Dusk Quill wasn't too keen on being sent back to Ruthsville. Her recent failure at persuading Cloud Dasher to think otherwise wasn't what weighed on her mind. What really kept her awake was the reprimands by her officers. They were to see to it that she didn't leave a small room for a week, partially because of security and partially as a punishment. This isn't something she was keen on.

She did, however, see to it that Torn Banner kept doing his work in Yakyakistan so that the deal between the yaks and Detrot could be seen to effectively. Torn Banner wasn't exactly the brightest of ponies, and held strongly to his religious beliefs. Ironically part of it was killing ponies, yet they were his main tool to success. How he convinced them was anypony's guess.

Her guess was that, since they're just tools, they must be disposable just like those under her.

What she didn't know, was that everypony is expendable.

The only thing Octavia could acquire for me as a hammer, a screwdriver, and a toothbrush. Oddly enough I think the toothbrush would be just as if not more effective than the screwdriver, just with a little practice. Sure my good old dad was a church pony, but he spent 8 years in the penitentiary. He taught me not to fight fair, but fight to win. Win no matter what. That is how I've lived this long. If I gave a damn about honor then I wouldn't have made it half this way.

"You're not mad about the toothbrush are you?"

"No not quite, you got it for hygiene right?"

"Yea what else would it be for?"

"Nothing, just wondering."

I picked up the toothbrush and walked on over towards the concrete wall. I turned on my MP3 as I went so I could have a slow pace to work to.

'Hello darkness my old friend.'

I stroked hard against the wall, watching the paint strip from the toothbrush.

'I've come to speak to you again.'

I worked through the whole song, sound of silence. The best goddamn duet I've seen so far. When I was done it was a razor sharp plastic edge that could be concealed in my hoof. It worked alright. There was probably work for me upstairs, just a gut feeling. As soon as I opened the door I got knocked in the face. It wasn't hard so I just kinda stood there staring at the officer. He was trying to knock on the door when I opened it.

"You need me..." I said, his hoof against my nose.

"Yes sir, General Brigade demanded you in particular."

Guts never wrong.

I walked up the three flights of stairs and all the way over to his office.

"You remember that bust you made the night I found you?"

"Yea I remember it. What's up?"

"We can't find the pony you killed in the office. We suspect she put up an illusion before you left, a powerful unicorn is capable of optical illusions so it seems likely."

"Well, where is she now?"

"We have a feeling she won't be here for a while, if ever. We are, however, having a situation come up in Detrot that needs tending too. I'll keep you updated."

"Well I'm staying here for now, I'm not a fan of leaving work undone."

And Whinnyapolis left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Then stay for all I care, just tell me when you leave."

Sounds like a plan. I moved through the door that led to the streets. Starlight's old home was set up in a manner that gave it a grim, menacing look. It looked like it watched over you, towering above your head. I kept walking, my next target location was a set of shacks set up outside of the town, getting out and through the crowd and finding the right tenements is the big challenge, I wasn't particularly worried about the opposition.

Once I got to the gate I just flashed my I.D., which had literally nothing on it but it made me look a little important. The guardsponies didn't pay much attention and let me through.

"Money for a poor soul! God will judge your faith my son!"

I kept walking.

"May god throw you in hell!"

I heard a lot of that as I walked past the beggars, the whores, and the thieves. I didn't expect sympathy. I unzipped my jacket, My plate carrier blended pretty well, even though it was a completely different color. I followed the tenements until I got the the final back row. I only remembered this by the small symbol of the star above the door. This was the right place.

I knocked on the door, and I waited a few seconds until it slowly opened.

"You're not one of her guys are you?"

He couldn't see me, as I was hiding where the door opened into. Which caused a weird awkward silence.

"Who's she?"

"Dusk... you with her?"

"She ran the gaggle of a communist party in Ruthsville right?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Then I'm not with her. I killed er."

He was a little stunned, then finally closed the door and stared at me, holding my hoof from where he hit it with the door.

"Well looks like your wrong, she's sending signals soon."

"What makes you think she's dead?"

"I blew her brains across a table and laid her out. I guess that's proof enough."

"Looks like you fell for it to."

"What's it?"

"She is an expert in magic, she can project illusions so vivid you can't tell if they're actually her or not. You shot one of those, and more than likely she crawled out in the process."

Well that makes no sense.

"It makes perfect sense."

Did I say that out loud? Shit.

"Well I've never seen that before, alright whatever and I'm guessing you tried to leave when you could but got stuck with all the ponies crowding the streets?"

"Yea that's about right."

"Huh, why don't you just go on your own one at a time? It's not like you need to take everything you own. That's what the refugees are doing anyway."

I heard something behind me, it was getting close. I stood up, swinging around and catching a bigger pony rushing me with a knife. I hadn't expected it but I pivoted out of his swing. It went low and right, I used the momentum to draw the hammer and slam it against the top of his head, which knocked him cold.

The pony that was sortof friendly for a communist stood up and drew his handgun. I threw the hammer at him, which slammed against his gut. From there I jumped onto the table and kicked him right in the face. He fell backewards as I pulled the screwdriver and stabbed him about ten times in the chest. Then I stabbed him a few more times for good measure.

A pony had just entered the door, we stared at each other for a few seconds, this really couldn't get much more awkward. She walked away slowly. I didn't follow. I just stuck around and picked up what I could, the pony's handgun was a shit iver johnson, which suprised me that it even worked since it's well over 100 years old.

I kept walking through the place, it was practically clear. This was a good indication that they meant what they said about leaving, I didn't feel bad about offing them, since they swung first. That's just how it is. There was no weapons other than what I saw so I made my way out.