It was late when Cal and I found our way into Flank. It had been three exhausting days of travel that did its job of wearing us both down along the way, one day of walking, two days of flying nearly nonstop. Our only moments that we had taken to rest were kept brief, sleeping little more than four hours at a time, stopping only to trade and eat. I was exhausted, hungry and weary. The last not coming from the long days and nights of flying, but rather the slow change in my companion's demeanor.

Cal and I had left on high spirits, hoping that we could make good time once I was well enough to be back in the air once more. But, as the miles drug on, I began to notice that Cal's normally chatty attitude was fading into short statements, rather than his usual long stories. At first I thought that he was just getting tired of flying, but the further we traveled it became apparent that something was weighing on his mind. By the time the small town appeared on the horizon, he had not spoken in over ten hours, instead keeping to himself and his thoughts.

My hooves had no sooner touched down atop the roof of one of the town's many brothels when Cal jumped from my back and started for the stairs.

"Hey! Where do you think you are going in such a hurry?" I said, trying to run, but failing from the lack of energy.

"I need a drink. Get a room and come find me." Cal said without turning to face me.

"With or without a hooker?" I shouted in hopes of seeing a smile.

Nothing. He didn't even break stride as he opened the rooftop door and disappeared inside. What is with him all of a sudden? It's like somepony pissed in his sugar apple bombs or something. I decided that Caliber will be Caliber no matter what the situation and resided myself to doing as I was told. Wait, when did he start calling the shots? Oh right... We are in Flank... The seediest part of Equestria that I have seen. I bet they worship him here like a god or something. Heh, god of unstoppable fertility maybe. Dammit! That was a good joke and now it has been wasted!

Screw it! I'm in a good mood and nopony can change that! So what if he is in a funk, I got to keep my wings, I'm tired but overall in good spirits and I'm finally on my way to find Zuri! I don't even care if the room I end up renting has shit on the pillow, nothing can ruin this high I'm feeling right now.

I made my way down from the roof to the main lobby of the 'hotel' to see about a germ box to sleep in for the night. Downstairs, the place had been kept far cleaner than I would have imagined it would be given its clientele. I trotted up to the counter, that was now mostly gone, and placed my forehooves on what little marble was left. Peeking over the edge, I could see a light orange mare with a redish brown short mane sitting in a chair reading something very... provocative. The receptionist didn't even bother to look up from her tattered copy of 'Wingboner For Her' at me.

"Hi!" I said in an overly peppy tone.

"...Welcome to the no tell motel... If you don't tell, we don't tell... we are a motel...." She said in a drawn out tone as she turned a page with her hoof.

"One of your finest fuck holes please." I said, again, hoping for a laugh, smile, ANYTHING!

"How many hours would you like it for... I have a special running right now... Buy two hours, get the third free... Pay for the third hour and I will erase the security footage and not tell your wife..."

"That has to be the greasiest thing I think I have ever heard in my entire life..." I said, my ears falling flat to the sides of my head.

"Take it or leave it, I don't care."

"Ok, how much for the whole night, say until nine A.M.?"

"Honey, I don't have that kind of time on my hooves and I seriously doubt you can afford me for the whole night." She said as she calmly flipped to another page.

"WHAT!?" I screamed. Oh my... Did she think... NO! I was now turning a very deep shade of red, I just wanted a room!

"You heard me..."

"I only wanted the room for the night! I don't want to... Oh goddesses..." I said burying my face into my hooves.

"Loner huh? Well, if you JUST want a room, it is going to be 250 caps. Lubricant is extra."

"No, my partner will be along shortly... I MEAN WORK PARTNER... oh hell..." I said, now turning completely red.

"I don't judge..." She said as she put down her magazine and grabbed one of the many keys that were hanging on a board behind her.

"That will be 250 caps..." She said, through a mouth full of key.

"Fine..." I said as I used one of my wings to retrieve my caps. When I turned back around, I was met with the slack jaw of the receptionist staring me right in the face.

"You are a pegasus!?" She said, now looking me over as she stepped from behind the counter.

"Yeah why... Oh no..." Why was she looking at me like that? She looks so... hungry. Did she want to eat me? Well I am sure she wanted to eat something... STOP IT LEFT BRAIN! Of course, she was just reading Wing Boner For Her... What are the odds that a pegasus would walk in while she was mid-read of something like that?

"I'm so sorry for the way I acted before, I had no clue you were a pegasus! They are just so... exotic!" Her last word fell into an almost demonic, breathy hiss.

"I, um, thank you?" I meeked out, now backing away from the lust stricken mare.

"What's with these stripes, huh?" She said, running a hoof over my flank. Oh that felt nice... STOP! NO, NO, NO! NONE OF THAT!

"I, ah... I'm part Zebra?" I said, now stepping away from her once more.

"A Zony Pegasus!? I take it back, you're not exotic, you are a tropical island!"

"Oh no..."

"Tell ya what... How about I cut that pesky little fee in half. Just for tonight." She said, now looking up at me with her nose just a few inches from mine. Her emerald green eyes were almost as piercing as her compliments, but there is no way I was about to, as Caliber says, "stick my dick in something that crazy."

"Thank you, you are very kind, but I really need to get some sleep..." I said, grabbing the key with my teeth off the counter, trying to avoid opening my wings for anything. The moment the key touched my lips, I felt my tail being raised up behind me.

"H-HEY!" I said, turning to face her once more.

"Cute butt too! I take it back, how about 75% off?" She said now blushing.

"Thank you, really, but I need to sleep. Please!" I said, backing my way back to the stairs, turned and ran up them. From the lobby I could hear the mare yelling after me.

"Ok! Free! I'll pay you even! Just put on this outfit! Deal!?" I heard her say as I looked off the railing back at her. Was that a vault suit? No, couldn't be, vault suits don't have stripes like lightning bolts. Oh for the love of everything. The first mare that has ever had anything to do with me just had to be a prostitute, a crazy one at that. So I did the only logical thing a buck like me would do in a time like this, I ran.

"Wait! Come back!" She screamed as I disappeared into the hallway, frantically searching for my room.

"213. 214. AH HA! 215!" I said to myself as my hooves fumbled with the key, opened the door and slammed it behind me.

Ok, that can go down as the first offical time that I have ever been pursued by a mare on that level. I rested my bags at the door and decided to strip off my barding for the first time since Tenpony, and... wow. Was that smell me? Yuck! Thankfully the shower in our room actually worked, so I decided now would be a great time to clean up and go find Caliber.

The warm water, if it could be called that, smelled nearly as bad as I did once I stepped into it. Finally, I can relax! Out of all the times I had been to Flank in the past, Caliber had always ended up getting the whole town drunk, throwing a massive party. With any luck, this time would be no different, I did need to unwind after all. If I was about to cross miles and miles of desert, try and rekindle an old love and meet somepony that I deeply care for, for the first time in ten years... I wanted to at least take some time to calm down.

Feeling pony once more, I dried myself off and shook the water from my mane, feeling it fall back into it's normal position again. Looking into the half broken mirror, I saw myself as I had always been, but without my barding, I looked naked. Great, the receptionist is going to try and have her way with me like it or not now. My stripes were coming in more fully now, the dark grey lines now becoming an even darker shade of grey as they fought their way to the surface of my coat.

Honestly, I am starting to grow to like them. I hate to admit it, but after a lifetime of trying to blend it with the crowd, not be seen, go unnoticed even, I kind of liked the fact that I was now doing the very thing I was trying to avoid. Call it my high spirits now changing my outlook on things, but for once, I was starting to feel like the pony I always wanted to be. It felt... good! I didn't want to put the barding back on, instead leaving it lying on the floor beside my bed.

I went back to my pile of supplies and retrieved my holstered hunting knife from my bags, something I had not worn in years. The distressed black leather had frayed with time, giving it a very lived in look and feel in my hooves. Raising my right foreleg, I slipped it over my hoof and tightened the buckles around my leg, securing it tightly. If I was going into Flank, I wasn't going unarmed, and seeing as I didn't want to put my barding back on, I wasn't going to be able to take my pistols with me. Besides, I might need it to get past the crazy mare in the lobby.

"Oh well, a knife is better than nothing I guess." I said to myself as I shut the door to the room behind me.

Outside, I was met with a few more sets of lingering eyes than I would have liked, I suspect it would be because the sight of a half zebra with wings was an uncommon sight. The experience of being gawked at was a new experience for me, but nevertheless, I kept my head level with the rest of the crowd as I made my way to the bar that Caliber liked to frequent. Although, I will say that not all of the attention I was getting seemed to be all that bad. A few mares and one very confused looking buck seemed to be looking at me with the same intent that the receptionist had back at the hotel.

The smell of stale air was only complemented more by the odor of what I would only refer to as 'very fishy' as I trotted through stable 69, the town's bar. Calm conversation was only intruded upon by the light sound of music as ponies paired up for the evening and were beginning to move towards the door, one by one. Cal was sitting at the far side of the bar in a corner booth, swirling his drink with his magic and looking decidedly nervous. Looking up to scan the bar, his eyes fell on me, followed by him motioning for me to come closer.

"I got us a room and I have showered... Yet somehow, I still smell bad." I said sniffing my coat. The two bucks at the booth to my right all but held in a snicker at my statement.

"Dammit Joey... Don't say shit like that in here..." Cal said, pushing his head into the table.

"What? I like to be clean." I said, still smelling that metallic odor permeating from my coat. "Hey, do you think you could do that spell on me later?" Laughter erupted from the table beside me as the two bucks pounded their hooves into the old wood of the floors.

"Joey... For the love of shit, stop talking." Caliber said, now turning red. Huh, what was he on about? Did I say something wrong? All I wanted was a cleaning spell, it was not like I was trying to have sex with him or anything.

"Talk to me Cal, you have been acting strange all day long. Well, technically you are always really strange, but still, what is the matter?" I said, sitting down at the booth.

"Look, I'm just going through some stuff right now. I just need sometime to work it out."

"You mean to drink it out..." I said, looking at the half empty bottle of whiskey in front of him." Look, you can talk to me. We are best friends after all."

"I don't wanna." Cal said, trying to find the glass's way to his lips.

"Oh, come on... I got all cleaned up to come talk to you. I know I had to stink after you riding my back for two days." One of the bucks that were now sitting behind me, snorted whiskey out of his nose across the floor by my side. What was their deal!?

