“Canvaaas? Canvas, where are you?”

Sky Blossom flew all around the room, but no matter how hard she looked, she simply couldn’t find a trace of her brother. She grit her teeth in frustration, but she didn’t give up. It was a simple game of Hide and Seek, she wasn’t about to let herself be beaten by her little brother. That would be an insult to her honor!

“Alright Canvas, you leave me no choice. Time to get serious.”

Carefully, the filly made her way to the center of the room. She closed her eyes – this would require all of her skill, and sustained concentration. She took a few short breaths, preparing herself. This was a forbidden technique, highly risky. But if it worked, it would guarantee her victory.

She was ready. With a sharp inhale, the filly released a mighty roar.

“MOOOOOOOOM, I can’t find Canvas!”

“Hey, that’s cheating!”

Gotcha.

The filly quickly spun around, pointing a hoof towards the voice.

“Aha! Found you!”

“Wha- but- I- aw, no fair, Sky!”

A distraught colt emerged from behind one of the bookshelves (of course, the bookshelves! It’s so obvious now). The filly puffed out her chest, a smug grin on her face.

“Oh well, I guess I win again! Sorry Canvas, better luck next time!”

“W-What?” the colt whinnied, “Nu-uh, that doesn’t count! You cheated!”

The filly scoffed, the smile dropping from her face. “I did not! There’s no rule about what I can and can’t say!”

“You tried to get mom to help you!”

“So what?” Sky Blossom neighed, her lips curling into a smirk, “She didn’t help. You’re the one who left your hiding spot.”

The young colt stammered, his voice trying to form a counter-argument. But all that came out of Canvas’ mouth was a strange mish-mash of half-formed words. The filly giggled, patting her brother lightly on the head.

“There there, Canvas. We can’t ALL be the best.”

“Oh, that’s it!”

The young colt dove at his sister, valiantly attempting to tackle her to the ground. Unfortunately for him, she was more than a match for the colt, not only managing to stay upright, but holding her brother back with a single hoof, much to the colt’s chagrin.

“Let me go! I can take you!”

The filly sighed, smiling down at the colt’s futile struggle.

“Love you too, little bro.”

What did I do to deserve this?

I mean, really, what in Tartarus could I have possibly done?

My mind raced with a million different thoughts as I dragged my hooves along the path. After making sure I was properly chained up, the purple mare had taken the chains and started pulling me along behind her. I didn’t put up any resistance – one gunshot wound was plenty. Even with my tail wrapped around my leg to stop the blood loss, I could still feel the hole burning as I was forced along. I wanted to cry, but I held back my tears for fear of what the mare would do to me.

Hopeless. That’s what this is. I’ve been effectively banished from my home, and now I’m locked up in the place I’ve been banished to. From what the mare had said, it sounded like I was going to be sold as a slave. A slave! How could there be something as awful as slavery down here? It’s just… barbaric! Immoral! How could anypony think so little of another pony’s life that they could just sell them, like a loaf of bread?

And now, now I was one of them. I was going to be just another commodity.

No… I can’t do this! I have a life! I have to get back to the clouds, and I can’t do that if I’m locked up in a cage! I have to get out!

I have to find a way to escape.

“Hey, what the fuck is the hold up? Get your ass moving, before I put a fuckin’ hole in your head!”

I jumped, struggling to catch up with the mare.

Why me?

Ok... I think I've got it all figured out.

As the slaver dragged me closer and closer to... uh... to wherever it was we were going, I started formulating a plan in my head. Considering the mare had confiscated all of my items, my choices were severely limited. I'd either have to fight her off with my bare hooves (yeah, fat chance) or convince her to let me go.

My plan was simple: I'd offer to pay her double whatever she was getting paid for selling me. I may not have the most lucrative business selling art, but I'd been saving... I must have had at least 300 bits, surely that was worth more than a pony?

...alright, there was no way that was enough, but that’s not important. After all, she didn't need to know that was all I had. Once she let me go, I'd just run away. Problem solved.

As long as she didn't try to shoot me, anyways.

...

Ok, it was a stupid plan, but I didn't really have much choice. Who knew how long it was going to be until we reached our final destination? I didn’t want to wait to take my chances with whoever I was being sold to. For all I knew, they could have cages, or guards, or… I don’t know, something that would make it infinitely harder to escape. If I was going to get away, I’d have to do it before I was sold off. Otherwise, I wouldn’t get another chance.

