The return trip back to Megamart has had a decidedly different feel to it from when Dandy and Gearing had made the first leg of the trek that morning. Despite what they were going to do, they had a pretty good atmosphere around them as they had chatted along the way. They had been rather upbeat and even casually chatty at times.

The way back is nearly the exact opposite of that.

Where they once had a good rapport going, and had a growing sense of anticipation, all with a sense of positive energy, now they don’t. The return trip has been oppressively quiet between the two as they make fast progress back. Dandy knew there was something wrong, given Gearing’s change in attitude, the moment he didn’t even reply to her while watching the building burn down.

She knew something upset him. Badly. Though she doesn’t know what exactly. And she simply let him sit alone in front of the fire until he was ready to go. But once he finally moved, he didn’t stop and barely said a word. And even those few words he’s spared along the way were only if prompted by her and short lived at that.

Until they are cresting over some rubble, and they get a clear line of sight from it to Megamart. Or, more specifically, the area around and in front of Megamart.

Gearing’s right wing zips out from under his cloak and he holds it up in front of Dandy as he says in a low rumbling tone, “Something’s wrong… keep your head on a swivel…” Then he slowly starts walking out of the rubble again and Dandy finally gets a clear look beyond, where she sees the area that’s drawn out such concern from Gearing.

For days, ever since the first broadcast, the area in front of Megamart had been a small shanty town of its own. A camp of would be bounty hunters that ebbed and flowed as new arrivals came, and others left. All in search of the same thing: the largest bounty in Hoofington history. Security.

But no longer.

The encampment lays almost entirely barren, except the tell tale signs from prolonged camping of hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals over the course of just a few days. Mostly scattered debris, trash, and other items that were discarded before the previous owners took their leave. And, judging by a few of the spots, they did so in a real hurry.

Gearing takes a slight lead with Dandy to his right side and a half step out of perfect sync with him. They had avoided the camp on the way out, because they didn’t want to run into any problems with the herd of greedy ponies. But, with the vast majority of them gone, the pair goes ahead and cuts straight through the barren encampment. True to the wasteland, several ponies scurry around sifting through what was left behind by others to try and find anything of value. But Gearing pays no real attention to them as they are cutting through the various encampment locations.

Gearing says flatly, with his head still forward and covered by the ratty blanket turned cloak, “Don’t worry, that’s just Swift.”

Dandy looks at him, and then looks forward. After rotating her head back and forth, she starts looking up and a moment later she sees a moving speck zipping around above Megamart, before it starts getting bigger and coming in their direction. A moment later she recognizes the sky blue speck and can’t help but wonder how Gearing was able to see her from this distance with the sky so cloudy.

But Swift is definitely coming their direction at a steady clip.

As Dandy and Gearing are traveling through the encampment, and walking by a camp site that’s still got a few ponies sitting around, the occupants watch them pass silently.

One of the mares to Gearing’s left calls out with a cheerful tone from the campsite he’s passing, “Hey! Aren’t you the two that took down that psycho Cookie?”

Gearing stops mid stride, as the faintest smirk crosses his muzzle, and he starts turning his head to look at them. “Yeah, that’s us. Why-”

Ker-BLAM.

Gearing’s comment is interrupted, and drowned out, as the relative silence of the immediate area is torn asunder by the sudden roar of a shotgun blast.

The fabric over the left side of Gearing’s head rips apart, and some small fragments of the mottled cloth go flying and fluttering through the air as the many pellets rip right through it in a tight cluster. Gearing’s head jerks to the right from the sudden force, with him stumbling and turning away from the blind sided blow as he brings his left forehoof up to hold and shield his face from any more blasts.

As he’s recoiling from the blast, turning away and ducking down, Dandy’s coat flies wide in an arc like a cape behind her as she looks over Gearing at the one who’d fired. As a dozen of her pistol boxes come zipping out of their individual holsters, a sky blue blur zips from above and crashes into the gray unicorn mare with a horn which has the same greenish overglow covering the shotgun that just shot Gearing.

Swift plows into the gray mare from above, as she simultaneously unleashes her powerhoof on the floating shotgun. The ancient 12 gauge firearm fractures to pieces as the wood splinters and the metal practically disintegrates and scatters from the strike. The two go tumbling sideways from the force and before the pieces of the old shotgun hit the soil, Swift already has the gray mare pinned to the ground on her back and starts knocking her head violently back and forth with her PipBuck ladened foreleg. Swift’s not even being kind enough to simply use her powerhoof and put an end to it with a single blow like she is more than capable of doing.

With Swift having an overwhelmingly superior position over the perpetrator, Dandy takes the initiative and points her pistol boxes at the other ponies standing and sitting around the general proximity of the camp. All four of the individuals suddenly find themselves staring down three barrels simultaneously as they don’t even have time to really react to what’s going on.

An older buck that was walking by from the other direction sits down and throws his forehooves in the air as he shakes and yells in a squeaky voice, “Oi! I didn’ do nuthn’!

A mare that was sorting through a pile of garbage at an adjoining camp stands frozen, with her head low to the ground as her eyes bug out and she says shakily, “Hey, uh… M-mind if I …. Just go?” Her eyes dart from one of the little boxes to the other as she tries not to move a muscle, despite the uncomfortable position she’s currently in.

