Five descended from the sky once more, feeling her hoofs and robotic claws digging into the dusty sand below. She felt the cold wind of the desert plane whipping around her, and she retraced her wings against the cold.

As Rainbow Dash landed beside her, Five let out a warbling whistle. The red-orange light circling above her responded, and Philomena changed course, flying toward the dusty, silent town ahead.

“Why’d we stop flying?” said Rainbow Dash.

“Because here, it is best to approach on foot,” said Five.

Rainbow Dash looked around at the desert surrouonding her, and Five could tell that she must have distantly remembered it. The land was largely the same- -except that, in the centuries of semi-darkness, the formerly relatively sterile sands an gravel had become overgrown with small, evenly spaced mushrooms.

“Um, where are we, anyway?”

Five pointed toward the dilapidated wooden buildings in the distance. “That is Appleoosa.”

“Appleloosa?” said Rainbow Dash, confused. “Hey, I know that place!” She paused. “Why didn’t we take the train?”

“Because there is none.” Five sighed. “At least we got some distance on the back of Mountain’s hovervessel. Until somepony vomited on me.”

“It kept turning,” said Rainbow Dash, defensively. “I can handle a train, but not boats.”

“It is not a boat.”

“Close enough. Besides, I need to keep in practice to keep these amazing wings in shape.” She extended her wings near her head and kissed each of them, and then flexed them. “But it’s been forever since I’ve been to Appeloosa. And not just because of the whole time-jump thingy. Do they still make that ‘special’ cider?”

“No,” said Five. “Apples have not grown here in centuries.”

“No…no apples?”

“They generally grow poorly with little light.”

“Oh…that’s kind of sad.” She looked around. “At least they have a lot of…mushrooms?”

“That’s all that now grows here.” Five picked one and took a bite of it. It was mildly bitter, but she was able to keep it down.

“That’s…neat,” said Rainbow Dash. She reached down to pick one of the caps with her mouth.

“What are you doing?” said Five, causing Rainbow Dash to stop just before her mouth clamped around the stalk of the fungal growth.

“I was going to…to eat it.”

“Don’t do that. You will die.”

“But you’re- -”

“A chiropteran. If you try to eat one with improper cooking, you will expire of liver failure within hours.”

“I hate mushrooms anyway,” said Rainbow Dash, backing away from the fungus as though it were going to attack her.

“And yet you were going to eat it…”

“I’m hungry,” whined Rainbow Dash. “My glorious feats of athleticism kind of take a lot of calories.”

Five only glanced at Rainbow Dash, and then finished her mushroom. In the past few days, she had found that she rather did not like the blue Pegasus. That was largely an extension of the fact that she did not especially like any pony. Rainbow Dash was especially bad, though. All the qualities that made her a historically compelling figure were terribly grating in real life. She was brash, loud, boastful, and terribly naïve despite her feigned bravado. She was, however, at least loyal- -a trait that Five knew only existed for the powerful to control the simple-minded. Which, in her case, was the exact situation she had found herself in.

“Now, listen,” said Five. “We need to stop for supplies- -but this town is not what it used to be.”

“It looks the same,” Said Rainbow Dash, eying the mushrooms around her perhaps a bit too eagerly. “Except…dirtier. And all sorts of broken.”

“It’s a ghost town,” said Five. “Or, mostly. When the apple crops failed, so did the town.”

“Well, at least the bison- -”

“Were exterminated with biological weapons. They were not missed.”

“I don’t know what that means,” said Rainbow Dash- -even though it was clear by the expression on her face that she at least distantly knew what Five meant. Five did not bother to mention that the virus that destroyed the bison had actually been meant for the chiropterans.

“The points is, this is a mushroom town. And mushroom folk are strange.”

“Are they, like…covered in mushrooms or something?”

“No. They are mostly hermits or criminals. Ponies that couldn’t deal with life in the cities but weren’t approved to live in the frontier zone. Rejects- -but ponies striving to live.”

“So?”

“So watch your plot, because somepony just might try to steal it.”

