While Swift is still burying her face into the cot, moaning in misery at the potential hell she’s unintentionally unleashed on herself, with the potential of being a salesfilly forming vividly in her mind's eye, the conversation between Gearing and Handy continues on swimmingly. And the longer they talk, the worse she feels. Of all of the currently existing things she thinks she could be doing with her life, being the one stuck bartering with everypony under the sun is not on her list of ‘top choices’.

But, eventually, Gearing puts a halt to the conversation with Handy as he realizes he still has a few things he needs to do during the night.

“Hey, Handy, let's pick this back up when we get to 68 and we can work out more of the details on how we’re going to go about doing this.”

“Why wait ‘til then? It’s a long trip back, we could talk about it on the way there too!”

Swift groans.

Gearing grins widely as he hops up. “Great idea!”

Swift groans louder.

Gearing waves towards the front door. “We’ll sort that out on the way. But, before then… do you two think you’ll be ready to go in the morning?”

Swift lifts her head up as she scowls. “Why?”

Gearing waves back and forth. “Well, Bottlecap has the info, so once I get it from her, we can head out. And the sooner we leave-”

Swift perks up as she says, “The sooner we can get back to the kids!”

Gearing grins and nods. “Exactly.”

Swift tilts her head. “Why not just leave now?”

Gearing waves a hoof around to brush the idea away. “I still have a couple more things to get done, and that’s going to take a couple hours. Plus, that’ll give you two more time to rest before we get going.” He looks back and forth between them before he says, “Once we get going, I want to be hoofing it as quickly as we can.”

Swift’s eyes squint a bit as she smiles. “Oh, we can go fast. That won’t be a problem at aaallll.”

Handy smashes himself into the cot as he groans. “I know that tone, Swift… I’m not gonna like this, will I?”

Swift scrunches up her shoulders a bit before she says sweetly, “I guess that’ll depend entirely on you… I can’t feel emotions for you, you know…”

Gearing snickers as Handy smashes himself into the cot more and mutters a few choice words into the fabric he’s laying on. He reaches over and pats Handy on the shoulder gently before turning away. “You guys rest up, I’ll go get what I need to do done, and we can leave in the morning. That way we won’t have to worry about a lot of the other crap and can make good time back home.”

They both wave Gearing off as he leaves, but don’t say anything else. But, Gearing can tell, the groaning sense of anticipation is eating more at Handy than it is Swift now. And she’s more than a little amused by that fact. Which just makes Handy groan even more as he wonders what her sick twisted little mind has come up with to torture him with this time.

Gearing quickly grabs the things that were left at the front of the store, and takes them back to the cot area by flying over the crowds with it. He notices that the pile seems to be just a bit bigger, but can’t quite put a pinion on what’s there that wasn’t previously. And, frankly, he has other things to worry about at the moment. So he just dumps it off near Swift, ignoring the swears she throws at him as he quickly leaves, and then bolts out of Megamart using the roof access.

Once again, he’s thankful the turrets on the roof of the shopping hub aren’t really there to keep people in or out, but simply to pick off any hostiles that they detect. Even so, he makes sure to more than give them their due respectable distance as he heads off to his planned meeting area.

The building in question isn’t hard for him to find. He’s been there before. It was the same crumbling multistory building that Handy and Swift had slept in, been ambushed by greedy would-be bounty hunters, and then liberated by Gearing’s patented version of the ‘fuck around and find out’ game where they made the wise choice and decided they really didn’t want to find out, so they stopped fucking around.

Gearing comes in from the top, going in through a broken window that Handy had used to check out the horde in front of Megamart before they actually went in for the first time. He flicks on his EFS and takes a look around to see who, or what, might be around. Unsurprisingly, and one of the reasons he keeps it off, he spots a number of red chevrons that he really doesn’t want to deal with right now. He hopes they are just more insects looking for a meal, but he keeps an eye on them even so. But, in one direction he sees a moving blue marker, and another he sees a stationary one as well.