Dandy snarls, “Consider this a precaution, I’m tired of getting ambushed by morons! If you really had nothing to do with it, then sit there and shut up and let us sort this out!”

The entire time cries, groans, and screams accompany meaty slaps as Swift holds the shooter down and pummels them with her bare hoof. After getting a few good enough smacks that the gray mare starts going limp, instead of even trying to struggle anymore, Swift screams out, “Gearing?! Gearing, are you okay?! Answer me dammit!”

“He’s still standing, and swearing, so he’s gonna be fine. Give him a minute!” Dandy yells back.

Gearing slowly rotates back towards them as he holds his forehoof to his face and continues ranting and rambling, but far more clearly and audibly, “Dammit! Right in the ear! Why does shit keep fucking with my left ear!?” He reaches up with a wing and starts working the crystal pinions of his wings in the crevices in his face. “The bitch poked me in the eye! I mean, who does that?! Great! Just great! Now my eye’s not wanting to work right! I hate it when this happens!” Gearing keeps his face low to the ground as he keeps trying to work the offending fragments out of his gears and plates with his pinions functioning as tweezers. Sometimes the crystals crack and the tips snap off, given this is not how they were intended to be used, and that just makes Gearing grumble and snarl all the more.

Dandy smirks as she looks at the ponies around them. “Only he would consider a 12 gauge to the face as ‘poking me in the eye’…”

“Hey, it still fuckn’ hurt!” Gearing replies defensively.

“You done fucked up!” Swift snarls. “I’m gonna break every bone in your body, then kill you once I’m done getting some exercise!”

Gearing pulls his hoof back from his face enough to look at her and scream, “No! Don’t!” as his head is still bowed and he’s still trying to work pieces of pellets out of his face plates and gears. Especially focusing on, and around, his left eye.

“Why?” Swift pauses beating on the barely conscious mare and looks over at him as she scowls. “You wanna do it yourself?” She purses her lips to the side as she bobs her head around. “I guess that’s fair… since she tried to kill you and all…” She looks at the gray mare, using a hoof to make her look her in the eye and grins maliciously as she says, “I can’t wait to see what you have in store for this one! No one fucks with my friends and family!”

Dandy’s eyes jump from one pony to the next, looking them over in turn, as she also takes in their surroundings to make sure no one else is planning on sneaking up and joining in on the fun at the moment. Her eyes settle on the other two ponies, a dark green earth pony mare and an ocher stallion, that haven’t said anything yet as they glare at Swift.

Dandy taps them both on the side of the head with a pistol each, to get their attention, before she says flatly, “Don’t even think about it.”

The ocher buck looks at her, glancing back and forth between the one small box pointed right at his head, and her eyes as he says, “Real easy to act all tough when you’re holding a gun to somepony’s head.”

Dandy smirks as she tilts her head. “Actually, I’m pretty sure she,” she nods towards Swift, “could make all of you blood stains. At the same time. But I’d rather make sure what’s going on.” She shrugs. “Look at it this way, as long as I’m holding you at gunpoint, she won’t feel the need to scramble your brains across the ground.”

The mare that had been sifting through trash darts her eyes around from one gun pointed at her to another as she says shakily, “I’m not involved in this… really… I don’t even know what’s going on.”

Dandy replies flatly while still staring at the other two that she’s pretty sure were with the gray mare a few moments ago, “That dumb ass hurt my partner, and none of you are going anywhere until we get to the bottom of this.”

The ocher stallion glances over at Gearing as he asks, “How the hell is he still standing anyway? A 12 gauge blast like that should have taken his head off, helmet or no…”

Dandy grins at them and tilts her head as she says sweetly, “Oh… that’s because you don’t know who you’re fucking with… I do… but I’ll let him tell you as much as he feels like sharing…”

Gearing starts walking towards Swift, deciding to take the opportunity to get things started in a new direction. He walks over next to Swift and looks down at the gray mare, who’s still being pinned by Swift, and asks point blank, “Why the hell did you sucker punch me with a 12 gauge?”

The gray mare looks up at him through an already swelling eye as blood comes out with her coughing. “Had to…” She takes in a ragged breath before finishing with a groan, “You’re gonna kill everypony.”

Gearing, still holding the left side of his head with his hoof looks down from the darkness of his cloak as he asks, “Why the hell you think that?”

She coughs a bit before she glares at him with as much of a scowl as she can muster given the pain she’s in and the damage she’s received thus far. “Because I know what you’ve done… You’re… you’re… A remorseless attack dog! You kill helpless ponies for kicks.” She coughs a few times before she leans towards him, against the pressure being applied to her by Swift on top of her. “Why don’t you just go back where you came from! This is our home, you monster!”

Swift raises an eyebrow as she chuckles, “The fuck is that about?” She looks at Gearing. “Mistaken identity?”

The bloody mare’s eyes go a bit wider, as her eyebrows jump up in surprise and her eyes, as much of them as can peek through the swelling, zips back and forth between the two.

“More like Red Beard’s doing…” Dandy says with a frown.

The ocher buck nods as he looks at her. “Yeah, he’s letting everyone know what he’s been doing. All the folks he’s killed. He won’t get away with it.”