They approached the edge of the town. Superficially, it looked empty and nearly abandoned. The buildings there had been constructed out of wood- -where from, Anhelios had no idea, considering it was in the center of a desert- -and the dryness of the desert had originally preserved them for decades, allowing them to dry and become cracked under the sun. In more recent times, however, the climate shift had caused moisture and invasion of fungus. Chemical treatments had kept the mushrooms at bay, for the most part, but the town had been in disrepair for so long that many of its structures were not unrecognizable as buildings.

It was not empty, though. There were ponies. They stayed in the darkness beneath the haphazardly sloping and crooked awnings of their homes and businesses, watching. Many of them were old stallions, grizzled by years of warfare or prison life, but others were younger. There were a number of who were far younger, the children of the settlers. Many of them seemed far less distrustful than their elders- -but still kept their distance.

The mood was tense- -but not expressly dangerous. Ponies did not come to Appleoosa for danger, adventure, or to build on their lives of crime- -they came to form a new life in the only place they could. They were naturally coarse, but not expressly violent; or at least, that was what Five hoped. She had not been to Appleoosa in decades; there really was no need to.

A distant birdcry cut through the air, and Five watched as Philomena descended, landing on Five’s back. Five reached into the bird’s mind and determined what Philomena had seen in her initial sweep. She sighed, realizing how terrible her timing was and took the bird in her claw. She issued several telepathic directions, and Philomena nodded. The phonenix then took flight and soared across the town, finally taking a perch on the crooked steeple of the long-abandoned, decaying church of Celestia.

“Right,” she said, mostly to herself. “Say, Rainbow Dash, how about a break?”

“Break? I’m not tired.”

“Come on. Let me buy you a drink.”

Five forcibly pushed Rainbow Dash into the local saloon. The various alcoholics in the establishment looked up, and Five could sense that her and Rainbow Dash were not welcome.

That did not really concern her- -she could sense most of their intentions, and few were angry enough to pull a weapon. So Five and Rainbow Dash walked slowly to the back of the dimly lit saloon.

“So,” said the bartender as they approached the pitted and stinking bar. “A bat and a Blue. We don’t get many of your kind here…and I’m sure you can tell you’re not wanted here.” He eyed Rainbow Dash and Five. “You two some kind of filly-foolers?”

“And if we were? Would that matter?”

“It’s an unnatural perversion…but no. As long as you can pay…and I know you’re kind can’t. This ain’t a charity.”

Five slammed her head sideways against the bar, and with a powerful gagging sound that made the bartender recoil, she choked out two small blue crystals that had formerly been mushroom. She pushed the mucous and blood covered pair of stones across the bar, and then lifted her mouth and wiped her lips.

“Sapphires. I think. Give me seltzer water. Give her whatever kind of alcohol you have.”

The bartender stared at her for a moment, and then looked down at the gems.

“You’ve got a deep throat, ain’t ya?” he said, absentmindedly as he swept the gems into the glass he had been polishing.

“And several sharp fangs.”

“Point taken…ha ha.” He waved them away. “Pick a table. My daughter will come with the drinks.”

“I don’t think so,” said Rainbow Dash, leaning forward. Five put her metallic palm to her face; things had been going so well. “First off, I am not a lespony. Second, where do you get off saying things like that? Is there something wrong with mares loving mares? Don’t get me wrong, I definitely like stallions- -but I have friends who are lesponies! I’m not just going to stand here and let you call them dirty names like that!”

“Oh yeah?” said the bartender, leaning over the bar and raising one eyebrow. “Just what are you going to do about it, little filly?”

“I’m going to take this here robotic hoof,” said Rainbow Dash, raising her left foreleg. “And I am going to shove it so far up your- -”

Five grabbed Rainbow Dash by the shoulder and turned her so that they were facing each other. She could feel the tension in the room rising, and knew that Rainbow Dash would not stop until she got into a fight- -she was just that kind of pony. Time was running short, though, and Five needed to defuse the situation. Normally she would have done it with violence, but her other half had created a better- -and far more unsavory- -solution.

Several of Five’s claws extended as she put her hoof behind Rainbow Dash’s head. Then, with Rainbow Dash’s head locked in place, she pulled Rainbow Dash forward and planted their lips together.

Rainbow Dash was immediately confused, and the flustered. She tried to resist, and Five realized that she was surprisingly strong. Five barely had a chance to insert her tongue as Rainbow Dash pulled away, gasping and blushing heavily.

