head a little. “No.”

I snorted. “Well stay here anyway, Stormy.” I worked my way up to my hooves and pulled my wing in. Just grab my armor, could leave the rest… I took off my cape, went about putting on my barding, which took about a minute, then got my cape back on, which Firestorm actually helped with. Knots were not my friends.

Once I was ready, I made sure Firestorm had laid back down on my bed, then looked back to Moonshine. “Alright… where’s th’ cart?”

Moonshine smiled at me. “I can lead ya right to it!” He speedily climbed back down the ladder and took off at a quick trot to the south. I spread my wings and stepped off of the roof, flying through the air several feet off the ground.

It quickly got darker and darker as we left the town and travelled out towards the cart. It wasn’t night time, yet, but it was getting close.

“How’d ya even get it stuck in mud? It ain’t rained out here in days.”

“If I knew that, son, I wouldn’t have gotten it stuck in th’ first place, now would’ve I?” Moonshine gave another chuckle. “It shouldn’t be too hard t’ get it out, though. Couple minutes’a work.”

I smacked my lips and kept on flying. Sooner this was done, the sooner I could get back to my bed.

After another mile of flying, we finally came upon the cart. It was sitting up against a couple of boulders at the base of a hill, with some other rocks around the wheels on the other side too, keeping it in place. The rocks were too big to simply roll over, clearly. I gave my head a little shake and descended down to the cart, landing next to it lightly. “How’d ya even get it in here? This makes no sense.”

Moonshine walked up to his cart and pointed up the hill, with my gaze following. “It had been up there, an’ when I got it unstuck, she jus’ slid right on down, hopped over th’ rocks, ended up in here.”

I licked my lips then leaned down a bit and looked at the rocks. I wasn’t even sure if I could lift that cart… had to be an easier way. Hold on… I stuck my wing out and prodded at a pair of the smaller boulders in front of one of the wheels. It wobbled a bit at my touch. It wasn’t embedded in the ground at all. We could just roll some of the rocks out of the way. How had he not see that?

I opened my mouth to ask that question when my breath got taken away. Suddenly I couldn’t breath, and even quicker I was shoved over onto my side. I gasped for air and tried to squirm and find out what hit me, but immediately a massive weight fell on top of me.

“Stop squirmin’, son!”

My eyes went wide and I wanted to yell for help, but all I could do was gasp for breath. I felt something touch my muzzle and tried to get away from it, but I had nowhere to run to. Duct tape put over my mouth and wrapped around my muzzle.

“There we go! Ya’ll’re a trustin’ bunch, ain’tcha?” Moonshine got off of me as he spoke. I tried to get to my hooves quickly, but he kicked and knocked them back away, sending me back down to the dirt. He then lifted my front off of the ground and slid something around my barrel and over my wings, cinching it up tightly. So tightly it hurt my wings, but I couldn’t move them at all.

He turned back to the cart and started to rummage for something. Once more I tried to get back up to my hooves, and this time I succeeded. I spun in place and aimed a buck for his side. I heard him grunt when it connected, but I went flying again through the air as he turned and returned the kick to my side.

“Feisty, too! That’s good… Genetic, ya know.” He caught up to where I’d landed and clamped something around my legs. All three of them. I tried a third time to get up to my hooves, but it didn’t work. Moonshine laughed above me and I looked down at my legs to find… chains. Connecting all three of my legs. I yelled again, but it just came out as muffled noises through the duct tape.

Moonshine turned around and rolled the rocks away from the front of the cart, then easily picked me up off of the ground and tossed me into the cart. In a space cleared out just my size. Just barely my size. I closed my eyes and pressed my head against the side of the cart. It was probably a weak spot… bet I could break it, roll out, and he’d never know.

“What’ve we got here?”

I blinked and opened my eyes again. The only place I could look was straight up, into the sky. The walls of the cart were too high, since I couldn’t, you know, move. I heard Moonshine walk away from the cart, then a scuffle, then a scream and a squeal… wait… no… no no no…

A few seconds later a filly got tossed into the cart, landing right on top of me. Moonshine leaned over the side and rummaged for a moment, then pulled out another set of chains from a large lockbox and put them onto the filly’s legs.

“I only really even wanted one outta this whole thing, ya know? But I recognize you… yer th’ other purchase. The one that got ‘way durin’ th’ lightnin’ storm… Idjits… runnin’ ‘way from lightnin’...” He snorted and walked back to the front of the cart.

I’d told her… I’d told her to wait on my bed… I’d told her to wait on my bed and not to follow me. I knew it was dangerous but I wasn’t… wasn’t expecting… He’d been around all of us for a whole day…

The cart started rolling with a sharp jerk, one that sent Firestorm tumbling off of being on top of me and into the small area between my foreleg and hindlegs. I twisted myself a little to see if she was alright… and I immediately regretted it. She had fallen upside down and was too busy sobbing to right herself.

Hey… hey it’s gonna be okay… And we’ll get out of this crap, and run off, and he’ll never go, then we’ll go home and be safe again… because I’m not going to let you become a slave again only like two weeks after escaping…

Now if only I could actually say it out loud… I wriggled around a bit, getting enough freedom of motion to move my legs, and gently moving them up around Firestorm a bit, hugging her closer to my belly. She quieted some at my touch… but that wasn’t enough to stop her tears.

I closed my eyes and started pushing my head against the side of the cart again. She kept that up for very long, I was going to make sure I punished that two-faced liar before running off, too.

My eyes fluttered open. I glanced upwards, towards the sky, or at least the bits of sky I could see over the side of the cart. It was dark… but getting lighter. Morning? Had to be. I blinked a couple of times then came to another realization. We were stopped.

“Git me those idjits that ran ‘way from their job!”

“Yes sir!”

I heard quick hoofsteps as… somebody ran off to do Moonshine’s bidding. Did that mean he was in charge? I didn’t have long to consider that as his face was soon peeking over the edge of the cart.

“Ain’t y’all two jus’ sweet...’ Moonshine snorted, then reached into the cart towards Firestorm. I shifted as quick as I could, attempting to get my hindlegs around to buck his leg away from her. It worked, but he immediately turned and delivered a solid blow with his hoof to the left side of my face. I clenched my eyes shut. That was going to be yet another black eye…

“Try that again, son, won’t be so harmless next time.” I felt him reach back into the cart and grab Firestorm, who was definitely awake now… I could hear muffled noises and feel her writhe against me before he grabbed her. Next I heard a dull thud on the ground.

“You wanted to see us, boss?” New voice… mare.

“That’s right,” Moonshine replied. “This filly. Ya recognize ‘er?”

There was a short delay before the mare said, “Y-yeah boss. She’s the one that got away when the storm attacked us.”

“Exactly… More importantly, I found a bigger prize ‘long with her. Oh, an’ that town’a kids ya told me some kid mentioned t’ ya?”

“Yeah?”

“Found that, too.”

“Really?” The mare seemed shocked… and possibly a little bit scared.

“Really. Now… ya wanna make up fer what ya done screwed up?”

Another short delay followed by the mare’s voice, definitely nervous now, “Yeah! S-sure, boss, whatever. Anything.”

Moonshine gave a low chuckle. “Then th’ three’a ya go up t’ Rainbow Falls. It’s a week an’ a half there, week an’ a half back. Be back in three weeks. An’ bring back supplies an’ a few more ponies. We’re gonna take th’ town.”

My eyes went wide. No… no no no. They couldn’t… I wasn’t going to let them! Somehow. First step was being able to open my mouth. Then either being able to walk or fly came second. One or the other, either worked.

“Sure thing, boss! We’ll head out right now!” There was another flurry of hoofsteps as the mare… and apparently two others with her turned and ran off.

“Hey! You!” Moonshine had turned again to address someone else. “Take this thing an’ toss ‘er in with th’ other two kids. Grab her little cloak off’a her too.”

Wait… other two kids? What other two kids? What were they even doing with kids? What were they going to do with Stormy’s cape? What-

“Your turn!” My thought was interrupted by Moonshine reaching back into the cart, grabbing me, then tossing me onto the ground next to the cart. I curled up a bit. Landing on my side hurt…

“Get up!”

I groaned softly and looked around, finding where Moonshine was. Was he really serious?

“Get up, boy!”

I let out a snort. If he wanted me to go somewhere, he was gonna have to drag me.

Moonshine smacked his lips and shook his head slowly. “Lookie here, son… If I haveta get th’ whip, yer day’s gonna go from bad t’ worse. Plus you’ll end up with a buncha ugly marks all over that beautiful orange coat’a yers. So why don’t ya do yerself a favor an’ just get up?”

The left side of my face was already bruising up. I could feel it every time I blinked. He wasn’t kidding about the whip… Slowly I started to shift and work my legs under me. It was difficult with the chains, and it took me at least a full minute to accomplish, but eventually I got up to my hooves.

Moonshine walked around in front of me with a big smile. “Good work. Now follow me.” He kept walking past me off towards a bigger building.

I took a quick look around. We were in an area with actual buildings. Not portable ones like Asylum. This was the ruins of an older town. No clue which one. This was probably something we would’ve found while sending out scouts for the next possible town location… oh no… hopefully High didn’t send any scouts this way… or if he did, hopefully they turned around and went back before getting here.

Not that here seemed particularly dangerous. Other than Moonshine I could see… five other ponies in the area. And they all seemed to be watching. Watching him and me, specifically.

“Stop lollygaggin’ an’ follow me!”

I blinked and looked back towards Moonshine. Right… I took a deep breath then carefully started hobbling my way after him.

He led the way towards one of the bigger buildings. Once he was at the door, he opened it and waited for me, then waved me to go in before him. There was no way I could open the door myself… so sure. I walked past him and took a look around after I got inside.

What I saw was not what I expected. It all looked… completely normal. And fully abandoned. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all. We had walked into an old library that looked like it hadn’t been stepped in for… years, at the very least. There were no slaves, no lights except for the lowly brightening sunlight coming in through windows. The only thing was a set of saddlebags on a table.

Moonshine let the door close behind me, then trotted past me, right towards that set of saddlebags. He motioned for me to follow him, so I did. As I got close, he pulled a couple things I couldn’t immediately identify out of his saddlebags, then turned back towards me.

“First things first.” He walked around behind me, bent down, and looked under my belly between my legs. “All intact. Good, good.” Wait… what? He walked back in front of me and must’ve seen the look on my face. “Oh calm down. Ya know why yer here, right?”

I gave my head a slow shake. Moonshine snorted. “Yer here fer-” he got cut off by suddenly yawning. He gave his head a little shake. “Actually, here, hang on.” He reached out, took ahold of the duct tape covering my mouth and wrapping around my muzzle, and gave a solid tug, yanking all of it off at once.

“Aah!” I let out a whimper and dipped my head down. The tape was off, but so was a bunch of my coat hairs and whiskers along with it.

“There,” he said as he tossed the duct tape some random direction. “Now ya can talk.” I didn’t say anything, though. I just wished I could rub the sore spots on my muzzle. “Yer here ‘cause life is an ironic bastard. Just like you, as it so happens.” My face screwed up in confusion and he let out a chuckle. “Ya see, pegasi down here are rare. Which means they’re expensive. But in order t’ make sure they don’ run off, ya gotta keep ‘em from flyin’. Either by tyin’ ‘em down ‘r clippin’ their wings. Pegasi’re rare an’ expensive… but in order t’ keep ‘em ya gotta keep ‘em from doin’ th’ thing that makes them unique.”

I chewed a little on my lip and slowly raised my head back up to look at Moonshine. “Then why have ‘em?”

“Status. Show off. If you’ve got enough fortune t’ buy a pegasus? Ooooh, everyone knows ya got it made in this world. So. You know what yer gonna do fer me?”

I licked my lips and gave my head another shake.

Moonshine smiled. “Ya owe me quite a debt, Buck… An’ yer gonna pay it off t’ me. By breedin’ me a little collection’a pegasi that I can sell off t’ th’ highest bidders.”

I just stared at him. Dumbfounded. Breeding a bunch of pe- wait… wait a second. I snorted and my wings fought to flare, but lost against their restraints. “Owe you a debt? What th’ hell’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?”

Moonshine gave another hearty laugh. “We’ll get t’ that soon ‘nough… Fer now, how ‘bout we play a little game?” I snorted again. “Good. The game will be Question-For-Question. I ask ya somethin’, ya answer it an’ get t’ ask me somethin’ in return. Sound good?”

I glared at him, bristling. “If ya wanna play that game, why not start off with answerin’ my last one?”

He smirked. “Good question. ‘Cause I don’ wanna give ya th’ answer t’ that one yet. My turn. How often does that town move places?”

My lip curled up in a bit of a snarl. So that’s how he’s gonna play this one, huh? Alright… Well, it’ll be three weeks before those other guys would get back, so, “Every two weeks. How long have y’all been here?”

He glanced over my head then looked back to me. “Set this outpost up ‘bout a month ago t’ do some work in th’ area. Was mostly finished, was gonna leave soon as we got th’ delivery of yer little filly friend I brought back with ya.” He paused as he yawned again, then took a step towards me. He reached out, untied the knot of my cape by my throat, then tried to pull the cape off of me. It got stuck, unable to come off of my wings with the straps holding them down.

Moonshine let out a soft grunt, let the cape fall, then looked back to me. “What’s the deal with that?”

“My cape?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… it’s a cape.”

“Yeah, but what’s it for?”

I scoffed and shook my head. “No! My turn. Who are th’ other two kids ya put Firestorm in with?”

Moonshine looked like he’d been taken a little bit by surprise, but he didn’t argue. Instead he leaned back a little and started to smile. He almost looked proud. “Couple’a kids we found down south’a here a ways… They both had capes on like yers. So what are yer caps for?”

I chewed on my lip for a moment. Two kids… in capes… no… surely not… “We’re Crusaders. Th’ capes’re our… uniform. ‘Cause they look cool. An’ it sometimes helps ponies in other places recognize somepony from our group. What… do those two kids look like?”

He nodded a little bit then let out a sigh. “Uh… One is blue, with a cutie mark of a pile’a black powder. Actually th’ other one is blue, too. Just not as… bright. An’ a unicorn instead of an earth pony. He had a little ball cap on. Horn sticking outta th’ front’a it. Was kinda cute, actually.”

That was… the last thing I wanted to hear. That perfectly fit the descriptions of not just Powder, but also Scout. This… that was… this is… bad.

“Oh right, my turn again.” Moonshine cleared his throat. “You were there when I asked th’ question th’ first time… but I’ll ask it agian, fer yer own sake. Does th’ name Absinthe ring any bells?”

His words pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked back to him, my head shaking a little. “No…” But at least she got named after expensive alcohol. “I’ve never seen anyone by that name. How long’re ya gonna keep my tied up?”

Moonshine nodded slowly. “Very well… An’ I can untie ya right now, but in exchange I’d haveta clip yer wings.”

My nose wrinkled up. “Tied up’s fine…”

He chuckled then cleared his throat. “Tell ya what I will do.” He reached into a pocket in his barding and pulled out a key, then bent down and unlocked the cuff to my forehoof and removed that chain from the other set that was tying my hindhooves together. “Let ya walk a little easier. Ya can’t go fast, so there’s no chance you’ll get anyone without nobody seein’ ya… an’ remember… ya even try something like that, yer little filly friend gets th’ worst’a whatever yer punishment is too.”

I let out a slow breath and clenched my jaw tightly. “If you hurt her…”

Moonshine laughed. “Be a good boy an’ that won’t happen.” He paused due to another yawn then shook his head. “Alright, question time’s over. I need sleep, an’ you need t’ get situated.” He reached out again and started to undo the buckles on my leather armor vest. I tried to step away from him, but he caught me and held me in place. After minute he had the vest unbuckled and off of me, along with my rope, leaving me with just the cape that was still tied to my back under the strap that was tying down my wings.

I gave a long look to my vest and my lasso when he put it down next to his saddlebags. I was going to have to come back here and get that at some point… I didn’t have the faintest idea how, but I had to.

Moonshine walked past me back to the door and opened it again, once more waving for me to follow him. I turned slowly and walked after him. It was a lot easier with my front leg not being tied to my back legs, but it was still a pretty difficult balancing act.

When we stepped outside he led me back the way we had come, past the cart, and off towards another section of the little ruined town. There really weren’t many ponies here… I only saw four as we walked. He must’ve been telling the truth about this just being an outpost. But even then, there had to be just more than the four or five I saw outside…

As we neared what looked to be like… a two-story house, Moonshine stopped in front of the door and turned back to me. He reached into another pocket of his barding and pulled out a small picture. “Tell me, do ya recognize this?” He turned it around to show it to me.

I narrowed my eyes at him, then looked down at the picture. It was… a filly. Earth pony. Maybe five or six years old. She actually looked pretty happy. Light purple coat, orangey-reddish mane… wait. Wait a second… I gulped and quickly shook my head. “Nope, never seen her.” Please believe me, please believe me…

Moonshine snorted softly and put the picture back into his barding pocket. “Alright then.” He stepped towards the door again and opened it for me. “In ya go.”

I wanted to argue why I should go in there at all, but more importantly I wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. So I walked forward through the door. It was slammed shut the moment I was past it and I heard several locks turning moments afterwards.

I lifted my head up and looked around, but the smell hit me before I could even see anything. What could smell so awful? I held my breath and looked around then I found it… urine and feces off in the far corner of… the living room? The building was a house, only all furniture had been completely taken out. Everything was gone. It was just walls, floors, and a roof.

I groaned softly as I was forced to breath again, simply not able to hold it any longer. Why would they do such a thing? It wasn’t just a one-time thing, either. It looked like it was a good day’s worth of crap for a few ponies… I looked the other way, off towards the kitchen, and saw a pair of adults laying on the ground. A mare and a stallion. They were asleep, leaning against each other, and looked like neither of them had had a bath in at least a month, if not more. They had the same type of chains on each of their hindlegs as I had, too.

I walked slowly over towards the kitchen, getting a better view to see the rest of it that was blocked by a wall. The kitchen was just as bare as everything else, and only the shape lent itself to being a kitchen at all. I peeked my head in through the doorway and looked deeper into the kitchen. There was one more stallion, laying against the far wall.

He had a vaguely cream colored coat… I think. He didn’t turn to look at me, he just kept staring straight ahead at the wall. I opened my mouth slowly, but then closed it again when I realized I really had nothing to say. And ‘Hi, I’m new here, could ya show me around’ wasn’t going to really cut it. Besides I had somepony more important to talk to.

I turned around quickly and went for the stairs. There wasn’t anypony else on the first floor that I could see. As I went up the stairs, I let out a little sigh of relief as the smell of the place got less and less bad. At least they had a designated area for that kind of stuff…

The second floor appeared to be bedrooms. And just as completely stripped out as the first floor. There weren’t even doors on the rooms. The only door in the entire place was the front door… with the multiple locks. Talk about privacy. I turned down the hallway and looked at the first door and bit my lip when I found what I was looking for.

Firestorm was curled up in the middle of the bedroom, her back to the hallway. On the bright side, she had also been half-unchained, and she was also the only one in the room. I cleared my throat softly and slipped in as well, stepping slowly towards her. “Stormy…”

Af first there was no reaction, but after a couple of seconds her ears swivelled backwards. Her head slowly followed, lifting up and turning around to look at me. They hadn’t removed the duct tape that was covering her mouth…

My ears pinned back against my head and I bit my lip hard. I shouldn’t have let this happen… Shouldn’t have trusted him like that… Should’ve made sure she stayed behind. “I… I’m sorry… here…”

I worked my way down to the floor next to her, then leaned over and started to rub my muzzle against hers, across the edge of the duct tape. After a couple of minutes a bit of it had peeled up. “This is gonna hurt a little… but it’s th’ best way. I promise.” I carefully got ahold of the peeled up bit of tape with my teeth. I waited for a moment, then quickly jerked my head away, ripping the tape off in one motion.

“Ah!” Firestorm ducked her head down and held a hoof over her mouth.

I spat out the tape to the side and looked back at her, dipping my head back down to nuzzle her mane a little. “Hey, ya didn’t even yell as loud as me when mine got tore off.”

She let out a little whimper and didn’t move for a couple minutes, a couple of minutes I spent simply nosing through her mane. When she did decide to move, she shifted a bit then pulled her head up and back to look around the room, then look up at me. When she finally saw me, her eyes went wide. “Tri… your face…”

I grimaced a little. So it was that obvious, huh? Well… with half the coat on my muzzle missing and whatever the left side of my face looked like. I cleared my throat and forced up a smile that I really, really, reaaaaally didn’t feel. “Relax… ain’t that bad.”

“But it’s all…” She trailed off as she pulled a hoof up and put it against my cheek just below my eye. Even that soft touch hurt and was enough to cause me to flinch. She pulled her hoof back quickly. “Sorry…”

I closed my eyes for a moment then cleared my throat again. “It’s fine. It just hurts. Hurt b’fore ya touched it, too.”

“It’s not fine…” Her head fell again and she looked down to the floor and her forehooves. “I couldn’t do anything…”

I blinked then shook my head. “No, no, hey hey hey, Stormy.” I used my forehoof to lift her head up a bit and back towards me, at least so she could see me. “We can deal ‘bout bein’ useless later, okay? I promise, I’ll spend a whole week helpin’ ya with it. But we can’t have that right now.”