So… all I have to do is talk to her. Convince her to let me go. Simple.

An image flashed through my mind. My body, lying off to the side of the road, blood rushing from a sizable hole in my head.

P-P-Perfectly simple. J-just say something…

Another image. The crazy mare, with her gun pointed towards me, smoke gently rising from the barrel, as my vision slowly faded to black.

…simple…

Before another disturbing image could enter my mind, I shook my head. No! No distractions. I have to do this… I have… to… do this… I felt my heartbeat accelerate, as well as my breathing. This was really going to suck.

Well… here goes nothing…

I steeled my courage and opened my mouth.

“Hey, um-”

“Shut up.”

I flinched at the mare’s words. Oh well, I tried, guess I’m just gonna live the rest of my days in slavery.

A new image forced its way into my mind, but this one was different. This time, it wasn’t an image of my demise. This time it was an image of my family.

I can’t give up. I have to try again.

“Listen, uh-”

The mare kicked me in the leg. I winced, holding back another shout of pain and clutching the now-bruised area.

“I said shut the fuck up! Now keep moving!”

I grit my teeth, struggling to stand as I followed my captor. I’m just trying to make you an offer, at least let me say it!

We traveled a while longer. With every step, I knew we were marching closer and closer to my prison. The silence grew tenser with every passing second.

“…if you’d just hear me out, I-”

The mare stopped suddenly, letting out what I can only describe as a primal grunt before turning to face me, her eyes seeming to pierce into my soul with a fiery hatred.

“By Celestia and Luna skull-fucking each other, do you know what shut up means? Do I have to get my fucking gun out again? Or would you rather I get my knife? It’s much slower, I’m sure you’d have plenty of time to talk while you bleed out of your fucking stomach!”

I reeled back, my mouth snapping shut mid-sentence. Suddenly, this plan doesn’t seem very good.

“Well?!? What the fuck do you want? You keep fucking talking, so you clearly must have something very important to say, and I’d like to know just what the fuck it is. Now say it, before I decide to cut your fucking tongue out!!” The mare glared at me, a fire burning in her eyes. In an instant, my fragile hope that she wouldn’t get mad at me was shattered into a million pieces.

“Or do you mean to tell me that you didn’t have anything to say at all, and just wanted to waste my fuckin’ time?” My eyes were locked onto hers, but out of the corner of my vision I could see her moving for her gun.

“No! No, wait, please! D-don’t kill me! I-I just… I thought… I thought maybe-”

“Oh for fucks sake, SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!!”

I gulped. No turning back now, here goes nothing…

“I’ll-I’ll pay you double! Look, I-I don’t know how much you’re getting to… you know, to sell me, b-but I’ll pay you double to let me go! I-I’ve got money, back at home- LOTS of money! P-please, don’t kill me, please!”

The mare narrowed her eyes, anger still apparent on her face. She didn’t pull out her pistol, though, so that was good. Slowly, she moved towards me. I could feel the sweat dripping down my face. She looked me right in the eye, looking right into my soul, like she was judging everything I had ever done. I nearly broke down and started crying, but I somehow managed to keep my composure.

Finally, she broke the silence.

“Bullshit.”

“Bull…?” I drew back as I spoke. “W-what do you-”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence. Faster than I could react, the mare rushed at me. She lifted her hoof and swung at me, impacting my face with a loud *CRACK*. I fell to the ground from the force of the impact, but I managed to stay conscious. I couldn’t see whether or not it left a bruise, but judging from the pain, I was fairly certain that it did.

“Do you think I’m some kind of fucking idiot? I’ve transported slaves before you retard, I know their mind games. You’ll lie to me, say whatever you fucking want, whatever you think I want to hear. And if I were dumb enough to let you go, you’d run off into the distance as fast as you could.” The mare sighed, putting a hoof on her gun holster.

“And then I’d have to kill you, and NO ONE fucking wins in that situation. Besides, even if you were telling the truth, there’s no fuckin’ way you’d have enough to pay me off even ONCE over, let alone twice.”

I winced at the mare’s words. She called my bluff. I’m so dead.