"Kill me, please..." Caliber said, now pouring a full glass of whiskey.

"Talk. To. ME!"

"If I tell you what's wrong, will you please stop making sexual innuendos?"

"I'm not, but ok. I'll listen"

"It's just... I was going to kill that kid. I was so pissed off that he tried to take you out that I let that part of me take over that was willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of him. A kid Joey! A fucking kid..."

"So that thing that happened, by the pit, what was that all about? You knew that I couldn't hold that kid forever like that."

"I just wanted to scare him... If he fell, I could have easily caught him with my magic and flung him across town if I wanted to."

"So if you wanted to kill him, why didn't you? I mean, it's not like you had a shortage of chances after all."

"You forgave him. It changed things. I wasn't ready for you to forgive him, get mad maybe, smack him around some even! But not just forgive him like that."

"He was just a kid, a supremely fucked in the head kid, but a kid nonetheless. Had it been an adult... I would have shot them myself. But not for trying to kill me, I would have killed them for almost killing Sunny."

"SEE! That's my problem! I was about to murder that little fucker! Do something that would have pissed you off to the point of shooting me, right?"

"Cal, what's really going on here?"

"I don't know anymore... I guess, when I saw him dangling there, I was ready to pull him. But I kept thinking about how you forgave him and how I wasn't ready to yet and how you rushed in, hurt, to save him when he fell. I wanted that!"

"Wanted what? You are not making any sense!"

"I wanted to know what it was like to forgive somepony who had done wrong by me, like you do! I wanted to feel something other than blood on my hooves for once! I thought that if he said he was sorry for what he had done, then maybe, I could feel that too... Let go of it, just, move on without adding another brick of mistake to my back! What did I do? I got him killed anyway! He was just a kid!" Cal said, now fighting back a grimace of shame.

"Cal, you didn't know that Timberwolf was down there. Neither did I for that matter. You couldn't have know what was going to happen to him."

"It doesn't matter! I thought I wanted him dead, then when it happened anyways... It fucking hurts Joey! I watched him die, right beside you! I thought I would be able to move past it like all the other times shit like this happens, but I can't! Why can't I just let this go like all the other times!?"

"Fetch, Sashay. That's why."

"What do they have to do with this?"

"When you found out about Fetch, you ran at first, right?"

"Yeah, I know..."

"Why did you come back?"

"Because you told me to."

"Cal..."

"Fine, I didn't want the poor kid to grow up without knowing who his father was, ok? He deserves that much at least. I thought if maybe he met me, that he would see that even though I was a fuck up, that his father would at the very least do the right thing."

"What about Sashay?"

"I don't know, maybe I wanted to know what it would be like to be a dad? But what kind of father would I be anyhow? Besides, she wants to be a Crusader, and she wants nothing to do with me after what happened with Wheels. I understand it, I want her to be happy, but I just wish that she would give me another chance."

"What about Lavender? Could you forgive her?"

"I don't blame her... Look at me. I wouldn't trust me either."

"It sounds to me that you can forgive all those others, but you can't forgive yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Cal said, shoving his empty glass across the table.

"I'm saying that you forgave Lavender for not letting you see Fetch, even though you knew it was wrong of her to do so. You forgave Sashay for not wanting to accept you as her father because you wanted better for her, you even forgave Wheels for almost killing me."

"What!? I didn't forgive him, I never had a chance to!"

"Oh yes you did."

"Ok fine... How in the hell do you think that I forgave Wheels... I have to hear this."

"Because you are down here drinking yourself silly over his death. You demanded that he apologize, and he did, then he got killed. You gave him another chance to fix things, you were willing to let him walk away after he almost killed me."

"Only after you did..."

"You said you wanted to know what it feels like when I forgive somepony for doing something bad to me, right? Well it feels good, but if I was you right now, if the cards were in the other hoof, I would be feeling like I had failed. I would be in pain from the loss, hurting at the very thought of what I did, but I can do something you can't."

"What?"

"I can forgive myself. Doing something like that is the hardest thing you can ever do. It doesn't make it all go away, but it makes the pain easier to carry. You are always going to make mistakes, sometimes small, sometimes you knock up every mare in Equestria... My point is, if you at least try to do the right thing, then you are already doing the right thing. In my mind, you wanted to forgive Wheels for what he did, sure you went about it all wrong, but you were still trying. Even when that Timberwolf was right there, breathing down your neck, you wanted to run, but you didn't because I told you to stay. The old Caliber I knew would have ran and left me to fend for myself, but you didn't, you stayed. You were trying to do the right thing by following my example."

"I was... I wanted to do something right, but I didn't want to die in the process."

"Part of life is dealing with the mistakes you make, the other half is having the balls to stand up and do the right thing. Sometimes it is impossible to do it alone. But you are not alone."

"So, what you are saying?"

"I'm saying pain shared is pain divided, the same goes for carrying a load of bricks on your back made out of regret."

"I don't get it."

"Ugh... I'm here for you, you dumbass! I'm your best friend, I care about you! When you hurt, I hurt, when I cry, you cry! Don't bottle this shit up and try and face it alone, that's why I am here! That's what friends do! You keep trying to do the right thing, and I will help shoulder your load, even when you fuck up."

"I just worry that one day you won't be around to help me like this... One day I'm sure I will do something so stupid that you won't want to be friends anymore."

"Like I said, you keep trying, I'll keep helping. You would do the same for me, right?"

"You know I would, why would you even ask that?"

"Nopony is perfect Caliber, especially not me."

"You are a good friend, Joey."

"Shit at this point, we might as well be brothers." I said, sitting back in my seat. "Look, what happened back there was fucked up. But nothing is going to change what happened, so there is no use drowning yourself in cheap booze like this."

"Oh I'm not drinking over that. I earned that pain free and sober."

"Then why in the fuck are you trying to drain a bottle of whiskey by yourself?"

"I'm waiting on somepony who I really don't want to talk to, but I have to because it's the right thing to do."

"Who?"

Just then, almost like clockwork, a pink mare with a dirty blond mane trotted her way through to the center of the bar. She paused for only a moment to look about the bar until her eyes landed on Caliber, at his very sight, her lips curled down into an angry grimace and she started right towards us.

"Ah shit... It's Firefly... Look, you need to get out of here, this is going to get messy."

"Is she who you are waiting on?"

"Yup, and she looks pissed."

"Cal, I'm going to have your balls surgically removed if she has some kid somewhere with your fucking mane."

"I suspect she might beat you to it."

Without saying a word, I stood up from the booth and stepped away right as Firefly had walked up.

"Oh no! No need to send your friend away on the count of me being here... As I recall, you like threesomes."

"He was just leaving. I'm sorry, but I am not interested in bucks, no matter how low the price sir." Caliber said to me. What in the fuck? Oh goddesses, he's insinuating that I'm a... What a moron.

"You can sit with us, we don't mind handsome bucks crowding our table." Said one of the two bucks to my right.

Great! Now I have to sit with them or she is going to think that Caliber is lying. Wait! He is lying, what the hell? Fuck! You owe me for this one Cal. I sat down across from the two... excited bucks with my back to Firefly. If nothing else, I wanted to hear what was about to happen with the two of them. She was kind of young, maybe she was a kid of Caliber's from when he was a colt? The very thought that I had just had nearly made me throw up in my mouth. Ok, not his kid, but she's barely old enough to be considered a mare. Oh for Luna's sake, he had better not have had sex with that young filly...

"So, how is your sister anyhow?" Caliber asked. Well, solves that mystery.

"Pregnant, how do you think?" Firefly replied. Paging Dr. Joey, emergency spay and neuter needed for an overly sexually active buck.

"Oh, shit... You don't know where she is by any chance, do you?"

"Don't worry, she isn't here. But I think if she sees you, she is going to castrate you with a spork." Firefly said calmly.

"Wow that's nasty! When did you get a mouth like that?"

"I take after my big sis."

My snooping was interrupted by the unwelcome presence of a hoof that was making its way to a very restricted area between my legs. I clenched my legs together to stop its advancement towards my crotch, and shot a stern glare to the buck sitting across from me.

"Oh, hard to get! I like that!" Said the sea foam green buck with the dark blue mane.

"Mmm, would you just look at that stare he has... I would say that he is open for business!" Said the Grey buck with the rust colored mane. Between my legs, I could feel the one buck's hoof trying to push its way closer towards my waste.

My hooves fell to my sides and I leaned-in close to the two of them and did my best to keep my voice low.

"Look, I'm not a prostitute, I'm not into bucks and I'm not 'open for business' as you put it. And If you want to keep that hoof, I suggest you not move it one inch! In fact, don't move from your spots, AT ALL, or I'm going to cut it off and shove it up his ass, got it?" I said, now holding my unholstered knife at the base of the one buck's fetlock.

"H-hey now, don't do anything rash! We just thought, since you were talking to Caliber, that maybe you were in the mood for a little fun, that's all!" The green buck said. I could feel his hoof shaking through the handle of my knife as I kept it firmly planted and ready to dig it deep into his leg.

"I don't like this town, I don't even want to be here right now. The only reason that I am is because my friend back there is looking for some mare, that I'm sure he knocked up a long time ago."

"Caliber? Knock somepony up? Oh, he would never have done that!" The buck's words came out as sarcastic as the sky above the clouds was blue.

"Look, we don't want any trouble, ok? We got off on the wrong hoof I thing, I-I'm Butch and my ga- I mean grey friend here is Twinkle. There! We can all be friends now, yeah?" Butch said, slowly pulling back at his leg. Feeling bad that I had now assaulted two seemingly harmless bucks, I lowered my knife from his leg and returned it to its sheath on my own. I took note that the edge was now showing a fresh smear of red along its length.

"How's your leg? I forgot how sharp that thing is." I said, now doing my best to seem apologetic.

"Hurts, no thanks to you." Butch said, holding it out of the booth to look at. The blade had cut deeper than I had though it had. Feeling worse now that they had been on the wrong side of a misunderstanding, I decided to try and make things right. Behind me, Cal and Firefly were talking back and forth about the past, no need to worry about him for the moment.

"Put your leg on the table." I said, with one ear turned to the table behind me.