Firestorm pulled away a little after I spoke, her head going back where it had been. “But it’s why we’re here…”

I let out a sigh. “No, it ain’t. We’re here ‘cause… ‘cause ponies lie an’ make ya think they’re nice when they ain’t. That’s why we’re here. Ain’t got nothin’ t’ do with y- actually, you ‘member Grassy Knoll?”

Stormy sniffled a little, then glanced up at me again. “The cry-baby? With… the… the food thing?”

I nodded. “Yeah, him. If ya wanna blame somepony, blame him. He’s th’ one that told slavers where our town was.” I paused and my brow furrowed. “I just remembered… th’ slavers he told had t’ be th’ same slavers that had you. They stopped by th’ old town location, then kept goin’.” I bit my lip, then shook my head. “Anyway, point is, if he hadn’t’a ever told ‘em, jerkface never woulda shown up t’ town, an’ we wouldn’t be here… so… blame him.”

Firestorm gulped then looked back down. After a moment she let out a little whimper and put her head against my leg-less shoulder.

“It’ll be fine, Stormy… we just gotta figure out how t’ get outta here. We got three weeks. Plus we ain’t that far from home… unless we slept more than a full day. … I wonder if I can put a bounty out… like… telepathically.”

I felt a twitch against my shoulder, and Stormy’s head tilt up a little bit. “Isn’t that magic?”

I glanced down and nodded. “Yeah. Don’t ask me how t’ do it, though. I ain’t never even seen it done. Just heard ‘bout it existin’.”

Firestorm’s nose twitched a little and her head slid back down my shoulder.

“Don’t worry… was just a joke.”

Firestorm had apparently not slept all that much in the cart, because soon after our conversation ended, she drifted off to sleep, using my legless left shoulder for a pillow. I would’ve rathered a positioned where I didn’t risk her head sliding off if I moved wrong… but hey, on the bright side, I didn’t have to worry about drool like I did with Inky.

Really, I wished I could’ve slept too. As it was, we were locked in a house with nothing to do. No food as far as I saw. I couldn’t fly. Couldn’t even walk easily. Sleep would’ve been preferred to laying there doing nothing.

But my mind wouldn’t let me sleep. The picture Moonshine had shown me kept popping up in my brain. Why did he have a picture of Lily? When she was just a little filly? What did I owe him? Beyond that, how in the world were we going to get out of this place and back to Asylum?

For all four of those I had the same answer. No clue. But that didn’t stop them from just revolving around and around and around endlessly for a few hours at the least.

“Such bad luck, I do not understand it!”

I blinked and my ears perked up when I heard the deep voice, the questioning haze around my mind lifting. I glanced around for the source of that voice. Definitely wasn’t this room, and wasn’t in the hallway that I could see out of the empty doorframe. Sounded like… it came from a couple rooms down.

“And you practically promised me I was going to win!”

My brow furrowed a little. That sounded… a little angrier. Or perhaps annoyed. I bit my lip and looked down at Stormy. Still asleep. I took a deep breath. Stay here, or go investigate? Sitting here was going to make me go crazy, like that other guy who was just staring at the wall and didn’t even know I was there. I snorted softly, then decided to go take a look.

I brought my forehoof around and put it under her muzzle. I lifted her off of my shoulder then gently lowered her head to the floor, careful not to wake her. Once I was sure she wasn’t stirring, I got up to my hooves and made for the door. I turned down the hallway towards the direction I heard the voice in.

“Well maybe you’ll have better luck this time, Constable.” A new voice, not quite so deep. And with a bit of a strange accent, I couldn’t really place it.

I kept walking towards the voices. The newer voice was quieter, wouldn’t have heard it from the room Stormy was still in. I heard a shuffling of hooves just ahead, then stopped at the next door in front of me. Had to be this room.

I stuck my head past the doorframe and peered inside, my eyes going wide when I did. This… was the first time in this house that I’d seen a room with… anything in it. There wasn’t any furniture, but there were four ponies. Plus… things. Objects. There were small piles of caps laying next to each of the ponies, along with a few other belongings. A pair of brushes, a small bottle of water… And, in between the four of them was a deck of playing cards that one of the ponies was currently shuffling them and dealing out four hooves of poker to each of the ponies sitting around.

More importantly… only three of the ponies were in chains. One of them wasn’t. In fact, the one that wasn’t was wearing armor, and saddlebags… and was a slaver. He was a big red stallion. Not exactly tall… but certainly… fat.

The slaver groaned and shook his head. “If Moonshine catches me he’ll send me back to Rainbow Falls… ugh…” Definitely mister deep voice, Constable. He finally made his way up to his hooves and shook his head. “So stupid of me, just to lose two weeks of pay.”

The other stallion dealing the cards, a yellow one with a black mane, tsk’d at him and shrugged. “Have it your way, Constable. You could be walking away from a winner.”

Wait… I recognized him. He, and the unicorn mare to his left, were the two I had seen down in the kitchen before. I glanced between them, then looked at the yellow stallion’s flank. His cutie mark was… a poker hand. Two aces, two eights, and some other card…

Constable scoffed. “Sure, walk away from a…” he sighed and reached down to look at the hoof he’d been dealt. He cleared his throat after looking at them, glanced around, then slowly laid back down in his spot, treating the cards gently as he did so. “Anyone open?”

The mare smiled. “That’s the spirit. I’m in for five.” She checked her cards then slid five caps into the middle. The other two slaves quickly followed with putting five caps each in.

Constable coughed into his hoof. “While I am temporarily out of funds… I’m sure that my integrity-”

“Ah ah ah!” The yellow stallion held up a hoof. “Caps game only, sorry.”

Constable almost looked wounded, but then lit up again, his hoof reaching out towards the yellow stallion. “Wait a minute, Hornbill, you used to pay me for certain… services.”

Hornbill tilted his head then shook it. “No, Constable, I wouldn’t want you to be a traitor.”

The mare nodded. “Nah, you’re too fine for that.”

The fourth pony finally spoke up, another stallion, reaching over and lightly patting Constable’s shoulder as he spoke, “Much too fine. A lovely pony!”

Constable grumbled softly. “Eh, I’m no better than anyone else…”

Hornbill snorted. “Well when you put it that way, Constable.”

Constable started to grin. “I can get you a bottle of perfectly clean water.”

“Oh blimey…” Hornbill rolled his eyes.

The third stallion shook his head. “C’mon Constable, you can do better than that. We get water anyway, hardly worth five caps.”

The mare held up a hoof. “Waitwaitwait wait a minute. He’s in. But you’ll have to come up with something better than that, Constable, if anybody raises.” Constable looked perfectly pleased with himself.

Hornbill cleared his throat. “Cards?”

The mare took out three cards and slid them towards the middle. “Three.”

“Three for the lady.” Hornbill slid her three more cards. “Constable?”

The slaver fought hard to try and not smile, and tried to not look too smug, but he was failing at both. “None.”

Hornbill’s brow raised. “Oooh…”

The third stallion tossed two cards to the middle. “I’ll take two.”

Hornbill nodded and slid the third stallion two cards. “Two. And three for the dealer.” He exchanged the cards.

The mare looked her new hoof over. “Up to you,” she glanced at Constable.

Constable cleared his throat and reached his hoof out, messing with the caps in the middle a bit, making a new group of ten. “Ten caps?”

The third stallion snorted. “On what?!”

Hornbill raised his hoof again, “Give him a chance! We have a stallion here who wants to give us free stuff, let’s give him a chance.”

Constable smiled. “Thank you.”

Hornbill nodded. “Now what’s the service?”

Constable glanced around then leaned in a little closer, his voice dropping near a whisper. “I can get each one of you… a fresh… fresh… apple. And maybe a little caramel...” He gulped then looked to Hornbill. “Ten caps?”

Hornbill shrugged then nodded. “Ten caps.” Constable grinned and leaned back, utterly pleased with himself.

The mare spoke up again. “So what’ve you got, Constable?”

The slaver seemed almost ready to burst and carefully put his cards down for everyone to see. “A beaaaauuutiful full house!”

The mare sucked in a breath and reached a hoof out to Constable’s foreleg. “Aw… wouldn’t you know I’d draw two more kings…” She laid her cards down. “Makes four of a kind.”

Constable’s jaw dropped and he looked down at her cards, reaching out to carefully touch and count each of the kings in her set. There were four. “HNNNGH! AAAAAH!” He stomped his big forehooves on the floor.

Hornbill smiled. “It’s okay, Constable. You’re a bad poker player, but a wonderful traitor.”

Constable looked ready to burst. He stomped again then got up and stormed out of the room, not even paying any attention to me. Although I did duck out of the way to make sure he didn’t try to go through me.

I turned a little and watched him go down the hallway, then trot right down the stairs. I heard the front door open then slam shut behind him. I gulped, then leaned forward again and stuck my head past the doorframe to peer into the room. The ponies inside were laughing to themselves, but also were all still looking at the doorway.

Hornbill immediately saw me and looked surprised. “I don’t recognize you, lad. You new here?”

“Uh… Uh…” My mouth worked a couple of times. I hadn’t expected to get spotted. “I… I guess.”

Hornbill snorted and lifted up a forehoof to wave me in. “Well don’t be a stranger, get in here, introduce yourself.”

I swallowed and turned around to look behind me, back towards the room Stormy was in. The hall was still empty. I took a deep breath then stepped out around the corner and into the room. “Um, my name’s Buck.”

All three ponies looked me over after I walked in, Hornbill took a bit less time to do so than the others. “Aren’t you a piece of work… they didn’t take the leg, right?”

I blinked a couple of times, at first not understanding the question. I glanced down at my missing left foreleg, then looked back up as I realized I still had the other cut on my neck and my bruised face. “Uh, no. Leg’s been that way ferever.”

Hornbill seemed to breath a little sigh of relief. “At least there’s that. Nice to meet you, Buck. I’m Hornbill. Some of my friends call me Wild Bill. Some call me Hornbill. Some just never say my name, who knows why.” He chuckled then turned and pointed to the mare. “Lady Lake.” He then pointed to the other stallion. “Tumbleweed.”

Lady Lake and Tumbleweed both nodded and lifted up hooves to wave at me. I instinctively tried to give them a wave back with my wing, but the tight restraint was still around my barrel, holding my wings firmly in place at my sides.

I fidgeted for a bit, then simply nodded back at them. “Hi.”

Hornbill gave me another once over, then get up to his hooves and walked over towards me. “They did this though, right?” He lifted up a hoof and pointed at the left side of my face.

I bit at my lip and slowly nodded. “I uh… tried t’ put up a fight.”

Hornbill nodded in return, then put his hoof down. “I’ll get their doctor to take a look at you today. Maybe help with some of the swelling. The only first aid stuff we’ve got here is some bandages.”

My brow furrowed. “Really? But how can ya get their doctor t’ do stuff?” I blinked and glanced behind me, “An’ how won’t that guy get ya in trouble?”

Hornbill laughed. “We might be slaves, Buck, but that doesn’t mean we’re powerless. If they whip us to death, that’s a loss on their investment. And any time somepony doesn’t have complete control, that means there’s room for negotiation. Plus the doc’s a real nice guy.” He smirks, then motions back towards the card area. “Or, you know, room for taking advantage of gambling addiction. He’ll be back. So long as I keep giving him an occasional full house, anyway.” He chuckled again then turned and walked back towards them.

Lady Lake gathered up the cards as Hornbill walked back. “Why don’t you join us for a few rounds, Buck?”

It took my brain a few seconds to process everything that had just been said. “That’s uh… brave…” I looked from Hornbill over to Lady Lake. I started to say yes, but then glanced down for a moment. “Actually I uh… can’t.”

Hornbill reached out to Lake for the deck of cards, but Lake snorted and kept them away from him. “You only get to deal when Constable’s playing, back off.” She licked her lips then looked back to me. “Aw, why’s that? Not like you have somewhere to be…”

“Um… actually I do.”

Lady Lake tilted her head. “How’s that?”

“Uh… I ain’t here alone… ‘xactly… I gotta keep an’ eye out… she’s sleepin’...”

Lady Lake tapped the cards and smacked her lips. “If you didn’t have to worry about her, would you play?”

My brow furrowed again and my head tilted. “I guess so?”

Lake nodded then looked at Hornbill for a moment, then at Tumbleweed, then grabbed the cards in her unicorn magic and got to her hooves. “Let’s go play where you can watch then.”

The two stallions got busy collecting the caps and other items around the area, once more leaving the room completely bare like the rest of the house was. I wasn’t completely sold yet, though.

Lady Lake headed towards the door, but stopped when she got up even with me. She looked over at me, her head tilting. “Go on, lead the way.” She paused shortly before adding, “C’mon, kid, what else are you going to do? Lose your soul staring at the wall like that dumbbell downstairs?”

Well when she put it that way… “Um, this way.”

I cleared my throat and turned around, then quickly led them back down the hallway towards the room Stormy was in. When I got there, Stormy was still right where I’d left her, in the middle of the big empty room. I slipped in as quietly as I could and settled back down at her side, scooting up against her so that it was like I’d never left.

The three adults followed in after me, noticeably quieter than they had been in the other room. They spread out a bit in front of me and set up their spots for starting another card game. Lady Lake spent some time shuffling the cards while Tumbleweed split the pool of caps into four equal groups.

Hornbill looked over at me and Stormy while the other two were busy and smiled faintly, “Sister?” His voice was also a bit quieter, making sure to not waking her up.

I shook my head a little. “Just a friend.”

He nodded. “She’s cute. Glad she’s not here alone.”

Lady Lake spoke up before I could answer and started dealing the cards. “Game’s five card draw, ante’s a cap, minimum raise is three caps. Let’s get this started.”

I bit at my lip when Lake spoke, then took a slow breath. It was a lot better than thinking about questions I had no answers to. I reached out to take a look at the cards. Pair of tens… not a bad start.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Kibu, No One, and Scrap for help with grammar, spelling, and stuff.

Chapter 9: What Goes Around, Comes Around

Balls. That’s what it was. Balls. Stupid. Pure, utter garbage.

Lady Lake was dealing, so I know he didn’t cheat. I’d drawn the four-of-a-kind this time. Me. Not him. But noooo… he had to draw a straight flush. I’d gone all-in, too.

At least he was humble about it. And at least I hadn’t gone out first… I’d taken Tumbleweed out of the game a few rounds before that. It was a good first showing.

The game continued for another half hour or so after I went broke. Hornbill won… I wasn’t exactly surprised. What I was surprised about, though, is how he didn’t actually take the caps. He gathered them up, sure, but then separated them into smaller piles again before getting up and hiding them in random little places, like under loose floorboards or little nooks and crannies in the cracked walls.

The rest of us stayed there as he did that, simply sitting in silent defeat for him to come back. A few minutes later, he did.

“She’s a real heavy sleeper, huh?” he said as he walked back in the room and towards the group.

I sniffed a little, looked down at Firestorm, then glanced back up at him. She was still sound asleep. “I think she spent most’a last night cryin’... not sleepin’. She’s got a lot t’ catch up on.”

Hornbill grimaced and gave a little nod. “Right… Well…” He looked out the window for a moment. “It’s time for Constable to be on duty. I’ll stick my head out the door and tell him we need the doctor. I’ll be back, maybe ten minutes.”

I returned his nod then he turned around and walked downstairs.

Lady Lake started idly shuffling the cards when he left. “So kid, how’d you end up here, anyway?”

My brow furrowed a little. I guess it wouldn’t actually hurt to tell, would it? What were they going to do? No information I could give them that Moonshine didn’t already have…

I sniffled softly and turned to look at Lady Lake. “I got tricked… Moonshine came through our town actin’ like a merchant. Left th’ next mornin’... but then came back, askin’ fer help gettin’ his cart unstuck… I really…” I paused and sighed, “I really shoulda known better… It hadn’t even rained lately, an’ he said it was stuck in mud… impossible. But he said our town’s… elder had sent him so… I just went.”

Lake smacked her lips softly and shook her head. “Rotten bastard…” She motioned towards Firestorm. “How’d she get wrapped up too?”

I bit my lip and looked down at Stormy. “She’s been… nearly tied t’ me fer th’ last two weeks. I sorta… helped free her from slavers. Some… slavers from this place, actually.”

“What? Ooooh, ho ho ho… really? That was you? The big thunderstorm that sent them all the way back here?! Kid, they were pissing themselves trying to explain what happened to their boss and not get in trouble for losing property. It was great!”

I blinked in surprise, then looked up at her as she spoke. I tried, but I really couldn’t contain a smile and a laugh at hearing how well the fear plan had worked. “Um, yeah, that was me. Well, me an’ my friend.”

Lady Lake had a wide smile. “Wow…” She gave her head another slow shake then clicked her tongue. “Shame you ended up here. Me and Bill, we’ve been slaves for… a real long time now. No way to tell exactly how long, really. This group bought up awhile back, brought us here before heading up to return to Rainbow Falls.”

I chewed on my lip a little, debating asking the first question that popped into my head. Quite the conundrum… Ultimately I decided to go ahead and ask, because if I didn’t, it was just going to bother me. “Y’all seem kinda… happy… t’ be slaves.”

Lady Lake stopped her shuffling and raised an eyebrow. “No, not quite, kid. We aren’t happy to be slaves… We’re just not miserable sacks just because we are slaves. Sure. After it all started, there were some months… some really, really bad months.” She got quiet and took a deep breath before continuing. “Then we realized that… if… we didn’t try, what was the purpose of still being alive?

“So we came up with this plan.” She lifted the cards up in her magic slightly. “We’ve actually managed to find at least a guard or two at each place we’ve been that gets hooked into it. It’s made life… bearable. But there’s no point in being sad. If you’re sad, you won’t see the way out. And we’ll get out. Eventually.”

My feathers ruffled a little against my sides. Right… not happy to be slaves. Just… not letting it defeat them. It made sense… Actually, it was kinda what I’d told to Firestorm in the cart. Wait, no, I didn’t tell her. My mouth was taped shut.

I blinked and looked back down at the sleeping filly. “Do ya actually believe you’ll get out?”

Lady Lake snorted very softly. “Kid, I know it. We’ll either escape, or buy our freedom, or something else. Staying here until we die isn’t an option.”

I closed my eyes for a few minutes. No… staying here wasn’t an option. The last thing I wanted my life to be was… breeding at Moonshine’s beck and call. I was going to keep that part under wraps, though. As awful as it was… sex was probably not quite as bad as some of the things Lake had experienced… or maybe Tumbleweed, or anyone else here.

Actually I did have one question, though. My eyes opened and I looked back at the unicorn mare. “Have you ever heard of anypony named Absinthe?”

Lady Lake blinked and tilted her head. “Heard of? Yeah. Seen? No. I’m not even sure she actually exists. The boss here, the big purple one with the black mane, he’s obsessed with her. Asks all the slaves that come here about her. Asks the slavers every time they come back in from being out. Haven’t seen a pony yet that’s actually seen her or even recognized the name.”

I chewed on my lip as she spoke, slowly nodding when she finished. “Do ya know why he’s obsessed?”

Lake shook her head. “He says she’s his daughter.” She snorted and smiled faintly. “Wouldn’t it be a hoot though? Like, maybe some other band of slavers came through and snatched his daughter up. That’d be real karma right there.”

I managed a fake half smile. “Heh, yeah… that’d be… a thing.” Yeah… let’s… not let anyone know she’s my sister, yeah? Yeah. “So um-”

“Here we are!”

My head snapped around back to the doorway when I heard Hornbill call out. He stepped back into the room, another pony following him. A stallion, though the stallion was a bit shorter and skinnier than Hornbill was. Which was weird… How was the slaver the skinnier one?

“Who is the patient?” The doctor’s voice was softer, too.

I tried to raise my wing, but after a couple of tries grimaced then said, “I am.”

“Ah!” The doctor stepped in further, then motioned everyone else out. “Please! Please! Everyone else out.”

I felt a rustling against my left side and bit my lip. Good going, loud doctor. You just woke up Firestorm. Idiot.

Tumbleweed and Lady Lake got up to their hooves quickly and stepped out towards the door. Hornbill nodded to the doctor then looked to me. “We’ll be right out in the hallway, Buck.” The three of them then turned and walked out the door and into the hallway as requested.

The doctor nodded to them, then came around the front of me, tsk’ing when he saw Firestorm just starting to lift her head up off the floor. “Everyone, I said everyone out.”

I smacked my lips loudly. “She stays.”

His eyes widened a little bit and he motioned between us with a hoof. “Does she need help too?”

I snorted. “Doesn’t matter.”

The doctor seemed to contemplate that for a few seconds before nodding and setting down his doctor bag, dropping it off of his back. I looked over the bag then at his body, my brow furrowing at what I saw. He was wearing a set of scrubs, but it didn’t cover his entire body. His lower legs, head, and neck were all exposed, and they were all very heavily scarred. Little, thin lines criss-crossing each other.

“Oh dear… what exactly happened here?” He lowered his head down and very gently put a hoof up to the side of my face, examining the bruises that had grown over the day.

“I got kicked.”

“By who, may I ask?”

“Moonshine.”

The doctor let out a sigh. “He’s always been temperamental, but usually he’s not so… rough.”

My eyes narrowed. “Yer kiddin’... right?” I felt Firestorm start to shift against my left side again, this time scooting backwards along my body. She’d probably just actually woken up and seen the strange pony in front of her. I took a deep breath and moved my tail around, curling it up a bit so that she’d hopefully back right into it and stop.

