The group set up in an abandoned grocery store. It was large so everyone stuck towards the front of the store. Cura was rather pleased to find some decently healthy foods for once other than trail mix. Riff kind of disappeared on the group, nobody really noticing where he went.

Vinyl looked around for Riff, “Hey… Where’s Riff?”, she asked aloud. Everyone who heard her shrugged. She walked along the aisles searching for him. She walked past the dairy aisle to see him staring at something. She looked at him curiously and walked over, “What are you doing, Riff?”

“I can’t decide…”, he replied in his spacey tone.

“What?”, Vinyl asked.

“Cheddar or Mozzarella…?”

Vinyl looked in his other hand to see a shopping bin filled with salsa, nacho chips, and green peppers. She sighed and figured that he would do something like this, “Where are you going to cook that?”

“In the microwave…”

“And where is that?”

“In the kitchen…”

“… Riff, we’re at the store.”

“Oh… Right…”, he put down the basket and grabbed the Nachos from the basket, opening them and eating them while walking towards the front of the store.

Vinyl smiled and rolled her eyes at him, she then followed him towards the front of the store.

It was hours before War Heart woke up. He was leaned against one of the checkout counters. He looked around to see everyone was sleeping in their sleeping bags. He shook his head to clear the haze from his mind. He was about to stand until he tried lifting himself up, pain tearing across his arm that was broken. He winced and cradled his broken arm. He looked at it and saw the dead magic glowing in him. “You said your power is passed on… But how do you use it?”, he whispered to himself. He concentrated on his arm, forcing himself to see the bones in his broken arm. He closed his eyes and tried to will the bones into their original place. He cringed in pain as the bones started tearing through his flesh by moving around. He stopped and opened his eyes as he heard a small click noise on the ground next to him. He quickly looked down to see a shard of bone on the floor. War Heart stared at it for a moment before saying anything, “Uh oh…” He picked up the shard of bone and examined the bloody piece. He sighed as he pressed it against his arm, “This is gonna hurt…”, he whispered before jamming it into his skin. He winced and clutched his teeth together as he kept trying to will the bones in his arm back into place. They slowly crawled and slid around in his arm, which only added to the pain. They slowly but surely set themselves in the proper places, fusing and clicking back together. He took a deep breath and sighed quietly, not wanting to wake anybody up. He looked at his arm to see the flesh and skin was bruised and torn up slightly. He remembered that the ghoul he fought had regenerated itself. He thought that since he had killed plenty of those; had taken the dead magic that was inside them; and the fact that he had done the regeneration before, it should not be that hard to make it happen on his own. He stared at his arm, concentrating on melding his flesh. He noticed his veins begin to glow dimly and the flesh start to move and heal itself. The wounds closed and the sinewy material in his arm started to restore itself. Once his arm was fixed, he examined it to admire his work, “These powers will come in handy… Though, I should probably tell Cura about this…”, War Heart figured that Cura could answer why he is able to use this magic without being a glow. He also wished that he was still friends with Twilight, she would know about it, or at least teach him how to control it without making himself push his bones out of his body. He shook his head at the fact that she had fooled him like she did, but thought about what she meant when she said she spent years trying to get him back. He looked outside to see more snow falling from the sky, “Twilight… I want to know the truth…”, he whispered to himself. War Heart looked over to the aisles, seeing a shadowy figure walking towards him. As the figure came into view, he noticed it was DeadBeast. He sighed, “Oh it’s you again…”, he shook his head at the apparition. He saw another playing card slide along the floor and into view. He examined it to see the letter ‘E’ inscribed on it. He looked back to the apparition, “D, E?”, he whispered to himself, trying to figure out its meaning. The card and DeadBeast vanished again, War Heart sighed at the fact he was going crazy.

Vinyl woke up at dawn, seeing the outside through the front window. The streets were still covered in snow. She looked next to her to see Riff sleeping with an empty nacho bag. She smiled and shook her head. She stood up and yawned, turning to War Heart to see if he woke up during the night. She walked over to see a blood stain on the floor next to him, “What the?”, she looked at his arms and neither was injured as far as she could tell. She touched the blood on the floor to find it was dried out, meaning that it happened a few hours ago. She rubbed her fingers together and looked at War Heart, “What’s up with this guy?”, she whispered to herself. She stood up and went to wake everybody up.

Over the next half hour they packed up and ate what they could, knowing they may not have much of a chance to do so on the road.

Cura walked over to War Heart, who was still asleep, as soon as she woke up. She approached him to find his arm fixed. She examined his arm with her magic to find it was all in tact. She nudged him to wake him up, he looked a bit disoriented at first but came to attention soon. Cura stood back up, “War Heart, we need to go…”, she informed him and walked away.