"What? No way! I just got it back, and the last time I gave it to you, you hurt it!" Butch said in a very childish tone.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was having a great day when I got here, now it's all going to shit fast. I'm just used to everypony having an axe to grind against me. Let me take a look at that leg, please?" I asked, letting my expression soften in hope that it would set his mind at ease.

"Ok, but please, just keep that knife holstered." Butch asked as he brought his leg up to the table. The knife I had kept for so long, had indeed not lost its edge in the slightest. Butch's leg was now sporting a 2 inch long gash just above his hoof, in his fetlock. Great... I left my bags in the room, with all the medical supplies.

"How bad is it?" Twinkle asked.

"It's not good. But I think you will get to keep it." I said, as I gently turned his hoof over with mine. "I'm going to need bandages and gauze or Med-X and a needle and thread."

"I have some gauze!" Twinkle said, digging in his bags.

"Bandages?" I asked hopefully.

"No... That's all I have. I carry all of our things because Butch has a bad back, too." Twinkle said as he passed me the gauze.

Looking around, the only things that came to mind that could work for gauze were a few old napkins and a gross looking bar rag. That's when I saw them, Caliber had left his bags beside the booth when he sat down. I lowered myself in the seat and unfolded my wings, stretching them out behind me to grab at his bags, I then locked down on the straps with my primaries and slid it to my side. Before I could reach for them, they were enveloped in a light blue glow as they levitated up and sat themselves on the table in front of me. Fucking unicorns and their dumb magic.

The bag then opened and out of it came bandages, gauze, Med-X and a healing potion, all glowing a faint cyan hue. That sneaky little ass, he was doing all the work from another booth behind me, all while talking to an ex-marefriend's sister. Now I really hated him. Seeing that I was no longer needed, I decided to continue to listen in on their conversation.

"Sis is over at Megamart these days. Once you knocked her up, she couldn't get work anymore here in town. She works for one of the traders there now." Firefly said.

"Great! We are heading there tomorrow. I can stop in and see her-"

"NO! You don't want to do that. Really. Why not go back to Tenpony and find that Fetch kid you were talking about. Why would you want to take your chances with her? I know she's my big sister and all but, you really need to steer clear of her, especially now."

"I already told you, Lavender hates me and won't let me see him without sneaking around. Sashay is a Crusader now, she can't be seen with her father, so Ember might be my last chance here." Caliber said insistingly.

"Look, take it from me, you don't want to go there, you don't even want to stay here! You had to have seen those bounty hunters out there looking for that Security mare on your way into town."

"Actually, I didn't. What are you talking about?"

"Everypony knows about the HUGE bounty they put on that bitch's head. Bounty hunters, gangers, slavers, hell even a few raiders are looking to cash in on her ass. They are camped out just outside the town, word is they are coming in here in the morning, why they are waiting, I have no clue. You can stay if you want, but I'm leaving." Firefly said as she stood up to leave.

"Thank you."

"What?" Firefly asked, looking almost shocked.

"Thank you for warning me, about everything. I will be careful, you do the same. Do you want me to walk you back to Megamart?"

"No, that's ok. I can manage on my own. I'm not a kid anymore. Stay safe, ok?"

"I will. Thanks again. I'll walk you out then." Caliber said as he stood up, and headed out of the stable.

I looked back to see that Butch's leg had been completely bandaged, the two bucks were also staring at me with a very pouty look across their faces.

"What!?" I asked, hoping the answer wasn't going to be another proposition.

"You two make a very cute couple, it's just so sweet!" Twinkle said.

"WHAT!?" I nearly yelled across the bar, feeling my face start to burn as my ears folded back against my mane.

"He is so lucky! I know if we had a cute Pegasus, we would never treat you like a prostitute!" Butch said back to me.

"He... We... I'M NOT GAY!" I screamed to the two of them.

"Remember when you used to act like that Butchy? So cute!"

"I'm not cute! I'm badass as hell!"

"Better get going, you don't want to lose your boy-toy to another, now do you?" Twinkle said, now looking around with his eyes. I turned my attention to the bar, all eyes were now on me. Oh those two bastards...

"This is payback, isn't it?"

"Oh sweetie... Whatever do you mean by that?" Butch said, leaning into Twinkle's hooves for an embrace, shooting me a sardonic look.

"Oh, you two are asses!" I said as I stood up and ran for the exit, throwing Caliber's bags over my haunches as I went. Along the way, I was met with catcalls and whistles as I rushed out of the old stable, vowing never to come back to this damn town. This was humiliating! I have nothing against two bucks doing.... THAT sort of thing, but it still didn't mean I liked being called it all the same. I guess all is fair when you nearly cut off someone's hoof and ask that they forgive you for it.

Outside, Caliber was watching Firefly walk out of town. Just beyond her were dozens of small campfires that were glowing on the hillside, and among them, the silhouettes of countless ponies who were huddled around them for warmth. Firefly had not been lying. We had unknowingly flown right into the middle of something big that was about to happen. All those ponies for one mare? How much was this bounty anyways? Should we try and collect on it? Should we leave?

"Room 215, get what you came for?" I asked as I passed Cal his bags, and the key to the room, as the two of us started heading back to the hotel.

"Yeah, but I guess you overheard that much. Any luck with the two-"

"Shut up!"

"Wow! Grouchy! Hey, you should take that as a complement. Butch and Twink are so wrapped up in each other that it would have to take a damn good looking guy to make them want to take you into their bed."

"First the crazy mare in the lobby, now those two. What is with this town?"

"Eh, It's probably the chem's. Wait... What crazy mare in the lobby? Val? Was it her?"

"How should I know! I ran out of there before she could dressed me up in that stupid suit of hers and make me strip for her."

Caliber let out a laugh that stopped him in his tracks.

"You have got to be kidding me! You, a Pegasus, ran into Valkyrie and you shot her down? Oh that's rich!"

"What!? She was nuts! And what kind of name is Valkyrie for a earth pony?"

"Joey, she is in love with anything with wings! Ever since she slept with that Griffon, she has been buying every copy of Wingboner she could get her dirty little hooves on and she changed her name from Sunrise to Valkyrie. She said it sounded more... exotic! She's got the feather fever, BAD! And you just waltz in there and shoot her down like it's nothing at all! Damn Joey, you probably just showed her the equivalent to the cure for blindness and snatched it away!" Cal said laughing.

"Oh no! Don't you try and make me feel bad about not sleeping with her!"

"I'm not, but you might not have a choice in the matter, I'm just saying. Val can be very... persuasive."

"She's a short earth pony with an overactive sex drive. She can't be that persuasive."

"Oh you would be surprised..." Cal said as he opened the door for the lobby and the two of us trotted in.

"She... Oh shit..." Cal's words fell flat as we came face to face with a large, older mare who did not look happy to see Caliber.

"Cal, You didn't..."

"Joey, maybe you should just meet me in the room... Me and... Ember's mother need to have a talk."

"I have a name!"

"Right! Sorry Ms. Furnace!" Cal said, swallowing hard.

"Cal are you going to be ok?"

"Move it you little bag of bones! I need to have a little chat with my soon-to-be son-in-law."

"Yes ma'am!" I said as I trotted briskly away from the huge mare. Great, now Cal is going to be murdered and he has the damn room key. That means I am going to have to have that crazy mare give me another, if there even is a spare to be had. I looked back to the counter where she had been no more than an hour ago, but was relieved to see that she had gone off duty for the night. I trotted back up to the desk to the young looking buck who was now eyeing me. It was like I was Looking into a mirror. Gray coat, blue mane and tail, apart from his blue eyes and lack of wings, he could pass as a copy for me if he so desired.

" Hello, I'm Rocco. Welcome to the no tell-"

"Yeah save it, I'm already staying here, I need another key for room 215. Dumbass over there has the only copy and he is going to be a while." I said. The buck looked over my shoulder to the commotion that was now playing out in the corner of the room. Furnace now had Cal held up by his shoulders and was trying her best to shake whatever point she was trying to make into him. Even from here, I could see him cringing away from her spit laced words. The buck behind the counter fell back into his seat and looked back to me.

"Great! First, second shift has to leave early over "emotional distress", now I get to deal with a two ton bitch who wants to eat a damn unicorn in my lobby. Awesome. Look, I only had one key for the room, you are just going to have to wait for her to pass it in the morning and go digging for it."

"Shit, isn't there anything that you can do?"

"Look, it's bad enough that I have to manage this place on my own, covering half her shift and my own without having to break into a room. I'm sorry, but with that going on over there, I can't leave the desk." The buck said, pointing one hoof at the giant mare and the other to a smaller mare, with a mop of rust colored mane sitting on an old couch with her back to us, across the lobby. Great. This whole time I have been avoiding her, she has been sitting down here sulking.

A wave of guilt washed over me when what Caliber had said earlier, finally sank in. Pegasi are uncommonly rare in the wasteland, those that are not ghouls are usually Dashites, dead or above the clouds. I know what it's like to want something so bad that you can't have, wishing for that day to come, but it never does. Even though I was on my way to see Zuri for the first time in ten years and my wait was almost over, I couldn't help but wonder how long her wait would have to be before her dreams were fulfilled. I can't believe I'm about to do this. I walked up to the somber looking mare and sat down beside her, if nothing else, I felt like I owed her a reason why I was not interested. The last thing I wanted on my conscience was somepony thinking that they were not good enough for the thing they wanted most, especially if it was me that was causing it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked. Almost immediately she looked up to me at the sound of my voice.

"Oh! You came back!" Valkyrie said, now fixing her mane with both hooves.

"Yeah well, I'm a sucker for a lady in distress. What can I say?"

"So, do you want to go have a drink? Back at my room?" Valkyrie said, wanting to waste no time.

"Sorry, but I can't. Look the reason why isn't because you are not pretty, or that I am only attracted to other Pegasi. It's because I'm waiting for somepony and she is waiting for me."

"So, you are taken... You know, if you don't like me, you can just say so. You don't have to lie to me." She said, falling back to the couch.

"No, I'm not lying. It's a very... complicated situation."

"Feel free to explain it then, I got time."

"Yeah, I guess I do too..." I said, looking back to Caliber who was now in a headlock.

So I spilled my guts to her. I told her everything from when I was just a little colt trying to get back the necklace that was stolen, to finding Zuri, to losing her, to waiting all this time, to everything that happened up until now. She sat there, patiently listening to my every word, only interrupting to ask "then what happened" a few times. When I had finished my tale that had led Caliber and I to Hoofington, she finally broke her silence.