The bartender, as well as most of the patrons, stared at the two wide-eyed. A green pony in the background cheered, and somepony started clapping.

Five pointed at the most distant of the tables. “Sit,” she said.

Rainbow Dash, now so embarrassed and confused that she had lost the will to fight, did as she was told. She walked to the table over the sinking floor and sat down. Five joined her, sitting across from her so that she could see the door and windows on her right.

“Why did you…why did you do that?” whispered Rainbow Dash, trying to fold her oddly erect wings behind her into the splintery, foul-smelling seat.

“Because fighting is not warranted,” said Five.

“But- -you could have at least asked!”

“You should be honored,” said Five, rubbing her tongue, trying to get the horrible taste of pony spit out of her mouth. “That was my first kiss.”

“Well it was completely embarrassing- -I mean, what if they…wait, what?”

Before Five was forced to once again explain the nature of a parthogen, a pony appeared beside them with a pair of drinks on a plate. She was a relatively young mare with a light red complexion, dressed in traditional Appleloosa barmaid attire.

“That was really something,” she said, placing a dirty class of bubbling brown fluid in front of Rainbow Dash and an equally dirty glass of slightly less brown fluid in front of Five. “I’ve never seen my pa’s jaw drop so low…and Old Coot hasn’t smiled that wide in since they started making colanders in his hat size.”

“Glad I could help,” said Five, taking a sip of the fluid that was supposed to be fizzy water. It tasted more like fizzy rust. She grimaced, and set it down.

“How did you do that trick with the sapphires, though?” she asked.

Five turned to her. “What are you named, pony?” she asked.

“Promising,” she said. “My name is Promising Future.”

“How optimistic,” said Five, looking back at Rainbow Dash, who was now examining the drink she had been given quite intently. “I do that ‘trick’ by increasing the Order of elements of food I have eaten, at which point gemstones are expelled. Painfully.”

Five watched as Rainbow Dash took a sip of her fermented mushroom juice- -and nearly vomited, at which point she promptly began to chug it. Five made an internal note to watch Rainbow Dash for tendencies toward alcoholism and addictive behavior.

“Is there any way you could teach me to do that?”

Five turned to Promising Future. “No,” she said flatly.

“Oh,” said Promising, looking dismayed.

“Why do you conceal your wings?” asked Five.

Promising Future visibly jumped, and Rainbow Dash suddenly seemed interested.

“Oh yeah- -hic- -” said Rainbow Dash. “I couldn’t even tell she was a Pegasus.”

“How did you know?” said Promising Future.

“I read your mind,” said Five. “Clearly.”

“Wings are something you should be proud of,” said Rainbow Dash, extending hers and flapping with enough force to pull her chair- -and part of the table- -upward, forcing Five to scramble to keep their drinks from spilling.

“Because when you work in a place like this,” said Promising Future. “Ponies tend to try to grab them.”

“I don’t actually care,” said Five.

“Well then punch ‘em,” said Rainbow Dash, slamming her robotic hoof into her organic one- -and wincing with pain.

“Promising Future!” called the bartender. “Stop talking to the filly-foolers and get back to work!”

“Right, pa,” she called back. She turned back to Five as she walked away. “Hey…maybe I can talk to you later?”

“Doubtful,” said Five.

Promising Future’s expression fell as she put the dented metal drink tray on her back and returned to her father.

“You know,” said Rainbow Dash, now slightly buzzed from the fungal alcohol that she was somehow curiously able to stomach. “You are a huge jerk.”

“I know,” said Five. “But she was only bothering to talk to me in an attempt to garner funds.”

“And the way you talk…where the hay did you learn that? Gell doesn’t talk like that…”

“I speak as I choose.” Five put her head on the table.

“Is something…something wrong?” asked Rainbow Dash, now almost genuinely concerned.

“Of all the times for this to happen…”

“What? Are you…” she leaned closer and whispered, using her hoof to shield her mouth from the other ponies. “Are you having estrus problems?”

Five looked up. “Parthogen. No estrus. Actually, most ponies don’t even do that anymore. They didn’t when you were alive. And no. All I wanted to do was to get some food, and ammo, and perhaps a new power dissipation spike. Then we would fly to the edge train hub. But no…”

There was a sound, distant at first, but growing louder. Rainbow Dash seemed to instinctively ignore it, not realizing that it was the roar of engines, but the other ponies all seemed to react with fear.