Dandy looks at him as she raises an eyebrow. “The hell are you talking about?”

The gray mare chokes as she laughs, “You didn’t know? He killed a helpless old buck… smashed his head like a melon… Then he went and attacked somepony’s camp in the middle of the night, completely unprovoked… Then he tracked down the rest of the survivors and killed them and everyone they were with! He’s gotta be stopped!”

Swift slowly turns to look at Gearing. “Uh… what are they talking about?”

Dandy rolls her eyes and points at the ocher buck. “A bad game of telephone… that’s what.” She looks over at the gray mare and says, “Firstly… that ‘old helpless stallion’ you keep rambling on about? He was anything but helpless. And he attacked him,” She thrusts a hoof out towards Gearing. “Just like your dumbass did. Tried to stab him with some weird blade and he got what was coming to him because of it.” She looks at the dark green mare and bobs her head around as she says, “I was one of the ‘dozens of witnesses’ that Red Beard was talking about. I saw the whole thing. And nopony did shit for a good reason… he deserved it…”

Dandy looks over at the gray mare again as she says, “And as for the ‘survivors of that camp’ as you put it… he didn’t kill them… I did.” She looks over at the ocher buck and gives him a sly grin as she taps all of them in the side of the head with her pistols as she says singsongily, “When the duuuumbassessss ambushed usssss…. Just… like… Yooouuuuuuu!”

“Yeah? What about the guy he shot in the head then? You saying that is a big misunderstanding too?” the dark green mare asks skeptically.

“No, I did that. That was me,” Gearing says flatly, and drawing all of their attentions in the process. “But he was a special kind of asshole that needed to be put down as quickly as possible anyway. I’m not just out killing anypony I see.”

“Why would anypony believe you?” the bloody gray mare asks.

Swift taps her on the sides of her swollen cheeks a few times before she says, “Hey, he’s the one that asked me not to kill you… in case you were too busy getting your ass kicked to have heard him.”

She glares up at Swift as she asks, “But he’s still hunting down anypony after Security.”

“Sort of true,” Gearing admits flatly again. And, again, earning startled glances from those around. “I did say I’d kill anyone who claimed the bounty… And I will… so if you’re after the bounty, it’s in your best interest to simply give it up.”

Swift looks over at Gearing and frowns as she asks, “Why do you even bother talking to somepony like this? Their mind’s made up. They aren’t going to change. You’re starting to sound as bad as Handy with that nonsense.”

Dandy looks between them, then looks at Gearing as she offers, “Most of them aren’t evil. They’re just desperate ponies trying to survive. Hoofington is the ass of Equestria, I try to stay here as little as possible. Shit keeps bringing me back though…” She shrugs. “But those stuck here have very little hope, and the bounty is large enough to be a real game changer for them, enough to get out and away and maybe even have a decent life elsewhere.” Gearing slowly turns his head to look at her and Dandy waves a hoof defensively. “Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t excuse what they did and I won’t hold it against you if you did kill’em; doubt anypony else would blame you either. Just thought you’d want to know the score. Have all the info to decide whatever you decide.” She shrugs. “That shotgun was a piece of shit, she’s lucky it didn’t blow up in her face.” She adds softly, “She’s obviously just some random nopony… not some professional hitmare…”

Swift’s focus jumps over to Dandy as she stares at her with her jaw hanging loosely, absolutely appalled by her seeming suggestion. “You saying to just let them go?!”

“I’m just letting him make an informed decision,” Dandy says flatly. “It’s his and his alone at this point.”

“Fair,” Swift replies flatly before turning back to look at the mare under her.

Gearing leans down to look at the gray mare before he asks, “Speaking of informed decisions… I think you need to understand exactly who you’re dealing with…” He uses the left hoof that he’d been using to hold his cheek, and pushes the cowl of his cloak back off of his head as he stares down at her eye to eye.

Her eyes, as swollen as they are from Swift’s brutalization of her face, open even wider in shock and disbelief.

Gearing reaches up with his crystal pinions again and starts poking and prodding at his face. As the two stare at each other, he flicks out a small fragment of rusted steel from between a crevice with two delicate plates just below his eye. And, as she’s watching, her eyes keep jumping around to various jerky movements along his face. It’s not simply the gears and cogs moving here and there as he moves his eyes or manipulates parts to try to work out the pellets. No. It’s far more than that.

Within the cone of her unhindered focus a thin plate above his eye that had been hit just right by a pellet to crumple over like an accordion suddenly straightens out after achieving enough tension. The pellet that had been holding it in place goes flying off and by her face as she watches his face slowly mend itself. And the looks of bafflement escapes neither Gearing nor Swift’s notice.

“You see this?” Gearing points at his face with his left hoof as he stares the mare in the eyes. “The advantage of multiple overlapping layers is an overall increase in effective strength… it’s much harder to punch through… Don’t get me wrong… it still stings like a bitch… but unless you land a direct hit on me with artillery, maybe an anti tank round, you aren’t doing anything serious to me… besides thoroughly pissing me off… you understand?” He leans down and uses his hoof to push her upper eyebrow back so she can see better as he tilts his face so she can see the slow movements of parts along his profile. “And given my healing rate… The scratches you put on my surface won’t even last the day with anything less than an anti tank weapon… which you don’t have.”