"You mean to tell me that you have been waiting all this time, for her?"

"Well when you say it like that, it makes me sound desperate." I said with a laugh.

"No, that's not desperate, that's sweet. I had a buck like that once, but I'm afraid it was more one sided in my case."

"Yeah? Who was he?"

She looked across the room to where Caliber and Furnace were now sitting calmly across from one another, hooves crossed, having a polite looking conversation.

"You have got to be kidding me..." I said in shocked disbelief.

"Yeah, he would come in here drunk off his flank, begging for sex all the time. I used to pretend like I was going to sleep with him and lead him back to my room where I would tape him to the toilet after he would pass out. It all started as a fun joke, but the more I hung around him, the more I liked the pony he would be when he wasn't drinking. It was strange but, I felt something for him, something I haven't felt since."

"Then why didn't you tell him then? Maybe you two could have made things work out."

"I tried to, but every time I would get the chance, I would find him passed out or hammered. What was the point of chasing after him if he was going to be like that. I hate this town, I hate what I have to do to pay rent, I can't stand the bucks that come here knowing they can just pay me to have sex with them. Caliber feeds right into the very thing that I can't stand, so, I gave up trying."

"You know, he's changed a lot over the past few weeks."

"I can see that." Val said sarcastically, looking behind me. Furnace was now sitting on top of Cal, and by the looks of it, trying to pull one of his legs out of socket.

"Well... He is trying at least. But the big idiot has a lot to answer for." I said yawning.

"You should get some rest, you have a big day tomorrow if you are going to Hoofington and then to..."

"White Saddle Shores. I would but 'Sparky' over there has the damn key and it is the last one."

"You know... I could get you into your room..."

"Really? That would me awesome!"

"For a price..."

"I figured as much, how much do you want." I asked as I dug for my caps. I was met with a very telling look that said my caps were not good with her. "Oh no...."

"I look ridiculous!" I said from Valkyrie's bathroom.

Turns out that no favor, no matter how small, is free in Hoofington. A lesson I learned a long time ago when the group and I came here when I was just a little colt, and one I was learning all over again, right now. But had I known that I would have to model in this insane outfit for a mare, just to get the door to my room unlocked, I would have just waited for Furnace to finish killing Cal and sifted through the remains for the key.

"Nonsense! I bet you look great!" Val said sitting on her bed.

"Where did you even find this thing! It's so... tight!" I said, trying desperately to make the suit fit in place right. How small was this Fleetfoot anyway? If I could barely fit in it, they had to be bursting it at the seams!

"Nevermind that! Just come out here! I want to see!"

"If you laugh, I swear I will burn this thing as soon as I can get it off of me!"

"I won't laugh, I promise!" Val said, clearly trying to hold in what was clearly laughter.

"Ok, but I can't stay in this thing long, it's freaking snug!" I said trotting out of the bathroom. Despite all of my complaining, Valkyrie slid back on her bed, jaw nearly on the floor.

"I look stupid, don't I?" I said, leaning on the door frame.

"N-no! Not at all..."

"Then what's with the face, huh?"

"It's just... How much?"

"How much for what?"

"Name the price! I'm serious!"

"That's it, I'm burning it."

"NO! Just, go over there, in the corner." Val said and she instructed me to sit in the corner of the room.

"Now what?"

"Ok, good. Now, fluff out those wings and puff up your chest."

"Like this?" I said as I opened my wings out and curled them around myself.

"YES! Just like that!" Valkyrie said as she pulled out an old camera and started taking pictures.

"Wait! You never said anything about pictures!"

"I whispered it, but you still said yes, so spread those legs and slowly start unzipping the suit..."

The things I end up doing when I come to Flank, I swear. The "session" lasted a little more than an hour, in that time, I ended up having to pose for her all over the small hotel room. I thought what happened at the bar was embarrassing, but this... this was a whole new level of shame. At one point I asked her to stop because I knew that my face had to be glowing bright red, but Valkyrie insisted that it made me look ''Adorkable'' and continued shooting shot after shot.

Once we had finished, Val tried one last time to get me into the bed with her. Despite my feelings for Zuri, I had to admit, it was hard to turn her down when she was crawling across the bed on her back like that. This was yet another emotion that I was unfamiliar with, not feeling it, but seeing it. Lust towards me. Somehow I managed to talk her mind back out of the gutter and she resided herself to sorting through the photos she had taken, placing all of the duplicates into a small pile and passing them to me.

"For her. If she is half in love with you as you are of her, she will love these." Val said, passing me the small stack of pictures.

"Thank you... I hope that you will not be sharing those around, will you?" I asked, secretly wanting to burn them all.

"No, these are for my eyes only. I wouldn't share these with anypony else." Val said as she opened the drawer to the nightstand and pulled out a small picture frame. She then slid in a picture of me sitting in the corner with my legs splayed and placed it on her table.

"So, now you are going to stare at that all the time?"

"Maybe... They say the one you always remember, is the one that got away." Valkyrie said, staring at the blue and yellow outfit with a far off look in her eyes.

"Hey, don't talk like that. A pretty mare like you could have any buck in all of Equestria if she wanted them." I said, sitting beside her.

"You are sweet. Here, I want you to have this. From me to you." Valkyrie said as she passed me the Wonderbolts uniform that I had been modeling for her.

"I can't keep this, it has got to be valuable to you." I said, picking up the uniform.

"Think of it as a gift for making a dream come true for me. I have had this suit for a long time now, nopony has ever even put it on outside of me, and even then it doesn't fit. I have always wanted to see a Pegasus wear it, now that I have, and now that I have pictures that I took myself, I feel like I have completed something that I have been working on for years. Not to mention, you look great in it." Val said, looking back to the picture of me on the nightstand.

"If it means that much to you for me to have it, then thank you." I said, sending her a smile. It was met with a kiss on my check that sent chills down my spine at her very touch. Wow, when was the last time something like that felt this good? Before things started to get too awkward between us, I decided that it would be best, for the both of us, for me to leave.

"So... About my room." I said, trying not to be rude.

"Yeah, how about that room." She said as she passed me by and walked out the door.

Together we walked down the hallway to room 215, but to my surprise, Cal was already there, inside. Valkyrie took her leave and trotted back down the hall and around the corner as I walked into my room and fell back on my bed. I dropped the uniform into my bags beside my bed and took note that Cal was now fast asleep on the bed beside me. Try as I might, and as tired as I was, I couldn't seem to let go of the feeling of Valkyrie kissing me on the cheek. It was simple I know, but I had not felt something like that since I was a young colt.

It was a good feeling that was only being dragged down by the feeling of betrayal that was dancing through my mind the more I thought about Valkyrie. I loved Zuri, didn't I? I have waited ten years for something that was just around the corner, but for some reason, I wasn't as excited as I had been in the past. I felt like I was cheating on her by even thinking of another mare like I was now, but despite all of that, I was laying in a bed with a smile across my face that I had not displayed in years. Flank, who knew I would feel this good here, in Flank of all places.

I closed my eyes and did my best to try and fall asleep, the sun will be coming up soon, and if I want to get a move on, I need to get out of here by noon. I rolled over and looked down at the blue and yellow suit in my bags. Well... maybe I should take another shower... just to help myself relax. Then sleep.

I awoke to the sound of rain dancing on the window sill, letting out the small ticking sounds as the storm outside droned on. I rolled onto my side, then into the floor, hitting my head on the nightstand and sending stars into my vision. "Why!" I groaned, thinking to myself that this had to be the worst way to wake up, suddenly missing all those long nights afield. I laid on my back for several moments before finally rising to my hooves and looking out the window to check on the storm. Outside, ponies seemed to pay no mind to the rain as it beat down, trotting to and from buildings as they were going about their daily activities.

"Great, looks like we are in for a long, wet and cold flight." I said to myself as I turned from the window.

I trotted around the bed towards the bathroom, but was halted in my tracks at the sound of hoofsteps seeming to be running across the floor above me.

"Who cares... It's not like we will be flying through a desert later or anything..." Caliber said sarcastically in a very sleepy tone.

It must be midday judging by the amount of commotion I was both seeing and hearing. If that were the case, then it would be best if we started getting ready for the flight to Megamart.

"Cal, get up, we need to get a move on. I'm going to take a shower and try to wake up. I suggest that you do the same." I said, trotting to the door.

"Joey... Stop trying to get me into the shower with you. I know you just want to get pregnant..." Caliber said as he rolled over to face the window.

"I'm not trying... Oh, you are being an ass... What a change of pace."

Caliber pulled his hoof from under the sheets, scratched at his ass for a moment and let out a very sleepy laugh. "Ha... ha... ha... You are too easy sometimes."

I trotted into the bathroom and tried to close the door behind me, but the moment my hoof touched it, the hinges gave way and sent it falling into the other room.

"Joey... Fuck off with the noise, will you? I'm trying to ignore you over here." Caliber said from under his sheets.

"Would you please get the hell up, we have to fly to Megamart and deal with that mare you wanted to see." I said, poking my head out of the bathroom.

"Why? She will still be just as pregnant when we get there. Why the rush?" Caliber said, now wrapping himself up in the sheets like a cocoon.

Just at that moment, I heard a loud thud, followed by an even louder bang come from just above us. Through the mass of sheets, I could see Caliber open one eye and stare at the ceiling above him as the commotion grew. A long silence fell as we both stood there looking at the floor above us, waiting to see if the racket was going to continue.

"I bet they are bucking their brains out up-"

Caliber's words were cut short as the blast shook the room that we were in, collapsing the ceiling in on-top of him, and sending me diving for cover from the debris as it rained down. Most of the room above us was now in the room that we were now occupying, the vast majority of which landing near the windows and on the bed where I had been sleeping. Caliber had been covered by ceiling tiles, broken wood and what was left of an old toilet in the preceding blast, I on the other hoof was left untouched.

"What in the fuck was that!" Caliber yelled as he scrambled out from under the rubble with the roof still coming down atop him.