The doctor shook his head. “No, no I’m quite serious.” He turned to reach into his doctor bag.

“Well he’s pretty rough now…”

After a few moments he pulled out a small container and opened it. “Stay still.” He dipped a hoof into the salve inside, then lifted up and gently spread it across my cheek and around my eye. To his credit, it didn’t hurt, actually it felt kinda cool and relieving. “I might have a talk with him, see what got him upset… Kicking children is hardly the right way to go about things.”

I blinked. “Taking slaves is hardly th’ way t’ go ‘bout things.”

The doctor finished applying the stuff, then put the container back. “Not much argument there.”

My brow furrowed. “Wouldn’t you be th’ one t’ argue for it?”

The doctor shrugged as he zipped up his back, then hefted it up onto his back. “I’m here because I had nowhere else to go, and I thought maybe I could make a few slaves’ lives easier.” He gave a dry chuckle. “At least that’s what I tell myself. Stay well, hopefully I won’t have to see you again.”

The doctor turned and trotted right off for the door and left before I could even think of any type of response to give. Which, in my mind, simply left…

What… the heck… was that?

There was something about Stormy’s mane. Messing with it just really quieted her down. The grown-ups had checked in on us again, then left us alone to talk amongst themselves. Soon after, Firestorm started to get agitated again. I started with petting her back, and it worked a little, but I got the idea to borrow one of the grown-ups’ brushes. I brought it back, started using it on her mane, and she calmed right back down.

That is, at least, until the entire place was shaken with a loud shout. “LINE UP!”

Both me and Firestorm were caught by surprise. There was a rustling of bodies getting up on the second floor, and I could hear ponies heading down the second floor hallway.

Hornbill stopped in front of our door, stuck his head in, and waved for us to follow. “C’mon, guys. Line up, we do this once or twice a day. You don’t want to be the last one there. C’mon.”

I looked between him and Firestorm, then quickly got up. The filly wasn’t long behind me as I headed for the door. Hornbill waited for us, helped us both out the door, then let us walk ahead of him for the stairs, down them, then outside.

This place was the busiest I’d seen it yet when I stepped outside. All the slaves were there, in front of the building, lined up shoulder to shoulder. As well, all the slavers were there, too. At least I was pretty sure it was all of them. Constable, the doctor, and Moonshine were all there, at least. I looked around quickly, trying to count as many as I could. It looked like eight slavers and seven slaves, counting me and Stormy.

CRACK!

I gasped and jerked to the side, away from a whip that had just snapped right beside my face.

“Keep yer eyes t’ yerself, turkey!” That wasn’t Moonshine. That was one of the other slavers… My reaction was to look over to where he was. Bad idea. The next thing I felt was the whip cracking against my right shoulder. “Did I stutter?!”

I was biting my lip as hard as I could. It was either to keep myself from crying over how bad that hurt, or to keep myself from saying something stupid. I really didn’t know. I did know two things, though. One was that I had heard Firestorm whimper in my stead, and the other was that I saw Moonshine walking in front of me over towards that other guy with the whip.

“Hey, Blitz,” I heard him say.

“Yeah boss?”

“That one, discipline, leave it to me. Or come get me if I’m not there. Leave your whip off of him. Got it?”

“Uh… sure, boss.”

“Atta boy.” Moonshine then turned around, and the next thing I saw was him stepping back in front of me, bending down a little so his head was down near level with mine. “Sorry ‘bout that. Won’t happen again.” Now I was just trying hard to not spit in his face.

He gave me a smile, then tilted his head ever so slightly. “Ya got yer mother’s eyes.” His expression went from apologetic to a scowl. “Better than ya deserve, ya little murderer.” He snorted, the air hitting my face from his nostrils, then turned and walked away towards the middle of the line up.

All thoughts of spit were dropped and replaced by confusion, my eyes following him as he walked away. What had I ever done to him? More importantly, how did he even know what my mother’s eyes looked like? I didn’t even know what my mother’s eyes looked like!

Moonshine spoke up again as he turned to face the slaves. “There’s been a change of plans. We’re gonna be here fer another couple’a weeks. That means y’all won’t get t’ sit ‘round bein’ lazy all day long! Yer gonna haveta get back t’ work.” There was a long pause in which he looked over each slave in turn. I had expected a collective groan or something, but no. There was pure silence.

“Glad ya approve!” Moonshine let out a chuckle. “You three,” he pointed to the three slaves farthest to the left… a group that included ‘Dumbbell’, “get back t’ workin’ on th’ armor. You three,” he pointed to Tumbleweed, Lady Lake, and Hornbill, “Yer gonna be headin’ out with a guard lookin’ fer food.” He then turned and pointed at me and Firestorm. “Y’all two… I still need t’ figure out which mare’ll be first, make a good match… There’s a pretty orange mare I been thinkin’ ‘bout, but I’d haveta buy her first… In th’ meantime… I gotta introduce y’all t’ some’a our other guests. I think y’all might know each other. Gotta settle that fact.”

I gulped when he pointed to us. Right. Powder and Scout… this wasn’t going to be a fun reunion.

Moonshine flashed a sneer in my direction after I gulped, then looked back at the other slaves and stomped his hoof on the ground. “What’re y’all waitin’ fer?! Yer gonna be workin’ through th’ night, let’s go!”

After he shouted, the other slaves all hesitated, but then broke up heading separate directions. The three adults I didn’t know all headed towards another nearby building, while Tumbleweed, Hornbill, and Lady Lake all walked over towards a couple of the slavers who were standing off to the side.

After they dispersed, Moonshine walked back over to me and Firestorm. “Let’s get going, shall we?” He turned again and started to walk away. I really, really didn’t want to follow… but I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.

I walked after Moonshine with Firestorm following right on my hind hooves. Where we ended up walking across a few streets to another old house, except it was a lot smaller of a house than the one the other slaves were in. Moonshine walked right up to the door, pulled out a key, and unlocked it. When he opened the door, it revealed an inside that was pretty much just like the other house, except one story instead of two.

“Y’all can come on out. Yer time’s up.” Moonshine waited after he called out, looking to me as he did. “These two proved t’ be… even more rowdy than you, actually. Had t’ throw ‘em in their own place.”

I looked from the door over to him. “How rowdy?”

Moonshine shrugged. “Well they wouldn’t stop fightin’. Themselves, others, they weren’t takin’ orders seriously. Hopefully they will after this, though, so we don’t gotta do it again.”

I gave my head a slow shake. I didn’t understand this guy at all… He put Powder and Scout in their own house when they got rowdy. When I tried to fight, he just kicked me, then he just sat back and smiled when I didn’t just let him walk over me in the question thing we did. How do those things go together and make sense?

After a minute or so, Moonshine snorted and walked into the house. “Y’all better be gettin’ out here right now!”

I glanced behind me at Firestorm then looked back ahead and followed Moonshine into the house. The filly once more followed behind me

After we walked into the house, we immediately saw Scout sitting quietly off in one of the bigger empty rooms near the front. He was a blue unicorn colt. Not quite as bright a blue as Powder. And he was awake… looking right at us. But silent.

Moonshine stopped and then walked towards Scout. “Where’s th’ other one?”

Scout shrunk back a little as Moonshine walked towards him, but didn’t say anything. He was scared. Very scared.

Moonshine took a long breath and a couple more steps towards Scout, towering over him. “Where… did… the… other… colt… go?”

The colt gulped under Moonshine’s glare and started to shake a little bit. Moonshine gave a low growl and turned his head to the side, opening up a saddlebag. “Ya got ‘til th’ count’a five t’ answer that question.” He stuck his head into the bag, then pulled out a whip. He turned his head back to face Scout and started counting through the whip in his mouth.

“One.”

Why wasn’t Scout talking? Just tell him where Powder was, he wouldn’t get in trouble. Except… Powder was probably trying to like… escape or something. If he was trying to escape… was Scout really going to take the beating to let him get away?

“Two.”

Scout started to scoot backwards ever so slowly. C’mon, Scout. Just talk! Don’t sacrifice yourself for that little lying punk. … Wait…

“Three.”

What the hell is wrong with me? Am I really saying to just give in to the guy with the whip? No… you can’t… you can’t just let him win. What had Hornbill said? We’re not powerless… they don’t have complete control. Unless you give it to them. There’s room for negotiation.

“Four.”

Scout had made some mistakes… but he didn’t deserve this. After a couple more seconds, Moonshine started to shift his head to move the whip… and I made my decision. I darted forward as quick as I could, lunging for the whip. I caught it halfway down in the middle of Moonshine’s backswing and yanked hard, ripping it right out of his mouth.

The big stallion grunted, then snorted and turned, lashing out with a forehoof to kick at me. I was able to use my momentum of lunging to roll out of the way in time, and somehow, I have no clue how, ended up back on my hooves.

“Leave him alone, Moonshine!”

He let out a low growl. “You’ve made a big mistake…”

I snorted back at him. “No!” He took a step towards me and I took a step backwards at the same time. “You touch him, ya lose yer pegasus breedin’.”

That got Moonshine to stop. He narrowed his eyes at me. “How’s that?”

I chewed on my tongue for a moment before answering, “Any way necessary. Die. Escape. Crush my balls. I dunno. How don’t matter. Don’t touch him. Ya wanna know where Powder went? Lemme talk t’ him.”

Moonshine glared at me for several long seconds before letting out a long breath. “Very well. Ask ‘im.”

“Wait outside.”

He seemed to be debating his answer, but after a bit simply bent down to pick up his whip. He gave it a solid crack after picking it up, then put it back in his saddlebags. “If ya don’ come up with a good answer… yer gonna regret this fer a long time.” With that, he turned and stepped back out of the house. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

The moment he left, Firestorm ran as fast as she could over towards me and Scout. “You’re insane, Tri!”

I looked down at her and gave her half a smile. “Yeah.” I took another breath to steady myself, then looked over at Scout and stepped closer to him. The colt seemed to be terribly confused. “Hey Scout… how’s it goin’?”

He looked just as nervous as he did before, now scooting away from me.

I sighed and stopped where I was. “Look… Yer an idiot… but yer still a Crusader. Now where is Powder?”

Scout gulped and shook his head. “I can’t tell them, Buck. I can’t. You can’t either.”

“I ain’t gonna tell him anything bad. But ya gotta tell me th’ truth. Th’ only way this works is if ya tell me th’ truth.”

Scout fidgeted, rubbing one forehoof against his other foreleg. He glanced repeatedly between me and the front door, but finally settled on me. “Powder found a loose board in the wall. Managed to fit through… He… he promised he was gonna get help. That he’d be back.”

I nodded slowly. “An’ how long ago was this, Scout?”

“It… it… it was last night.”

“Last night… so he hasn’t gone too awful far yet. Not on his own… What was his plan t’ tell th’ slavers, huh?”

Scout shook his head. “We didn’t go over that…”

I let out a sigh. “Right, okay. Look, Scout, we’re gonna get outta here, okay? We just gotta stick together… Can you do that?” Scout gave me a little nod, which I returned with a faint smile. “Good. Now…” I turned a little, “Scout, meet Firestorm. Firestorm, meet Scout. Y’all chat for a minute, I have t’ go deal with what’s-his-face.”

I didn’t wait for them to respond, instead simply walking for the front door. What was I going to say? Obviously I couldn’t say Powder was still here. He’d do a search, not find him, and know we were lying. By now he’s gotta be expecting an escape already. But would they go look for him? One colt, and they already had sent a few away? I couldn’t take that risk of him getting caught again, either.

I took a deep breath then stepped out through the front door, back outside. Moonshine was pacing back and forth just beyond the door and immediately stopped and spun around to face me when I appeared. “So where’s th’ runt?”

“Th’ runt has a name, ya know.”

Moonshine almost smirked before snorting. “Don’t start testin’ me, son.”

I licked my lips slowly. “His name’s Powder. As in Black Powder, fer his cutie mark, or Powder Blue, fer his coat color… as fer where he is… He managed t’ get out. He’s headin’ out towards th’ coast. He knows how t’ get home from out there.” The coast was east, Asylum was a lot more south than just east… it should work. And be believable. Hopefully.

Moonshine simply grunted. “Great. Gotta go catch him.”

He started to turn around, but I spoke up, “Really? Yer gonna go send a buncha ponies after a kid?”

Moonshine looked back at me and snorted. “Runt could tell somepony where we are, get a whole heap’a trouble on our heads. Yeah, gonna go catch ‘im.” He flicked his tail and trotted off, back towards the big library building he’d brought me into right after arriving in town.

At first I was a little shocked that he’d simply left me there. Alone. Why wouldn’t I escape too? A couple of routes crossed my mind before I spotted two of the slavers. They were posted outside the main slave building, but they were watching me. That’s why I wouldn’t escape… right.

I turned around and walked back into the building, only to be met by the awkward silence between Scout and Firestorm. “So they’re gonna go look fer Powder…”

“What?! No! They can’t!” Scout got up and started to run, but apparently forgot about the chains on his hindlegs, and ended up flailing and falling again.

I stepped forward, put my muzzle under Scout’s barrel, and helped him back up to his hooves, but then put my foreleg in front of him to keep him from going anywhere too quickly. “Calm down, Scout. I told ‘em th’ wrong direction. They’re gonna go look, but they won’t find him. If anything, it’ll just mean there’s less here so we have more chances t’ do somethin’ if we find a way t’ get outta here. Okay?”

Scout whimpered softly, then dropped his head down before nodding. “Okay…” He sniffled, then stepped back and looked up at me. “I’m really sorry, Buck…”

I bit my lip then let out a sigh. “What for?”

Scout looked back down at his hooves. “Stealing food. Powder said it-”

“No, I don’t wanna hear what Powder said, I wanna know what you thought.”

He paused for a few moments then said, “I just thought he was right… ‘cause he was always right.”

“Not always, ‘parently.”

Scout shook his head a little. “Guess not.”

I let out a long sigh. Right there… right there was what deep down I didn’t want to hear. Because deep down, I wanted to pummel him, both of them, really, for being so stupid and for all the trouble they caused. But no… I knew what I had to do, and it most certainly wasn’t that. What I had to do was almost the exact opposite of that.

I leaned down and nudged at the side of Scout’s neck with my muzzle. “How bad does Powder still hate me?”

“Um… a lot.”

I gave a little nod and lifted my head back up. “Alright… I’ll tell ya somethin’ my sister told me. Sayin’ yer sorry don’t really… fix nothin’. On it’s own. It’s a good start, though… means ya know you were wrong. Means ya won’t do somethin’ that massively idiotic again… right?”

Scout finally looked back up at me and nodded. “N-no. I won’t.”

I gave a nod in return. “Right. Ya won’t. Now I dunno ‘bout forgivin’ ya ‘er anything… but I’ll tell you what. We can’t have ya wonderin’ ‘round on yer own, an’ we sure can’t have ya followin’ Powder ‘round. So when we get outta here, how ‘bout I bring ya back home?”

Scout started to look a little excited, but then didn’t seem quite so sure. “But everybody’s gonna hate me.”

“No… no, not everyone’s gonna hate ya. Are th’ adults gonna keep an eye on ya? Yeah… of course. Th’ other kids… prob’ly ain’t even gonna remember what happened. You jus’ start runnin’ ‘round again an’ don’t mention it… it’ll be fine. Trust me.”

He still seemed uncertain, but then gave a small nod.

I returned it with a smile, then looked between him and Firestorm. “C’mon… let’s go back t’ th’ other building, figure out what we’re gonna do now.”

I motioned for them to follow me, then turned and headed back out.

By the time I woke up the next morning, my wings had never in my life ached as much as they did right then. I had flown for miles and miles before at one time. All day long with very little rest. And they hurt after that. So sore. But not like this.

The first day, yesterday, it had been okay. I’d kept trying to spread them out instinctively, but the restraints kept them close. But it was fine. It felt weird, sure, but it was fine. Today, though… almost, what, thirty or more hours straight of not being able to move them even a little bit. The muscles were screaming at me.

The worst part was for a few minutes I was actually tempted to go and say that they could clip my wings so long as they took the strap off. But that wouldn’t work. If there was an escape, there’d be no way I could fly. And with my luck? That purple jerk would probably take the strap off, clip the wings, then put the strap back on for a giggle and watch me squirm.

Really just the thought made me wanna kick his teeth in.

I tried to be quiet and not groan too much at the aching, but as it turned out, I was the last one up. Scout and Firestorm were across the room, sitting next to each other and speaking softly. I could hear… some… ruckus going on a couple of rooms down. Wasn’t sure what that was… and I quickly came to the conclusion that the less I thought about it, the better.

The next sensation to hit me was my stomach. It wasn’t as bad at first, but as I came around and started to get my bearings, it began to overtake my wings for the worst ache in my body. I hadn’t eaten since… since I was at home, before reading out of the magic book to Firestorm. She… hadn’t either. … How was she even still functioning? We’d had a little water out of Hornbill and Lady Lake’s stash, but no food.

I licked my lips and got up to my hooves.

The noise immediately attracted the attention of Firestorm. She cut off her conversation and looked over at me. “Hey, Tri.”

“Hey.” I smirked at her, then nodded at Scout. He gave a little nod in return. “How y’all doi-”

“LINE UP!”

Our heads all turned in unison in the direction of the yell.

“C’mon… this early in th’ mornin’?”

Scout and Firestorm, however, didn’t have the same complaint. At least not verbally. They both immediately got up and moved past me for the door.

“Well ain’t y’all a pair’a go-getters…” I huffed then turned and followed after them. As much as I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to fall short of Hornbill’s advice to not be the last one to line up even more.

I was actually the fifth, behind the two younger ones. Right in the middle of the pack. As the others filed in on both sides of me, I took the opportunity to get a quick glance around the area. Six slavers this time. Of which, Constable, the doctor, and Moonshine were all still there, the only three I knew. So that meant they sent two out to go find Powder, which hopefully wasn’t going to work.

And with the addition of Scout, that made nine total slaves. Nine to six… well… take out Scout, Firestorm, and ‘Dumbbell’, and that made six to six… Technically an even fight, but they had guns and we had… chained legs. Yeah… that wasn’t gonna be happening.

Moonshine moved front and center as the last ones filed into line. He lifted a hoof up and did a head count of all who were there before clearing his throat loudly. “Y’all made it. An’ fairly quickly. Good, won’t haveta punish nopony today. Life’s always nicer when there ain’t nopony gettin’ punished, don’tcha agree? Now, orders? Armor repair same as yesterday. Th’ rest’a ya? Yer workin’ on cleanin’ out an’ fixin’ up another set’a barracks. We got company comin’ from Rainbow Falls, gotta make sure we got room fer ‘em.”

Moonshine stood still for a moment, just looking up and down our line of ponies. “Well…?”

Immediately the slaves scattered, the same three going to the armory building again, while Tumbleweed, Hornbill, and Lady Lake all went towards one of the other slavers. I took a step forward and flicked my tail against both Scout and Firestorm to get them to follow me, then quickly headed after the three adults to the slaver.

“We’re setting up that one,” the slaver pointed to another two-story house that was… only partially ruined. “It’s needs cleaned. Dusted. Get it clear of debris. There needs to be at least six beds set up inside. Stock it with some of the food we caught yesterday. Inside there’s already your own food. We’re going to do an inventory at the end of the day once it’s all done, there better not be any additional food missing.”

Hornbill nodded. “Yes, sir.” Immediately after speaking, he broke off and went towards the house. Without a word, the other five of us followed suit and chased his tail until we got inside.

Also without a word, we all went straight for the food that was laying on the ground. It was ant meat, but I really, really didn’t care in the slightest. I laid down and simply devoured the portion that was there, just like everyone else did.

Lady Lake was the first to say anything. “We have got to try and make sure Constable is the one doing the inventory tonight…”

Hornbill took the last bite of his ant meat and moaned softly. “I’ll see what I can do, dear.”

I glanced between them, having finished my meal quicker than either of them did. “What… do ya go that long without food normally?”

Lady Lake simply nodded. “Water about once a day, food once every two or three days. We try to stuff ourselves as much as we can on what we catch when we go hunting for food, like yesterday. But yesterday we really weren’t able to hide it that well.”

My face screwed up and I just shook my head. Firestorm spoke up before I could, though. “How do they expect you to live?

Lady Lake snorted softly and looked to Stormy. “Sweetie, I don’t think they do.”

Firestorm’s ears dropped and she looked back down at her hooves, then started to slowly lick off any of the residue that had gotten onto them from when she was holding the meat as she ate it.

Hornbill grunted and got up to his hooves, clicking his tongue softly. “Try not to think about that though, eh? Let’s get to work. The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can rest again.”

I wanted to argue about why not simply rest now and then work into the night until we were exhausted, so then we could just pass out asleep… but arguing with Hornbill wasn’t high on my list of things to do, honestly.

I, and all the others, got up after him. Our first priority was taking a quick tour around the house to see what all needed to be done. The first thing that popped out was that there were only two mattresses in the place. We’d have to move at least four more in. Fun. Second, there were sections of the wall that clearly needed replaced, and half of the floors needed debris from… who knows when taken out of it. Broken chairs, pieces of wood, there was even a brick laying in one of the bedrooms. Where had a brick even come from?