Gearing pushes her head back towards the ground before straightening up a bit. “So, you have picked a fight… you really can’t win… ever… So I have to ask… why would you do this?” He shrugs. “Only slavers and those after Security really have to worry about me… and since I don’t see any bomb collars I’m guessing you’re in the latter category… so… Why are you so dead set on going after Security, somepony that’s trying to help Hoogington?”

The gray mare closes her eyes and looks off to the side as she says, “With that kind of money I can get my daughter out of Hoofington. Start a new life somewhere, like maybe Tenpony… or elsewhere… Just anywhere other than here.”

“So, you’d do anything for your daughter?”

The mare nods. “I would and... h- have…” She lets out a sigh before she says quietly, “I don’t want her to have to do the same things just to survive…”

“Tell me about her,” Gearing says as he looks at her.

The gray mare’s eyes go wide as she stares at Gearing for a moment. It only takes a split second before she scowls and practically snarls, “If you’re gonna kill me, get on to it. But I’m not telling you where she is just so you can get some kind of sadistic payback on me!”

“I didn’t ask where she is… I said to tell me about her,” Gearing retorts. They stare at each other, and even Swift looks at him sideways with a raised eyebrow before he asks, “What’s her favorite color?”

“What?”

“Color? What’s her favorite color?” Gearing repeats.

“… Pink…” the gray mare says unsurely.

“We talking like ‘pink’ pink, or hot pink? Fuscia?” Gearing prods.

The gray mare looks between Gearing and Swift as she says softly, “M- more like… Magenta.” A smile creeps across her face before she adds, “She’d found a magenta crayon one time and just started coloring everything with it… rocks… walls… her hooves…” She closes her eyes and smiles with a tear in her eye as she chokes, “Said it made it all prettier…”

“Sounds adorable,” Gearing says as he looks her over.

The gray mare’s eyes open and the scowl returns to her face as she says through gritted teeth, “I won’t let you touch her. By Celestia I swear it!”

Gearing lets out a sigh as he looks at her. “I’m not some pervert.” The comment doesn’t seem to convince her in the slightest, so he asks, “Do you want to see your daughter again?” The mare glares at him and her breathing becomes more labored as she tests her muscles against Swift’s pressure again, and gets a light thump on the side of the head from Swift for her trouble. Gearing looks between them and asks, “It’s a pretty straight forward question. There’s no tricks…. I’m sure I know the answer, but I wanna-“

“Of course I wanna see my little filly again! What kind of fucked up question is that?!” the gray mare roars at Gearing.

“Then I have a deal for you… personally I think you’d be stupid to disagree, and refuse, but it is up to you,” Gearing says evenly and with little interest.

Swift looks at him and narrows her eyes as she asks softly, “You can’t be serious…”

“You said you’d do anything for your little girl, were you lying, or were you serious?” Gearing asks as he tilts his head.

The gray mare nods slowly. “I’ll do anything to keep my little girl safe.”

Gearing slowly looks her over as she’s pinned to the ground, before returning to eye contact with her as he asks, “Strong enough for a desire to live? Live for her?” The mare’s eyes narrow and Gearing comments, “Again, not a trick question.”

“…hopefully…?” the mare says with a more then slightly confused tone.

“Okay, then here’s the deal I have for you… And you only have two options… well… three… but that’s a horrible route to go…” Gearing says with a sigh. “Option one, you refuse, and you die right here right now, never see your little girl again, and die knowing that you’re little filly is going to grow up alone in Hoofington without you, and you’re the one that caused it.”

Swift’s eyes go wide as she looks at Gearing and says, “Damn… That’s…”

“Option two is to take the deal, as offered, unconditionally, and go on with your life where you can continue to live with your little filly, who loves magenta, and actually have the possibility of seeing her grow up. Maybe even in a better Equestria than you grew up in.”

“What’s option three?” Swift asks with an eye half closed as she’s only really seeing two sides to a coin.

Gearing looks at Swift, and then at the gray mare as he says, “Option three, because I’m not an idiot and know full well it’s a possibility, is that you agree to the terms… but lie about the fact and come back later to try again… in which case you’ll not only fail, again, but because you’d intentionally blown the chance I’m giving you I’m going to have to make an example out of you, to convince everyone else that it’s not a good idea to do…” He shrugs as he says, “Which means, in short, to kill you in whatever excruciatingly horribly painful and messy method that happens to be available at the time or that I think of… Acid, fire, radiation, poisoning, wildlife, whatever…” He shrugs as he adds, “Suffice to say, you’ll be asking me politely for a bullet to the head, with a please and thank you in advance, before it was over. And, sadly, I’ll have to decline your request. Because the point has to be made and you, yourself, chose option three. Not me.”

Dandy’s eyes go wide as she says quietly, “Oh shit… Red flag…”

Swift bobs her head around as she says, “Yeah… sounds fair…” She looks at the gray mare under her as she says, “Loyalty means a lot to him, so if you betray his trust like that, expect something horrible in return.” She nudges the gray mare a couple times before she says with a grin, “Sounds like option two’s a no brainer… I’d go with option two if I were you.”