He stares in the direction of the stationary marker and comments, “I bet I know who that is.” And he quickly walks over and through a hole in part of the building as he zeros in on his target. Along the way he comes across a radroach that has part of its head stuck in a can. Gearing can’t help but smirk as he recognizes the can. “I guess ponies aren’t the only ones that enjoy centuries old peaches…”

He removes the red chevron from his peripheral vision with a casual step that flattens the can into thin sheet metal, and coats the surrounding area with another gooey pulpy mess. Though this one certainly wouldn’t qualify as a ‘vegetarian’ option on any menu it might find itself on.

Gearing finishes walking down the rest of the short hallway, and turns in at the doorway to look inside. Sure enough, the pony he’d had in mind is standing there by the far wall of the room with no windows.

Tix is already staring at the door when Gearing reveals himself and he gives Gearing a respectful dip of his head before he says, “Was wondering who killed the roach. Figured it was you. Heard it from here. Along with the crunch of that can. Not many ponies can do that with a single step.”

Gearing smirks as he walks in and looks around quickly before sitting in front of Tix with his back to the door. “What can I say… I have a lot of ass to haul around.” This earns a slight smirk from the buck in front of him. Gearing slowly looks Tix over as he waits for their co-conspirator to show up.

Tix is currently much better off looking than he was earlier this evening. The young buck has managed to get himself cleaned up pretty well. And his mane’s not so ratty. Though his tail, what’s left of it anyway, can’t really be seen under the traveling coat normally worn by the caravaneer crews. Taking in a quick inventory of what he can see, and guess at, Tix has a few knives hidden on his person, along with a rather large hunting knife that seems like it’s bordering on being reclassified as a machete. Then there’s the revolver strapped to one foreleg, and a pump action ‘caravaneer’s friend’ shotgun on his back. All in all he’s had a massive upgrade compared to what he walked in with. Which was nothing but his hide and his life.

Gearing waves towards him as he asks, “You change your mind on joining up with the Finders?”

Tix shakes his head as he maintains eye contact with Gearing. “Not a chance.”

Gearing smirks and waves at his equipment. “Where’d all that come from then?”

Tix pulls the jacket back, revealing a bit more of his equipment consisting of old beat up armor that’s a combination of leather along with piecemealed police and military light armors. “I talked with Bottlecap for a while. And she didn’t really like most of what I had to say.”

Gearing frowns as he narrows his eyes at him. “You didn’t say anything you shouldn’t have to fuck us up, did you?”

Tix waves it off and actually gives Gearing a grin, but of the near manic kind. “Oh, no. Not at all… She wasn’t happy with the update on how the slaves have been getting treated. With what had been happening. And how they are accelerating their plans. So she said she’d give me an advance on my salary, in the form of equipment. But, she made it clear, that since you vouched for me, if I run off with it, she’ll bring it to your attention and then I’ll have to deal with you.”

Gearing grins at him and shrugs. “Well… don’t run off with the shit and you won’t have to deal with me dealing with you, right?”

Tix smirks as he says, “That’s basically what she said too… but it was unnecessary… This is a golden opportunity for me.”

Gearing smiles at him as he says, “I know it is… And we just need to buck on a few more of the doors and we’ll have the key to success. We just have to sniff them out.” He turns his head to the side as his ear twitches. “Speaking of sniffing out the right door…”

A few moments later, Magnolia walks to the doorway and slowly peeks around the door frame. After looking around quickly, she zips into the room, and looks around for any other exits, which there aren’t any, before she looks over at Gearing. But, just as quickly, her eyes jump over to the young buck standing in front of Gearing and her eyes narrow.

Gearing stands up and turns around as he steps to the side. “Tix… this is Magnolia… she’s been helping me get information. And, honestly, you have her to thank for you being here today.”

Magnolia’s eyes go wide for a moment as she stares at Gearing, then her eyes trail over to Tix. Tix, gives her a deep respectful bow before standing up and giving her a beaming smile. The first Gearing’s seen him do since meeting the buck.

Magnolia waves a hoof at him as she looks at Gearing. “He one of the ones you got away from that bitch Usury?”

“Worse,” Tix says as he scowls, and earns a questioning glare from Magnolia.