War Heart stood up and walked towards the front door of the store. He stepped out onto the streets of Manehattan and looked into the sky. He only saw the grey clouds overhead, giving the entire land a gloomy overlook. He took a deep breath of cold air. He turned around to see his companions all prepared for travel. He motioned for them to follow and started walking again.

Vinyl was walking with Cura, “Hey, Doc, did you fix him up while we were all sleeping?”

Cura looked at Vinyl curiously, “No. I didn’t…”

“How do you think his arm is better now?”

“I don’t know, Vinyl… I’ll have to ask him later…”, Cura replied.

They all trudged through the snow, the cold weighing down on most of the group. They reached the city limits, heading towards their next destination.

Scootaloo walked next to war Heart, “Where are we going now?”, she asked her leader.

“Las Pegasus… it wasn’t covered in red on the map. So we may be assisting in an evacuation…”

Scoot nodded, “Hopefully you won’t get your ass beaten again…”

War Heart scowled at Scootaloo, his crimson eyes only adding to the intimidation of his gaze.

Scootaloo ignored him and kept walking along.

Apple Bloom was walking next to Spectre and Riff, “Hey… What yer name?”, she directed her question at Riff.

Riff looked at her, “What…?”

Spectre sighed, “She’s asking what your name is…”

Riff had an expression as if he had an epiphany, “Oh! I couldn’t understand your accent… I’m Riff.”, he answered in his spacey and casual tone.

Apple Bloom was shocked she didn’t recognize them from before, “Hold on… Are you guys the Ghosts of the Guilty Mare?”

Spectre looked at her quizzically, “You a fan?”, she asked in her Trottingham accent.

Apple Bloom had an ecstatic expression, “I love yer album! It was so cool!”

Riff totally disregarded the rest of the conversation, he was totally unable to understand her accent.

Spectre smiled, happy to know that their band at least had one fan.

Poltergeist was walking next to Sweetie Belle, “It seems you are quite strong for your size…”

“Affirmative.”, Sweetie replied in her digital tone.

Poltergeist looked at her strangely, “Why do you talk that way?”

“My speech patterns are at optimal performance. Perhaps it is your ears that are malfunctioning.”

“Forget I asked…”

They walked all day, eventually it became dark. They made camp at the side of the road.

Cura approached War Heart with a concerned look on her face, “War Heart… I need to know something.”

War Heart was rather surprised at Cura looking so worried, “What is it?”

“Your arm… How did it get fixed?”

“Oh… I guess that would raise some suspicion… I fixed it.”

Cura was stunned, “How?”

War Heart shrugged, “I was fighting this guy… After he died I got some kind of power… I tried using it last night, which was a lot more difficult than I thought.”

“Wait… Are you saying you used magic?”

“I don’t know what it was… but as far as I know: Yes…”

“Can you show me?”

“Unless you want me to break my arm again, no…”

“So, tomorrow then?”, Cura asked, knowing he was going to get into some kind of trouble.

War Heart rolled his eyes, “Sure.”

Cura chuckled and walked back to the rest of the group.

War Heart laid down in the snow, staring into the sky. He noticed something fly overhead and soar by. He quickly stood up and took off after it, whatever it was. He found it difficult to keep his eye on it at first but managed to stay on their tail. He could see that it was humanoid in shape and that there was no dead magic in them. He struggled to catch up but soon was within reach, “Hey!”, he called out slightly behind them. He was surprised to see a young woman with blue hair turn to face him. She stopped suddenly in an attempt to evade War Heart, taking flight in a different direction. War Heart turned around and tried to follow her, wanting to know who she was. By the time he finally turned around, she was gone. He looked around trying to find her, “Who are you…?”, he asked himself. He got back to the camp to find a playing card in the place where he was laying down. The card had the letter “A” written on it. War Heart looked around for the one who would have put it there and saw the card disappeared. He sighed and laid down again.

The rest of the journey on the way was uneventful, they soon reached their destination to find it busy and thriving.

“Las Pegasus…”, Cura said in wonder.

Scootaloo crossed her arms while looking at the city, “I guess those zombies didn’t make it all the way here… Maybe they got it under control?”

Apple Bloom walked up next to them, “Yeah, it looks like it. We could stay here for the night on our way to the next city though, right?”

Cura nodded quickly, “Oh how I’ve wanted to come here to see the shows and the lights. It looks like so much fun!”

War Heart sighed, “Fine… We’ll stay here for a while. You guys need a break, I guess.”

The group made its way into the city, finding that they could leave their gear on the outside of the city now that the weather was warm here. Vinyl led the way to a hotel, signing them up with the penthouse suite.

“How are you able to afford this?”, Cura asked Vinyl.

“Well I own my own music company. I was successful enough to pull it off and now I’m pretty loaded.”, Vinyl explained as she led the way to the elevator. They all loaded into the elevator. It moved a little bit before a light came on that read, “Maximum Weight Exceeded”, everyone took note of the light and then looked at War Heart.