The gray mare looks back and forth before she asks quietly, “What’s… what’s the condition? I… I can’t agree to something you haven’t told me first…”

Gearing nods as he sits down. “Fair enough… okay… So, I’ll go over the longer term things first… since they are the most important to understand and will take longer, the more immediate bit won’t take long to explain.”

“Oh… kay?” The gray mare asks with clear confusion in her voice.

“So, first thing you gotta do is get your damn life together. It’s your life, but whatever it was that led to you coming after Security, and me? Yeah. Change that. Change your situation. Change your home. Change your profession. Change your world view. Whatever. Just change it… and don’t, ever come after us again… Needless to say, don’t get into slaving either… I mean, you’re not in it now, but I think it’s only fair to point out that if I catch you doing that, you’ll qualify for option three… just saying…” He shrugs. “And beyond that, I want you to tell everyone under the sun what’s happened here. About me.” He points at his face. “I’ve been ambushed repeatedly, and it’s not turned out well for any of them… although… to be fair…” He reaches over and rustles her bloody mane. “You’re the first one that might actually survive the encounter… other’s were too stupid to take the chance given to them.”

He leans closer to her, getting nearly muzzle to muzzle, to the point that the mare turns her face sideways to keep him from seemingly kissing her, as he stares into her nearly swollen shut eye. “Make sure to let them know that they’re better off finding a living elsewhere… that they don’t want the kind of hell that follows in my wake… understand?” She nods quickly, with her nearly swollen shut eye as wide as it possibly could go in fear. “And… beyond all of that… I want you to go straight home, as quickly as you can, and give that magenta loving filly of yours a big ole hug and kiss. And hold her and love her like she both needs and deserves… and then you, little miss shotgun,” He taps her on the end of her snoot with his hoof, “Become the role model for her that I know you can be. Teach her to be a good pony, that makes good choices…” he leans in closer as his eyes widen and he practically growls, “And to stay as far away from those like me as possible. I’m not a nice pony, and you don’t want your daughter doing something and drawing my attention in the future… understand me?”

“Oooh this isn’t good…,” Dandy groans.

The gray mare nods quickly, grinding her other cheek into the ground as tears pour from both of her eyes silently as she chokes and has a hard time breathing given the storm of emotions fighting for dominance at the moment.

Gearing pulls back as he nods, then lets out a sigh as he says, “Now for the more immediate part…” He looks over at Dandy, then the other ponies around before looking down at the gray mare again. “I need to be abso-fucking-lutely sure you truly understand who you’re dealing with…” He waves a hoof between Dandy and Swift as he says, “Me simply surviving a shotgun blast to the face doesn’t really say much, when you were held by two other mares… you might get the mistaken impression that if you just catch me alone, things will go differently… or try some other stupid action of deceitfulness. So, a demonstration is in order… and on top of that… I’m charging you two healing potions.”

The dark green mare scoffs, “So now you’re turning to robbery?”

Gearing looks over at her and narrows his eyes as he says, “One of the potions is for her.” He points at his face. “The other is to fix the damage she did… pretty damn generous trade for her life, I think.”

The gray mare groans as she says, “I only have the one… and it’s not full strength.”

“Not enough,” Gearing says flatly. “I told you, the deal is only as offered, and unconditional…”

“You’d kill her just because she’s short one single potion?!” the ocher buck asks with his eyes going wide.

Gearing looks over at him and says calmly, “That’s half of the requested amount… and only one… This is the line in the sand… I’ve set the bar pretty damn low… and if I budge even one step you assholes will think I’m kidding.” He looks down at the gray mare and adds, “Spoilers to how this’ll end, I’m not.”

The gray mare chokes as she shakes her head. “I… I really only have the one… I’m sorry…” She stares into Gearing’s eyes and her own goes even wider as the tears resume. “P- please… I’m sorry… I’m truly sorry.”

Gearing lets out a sigh as he says, “So am I… but I’m not altering the deal I’m offering.”

“I’ll do whatever you want! I’m sorry! I’ll get another potion for you, please! I just wanna see my little filly again!” she shrieks out as Swift looks back and forth between her and Gearing for some sort of sign, though she’s pretty sure she knows what’s coming.

Gearing looks at Swift and nods away as he says, “Swift. Off.” Then, as a quick after thought he politely adds, “Please.”

Swift grimaces as she hops up and jumps away, fluttering in the air a bit as she says, “Yeah… gotta avoid the splash zone.”

The gray mare instantly starts trying to crawl away on her side as she pleads her case, “You don’t have to do this! Please!”

Gearing looks at her and asks, “Where’s the one potion you do have?”

The mare looks side to side, looking for her satchel, then points a hoof at the ripped bag not far away. “It’s in there, you can have it! Here!” Her horn glows and envelopes the bag in her green overglow. But the overglow on both snaps out of existence along with the mare’s scream as Gearing jumps over next to her, grabs her horn with his fetlock, and jerks her head towards him.

“Don’t try that shit again! Or I’ll snatch that horn right off your head, you hear me?!” He shakes her head, using the horn as a handle, as he scowls at her.

“Yes! Sorry! I’m so sorry!”