Gearing’s smile turns mischievous as he says, “He’s one of the ones I stole right out from under the nose of Red Eye...”

Magnolia’s eyes go wide before she looks at Tix. And then a warm smile spreads across her lips before she says quietly, “I’m glad I could help you, then…”

Tix takes in a deep breath and lets it out in a snort before he says, “Not as half as glad as I am, I can guarantee you that.”

Magnolia chuckles a bit before she nods. “I bet.” She looks over at Gearing and smiles as she waves a hoof at Tix. “I take it he’s the new friend for the cause you were telling me about?”

Gearing nods as he sits down and looks at her. “Yeah. I got him implanted in with the Finders. Bottlecap doesn’t actually know what we’re up to. And I want to keep it that way.”

Magnolia narrows her eyes as she asks, “Why? She seemed supportive enough? Isn’t she the one who told you about my problem?”

Gearing shakes his head. “She told me nothing… She just made it so we would meet and let us figure it out.” He looks back and forth as he taps on the ground. “I’ve done some digging, and her and her sisters have this fucked up kind of truce going on-”

Magnolia waves it away as she interrupts, “Not much digging needed for that, it’s common knowledge.”

Gearing looks at her and narrows his eyes. “Yeah, but, I’m not from around here. And as much as a dirty ‘worst kept secret’ as it is, there’s obviously plans from at least one of the other two to fuck Bottlecap and Megamart over. I don’t have anything on her drug pushing sister-”

“Caprice,” Magnolia adds as she pulls out a canteen and takes a small sip.

Gearing points at and nods his thanks to her. “Caprice, right. So, anyway, she might peddle flesh, but not of the bomb collar kind. I’ll stay out of the morality arguments for that. But I still have my eye on them because of the obvious blatant greed… and, speaking of greed, the greediest of them-”

“Usury,” Magnolia comments with a dripping venom in her voice.

“Yeah, that bitch. Well, I don’t need to tell you, how dirty she is,” Gearing comments as he narrows his eyes. He looks over at Tix as he comments, “She’s doing dirty shit and breaking the truce between them by letting her fuckers target Bottlecap’s caravans and caravaneers… She just quickly gets them out of the area before anyone figures out who really did it.”

Tix nods as he grits his teeth. “Yeah, bastard’s efficient that way.”

“And from what we’ve been able to piece together so far, the ones actually doing it aren’t officially Paradise slavers… Fucking technicalities,” Gearing adds.

Magnolia looks between them before she asks, “I mean, old news to me. But where does that leave us and our new friend here?”

Gearing waves over at Tix as he says, “I don’t trust all of the caravanneers. Some of the shit I’ve been hearing is a bit too convenient. I want to know who’s dirty. If anyone. And with how things are going, I want you both making lists of anyone you’ve seen talking to Usury’s goons, and especially if you’ve ever seen any of them actually at Paradise.” He nods a few times as he thinks it over. “I don’t think there’s many. It’d only really take one well placed one. But, after we figure out the ‘who’s’, we deal with the problem. Or, should I say, I deal with the problem while you’re somewhere visible and not related.”

Tix spits off to the side as his eyes switch more to the same wild-eyed nearly feral look they had earlier in the day. “Why can’t I just fucking gut them. They deserve it. Should just chop’em into tiny pieces and mail them back to Usury! Why I oughta-”

Gearing jumps over, grabs Tix by the throat with a hoof, lifts him up, and shoves him into the wall as he stands up with him and gets face to face with him. “No! Stop that bullshit!”

The buck struggles, with his legs flailing around a bit, but not really fighting Gearing as he snarls back at Gearing and does in fact seem to go a bit feral for a few moments.