“Try to move as little as possible,” sighed Five. “This will be…challenging.”

Rainbow Dash became aware of the ponies in the room suddenly moving. Some left, others simply stiffened. One even tried to hide. Only then did Rainbow Dash realize that there was a sound that was rapidly growing louder. It was a sort of whirring hum, like the sound of the old engines that Applejack had sometimes used for various tasks- -but faster and somehow different, as though every stroke were metallic an echoing.

She leaned back in her chair and looked to her left, out the dirty and cracked windows of the bar. As she did, the first of several vehicles passed by. Rainbow Dash had never seen anything like them- -metal devices with two wheels, powered by internal engines, and ridden by ponies dressed in black faux-leather and spiky, makeshift armor. She did not know how those vehicles worked, but she immediately knew that she wanted one.

After a few minutes, the engines cut, and the sound of motor noise was replaced by unintelligible voices and commotion, and something that was perhaps a scream.

“You two,” hissed the bartender, motioning toward Five and Rainbow Dash, and pointing behind the bar. “Get over- -”

The gate door to the saloon suddenly burst open, and everypony inside stared at the ponies that entered. There were two of them; one of them was a unicorn with deep-set, glaring eyes, dressed in black and steel with his a pair of sidearms holstered against his body. The other was a large, fully armored earth pony that reminded Rainbow Dash of a far rustier version of Celestia’s powered earth pony soldiers- -complete with the excessively large weapon on his back that slowly scanned the room.

“Hello, everypony!” called the unicorn, smiling. “How is everypony doing?”

“Look, we don’t want any trouble,” said the bartender. Rainbow Dash saw that he was shaking as he pulled out a pair of glasses and a bottle of something that was definitely not mushroom beer. “Here, guys. On the house…my best stuff.”

“Oh,” said the unicorn, smiling in a way that make Rainbow Dash’s skin crawl. “Why thank you. At least somepony knows how to show some respect to your owner.” He sauntered across the room and picked up the glass in his magic. He nearly took a sip- -and then his magic burst around it, spraying the bartender with expensive alcohol and shards of glass.

“Do you think I am an idiot?!” the unicorn screamed. “Do you think a free drink is going to make up for what you did?”

Nopony spoke. The bartender was bleeding, but he refused to cry and pretended not to notice. The unicorn turned to his captive audience. He sighed, and feigned sadness. “I’m so, so sorry,” he said. “But you all brought this upon yourself. We were, out of the graciousness of or hearts, going to protect this town…but you didn’t pay us for our hard work and terrible sacrifice.”

“Nopony asked for your help,” said an old mare at one of the tables. “A bunch of…robbers, you are.”

The armored earth pony approached her, but the unicorn raised his hoof.

“No,” he said. “Too old.”

The earth pony produced a garbled sound that might have been words- -or laughter. He then punched the old mare in the face, knocking her backward onto the floor.

“Now,” said the unicorn, “if I recall, you had that ravishing daughter, didn’t you?”

“No,” said the bartender, suddenly panicking but trying to hide it poorly. “She’s- -she’s just an earth pony. She’s not worth anything to you.”

“Earth mares still get some money. Hay, maybe we’ll even get a good buyer- -but you’re a businessman. Surely you understand that I need to turn a profit.”

His horn glowed a sickly blue, and Rainbow Dash heard a surprised squeak from somewhere behind the bar. Promising Future struggled against the magic as it lifted her out from a cabinet. For a moment, she even tried to take hold of the bar, but her hoofs simply slipped across it before her father could grab her.

“No, please!” said the bartender. “Take my bar, my money- -but she’s all I’ve got!”

“She’s worth more than the entire place,” said the unicorn. “And don’t worry about her. She’ll be going somewhere far better than this hole. And…” he put his hoof to his ear, listening to the sounds of ponies crying out in desperation outside. “She’s not going to be alone. All your mares are belong to us now!”

He laughed heartily- -and psychotically- -until his companion gurgled. The unicorn immediately stopped laughing, and looked closely at the pony suspended in his magic.

“No way,” he said. His magic split, and Promising Future cried out as her dress was ripped in half- -reveiling a pair of red wings.