As I ran to his side, I saw that much of our wall and the window that I had been looking out of was now gone. No sooner than I had taken my first step, I took note of the bathtub that was flying past our now enlarged window. There were two ponies inside of it, one white with a black and red mane, the other resembling a blue blur as it shot past and out into the street below. Caliber had wormed his way out from under the wreckage and was now hopping towards me in my shocked state from what I had just seen.

"We got to get out of here!" He yelled, still wrapped up tight in the linens.

"Come on then!" I said, pulling the knife from its sheath and trying to cut him free.

Once I had hastily removed the majority of the sheets, we both grabbed our things, ran out of the door and down into the lobby of the small motel. Ponies were no longer sitting idly by, but instead were running for their lives. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Valkyrie doing her best to guide everypony outside through the front door. Wasting no time, Caliber and I bolted for the same door, and fought our way into the streets.

"What's going on!" Caliber said, looking at the hole in the side of the building where we had just ran from.

"Gas explosion maybe?" I said, now looking at the bathtub in the middle of the street.

From somewhere far off, I could hear the sound of dozens of hooves pounding into the ground, echoed by the sound of ponies yelling and screaming. Somewhere among the shouting, Caliber and I both made out the word "Cunt" being screamed in a metallic, tinny sounding voice. Both of our heads turned in unison to see where it had come from, only to be met by a large horde of ponies rushing into the town.

"Holy shit! There must be thirty of them!" Caliber shouted to me.

"What is that? A fucking robot?" I asked pointing at the large, black mass in the middle of the crowd.

"I have no clue but we need to get the fuck out of here!" Caliber said, now trying to climb on my back.

"I have to get Valkyrie out of here first! Go to Megamart, don't stop for anything, we will meet you there!" I shouted as I ran back to the motel's doors.

Along the way, I passed the gray front desk clerk from the night before. As he passed me by I could hear him shouting repeatedly "Oh this is such horse shit", fading away as he ran towards the stable turned bar behind Caliber. I fought my way through the crowd into the lobby and started searching frantically for Valkyrie along the way. I turned back to see that she was still at the door, guiding the rest of the crowd out of the motel and ran to her.

"What are you doing!? You have to get out of here!" I shouted over the crowd.

"I can't! I have to help everypony get out first!"

"Valkyrie, I can appreciate your dedication to your job, but it's a fucking door and there is a small horde of raiders coming with a fucking robot screaming CUNT at the top of its lungs!" I said, pulling her away from the doors and pointing her head towards the army that was now descending on us. "I think everypony can get out on their own."

"Where can I go!? This is my home!"

"Right now? Anywhere but here would be preferable." I said, dragging her outside into the street.

Behind us I could hear the sound of gunfire growing louder, rounds landing into the concrete buildings in front of us, blasting large chunks off as they hit. We were just clearing the end of town when a bullet hit a steel plate in my barding, splashing off as the round deformed, sending shrapnel into my neck and into Valkyrie's side. I ducked between two building in hopes that it would be a fast way out of town, pulling her behind me.

"Shit! Dead-end! Are you ok?" I said, looking at her side.

"I think so, but what are we going to do now!"

Up the street I could her the raiders doing their usual assault of mayhem on the town, screaming and hollering as they fired rounds in every direction. It wouldn't be long until they found us hiding back here, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel and I have no plans on seeing what other vile things they would do to the either of us.

"Ok, I know we just met and given the conversations we have had already, please don't read too much into this... Climb on my back." I said as I slouched down.

"What!? I don't think now is the time for-"

"Just, get on my back and hold on!" I said, now hearing the raiders rounding the corner of the buildings behind us. Valkyrie timidly crawled her way onto my back and did her best to balance her weight on my spine. No time for pre-flight checks, I will just have to hope that she is a fast learner.

"Ok, now what? Do you want me to shoot at them?"

"Put your hooves around my neck and hold on!"

"Like this-" Valkyrie managed to get out before I lifted off the ground and pushed towards the skies.

"Hang on! This is going to get crazy!" I said as the bullets started whizzing past us in the air.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Valkyrie screamed in my ear as I banked to the right and dropped altitude to just below the rooftops.

"Flying!" I said as I aimed the two of us down the steep hill that led out of town. I let gravity do the work as it pulled us both down, descending the terrain and gathering speed as we approached the end of the town's limits. This was the first time that I had flown with somepony other than Caliber on my back, and given Valkyrie not weighing near as much, I was flying faster than I ever had. As I passed between buildings, the Raiders would use the small gaps to fire wildly towards us, their rounds seeming to hit everything other than their target.

Even though their aim was marginal at best, it would only take one hit to sent us both crashing to the ground. Why were they even shooting at us!? I thought they were after that Security mare. Oh... That's right... They are raiders, they shoot at everything that moves and some things that don't. Valkyrie was clinging to my back, her muzzle resting right below my left ear, doing her best to try and speak to me.

"Slow down! You are going to get us killed!" Valkyrie said, clenching as a round grazed her mane.

"We have to get out of here! If one of them gets lucky and scores a hit, then we might as well die in the crash!"

"What are we going to do then!?" She asked, trying to bury her head behind mine to protect it. If we stay down here, no matter how fast I fly, chances were good that we would either crash or get shot. That left only one option, up!

"We are going to get out of here!" I shouted, knowing it was a gamble, but also knowing it was our only option. With everything I had, I pulled up, pointing us both to the sky and did my best to bear the weight of the two of us. The force on my wings strained at their joints as our path went vertical, shooting us straight up like a rocket. I knew that doing this would be quick, but not this quick! How fast had we been going? Before long, we had flown well beyond the scattered bullets of the Raiders and were fast approaching the cloud curtain. I banked left, trying to slow our ascent, turning us both sideways in the air and pointed myself towards Megamart.

Valkyrie screamed at the sight of the earth far below us as we fell into a long, sweeping turn to right myself in the air, now feeling confident that we were out of danger. If she still had a thing for Pegasi after this, then she deserved a set of wings of her own. I have no clue if she has ever flown before, but I could imagine that the feeling would be surreal to say the least. Even after flying hundreds of miles, higher than I ever thought I ever would and faster than I thought I ever could, I was still blown away by the views. Fact is, even though I hate hights, its hard to compare fear to enjoyment at the same time.

"O-ok Joey, this is fine! You can stop going higher now!" She said as we approached the cloud layer.

"You don't get want shot, do you?" I said, leveling off in the air.

"N-no! It's just, I have never been this high up before, that's all."

"Just hold on and try and enjoy it. I mean, you like Pegasi and all, why not flying too?"

"It's not the flying... Just... Can we not be up so... high?"

I looked back to see that she had her eyes firmly closed, scrunching her face tight to avoid seeing the ground. The wind was whipping her mane back and forth as we glided our way towards the old trader town. All things considered, this had to be a better way to end the day compared to what was going on behind us. Had I just left her there, Celestia only knows what would have happened to her, then again, what was going to happen to the whole town of Flank?

"If it bothers you that much, just do what I do. Look straight ahead and focus on the horizon. I will try and fly a little lower." I said as I slowly dropped altitude towards the treetops.

"Joey, is it?"

"Yeah, that would be my name."

"I think I am going to..."

"What? I missed that last part." I said, but was soon informed that my flying companion was getting sick. Not by her telling me, but by the sound of her retching right next to my ear. Soon Valkyrie was gripping my neck with enough force to choke me as she let fly with what she had for breakfast. The onslaught of vile noises continued for several moments as we approached Megamart, with Valkyrie slowly coming to terms with her new vantage point in the sky.

"I-I am so sorry..." She said, as she shifted around on my back, trying to clean herself.

"It's ok, Caliber once tried to pull off a number two mid flight, that ended with zombies and him losing half an ear. I would say this was a best case scenario."

"Are we getting close? To Megamart, I mean."

"We have been here for a few minutes now."

"Then why are we still flying?"

"Valkyrie... We have been on the ground for over five minutes... You still have your eyes closed." I said, standing at the entrance to Megamart. I looked back to her in time to see the red glow of embarrassment flood her cheeks as she realized that we were on the ground and had been for quite some time. She no sooner placed one wobbly leg to the ground when she fell off my back and laid flat on the hard cement flooring.

"You ok?" I asked.

"I'm great... I need a moment."

"Take your time, if anypony knows what you are going through right now, it's most certainly me."

"Oh, like a Pegasus would ever be afraid of heights..." She said with a 'go to hell' look, that soon faded when she saw my own face now turning red.

"But you just... How!?"

"Over time I have gotten used to it. But that doesn't mean I love it or anything. It is just the fastest way for me to get around. Trust me, I prefer to be on the ground just as much as you do."

"A Pegasus that is afraid of heights... That has to be the single worst joke ever played on a pony." She said, now coming back up to her hooves.

"Could be worse... I could have a bunch of illegitimate children scattered across the wasteland."

"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!" Caliber screamed from behind me. I turned to see Caliber trotting up the stairs to Megamart, covered in something vile and looking very upset.

"Caliber! What in the hell happened to you!?" I asked.

"I was just minding my own business, running for my life, and out of nowhere this nasty cloud of whateverthefuck splashes down on me." He said, coming to a stop far away enough for us not to smell him. I looked back to Valkyrie who was doing her best to look like she had not just thrown up and cringed.

"That's horrible! But I have to know, why didn't you clean it off?"

"What?"

"You have that cleaning spell, I know you passed by some water at some point... yet here you are, still smelling like puke."

"You told me not to stop..." Caliber said, pawing at the ground with a hoof. Clearly the thought had not dawned on him until just now.

"Well... Go on then, you are not going to break the ice with your new wife smelling like that are you?" I said, shooting him a look. With a flash of the horn, Caliber's cleaning spell both enveloped me and removed every trace of vomit from his coat, all the while never breaking eye contact with me. Soon though, the contact was broken and I watched as his 'I really hate you sometimes' look faltered into that of one that was smitten.

"She is not like... your marefriend or anything... is she?" Valkyrie asked from behind me.

"Caliber is a buck..." I said turning around, coming nose to orange nose with my sister.

"SHALE!" I screamed as I threw my hooves around her.

"Whoa! That's not the Joey I know!" She stepped back and looked me over, regarding me for a moment. "What happened to you... One day you fly out of here, your usual mopey self, the next you come in looking like hell, smelling like Rad-away, with a smile from ear to ear, with... are those stripes?"

"It's a long story..."

"He tastes like oranges too..." Caliber said as he trotted past me and into the shops.