Gearing chokes harder and leans in as he snarls right back. “I get your anger. You have every right to every drop of blood you want. But. Not. Now!” He puts a hoof in Tix's face as he leans in and snarls. “I’m not going to let you fuck this up. I’ve already sacrificed too much for this. If you fuck this up, I swear to every god I’ll fucking end you!” He actually slaps Tix a couple times with his wing, enough to draw blood from Tix’s lip. “Don’t forget, the only reason you’re not ghoul shit right now is because of that bomb collar I found on your neck!” He shakes him a bit by the throat as he says, “I get that you didn’t have a choice for what you’d done. And I get how that’s eating you up inside… But you’re going to hold yourself in check!” He slaps him again. “I might have been the one that took off your collar, but I own your ass until this is all over. Remember that!” He shakes him a bit more. “That was the agreement for your hide, and this is your chance to wash off some of the blood from your hooves. But if you fuck this up, after everything, I swear I’ll come up with something that’ll make that fat fuck Pancake actually pity you and think he got the better end of the deal, you understand me?!”

Tix snorts a few times then closes his eyes as he manually tries to steady his breathing. Which is helped as Gearing slowly eases off of the hold. Tix nods and keeps his eyes closed as he just keeps nodding. Gearing eases them both down, and Tix sits down as he focuses on his breathing.

Gearing tilts his head as he asks, “You going to get with the program?”

Tix nods slowly.

“You’re not going to make me regret this, are you?”

Tix shakes his head.

Gearing reaches out and pats him on the shoulder. “I know it’s going to be hard, but keep it bottled up. And don’t let it out. Not yet.” He leans down and says quieter. “But, I promise, it’ll be far more satisfying when you can pop the cork on that right in the face of those who deserve it most…”

Tix slowly looks up, his eyes still a bit wild, as he asks, “What about on the road?”

Gearing frowns, “You can’t just kill them all on sight, no matter what. Not yet… We’re trying not to drag Bottlecap and the Finders into a faction war…”

“What… what if they attack us first? Or try to capture the caravaneers?”

Gearing grins widely and steps back as he says, “Well… you’re a guard for the caravan… your job is to protect them… so… protect them…” He tilts his head and his own eyes look a bit maniacal as he says quieter, “And feel free to pop your cork all over the bastards in the process.”

Magnolia had been sitting off to the side, casually watching the entire exchange with a nearly disinterested expression. But at that last bit Magnolia spits out the sip of water she had tried to drink. She coughs and wipes her muzzle a few times as she laughs. She points the canteen at Gearing as she says, “Bastard, you waited until I was drinking before you said some shit like that!” She puts the lid back on and stows it before she says, “I get the metaphor, but it sounds like you’re telling him to plough the whole lot and bust more than a cap in their ass…”

Tix barely looks at her before looking back at Gearing. “So… they start shit… I can do whatever?”

Gearing lets out a sigh before waving a hoof around. “Try not to do anything that’ll make the merchants think you’re some kinda ponicidal serial killer… but, yeah, sure…”

Tix’s muzzle splits into a bloody grin as he asks, “But… we need information, right? So… So that’s a fair cop, right?”

Gearing reaches over and ruffles the young buck’s mane. “Why you sneaky rule-lawyering little gus! Nice cover!” To Tix’s massive grin, Gearing points a pinion at his nose and says, “But make sure to actually ask questions… Don’t forget that part… And try to keep the messy side of things from the others. Squeamish ponies aren’t always the most cooperative...”

Tix loosens up, and his eyes seem to sparkle with just a bit more life as the wildness in them seems to be controlled more, at least for now. “I can handle that.”

“Good.”

“Well, if we’re getting to take on personal requests…” Magnolia comments as she sits down. After she gets comfortable she looks up at Gearing and asks, “I got something I’d like to throw my hat into the ring for consideration… And waaaay more specific than what he’s asking…” Gearing motions for her to continue, and she snarls as she asks, “The fuckers responsible for my family?”

Gearing looks towards her and lets out a sigh before he says, “They’re already on the list. Anyone a part of the system is fair game as far as I’m concerned.” He looks over at Tix, then says quickly, “Anyone willingly a part of it, I mean.” And Tix gives him just the faintest hint of a smile before dipping his head in appreciation.

“That’s all well and good, but what about these particular home wrecking fuckers?” Magnolia asks as she tilts her head.

