We drove for another hour, the bar probably was now a cesspool of cops. That's one thing I wanted no part in. They'll most likely just dismiss it as another bar fight. After all, that's all it is to me. That is all it should be to them.

We kept a straight path past a small town, there were no lights on. It was late at night and there was no need to have them in the first place. Not many cars came round these parts, we were in the rural northern area of Equestria. Most ponies that lived up here were doing one of four things: Holding onto old world values like a true Amishpony, living small, poor as fuck, or living off of practically enslaving other ponies by forcing them to work as farm hands for 7.25 an hour. To be fair I was still trying to figure out what 'Our Town' was in amidst of all the other options it had. Considering it's communist routes it was probably the last one, just with no 7.25.

We were approaching a pharmacy, following the speed limit we'd passed a few seconds ago. They sold vape refills so I had Octavia stop there. When the car stopped in the parking lot I got out and pulled a fifty bit bill from my jacket. I'd left my combat vest in the trunk, I wouldn't need it for a bit. Once I was in the pharmacy I saw an elderly pony behind a bar type counter, above it was a sign. It read 'Vape Pen Refills' just above it. They only sold one flavor: Cigarette. Guess you can't have everything, I always liked the 'monkey piss' flavor just so that anyone who gets a whiff of it knows it's bad stuff without me telling them it's got the highest nicotine dose.

Only problem was they sold it through a individualized bottling sequence. Rather than be rational and sell the bottles pre-filled they filled them all there to prevent theft. It was smart for security, but certainly not for time and practicality. I handed him the fifty and asked for 3 bottles worth of the liquid, he complied. The juice slowly dripped from the machine into the bottle.

This is gonna take forever, might as well make it last. I don't know much about this city I'm hitting up and I'm going to be there pretty soon, might as well ask a local what he knows.

"Hey, do you know anything about this city here?" I said, handing him the map. He levitated it and studied it carefully.

"Oh you mean Ruthsville?"

"Ruthsville?"

"Yea, that's where you put the red circle. You labeled it 'Our Town' for whatever reason. You from there?"

"Well no, just visiting."

"Then what about that town makes it 'Yours'? Locals down there don't like outsiders, especially not of the likes of you."

I guess that's a compliment.

"Well, we're headed there to get away. Whatcya know about it?"

"I know a plenty things bout it. It's a rather new town and the second farthest northeast. Only city further is New Griffinstone. That place got turned around from being a utter shithole to a pretty decent place lately by some ponies. They were certainly out of place in a city full of griffins I'll tell you that. If it were up to me I'd have those griffins workin my farm."

One thing I forgot to mention, the northeast is the most racist portion of Equestria.

"Well that's a sentiment. Now, about Ruthsville, what do you know about the locals?"

"It was originally occupied by only 50 ponies, mares and fillies included. Now it's a place of sanction for ponies running from the battle of Whinnyapolis. They all came down this road long ago, lookin just like you. They all had some tale about the 'Masked Legend' and the 'Death Bringer', some Pegasus with some combat experience. I call bullshit on all their stories, either the militia ain't got no training or that guy's a god on earth."

"I'd rather believe the latter. The death bringer is a serious name you know."

Death bringer? I could go with it...

"Bullshit, now really any other questions? Your vape's almost done."

"Yea, what do you know about Starlight Glimmer?"

He looked me in the eye, something between a look of shock and terror. It was as if I had found a nerve, and just cut it. It was obviously the worst thing I could've asked.

"We don't like to talk bout her. You follow?"

"I'm not sure I do. What do you know about her?"

"Don't tell anypony I said this... lean in close."

I leaned in to his mouth. He grabbed the collar of my jacket.

"The bitch is alive. Don't believe what anypony says. They like to think she died in that cave. They like to think that she will never return. Her reign of terror is now a shadow but it still lingers. We don't like to talk about her."

I looked him in the eye once he let go, there was a tear in his eye as he stared the security CCTV camera down. He was being watched and he knew it.

"We aren't free in these parts and you know it." He said. He switched vape bottles and filled the next one. I swapped out the juice in my old pen and blew a puff. Then looked him back in the eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm here to shine a light on that shadow. I've come this far and I won't back down. I know that she lied to you about her identity to gain absolute power over you and your friends but that is no longer the case. I'm here to stop it."

"You can't do it and you won't try. You know what she did to me? She took my son. My baby colt, just a year old, and she killed him. Found his cutie mark. It wasn't equality, so she stoned him."