So, we got to work. Each of us had our own room taken up as our duty. We started with removing the crap from the floors or other surfaces, then had to go about dusting it. Which… it wasn’t like we were given any fancy dusters. Had to use our tails. I was a bit tall for my age, so it was fine for me. Scout and Stormy, though… I had to go through their rooms as well and help them with the dusting parts. They simply couldn’t reach high enough.

Those parts weren’t exactly… hard, though. Time consuming, sure, but not difficult. It was after noon by the time we were done with that. The hard part came next. Mattresses. We had to go out to other buildings in the town, find mattresses that were somehow still in good shape, and drag them all the way back to the building we were working on. Mattresses are heavy. And awkward. And we couldn’t carry them on our backs the easy way because they had to fit through doors and hallways, so they couldn’t just be horizontal.

The first one, alone, took half an hour to do. And that was from a building right next door. But, it gave us experience. The second one would go easier, right? We knew what we were doing.

Right… well, no, wrong. It did go easier, but as we were about to enter the barracks building with the mattress, something caught my eye off in the distance. Up in the sky. I stopped paying attention to what I was doing, trying to spot the thing again, but I’d lost it. Lost everything, actually. I didn’t see what had caught my eye, and I’d stopped paying attention long enough that I let the mattress slip off of my back and crash to the ground.

Hornbill was at the other end of the mattress. “Buck! Please… pay attention.”

My ears pinned back and I quickly turned around. “Sorry! Sorry. Sorry.”

With the help of the other adults, we got the mattress vertical again, up onto my back again, and got it into the building. Another half hour endeavor, which would’ve only been fifteen minutes if I hadn’t seen some phantom in the sky.

The last two mattresses took a total of two hours to find and bring back, mostly because they were both from the exact opposite side of town. Plus it didn’t help that I kept feeling like I was seeing something in the sky off in the distance. By the end of it, it was evening, and we were all exhausted… and I was starving again.

We weren’t all quite done yet. After setting down the last mattress and taking a five minute break, Hornbill walked over to me. “Hey, Buck. Take the foals, go back to your room. We’re going to try and nab some food. If this doesn’t work, you guys need to be completely separate from it. That way they’ll just blame us. Got it?”

I was caught a little by surprise of the suddenness of that statement, but slowly nodded. “Are ya sure? I could… try t’ help somehow.”

He shook his head. “No. Now go on, leave this to us. And leave the flogging to us to if we get caught.”

I gave another slow nod, but then the sense of urgency hit me and I jumped up to my hooves. It was getting a bit easier to move around with the chains on my hindlegs. Still not very maneuverable, but less difficult.

I went over to Scout and Firestorm. “Guys, let’s uh… head back. Real quick like. Grown-ups can handle it from here, we get t’ rest. Sounds good, yeah?”

Scout let out a little groan of relief and sped past me for the door. Firestorm, however, just yawned. “We get to stop now?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, let’s just hurry off… so we can rest. Hurry up and rest.”

Firestorm nodded then followed after Scout, admittedly much slower than the colt. I turned and walked out after her, following both of them back over to our building.

Evening seemed to be going by pretty fast, with night not far behind it. With any luck, maybe they’d make it back with some food before we all went to sleep. It was torture trying to go to bed on an empty stomach.

Roughly thirty minutes later, Hornbill and the others came rushing upstairs. Two of them were carrying small sacks. They ran straight for their room and dropped them off before coming back towards what had become the foal room.

“We did it! C’mon!”

“Really?” I started to smile and got up to my hooves. I ran out into the hallway and followed him into his and Lake’s room, where Lady Lake was opening up the sacks. Inside were small portions of food, but food nonetheless. Most of it was hunted meat, but there were a couple samples of cram thrown in as well.

“Remember, we can’t eat it all tonight. We have to save some of-”

“LINE UP!”

Hornbill’s mouth froze open and a look of fear came over him. He pulled his head back out of our room and looked down the hallway to the staircase. “No, they didn’t see it… They didn’t.”

Lady Lake darted past him in the hallway, “Doesn’t matter if they did, let’s get out there!”

I gave a groan at the interruption, if they didn’t see it, they pick the worst times for these things. If they did see it… well… we were screwed.. I stepped over to the other room again and gave both Scout and Firestorm a little shake to get them out of their drowsiness, then quickly headed after the adults to the stupid line up.

We hustled outside and filed into line, like we had both previous times. The six of us who had worked on the barracks were there first. The other three were apparently still working, because they came over from the other building with the guard who had been watching them.

Moonshine was once again front and center, wearing a rather unpleasant look on his face. He remained quiet until everyone had made it to their proper places. “Which one’a y’all can tell me why yer out here right now?” The whole group was deathly silent as he scanned his eyes across us. “Not talkative, huh? Well then… Constable. Gimme yer gun.”

Constable looked confused at the request, but shook himself out of it. He drew his pistol out of its holster then offered it over to Moonshine.

Moonshine took the pistol and placed it on his upraised hoof. “We have a problem. A discipline problem. ‘Bout five minutes ago, I got lied to. Now… who wants t’ guess who did th’ lyin’?”

We all stayed perfectly still, not saying a word.

“Well. Lemme educate y’all then. Constable.” He looked over at the fat pony.

Constable had to do a double-take before he fully realized he was being spoken to. “Yeah, boss?”

“Constable, these ponies standin’ in a line in front’a ya. What’re their names?”

His brow furrowed at Moonshine before he looked at the slave line up. “Um… Hornbill, Lady Lake, Tumbleweed… um… I don’t know those two foals. But the third one is Scout. And Coconut, Rocky, and Lemon Cakes.” He paused for a moment then looked back at Moonshine. “Why, boss?”

Moonshine gave a derisive scoff. “Who else here knew all the names of these filthy maggots?!” He turns around to look at the other slavers, but none of them moved a muscle. After a few moments, Moonshine looked back at Constable. “But you did. You like ‘em, don’tcha?”

Constable stammered a bit before shaking his head, “I don’t… I don’t… What?”

“That’s why yer lettin’ ‘em steal food, ain’t it?!”

Constable took a step away from Moonshine. “I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I know nothing!”

“That’s th’ problem, ya idiot!” Almost as if adding extra emphasis, Moonshine picked up the pistol off of his hoof and shot Constable right in the shoulder. There was a collective gasp from both the slaves and the slavers followed by a cry of pain from Constable.

“If ya like ‘em so much, well guess what. Yer one of ‘em now. Have fun!”

“Wh-what?”

Moonshine dropped the gun entirely, stepped over behind Constable, and gave him a shove towards the slaves. “I know ya ain’t deaf too now! Get in line!”

Constable tried to keep his balance, but cried out again as he stumbled and fell in front of us after being pushed forward.

Moonshine pointed off to the side. “You! Get another set of chains.”

“F-for him, boss?”

“Who else? Goddesses, idiots everywhere.”

The other slaver started to run off to fetch the chains, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard something. Something all of us heard.

Our heads all lifted up in search of the source when we heard a blood-curdling screech that lasted five or six seconds. There was a short pause, followed by another one, louder. It was… a bird scream. Wait… not bird. Griffin!

I was just about to speak when more gunfire erupted. But it wasn’t from the slavers. It was at the slavers. The first pony to drop was the slaver who had gone to get the chains. Two blasts from a gun and he hit the dirt, hard.

Then utter chaos broke out and my heart started pounding. The slaves scattered, all in different directions, bumping into one another. Crap! I quickly moved to the side to stand over Firestorm and Scout, just to make sure they didn’t get trampled by the panicked adults. Some were running for the slave building, some were running towards the fallen slaver, and two were just running… away.

There was yelling followed by more gunfire. The slavers had drawn their weapons to return fire, and the air just became a constant ringing of gunblasts and bullets, which I could only hear between the beating of my heart I could hear in my ears.

And another hawk scream. Out of the corner of my eye I saw an orange blur dive down out of the sky, swoop past a slaver, and disappear going straight up again. The slaver at first looked like he was fine. but after a second I saw the blood coming out of his throat right before he fell to the ground as well.

I hunkered down over Scout and Stormy, trying to be as close to the ground as possible. Constable was still laying in front of me, nursing his shoulder. I took a quick look around. Three slavers left standing. Except. Only two had guns. The doctor had ran and used the nearest building as cover, but didn’t even have a gun out.

As quickly as the air had erupted, it got suddenly quiet again. Except for the ringing in my ears. Both of the slavers, Moonshine and the other one, had stopped firing to reload. The attackers had stopped too, but they finally came into view, I saw they weren’t reloading.

Off to the side I saw a purple pony rushing around the side of the slave building and towards the slavers. Lily! She lunged for the nearest slaver, right as he was putting the magazine back into his pistol, and knocked him to the ground. I stood up and gave a cheer on reflex as she brought her hooves down on the slaver’s head and take him out of the fight quickly.

That left Moonshine. I looked over at him, ready to rush him myself to keep him from shooting Lily, but he didn’t even have the gun in his grip anymore.

He was just standing there, dumbfounded. Staring at Lily. “Absinthe? Abby? You’re alive? Sweetie! You’re alive!” And just like that he was smiling. His crew had just been wiped out and he was… smiling…

Lily spun around to face him, ready to pounce, but she relaxed ever so slightly when she saw his lack of gun and the look on his face. Instead, she started to slowly walk towards him, almost stalking him. “I’m alive, Dad.”

Wait… what? Dad?! WHAT?! You mean he wasn’t lying about that part? Wait… did that mean… no…

“Yes!” Moonshine let out a happy laugh and… was… he was crying? He was crying! “I knew it! I knew I’d find you one day!”

He started to trot towards Lily, slowing when he got closer and lifting up a foreleg like he was going to give her a hug, but she wasn’t having any of that. She made a quick move under his foreleg, stepped to his side, then pushed him over and pinned him against the ground.

Moonshine let out a grunt when he dropped. “Abby? What’s wrong?”

Lily just stared down at him, but shouted out, “Kari! Get the kids out!”

Seconds later the griffin dropped out of the sky right next to me. “Kari!”

He chirped then gave me a cocky smile. “My turn to rescue you, huh?”

I rolled my eyes. “Does that make us even?”

Kari snorted. “We’ll see about that. Lemme finish my job first.” With that, he ducked down closer to the ground and addressed the two foals that were now right next to me. “Hey, Firestorm. Hey… uh… buddy. You know Inkblot? Lemme take you to her, we can get those chains off real quick, sound good?”

It wasn’t the reaction I was expecting, but Firestorm practically leapt forward and gave Kari a hug. Kari caught her and held her tight, then motioned for Scout to come along as well. After a nod from me, Scout went to Kari, then Kari took to the air taking them both away from the little battlefield.

Lily watched him fly off, still pinning Moonshine to the ground, then looked over at me. “You okay?”

I took a deep breath before saying, “I think I am now.”

My sister gave a short laugh then nodded. “Good, now come here.” I turned and walked over towards them, looking between them as I got closer. Lily was keeping her eyes on me, but Moonshine seemed to not be able to pull his eyes away from Lily. “Did he hurt you?”

I blinked and looked at Lily. The question seemed… dumb. “He kidnapped me…”

“Yes, Buck, but did he hurt you? Like, physically.”

“Well… yeah, my face an-”

“Really?” She looked back at Moonshine, shouting into his face now, “REALLY?! Fifteen years and you still haven’t moved on? I was this close… this close to giving you a chance, too.”

Moonshine pushed his head back from Lily into the dirt. “But-but she was so special, and, and her killer… Her killer had to be pu-”

Lily interrupted him with a hoof to the muzzle. “That’s enough out of you.” All I could do was stand there, speechless once more. “Look away, Buck.”

She pulled her head back and removed her pistol from her holster. She’d said to look away, but the command didn’t really register. Without waiting, she fired three rapid shots into Moonshine’s head, the stallion immediately going limp. I continued to just stand there in shock. I’ve never exactly seen somebody’s brains blown out before… and I never thought I’d see my sister put a bullet through the head of her father… which… made him my father, too?

Lily holstered her pistol then did a double-take after glancing at me. “I told you to look away, you idiot…” She got off of Moonshine’s body, stepped over, and wrapped me in a hug, forcefully moving my head away from that direction and blocking my vision of the body.

We just sat like that, her hugging me tightly, for about a minute. Right up until Hornbill’s voice was heard from the side. “So, you know each other?”

I blinked my eyes back open then sucked in a deep breath. Right. Slaves. I gave my head a shake, then fought Lily a bit to pull away from her. She didn’t want to let go at first, but after a couple seconds she let me out of her grasp. “Yeah, uh, Hornbill, this is Lily. Lily, Hornbill. Also uh…” I nodded in their direction, as all three of them had been the ones to swarm the first downed slaver, “Lady Lake and Tumbleweed. They’re nice…”

The three of them nodded as they were introduced, then Lily greeted them as well. “Hello. Um, well. We can get you out of the chains, at least. So there is that. We should probably start there.”

Hornbill simply smiled, the biggest smile I’d seen out of him yet. “That’s very kind of you, ma’am, more than we could really hope for.”

Lily gave a small smile in return, then looked back at me. “And we need to do a lot of talking… but that can be done later. Here, I can carry you over there.”

She started to lay down, but I shook my head. “I can walk.”

She blinked and lifted back up again. “You sure?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Alright…” Lily leaned over and nuzzled my cheek softly before getting fully back up to her hooves and began to lead us through the town. We didn’t get very far, though, before a potential problem started to rise. Literally.

Constable was slowly working his way back up to his hooves, and finally made it right as we were about to pass by him again. He looked a little… embarrassed, maybe?

Hornbill was the one to stop and address him, though. “Do you know what just happened?”

Constable licked his lips and looked around the area. Four dead slavers, a fifth hiding off somewhere, four escaping slaves and one of their rescuers. “I… see nothing.”

Hornbill chuckled and snorted. “Do you want a chance to do something different?”

The big fat pony looked around again before looking back at Hornbill. “I don’t know…”

Hornbill nodded slowly. “We’ve got a deck of cards, that means we can make caps. My first thought? There’s a place in Manehatten I know. It’s called Friendship City. We could use a nice guy with us, though, one that can put up a nice bodyguard front. Benefits? We won’t shoot you if you happen to mess up.”

Constable grimaced at that.

Hornbill took a step forward and patted Constable’s good shoulder. “Give it some thought. We won’t leave until morning, you’ve got time.”

I had slowed down to listen to their conversation, but once it ended, I sped back up to keep pace with Lily. I couldn’t wait to be able to spread my wings again.

By the time we’d walked the mile or so out of the town, Scout and Firestorm were both free of their chains, and taking advantage of it by running around in circles playing tag with each other.

“Bucky!”

Inkblot finally saw me as we got closer. She hopped up to her hooves and galloped to me, just barely stopping before plowing me over, and reared up to give me a tight hug.

I smiled when I saw her hop up and run over, then closed my eyes and lowered my head down, wrapping it around the back of her neck.

“Firestorm told me what happened. Don’t you ever do something that stupid again.”

I laughed softly. “I won’t do somethin’ that stupid again…”

“Promise me.”

I let out a soft sigh. “I promise, Inky.”

“Good.” She gave my neck a tighter squeeze, then licked my cheek as she pulled away again. “Let’s get you unchained.” She turned and ran back to her supplies and I followed close after her.

Ultimately Lily had insisted that we actually head right out for home again rather than camping out for a night so close to the slaver outpost. Even if most of the slavers were dead and there wouldn’t be reinforcements there for weeks. I was okay with this, and it gave me a chance to actually spread my wings and fly. The younger foals… well, they were okay with it after they fell asleep and got carried by Lily and Kari.

The sun was rising by the time we actually made it back to Asylum. I was dead tired. I still wanted my answers from Lily, but I soon found out that this was the second night in a row she had stayed up without any sleep, and any sort of conversation was not really gonna happen.

So, instead, we decided to sleep and talk later.

When I opened my eyes for the first time after going to sleep, it looked like it was still morning outside. That… couldn’t be possible though. No way I slept for twenty-four hours. Evening… must be evening… I got caught up in a yawn, then started to stretch out my body. Had to do it carefully, though. Lily was still curled up around me. Like she wanted to make sure I didn’t disappear in the middle of the night. Er… day. Whatever.

My attempt at stretching my legs was causing her to stir, though. First she tightened around me some, but then started to spread out and stretch just like I had been doing. I took the opportunity to finish my stretches, then shifted my head up and laid it on Lily’s shoulder to wait for her to finish her stretching.

When she did, I rubbed my chin against her coat for a moment before whispering, “You awake?”

There was a short pause before Lily groaned softly. “Unfortunately.”

I gave her shoulder another small shake with my muzzle. “Weeeeelllll… you promised…”

“I promised to strangle my little brother because he didn’t let me sleep?”

“No… no it definitely wasn’t that.”

Lily let out a long sigh. “Can’t it wait a few more hours?”

I bit my lip and my ears drooped back. Yeah… yeah it probably could. “Sorry…” I pulled my head back then laid it down on the ground.

Everything was quiet for a couple of minutes, but then Lily shifted her body and bumped mine. “Go get High Times. Bring him here. Then we’ll talk about it.”

I lifted my head up again and blinked. “Really?”

“Yes, really, now go, you little punk.”

“Okay!” I carefully got up to my hooves, trying to not step on Lily, then hopped over her and ducked out of her tent.

I first went to the Adult’s building, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t in the hospital, or the General Store, or anywhere else either… Eventually I came all the way back around to look for him at his tent. And he was there. I made a big, giant circle for nothing. Awesome! Yeah. Whatever, got to fly.

I approached the front of his tent and considered how I should make my presence known… but decided to just clear my throat loudly. “Uh, knock knock.”

High Times looked up from whatever he was doing with a set of saddlebags and his face lit up. “Buck! Good to see you! I saw you guys come back in this morning, but I didn’t want to bother you.” He got up to his hooves and stepped outside his tent. “How are you doing? How’s Firestorm?”

I took a step back to let him out of his tent. “I’m okay. Firestorm’s… well she cried a lot. But I think she’s good now again. Plus… maybe she might be obsessin’ over Kari too now since he sorta rescued her this time. Ain’t sure how he’s gonna handle that one… but uh… yeah.”

High chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll manage. I’ve heard he’s a bit… gruffer, at least sometimes, might help him soften up a bit.”

“Heh, yeah… Um…” I paused and rubbed at the side of my head with my wing. “Lily finally said that she’d tell me stuff ‘bout th’ past… and stuff… but she wants you t’ be there too.”

High blinked. “Oh! Well then, let’s not keep either of you waiting.”

I gave him a small smile then stepped around him, leading the way back to Lily’s tent. When we got there, Lily had finally sat up and was finishing downing a bottle of water. I entered first and High followed right behind me.

“Hey, Lily.”

“Hey, High.

“How’s it going?”

Lily licked her lips and looked right at High for a couple of seconds. “We still got booze left over?”

My ears drooped, but High only looked slightly surprised. “That bad?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“I’ll get a bottle later then.”

She gave a half smile at him. “Thanks.” She took a deep breath then looked down to me. “Alright… I did promise. Where do you want me to start?”

I gulped and glanced up at High before looking back at Lily. I didn’t want her to have to drink… but I really wanted to know. “Um… th’ beginnin’?”

Lily gave a slow nod. “Alright… Beginning, beginning... um... Let's see. Well, I guess... In the beginning, there was a pegasus mare named Daffodil. She was smart, sweet… I’d tell you her life story, but honestly… I don’t remember it anymore, Buck. The important part, though, is she ended up getting captured by slavers, then sold from master to master around the wasteland.

“Eventually… she ended up being the property of one slaver named Moonshine.” Lily paused and took another breath. “Moonshine fell in love with her. He kept her as a slave, didn’t free her… but he was in love with her. She never did love him back. I’m pretty sure that she only put up with it because it got her preferential treatment. She was better off as a favored personal slave than just as some random one.

“Anyway… eventually she got pregnant and had a daughter.” Lily paused again and put on a little cheeky smile and raised her forehoof. “That’d be me. My mother… had wanted her daughter’s name to be Lily, but Moonshine wasn’t about to let her name his daughter… so I became Absinthe.”

High Times blinked. “You’d never told me that part…”

Lily blew a small puff of air and glanced at him. “I never told you a lot of stuff that happened back then, High.”

High gave a small shrug and a nod. “That’s true.”

I glanced over at High then looked back at Lily. “But why not? Why not tell him? Or me?”

Lily sighed and looked back at me. “Because, Buck… I thought…” She paused again then shook her head. “Anyway… I was in a weird place. My mother was a slave, and that meant I was a slave. My father was a slave master, and rapidly rising through the ranks in Rainbow Falls, so that meant I wasn’t a slave… I was free, but not free at the same time. But Dad was okay then. He wasn’t… well I mean he was a slaver, but he wasn’t... insane yet…

“Then, when I turned six, Mom’s health started… well she wasn’t in good shape. When I turned seven, she got pregnant again. And… she got sicker and sicker.” Lily started to chew on her lip and looked me over. “She gave birth when I was eight. To you. But… she was too sick, and giving birth was too hard. She died in the process. Moonshine got… angry.”

I blinked a few times as that information sunk into my head. Was that… what he thought I had owed him? He wanted to make me a slave for life because… I’d killed his wife?

Lily coughed into her hoof then continued. “I guess angry is an understatement. He completely flipped… and the fact that you looked so much like her… well… it’s like it added insult to injury. Whenever he got mad… he started to take it out on you. Starting nearly with the day you were born.”

