Octavia's hoof was over her mouth, which really surprised me for some reason. Maybe I'm the only one so used to the boots and blood that end it all. It became daily. Before I used to only see death and violence on a monthly basis, but now it was nearly daily. The thought actually rotted me to the core. I died a little inside. A tear rolled down Octavia's eye, and she looked at me.

"Don't worry, it won't be us."

It was then I noticed something...

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." It was the only words that I could say.

The stallion hung by the post, wasn't just anypony. It was an old pony, and I knew just who he was. The old stallion from the gas station. I took a puff of my vape as I stared at it. There wasn't much I could do. For some reason, I was happy for him though. He was with his son. That's what matters in the end, that he's not alone and not in pain.

We drove on in silence. Octavia was probably shocked about just seeing the body, after all she never spoke to him like I did. As soon as I got towards Ruthsville, I sped up past the signs. They all had similar messages.

'No refugees allowed.'

'Leave or die.'

I just enjoyed the sound of silence as I passed on by. There were tents along the side of the road, stretching for miles. They were the refugees. The cars began to pile up, so we got out and walked. We walked for a mile, my rucksack full of our belongings. Halfway towards the gate I heard another set of hoofsteps behind me. I turned around and there was a pony I'd never seen, in his mouth was a pipe.

"Drop the bag..." he mumbled.

"Unlikely." I didn't turn around and continue walking, I knew that this pony meant trouble so I put the rucksack on Octavia.

"I don't think you heard me right, drop the bag..."

"You're all the same you know. You all think that by some miracle that if I simply put you down somepony is going to come back to take me out."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll understand soon."

He charged at me, cocking his neck back, I waited until he was close enough to swing. If I charged in at him while he charged me he could clothesline me. As he swung downward I dodged to the right and made a jab into his nose, just above the pipe. His mouth opened to make something like a scream, but he was too shocked to get a word out.

"You got no technique!" I screamed.

I threw a right hoof jab into his chest and a left hook to his temple.

"Or you're probably somepony that thinks he's Pure Pain! Oh you're more like Red Mist!"

I swung directly into his right eye, bruising it into a purple/black color. He stumbled backwards, so I grabbed him by the neck.

"Do you even know who these boxers are that I'm talking about? Any red blooded Equestrian should know them!"

That was about when I shoved him backwards into the bumper of a car.

"Even if you did you'd still be in trouble!"

He tried to duck, so I caught him with an uppercut. He was almost out cold.

"Boss..."

"Yea what about em?"

"He'll never let you get away with this..."

"You see what I mean, you thugs are all the same. Y'all think that there's some magical power protecting you from getting hurt, then when you finally get it put to you then you get a whiff of truth and don't want to learn anything."

"No... You don't understand..."

"Oh?"

"Master Golden won't let you get away..."

Somthing ticked inside me, I think I knew who he was talking about.

"You men Golden Ore right?"

"You... you know him?"

"What's up with the fucking 'master' shit you got going on? He's the last guy I'd EVER call the master of anything."

He stared at me with a bit of terror and a bit of fury, couldn't make it out. I just stepped on the wrong end of his knee and broke one of his legs.

As we walked away, Octavia barraged me with questions.

"Who's this 'Golden Ore' guy?"

"Long story, he's the reason I left."

"Left what?"

"My old crew."

She was silent, guess she thought that I'd see them a lot later if I'd ever see them at all.

"We used to run jobs together. The group was Me, Rock Solid and his brother Rock Bottom, then it was Fire Ember. I don't think you ever met any of them but two of em are the guys that brought me to Ponyville and put some work on my plate. So one thing leads to another and we're trying to rob a small time mob bar. It was nothing special, just a warehouse in the middle of nowhere that apparently had a portion of their earnings in it. So we tried to nab it quietly. On the way out we got spotted and Ember got shot a couple of times. We left his body there and kept going, we needed money somehow. That was when Golden came along."

"What'd you do then."

"He thought he was better than what he really was, he ran around like he owned the group and when we said we weren't going to do something he acted like a baby. He couldn't handle his ego I think. So we split and left it to him. When you say 'my old crew' you're just referring to Golden since the Rock brothers are close."

"I guess that'll explain enough for now."

"What more is there to explain?"

"How we'll get in Ruthsville."

Author's Notes:

I kept you waiting way too long, work is hard.