“Y-you don’t know that!” I was fighting a losing battle now, but I tried to stand my ground nonetheless. “I-I-I could have enough money… p-please, just… just name a price! Any price!”

“Five hundred caps.” The slaver deadpanned.

“F-Five hundred?” I sighed in relief. That’s not as much as I thought, maybe I could actually buy my way out of this! “Alright, I can…”

Wait a minute.

“Caps?”

For the briefest moment, the mare’s eyes grew wide. It was only for a second, before she facehoofed, her hoof sliding down across her face as she attempted to regain her composure.

“You gotta be fucking kidding… are you fucking serious? Caps! Moolah! Cha-ching! Money!!! You mean to tell me you tried to bribe me and you don’t even know what fucking money is?”

My eyes glazed over as I tried to process what my captor had just said.

“You… you don’t use bits anymore?”

The mare’s jaw dropped. She stared in stunned silence for a few seconds.

“Ok, fuck this, I’m shooting you. You’re too stupid to sell.”

Oh shit.

“No! Wait! I mean, uh, I-I know what caps are! I, uh… I have lots of them! Yeah, definitely! T-T-There’s a ton of caps at my place! P-Please, just don’t kill me! W-We can talk this-”

“Will you shut up already? How many fucking times do I have to say it? You’ve been talking for I don’t even know how long now, and it’s done nothing but waste my fucking time.” She reached for her pistol.

“No! No, please! Y-y-you don’t have to do this! J-just be reasonable for a minute and-”

“Oh for fucks sake, you want to talk so fucking badly? Fine. You’ve got five seconds. Spend them well, because they’re the last five seconds of your pathetic fucking life.”

I could feel my pupils shrink. I searched for something to say, something that would appease this crazy mare, but my mind went blank.

“Five.”

SHIT SHIT SHIT THINK OF SOMETHING TO SAY

“Four.”

WHY CAN’T I THINK OF ANYTHING OH FUCK WHAT DO I DO

“Three.”

OK, OK NEW PLAN: DON’T THINK, JUST SAY SOMETHING!!!

“Two.”

“I’ll join you!!”

“On-huh?”

I think that caught her off guard, because she nearly dropped the pistol from her mouth mid-count. Her face went through a myriad of expressions in a matter of seconds, shifting from surprise, to confusion, and finally settling on suspicion. Her eyes, finally having relinquished their death stare, moved to look at me in heavy skepticism.

“You fucking what?”

I… I second that, what? What the heck did I just say?

“I… I, uh… I said I’ll join you! Y-yeah, I’ll help you go and… you know, do… whatever it is you do. I-I can help you gather slaves and… and stuff, p-plus, I can fly! T-that’s gotta be worth something, like a… a-a-a strategic advantage, maybe… o-o-okay?”

What the fuck are you talking about? You’re not gonna do any of that! You’re not gonna go capture ponies to be sold as slaves! That’s… that’s just wrong!

The mare eyed me very closely. I wanted to turn away, but I held my ground. Mostly because my hooves refused to move, but there was more than that. I needed to look confident. I needed to look like I was serious. Otherwise, she’d never buy it.

Finally, the mare sighed, and (to my relief) holstered her pistol. She trotted to my side, moving in uncomfortably close, to the point where she was practically brushing up against my one good wing. She lifted one of her hooves and threw it around my neck, tightly gripping me as she did so.

“Alright, feathers,” The mare spoke, prodding me with her free hoof as she spoke. “Since you seem to enjoy talking so much, let me take a minute to explain every fuckin’ thing that’s wrong with your proposal just now.

“Problem number one: you’re a retard.” She punctuated the word by forcefully tapping on my head, much like how you would knock on a door. “Any ‘strategic advantage’ to having a pegasus on my side is negated by the fact that you’re too fucking dumb to know a thing about strategy.

“Problem number two: you don’t have any wasteland smarts. You told me so yourself, ‘newbie.’” I grimaced at the name, causing the mare to smirk ever so slightly. “I’d have to spend most of my time teaching you just to fucking SURVIVE before you could be of any use to me as a lackey.

“Problem number three: you don’t have what it fucking takes to do what I do. I can see it. You’re terrified. You’re weak. You’re not a fighter.” My captor lifted her free hoof to her head, gently massaging her temples. “As if the fuckin’ thought of training you physically wasn’t bad enough, but mentally? I don’t have that kind of time.