Gearing looks at her and narrows his eyes before he says, “You said you’d give me anything. Hell, you even promised me your life.” He waves a hoof between the two of them. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re both in the same boat. I own your asses until this shit is over.” He looks them in the eye one at a time before he ends. “At least this way I know I can trust you. You both have some deeply cut skin in the game. You both have heavy sacks of personal interest in seeing this through to the end. Once it’s over, that’s it, we’ll go our separate ways. But I want that bitch out of business. Personal shit’s all fine and well, as long as it doesn’t fuck with our ultimate goals.”

“Couldn’t you just kill that bitch?” Tix asks as he frowns.

Gearing looks at him and lets out a deep sigh. “Yeah I could. I was in a position to do it too. Hell I had her alone in a room while I was fully armed, not that I needed it… Just like I was with the Caesar during the war. But, I know how this shit works. Sometimes what you’re dealing with is a snake, and cutting the head off will kill it… Other times, it’s not a snake, it’s a fucking hydra… and all you’re doing is giving it more heads… more hungry mouths to feed…” He looks at Magnolia and nods towards her. “You know it. You’ve heard of it. You’ve seen enough to realize the problem.”

Magnolia seems to deflate as she nods. “Yeah. She might be the leader. But there’s enough fuckers there with enough pull that if she gets offed, someone else will just take her place. Or, more likely, factions will develop around one fuckwad or another and then they’ll all get far more aggressive, and far worse, as they fight not only each other for territory but go after anypony and everypony they can get their hooves on…”

Gearing nods before he looks over at Tix. “The agreement might be bullshit… but if Usury suddenly dies, so does even the appearance of an agreement. You think the slavers are bad now? It’ll be open season. The factions won’t give a shit and will snag anyone and everyone they can. And merchants, slowed down with supplies, will be prime targets… Supplies to keep going, and new ‘goods’ to sell… and that shit will have widespread consequences because trade will outright stop…” He shakes his head. “No, we have to do sufficient damage to the whole enterprise that the beast itself dies…” He waves a hoof around as he says quieter, “Think of it as trying to use an auto laser on a Hydra… we gotta tag it enough and get lucky enough that a cascade takes place and ashes the whole damn thing to avoid it just regenerating.”

Magnolia lets out a sigh. She sniffles a bit, and fights herself, before she asks, without even looking at him, “What… what if we find out who did it? Couldn’t they, like, give us information?”

Gearing looks over at her and she looks up at him after a few moments of silence. “Aw, c’mon, the bullshit excuse works for him, why not me!?” She flicks a hoof towards Tix as she keeps staring at Gearing.

Gearing smirks and replies softly, “We find the fuckers… I have no problem with nabbing them, and getting all of the information we can out of them.” He leans towards her and adds with a grin. “Using whatever methods we have to.”

She slowly starts straightening up, as she looks at Gearing as her emotions are in turmoil but this twisted bit of intention actually sparks a fragment of hope in her. “So… let's say… I find the fuckers that actually nabbed my husband and kid… You saying you’re going to help me deal with them?”

“No, Magnolia,” Gearing replies and causes her to flinch. Especially since he pointedly used her full name. “I’m saying, you keep helping me deal with this trash, then I’ll do it for you. In whatever way you want. You want’em snatched, gift wrapped, and trussed up like a Hearth’s Warming decoration? You got it. You want me to give them a piece of your mind at a thousand yards? You got it. You want me to give them a crash course flying lesson by dropping them from altitude, you guessed it, you got it.” He shakes his head. “Once they’re useless for anything further, they’re all yours.”

Magnolia nods as she smiles a bit. She looks down, then wipes the tears that had fallen from her eyes silently. “Thanks… I- I don’t know what I’ll need done at the time… except them dealt with… but, if you’ll work with me on it, I’d appreciate it…”

Gearing walks over and gently rubs her shoulders. “We’ll get justice for your husband and son, I promise you that.”

Magnolia snorts a laugh as she wipes a few more tears away, along with some developing snot from her nose. “‘Justice’? Fuck ‘justice’, at this point I’d just love me some old fashioned revenge!”