"And who is this?" Shale asked with a very sly look.

"Oh! This is Valkyrie. She works at the motel over in Flank. I had to get her out of that place before the raiders burned it down."

"I see... Well I guess you all are hungry, I just went off of my shift, if you all would like something to eat." Shale said, walking away with a disappointed look. Great, now my sister thinks I'm dating a prostitute, what else could go wrong today.

I followed Shale's lead as we worked our way from stall to stall, greeting ponies who I had not seen in months, some even in years. Caliber was looking around the shopping center as if he were a mother who had just lost her colt, jerking his head left to right as we trotted along. Shale was acting stranger than normal, usually when I come in town, she makes it a point to introduce me to her new friends, work partners and acquaintances. This time however, she was keeping to herself and barely saying a word to anypony we passed by. She soon lead us to the epicenter of trade for Megamart, the main hub of large scale trade for the small, yet thriving community, in the back of the shops where the living quarters were located.

I looked up to where the large over-head turret was, it had been damaged by what looked to be some sort of a blast at some point. Come to think of it, looking around, the whole place seemed to be in disrepair oppose to its normal dilapidated state. What had happened here? It was like a damn bomb went off or something. One thing was for sure, whatever had taken out the area defensive system here, was not something that I was planning on ever dealing with in my lifetime.

"Shale... Are you ok?" I asked, trotting ahead of the group to her side.

"Yes, I'm fine. It is just... When did you take to dating... THAT kind of mare?"

"I'm not dating her, I mean I think she has a thing for me and all, but I found another clue. This time I'm pretty sure it is going to lead me to Zuri."

"Sure, whatever you say Joey. I see the way you look at her, I know that look."

"Shale, what are you talking about? What look? I don't feel anything for her. I already told you, I'm going to find Zuri, I think she is in White Saddle Shores hiding out."

We stopped at the doorway to the trading center as Shale opened the door and allowed the others inside but halted me before I could go in. She closed the door and ushered me to one side.

"Joey, when are you going to give this up?"

"Give what up?"

"This whole, "wild Zebra fever-dream" of yours. You know she can't still be out there and even if she is, what are the chances that she is waiting for you after all these years?"

"I have to try, don't you understand? She left a note for me, I know it had to be her, so why wouldn't I at least give it a shot?"

"Dammit! You are chasing memories Joey! I have sat by and watched you run yourself ragged over her for ten years now. You need to let it go, start a life for yourself, find somepony else to be with and stop hoping for something to happen that won't."

"Find somepony else... Like who? That prostitute in there? In case you have not noticed, mares don't go for bucks who are gone all the time."

"No, we don't go for bucks who act like they just had to shoot their best friend all the time! Don't you get it? The reason why mares don't want anything to do with you is because you act like a mopey little ass when you are around them."

"Shale, what's wrong with you? You have never acted like this before."

"Look, I'm just stressed, that's all. For what is worth, I like you better like this. It's nice to see the happy side of you come out, I haven't seen it since we were all together."

"Well, leave it to me having to babysit Caliber for a few weeks, he tends to rub off on you after a while."

"It's a good look for you. You should wear it more often." Shale said as she opened the door and stepped inside.

Once we had made our way her small home in the back of the shopping center, we all sat down to a nice, rewarmed, three day old meal of brahmin stew. I was never one for eating meat, but Shale's cooking has always been second to none. Not to mention that when you are out of rations while you are out trading, sometimes anything that has been cooked sounds great, no mater if it had been breathing or not. I sat down in my usual spot on the couch and was soon joined by Shale, then Valkyrie, the two of them sandwiching me. Caliber had chosen a nice, comfy spot on the dirt floor, and proceeded to bury his muzzle in his bowl, only coming up for short breaths of air between bites.

"So... I noticed that you got some new furniture, Shale." I said, feeling awkward.

"Yup, I got them in trade from a buck out of Manehatten, poor guy needed a rifle." Shale said, taking a bite of her lunch.

"One, two... three chairs and two couches... Plenty of seating room in here now!" I said, still holding my bowl of stew.

"Yeah, they are all really comfortable... but this one is my favorite. Perfect for two ponies to sit and enjoy a meal together on." Shale said, shooting a look at Valkyrie.

"You know, I have two beds back at the motel." Valkyrie said.

"Yeah? How many hours did it take to get them? They must have cost you a fortune." Shale asked. Valkyrie narrowed her eyes and shot my sister a look.

"Nothing. You would be surprised how... persuasive I can be when I see something I want." She said, placing a hoof on my left leg.

"Really? Well I guess when you are holding all the cards, it must make it EASY to deal the hoof you want." Shale said, now claiming my other leg for her own. I swallowed hard, I wasn't used to being touched and even though my body didn't seem to mind the unwelcome intrusion, my brain was short-circuiting.

"H-how about this stew, Caliber? Isn't it just amazing?" I said, now trying to talk about anything other than whatever coded conversation the two mares were having.

"Mhm gwood..." Caliber said, not pulling his face out of the bowl while doing so.

"I have to wonder, what is it that you do again at the motel, you know, the one that is in Flank?" Shale asked.

"I work as a desk clerk there."

"Uhuh. And what all does that entail?"

"Oh you know, take ponies money, pass out the room keys..." Valkyrie said trailing off.

"Help other pony's with their 'sleeping arrangements' I take it?" Shale cut in.

"...I have before. Although, I think I am due a career change. In light of recent events of course." Valkyrie said, patting my leg and leaning in close.

"Oh? Well with your line of work, I'm sure there is plenty of room for... advancement."

Both my sister and Valkyrie were now staring at one another less than a few inches away. I sat nervously, afraid that any move that I made would result in some sort of passive aggressive slap fight breaking out, not something I wanted to happen that close to my... Why is it that mares are so damn crazy?

"I was thinking of something more along the lines of traveling, maybe becoming a trader." Valkyrie said.

"Well, Celestia knows that you have the skill set for 'trading'. I'm sure before long you will be a regular Caprice!" Shale said, her voice now edging on screaming, in a tone as sweet as mustard.

"What is that supposed to mean exactly!?"

"Exactly speaking? I mean, it wouldn't be long before you ascended to the level of slapping bitches and cutting ponies for money!" Shale screamed, thumping her hoof into my leg. The sudden shock made me spill some of my piping hot stew into my crotch. Afraid to move, I did my best to ignore the searing pain that was now inflicting my genitals.

"You cun-"

"Is anypony going for seconds?" Caliber asked from across the room. All eyes turned to him as he stood holding the pot of reheated stew, nopony saying a word. Thank you Caliber... Goddesses I love that buck sometimes.

"No? Ok! More for me!" Caliber said as he sat the pot down, and attempted to climb inside of it to get to the last of the tasty morsels of brahmin meat.

"OK! I think it would be best if we spread out a bit. I wouldn't want to break down this couch with all of us sitting on it. I'll just move over-" I tried to say, but was pushed back into my seat by both Shale and Valkyrie as they locked eyes once more.

"Ok, both of you. STOP IT! I'm trying to eat." I shouted, breaking them from the trance they were in. Several moments went by in silence as I finally began eating my meal. The two of them fell back into their spots on the couch, both trying to pretend to eat.

"I bet she could break this couch in. I bet she could do it in ten seconds flat!" Shale said through a mouth full of vegetables.

"Oh please, I would need somepony with wings to do that, I'm not that fast!" Valkyrie said, raising an eyebrow.

I spit my stew out across the room, hitting Caliber in the flank with a shower of meat and broth as he continued his assault on the now empty pot. He didn't even flinch.

"Ok, look. I have no clue what you two have against one another, but it needs to stop. Valkyrie, you are cute and I like you, but for the love of Luna be the bigger mare here and let it go. Shale, you are my sister and I love you, but I swear to Celestia if you call her a prostitute one more time, I am going to put you both in that damn pot and turn you all into stew!"

"You are right, I'm sorry Joey." Valkyrie said.

"Me too. I guess I got carried away, I just worry about you." Shale said.

"I can appreciate that. But I'm not a kid anymore, I can make my own decisions, I would like to think I have a very good judgement of character towards the ponies I choose to be around." I said, now looking at Caliber who was pushing the pot that was still on his head across the floor. Ok maybe not the best judge of character, but he had his redeeming qualities.

The rest of the meal went on in silence, although, I did catch the two upset mares shooting dirty looks to one another more than I would have liked. What had gotten into Shale!? She never acts like this! It was almost as if she was jealous of Valkyrie or something. But that makes no sense at all, I'm not interested in her and it's not like Shale and I can just erase all those years of being brother and sister. Why does everything around me have to be so damn complicated! All I want is to find Zuri, have some kids, and die happy somewhere and try not to get shot anymore. Is that too much to ask for?

Once Caliber had licked a hole in the pot of stew, and the three of us had finally finished our meal, I decided it would be best if Caliber and I finished the job we came here for and left. We left Shale and Valkyrie to have a talk together, insisting that they both try and set aside, whatever it was that they both had against each other. Outside the shack, Shale had fallen back into her usual routine of "buy/sell/trade", employing Valkyrie to help her with the day to day activities. It was an old trick that Boss used to use when we all would start bickering back and forth. He would make us work together until we were either too tired to fight or forgot why we were mad. She sent Cal and I away as she did what she could to fill our supplies order. He and I both made a few passes around the Mart before I was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Well, well, well... If it isn't the 'mythical Pegasus tracker' himself..."

I turned to see Bit Scales sitting at a table beside an old wares store with a mountain of caps sitting on the table before her. I turned to tell Caliber to go on without me, but as luck would have it, he was now talking to a mare with a stark red mane and ashy grey coat. Ah... Ember... I could have guessed that from a mile off. I sat down across the table from Bit Scales and decided that Caliber's 'Oops' talk was best left to the two of them.

"So it WAS you back at Tenpony..."

"Yeah, I saw that you might need some help and figured, what the hell. Hey! How did you get here so fast? It's nearly a week's trot from there."

"Ditzy gave me a lift. Had to get this order of healing potions dropped off before it went bad. Damn inner-whatcha-ma-call-it is getting worse according to the other traders. Stuff is going for a mint!" She said running a hoof through her stack of caps.

"What about your team? Where did you send them off too?"