She pursed her lips then shifted her gaze from my face to my left shoulder, where the leg was missing. “I never told you because I didn’t want you to know. I told you the stories because… I thought if you believed them, maybe you’d believe you had some cool past, or… Well, I thought that if I told you stories of me saving you from monsters, you’d like me more. And think I’d fought a monster, so maybe you’d listen to me more.” She snorted and looked a little sheepish. “So sorry about that…

“The truth is you really were born with four legs. But… well it wasn’t even quite a year, I don’t think… Dad got particularly violent. Things… happened, and at the end of it, your leg was beyond destroyed. That night… was… the last straw for me, though. After he went to bed and just left you… like you were… I decided that we had to go. I got some of my things, a bit of food, picked you up onto my back, then ran.

“There was a section in the wall where the sewage went out, so there was a hole there for it to flow. Not nearly big enough for any normal ponies to get through, but I had used it before to sneak around in the middle of the night to go and pick flowers from outside the wall for Mom. I was just barely able to squeeze both of us through it, and once I was out, I just ran.”

I sat there for a few seconds after Lily stopped talking that time. That was… I had daydreamed about what the truth was for a very long time. The story she’d just told… was not even close to any of the scenarios I’d come up with.

My eyes wandered as I processed all of it. Eventually, one thing stood out to me, and I spoke it quietly, “Ya coulda jus’ told that one…”

Lily stopped rubbing her muzzle with her hoof when I spoke. “Huh?”

I sniffed then cleared my throat. “That one… ‘bout th’ monster… an’ savin’ me. ‘Cause… ya did. Save me. From th’ monster.”

Lily blinked a few times before a faint smile started to creep onto her face. A genuine one, this time. “I guess… I just wanted to give you some cool stories, not one so… depressing.”

I gave my head a shake, then stepped forwards towards Lily. I leaned in and nuzzled her muzzle, then turned and plopped down, using her body to support my weight. “I guess it’s fine… Ya still shoulda told me once I figured out you were always lyin’, though… And… I’m sorry.”

Lily nuzzled back at me, then turned and kissed the top of my head after I sat down against her. “You’re sorry? For what?”

“Fer killin’ yer mom…”

“What? Hey! No.” She shifted and slipped a forehoof around me. “I don’t want to hear you ever think that, okay? You didn’t do it. If anything, it’s the idiot’s fault that got her pregnant while she was sick. You had nothing to do with it.”

I gulped then gave a little nod. “Okay… um… sorry.”

She let out a little sigh then kissed my head again. “It’s fine…” She rested her nose against the top of my muzzle for a minute before lifting her head again. “That’s not the end of the story, anyway.”

I blinked and looked up at her. “It’s not?”

She hook her head. “No… but that’s why I had you get High. He remembers more of it than I do.”

High had been keeping quiet and out of our way, at least until now. He let out a soft laugh then cleared his throat. “I suppose that’s true… Um… well… See, I used to be just a scavenger. And I liked it that way. I had a home, but I wasn’t there very often. I liked being out on my own, just searching and trying to look for hidden treasures in the ruins of the past, you know?

“One day that led me to an old factory. Uh… it… was fairly intact, but there were holes in the roof, holes in the walls… terrible condition, really, but intact and standing. First place I headed was for the break room. That’s where personal effects usually are in buildings like that, so… it’s the best first place to go.

“So, I go in there, and it’s a messed up as I expected it to be. There’s a couple vending machines, I see some bones, some other things, but there’s this one section that’s got a tarp laid over it. And that was unusual. So what’s the first thing I do? I go and pull the tarp off this pile of… something.”

High Times paused to laugh softly. “It wasn’t the something that caught my eye, though. When I pulled that tarp off, I had my life threatened. By the meanest looking, most pissed off, ready to kick my rump if I even looked at her the wrong way, little eight year old filly. Hehe, the glare she had…”

I blinked and looked from High up at Lily. I could tell she was listening… but it almost looked like she was playing out the same thing in her head, only from her perspective.

High Times continued, “So I back off. But then I notice what she was standing over. A tiny colt. I couldn’t tell how old, but it looked like he was still drinking mother’s milk. And his leg was mangled beyond recognition… First thing I did was go over to the vending machine, get some old food, and offer it to the filly. Icky as it is, it’s still food. She didn’t go for it, though. Didn’t trust me.

“I tried reasoning with her, offering other food, water, but nothing was able to get her to trust me. Eventually… I noticed that the colt’s leg was infected. It looked like there had been attempts to stitch it up, maybe make it okay again, but whoever did it had no clue what they were doing. And it was infected.

“So, I brought that up to her. Informed her that the little colt she was protecting was going to die unless she got that leg fixed up and the infection taken care of. It was only going to be a matter of time. But… that I also knew a doctor that I could take the both of them to who would be able to fix the leg up perfectly and save the colt’s life. That… that is what got her to listen to me. She finally let me get close, let me offer food and a drink.”

High laughed softly then let out a sigh. He looked up at Lily, gave his head a little shake, then looked back at me. “So what we did is we grabbed the tarp and used it like a sled. Put the two of you on it, I tied the other end to me, and I pulled the two of you as quick as I could to the nearest town. The doctor… had to amputate the leg, but she saved your life and got rid of the infection.”

I looked back up at Lily, and this time her eyes were closed. I tilted my head up and nuzzled at her jaw then looked back to High Times.

High lifted a forehoof up and used it to motion as he spoke, “After that, though, the two of you didn’t really have anywhere to go. So… I… eventually… came up with the idea of you two staying at my house until you did have somewhere to go. I couldn’t take an eight year old and a one year old out scavenging with me. But you could stay in my house. Heh, over time, though, the two of you started to grow on me a little, and it turned into being bothersome that I had to provide food for two more mouths to being… well… kind of fun.”

High smirked. “Skip forward a few years, though, and Lily was getting… antsy. She didn’t like being cooped up all day. She wanted to go out and travel with me. But we couldn’t take you with us, and we couldn’t leave you home alone. Doing scavenging trips like that just wasn’t going to be possible. But then… we came up with another idea. I’d ended up really enjoying helping you guys… and I was sorta okay with the idea of helping more foals. Lily… well it was Lily’s idea in the first place, I just went with it because I actually liked the sound of it. She wanted to go out and help foals who were in bad situations or didn’t have parents or something…”

High paused and waved his hoof around, indicating… basically everything around us, “And thus Asylum was born. It was slow going at first. We had to collect everything that we’d need, go find a place to set it up… took years. But we started gathering more foals as time went on, and that really helped us out. Inkblot was the first, then Paper Weight and Paper Scroll not too long after. And then… skip another ten years or so, and here we are.”

“Wow…” I gave my head a little shake… That was also a lot of information to take in… I blinked then looked up at Lily. “Wait, Asylum was yer idea? An’ ya got it ‘cause ya saved me an’ ya wanted t’ do it again?”

Lily finally opened her eyes again to look back at me. “Yeah, basically…”

I started to grin and looked between her and High. “So what yer sayin’... is that without me, Asylum wouldn’t be a thing?”

High blinked rapidly. “Uh… I… suppose not, no.”

“Haha! Yeah, awesome!” I hopped up and flared my wings. “I wasn’t born in Asylum, I borned it!” Wait, that’s not right. “Uh… gave birth… uh… created. I created it! Yeah!”

Lily was stunned at first, but just laughed after a few seconds. She reached out a forehoof to give me a little shove. “Yeah yeah, take all the credit…”

I pfft’d at her. “Well I practically run th’ place!”

Lily laughed and smirked. “You do a fair amount… oh, and you might get a kick out of this… You know the tarp that you use to cover up your stuff on top of the General Store?”

I nodded. “Yeah, what ‘bout it?”

Lily motioned to High, “It’s the same one that he mentioned, the one from the factory break room.”

“Woah, really?” I looked back at High, only for him to nod and confirm what she said. “... Cool! Never actually wondered where that came from.”

“Well now you know.” Lily leaned over and pulled me in for another hug. “Now, I love you, Buck. I spent the last two nights searching for and getting you back… can you be a good little brother and let your sister go back to sleep?”

I bit my lip, a little embarrassed by what she said, but I quickly gave her a hug with my wings before pulling away. “Yeah, sis… Love you, goodnight. An’ thanks.”

She gave me a smile. “No problem… now leave.”

I gave a quick nod and ducked out of her tent. I stopped once I was outside and took a deep breath. Okay… that was… big.

I had to go tell Inkblot.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to No One, Kibu, and Scrap Metal for helping with spelling, grammar, and plot. Not titles this time. Mostly because I forgot to ask them and that's why I got stuck with this one.

Chapter 10.25: And Now For Something Completely Different

“So it was me! It was all me!” I held a big, goofy grin as I came to the conclusion of retelling the story to Inkblot.

She gave me a look. “All you? So… not your sister for saving you, or High for saving you both, or them taking care of everything for years…”

I snorted and nodded firmly. “Well yeah. I mean, if I didn’t get saved, then none’a it woulda ever happened. ‘Sides, like I told ‘em, I pretty much run th’ place now anyway.”

Inky responded back with a snort of her own. “You pretty much let the place run itself then just do what you have to do or step in when needed to take care of an issue.”

“Ain’t that what I’m s’posed t’ do?”

She paused for a few moments. “Well… yes… But it’s not like you set it up to run in the first place and then it continued on. They did, then it ran itself, and you just maintain it.”

I furrowed my brow. “An’ th’ difference is…?”

Inky opened her mouth but then closed it again, and instead slowly looked over my face for several seconds. Eventually she gave her head a shake. “I guess nothing. Guess I was just expecting you to actually maybe have learnt a lesson or two rather than… you know…” She got up to her hooves off of her sleeping pad and walked over to her saddlebags on the other side of her tent.

My ears pinned back as I followed her with my eyes. “What’s that s’posed t’ mean?”

“Are you really asking that question?”

“Yeah…” She turned and looked over her shoulder at me. “Maybe…”

Inky sighed then ducked her head down into her saddlebags. She rummaged for a moment before pulling out a box of cereal. Transferring the cereal box from her mouth to her magic, she stepped back over and laid down on her sleeping pad and looked to me, as I was just off the pad on the ground next to her. “Here, I’ll help you out a little… When a strange pony comes up to you and asks for help miles away from anyone else, what do you do?”

I blinked a few times at her then scoffed. “Really? C’mon, Inky… ya think I don’t know th’ answer t’ that?”

“Apparently you don’t.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just that he said High told him t’ come get me… an’ I didn’t think ‘bout goin’ an’ askin’ High myself… He’d spent the whole d-”

“Yes, Buck, but then you come back and it’s all about how you’re totally awesome.”

“Well th’ story’s more fun that way…”

Inky looked away and opened the box of cereal, then snorted softly and looked back to me. “You sound like your sister.”

That raised my eyebrow quickly. “Do what?”

“Really? ‘Don’t tell the real story, tell the one that’s exciting and fun!’ Sound familiar?”

I started to protest, but the words caught in my mouth. This was different… my story was at least true.

Inky started to nod slowly. “That’s what I thought. Humor me. What do you do next time that happens?”

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, chewing over my tongue for a few moments before I answered. “Assume that it might be my insane slaving father who is hellbent on kidnappin’ me an’ turnin’ me inta a breedin’ stud, so I should really go check with High first t’ make sure it ain’t that.”

She tilted her head a little. “Not quite the tone I was hoping for, but yeah, that’s an improvement. Now what about that thing with Scout?”

“What ‘bout what thing with Scout?”

“Did you really tell him you weren’t going to forgive him?”

I spent a couple moments trying to figure out if that was a trick question or not, but quickly gave up. “Yeah, I did…”

Inky squinted her eyes a little, “But you were willing to… crush your balls or die in order to help him out?”

I pulled my head back and my wings half-flared on reflex, “What was I s’posed t’ do? Jus’ let him sit there an’ get beat ‘cause he was holdin’ out fer his friend?”

“Don’t get defensive, Bucky-”

“Well stop gettin’ off… fense… ive, whatever the opposite of defensive is.”

Inky cracked a smile for a moment, “Aggressive. But I’m not, I’m just making a point. Normally you only stand up for… like two ponies. Ever. Scout is definitely not on that list.”

I blew out a puff of air and slowly relaxed, my wings falling back down and starting to tuck back in at my sides. “Well… I guess ya just had t’ be there.”

Inkblot took a bite of her cereal, then did a doubletake as she looked back at me. She chewed and swallowed before speaking, though. “I didn’t mean it as a bad thing, Bucky. I meant it as a good thing. You need to do more of that.”

“More of what?”

“Standing up for more than just the same two ponies.”

“What, ya want me t’ get beat up more?”

Inky snorted and laughed then shook her head. “No… if you stand up for more ponies, you’ll get beat up less, actually. Anyway... standing up for ponies is how you’ll end up running this place for real instead of just maintaining it.”

My eyebrow began to raise again as she spoke. “Ya still never did explain th’ difference…” Inkblot fell silent and looked as if she was contemplating something. I wasn’t sure if I liked that look… it was familiar… I blinked and quickly held up my wing to her neck, making sure she didn’t lean towards me, “An’ ya ain’t gettin’ outta this by suddenly decidin’ t’ kiss me again, so don’t even try it.”

Inkblot looked surprised at first, then she leaned away from me. “What, you don’t want me to kiss you again?”

“Of course not!” I snorted, then did a doubletake of my own when I realized what I’d said. “I mean… not… in that… because… Oh you know what I mean.”

Inkblot giggled and returned to her normal posture, my wing falling limp again and not managing to keep her pushed away at all. “Well if that’s what you want… I promise I’ll never, ever kiss you again, ever.”

“No! That’s not what I want!”

She started to smile. “Oh, so you do want me to kiss you.”

“What? No! I mean… ugh!” I let my head drop down to the ground and covered my face with my wings. “Can we please just go back t’ th’ other stupid thing, whatever it was?”

Inkblot broke out into a full laugh. “Sure! But I’m so telling Sunny about this.”

“Please don’t…”

“Sorry, Bucky. Anyway… the difference is basically… You know how colts listen to you because they’re supposed to? For usually good reason. But you can’t really do anything if they don’t? But… everyone listens to High, and he can do something if they don’t? That’s the difference.”

I kept my head under my wings for the time being. It was better that way. “So basically ya mean it’s power.”

“Well… in a way… yes.”

“Right…”

“More it’s authority, knowledge, leadership, looking out for ponies… I actually have a book about it if-”

“No.”

I heard her let out a sigh. “Really? It’s not even a boring b-”

“No.”

“I could read it to you, then you wouldn’t even have to read it yourself.”

“No!”

Inky snorted. “Well now you just sound like Firestorm when she gets stubborn.”

My eyes opened again under my wings. “Am not.”

“Yes, yes you so are.” After a couple of moments I felt her magic start to form around my wings, which then gently forced them away from my head. Once my face was exposed, she leaned her head down closer to mine. “I promise I’ll drop the book thing if you come back out and see me.”

My mouth twisted up a little and I let out a small snort before lifting my head back up slowly. “Fine.” I folded my wings back in and looked over at Inkblot. Really, I didn’t even know which part of the last five minutes I was supposed to be thinking about. Her teasing me? The book thing? The running stuff thing?

Meanwhile, she just sat there with half of a goofy smile on her face. Then I could see her mind switch trains of thought and it started to fade. “Can you give a serious answer?”

I blinked, caught off guard by the odd question, but then nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Inky shifted her position a little before asking, “Were you scared?”

“Scared? Um… whaddya mean?”

She gave me a look like that was a dumb question. “Like you were scared. When you got caught, then taken off… and Firestorm too. Then you got put up with the other slaves… Were you scared?”

Was I scared? I never really thought about it. “I guess… not. No… I mean, I was too busy bein’... mad. An’ tryin’ t’ make sure Stormy was okay… an’ tryin’ t’ think if there was a way t’ escape. I didn’t… have time t’ be scared. I guess. I mean, I guess I was, just… other stuff was more important.”

She bit her lip then looked back down at her box of cereal, quickly using her magic to get a bite of it and put it into her mouth. “Oh.”

I raised my brow at her odd reaction. “Oh? Why?”

She gave her head a shake, looking back at me after finishing her bite of food. “When we figured out you really were missing, and it wasn’t just that we didn’t know where you were… I didn’t think about how we were going to get you back.”

That’s… odd. “What did ya think about?”

She shrugged. “I sort of just started… getting scared and started coming up with all the scenarios about how you were probably already dead.”

“Oh…” After a couple of seconds I started to smile a little. “Oh. Aw…” I leaned over and softly nosed at the side of her muzzle. “Ya really would be sad if I was dead, wouldn’t ya.”

Inkblot snorted and lifted a forehoof up to push my head away from hers after I spoke. “Oh shut up. It’s just… everyone else started running around coming up with plans, and I just sat there.”

I chuckled as my head got pushed away, but I didn’t let her push me far. “If it makes ya feel any better, Stormy didn’t make no plans either… She sorta just sat there an’ cried most’a th’ time. Then th’ rest just sat there acceptin’ her fate.”

Inky made a sour face. “No, that doesn’t really make me feel better.”

“Well it’s all I got.” I gave a little shrug, then gave Inky a quick lookover. At first I didn’t think it was a big deal, but she actually looked pretty upset about it. That’s no good… I started to chew my lip over as I thought, then coughed to clear my throat, “Why’s it uh… why’s it… bad? I mean like why’s it make you feel bad?”

She frowned and was quiet for a little bit. Her first motion was to slowly roll over onto her side and put her back up against my left side. “It’s my job to think about how to fix things. It’s…” She stopped and let out a sigh, then tilted her head a bit so that she could see up to my face, “Look, can we just be serious for a second?”

My brow furrowed at her change of mood. Okay… well I can’t say no. I licked my lips and extended my wing out to sort of hug at her barrel and nodded. “Yeah… are you okay?”

“I’m fine, it’s just-” she snorted softly, “You remember the other day when I said I was busy with a group counselling thing? That one day where I blew you off?”

I nodded again. “Yeah… what ‘bout it?”

“I’ve been thinking… maybe my cutie mark means more than I thought it did. Maybe it’s tied into my name.”

I paused and glanced around her tent before looking back at her face, “I’m sorry, what?”

“Stitching. Thread, Buck. It’s thread. Used for stitching. Which you do to sew things back together. To fix them. But what if it isn’t just about sewing things back together.”

I eyebrow raised. “What else do you sew back together?”

She let out a little snort, “Well I sewed you back together. But… like, minds. And stuff. Like helping ponies’ minds.” Her horn started to glow softly and she used it to open her saddlebags again. This time a book came floating out, which she brought over and levitated just in front of my face. ‘A Brief History of Psychology’, it read. “Back before the war they had one of these tests, it used inkblots.”

I looked over the cover of the book, at least until she mentioned the inkblots. I let out a little laugh and looked back at her, “I’m pretty sure yer name’s just from yer butt, Inky.”

She rolled her eyes, “But what if it isn’t? What if?”

“Well… uh…”

“If it isn’t, I need to figure that out, right? Anyway… point is… I started doing like… counselling stuff. Trying to help some of the foals, mostly the shy ones, or the ones who didn’t want to talk about certain things.” She huffed then smiled a little, “And it’s nice, it really is, they talk to me and they feel a little bit better, but then…” her smile faded, “If I can’t even figure out what to do to go save my best friend, how am I supposed to think that I can actually give them advice on stuff?”

I just laid there. Stunned. “Wow… this… took a really serious turn alla’ th’ sudden…”

There was silence for a few moments before Inky spoke up, “Just, forget it. Sorry” She sighed and laid her head back down.

“What? No, I’m thinkin’, just hang on a sec.” I tightened my wing around her barrel some, giving her a little squeeze. There had to be… “Oh! Oh oh, hey, look at me.”

“Why?”

I snorted and bent my head down closer to hers. I nipped at her ear, then gave it a couple of solid tugs, speaking with the tip of it in my mouth, “Look. at. me.”

She pulled her head away and tried to bat me off with her forehoof. Once she got me off of her ear, she turned her head to see me again. “What?”

I just smiled down at her, “Ya said you were counsellin’, right? ‘Cause they needed advice, er someone t’ talk to. Right?”

She blinked blankly at me. “Yes…”

“Well who’s t’ say that a counsellor don’t ever need any counsellin’?”

Inky gave me a look of confusion. “I don’t… know? But I’m the only one here doing it…”

I snorted a puff of air at her face, “What am I, chopped liver?”

“You haven’t even read the book!”

“Who says I gotta read th’ book t’ do it? Why can’t I be yer counsellor without readin’ th’ book? Or does th’ book say ya gotta read th’ book to do it?”

Inky went to speak, but stopped herself and started to think. It took a minute, which only made me start to smile again, before she said, “Well… no. There’s nothing that says you’ve had to read the book to do it. There’s… nothing that says you couldn’t…”

I chuckled, “See? There, it’s settled. You can counsel everyone else, and I’ll counsel you. Now, as my first act as your counsellor, I’m going to say this. You,” I picked up my forehoof and poked her cheek, “need to relax. Ya said th’ foals that talked t’ ya were feelin’ better. So obviously ya ain’t screwin’ everything up, right? Right. Ya might be able t’ help ‘em, but that don’t mean that ya don’t ever need help yerself, ‘cause sometimes ya won’t know what t’ do, just like them. An’ when that happens, ya gotta get help from whoever does know what t’ do er how t’ help. An’ then everything works out right.”