“Problem number four: I don’t trust you. You could fly away the second I take off your cuffs.”

Not with my wings in this state I can’t.

“You could stab me in the back while I slept. Hell, I’d have to train you to shoot a fucking gun, who’s to say you don’t just turn around and shoot me?”

Ok, I have to admit she made a fair point on those last two.

“And finally, problem number five,” the slaver mare leaned in even closer, relishing in my discomfort as I squirmed. “And you better remember this one, because this is the fuckin’ kicker. Let’s pretend for a moment I could ignore all those other problems. Let’s pretend you were the baddest fuckin’ wastelander around. Let’s pretend you could fly, do magic, were a genius, and hell, let’s say you had sworn your goddess damned life to me. I wouldn’t give a shit. You know why?”

The mare suddenly pulled my head down, bringing her muzzle directly to my ear. Her voice dropped to barely a whisper.

“Because I don’t work with anypony.”

Her words hung in the air, the moment growing tenser with each passing second. Neither of us moved. I’m not entirely certain I was breathing. Finally, the mare released me from her deathly grip and moved back around in front of me, walking down the path once more. A few feet down, she stopped, and turned to face me again.

“Hey retard, you waiting for a fucking invitation? Get your ass moving!!”

I jumped, my good wing flaring out momentarily. I scrambled to close the distance between us.

“Does… does this mean you’re not gonna kill me?”

The mare stopped in her tracks, and quickly trotted over to my left side. Without warning, she spun on her hooves and bucked me as hard as she could – right on my already broken wing. I screamed in pain, falling to the ground and clutching my side as best as my shackles would allow. I began sobbing while I writhed in pain.

“You really want to get shot don’t you? Now, I’m only gonna say this one more fuckin’ time: Shut. The fuck. Up. You should consider yourself real fuckin’ lucky I’ve stayed my gun this long.”

Before I could react, the mare grabbed the back of my neck and forced me into a standing position.

“Now get moving, feathers, and don’t ever push your luck like that again.” My captor trotted to my front, yanking my chains along with her, once more forcing me to walk the path ahead. “Even a pegasus isn’t worth shit if it’s dead.”

It was hard to tell how long we had been walking, but it must have been a while, since the sun was setting. At least, I think it was setting. The carpet of gray clouds blocked any view I had of the sky proper, so I couldn’t tell for sure. But the light was starting to dim, so I figure that must have meant the sun was going down. Right?

Just ahead of us I could make out what appeared to be a town from before the war. Well, if you could even call it a town. There were very few houses, most of which were blown to smithereens, just the lowest points of the foundation still standing. There was a gas station a ways off the main road, as well as some old office buildings farther to the side. It was eerie to see all these destroyed remnants of civilization – like looking at a twisted version of a city above the clouds.

As we moved into the town, we approached a small intersection, lined with what must have been the only mostly intact buildings in the whole area. To my left were two houses, the nearest of which looked to be missing its upper floor, but had a cheesy picket fence surrounding the front lawn (well, what was left of a lawn, anyways). On my right, across the street from the furthest house was a single house, faded pink paint peeling off of the rotting wood that held it together.

As my captor trotted down the road, she slowed her pace, stopping suddenly in front of a ruined carriage, laying crooked off the right side of the road.

W-Why did we stop? What’s going on?

The mare quickly swiveled her ears around, pointing them pretty much every direction they could be pointed. After a few seconds, her ears stood still, and she started muttering under her breath.

“Fuck, I could have sworn I just heard-”

BANG!!

The mare jumped back, just as a bullet pierced the ground next to where she had been standing.

“Son of a…” the mare didn’t bother finishing her thought. She pulled her pistol from its holster and dove over the picket fence. Unfortunately, my shackles made it difficult to move, not to mention the bullet wound made it hurt like Tartarus. There was no way I was making it over the fence, so instead I rushed for a tree on the other side of the street.

The empty town exploded with activity in a heartbeat. Two ponies appeared on the upper floors of the two farther houses, while a third pony leapt into action from behind the carriage. The pony on the ground rushed for the picket house, a shiv of some kind held firmly in her mouth. The ponies in the houses shot towards my captor, but the ruined home gave her all the cover she needed. Once inside, she immediately turned and took aim at the knife-wielding attacker.