Dandy looks around, then her horn glows a bit more as the bag floats up in the air, and quickly turns over, dumping out all of the contents onto the ground at a distance away. Sure enough, a small potion bulb clatters out with its once vibrant purple color diminished and dulled. “Here it is,” Dandy offers softly. She floats it over and sets it next to Gearing and the gray mare before continuing her watch of everyone else.

The ocher buck looks over at Dandy and asks, in disbelief, “You’re really going to just stand there and let him kill her like this?”

Dandy looks at him and frowns as she says, “Frankly, she’s already lived longer than she would have if she tried that shit with me…”

The gray mare limply waves a hoof at the potion as she says, “You said one was going to be for me. I don’t want it. I don’t need it. I just wanna see my little filly again. You drink it! Go on, take it!” Her horn glows again, and so does the potion, despite the force Gearing is applying to it, and in full defiance of what Gearing had told her. The potion lifts up, and hovers close to Gearing as she uses all of her concentration and will to keep it in the air. Quickly the top pops off, and drops to the ground as the bulb tips towards Gearing’s mouth from within the green glow.

Gearing stares at it, then at her as he mutters, “This potion is shit…” But slowly opens his mouth as he keeps his eyes trained on her. The potion, quickly tilts over and starts pouring into his mouth, and he chomps down on the bulb, holding it tightly and tilting his head back. Simultaneously he pulls it out of her magical field, and lowers her to the ground as he releases her.

He tilts his head back down towards her, after draining the bulb, and spits the bottle out next to her head as he glares at her. A few pieces of shot clatter down as they are worked out and what was left of the damage done by the shotgun blast quickly disappears by the metal reshaping itself.

The gray mare forces a smile as she says nervously, “F- feel better? Did that work?”

Gearing leans down to her and gets face to face as he turns his head to the side and asks, “Do you see what you did to me?”

“What?” she asks in complete confusion.

“My face… look at my face… do you see what you and your shotgun did to me?”

Her eyes dart around quickly as she stutters, “I- I don’t know what you mean… I’m sorry!”

Gearing points at the left side of his face as he growls, “You sucker punched me in the face with a 12 gauge shotgun… mere moments ago… do you see the damage you did to me?”

She opens her eyes as much as she can, and her eyes dart over the various golden colored brassy plates and gears as she focuses. His left eye, which did have a pellet imbedded in it and bending a pair of the thin plates that function as the aperture of his eyes, now seems perfectly fine. Even better than it was originally. With a bit of an extra shine and polish to it. No trace of the pellet at all. No dent. No scratch. Nothing. Likewise all over his face she sees the plates and gears absolutely still. Where as before, when she first got face to face with him, she could see the plates moving slowly on their own accord. Now there’s no movement at all.

“Well?” he finally asks.

“I- I’m sorry… I don’t see anything, please don’t be mad, I’m sorry I hurt you!” she wails.

“So you don’t see what you’d done?” Gearing clarifies.

“No, I’m sorry!”

“Good, so you’re paying attention, and noticed,” Gearing says flatly before turning to look at her.

“What?” she asks in pure confusion.

Gearing points at his face again as he says, “You shot me in the face with a shotgun, and a few moments later there’s no visible damage… because it’s all gone… Even if I didn’t drink the potion, it would have disappeared.” He points up to his left ear as he says, “The slight wave along the top edge of my ear? You see that?” She nods. “It took a building getting dropped on my head, along with a lot of other nonsense going on at the time, for this to even happen…”

The ocher buck looks over at him as he asks with his mouth hanging open, “You had a building dropped on your head?”

Gearing looks over at him and says, “Yeah, the eleventh floor of an office complex… well,” And Swift chimes in with a grin as she says harmoniously, “Half of it anyway.” Gearing and Swift share a smirk before he goes back to looking at the mare at his hooves. “So, I want you to know just how futile this whole exercise has been… do you under-stand now?”

The gray mare nods quickly as she says, “Yes… Yes I understand. I see that now. It was a stupid mistake and I’ll never try anything like this again.”

Gearing nods. “Good, I’m glad you see that.”

His sentence is punctuated by a shrill sharp scream echoing out across the wasteland as he jerks his other foreleg over, and uses his the foreleg planted on the ground and supporting his weight as a leverage point, and gives the gray mare’s left foreleg a new joint: mid cannon. Her cannon bone snaps loudly and causes the other ponies around to cringe even before the sharp shrill tone comes out of the gray mare’s muzzle.

The mare that had been sifting through the trash looks over at Dandy and pleads, “Please don’t make me watch this… This is horrible.”

Dandy’s eyes jump back and forth as she tries to figure out the best course of action, all the while looking more and more at Gearing as unsettling things keep bubbling up to the surface of her mind.

Gearing transitions his forelegs, and slams the gray mare’s mouth shut, muffling and silencing her scream, but causing her to open her eyes and look up at him. He leans in closely as he snarls, “And that is so you’ll never forget it! You understand me?!” She nods her head, or tries to, but Gearing’s hold is firm. Still, he feels it, and nods in approval before he lets go of her muzzle. He points a hoof at her face, “Now you just lay right there and don’t move until I tell you to, hear me?!”