Gearing smirks as he shrugs. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive…”

Magnolia grabs her canteen, and takes a deep pull after she scoffs at him. She snorts and coughs a bit as she looks at the canteen and frowns. “Fuck. I forgot… water…” She stows the canteen as she mutters, “Hell of a time to quit drinking…”

Tix looks at her and lets out a slow sigh before he shakes his head and looks at Gearing. “So, what’s the plan, exactly?”

“At this stage?” Gearing asks. Getting a nod from Tix, Gearing waves around aimlessly with a forehoof. “I need you two to snoop around and find out more information. I don’t think all of the caravanneers are being as forthright with information as what I’d like them to be.” He motions over to Magnolia. “I’m not saying they’re all dirty, but I’m sure at least a few are under the mistaken impression that they’re safe, and the safety will only last as long as they keep their mouth shut-”

“Spoiler alert, it won’t,” Magnolia chimes in bitterly.

Gearing nods and looks at Tix. “I need names, locations, pathways. Even rumors. Caravans going missing? Someone not showing up for work? Anything like that. Anything that might be useful.”

“That it?” Tix asks.

Gearing shakes his head. Then a smile appears across his muzzle before he sits primly. “In fact, no, it’s not.” He looks back and forth between them and says, “I want you two to start spreading a rumor… Don’t be obvious about it. But work it in when you can. But, try and be consistent with how you’re telling where you heard it from… Vague enough that it sounds like the rumor mill is already in full swing, but consistent enough that no one thinks you’re just making it up… like… a guard from another caravan told you over drinks or something…”

“What rumor?” Magnolia asks as she leans closer and gets the feeling this is going to be more important than she might otherwise think for a ‘rumor’.

Gearing looks between them and grins even wider. “Spread the rumor that Usury is expanding her operation more, is increasing her influence, and is not only growing her crew but her need for stock as well.”

Tix snorts as he looks off to the side. “Shitty ‘rumor’… it’s fact…”

Gearing looks over at him before adding, “Yeah… but add in the reason why is because she’s getting ready to tell Red Eye to take a hike. Because she’s got better paying customers elsewhere and Red Eye is just dragging her down at this point. Tell them you were warned to stay away from the whole area, because Usury’s crew have already been attacking Red Eye’s soldiers and no one wants to be in the crossfire…”

Magnolia starts coughing as she chokes on her own spit.

Tix stares in stunned silence for a bit before he says quietly, “That’s suicide…”

Magnolia nods and points at Tix as she hacks and coughs. But after clearing her windpipe she adds, “That’s too crazy, nopony’ll believe it.”

Gearing grins at them and says, “We don’t need everyone to believe it… just getting the rumor to spread will be enough.”

“But why though?” Magnolia asks as she looks around and can’t see a point in this.

Tix stares at Gearing for a few moments before his mouth drops open in realization. “Red Eye… you want it to get back to Red Eye!”

Gearing looks at him and gives him a wide grin. He looks back at Magnolia and points at Tix with a hoof before he says, “And the clever pony gets the prize.”

Tix’s eyes slowly drift to the ground as his mind races. “Oh, that’s… wow… I mean… Wow…” He looks up at the other two. “He’s not going to like that. Hell. Even if it doesn’t get up that high, there’s plenty of fanatics at the lower tiers that’d want blood just from the rumor alone, whether it was true or not…” He rocks his head side to side a bit as he says, “I don’t know if it’d be enough to fool Red Eye himself, but others? There’s a definite possibility… Especially if they’re of the sort bucking for promotion or whatever… Like that fat fuck Flapjacks…”

Gearing nods at him, then turns back to look at Magnolia. “See?”

Magnolia looks around before she asks, “So your ultimate plan is to trick Red Eye into helping you take them out?”

Gearing grins and waves a pinion as he tuts her. “Not actually… but, we’re too early into the game to bring up the rest of it for now.”

Magnolia smirks as she asks, “What? Don’t trust us? Even owning our ass?”