“Barkeep,” said the unicorn, tsk-tsking, “you’ve been holding out on me.”

“No, please!” cried the bartender. Rainbow Dash suddenly noticed that the bartender was pointing at her. “Take them! Those mares! Just leave my Future!”

The unicorn stared at Rainbow Dash, and his eyes narrowed. Rainbow Dash felt her spine tingle- -but she was not afraid. She felt her rage rising- -rage at her circumstance, at having been brought against her will to a future where everything she valued was gone, and rage at this smug-faced unicorn. It all started to focus on that unicorn, and Rainbow Dash felt the energy causing her robotic arm to twitch. She wanted nothing more than to slam her metal hoof into his horn and make him scream for what he was doing.

The unicorn approached, and then paused. Before he was in range, he turned back to the bartender. “Are you thick? These are not mares, friend.”

Rainbow Dash was about to protest, when she heard a strange voice from across the table.

“That is correct,” said Five. Rainbow Dash turned and nearly jumped out of her seat. The eyes staring back at her were not wide and blue; instead, they were overly large and turquoise, with vertical slit pupils. “We are stallions. There are no mares here.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. For some reason, the image of Five was wrong. She knew what Five looked like, but for some reason, her mind refused to completely accept the form before her. Five’s appearance seemed to be shifting and swirling, and somehow Rainbow Dash could not stop herself from partially seeing a sallow, ragged bat stallion sitting across from her.

“A bat and a Blue,” said the unicorn. “What a pair…clearly from out of town. Say, would you gents happen to have seen any mares aside from this little gem?”

“No,” said Five, her voice distorted. For some reason, she sounded both like herself and like a stallion- -and like a voice that Rainbow Dash somehow remembered from what seemed like so long ago. “But, might I ask…of what purpose are these mares to you?”

“Purpose…oh, my.” He bowed, excessively, jerking Promising Future to the side as he did. “I am called Flesh,” he said. “Purveyor of fine horses. As per your question, good sir, I market mares. The wealthy will pay a hefty fee to own a good one…and the less wealthy, well, they pay to rent.”

“I see,” said Five. “I myself am but a lowly bat…but my employer may be interested in these.”

“Then we will be sure to write our number on whatever buildings we don’t arson,” said Flesh, smiling.

“I’ve had enough of this,” said Rainbow Dash, pushing back from the table. Her own voice sounded strange to her- -but she hardly noticed. She turned around, prepared for a fight- -but promptly fell over as the world swirled around her.

Flesh laughed above her, as did his armored companion. “Well,” he said, putting his hoof on Rainbow Dash’s face and pressing it down painfully. “Sompeony can’t hold his liquor!” He turned to the other patrons. “Come on! Laugh at his failure!” He kicked Rainbow Dash firmly in the face. “Look what happens when you try to be a hero!”

“The Blue is right!” cried an old stallion, pushing over a table and drawing a pistol.

Flesh was faster- -he drew one of his sidearms with his magic and fired. A bolt of light ignited on the old stallion’s shoulder, and he cried out as his shoulder singed under the force of the laser. He fell to the floor, writing in pain.

“No laugh at both of them!” said Flesh. “Laugh or die!”

They all laughed, weakly and humorlessly. Even Five laughed- -although Rainbow Dash did not see her face move. She had actually never moved. She simply sat perfectly still, her eyes staring at nothing in particular and everything at once.

“There we go. Now, I would love to stay and beat this Blue hero into a pulp…but I have ‘business’ to attend to with the fresh mares.”

The bartender jumped over the bar, and the others held him back as the armored earth pony’s weapon automatically swiveled toward them. Flesh only laughed- -and walked out the door.

As he did, though, a flash red swooped down on him. He cried out as Philomena tore at his face.

“Bird! Bird! Kill it!” he cried, drawing his weapon and firing. Philomena was agile, though, and retreated rapidly out of his range.

“Five,” said Rainbow Dash as the engines began to hum again. She saw the vehicles pass by- -and saw cages being towed by them, filled with crying mares. “Five, we have to…to do…something…”

She may have passed out for several moments, but was suddenly awakened by a sharp prick and burning sensation in her neck.