Inkblot just stared at me for what felt like a very long time, but probably wasn’t all that long. Maybe. Possibly. “Bucky… sometimes… you can be really smart for being so stupid.”

I grinned at her. “It’s a gift. … Wait, what?” I wasn’t stupid…

She wriggled against me, rolling over onto her back beside me, then reached up and wrapped her forelegs around my neck and pulled med my head down for a hug.

I totally deserved it, but I still wasn’t stupid. I laid my neck over hers as she pulled me down, and returned the hug with my wing that was still over her belly. “Yer really weird, ya know that, right?”

Inky gave me a quick nuzzle and a squeeze then pushed my head back up and away from her again. “Yeah yeah. You’re weirder, so it’s fine.”

“What? I ain’t th’ one who thinks a thing’a thread is s’posed t’ symbolize tryin’ t’ help ponies’ minds.”

She reached her forehoof up and gave me a swift glancing kick to my chin. A little jarring, but not painful. “I said be serious about it!”

I worked my jaw back and forth trying to get it to feel right again. “Sorry, sorry. Thought we were done with that portion.”

“No, I mean be serious about that for like… the rest of ever.”

“Aw… I can’t ever make fun’a it?”

“No, you can’t.”

“Dangit…” I gave my head a little shake then let out a sigh. I’d have to make sure I didn’t make fun of that. Couldn’t forget. She’d be really, really mad if I ever forgot… My eyes started to wander as it got quiet again. Inky had started to relax once more and now had her head on the ground again, only this time it was the back of her head since she was still laying belly-up. I glanced past her and saw her box of cereal. Still only half eaten…

Actually I was kinda hungry. I hadn’t eaten in… awhile. Was weird, normally I’d notice how hungry I was long before now. Whatever. I leaned forward to reach for the box, but then turned my head around when I heard steps behind me, towards the entrance to the tent.

“Inkblot?” That was… wait, that was Kari’s voice.

Inky’s eyes went wide and her head snapped around as she looked off towards the voice as well. “Oh, uh, hey! Uh… what’s up?”

Kari leaned down, pulled the tent flap to the side with a talon, then poked his head through. He started to speak, but paused and blinked at me a few times when he saw me next to her. “Hey, Buck. Uh, anyway,” he looked back to Inky, “You’d said you’d wanted to go flying, well, it’s nice out right now, and we should go before it gets dark if you want to.”

Inky started to shift her weight to her hooves, but stopped before she got up. She turned her head around to look at me, “Hey, um, do you… want to meet up again later?”

My brow had furrowed. Hard. I looked back to Inky and shook my head, “You? Flyin’? I thought ya hated it.”

“I um…” She bit her lip and looked past me at the dresser in the corner of her tent, then gave a little shrug and started to get up. My wing fell off of her back and went limp as she stood. “It won’t be too long. I’ll see you later.” She worked a smile up on her face and flicked her tail at my hip, then turned and started quickly for the exit of the tent. I just blinked as I watched her walk.

When Kari came into my view, he gave me a quick smirk. “Guess she just feels safer with me.” He gave a chuckle, and I could’ve sworn that I saw his muscles flexing even while he was just simply standing there.

My mouth opened, but before I could think of anything to say, both had ducked out of the tent and were walking away. Um… what? When I took her flying, she just about choked me and couldn’t stand to open her eyes. Now… she was willingly going flying with him? What in the world had happened while I was gone?

I gave my head a slow shake then rubbed my wing over my face before finally refurling it against my side. I guess I never could get all the fillies in my life to act normal and nice all at the same time, could I?

I guess technically I didn’t even have even one of them doing that. Even Lily was… what, getting High to get her booze? That’s no good… I sighed then turned my attention back towards my stomach. It was still hungry. And the box of cereal was still right there. I leaned my head down to grab it with my mouth, but I stopped again once I had ahold of it. Only this time it wasn’t what I heard that stopped me, it was what I saw.

Beneath Inky’s sleeping mat, there was a feather. With just the tip poking out. I dropped the cereal and used my wing to lift up the edge of the mat, then fished out the feather with my nose. Once it was out, I could get a good look at it. It wasn’t one of my feathers. No, it was a sort of orangey-reddish… brownish… wait. Wait… this was one of Kari’s feathers.

I turned to check the entrance of the tent to make sure nobody was there, then looked back at the feather. Kari’s feather. Under Inky’s bed. How’d it even get there? It had to have come from him. Well, obviously. But, that meant he had to have been in here. Was it… when he had asked her about flying? I started to chew on my lip as I thought about all the possible scenarios. But wait. To get under the bed, it had to have been shoved under there. Or his wing have to have been under there at some point… or his upper body right next to it. That meant he had to be on the bed. That also meant Inky knew where the feather was and I had to put it back.

I lifted up the edge of the mat again, then started to move the feather back. Only this time, I caught a whiff of the smell on it when I put my nose to it. It smelled… funny. Like it had been wet. Actually, it felt a little damp, too. Wait, that smell…

I gasped and jumped to my hooves, again looking back at the entrance of the tent. Nobody there, good. But, that smell! Wet, and Kari had been on her bed. And Inky felt safer with him? They’d slept together!

I closed my eyes and shook my head. No, no they didn’t. They couldn’t have. She hated him. She yelled at him so much. But… if she really did hate him, why was he in her tent? And why was she going flying with him? I opened my eyes again and quickly went about returning the feather to its spot underneath the sleeping mat. They couldn’t know that I knew.

Oh Goddesses… This was big. What was I gonna do? No clue. I needed to get away from here, though.

I turned and dashed out of the tent, hitting near full speed quickly.

Crash!

There was just one problem. High Times was walking down the little street just outside of the tent, and I ran full bore into him. Both of us let out a shout and tumbled to the ground. After a couple of rolls I came to a stop on my back, then had the air knocked out of my as a large bottle of some sort of dark liquid landed square on my stomach.

High Times was the first to get back to his hooves, as I was sort of busy being stunned by the bottle that made it difficult to breath. “You okay, Buck?”

I tried to speak, but it sort of came out as a gasp, so instead I just nodded.

“Good.” He let out a sigh of relief, then walked over and picked the bottle up off of me and set it down on the ground. “What’s the rush?”

I took a few moments to finally get my breath back, then cleared my throat and rolled halfway over. “Uh… it’s uh… it’s… nothin’. Um…”

High snorted softly. “If you don’t want to tell me, just say you don’t want to tell me.”

I gulped and shook my head. “N-no! It’s nothin’ bad! It’s just… just… uh… it’s uh… I have t’… food. Hungry.”

High simply nodded. “Right. Okay then. I’d help you out, but I think you know better than anyone else where the food is.”

I nodded rapidly, then stopped abruptly. “What’s that s’posed t’ mean?”

He laughed then moved over behind me. “Let’s get you up.” He leaned down and helped me get back up to my hooves. “It means you’re lazy. But your body has a lot of growing to do right now, so it needs a lot of sleep to get the energy to do the growing, so it is what it is.”

I gave my wings a bit of a flap to straighten them out after I got back up to my hooves. “Hey! I’m not lazy.”

“Sure you aren’t.” He just smiled then leaned down again to get the bottle of… well actually it was some sort of alcohol. Which… was for Lily. Right…

I bit at my lip then cleared my throat, “Um… hey, High?”

He paused what he was doing and looked up at me. “Yeah?”

I started to chew at my lip thinking of a way to say the newest thing that had come to my mind, but I couldn’t find any subtle way of saying it. “Lily ain’t drinkin’ ‘cause’a me… right?”

High Times tilted his head and looked confused, until he glanced at the bottle of booze next to him and my question seemed to click. “Oh, Buck. No… no, she’s not. And remember, drinks like these are bad for foals. But for adults… in small, safe amounts, it can help a little. It’s like a massage, can help you unwind some.”

I tried hard to not roll my eyes some at his little spiel about alcohol. “Yeah, yeah, but… still. Why’s she gotta have it?”

“Do you really not see how the last couple of days have been very stressful for her?”

That time I actually did roll my eyes. “Course I do… but that’d also make it ‘cause’a me.”

High let out a sigh. “No. You didn’t stress her out. The situation did. And the fact that she had to save you from her own father… and kill him, did. His death might just be like any other to you, but to her it’s not.”

I started to chew at my lip again. “Right…”

High picked up the bottle again and stepped over towards me. “You should ask her about it, maybe tomorrow or in a couple of days. You’d probably learn a bit more. I know you’d like that.”

I shook my head. “But she don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Buck, trust me. Something like this may seem to be a thing that a pony wouldn’t want to talk about, but deep down, they want to be able to get it off their chest. At least ask her if she’s willing to talk about it? If nothing else, you can help show her that you’ll be there for her like she’s there for you.”

My nose wrinkled up a bit as I tilted my head to look at High, “Didja haveta put it all philosophically?”

High laughed softly and smiled. “I’m not good at many things. I have to take advantage of the ones I am.”

I gave a little snort then looked away. “Right. I guess I’ll… talk t’ her t’morrow, then. Maybe. I dunno.”

High nodded, then gave me a pat on the shoulder. “If you need any help thinking of something to say to her, come ask me. I’d be glad to help you out. For the moment, I have to go help her out, though.” With that, he turned and continued walking off in his original direction, towards Lily’s tent.

I took a deep breath, then glanced down at my stomach when I felt it rumble again. And there was the hunger pain coming back. Right. Food. I glanced around the area, saw nobody else was near, so I darted back into Inky’s tent, grabbed the box of cereal, then left quickly and flew back to my place over the General Store. I had to eat before I passed out or something stupid like that.

The cereal was… well actually I just sorta inhaled it. So not much tasting actually happened. It was probably good, though. But I wasn’t thinking about taste. Or even cereal. Or even the pretty cool view I had from my perch on top of the store. There was only one thing on my mind. Well… two.

How could she do that without telling me? Like, I thought we were close. Well we were close. But… She didn’t tell me. That’s big news! And… she was still being all… Was she being flirty? I guess. Would I even be able to tell the difference between flirty and not flirty? Probably. Maybe. Or did I just want to think she was flirty.

I don’t know! She liked colts. I liked fillies. We were best friends. Why not? I know exactly why not. What did all the old ponies in the bars in towns have to say about relationships? That’s right. That once people got into them, everything was different. You saw stuff differently, liked different stuff or found things annoying that you didn’t before. Then when you separate because it wasn’t working, you hardly ever see them again and sure aren’t friends like you used to be. That’s why.

We’re best friends. What’s the sense in ruining that? Things are fine the way they are, even if it does make my brain hurt, my stomach knotty, and other parts hard. Changing something could ruin everything.

But I couldn’t just sit back and let her and Kari do… things… There’s no way she really liked him. The only possible way she might be tolerating him is because of his… muscles. Which, they were pretty awesome muscles. And his body has a nice curve, and his tail- Gah. The point is, she must just like how he looks, and that’s it. But how to snap her out of it? How do I-

SPLAT!

I pulled my head back and sputtered after a rather large ball of mud slammed into my face. “What th’ hell?!” I reached up with a wing and started to scrape the mud off.

“That’s what I’m sayin’!” Oh… it was Sunny. “I been calling your name for like five minutes!”

I finished flinging off the mud and finally looked down at her. Part of me was glad to see her, the rest of me just wanted her to bugger off. “Sorry. Mind’s busy. Ya need somethin’?”

Sunny nodded. “Yeah! You!”

“Huh?”

She stomped a hoof on the ground, “You get kidnapped, and taken away, and you get rescued, and come back, and you don’t even say hi to me?!”

I blinked a couple of times then cursed under my breath. I’d… forgotten to do that. That was really bad, actually. “I’m sorry.” I slowly got up to my hooves, then spread my wings and glided down to the ground next to her. I worked up a little smile as I landed. “I’m here now, though?”

Sunny turned and reared up to wrap her forelegs around my neck after I came to a stop and squeezed as tight as she could. “Don’t do it again.”

I gave a quiet nod, then turned and nuzzled at her shoulder as I slipped a wing around her back, returning the hug. “Promise.” I kept the hug up for as long as she wanted, which actually ended up being a couple of minutes.

After that time had passed, she started to loosen her grip, then slowly slid back and down to all fours. When she did, I pulled my wing back. “You never let me hug you for that long before.”

I gave her a little smile, then started to flap my wings and lift myself just an inch off of the ground. “Here.” I stuck my forehoof out, indicating for her to get on it. Once she did, I lifted her and carried her up to the rooftop with me. I set her down on my bed, then landed and laid down on it next to her. “Sorry I never let ya hug that long before.”

Sunny gave her body a shake once I set her down, then she plopped down on the mattress next to me. “It’s fine… it’s just weird.”

I chewed over my lip as I considered that. “Well, I guess Inky was right… Guess I did learn somethin’ over th’ past couple’a days.”

She turned and looked up at me, her head tilting. “Huh? What’d you learn?”

I looked back at her, then leaned over and nosed at her cheek before responding. “High had told me somethin’ a long time ago. But I’d never paid any attention t’ it. But then last couple’a days with Firestorm I kinda just… did it without thinkin’. Then… just a minute ago, I actually did think about it an’ made sure I did it.”

“Well what was it? Tell me already.”

I snickered then said, “He told me that when somepony hugged me, I should never let go first. ‘Cause I never know how long they might need t’ get hugged for. I sorta… hugged Stormy a lot while we were out.”

Sunny seemed to understand, but then she let out a snort. “Yeah, that’s because she’s all weak.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh. An’ what ‘bout you?” I motioned down to where we’d just spent two minutes hugging on the ground below us.

She looked down when I motioned, then looked back at me. “Well that’s different.”

I just nodded. “Of course it is.”

“It is!” She huffed then pointed a hoof at me, “And besides, what were you so busy staring off at nothing about, anyway?”

I licked at my lips. On the one hoof, I could tell her. She might have something interesting to say. On the other hoof, it was a pretty private matter, and I probably shouldn’t be telling her. Then again… “Can I trust ya t’ keep a secret?”

Sunny practically looked offended. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I snorted. “It means yer job is literally t’ tell me everyone else’s secrets ‘round here. How am I s’posed t’ know ya don’t do the same fer somepony else?”

“Aw, c’mon, Tri.”

“You spread a rumor that I had kissed Paper Scroll!”

Sunny started to giggle. “Sheesh, Tri, that wasn’t anything big.”

“Uh huh… little miss rumor-spreader.”

She started to pout, but it didn’t last for long. “I promise not to tell anyone. Ever. At all. Anything.”

I chewed on my lips again. She’d figure it out for herself eventually. She was too smart to not catch the signs or the movements if they kept at it. So the news would get out at some point. So it wouldn’t do much harm to tell her. But this way I could also make sure if she was keeping promises to me.

I took a deep breath then said quietly, “Kari and Inky are sleeping together.”

Sunny blinked and then gasped. “You mean… sleep overs or… or… or…”

“The second.”

She gasped again. “That’s… huge!”

I hissed then looked around. Okay, the nearest foals were still on the other side of town. I looked back at Sunny and whacked her hindquarters softly with my wing, “Secret, remember? Don’t yell it.”

She ducked her head a little and curled in on herself slightly. “Sorry. How’d you find out?”

“Just… I did. How ain’t important. What is important is how we’re gonna stop it.”

“Wait, what? Why’re we gonna stop it?”

I blinked at Sunny. “Oh please. You don’t need me t’ tell ya that Inky hates him.”

“Well…” She lifted a hoof up and pointed at the side of my neck, where my big gash was healing, and incidentally where the stitches still were. Those needed to be taken out. “She got real mad at him for that, both times. But they’ve been spending a bit of time together. He was in her building with her for like… hours a couple of days ago… the same day you disappeared.”

“Seriously?”

Sunny nodded. “Yeah. Not sure what they were doing, but they got along with each other for at least that long, ‘cause they both seemed pretty good when they finally came back out. Kari was kinda red... puffy eyed, though.”

I bit at my lip again. That was bad. Red eyes was weird. Or maybe that was just a thing that happened after you had sex... If they kept spending more time together, it was gonna be harder to get her to come back to her senses. “Okay, well, maybe they can tolerate each other, but that don’t mean they’re, like, made fer each other ‘r nothin’. Kari’s so new, we don’t even know that much about him yet. An’ Inky… she just likes the way he looks, but she thinks he’s a bad influence.”

Sunny’s muzzle scrunched up a little bit as she started to think. “So you really want to make sure they don’t like… get together again?”

I nodded. “That’s th’ idea.”

She sighed and looked down for a minute, but slowly a faint, goofy smile started to spread across her face. “I think… I might have an idea.”

“Well?”

Sunny looked back up at me, smile still intact, “I know how you can break them up.”

“Ya gonna tell me ‘r not?”

“You need to hit on Kari.”

I blinked and deadpanned at Sunny. “I need t’ do what?”

“It’ll make Inkblot jealous. And it’ll make Kari start paying attention to you instead of her. So both of them end up thinking about you instead of each other. It’s perfect.”

My mouth fell open upon finally hearing the full plan. I shook my head slowly and turned to look back out at the view off of my roof. That was… that was so… stupid. But it was the only way I could do it without them knowing that I knew about them. Maybe it was so stupid that it just might work… And even then it was better than the ideas I’d come up with. Which was because I’d come up with… absolutely nothing.

Still. Something, even if it was bad, was better than nothing. I couldn’t let Inky make a mistake like that.

I gave my head another slow shake. “I’m gonna haveta hit on Kari…”

Sunny nodded. “Yep!”

This day was not turning out like I thought it would. Should probably start with the tail...

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Kibu, Scrap Metal, and No One for help with grammar, spelling, plot, so on and so forth and editing thingymabobs.

Chapter 11: A Filly Worth Fighting For

‘Sup?

No.

What’s up?

No.

Hey, buddy!

Ew, no. Too weird. I need something…

Hi, how are ya?

Eh… better. More normal, anyway. But what next? Uh.

Wonderful weather we’re having.

What? No. It’s cloudy all the time, the weather is always the same. Which, actually, now that I thought about it, who taught me that word? Weather. Why do we still have a word for weather if the weather is always the same? Well, then again, sometimes it’s rainy, sometimes it’s not. Hot, cold, humid, dry. That all still changed. So I guess we do still have weather.

That greeting was still awful, though.

Hi, how are y- Oh! Hey, how was th’ flight?

Yeah… now we’re getting somewhere. Then he’ll say it went fine, to which I’ll say…

How did you get my best friend to feel more comfortable with you than she does with me?

Gah. No. That part of my brain needed to go back over somewhere else. Besides, I already knew how that happened. He was tall. Had big muscles. A well taken care of coat. That gruff but still friendly attitude. Bigger, more stable body she could lay on. Or cuddle up against.

I groaned and let my head drop down to the mattress. A few moments later I felt a hoof poking the side of my face.

“You okay, Tri?”

I sighed and looked over at Sunny without picking my head out. “Yeah. … No. This is useless. I can’t make Inky jealous unless I like go t’ her directly. Er, I mean, I can’t get her t’ pay attention t’ me instead’a him unless I go t’ her directly. Like, there’s just no way. Stand me and Kari next t’ each other, he’s better than me in every way.”

Sunny looked shocked at the very idea. “What? Nuh uh!”

“Yeah huh.”

“Nuh uh! What if she don’t like griffins and just likes ponies?”

I rolled my eyes. “Clearly she likes griffins, Sunny. That ain’t th’ ticket.”

“Well… what if… oh, oh, we know she likes kisses!”

“They already did way more than kiss.”

Sunny made a ‘pfft’ noise. “So? Kissin’s way more important. I bet she didn’t even kiss him! He’s got that weird… uh… weird… … that mouth thingy, totally horrible for kissing! So what you gotta do… what you gotta do is um… um…”

“Kiss her?”

She shook her head. “Nope! Kiss him!”

I lifted my head up this time. “What?!”

She started to smile wide. “Yeah! Kissing her will get her attention, but it won’t get his attention. If you kiss him, he’ll definitely be looking at you, and well, she’ll be thinking about what she’s missing out on!”

I worked my mouth a couple of times before shaking my head. “No, Sunny. I’m not going to go kiss Kari. Just. No.”

“Awwww…”

I lifted my wing up and draped it over Sunny’s face. “I’m not even gonna let ya get t’ th’ part ya do after makin’ that noise.”

There was a moment of silence followed by another, sadder, “Awwwwwww.”

“Nope.” I left my wing over her face for half a minute before taking it off and folding it back up against my side. “I’d ask ya t’, like, pretend yer Kari so I could try stuff out on ya, but ya’d just try t’ kiss me, so that ain’t gonna work.”

Sunny huffed then asked, “Is me trying to kiss you really all that bad, though?”

I gave Sunny a look. “Yes.”

“Oh fine.” She blinked and then her eyes darted past me. A second later she lifted her hoof and pointed up into the sky. “You don’t have time to practice, anyway. They’re back.”

“What?” I turned quickly and looked where she was pointing. Sure enough, there they were. Descending back down out of the sky and heading for the middle of town, just out in front of Inkblot’s building. “Crap.”

Sunny nuzzled at my neck before I felt her start pushing on me, trying to get me up. “I believe in you, Tri! You can do it!”

I grunted, but after a moment used her help to get up to my hooves. “Sure… thanks. Alright… here goes nothing.”