War Heart sighed, “I’ll fly up…”, he said as he stepped out of the elevator.

The rest of the group waited for about a minute in the elevator as they rose twenty storeys.

War Heart walked out of the building and flew up to the top. He landed on the roof and waited, looking down on the city.

Vinyl opened a nearby door from the room, “War Heart! Over here!”

War Heart turned to Vinyl and entered the large room with hardwood floors and fancy furniture.

Cura looked out the window to the city, being hypnotized by the lights. “We should go see a show! War Heart, you should go with me!”, she exclaimed.

War Heart sighed, “Okay then…”

War Heart and Cura soon found themselves in a club, both sitting at a table together. War Heart couldn’t really eat or drink anything without feeling sick so he decided not to have anything. Cura decided to have red wine, the waiter left the bottle at the table.

The lights dimmed in the room and a spotlight shone on the stage. A man in a tuxedo and white dress gloves walked into the spotlight.

War Heart showed a sudden interest in the show, eyeing the announcer oddly.

“Ladies and Gentlemen… for your viewing entertainment… The Great and Powerful Trixie!”, the sharply dressed man announced.

The spotlight shone on Trixie. She wore something that looked like a one-piece bathing suit, a wizard’s hat decorated with stars and a cape similarly decorated as well as a pair of high-heels. She flashed a showy smile and began to perform some magic tricks involving a myriad of lights that didn’t seem to incite the crowd into applause. After a few minutes she bowed to indicate her act was over. She walked off to the side of the stage where the man in the tuxedo guided her into a back room.

War Heart put his hand on Cura’s, “Stay put, I’ll be right back.”

Cura was already slightly intoxicated from the wine, “Sure, honey.”, she replied not really paying attention.

War Heart got up from his table and walked towards the back room. He walked in through the door in time to see the man slap Trixie across the face, bringing her to tears.

“I swear, if you don’t manage to put on a decent show next time, you’re fired!”, the man in the tuxedo turned to War Heart with an angered look on his face, “Hey, staff only back here, buddy.”

War Heart was walking towards the man while he spoke. As he reached him, War Heart punched the guy in the face.

Trixie was startled and backed up a bit.

“Are you okay?”, War Heart asked.

Trixie nodded, feeling intimidated by War Heart.

War Heart held his hand out to her, “Come on… I’ll get you out of here.”

Trixie was hesitant. She looked at the ground where her unconscious employer lied. She turned to War Heart and nodded shakily, taking his hand.

War Heart led her out into the dark room and went to the table where Cura was sitting. He tapped Cura on the shoulder, “We need to go…”, he whispered to her.

Cura giggled, “I like whispering too.”, she whispered back to him.

War Heart sighed and took her hand, leading her to the exit. He noticed Cura was having trouble walking, “How much did you drink?”

“Uh… a lot?”, she replied, obviously very intoxicated.

War Heart rolled his eyes and picked her up. Trixie walked beside him.

“Where are we going? Who is she?”, Trixie asked.

“I’m taking you to safety.”, War Heart replied simply. They reached the elevator and went to the top floor. Upon entering the room with Cura in his arms and a stranger in a costume he received more than a few odd looks.

Vinyl lowered her sunglasses and stared at War Heart, “Uh… I didn’t think you were into that sort of stuff…”

War Heart sighed again, “Cura got drunk and she was in trouble.”, he walked over to a couch and put Cura down, “I think this town may have some of those creatures here…”

Vinyl looked at him like he was crazy, “Everyone here looks like they have a pulse.”

“Well, they’re different here… I can’t explain it, but I know there is something up here.”

Trixie cleared her throat before speaking, “I have noticed the new management was very… violent…”, she said as she put a hand on her cheek.

Vinyl looked at Trixie and walked up to War Heart, “Dude… You can’t be picking up random prostitutes…”, Vinyl commented on Trixie’s somewhat skimpy outfit under the cape she wore.

“I am not a prostitute! I am a magician! I don’t get a choice in my costume…”, Trixie started in a shout and finished with a whisper.

“Sorry, it’s just… yeah… Never mind.”

War Heart looked to Vinyl, “I saw her manager was beating her. I think he was one of those things.”

Vinyl looked at him as if he was crazy, “What, did he try to eat her brains or something?”, she asked sarcastically.

War Heart shook his head, “I know these things when I see them. I suspect there may be more of them in the city.”

Vinyl crossed her arms and sighed, “Alright… Looks like this isn’t a vacation anymore…”

War Heart nodded, “I’ll see if I can get some information… I may need a guide though…”, he looked to Trixie.