Again, she nods quickly. Fear. Pain. Panic. All of these emotions cause her to eagerly comply. Along with a strange feeling of hope. A strange light that just doesn’t seem to belong in the situation. Hope that she’ll live. He hasn’t simply killed her yet. So there’s still hope that she might make it through, if she can just endure whatever amendments he decided to make to the deal.

To the shock of absolutely everyone but him, Gearing pulls out a leg brace from his bag, and sets it on the ground. He looks the gray mare in the eyes and says calmly, “Now I’m going to set the bone for you… it’s going to hurt like hell… But it’ll get you going sooner… okay?”

She stares at him for a moment, and is filled with confusion at the strangely kind offer given everything that’s going on. She nods slowly as she says, “Okay…”

Then another sharp shrill scream escapes her muzzle as he jerks the leg straight and sets the bone with one fluid application of force. He looks her in the eyes as he says, “Now stay still, I’m putting this brace on you.”

As he starts applying the leg brace to the mares broken leg, Swift looks on with a raised eyebrow as she asks, “Why in the hell are you carrying around a leg brace? It’s not like you have to worry about broken limbs?”

Gearing doesn’t even look at her as he keeps his focus on keeping the leg steady and getting the leg brace put on correctly to hold the fracture firmly in place together. “I know of a few diagrams and schematics that use them. Medical braces are surprisingly versatile… I’ve even seen a couple schematics that use them in the manufacture of weapons…” He looks over at her and shrugs as he says, “A great way for attaching blades or claws to add some slashing capabilities to your hooves.” He keeps tightening and adjusting the medical brace as the mare grunts and whimpers through her other forehoof that she has crammed into her mouth.

Gearing looks up at her and asks, “How’s that?”

She slowly opens her eyes and looks down, trying not to move at all before she lets out a slight sigh. “Yeah… that feels better… It’s more of a dull throb than the sharp pain it was, thank you…”

Gearing nods as he sifts through his bag. “Good… now…” he pulls out a potion bulb, with a far more vibrant purple liquid inside than the one he was given. Though still not as rich as it should be. “Drink this.” He pops the top and holds the open end near her mouth as he holds the bottle in his mouth and keeps using his forelegs to hold her broken one in place.

Although completely and utterly confused by the turn of events, the gray mare complies. She quickly guzzles down the potion, and then lets out a sigh as the various aches start disappearing from her body. Even her eyes start opening a bit wider as the swelling recedes.

“What the hell?! You break her leg, now you’re feeding her a potion and healing her after that long spiel about killing her if she didn’t do what you said? What’s really going on?!” the ocher buck asks as he quickly looks around at the others to try and figure out what he’s apparently missing.

Swift looks over at him and scowls as she says, “Because he can, that’s why… And if you’re stupid enough to try anything after knowing what he can do… well… you deserve whatever else he can cook up.”

Gearing stands up fully and takes a step back as he says, “So, we done? You sticking with option two?” She nods quickly as she slowly climbs up to her hooves awkwardly. Gearing nods his head in approval a few times before jutting his chin off behind her. “Good… now do what I said… and go give your little one a hug.” He turns and looks over at Dandy. “We’re good… but if any of them try anything, drop them.”

Dandy looks at him for a few moments before nodding and pulling away all of her pistols, but keeps them floating up around her head as she looks around and still expects one of them to try something.

Gearing looks around at the others and says flatly, “Oh… and as for the rest of you… I don’t care if you were involved in this or not… go about your business… but remember this and if any of you try anything later, expect option three automatically… and… yes… I’m good at remembering faces… so don’t push your luck.”

The one buck that’s been sitting there with his forehooves high in the air the entire time yells back with a slight whine, “But I ain’t done nothin’!”

Gearing looks over at him as he shrugs. “Well, keep it that way then. If, after seeing this, I didn’t convince you that any of that was a bad idea… I won’t pity you. You’ve already been informed and warned, the rest is up to you.”

The gray mare gets up and turns around as she stays low and meekly asks, “I… I can go? I can see my little filly again?”

Gearing looks over at her, catching eye contact, before giving a single firm nod. “Yeah… but remember… this is a second chance… don’t go fucking it up… your filly needs you.”

The gray mare nods quickly, and then starts walking away as she quickly scoops up her belongings with both her magic and forehoof along the way.

After she’s a couple dozen paces away, Gearing looks over at the ocher buck and the dark green mare, and nods towards the retreating gray mare. “Well… you go on too… Might as well help her home… considering she took the ass beating for all of you.”

The dark green mare’s eyes go wide as her lower lip trembles. “H- how’d you know we were together?”

“Trade secret… Now go on… before you get yourselves in trouble.”

They turn and walk away, keeping an eye on Gearing, Swift, and Dandy as they quickly gather up their belongings and run to catch up with the gray mare.

After they’re gone, Gearing turns around and continues on to Megamart without another word.

Swift watches him go, slowly turning her head to keep her focus on him as she sits there on her haunches with her forelegs crossed over her chest. After he’s a distance away she snorts, “Hmmph… didn’t even say anything to us… kinda rude…”

The mare that’d been picking through the trash looks between them as she asks, “May I go now?”