I looked back off of the roof and watched as they landed on the ground. I’d have to make an impressive entrance… probably… Yeah, just a nice, smooth glide and land without making a sound. He had muscle, but I had grace. Yeah.

I spread my wings and stepped off the roof of the General Store and started to glide in their direction, only to hear a call from behind me.

“Wait! Tri! Tripod!”

I looked back over my shoulder and saw Sunny waving a hoof at me from the roof. What did she wa- oh. Oh. She had no way off the roof. Oops. I flapped my wings and spun around, flying back quickly to pick her up and then drop her off on the ground.

Well so much for that grand entrance. I darted off in Inky and Kari’s direction, flying most of the way, but then fluttering down and hitting the ground at a trot just before reaching them.

Kari had just finished helping Inkblot off of his back. She looked a little rattled, but she had a big smile on her face when she hit the ground. Lovely. I cleared my throat as I came to a stop near them. “Hey! How’d th’ flight go?”

The griffin looked up at me and grinned, “Great! Had to cut it short, though. Starting to get dark.” I glanced upwards and, well, he was right about that, at least.

Inky seemed surprised at hearing me. “Oh hey, Bucky. Yeah it uh, it went.”

I nodded at both of them. “Cool, cool. That’s good. That’s good.” I continued to slowly nod. Was I supposed to keep talking? Or was it their turn? They didn’t look like they were getting ready to say anything… Awkward… I cleared my throat after a bit and looked at Kari, “So hey, uh, I um… I saw you flying up there. And…” And what? And… what? “I uh… I really like your… tail. It… it looks really cool.”

… Sure.

Now it was Kari’s turn to look surprised, but he started to smile soon after. He turned to look back at his tail and gave it a few little flicks. It was so weird, the way it swayed back and forth. It was like he had control over every little bit of it, and he could make the tip do the smallest little- gah! Stop it.

“Thanks. It’s kinda helpful as a rudder up there, actually. Fling it around, help keep my balance while changing direction.” As Kari spoke, my eyes darted back up towards his face as I’d sorta gotten lost staring at his tail. Again.

“Oh. Oh? Really. That’s… that’s cool.” I nodded again. I was doing that too much. Nodding. Like a bobblehead. I needed to quit that. Looked goofy. Something else… something other than nodding. Well my wings aren’t doing anything. But what could I do with those? “So… so uh… well if yer tail does that. Ya kinda look pretty aerodynamic overall. That… that just you, ‘r is that a griffin thing?”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Inky, slowly turning to look at me. And giving me a weird look, too… I sorta just pretended not to see it. That was the jealous look, right? Had to be.

Kari looked back at his body, then flared out one of his wings to demonstrate. “Well half bird, so that part is obvious. But the back half… that’s cat. Sorta depends on the type of cat, you know? But most of them are pretty agile or pretty fast. And usually what’s fast on the ground is also fast through the air, so it ends up being pretty aerodynamic too.”

I nodded again. Gah! Something, anything other than nodding. Bah, I got nothing. “An’ yer uh… what are ya, exactly?”

Kari paused and blinked, but then let out a cackling laugh. “Red tailed hawk and tiger. Tiger isn’t the fastest or the most agile… but still pretty good for both. And a lot better than pony,” he motioned towards me. Well he wasn’t wrong… flying horse was a lot less aerodynamic than a flying bird. “What got you so interested all’a the sudden?”

I chewed at my lips, trying to think of a good answer to that question. “Well um… I figured uh, yer still pretty new here. An’ ya did jus’ help free me an’ Stormy from slavers, and-”

Kari smiled again, “Yeah! Did you see that? Got them all confused, bet they thought a whole flock of griffins was coming after them. Then just swooped down, fwoosh, right across the throat,” he lifted his claw and did a sweeping motion as he finished speaking.

I laughed, nerves still getting the best of me and making it come out a little too stiff. “Yeah, yeah I saw. That what th’ noises were though? That part confused me a little but uh, yeah, I saw. Anyway, figured, we hadn’t spent much time t’gether, an’ th’ time we did sorta ended up with us splittin’ ways, then me getting knocked out savin’ you then you flyin’ me back… and uh… Figured maybe we could spend some more time t’gether. Maybe… go somewhere. Or have dinner…”

Kari snickered. “Have dinner? You say it like that, make it sound like a date.”

I sorta just froze for a good five or ten seconds before stammering out, “It’s not a da-” Wait. Wasn’t the point here to hit on Kari and to make them both jealous and split them up and make sure they didn’t get into some idiotic relationship with each other? So… “Well, I mean, if you wanted it to be a date…”

He started to laugh again, but slowly his laughing subsided as he started to consider the idea that I might be serious. Before he could speak, though, a certain somepony else beat him to it.

“Bucky…”

I gulped and glanced over at Inky, trying to look all confident like I knew exactly what I was doing.
“Hmm?”

Her eyes were squinted a little, and she was looking me over. “Are you sure you… didn’t hit your head or something while we were gone? Are you okay?”

My eyes rolled upwards, as if I could actually look at my own head. “Y-yeah. My head’s fine.”

“Really? Because, what, just last week you…” her voice trailed off and she fell silent.

I lowered my eyes back down, coughing as I did so, and looking at Inky again. “Last week?”

I could see her chewing on her tongue. Thinking long and hard. Made me a little nervous… but eventually she lifted up a forehoof and pointed it at me and Kari. “You two should definitely go on a date. Tonight.”

My mouth fell open, but Kari was the first to say anything. “What?!”

Inkblot simply nodded firmly, then pointed at Kari. “Yes. In an hour. You go get cleaned up. Meet Bucky in the food storage building.” She then pointed at me. “You, come with me. I’ll take out your stitches before the date.”

We both just stood there. Dumbfounded. That was the last thing I expected her to do. That wasn’t jealousy. Was it? Apparently I stood there too long, though, as I felt the slightly tingly touch of telekinesis form around me ear, then solidly grip it. I let out a squeaky note of surprise, but Inky simply tugged and pulled me by my ear after her, right into her building, leaving Kari outside alone.

After she got us inside, she closed the door and let go of my ear, her magic switching targets and going about getting a bit of her own gear out. “Lay down on the table.”

I gave an annoyed huff and lifted my wing to rub at my ear. It wasn’t bad, but that did kind of hurt. I gave Inkblot a look out of the corner of my eye, but decided that maybe just listening to her would be best right now. I stepped over and hopped up onto the table, then laid down on my left side.

Inkblot spent a minute getting her materials together, then floated them next to her in her magic as she walked over to me. “Okay. It’s just you and me in here. How about you tell me the truth?”

Ha. Haha. Yeah. The truth. Sure. Well, I was snooping around in your tent after you left, and I figured out you’re sleeping with the griffin! Well, it wasn’t really snooping. It was an accident. But she’d see it as snoop-

“I thought you said you liked fillies?”

I blinked. Oh. Oh… that… that truth… I gulped before moving my eye to look at her. “I… I do. Just… it’s just… he’s got… I mean… I really like his tail!”

Inky snorted. “His tail. What is so special about his tail.”

I bit at my lip and fidgeted a little. “Well… It’s… it’s orange. That’s a nice color. An’ black stripes. Also neat. An’… it’s… it’s really long. An’ slender. An’ so flexible, it’s like each part’a it moves so easily. It ain’t like a pony tail where half’a it is hair, he can actually control th’ whole thing. An’ th’ way he makes it flick back an’ forth looks cool, an’ how it curls up…”

Inkblot just stared at me for several seconds after my little rant drifted into silence. “You’ve actually spent a lot of time thinking about that…”

My ears pinned back and I started to blush some. “It’s a really nice tail…”

“Right…” She sighed, then set down some of her things before bending over my neck and getting to work. First she snipped some of the stitches, then started to use her magic to carefully pull them out. “Good luck… I guess…”

I tried to stay as perfectly still as I could for her. “Ya guess?”

“Just… never imagined you trying to chase after a colt.” She let out a long breath as she snipped the rest of the stitches and started to pull them out as well. “Idiot’s been good at listening to orders the last few days though. So he should be nice and cleaned up for you. Your neck looks pretty good. There’ll be a scar, but once your coat grows back in properly, it won’t stand out too bad.”

My brow furrowed as I listened, but I waited to respond. After Inky had pulled out the last of the stitches, I lifted my head a bit and turned to look at her. “Uh… thanks.” That didn’t sound like jealousy. That sounded like… like she was encouraging it.

Shouldn’t she be upset that Kari hadn’t outright said no to the date? Shouldn’t she be trying to stop the date from happening at all? She wasn’t reacting to any of this like she was supposed to. Why couldn’t these fillies just do anything predictably?

Inkblot gave me a little smile and waved her hoof as she grabbed her gear and floated the stitches away back to another desk. “Don’t mention it. Now get out. You have a date to plan in the food storage building.”

I’d spent the last thirty minutes just laying on the ground in the food storage building. In the dark. Night had fallen, and this building didn’t have windows anyway. Something didn’t add up. Two plus two… it should be four. Not five.

Why would they sleep together? Inky might’ve been sad… she said she had frozen up and gotten scared after I disappeared. High Times had warned a few times about things ponies did when they were sad or scared. Things they wouldn’t normally ever do otherwise… things like that, sometimes. But even then, Inky wouldn’t do that. Besides, they were busy trying to figure out how to get me back.

And if he did that to her then… I’d… I’d take my rope and wrap it around his neck and-

Gah. No. There’s no way that would’ve happened. But maybe they’d done it before I left. When Sunny talked about them being together. But… she said that was in Inkblot’s building. Not her tent. If anything, the feather would’ve been there, in her building. But it was in her tent… Sunny didn’t see them together in her tent.

Or maybe it was right before I stopped by to see Inkblot? It was still damp. Things don’t take days to dry out… so it couldn’t have gotten damp days ago. It… but that means… that means it would’ve had to have gotten damp… today. Earlier today. Kari wasn’t there when I got there, though. So it would’ve had to have been a little earlier.

But even then… even if Inky had decided to do that with him, she wasn’t the type to just… like she wasn’t going to just… like that wasn’t something she’d just take lightly. Right…? Me and Kari were basically standing there speechless, and she pretty much made up our minds for us. She wouldn’t… do that… if they’d slept together.

But how was I going to find out? I couldn’t go snooping again. She’d probably catch me. I couldn’t just tell her what I found. She’d think I was snooping the first time and get mad at me. And I couldn’t just ask Kari about it.

Wait. Yes I could. Just… indirectly. Yeah.

Yeah, alright. There we go. A plan. A good plan!

I reached over in the darkness and grabbed ahold of the lighter I’d found. I carefully lit it, then used it to light one of the candles Inky had brought back from that store in the town we found Kari in originally. It… actually smelled nice. Didn’t put off too much light, but it was enough to see and eat by.

I got up and ran around to the other side of the building, grabbing a couple of different items. One was a box of scavenged food for me. The other was some of the meat we’d cooked and preserved back from when we had the big emergency hunt. Kari ate a lot of meat, so he should like it just fine.

I set up a couple of places on the ground for us, with little cushions to lay on, on either side of the candle, then laid out the food in the appropriate places. After doing so, I took a step back to survey my work. It seemed right. I’d never done it before… but I’d heard enough stories from Inkblot to figure this had to be what it was supposed to look like. That filly read way too many books. There weren’t even all that many in the wasteland, but somehow if there were any within a hundred mile radius, she found them. No clue how.

I heard the door open behind me and instantly spun around, perking up a bit. Show time.

The door swung open, revealing none other than Kari on the other side. The open door didn’t exactly let much more light in, since the sun had set, but there was just enough outside and from the candle to let him be seen easily. And… wow, he cleaned up pretty good. Maybe it was the candle, but he just looked… shiny.

He, however, looked surprised. “Oh… wow. I… I didn’t actually expect you to be in here.”

I blinked and pulled my head back. “Huh. Whaddya mean?”

Kari cleared his throat and quickly ran a talon over the feathers on the top of his head. He was silent for a moment, then stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “Well I… I didn’t actually take you as… you know. The way Inkblot reacted, I almost thought it was some sort of prank you were trying to pull.” He paused and I heard his beak click as he looked over the little area I’d prepared. “Guess not.”

My face started to get a little red, and I was glad that it probably wasn’t visible against my orange coat in the low light. “Like I said, I’m not… before at Market… uh…” I coughed again. Stop stuttering. Stick to the gameplan. “So uh, here, I’ve got food out.” He stepped back and pointed to Kari’s spot with a wing, then went around to my side and laid down on my cushion. “Some meat we got recently fer ya. Ya like ant, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah, ant’s okay. Red meat’s better. Guess you guys don’t get a lot of that down here?” He lowered down onto his cushion and didn’t waste any time picking up his serving. He just grabbed the entire slab of meat with one talon and started to yank bits of it off with his beak.

“Uh, no, not really. We uh, ponies aren’t really built t’ eat meat, ya know? So, we sorta just do it fer emergencies, try t’ eat other stuff most’a th’ time.” I just watched him eat for a few bites. How he did it seemed… weird. Like he was angry at the food and ripping it to shreds just to take a simple bite. Were all griffins like that? Or maybe carnivores in general…

I caught myself staring again and quickly went about opening up my can of food, using my forehoof and a wing. “So, no, ain’t a prank… why’d ya think it was a prank, though? Happen to ya b’fore?”

“Not really…” He swallowed the meat in his beak before continuing. “Never actually around others my age much.”

“Oh, so not a lotta girls t’ be interested in?”

Kari’s eyebrow raised. “Girls?”

I blinked then just about choked. Oops. “I mean, uh… guys? Ya jus’ like guys?”

He slowly motioned between me and him. “Thought that much was obvious…?”

I gulped then quickly stuffed food into my mouth after I finished opening the can. Mostly it just gave me time to think while I chewed. “Sorry. New t’ this.”

“Dating or liking guys?”

I started to feel my cheeks flush again. Normally I’d know how to answer that question, but Kari was- wait. Hold on. He just said he only liked guys? The blood started to recede from my face as my mind started to work. Remember the plan. “Datin’. Kinda… my first. Yer first, too? Er… ya ever been… close with any griffins before? Or… ponies?”

Kari shook his head. “No… Bounty hunters, remember? We don’t really socialize with others who aren’t, much… and we’re on the move a lot. So I didn’t get to see many my age, and those I did, well, didn’t get much chance to get close. Ponies… I’ve only ever really talked to ponies since I’ve been here.” He huffed. “Tend to screw up the conversation more often than not. Pretty sure you’re the only one that actually even likes me. Well, you and Firestorm now, I guess. She’s been hanging around a bit today for some reason.”

My brow furrowed as he spoke. Never been with a griffin, no ponies liked him except me… not even a mention of Inky at all. That… there is no way… he… Well if they didn’t sleep together, what in the world was his feather doing there?!

“Buck?”

I blinked and looked back at Kari. “Huh? Oh, sorry… was thinkin’ ‘bout… a thing. Uh…” Right, but now my plan’s finished. It leaves more questions than answers, but the plan’s done… what now? Gotta talk to Inky… but that means I have to get out of here first. Should probably end it as soon as possible… but I can’t just get up and walk out. Oh! He hated talking about his family before.

I cleared my throat. “Why uh… why are y’all bounty hunters? Like, why’d yer parents get inta it?”

The tigerhawk grew quiet for a minute. Which, I at least thought was a good sign, but when he opened his beak, it was not what I was expecting. “In the start, they just did it for the money. After the Enclave invaded and tore up everything, they were left with… basically nothing. But they had some proper experience after fighting in the war… and there were a lot of angry griffins willing to pay to have things… done. So, in order to just help survive, they started bounty hunting.

“It went… really well. And they were really good at it. They got my uncle and aunt in on it too. Got a whole bunch of profit… but then, they kept doing it. Not because they had to, but because they enjoyed it. So, once I was born… well… they got me into it to.” He paused and smirked. “It really is fun, though. It’s like detective work, and hunting, and fighting, all wrapped up into one.”

My ears perked up a bit as he spoke. “Wait, hold up, go back a bit. Enclave invaded? Them’s th’ pegasi ‘r whatever up there, right?”

Kari nodded and followed with a snort. “Yeah. The Grand Pegasus Enclave,” he said mockingly, “bunch of ponies that think everything has to happen their way and if they want it, they can just take it. They invaded the griffin lands like… a few decades ago now, something like that. Killed a bunch of griffins, took a bunch of land, stole a bunch of stuff. Made the griffins really mad at them. Which, after things started to settle again, a lot of the survivors wanted revenge. But they couldn’t just invade the Enclave… so… they would end up putting out bounties on Enclave ponies…”

Wait a second… “Bounties on Enclave ponies? Was that… was that what y’all were doin’ in Enclave territory when ya got shot down?”

He let out a long sigh, dipping his head some to brush at his head feathers with a talon. “Officially? No. We were part of a diplomatic delegation, designed to help relations between the griffin nation and the new regime of Enclave government. Unofficially… we were there to kill an old Enclave military general.”

My mouth just fell open. That changed… so many things. And made everything make sense. “Didja kill ‘em? But they caught ya?”

Kari hit the ground with his first then lifted it up into the air, “That’s the thing! We’d killed him two days before we left. There’s no way they found out he was dead, or that it was us! He was on a weekend getaway. Nobody expected him back before Monday. And we were leaving by then. But they still turned on us right before leaving their territory and shot us down… It had to be something they were planning the entire time.”

I just stared at him, my food, at least for now, forgotten. On the one hoof, they’d snuck in there and killed somepony. On the other, they also got lied to and his parents died for it… Almost like they were doing the same things to each other, just… Actually… “Ya never really seemed all that sad ‘bout it, though…”

His face fell again, and his eyes wandered for a moment before they honed in on the flickering candle. “I… it’s… it’s like I told Inkblot. What’s the use of getting sad? Getting sad won’t bring them back. Getting sad just… just wastes time you could be doing something else.”

“I dunno… getting sad sometimes can be, like… Like Firestorm, when we got caught. She was real sad… an’ she let it all out. But like, after that, she was able t’ get back up an’ do stuff.”

Kari’s eyes flicked up towards me for a moment, but then focused back in on the flame. “I can already do stuff. What’s sitting down to get sad going to get me?”

I chewed on my lip as I thought about that. It was a good question. But… “Well… so what, then? Yer just gonna be fine an’ not think ‘bout it, and…”

He looked up at me again, though this time his eyes stayed on me. “What would you do if Lily died?”

I froze for a moment, not having expected that question. “I’d… prob’ly… try t’ kill whatever got her, then… I dunno… maybe curl up in a ball an’ cry…” I bit my lip as my feathers ruffled. Even the thought of that was unsettling, really.

“Right. You’d get revenge. How would you do it?”

“Uh… huh?”

“How would you get revenge?”

I raised an eyebrow at Kari. “I’m not sure what you-”

“Would you chase them down? Stalk them? Do it fast, do it slow, what?”

“I… I dunno… I was kinda workin’ offa th’ assumption it was like a wild animal ‘r somethin’...”

Kari scoffed and pointed a talon at me. “No! It was actually somebody from… Manehatten. They had the whole town on their side, up for fighting you. You can’t take them all on. You’d die. So how are you going to get revenge?”

My ears pinned back a little when Kari’s voice raised. “I guess I’d try t’ figure out a way t’ do it without th’ rest’a th’ town knowin’?”

Kari started to smile. “Exactly! You go in, or get someone you trust to go in and you watch. And you figure out where they’re moving and when they’re moving, and you figure out when they’re alone or when they’re vulnerable. And you go in and you strike, silently, nobody knows. Then you leave a message…” he paused and laughed, “you leave a message, maybe a feather, maybe a note, you let them all know that they better never mess you with again, because this is what you’re capable of.”

He pulled his claw back in and made a fist, then slammed it against the ground again. After leaving it there for a minute, he slowly unclenched it and started to use a claw to slowly make little shapes in the dirt next to the cushion he was laying on.

A few moments later he spoke again, this time his voice much quieter, “And all the while you know it won’t change anything. They’re still dead. You’re still sad. And now a whole new set of people are sad because they just had a family member die. And now they want revenge… The worst part… The worst part, though…” He paused and I heard a sniffle from his direction. A wet one. “Is that you know all that, but you’re still so angry that it’s the only thing you want to do. Everything else is just… stepping stones along your way until you can finally do it.”

As Kari’s voice drifted away, the air was filled with silence. Not an awkward one though… rather it was a heavy, sad silence. I’d pulled away some when he had started his rant, but by the end, I wasn’t scared anymore. I realized he wasn’t going to lash out. He was… dumping it out. “Ya thought a lot ‘bout that… haven’t ya?”

He didn’t say a word, but he did give a slight nod as he continued to doodle in the dirt.

The silence took over again as I shifted on my cushion, not entirely sure of what to do. Slowly it came to me, though. I rose up to my hooves and hobbled my way around towards his side of the little area I’d set up. He hadn’t seemed to notice the movement at all.

When I got close to him, I lowered my head down and carefully nosed at his cheek. “Hey…”

He seemed surprised at the contact and his head jerked back to look at me. “Huh?”

I gave a short, dry chuckle at his reaction before saying, “I ain’t never lost my parents… never lost Lily, or Inky… I did lose somepony once, though.”

Kari blinked at me, and even I could see in the dim light of the candle that his eyes were moist. “You did? Who?”

