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.