BANG BANG!!

The first shot grazed the attacker’s cheek, but the second pierced her right through the eye. The knife wielder dropped to the ground, her weapon clattering on the pavement. I stared at the pony in horror, blood already starting to pool around her body.

She was dead.

Oh my god, oh my god… I just saw…

She just killed her...

If I had had anything in my stomach, I’d have thrown it up. But food wasn’t a luxury I was given, so instead my body settled on dry heaving. Slowly, a foul stench was carried over by the wind – the smell of blood and death. I couldn’t take it, my stomach heaved once more.

BANG!!

“AGH, FUCK!!”

I managed to turn myself towards the source of the noise. My captor had dropped to the ground, and I could just make out blood spilling onto her coat from a wound in her leg. It didn’t stop her for long, though – within seconds she had darted around behind a wall, out of sight from me.

It occurred to me as I watched the battle unfold that I had the chance to get away from the psychotic mare. My captor was wounded, and she was out of sight. Maybe now I could sneak away! I’d have to find some way to ditch the chains, but that could come later. I peeked my head out from behind the tree-

BANG BANG!!

…and quickly pulled it back behind the tree. With my captor hidden behind a wall, the ponies in the buildings must have thought I looked like a nice target instead, and opened fire on me. I could see bullets whizzing past me on either side. As I braced myself against the tree, I could even feel the impact of some of the bullets against the wood.

I… I’m not gonna lie, I might have ended up “watering the plants” a little bit.

I stole one more glance over towards the picket house. From the corner of my vision, I saw my captor leap out from behind one of the walls, firing towards one of the houses. With a loud scream, the barrage of bullets stopped, and I peeked out, just in time to see one of the ponies fall from the building and impale himself on what remained of a window frame. He cried out in an agony the likes of which I had never heard before, blood spilling onto the house, giving the building a long overdue coat of red paint.

The dry heaves returned. I almost wished that I would throw up something, just to replace the smell of death with the smell of vomit. It wouldn’t have smelled good, but compared to the alternative, vomit would have been like smelling a field of roses.

I looked up to see the last of our attackers rush deeper within the building, before charging out the front door a moment later. His eyes darted between the dead bodies. He must have realized he was on the losing side, because he stayed for only a second before turning and running away down the street. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Finally, it’s ov-

BANG!!

The fleeing pony jolted upright, stopping dead in his tracks before dropping to the ground like a stone. I turned to look at my captor, seeing her finally start to holster her smoking pistol. I could just make out a grin plastered on her face.

“Fuck yeah! That’s what you get when you mess with me!” The mare’s grin faded as she looked around the newly-minted battlefield. I quickly pulled my head behind the tree. Maybe I can still sneak away. Hopefully she’ll start looking for me in one of the houses before-

“I know you’re behind the tree, feathers.”

Damn it.

I was too scared to cause a fuss, so I slipped out from my hiding spot, slowly trudging my way towards the crazy mare. As I moved, I spotted something behind her.

A fourth attacker was sneaking up on my captor, a spiked bat impossibly floating in the air beside the attacker (what the fuck?!?). The way the bat was moving, it looked like she was… controlling it.

I’d heard about this. The enclave talked about it on the radio all the time. Unicorns – ponies who used evil arcane magic to do horrible things to otherwise innocent ponies. Just another of the many things I hoped I’d never have to encounter. Seeing it happen, though, actual unicorn magic happening right in front of me… the unicorn mare terrified me.

And she looked ready to strike.

It suddenly dawned on me that this might be the chance I was looking for. This was my opportunity to escape. All I had to do was let my captor get attacked, and she’d… well, chances are she wouldn’t make it. Then, as long as I could run or hide from the attacker, I’d be set! Just let her die, and then I’ll be free!

…why does that make me feel wrong?

“LOOK OUT!!!”

To my horror, my voice seemed to take on a mind of its own. I saw my captor spin around on her hooves, ducking down just in time to avoid having her face smashed in. Everything else happened in such a blur I couldn’t say for certain what was going on, but by the end of it the mystery attacker was on the ground, violently twitching, blood spurting from a gash in her neck. My captor stood, a large knife held firmly in her mouth, the serrated edge dripping with her opponent’s blood.

The mare turned to face me.

