We'd reentered the shack, this time to actually look for the pony running the show. I could just tell by taking a good stare at the ponies that none of them were this 'Beans' guy. I decided I'd secure the 'hostage' before I walked the town. After all, a pony like him is pretty bad at the low profile gig. I made my way up to the bar and casually slipped between two gruff Stallions with a few chips on their shoulder.

"Hey... Octavian was it?"

"Octavia, good try though you'll get it one day."

"Thanks I'll keep swinging at it till something sticks. Looks like we gotta head on out of this rodeo forever."

"What?"

"You heard me, we're goin out of here. See that thing out there?" I put my arm around her shoulder, albeit there was a literal and a metaphorical bar between us that made this position very uncomfortable. "That's the world, and there's plenty of it out there."

"Look, Cloud was it? I can't just get up and go just because I want to. I got a contract to fill."

"I mean, under what law?"

"Thats..." She was completely perplexed, she had absolutely no idea how to respond to the observation. "Thats... a really good point."

"Laws been gone for a while, you're off with me now. Get all the money you can and I'm payin Beans a visit. Besides, he won't be paying you for very long. We'll just say I gotta contract of my own."

Silver Beans had owned another joint on the other end of town, closer to the front gate. Actually, it was right next to it. Considering that I was getting rid of the bastard, I need to wait for those two guards to be gone. The brother's were not exactly in the know about what I was doing, since the idea was that I'd take this guy out and ride into the sunset before anypony knew what was happening. They'd probably do a switch at nightfall or something, and luckily enough the shack Mama had given me had a good little view of the place Beans ran, it also was a nice place to drop off the supplies I didn't need and pick up the big guns.

I brought Octavia in and gave her the grand one room tour. She'd been less than impressed, however she had made a remark about how it was better than the commons. I set her up a little spot to stay and picked up a rucksack and sleeping bag from the stallion that ran the gun store. While I was at it I grabbed a few boxes of 7.62x39 for the AKM. I now had something over 300 rounds of ammunition in my backpack, enough to last me some time if I didn't dump mags.

I'd caught wind that Beans stayed holed up in the club when nighttime came around, apparently there was a little bed he used for sleeping and sleeping, since he'd have to walk by the shack it'd be a good time to nab him then. The idea was real simple. Octavia would run into the street when he'd pass by, and Bellona would make some noise behind him and his guards (I'd counted two of them). Between the two distractions, I should be able to go in and stick Beans in the dirt before the guards knew what was going on.

There was a few problems with the plan though, for one they didn't actually need to walk by the place, they could use back roads. I made the assumption they'd use the front road just because it was much quicker. I'd already actually prepared for another possible hitch, which would be the blade not going into him all the way. I'd sharpened the blade with a whet stone, as it'd lost some of its edge over the past months. Now that it was in good shape I had no issue believing that I could put it through him.

Guns were off the table. We were in a area with a high concentration of innocent ponies, and a shot in him could easily be a shot going into somepony else. The last thing I wanted was unnecessary injuries or fatalities. I was only after the buck and his guards. I'd already finished planning, now all I needed to do was get a good look at the guy so I knew it was him. Didn't want to put a knife in the wrong bastard.

The other place he ran was actually a sorta makeshift restaurant, and I was pretty famished. The chef was doing his business on a propane stove, although it seemed he may have to switch to wood burning just because of the abundance of wood. The chef's coat and mane were a matching off blue tint, however due to the unkempt nature of his hair the top of his head had become more of a white doormat than a hairstyle. There was a mare running orders up in the front, if you could say there was a front. It was more like a foal's lemonade stand, but instead there was a middle aged stallion doing some cooking in a ditch behind them. Whatever it was I hoped it was good. I looked through the menu, which was etched in pencil on a sheet of college ruled paper. I was caught between 'Chicken Croquettes' and 'Beef and Bell Pepper'. I picked the latter.

"Beef and Bell Pepper? That's a popular one. that'll be 15 bits."

I almost bit my tongue at the price. I hoofed the money over anyway though. It was then that I noticed out of the corner of my vision a pony sitting in the shade in a lawn chair. On his leg was a baseball bat, outfitted with barbed wire. No mistaking it, that's our Stallion. Just had to be sure though.

"So, who's the guy on third base?"

"Oh, that's Remmy, he makes sure everypony pays. You don't need to worry about him he's pretty chill."

Well fuck.

"While I'm waiting, mind answering a question?"

"Well, long as it's not personal sure."

"Do you know where I can find a pony named 'Silver Beans'? Heard he had some work."

"That's me." The middle aged pony on the grill chimed in with a thick backwoods country twine. "And by the way, I got nothin fit for a Stallion. Sorry pal."

"It's fine, I'm only stopping by."

"You sure you're stopping by? I've seen your flank around here for quite some time."

"You might've, I consider how long I've been here to be stopping by thank you."

"You sure overstay your welcome. Foods ready."

He tossed a plate of bell peppers in front of me. I didn't see any beef. I wouldn't have exactly named this 'Beef and Bell Peppers' if I was not ready to provide the beef portion. I didn't complain. I chowed down and waited for night.

I'd watched him from that window for just over three hours, and the sun was finally going down. The ponies had settled in before nighttime in the commons or their tents already since the only lights they had was the sun and candles. The ragtag restaurant had closed down after a dinner rush of three ponies that had completely exhausted their single grill and pan. After they'd packed their stuff up and counted the bits, they walked towards the club and commons. It wasn't payday yet I guess, since I didn't see any of the workers get any dough.

I'd already prepared by changing my clothes out for some scraps I got in the trash bins. I'd gotten a white hoodie and some sort of sweat pants with a drawstring. Both were long sleeved. I didn't bother with wearing my gloves, nor did I wear boots during this, I wanted to keep as much blood off of my real cloths as possible.

He walked along the main road with his baseball buddy and some other stallion who I hadn't gotten a good look at. Just as he passed my door I did a signal for Octavia, which she botched horribly. Instead of walking out of the corner she tripped and fell flat on her face in front of them.

"Octavia. You're supposed to be working, you lookin for a beating? Or you looking to get shafting?"

Well, he wasn't covert about his desires. Octavia had become completely red, probably not used to this in public. I quickly got Bellona to start screaming behind them. This worked at diverting all their attention and confusion in two directions. It was my time to shine. I bolted out from the door and knocked both guards in their faces with my outstretched fists at head level. They were both down cold. Beans had caught on and tried to run in the opposite direction, but instead he bumped into Bellona and fell to the ground.

On his way to get up, I decked him and punched my knife through his neck before he even hit the ground. He hadn't even screamed. As soon as we made contact with the deck I pulled the knife from his neck and stabbed him a couple of times in the torso, making sure that he was down. When I was done, I wiped the blade off with his shirt. It wasn't like it mattered, since the scraps I was wearing had become completely red. The guards saw literally nothing, so I quickly changed and tossed the cloths on one of the guards, who was still out cold.

I gathered my things, paid Mama a visit, and was off to Canterlot.

Author's Notes:

Decided to start shaping Cloud Dasher into the character that he was back a in the older work I did with him. I always intended to give him a sense of vigilante justice.