I cleared my throat then turned my body a bit. Once I was parallel with Kari, I laid down again, pushing my right side against his left side, sort of on the edge of the cushion. “Her name was Viridian. She-” I paused and raised an eyebrow when I saw Kari’s reaction to the name. “Viridian… it’s… a greenish… blue-y… thing. She was greenish-blue. Anyway,” I gave a small wave with my left wing, dismissing that bit, and moved on. “She was a little earth pony filly.

“She was a friend’a mine. Well… she was a friend of everypony. Everyone loved her. Then… I guess it was a couple’a years ago now… she left town by herself, her an’ one’a her other friends. Asylum was a lot closer t’ Manehatten back then. They wanted t’ go to th’ city, just fer a short bit, then head right on back home.” I shook my head slowly. “That didn’t happen, though. Well… it did fer one’a ‘em. But not Viridian. Th’ two’a ‘em got caught out after night fell, an’ got swarmed by a bunch’a bloodwings.”

Kari interrupted me, nudging my leg with a talon. “Bloodwings?”

My eyebrow raised again? “Ya don’t know what bloodwings are?” He shook his head, which made me blow out a puff of air. “Alright then. Bloodwings’re… massive mutated vampire bats that suck th’ blood outta ponies an’... anything with blood.”

“Oh…” He pulled his claws back and curled them up into a fist.

“Yeah… anyway… Viridian wasn’t able t’ escape, an’ she… well she got sucked dry. Her friend managed t’ get to a small space they couldn’t follow, waited out th’ night, then came back home th’ next mornin’.”

Kari gulped then started to scratch at his throat absent-mindedly. “That sucks…”

I nodded. “Yeah… yeah it does. An’ it caused so much drama. Everyone loved her, an’ now she was dead. Some were mad, some were sad, some acted like it never happened. Some wanted t’ move th’ town, some didn’t wanna go through all that hassle just ‘cause a couple’a fillies got stupid.” I let out a snort, “Some wanted t’ go inta Manehatten an’ go wipe out all the bloodwings in th’ entire city.”

His scratching turned into rubbing at his neck. “That the moral of the story?”

I turned and looked more directly at Kari. “Hmm?”

“The whole… sad, mad, anger, revenge… ‘don’t worry, it’s normal’ thing. Is that the moral?”

“Well… y- no. No, actually. ‘Cause like, sure that’s part’a it, but I don’t really think ya needed me t’ tell ya that. It’s sorta obvious, ain’t it?”

“I guess.”

I shrugged. “Was obvious t’ me, anyway… but… anyway. Th’ moral of th’ story was actually how long it all lasted. After it happened, everypony was in shock. An’ all th’ drama started, but then, they didn’t wanna keep feelin’ that way. All sad, ‘r mad, ‘r whatever. So they sorta just stop talkin’ ‘bout it. But… they were still sad an’ mad… it just… sorta spilled out at other times randomly. Foals bein’ mean, ‘r foals breakin’ down cryin’ jus’ cause the General Store didn’t have any candy bars.

“Point is, High an’ Inky got together an’ decided they had t’ do something. So what they did, is they had a… like a little good-bye party fer Viridian. Everypony got together, an’ told stories she was in, an’ told jokes she told, an’ talked ‘bout her… an’ th’ way they put it, they just finally got everything out. Then we had a proper funeral for her. And after that, everything was better. Well… I mean it wasn’t an instant thing, but after that things started gettin’ better, anyway.”

At some point, Kari had ended up staring at the candle’s flame again. I wasn’t sure when, mostly because I’d gotten a little caught up in the story. The room became silent for a couple of minutes, though, surprisingly it wasn’t an awkward silence. We had sort of ended up sitting there, thinking about our own things.

“Which group were you in?”

Kari’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Huh?”

“Which group? Were you sad, or mad, or wanted revenge, or what?”

I licked at my lips before taking a deep breath. “I was… mad. At… Viridian, actually.”

He turned away from the flame to look back at me. “What?”

“She knew she shouldn’t go out with just two ponies like that. She knew she shouldn’t go t’ Manehatten. She knew not t’ get caught out at night. She knew. Yet she did it anyway. I was so mad that she let herself get so stupid… an’ that her gettin’ stupid caused… everything t’ be screwed up at home fer like two months. She sorta just left us an’ everything went t’ crap…”

“But she didn’t-”

“I know, I know. Trust me, I know. But… it wasn’t until our little party where I saw everypony gettin’ happy ‘bout her again that I sorta just… got over it. No point in being mad.” After sighing, I looked down at my forehoof. That time wasn’t really one of the times I was proud of. “So… yeah. Moral was s’posed t’ be… stuff got better after we started rememberin’ th’ nice stuff rather than th’ bad ‘r th’ stupid stuff. And… like, if ya ever wanna talk ‘bout ‘em ‘r anything… well… I mean, I’m here.”

It could’ve been a couple minutes, or it could’ve been a couple of seconds, I’m not really sure, but I was surprised when I suddenly felt a wing drape over my back and curl around my side. Actually… it was really warm and soft… was that what it felt like when I did it to others, too?

The next thing I felt was a beak momentarily pressing against my cheek. Now that… that felt weird. Really weird, but I didn’t have much time to think about it as Kari spoke immediately afterwards. “I’ll think about it… But thanks.”

I cleared my throat and turned a bit to look up at him, and gave him half a smile. “No problem. Just doin’ my job.”

Kari snerked, then sniffled. “Yeah, sure.” He left his wing around me and reached out to grab ahold of the ant meat to resume eating, though going through the motions slower this time.

The wing really was snuggly… I think I was starting to understand why Firestorm had such an easy time sleeping under one. I breathed a little sigh of relief and watched Kari as he ate. This result was a lot better than the one I had been expecting when I originally asked the question that started it all off.

As I thought about it, I slowly came to the realization that a certain somepony was going to be really mad about me asking that question to try and end stuff quickly… but, I’d just have to tell her it was worth it. Happy mistake.

“Hey, can ya grab my stuff fer me?”

Kari paused in his eating momentarily to look at me, confused, but then it clicked in his head. He reached around the candle to where my food had been, grabbed it, and placed it in front of my new location next to him. “There.”

I gave him a quick smirk. “Thanks.” Emotional talk kinda made you hungry. Who knew?

After we finished our food, we continued to talk for a little bit. Mostly about the weather, actually. He found it really interesting, having not experienced anything quite the same for most of his life. He didn’t like not seeing the sun, though.

“Come to think of it, I should probably take you up there and show you some day. I know where we won’t get shot at, anyway. That’s helpful.” Kari stretched as he finished speaking, then finally pulled his wing away from me, much to my dismay.

“Oh, really? So it’s true, then, ‘bout th’ shootin’ part?”

Kari stretched again, then nodded as he started to stand up. “Yeah… Enclave doesn’t like anything from below the clouds. They think they put the whole thing in to protect them from everything below them. So if stuff from below starts trying to come up… well… they don’t treat it very nicely.”

“Oh… well that sucks. I kinda thought it was just another one’a those stories.” I looked awkwardly up at him for a few seconds before deciding to get up to my hooves as well.

“Yeah. It’s not.” He let out a long sigh then looked around. “Um… you need help cleaning up? I’m not sure… where anything would go, though. Inkblot showed me the outside of the building, this was the first time I’d been inside.”

I looked from him down to our little setup and shook my head. “Nah… I can handle it. It’s late, though… I slept most’a th’ day. You didin’t. Go back t’ yer tent, I’ll clean up.”

“You sure?”

I nodded. “Yeah. See ya tomorrow?”

Kari snorted and reached out to give my shoulder a slight shove. “There’s only so many in this tiny town, of course you’ll see me tomorrow.”

I spread out my wings to help keep my balance, rolling my eyes as I did so. “Uh huh. Whatever. Just go sleep.”

He snickered and moved past me towards the door. “Okay. Goodnight, featherbutt.”

“Hey!”

“What, do only your fillies get to call you that?”

“I… well… y… yes!”

Kari’s voice went into a higher pitch as he opened the door, “I can be a girl too!”

I snorted loudly… partially to cover up a slight blush. If he was a girl… he’d be pretty hot. “If I had a fourth leg I’d use it t’ throw this candle at you!”

He laughed then turned and flew out of the door into the sky, off towards the tent area.

Grumbling into the now dead air, I turned back to the area we’d spent the last couple of hours in. Cushions, against the wall. Food leftovers, taken outside to the trash. Candle, snuffed and put on the shelf by the door. Really it wasn’t much, but he seemed to like it. Which was nice.

Not that it was an actual date.

After cleaning everything up, I left the building and shut the door behind me. I stood outside and took in a deep breath of the cool night air. It felt pretty good. Night was one of the better things, when the big creepy crawlies weren’t out, anyway. It only got topped by rain. Or storms. And a good rainy, stormy night? The best.

It was late, but I still had things to do. First I picked myself up and flew over to Lily’s tent, just to make sure everything was going well. I landed in front of the tent and went silent to listen for a minute, to make sure I wouldn’t interrupt anything, then carefully poked my head through the flap to look inside. It took my eyes a bit to adjust to the darkness, but eventually I was able to make out the outline of Lily and High Times sleeping against each other. Things must not have gone too badly, then.

Slipping away from that tent, I turned and walked down the aisle. I’d be willing to bet that Inky wasn’t asleep yet.

When I got to her tent, I wished I actually had somebody to bet against. I could see a faint light shining from the inside, casting some shadows. As I neared the flap, a knot started to work its way up in my stomach, causing me to just stop and stand dumbly outside.

So, clearly I was wrong. With my first assumption. There was no way she’d let me get away with another lie, though. Could always just go to my own bed. Sleep. Wake up in the morning, maybe everyone would forget about it. Except… Kari wouldn’t. And I’d still have to tell him the truth. Eventually. Sooner the better. Which… is a piece of advice I’d gotten from Inkblot originally.

I let out a long, deep sigh and closed my eyes. Here goes nothing… I bent my head down and started to walk in through the flap. I only got half way in, though, before I froze.

Inky was there, laying on her bed, reading a book using the light emitted from her horn. Well, no. Had been reading a book. Right now she was staring directly at me. Big, piercing blue eyes. “I was starting to wonder if you would come.”

I gulped as she spoke, her stare still keeping me locked in place. “You was expectin’ me?”

She slowly closed her book with her magic. “It’s not often you lie. To me. And it’s usually not for very long.”

After a few moments of chewing on my lip, my muscles started to come back under my control. I slinked the rest of the way into the tent and sort of just stood in front of her awkwardly. “What makes ya think I was lyin’?”

“Really?”

“Yeah… really.”

She snorted then cleared her throat. “First, you wouldn’t have stuttered so much. Second, you wouldn’t have evaded my questions. Third, you wouldn’t have asked him on a date without talking to me first.”

My tail flicked and I held my wings out from my side halfway, “Woah woah woah. First, okay, maybe. Second, maybe I felt like bein’ mysterious? Third, why would I talk t’ you ‘bout that, huh?”

Inkblot’s stare started to soften and she formed a sliver of a smile. “Because before you would’ve decided you liked boys, you would’ve come and we would’ve had an hour chat about your latest wet dream and whether or not it meant you were attracted to them or not.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but the blush forming on my cheeks pushed me back to silence. She… certainly wasn’t wrong. “Well… well maybe I-”

She interrupted me with a huff. “Would you just fess up already, make this easier on yourself? Sunny already told me your plan was to hit on Kari for… some unknown reason.”

I pulled my wings back in tightly to my sides and my ears pinned back against my head. “Okay, okay fine, it’s just… I thought y’all were havin’ sex!”

Inky jumped when my voice picked up in volume. “Don’t get so loud, Bucky, there’s ponies trying t- wait what did you just say?”

I swallowed and dipped my head lower to the ground, my voice dropping to a whisper with it, “I thought… y’all were havin’ sex…”

Inkblot just stared blankly at me, completely stunned. “Who… why… what? Where? When?”

“You. You an’ Kari. Why…? I dunno, ‘cause ya thought he was hot? Wherever… an’ whenever…”

She continued to stare at me, and her mouth was slowly working, like she was having trouble coming up with appropriate words. “And what, exactly, brought you to this stupid conclusion?”

“There’s… there’s a… a…” I let out a breath and stopped talking for a minute. Just showing her would be easier. I stepped over towards her and her bed mat, then reached a wing out to the edge where the feather had been. I pulled it up a little to reveal what I’d found, but I just stared at the spot. The feather was gone. “Uh…”

“You looked… under my bed?”

I pulled my wing back quickly and stepped backwards away from her. “No. No. I mean, yes. But no. I was reachin’ fer th’ box’a cereal. Th’ feather was stickin’ out from under th’ bed. I just saw it an’ pulled it out. I didn’t mean t’ look at nothin’.”

“And from… a feather, you decided we were sleeping together, and you… how… what? How does that connect to earlier?”

“I… I thought… I thought if I hit on Kari, then he’d be lookin’ at me instead’a at you, an’ then you’d get jealous ‘cause he was payin’ attention to me, an’ it’d make y’all stop sleeping t’gether an’ makin’ a huge mistake, and- OW!”

Inkblot had gotten up to her hooves while I was talking and walked over to me, just to lift up a forehoof and smack upside the back of my head. “How stupid are you?”

I reached a wing to rub where she’d smacked my head. “Very…?”

“Yes!” She nodded emphatically. “Incredibly! That’s a level of stupid I’m surprised even you can drop to. Jeez. What if it’d been one of your feathers? Would you have suddenly thought we were doing that?”

I shook my head. “No. Duh. I mean, I would’ve known we weren’t. But, but that’s exactly why one’a my feathers wouldn’t be there.”

“Psh. Chance of one of your feathers being there is a lot higher than one of his.”

“Uh, what?”

She started to speak again, but cut herself off just as the first sounds escaped, her face going to one of shock. She took a quick step back and the light from her horn vanished instantly.

“Inky?” After half a minute of no response, I spoke again. “Inky? Inkblot?” Still nothing. I stepped forward slowly and reached a wing out to give a little poke at her snout, the outline of which I could barely make out.

She shied away from it, evading my touch, but at least she responded this time. “I promise… to never call you stupid about this again. On one condition.”

I furrowed my brow at that response, not the one I was expecting. “Are you okay?”

“One condition, Buck.”

I chewed at my lip for a bit before saying, “Yeah, yeah… one condition. Whatever. Sure.”

“Just… promise me you won’t think I’m a creep.”

I blinked at her. “What? Inky… turn yer light back on. Why would I think that?”

“Because… I collect your feathers.”

“Whozits done what, now?”

This time her horn did start to light up. Not nearly as bright, but enough to barely see by. Her face didn’t have that same shocked look to it as when the light went out. Now she actually looked a little scared. I heard a drawer of her dresser open up behind me and I turned to look, just in time to see her magical glow fading from it.

I glanced back at her, then caught the hint. I turned and walked over to the drawer. Inside were many things, but half of the drawer was separated. In it were two piles of feathers. One large pile of orange feathers, clearly mine, and then a small pile of three of Kari’s feathers. “Okay then…”

“I collect them… And… use them. I just… I just really like them. A lot. I took a bunch of them and make them into my pillow. I also… sometimes… use them to… you know… privately. Earlier I just happened to grab one of his, but I never slept with him. I got it off the floor after he visited me the other day. But then you walked up right after I finished and I didn’t have time to put it back, so I just stuffed it under my bed…”

I closed the drawer with my wing after having examined the contents of it the whole time she had spoke. I turned around to look at her again, my head tilting a bit. “Is that why you like preening so much?”

She nearly looked like I’d shot her. “No! … Yes… No. I don’t know. I just like it. Doing it, and, collecting, and- I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you before.”

“Before? How long’s it been goin’ on?”

“A while… I did have enough to fill a whole pillow…”

“Right…” Well. At the very least, this turn of events freed up my mind to let me think. It was a lot easier to operate when you weren’t the one thinking the other was going to call you stupid if you said the wrong thing. Problem was, I had no idea what to think. Well… except for one thing.

“I’m sorry too…”

Inkblot blinked at me. “What?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t tell ya before… I just freaked out an’... Sunny may have not have been th’ right one t’ go to fer advice…”

“She is eight…” Inky fidgeted a bit before adding, “And I think maybe more concerned with playing matchmaker with you and another colt than she is actual advice.”

I smirked a little, then let out a laugh. “Yeah… her last suggestion was that I skip even tryin’ t’ hit on ‘em an’ just go right up an’ kiss ‘em.”

Inky loosened up a bit more, giving a small laugh as well. “Sounds like her, alright.”

I nodded, then took a deep breath and looked around the tent. Okay, so. Status check. Apologies, done. Feel a little better, yeah. Everything else is still in the same place, world didn’t end, that’s good.

I bit at my lip then went over to Inkblot’s bed and laid down on it, in the same place I’d been several hours ago. After I got settled, I glanced up at Inkblot and extended my left wing out, raising it up a bit as I did so. She was still standing there, now looking as awkward as I had earlier. She looked to my face, then to my wing and back.

I snorted and raised an eyebrow. “Well are ya gonna lay down ‘r not?”

She didn’t need to be asked twice. She darted down to the bed and plopped right next to me.

Once she was settled against me, I lowered my wing down and gave her a hug with it. “Do ya wanna start this talk over?” She gave a nod, so I took a deep breath. “Alright… So. I panicked an’ thought ya were sleepin’ with a griffin… so I got advice from an eight year old an’ now I’ve just had a date, my very first date, with a boy griffin an’ I ain’t even gay.”

Inkblot pressed her lips together then picked up where I left off, “And I’ve been collecting your feathers for… a lot of years, and using them for all kinds of things, and I never told you because I thought you’d think I was weird and avoid me if I did.”

“Conclusion?”

“Uh…”

“We’re both dumb, Inky. That’s th’ conclusion.”

“Wait, how is mine dumb?”

“‘Cause ya thought a little thing like thinkin’ yer creepy would make me avoid ya.”

“I didn’t say creepy, I said weird.”

“I know. I said creepy. ‘Cause I’m thinking it kinda is… maybe. I’m not really sure. But then again, I don’t really care, either.”

Inkblot looked thoroughly confused now. “But why not…”

I snorted and turned to look back at her. “Well fer starters…” I nodded towards my wing that was laying over her, “Kari did this t’ me just a bit ago. An’ it actually felt really nice. So I can't blame ya there.”

“Wait, you cuddled?”

“Well… fer like half an hour.”

“You cuddled with a guy?”

I blew a puff of air at her face. “Yes. Fer like half an hour. We actually ended up talkin’ ‘bout his parents… an’ death… He started t’ feel bad, though, so I had t’ tell him about Viridian.”

Inky sobered up fairly quickly when I mentioned the last bit. “Oh… wait, you got him to talk about his parents?”

“Yeah… I was shocked.”

“That’s… that’s incredible. I mean, I got him to do it, but just barely. And not for very long. And he ended up leaving in tears.”

“Wait, was that the…”

“Huh?”

“Oh… Sunny just said she had seen Kari leavin’ yer place th’ same day I disappeared, but that he’d left in tears…”

“Yeah.” Inkblot nodded. “That was that day. He’s really, really angry about it, and it was like he was thinking the only way to not get so pissed off that he did something stupid was… to just not even remotely think about the subject at all.”

“He was kinda like that tonight too… Though… he did seem a little… relieved when I pointed out he wasn’t totally alone in those thoughts.” I took a deep breath then continued, “I actually had an idea of goin’ back out t’ that city they crashed in, maybe buryin’ his parents… might help him just deal with stuff. I dunno. Just a thought. Also I told him if he ever wanted t’ talk, I’d listen.”

And just that quickly, Inky was back to looking surprised, only this time she had a smile to go along with it. She leaned over and nuzzled at my cheek then let out a little laugh. “See… I said you didn’t have to read the book to be a counsellor. And you even followed my advice on the same day I gave it… I think that might be a record.”

“What? I follow your advice..”

“Yeah, after you screw it up three more times then a week later decide I was right all along.”

“Oh shut up…”

“You know it’s true, Bucky.”

“Truth or not, shut up!”

She snickered. “Okay, okay.” She let out a more content sigh, then let the light fade out from her horn, leaving us in darkness again. “Still can’t believe you cuddled with a boy.”

I was sort of glad it was dark again, because the more she brought that up, the more I was finding it embarrassing. “Yeah yeah… he was soft. Get over it. His beak felt weird.”

“What, beak? You kissed him, too?”

“What?! No. Jeez, who are ya, Sunny? I didn’t kiss nobody… still ain’t kissed nobody. That thing ya did t’ my muzzle’s the closest I’ve ever come. He just sorta nuzzled me, that’s all. Think he felt a lot better after my story.”

“Awww… You two would be perfect for each other…”

“Oh c’mon. I still barely even know him. He could be a psychopath fer all we know.”

“True. But he’s not.”

“An’ how do you know? Yer a clothes repairer, not a therapist.”

Inky scoffed. “I’m both. I’m also a field medic, and a group organizer. What are you, exactly?”

“Blank flank extraordinaire! My talent is everything an’ anything.”

“Except smarts. You don’t have a talent in that.”

“Hey… ya promised t’ stop callin’ me stupid.”

“No… I promised to stop calling you stupid about today. I never said anything about not calling you stupid ever.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ugh… Why am I even friends with you?”

Inky laughed. “Because.”

“That helps, thanks…”

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to Kibu, Scrap Metal, and No One, for helping with plot, and grammar, and spelling, and storytelling, and, you know, things that actually make a story good.