Gearing looks at her and says flatly, “The plan is changing fluidly based on how things develop. I’ve been sowing and harvesting where I can when the time is appropriate. But, no, I don’t want to monologue out a long plan to you… Only for even one of you to be captured and them finding out everything after mind raping you into a vegetative state.” He looks back and forth between them before he says, “Keep this in mind… This is the kind of shit I played with during the war… Compartmentalization is the name of the game. Otherwise, I could probably pay enough folks to just raid them… But it only takes one turncoat to fuck over a whole organization. One individual in the right position is all it takes. And, speaking from experience as someone who was that single individual that fucked everything over for others, on numerous occasions, trust me. This is the way to go.”

Magnolia waves a hoof at him as she asks, “Yeah, but, what if you’re the one that gets caught and mind fucked like a cheap whore?”

Gearing frowns as he looks between them. He shrugs. “None of you were planning anything substantial before. I don’t see that changing. So, yeah, if I get captured or die, the plan’s dead and the areas just back to where it was before I got here…”

Magnolia narrows her eyes before she says, “You die, and I’m back to drinkn’, and I won’t be held responsible for what happens after that…”

Gearing laughs then starts shaking imaginary pom poms with his forehooves. “Sure, go for it. I’ll be rooting you on from hell…”

Magnolia grins as she looks him over. She wipes another leftover errant tear away from her muzzle before she asks, “Anything else, or is this shindig over? So I can get back to sniffing out fuckers for you to wax.”

Gearing shakes his head. “No. That’s about it. I mainly wanted you two to get to know each other. But, I’d like you two to not pal around too… But, don’t go out of your way to avoid each other either. If your paths naturally cross, great, but don’t go out of your way to seek each other out. You guys know how to let me know when you have something to tell me, and we’ll go from there.” He looks back and forth as he asks, “Sound good?”

Tix gets up and wipes the blood from his chin as he nods. “Yeah, boss. Sounds good. The sooner we can get to gutting that bitch’s operations the better.”

Magnolia points over towards Tix. “What he said.”

Gearing nods and leads the way out into the hallway. “Great. I’ll see you all later. But, don’t take any unnecessary risks. It’s hard to find folks I can trust with this. And I need all of the help I can get to see it through as it is. I have another meeting to get to before morning. So I’ll head out now.”

Magnolia grins as she asks, “Oh? Got another secret meeting to get to? Maybe another friend to meet soon?”

Gearing shrugs as he says, “I don’t know. I hope so. But I’m not betting on it. All I know is that she has information for me. And whatever it is is something she didn’t feel comfortable with telling me inside of Megamart… I’ll let you two know if it’s anything relevant.”

They wave and Gearing takes off, back upstairs, and out a window, as Magnolia takes the same route out she’d come in through and leaves Tix behind to leave on his own recognizance.

As Gearing is flying just barely over the buildings, he double checks with his PipBuck. “Hmm, a bit ahead of schedule, that didn’t take as long as I thought it would.”

‘Got some time to kill,’ the little blue pegasus in Gearing’s head agrees.

“Not enough to really do anything. And I don’t want to start anything because it might interfere with this meeting…” Gearing mutters to himself as he zips in between two buildings and startles a couple of scraggly looking birds who had been roosting along the edge of a crumbling wall.

Gearing gets to the building in question, and circles around it as he double checks with the information he had been given. But, instead of going in one of the other ways, he simply lands on the roof. He gently touches down, and tests its ability to handle any pressure before completely trusting it to his weight. There are a few holes in the roof here and there exposing the ancient steel framework underneath. But, at least with his weight assist implant functioning, he doesn’t feel too worried about it as it seems at least sturdy enough to support his current weight.

He walks over towards where an old billboard sign used to be on the roof, but now half of the board is entirely missing and the rest of it is not much more than faded pictures supported by metal framework. Even so, he recognizes the billboard, despite what little is displayed, because these Sparkle Cola ads were so ubiquitous over all of Equestria that guessing which one it was by a small fragment was actually pretty common. He sits down behind the billboard and looks around as he tries to think of what he should be doing at the moment while he waits.

“What now…”

---

Footnote:

Retrying, Please Stand By. . .

Retrying, Please Stand By. . .

!!!ERROR!!! Synchronization Failed…

Please Stand By. . .

Please Stand By. . .

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