Great. Good job. Good fucking job, you just saved the one pony standing between you and freedom. Fantastic.

My captor began to walk towards me, the knife still in her mouth. I flinched away, squeezing my eyes shut as her hoofsteps grew closer and closer.

All of a sudden, she stopped.

Hesitantly, I opened one eye, and looked up at her.

The mare had put her knife away. She was coated in blood, the stench alone forcing me to cover my muzzle as best as I could. But as I looked at her, she did nothing. She said nothing. And her face… it’s weird. It was only there for a second, but I was sure I saw the faintest expression. It was much less fierce, much less angry. Not even a trace of her expected hatred. I couldn’t quite place the emotion, but for once, she didn’t look like she wanted to kill me.

But like a wisp of flame, it vanished as quickly as it appeared. Soon enough her brow had furrowed once more, her lips had drawn into a snarl.

And of course, she kicked me in the stomach. Par for the course at this point.

“What the fuck are you looking at? Get over here.”

Without even waiting for me to get up, the mare dragged me over to the picket fence. Before I knew what was going on, she had managed to chain me to one of the fence posts.

“Now you sit right the fuck there, I’m gonna camp here for the night. If you try to break loose, I’ll kill you.”

Nope that’s fine no need to kill me I’ll just get real friendly with Mr. Picket here.

“Now then,” the mare turned towards the battlefield, a grin growing on her face. “I wonder how much loot you’ve all got?”

In an instant, she was gone, desecrating the dead and leaving me alone with my thoughts.

NOPE NUH UH THIS IS WRONG THIS IS SO WRONG WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT

Once my captor had finally gathered all the belongings of the ponies she had killed, she had set up a campfire for warmth. Now, a sane pony would have used the rotting wood from the buildings as fuel for the fire. But no, that apparently wasn’t good enough for the crazy slaver mare.

She used the bodies of our attackers instead.

The stench of blood was bad enough, but this? This was just torture. Cruel, agonizing torture. The mare laughed with her wretched laugh as I futilely tried to cover my muzzle to block out the smell.

“What’s wrong, newbie?” she mocked, “The meat a little too strong for ya?”

I gagged, my eyes beginning to water. My captor laughed again, taking a bite from her apple – or rather, my apple which she had taken from my belongings.

“W-Why… why would you do-”

“Can it, feathers. They’re dead, it’s not like they need their fuckin’ bodies anymore.” As she went in for another bite, I caught a hint of a wince. She glanced down at her leg – her single wound from the earlier battle. I don’t know how she wasn’t screaming in pain, the wound looked nasty, especially considering the only bandage she used was a single strip of duct tape. Duct tape! Where do you even find that stuff in the wasteland?

The mare leaned back, folding her forelegs behind her head. “The real question here is why the fuck do you keep talking even when I tell you not to?”

I shut my mouth tight, eliciting a facehoof from my captor.

“For the love of- talk when I ask you a fucking question.” The mare let out a frustrated sigh. “I swear on Celestia’s clit, when I don’t want you to talk you’re a fuckin’ chatterbox, but when I explicitly ask you something, you suddenly shut the fuck up. Is your brain just completely fucking backwards?”

“I-I’m sorry, please don’t hit me again!”

“I’ll hit you whenever the fuck I want. Now answer my question.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out. I tried to search for a good logical reason that I would keep talking, in spite of the mare’s commands, but everything I thought of had a hole. Why… why do I keep talking? Why do I think I can get through to her? She clearly doesn’t care about anything. Am I just stupid? Opening my mouth to put myself in more danger?

I closed my eyes. Maybe she’s right, maybe I AM retarded.

“Hello? Earth to retard? Do I need to shank you?”

I snapped back to attention. “No, no! No shanking, please! I… I-I don’t know why I keep talking. I’m sorry, please, I-”

“Then shut up already.”

I flinched back, covering my head with my hooves, before another waft of burning flesh had me covering my muzzle yet again. The mare started to laugh, before stopping to wince, looking at her duct taped wound again.

She really should do something about that, a strip of duct tape isn’t going to help her heal at all.

I bit my lip. Should… should I say something about it? On the one hoof, it had been made abundantly clear by this point that saying pretty much anything ended with me getting hurt. On the other hoof, it hurt me just to look at her medical catastrophe, not to mention she had given me a pretty clear idea of what a gunshot feels like. I didn’t know that much about healing, but surely some basic first aid would be better than just… just duct tape.