Trixie closed her cape, “I would show you around town, but I may need some clothes…”

Vinyl reached for her wallet and gave War Heart some cash, “Get her a set of clothes and do what you can. I’ll make sure everyone here is looked after.”

War Heart looked to Trixie, “Let’s go.”, he motioned to the elevator. Trixie walked into the elevator with her cape still closed. War Heart stood next to her and pressed the button for the ground floor.

“Good luck, War Heart.”, Vinyl waved.

The doors of the elevator closed and the peaceful music could be heard in the silence between the War Heart and Trixie.

“Thank you…”, Trixie spoke off handed.

War Heart didn’t reply.

“I don’t think I ever met someone like you… A regular knight in shining armor…”, Trixie started to blush.

War Heart remained stone faced.

There was a dead silence for the rest of the ride down. They both walked off the elevator, Trixie led the way to the nearest clothing store. She immediately headed towards the women’s aisle and started browsing around. She picked out a multitude of shirts, skirts, and pants. War Heart ended up carrying a lot of it around the section then was dragged off to the changing rooms. Trixie took the clothes and went into the changing room.

War Heart sat on a chair outside the changing rooms. It was a few minutes before Trixie came out in a short skirt and t-shirt, posing in front of War Heart. She waited for a reaction to the degree of applause or flirting but was disappointed to see War Heart’s usual neutral expression, “No? Alright then.”, she walked back into the changing room. She proceeded to pose in front of War Heart several times. She eventually walked out in tight leather pants and a purple shirt, striking a pose in front of War Heart.

War Heart was starting to get the idea that she was not going to stop until he answered, “I like it, let’s go…”, he said unenthusiastically as he stood and headed for the counter.

Trixie grinned and walked beside War Heart to the counter.

War Heart paid for the items she was wearing and left the store with Trixie. He looked down at her, “Can you lead me to some places with a lot of people?”, he asked her.

Trixie nodded with a smile and pointed down the street. He looked at her and nodded, then started walking. Trixie walked up next to him and slowly tried to hold his hand.

War Heart looked down at her holding his hand, “What are you doing?”, he asked while looking at her quizzically.

Trixie smiled at him, “I just wanted to hold your hand. That’s not a problem, is it?”, she batted her eyelashes at him.

It suddenly hit War Heart that Trixie was attempting to flirt with him. He stared blankly for a moment before responding, “I have two kids… and a girlfriend…”

Trixie froze for a moment, feeling terribly awkward. She took her hand back and kept walking, ‘Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid! I can’t believe this! I’m such a twit!’, she thought to herself.

War Heart sighed and walked next to her, ignoring the awkwardness of the situation.

They soon found themselves at a large casino. War Heart looked up at the towering building, then looked at Trixie. He walked into the building ahead of Trixie, who was following him closely.

War Heart scanned over the crowd as he moved about, searching for any signs of dead magic. Soon a man in a suit passed by, his body faintly glowing with dead magic. War Heart turned to him as he passed, seeing him go into a bathroom. He looked to Trixie, “Block off the door… I’ll be right back.”

Trixie looked at him with a concerned expression, “What are you going to do?”

War Heart looked at her just before he turned away, “I’m going to talk to him…”, he said in a sarcastic tone before walking into the bathroom.

Trixie quickly stood in front of the men’s room nervously, “Oh Celestia, this guy sounds crazy…”, she whispered to herself.

War Heart walked into the bathroom to see the man with black hair and a suit washing his hands at the sink. He saw the man was glowing green with the dead magic. War Heart walked over to him, “So… What can you tell me about the Master of Bones?”

The man froze for a moment with a fearful look on his face. He slowly turned to War Heart, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

War Heart shook his head, “Now you’re lying… That isn’t good…”, he stepped towards the man.

The man backed up a step, “Listen, Buddy, I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

“And I don’t want to have to make a mess of this place… Now tell me who is in charge…”

The man jumped at War Heart, swinging his fist into War Heart’s face.

The impact surprised War Heart with its force. It seemed to hit harder than he thought it would.

The man backed up again, “You should be out cold…”

War Heart shook his head slightly. He felt around in his mouth with his tongue and spit a tooth onto the floor. He glared at the man, a sign of impending doom. He walked up to him and grabbed the man by the throat and held him against the wall, “Now tell me who’s in charge!”

The man only squirmed and writhed as he tried to free himself from War Heart’s grasp.

“I will kill you if you don’t tell me…”

The man grew frantic, frenzying himself and lashing out at War Heart.

War Heart squeezed his neck to the point where he felt a crack and the man went limp. He shook his head and opened one of the stalls, placing him on the toilet and closing the door. War Heart stepped out of the bathroom to find Trixie standing outside, “We’re leaving…”, he told her as he walked away.

Trixie jogged over to catch up then walked alongside him, “What did you find out?”, she asked.

“That my conversations are going to be really interesting in this town…”