"You're wrong. I'd like to make myself clear, I'm the death bringer. I'm the masked stallion. I'm here to bring you your life back."

A tear was in his eye. He looked a little closer, then said one thing.

"If what you say is true, kill that bitch. Make no mistake she must pay."

I left that place with a new point of view and we drove on. I fell asleep in the backseat after puffing my pen.

When I awoke it was daytime, and I was still in the backseat of the car. It took me a moment to remember how I had actually gotten there. My vape pen had fallen on the floor, my glove fell off with it. The glove still held the pen like a cigarette, lightly caressing it between the middle and index finger. It was a gentle motion, one I've been long since accustomed to.

The dream I had was something weird, but I couldn't remember it even if I tried. I reached down and put the glove back on, moving the mechanical fingers around, flipping the pen between them. I had gotten it back to my index and middle finger and took a puff. Just thinking, what I had done to get here.

I got back into an upright position in the car, Octavia was not in the car. It would've been odd, but we were parked outside of a motel. It was freezing and I could see not only the smoke from the vape, but my breath as well. I threw my jacket on and moved towards the office of the motel. I needed to find the room Octavia was in. Sure it'd be suspicious for me to walk in and ask, but I could explain.

It got a helluva lot easier to explain when I entered. The lobby was empty. All but a little bell on the receptionist's desk. A small sign hung above it.

'Ring for service'

Well, didn't take much thinking to know what to do. I tapped the bell three times, no response. I tapped it three more times, and then again no response. I proceeded to spam the button until finally an angered receptionist rounded the corner from the staircase behind me.

"I'm here, I'm here. For the love of god stop ringing that bell!" She sure had her panties in a knot.

"Well, it's-" I looked at my watch "10:18 AM, when do you get on for work?"

"None of your goddamn business that's when. "

"Oh boy I bet you get all the good reviews online huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a receptionist, start acting like one."

"You mean to tell me that I am supposed to act a certain way?"

"Yes actually, that's exactly what I mean. Receptionists are supposed to be kind to guests, something you clearly aren't good at."

"They don't pay me enough to be 'Kind'."

"Mhm, and they didn't pay me enough to sleep in the middle of the snow in a foreign country while everypony else froze to death. You're pretty well off compared to the rest of the world you know."

She was silent to this, not really pity (which wasn't what I wanted, I just wanted her to shut up), and listened.

"A grey mare came in here last night, I'm looking for her. What room is she in?"

"You know I can't tell you that right?"

"You know I don't care. Now what room is she in?"

"22 A, it's right down the hall."

Trying to get rid of me I see. Nothing new to me.

I took the way she pointed me to, the rooms labels were rotted. It was awfully out of character for Octavia to pick such a shithole to live in. I can't remember how many bits I had, but it was enough to get a place nicer than this and still pay for other stuff. I got to twenty three, realized I went one to far, and turned around. Once I got to room 22, I knocked on the door.

I could sense a presence on the other side. I have a knack for this sort of thing. Shame I didn't have a knack in school otherwise I'd be a lawyer. I never really did like paperwork though, so actually I don't know. The door's lock clicked, so I gently opened the door. I hate it when people crash through a door that's unlocked.

"It's unlocked." I heard from Octavia's mildly British accent. She was sorta loosin that accent since she'd lived in Equestria for a good 8 years.

The door really was unlocked, I walked in with ease. That is with ease until I was slammed on the back of the head. When I woke up Octavia was standing over me with a look of concern and amazement.

"What the hell was that for?" I screamed.

She grabbed my mouth.

"Shh, don't be too loud. You'll get us some unnecessary attention."

"Well that's not too much to ask." I mumbled out.

"Well, you want an explanation, here it is."

She held a brick up, and pointed towards the open door. There was a little rod placed through the top of it, it was built so that when the door opened the brick would be dropped on whoever entered. Clever, that is if she remembered to disengage it when I came.

"So why the motel?"

"I don't like sleeping in cars."

"Well yea, of course."

"I especially don't like sleeping in cars with stallions."

"You're acting like there's a problem with sleeping in the same bed as me?"

She got a little red to this, to be fair if she got red at all then I'd notice it through her coat.

"Well on the down note, we have a new competitor in the ring for Starlight."

"How'd you figure that out?" I was awfully confused with the sudden change of topic. Ten bucks says she doesn't like thinkin about me.

"I did some digging. It's a gang of 10 ponies, I think you know them."

"How so?"

"They're your old crew."