"Ahhh... They are probably rounding New Appleloosa by now. Damn bunch of lamers, they couldn't pull their weight if it was made of air, I tell ya."

"Heh, Boss always said you knew how to pick team members."

"Yeah, like farming mud in a desert. Speaking of, I see you and Caliber finally met."

"What are you talking about, I have known him for like... six or seven years now." I said, looking back to the now forlorn looking buck.

"Oh, so I suspect that you already know then." Bit Scales said, leaning back in her seat.

"What, that he is a ball of sexually charged fury that turns whole towns against him for fun? I had no clue."

"No, that he is Camden's son."

I felt my body go numb. Caliber? Boss's kid? No way! She had to be pulling my wing.

"Sure, next you will say he is an Alicorn in disguise... Funny."

"Ol' Camden used to go visit this mare up by Stable 103-1, down near the mountains in the south-lands. Someplace called Pony Forge."

"You mean to tell me that Caliber, of all the ponies in the wasteland, is Boss's kid?"

"Yeah, shocked him too. I still remember the look on his face when he came back into Silver Shoe the next day. Said he found out he had a kid and trotted into the bar and drank himself silly."

"Ok, hold on." I said, rubbing my temples. "Why wouldn't he have said anything to us about it? Hell, why didn't he bring them along with us? Something like that would have meant a lot to him, wouldn't it?"

"Oh believe me, he tried. But the damn bitch packed up and ran off somewhere, took the kid too. You were pretty young back then if I recall. That's when Camden started hitting the bottle. She left him with a note saying she had a kid and that it was his and split town. He had you kids to think about and all, my guess would be that he cut his losses and focused on his job. That's what any good trader would do."

"How do you know all this and me and Shale don't?"

"The old man was full of secrets. You could trust him with damn near anything. Hell, why do you think I liked him so much. He never would team up, I recon that mare ruined him."

"All this time... Caliber has been... my brother?"

"Well, strictly speaking... nah. But Camden loved all of you kids like his own, took you in, raised you. In my book that makes you his kid, so I would look at it that way. Shame though, I'm sure he would get a kick out of ya'll now."

"You said something about a stable... 103 was it? You don't think Caliber's mother would go back there do you?"

"103-1, and no, I recon she's dead if I heard right. Picked off by raiders is what Camden said."

"103-1? Since when did stables start having dash numbers?"

"I recon that they were speculation stables. Test builds I think they called them. Damn things are death traps. Sometimes you find good stuff in'em, most of the time they are hollowed out. Makes sense seeing as they wouldn't want to waste all that good iron. The one down in PF was left open for some damn reason. It's one big dirty bastard of a stable at that. Makes for a good place to set up shop if you are ever down that way."

"Where exactly is this 'Pony Forge'? I haven't heard of it before." I said, opening my pipbuck's mapping feature.

"Oh hell kid, you don't want to go there. Damn place is full of hicks these days. Backwoods ponies who done got themselves eaten up with taint. Some of them hoof-lickers haven't seen a pony outside their own families in years. Trust me, stay the hell away from there."

Before she could finish, my Pipbuck flashed with a marker far to the south, and from the looks of it, it was about a day away from Silver Shoe. All these years of us going there for weeks at a time suddenly made sense. Even if she had left the confines of the old stable, he would have gone back there whenever he got the chance to see if she had come back. I felt a strange connection to what Bit Scales had just told me. All this time of me trying to find Zuri after being raised by a buck who was trying to find a mare he too had lost.

"I don't have any plans to go there anytime soon. I'm heading out to White Saddle Shores today."

"Still after that Zebra, are you? Like father like son I guess. Well, if you do find her, ask her why the hell she took so damn long to poke her head up, for me. Look kid, I got to get a move on. I don't like this place and I don't like staying here for more than a day at a time. You take care of yourself out there." Bit Scales said as she raked her caps into her bags and sorted them with a hoof. Before I could get up from my seat, she held out a tattered old leather bound notebook.

"Oh yeah, I recon this is yours now." She said dropping it to the table.

"What is it?" I said sliding it closer to me.

"The old man left it in my wagon the last time I saw him. I guess he dropped it. I flipped through the pages, looks like some kind of journal or ledger or something. If you ever wanted to know more about Camden, this is probably the best place to start. I added a few things in there myself, personal experiences mostly, things he and I talked about and what not."

"Wait... Why would he have dropped this in your wagon?"

"Now Joey, do you really want the answer to that?" Bit Scales said as she gathered her things, and trotted away. No... I did not.

Boss had a journal? Boss had a kid!? THAT KID IS CALIBER!? My brain began to ache at the information it was now being forced to process. All this time, Caliber had not been just a friend, but he was as close to being my brother as I was ever going to get. Even though the pain of guilt I had been feeling for everything that I had put him through was faded, for some reason it was flaring back up again. I had not only used a friend all this time, but I might have as well used somepony who was family to me.

My brain started to run wild with the thoughts of how I would feel if Shale had done me the same way and what it would have done to our relationship. I had spent my life in isolation, safe from dealing with the consequences of my actions towards others. Even when I was working, I was always safe behind the scope of my rifle and if that failed, I could fly away. All because I was too afraid to open up to anypony after what had happened with Zuri. I didn't want to feel that pain again, I didn't want to carry that weight, I didn't want to take the chance of losing somepony close to me.

I looked over to Caliber, but this time with new eyes. But my thoughts were shattered by the sight of him sitting on the floor, staring off into space. Looks like the Oops talk went exactly as I thought it would. Well then, time to be a good friend and help scoop up the pieces. I trotted to Caliber's side, sat beside him and also stared at the wall that he seemed to be looking into.

"I never liked the color of these walls. It clashes with my coat." I said, trying to break the ice.

"It's... gone..." Caliber said just above a whisper.

"Caliber, the wall is right there..."

"The baby... It's just... gone..."

"Caliber, babies don't just disappear..."

"She... took it away."

"That bitch. So she wants to pull a Lavender? Well, I think we need to have a talk with this Amber about paternal rights!" I said, trying to stand.

"She got rid of it... Him. She said she couldn't stand the thought of raising a child that was mine. Said she didn't want him to have the chance to turn out like me."

"What do you mean by 'got rid of him' exactly?"

"She... she... just killed it." Caliber's voice started to break as his words fell flat into a squeak.

I sat down, hard. That cunt... That vile bitch! How could she! That was his child and he didn't even get a chance... Deep inside me, I could feel a pain growing that was now slowly turning into something else, not pain, but anger. It was her choice to take her child the way she did, but not because it was Caliber's. She had wanted to hurt him so bad that she was willing to end a life long before it even began, just to get back at him. Nopony, I don't care what they have done, deserves to have that kind of torture.

I looked down the hall and almost instantly my eyes fell on Ember. She was talking with one of the traders at a booth near the end of the long corridor I was now sitting in. She was laughing, she was actually laughing with somepony else after what she had just done. How can somepony be so cold, how could they be so heartless towards... life! She looked up in time to catch me looking back at her, the two of us made eye contact, slowly her face went into a cock smirk as she turned back to the trader she was talking to.

"Caliber... You called me your best friend a while back, right?" Caliber said nothing, but instead nodded his head while looking at the wall.

"Best friends don't lie to each other... for any reason... even if it is for their own good, right?" Again, he nodded.

"I have to know, is everything you are telling me the truth. Did she really say, DO, that to you?" He turned and looked me in the eyes, tears gathering in the corners of them.

They say you can sometimes tell exactly what a pony is thinking when you look them in the eyes if the connection is strong enough, if they are hurting or if they are in love even. When I looked into Caliber's, I saw pain. Actual pain. I had done my best to guide him down the path that I thought would be right, I had hoped facing his demons would make him stronger, a better pony. But how can you be better if the world keeps pushing you down into sorrow like this? Not this time, the universe doesn't get to have this moment, not this heartache, not with him.

I rose to my hooves, took off my saddle bags and dropped them to my side and slid off my barding. For the first time in my life, I made amends with all the emotions I had bottled up over the years and let them take hold for a change. Pain, suffering, sadness, fear and anger all fell into a dark pit inside my chest that I had left open for far too long. The emotions swirled together, fighting for control of which would come to the surface, but soon it was all too clear which would rear it's ugly head. Fetch, Lavender, Sashay, Wheels and now Ember, all mistakes made by Caliber, all of the sins he would have to atone for... but not this one. I refuse to let him take this hit on his own.

I felt my body tingle when my wings unfolded and lifted me off the ground. My muscles twitched as my entire frame clinched, flexing every muscle tight. My eyes narrowed as my mind went into a primal state that I had never allowed to take control before. With every beat of my wings, I dug deeper and deeper for more speed. I wanted this to hurt. I wanted her to hurt, to feel the pain I knew he was feeling. Any hesitation I had was pushed away the moment I chose to do this, and if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right.

At the last moment, I tucked my wings in and pushed my hind legs out in front of me, aiming for her chest. I gritted my teeth and let what could only be described as absolute rage take hold of every fiber of my being as my hind hoof connected with her sternum. The impact filled the air with a sickening crack as hoof broke bone and lifted her from the ground. The two of us slid across the floor and into the back wall of the hallway, sending her sprawled out against the brick wall.

I stood up to my hooves and looked down at the mare who I had just assaulted, she was still breathing. Even though the impact had forced blood from her muzzle, something inside of me pushed for me to continue. Before I could make my next move, I felt a massive weight hit me from the side, pushing me off balance and sending my hooves wide on the floor. A guard had tried to tackle me, but almost on reflex from his weight, I rolled to my side and used his momentum to send him flying towards the wall.

No sooner than I had shaken the first guard, a second and then a third landed on top of me. I tried my best to push free of the two, but I could feel shackles being placed on my hooves that were now fighting for freedom. Just one more hit, just one more. With one last desperate struggle to break free, I tried to roll into a ball and force them off of me by throwing my weight into them. Just as I was about to enact my plan, I felt the sharp stab of a needle into my flank, followed by my muscles relaxing and my vision fading to black. Try as I might, I couldn't push through the cloud of narcotics that were now taking over my brain. I felt my eyelids grow heavy and close.