I’m not going to like this, but… but I’ll try.

I cleared my throat, not that there was really anything in it that needed clearing. It just felt appropriate.

“Um, y-your leg-”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about. When I want you to shut the fuck up, you decide that it’s a good fuckin’ time to start blabbering.” The mare got up, starting to move towards me. But she faltered slightly in mid step, causing the mare to stop. She grit her teeth, glancing at her wound again. “What about my fuckin’ leg?”

I sighed, happy that she didn’t immediately try to kill me.

“Y-you really shouldn’t just stick tape over it. The bullet hole, I-I mean.”

“Yeah? And why the fuck do you care?” my captor nickered. “Besides, what the fuck else am I gonna use?”

“Uh…” I bit my lip again. Meekly, I suggested, “B-Bandages?”

“Pffft, don’t make me laugh, feathers.” The mare was already failing to stifle a laugh. “Bandages, sure. I think I’ll just have a nice fuckin’ steak for dinner too. And some vintage wine and cheese while I’m at it!”

Erm… ok, so… not bandages, I guess.

“W-w-well, couldn’t you at least put… I-I don’t know, some kind of cloth over top of it? Something to absorb the b-blood, rather than j-just… you know, plugging the hole.”

The mare went silent. Slowly, a grin began to spread across her face, and her eyes began to narrow.

“Well fuck me, feathers. That sounds like you’re offering me that scarf of yours.”

My whole body tensed up. Oh no, not the scarf, please. I need that to heal my wing! I turned and looked at my broken wing. The scarf was still valiantly holding my makeshift splint in place. I couldn’t afford to lose it, otherwise I might never heal, and then…

“Well don’t just sit there feathers, I’ll gladly accept your fuckin’ gift.”

I need to think of something.

“I, er… I-I don’t know that the scarf would work… i-it’s, um…” I struggled to think of an excuse, my mind racing to find something suitable to say. “It’s, it’s… too big! Y-yeah, you’d have to wrap it around your leg like… l-l-like seven times, a-and that would just make it h-harder to walk… yeah?”

“Hmm…” my captor began tapping her chin in the most overly dramatic way I have ever seen, “You know, you may be on to something there. But that’s ok, I’ve got a better fuckin’ idea.”

Slowly the mare drew out her knife. I felt my pupils shrink, and I tried to back up, only to be stopped by the picket fence. I shut my eyes tight. This is it. She’s finally gonna kill me. I’m going to die down here… oh god, why did this have to happen to-

*FWISH*

I flinched as I heard the mare’s knife swing, but I couldn’t help but notice I wasn’t in pain. Well, at least no more pain than usual. I opened my eyes, glancing back at my broken wing.

The scarf was still there, although it looked considerably shorter than I remembered. I turned back towards my captor. There in her hoof was a chunk of my scarf.

“Oh, you are a riot, feathers.” The mare smirked, starting to remove the duct tape from her leg. “I swear, I barely even have to… ah, fuck that hurts… lift a hoof to make you squirm. This is the most fun I’ve had with my victims in fuckin’ ages. I’m almost gonna miss you once you’re sold off.”

The mare stopped to look at her hoofiwork. Where once there had been a single strip of tape, now there was… well, still tape. A lot of tape. But now there was a chunk of cloth beneath it, so I guess that made it sort of like a bandage?

“There. Are you finally fucking satisfied?”

The mare turned away, trotting back to her place on the other side of the burning corpses. As I watched her go, I got my first good look at her Cutie Mark. It looked like a dagger, aimed down at the ground, blood dripping from the tip. I reeled back as much as I could. Wha… how do you even GET a cutie mark like that?

“Alright feathers, I’m done talking. I’m fuckin’ tired, so I’m gonna go get some fuckin’ shut eye. Don’t wake me up, or…” she paused, sliding her knife back into its sheath. “Well, let’s just say I get cranky if I don’t get my beauty sleep. Got it?”

I nodded furiously.

“Good.” That was all she said before disappearing into the darkness of the house.

Once she was out of sight, I turned to look at the fencepost I was chained to. I began yanking on the chains, hoping to pull myself free. This fence is old, and the wood is rotting… maybe, with the right amount of force, I could pull it apart, and then I’ll-

BANG!!