“Huh?” she said, suddenly feeling energy rush through her. Rainbow Dash stood up, seeing Five standing next to her, holding a needle. “Where am I, what- -” Then she remembered. “We have to help them!”

Five, she realized, looked terrible. Her eyes- -now back to their normal coloration- -were sunken and glossy, and she swayed as she walked. “Quiet, please,” said Five. “Massive…headache. You have no idea how hard that was.”

Rainbow Dash heard other noises- -and realized that the bartender was still being held back by other ponies.

“They took her!” he cried. “It should have been you! They took my daughter!”

A gun suddenly appeared at Five’s side- -Rainbow Dash supposed she had been holding it the whole time. “I just maintained a psychic image for nearly two minutes,” she said, watching as the pony backed down at the sight of her barrel- -and began crying. “I am not in the mood for this.”

The bartender sobbed quietly. “Why?” he asked. “Why…why her, and not you?”

“Because she was weak, and I am strong. This is the way in which the world operates.” Five turned to Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash perceived that Five was herself on the verge of collapse. “We have to go, now,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash. “We can still catch them before- -”

“They are of no consequence. This does not concern us.”

“What?!”

“But with us being the only two remaining mares, I doubt that they will trade with us…and with what I did, there is a certain risk of a whole ‘burn the witch’ situation that I would rather avoid. So, we leave.”

Five stepped past Rainbow Dash and made her way to the door.

“No,” said Rainbow Dash, turning toward Five. “What is wrong with you?”

“Several things. None of them are relevant here.”

“You just saw a mare get abducted- -and you don’t feel anything is wrong with that?”

“There is no difference between right and wrong. This is obvious.”

“Five, get over here,” said Rainbow Dash, pointing at the floor. Five turned around and slowly approached.

“What do you- -”

Rainbow Dash channeled her rage directly into Five’s face, slamming her with a steel, gold-clad hoof. There was a crack and a snap, and Five’s head was turned to one side suddenly. Five moved her jaw, and then spit out several teeth. Then she slowly turned back.

“Do not forget who paid for that arm of yours,” said Five. “You have no understanding of this world. What you knew- -it is long gone. This is the world now. Now we are leaving.” She grabbed Rainbow Dash by the joint that connected her robotic arm to her body- -and pulled. It was severely uncomfortable, and Five was able to pull Rainbow Dash through the door before Rainbow Dash managed to pull away.

“I don’t have time for this,” said Five. “We need to leave now- -before they get suspicious.”

“I’m not going.”

“Good,” said Five, examining her gun. “You can stay with Gell in the Pocket for now. Because this shall become…messy.”

“What are you talking about?” said Rainbow Dash, confused.

“I said we are leaving,” said Five, coldly. “You for some reason desire to stay…or so I gather from your inane babbling. That injection, by the way, costs eighty bits. Pay me later.”

“I’m the one babbling?”

“I am leaving…but not without resources.”

“But you said yourself they wouldn’t trade.”

“Not from them,” said Five, staring into Rainbow Dash’s eyes- -and Rainbow Dash understood.

She smiled. “You’re going after them.”

“Of course. They are weak, and I am strong…therefore, their things belong to me by definition. Including those mares.”

“But how are we going to find them? On those motor-things, they’re probably halfway to Ponyville by now!”

“Motorcycles,” corrected Five. “And I had Philomena attach a tracking device to that unfortunately named unicorn.”

“You- -you knew this was going to happen the whole time, didn’t you?”

“Of course.” She reached into her bag and removed a wheel-like device. “I assumed that this all was obvious. Now, if you would, please go spend time with my…Gell.”

“Um, no way,” said Rainbow Dash, floating into the air and crossing her forelegs. “No way am I letting you be the hero in all this.”

“I am no hero, Rainbow Dash,” said Five. “This is simply my job…and it is dirty, and violent. I am going to perform acts that, in your own time, were absolutely forbidden- -acts not meant for you to witness.”

“Don’t care. Not going anywhere. You owe me at least this.”

“I owe you nothing. All my creditors are dead.”

Five looked up at Rainbow Dash. “You are not going to give up on this endeavor, are you?”

“Nope. You’re not going to leave me behind.”

“So be it, I suppose. I suppose this will help you learn.”

“Learn what?”

“To hate me.”