"Just... one..mor... "

My head. What the hell happened to my head! I remember getting really really... Ow. Oh goddesses... I think I might have... Oh no. where am I? I craned my head about the table that I was now tightly secured to in an attempt to figure out my surroundings. I was in the medical stall and around me I was surrounded by fuzzy looking ponies. I squinted to try and bring my world back into focus. Caliber, Shale, Valkyrie, Bottlecap and a very upset looking mare wearing a doctor's coat were standing around me.

"What happened?" I said, trying to clear my head of all the thoughts.

"You tell me. One second you are asking me questions, the next you went crazy and tried to murder Ember." Caliber said, looking like he could honestly care less.

"I... Is she ok?"

"Huph. Like you would care..." Said the... I know her from somewhere... Blond... doctor lady?

"Oh Celestia... Please tell me I didn't kill her..."

"She will live. No thanks to you." Doctor lady said.

"Joey... Are you ok?" Shale asked with a worried look.

"I just tried to kill somepony... I can't remember most of what happened and all I know is that my head is killing me. I'm just dandy!" I said sarcastically.

"You had a stress induced nervous breakdown. After talking with your sister here, I would label you as a textbook example of a PTSD. But this being Hoofington, I would say it is par for the course for somepony of your nature." Said the Doctor Lady... Triage! That's her name! What was she doing up here at Megamart?

"Is he going to be ok?" Shale asked.

"Forget about me! What about Ember? I know I had to have... How bad?"

"She suffered multiple compound fractures to her sternum. Broken bone punctured her esophagus and she has a concussion. You on the other hoof might want to consider the consequences of your actions before you do something this stupid in the future."

"Joey, this isn't like you at all. What's going on?" Shale asked.

"I don't know! One second I'm doing my best to comfort Caliber of the whole abortion thing, the next I was doing everything I could to kill her. I just don't know..." I said as I bounced my head off the metal table I was strapped to.

"Honestly, what is wrong with you all? I just told you. He had a nervous breakdown, probably brought on by a stimulus that his brain could not process, sending him into a rage fit. He needs to be on medication." Triage said.

"Will she make it?" I asked, looking to the ceiling.

"She is in bad shape. But I think she will make a recovery from this. Ironically, you are both the same blood type, so after sucking out two pints from you, she has a better chance now. And don't even try to complain about it, you are in no position to do so!"

"So, what happens now? I suspect that I'm going to be strung up for this."

"Your actions, regardless of the reason or condition, can not be overlooked. You will be charged for Ember's medical costs, the damage to Megamart and all of the losses suffered from the stall you wrecked. So far that total is nearing the 15,000 cap marker, but given your standing with us, and your sister's offer to help work off part of your debt, I would be willing to settle for 10,000 caps."

"That's it? A fine?"

"And you will be banned from Megamart for one week, but I will lift the ban for an additional 3000 caps. It is bad enough that we just had to deal with a near full scale war just the other day without you all making an even bigger mess of things!"

"Ok, what's going on here... I know ponies who have done way less than what I did and they got way tougher punishments..." I said, almost shocked that nearly killing another mare only garnered a seemingly small fine. Bottlecap stepped away and trotted out of the door, leaving me with more questions than answers. Shale trotted to the side of the table and put her hoof on my chest.

"Joey, Bottlecap has agreed to let you off so easy because she overheard what happened between Caliber and Ember. When she gets well enough to move, she is going to kick her out of here." Shale said, looking away.

"And...?"

"And what?"

"Why do you still look like you have something more to say?"

"Joey... You need to get out of here."

"What? Why?"

"Can you let him up now? I think he needs to see this for himself."

"Oh sure, let's set the crazy buck free to roam the countryside! What do I know, I'm just a doctor..." Triage said as her and Shale both worked to undo the straps on my hooves. Once freed, Caliber, Shale and Valkyrie escorted me out into the main hall of Megamart. Caliber to my rear, Shale to my right and Valkyrie to my left. The moment I set hoof into the large room filled with traders, it fell silent. I guess when you nearly murder somepony in front of a few dozen ponies, this is the treatment that is warranted. We trotted in front of Shale's stall, where she raised a hoof and point to the large billboard in the middle of the store.

There, right at the top, holding a 10,000 cap bounty, was my name. The bounty had been posted by Ms. Furnace not even an hour after learning about her daughter's beating that she took. This is not good. Oh Celestia, what have I done.

"You have to get out of here, like yesterday fast!" Valkyrie said, passing me my now stocked saddlebags and barding.

"Ok, I will head back up towards the motel, I wi-"

"No, out of Hoofington." Shale interrupted.

"Out of all of Hoofington?"

"You can't stay here after what just happened. With a bounty like that, somepony is going to try and collect sooner than later. The only reason why they haven't made a move on you yet is because Bottlecap threatened expulsion to anypony who tries if they work here." Caliber said.

"Ok, well let's go then." I said, motioning for him to come along.

"Joey, I.. can't. I need to be alone for a while. Figure some stuff out for myself."

"Cal? I'm sorry for what happened with Amber, I didn't mean to fly off the handle like I did."

"It's not that. I just don't know if I can go on like this anymore. Every time I try and do something the right way, it blows up in my face. I can't take the pain anymore, I just need some time to work through this." He said as he trotted to the edge of the sidewalk and sat down.

"But... I can't go alone... I can't leave you here like this, Cal."

"Joey, it would be best if you did. It's not safe for any of us to be with you right now." Valkyrie said.

"Great! I'll just fly off through Hoofington with a huge bounty on my head... Alone. No pressure..." I said, letting out a sigh.

"We will do what we can from here to get your name off the board, but you need to leave." Shale said, nudging me out the door.

"You will take care of him, won't you? He needs more looking after than he thinks he does, and Celestia knows that I have been doing a bad job of it."

"Of course I will. I will make sure he gets through this ok."

"Are you sure you are up to the task? He can be a hoof-full at times."

"Who raised you when Boss was away?" Shale said, giving me a hug.

"Besides, Valkyrie has offered to stay behind and help work the debt off with me." Shale said, turning to the orange coated mare.

"You would do that? For me? But you barely know me." I said.

"I know what it's like to want something you can't have. I know you want to find her and if anypony knows what that would mean to you, it's me. Be careful." She said as she kissed me on the cheek and trotted back inside Megamart. Before I took off, she looked back to me and smiled. "If you don't find what you are looking for out there, just know that you have ponies back here who really care for you."

Despite my pleading to stay, the decision for me to leave had already been made for me long before I had woken up. Before I set off for the south, I passed off all of my caps, all 28000 I had left from my savings to Shale in hopes that she could use them to somehow get the bounty lifted. Fact is, as long as my name was carrying a price tag, none of them were actually safe, and with me being forced to leave, that left them without me looking out for them. I wanted to stay, to protect them, but if I did, they would try and protect me when somepony came to call on my bounty. I wonder if this is what that Security mare feels like all the time.

We said our goodbyes, and I, by myself, set out towards White Saddle Shores. How fitting that this trip away from Hoofington to find Zuri, be one that I have to do alone, just as I always have. I had single hooved put my friends and family in danger with one indulgence of rage, nearly killing a pony who I had never even spoke to before. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I got all the way down the White Saddle Shores and found Zuri with another buck and she just wanted to play a joke on me. To be honest, I feel like I deserve for something like that to happen.

My whole life I have been chasing the very dream that I am now trying to make come true, and I'm so close to making it reality. Yet, even though I am flying in that direction, I was flying away from the very thing I never knew I wanted. Looking back, I could still see them standing on the sidewalk of Megamart, both of them. A good friend who is willing to stand beside me, even when I do something stupid and a sister who loves me and is willing to work off my debt. I didn't deserve them, but there they were, still worrying about me, all the while I was worrying about them. Maybe that is what family is, maybe it's not, all I know is that it hurts to leave them behind.

"Lets get this over with..."

I said to myself as I glided towards the southwest out of Hoofington and down the loneliest road that have ever flown. Below me I could see ponies fighting in the streets, their bullets, beams and flame shooing out wildly in small conflicts all throughout Hoofington. Soon I came to the town's limits, flying over the small town that I was told was called Chapel. Ahead of me lay the mountains, after that it would be miles and miles of endless Wasteland, leading me to Silver Shoe and then to White Saddle Shores.

I wanted to hope that Zuri would be there, waiting for me to collapse into her hooves, to hold me and tell me that it would all be ok. But no mater how I tried, all I could think about was going back to Megamart and try to make things right. I just want to be with Shale and Caliber! I want them close to me rather than leaving them in my wake of destruction. Valkyrie, a mare I had only known a short while, seemed to be weighing heavily on my mind. She barely knew me, yet she was willing to stay behind and help deal with one of my disasters just so I could stay safe and find an old marefriend. But I can't go back, I have to see this through and trust that they will find a way out of this, for all of us.

I can only hope that they all know how much they truly mean to me. Caliber, Shale, even Valkyrie clouded my thoughts much like the clouds above my head blocked the sun, but I didn't mind. They were always with me, no matter where I flew, I could always say that I had ponies who I could rely on, even when everything came crashing down. With the wind to my back and the rain beating down, I steadied myself for the long flight and tried to set my mind at ease.

"I love you all, I just hope you know that." I said as I started up the mountains and out of Hoofington.

Valkyrie

Author's Notes:

I know I said I wanted to take a break and what not... But what can I say... I am a victim of my own desires. I made it to Babscon, all the way from my little town that is nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, here in Tennessee. It was my first time flying, it was also on United Airlines... Yeah... that was a thing that happened.

But I wasn't alone! In fact, I was joined by my good friends during the trip, Andy, Ryn and Jon. Andy, for those of you that do not know, is the inspiration for Caliber. How fitting it was that my first time flying would be with Caliber. In fact the inspiration for the air sickness scene came from Andy getting sick on our way to our connecting flight in Denver.

For those of you who are wondering, I have commissioned a few pieces of art work and character reference sheets for this story. When I started this grand adventure, I had a lot to learn about grammar, punctuation and formatting. Now however... I still have a lot to learn but I have been working to make bigger and bigger strides towards becoming an actual author.

I love this fandom, I love the FoE fandom even more. It has a special place in my heart and always will. I would like to think that even twenty years from now that I will be able to look back on these moments with a melancholy happiness. I love writing this story, and so long as I can type, I plan to see it through!

Thank you all for reading, I hope that you have enjoyed it!
Please feel free to leave a comment below! Don't be shy, even if you didn't like it, I would love to hear from you!