Dandy waves at her as she says, “Yeah, sorry… Hope you understand. We’ve been ambushed repeatedly. Didn’t want you shooting us in the back or something.”

The mare looks at her and nods, then glances at the ground where her snoot had just been. She kicks a soggy Sugar Apple Bombs box out of the way then quickly grabs a hunk of metal with wires hanging out of it and starts stuffing it into her saddlebag. She pauses as her eyes dart back and forth between Swift and Dandy, who are both staring at her. “Uhhhmmm, I guess you expected me to… like… leave?” They both nod. She looks back and forth before giving a sheepish smile and asking, “Do I have to… or can I keep snooping around?”

Dandy chuckles as Swift rolls her eyes and comments, “Nah, have fun, good luck… I’m heading back to Megamart.”

Swift and Dandy head back towards Megamart, with Dandy quickly running up next to her.

“Hey, Swift, we need to talk.”

Swift looks at her and raises an eyebrow.

Dandy’s eyes go wide as she balks in realization of the tone she’d used. “I mean… Please, Iron Hoof Swift, Reaper, ma’am.”

Swift chuckles and shakes her head. As she’s rolling her eyes she asks, “About what?”

“Gearing. We need to talk about Gearing.”

Swift looks at her and narrows her eyes as she says, “If this is about you and your cycle you’re gonna have some problems real soon.”

Dandy shakes her head violently as she says, “Noo! It’s not that!” She looks back behind them, then stops and points a hoof to where they just came from. “Something’s wrong with Gearing. Like, seriously wrong, Swift. He won’t talk to me about it, but something’s wrong; maybe he’ll talk to you.”

Swift rolls her eyes again as she waves it off with a hoof. “What? That whole ordeal? Don’t worry about it, he was just posturing and showing how tough he can be… don’t worry about it… I know Gearing. That was nothing more than him trying to get them to fuck off and leave him alone. Don’t read too much into it.” She continues on towards Megamart as she actually chuckles at the thought.

Dandy jumps over and gets in front of Swift, staring up at her and not backing down as she blocks Swift’s path. “No, that’s not it! Swift, I’m serious. I haven’t known him that long, I know that, but I’ve got to know him well enough to get a feel for his personality, and I’m telling you that something’s wrong!”

Swift narrows her eyes and sits down as she doesn’t like the tone Dandy is taking with her. “And just what the hell’s wrong with Gearing? He seemed fine to me?”

Dandy looks around and rubs the back of her head with a forehoof as she groans. “It’s hard to put my hoof on it… exactly…” She sees the skeptical look on Swift’s face and blurts out, “He’s always cracking jokes, and like... teasing… and making puns at any and every opportunity. And he’s chatty. And likes to talk about different things when you actually ask him…”

Swift looks at her for a moment before bobbing her head around. “Yeah, and?”

Dandy shakes her head violently before pointing back towards Megamart. “He’s not!” Swift and Dandy stare at each other before Dandy groans and rolls her head around on her neck. “On the way to take out that raider encampment, we talked almost the entire way… and if you say the wrong thing he has no problem with dropping an innuendo joke. Like, he’s a completely shameless flirt… Normally…”

Swift stares at her and slowly narrows her eyes as she asks, “What do you mean, ‘normally’?”

Dandy closes her eyes and hangs her head as she sighs. “Something happened in the building with the raiders… I don’t know what. I was outside. But whatever it was, it was like a switch was flipped in his head.” She shrugs. “He’s not acting the same.” She looks up at Swift and says quietly, “On the way back it was like pulling teeth to get him to say two words…” She shrugs. “I don’t know… but something happened… he saw something in that building that has affected him… badly.”

“Maybe he was just tired… that happens, ya know? Long trip, lot of fighting, it makes sense… right?” Swift offers as she puts a forehoof to her muzzle and contemplates it.

Dandy looks at her in the eye before she narrows her own eyes and says flatly, “We both know exactly what he is… he doesn’t get tired… That can’t be it.”

Swift’s eyes go wide as she looks around, and tries to think things through. The comment rattles her a bit for a variety of reasons, but it also makes sense. Which makes the rattling even louder.

“And him using that mare’s filly as leverage against her… that seemed out of character as well…” Dandy adds with a frown.

“He was trying to make her realize she had a reason to live… And coax her into making the right choice… I’m sure that was his thought process…” Swift replies quietly as she looks down at the ground, but can’t help but thinking that Dandy has a point.

“Swift…” Swift looks up at her and Dandy says quietly, “Gearing needs help…” She shrugs as she shakes her head. “And I don’t know how to help him… You’re friends, right? You’ve known him longer… Please try… He’s a good buck… He doesn’t deserve to hurt like this.”

Swift raises an eyebrow as she says, “He already healed up, he should be fine…?”

Dandy lets out an exasperated sigh before she retorts, “Not all hurts are on the outside, you know…?”

---

Footnote: ‘credential matrix’, sync failure. Retrying. . . please stand by. . .

Secondary components reinitializing, please stand by. . .

Fragmentation errors in ‘credential matrix’ detected . . .

‘credential matrix’, sync failure. Retrying. . . please stand by. . .. .

Secondary components reinitializing, please stand by. . .

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