I yelped, jumping back as much as I could as a bullet embedded itself in the fence, sending wood splinters flying out the back of it.

“Do I really need to tell you why trying to escape is a bad fuckin’ idea?”

I curled up into a ball. This is gonna be a long night.

As light returned to the disgusting campsite, I pulled my eyes open. In truth, I had barely gotten any sleep – I had merely shut my eyes and waited for the night to pass. To make matters worse, the fire had died out sometime in the middle of the night, leaving me defenseless from the elements, unable to go inside for relative warmth. I shivered violently, letting out a loud yawn as I tried to get up, only to fall back down under my own weight. I was pathetic. Battered, bruised, starving, freezing, and exhausted. For a moment, I almost wanted my captor to just kill me, just come out and end my suffering. But I banished the thought as quickly as I could. As long as I’m alive, there’s a chance I can make it back home.

I waited there, chained to the fencepost and too terrified of the potential consequences to try and break free. I looked up at the clouds, to try and pass the time. I wonder if the moon’s out right now. The sun lights it up so beautifully this time of day…

A long time passed before I finally heard a stirring from inside the house. Soon after, my captor emerged into the light of day (if you could even call it that – it all looked so diluted compared to real sunlight). The mare eyed me closely as she stood in the opening. I’m not sure if she was thinking deeply or just groggy. Either way, it was unnerving.

Finally, the mare started to trot towards me. I flinched back, preemptively bracing for impact.

However, to my surprise, she didn’t kick me. She moved around to my front, and knelt down. She was still eyeing me, just as intently as when she had walked out the door. I could feel sweat drops starting to run down my brow. She stared me down for a few tense moments.

“Alright, feathers,” she finally spoke, “here’s how this is going to work. I spent a good long time last night thinking, and that’s already a shit-ton more than I would normally do. But I’ve come to a decision.” The mare grit her teeth. I could tell she wasn’t fully on board with whatever she was thinking, but she carried on.

“I’ve decided that there may yet be some benefit to having a pair of fuckin’ wings on my side.”

My eyes widened. Does that mean-

“HOWEVER, let’s get one thing straight. We are not partners. We are not fuckin’ teammates. And we are definitely not fuckin’ equals. I don’t trust you. You’re not free. You are simply being promoted from being a slave, to being my slave. You will still be shot if you try to escape, you will still be killed if I deem you a threat. Do not fuck with me.”

The mare leaned in very close, the smell of her breath punctuating her every word.

“Am. I. Fucking. Clear?”

I nodded my head as furiously as I was capable of. The mare squinted her eyes even further.

“Alright. Now, I’m gonna undo your shackles. Remember, if you run, I’m putting a bullet in your head.” Oh, don’t worry, I remember.

“Don’t make me fuckin’ regret this.”

With her talk done, the mare pulled out her gun. I panicked for a second, until I saw her unlocking my shackles. Finally! For the first time since my capture, I was able to stand up and move around freely.

Well, as freely as somepony with a gun trained on them can move around. Still, it was better than being in chains.

“T-T-Thank you, miss… miss, uh…” Huh. I never did get her name. “What do I call you?”

The mare raised an eyebrow, tilting her head ever so slightly.

“I don’t know that you’ve earned the right to know my name yet.”

“B-but, uh… b-b-but what if I need to get your attention? I-I can’t just call you ‘purple mare’ all the time, n-now can I?”

She actually stopped to consider that point. Small victory, I guess?

“Fine. Call me Temper.”

Temper? Like a temper tan-

“And if you so much as think of uttering the word ‘tantrum,’ I will shove my knife so far up your ass I could cut your head off from the inside.”

Tan, tan, tan what now? I wasn’t thinking that at all. Nope.

As I stood trying to get the word-that-must-not-be-said out of my head, I heard a small *THUMP* at my hooves, causing me to jump. I quickly turned to see what it was.

Sitting in the dust was one of the attackers’ shivs.

“Pick it up, feathers. Your wasteland training begins now.”

Author's Notes:

Level Up

New Perk: Smooth Talker (1) – You’re starting to learn how to tell ponies only what they want to hear. Each rank you take raises your Speech and Barter skills by 5 points.