They had been running for almost two hours.

They found shade next to a large rock formation, Braeburn and Little Strongheart quickly finding spots to rest. Eclipse had almost given out after the first hour, only lasting that long due to his training by the princess, but he managed to spur his chaos magic to keep up his energy. Little Strongheart had a fit when his eyes started glowing, and even now she took great care to keep distance between the two of them, but had remained silent until they found their current resting place.

Eclipse climbed to the top of the rock formation, scanning the area. In one direction he could see a speck on the horizon, the town of Appleloosa. In another, rock formations towered over the landscape, reminding Eclipse of the famous Monument Valley back home.

“Little Strongheart says that’s where we’re headed.” Braeburn called up, following Eclipse’s gaze.

Eclipse slid down the opposite side of the rock, checking the more immediate area. He found several cacti and a tumbleweed, but not much else. Just as he thought this, he heard the screech of a hawk. Looking up, Eclipse caught sight of the bird as it swooped down and snagged a snake off of the ground.

This startled him, as he hadn’t noticed any animals until that moment. He thought on it for a minute, grinned, then laughed at his own foolishness. Eclipse double checked the area, this time with an eye for detail.

Scorpions, more snakes, several other birds of prey, a spiny lizard… It seems that life did indeed flourish here, if you cared to check. Eclipse circled around the large stone, coming back to where his companions were resting. He sat down close to the edge of the stone’s shadow, turning off his magic as he did so.

Without drawing from his near depleted magical wellspring, Eclipse found himself exhausted, his limbs aching from the exertion. He rolled onto his side, hoping to breathe a little easier without his entire weight on his lungs. Braeburn glanced apprehensively back to Appleloosa. “How do we know they ain’t lookin for us?”

“They’re looking all right.” Eclipse panted. “Which is why we can’t stay here for long. As much as it pains me to say, and believe me it does, we need to keep moving, find the buffalo tribe and regroup.” He coughed into his hoof after accidentally breathing some dust. “We need--”

Before he could finish, a familiar dusty brown pegasus swooped down from the air, a chariot hooked to him. The brown pegasus landed, allowing a light green earth pony to step off, along with a small earth pony filly.

Little Strongheart jumped to her hooves, but Braeburn quickly put himself between her and the newcomers. “Wait!” he said, waving his hooves. “I know them!”

Eclipse got to his hooves as well, walking over to Braeburn. “I recognize two of them as well.”

The pegasus elbowed his friend. “See, Sagebrush? I told you it was him!” He exclaimed, pointing at Braeburn.

Sagebrush grinned at Braeburn then slid his gaze over to Eclipse. “And I told you it was him.” He said, pointing at Eclipse.

Eclipse cocked an eyebrow. “And just what are my little informants doing out here?”

Sagebrush frowned at the word informants. “Saw ya’ll making your exit. Looked like you knew where you was heading so I grabbed my daughter an followed.”

“You’re heading into a war.” Eclipse warned. “Once we get to the buffalo, I plan on getting some more reinforcements by rallying the townsponies of Appleloosa. They can’t be happy about the gangs.”

“If ya’ll get the buffalo, the rest o the town is already riled and ready for a brawl.” The pegasus chimed in. “Sides, I’ve got nothing keeping me in town other than a few friends.”

“No family?” Eclipse asked.

“A coltfriend.” He answered. “Gangs got him though.”

Little Strongheart jumped when he said ‘coltfriend’.

The pegasus glared daggers at her. “I’m sorry, something wrong with two stallions?”

Sagebrush grabbed his friend’s shoulder. “Dust Demon, you know how those buffalo are. Don’t get angry at her. Not even ponies always react well to something like that.”

Little Strongheart was about to reply, when Eclipse slid himself away from the conversation, things quickly taking a turn he didn’t want to go along with. He reclaimed his spot at the edge of the rock’s shadow, when a small voice piped up next to him.

“Why ain’t cha got a cutie mark, mister?”

Eclipse’s head snapped towards the filly, surprise speeding his movements along. He suppressed a sigh, figuring that he should have suspected a question like that sooner or later.

“Well,” He said, tapping a hoof to his chin to make it look like he was thinking. “I’m a special case.” He grinned at the filly as he said this, causing her to become a little more interested.

“But I thought everypony got a cutie mark before they got your age?” The filly prodded.

Eclipse smiled lightheartedly. “They do.”

“Then why ain’t cha got one?”

“I’m not everypony.” He said this with utmost certainty in his voice. If you could fault him for one thing at this moment in time, it wouldn’t be lying to a curious filly. Then again, he wasn’t quite telling the truth, either.

The filly cocked her head to the side. “Are you gonna keep answering like that?”

He leaned in conspiratorially, grinning at her. “Why would I not?”

The filly frowned at him. After a moment, she ran back to her father, who was currently in between Dust Demon and Little Strongheart, doing his best to keep the two away from each other.

Braeburn was laying on the ground several feet away, out cold with a black bruise coming into view around his right eye.

While he had been distracted, Eclipse had missed out on the conversation’s escalation into a full blown argument. With full blows thrown in, based on Braeburn's appearance.

“It’s not natural!” Little Strongheart yelled at Dust Demon.

“The moment love ain’t natural is the moment the dead rise!” Dust Demon shot back.

“Hey, now!” Eclipse said, pushing Dust Demon away while Sagebrush did the same for Little Strongheart. “No need to tempt fate! We already have enough problems with the gang, your infighting--and an army of the undead, depending on how well versed the baffulo are with magic--will not help our cause.”

The two arguers continued yelling at each other, but by now it was little more than a contest to see who was the loudest.

Eclipse was unamused by the two. Soon, he ended up punching Dust Demon in the face, before walking over and doing the same to Little Strongheart.

“Quiet. Now.” he growled. Dust Demon and Little Strongheart shook their heads in confirmation, neither uttering a syllable.

With the two opponents cowed for the moment, Eclipse trotted several yards away from the others. He sighed in relief at the silence that now surrounded him.

Then he noticed the silence that now surrounded him.

He had expected the ponies (and Little Strongheart) to be in a state of quiet shock after his display, but all of nature had fallen silent. He looked around, finding most of the animals he had seen gone, as if they had never been there.

Looking back to his companions, he found that they were looking around as well, including the revived Braeburn.

Eclipse took a deep breath, uttering one quick word.

“Buck.”

A spear landed just in front of Eclipse. He quickly yanked the spear out of the ground and threw it back where it had come, which just so happened to be the top of the stone they had stopped next to.

A pony had made the mistake of poking his head out to see if he had made a mark. A stroke of bad--or good, depending on your point of view--luck placed him right in the spear’s path of flight. His mouth fell open when he saw his own spear flying back at him, a split second before the projectile hit him in the throat and made him fall off of his perch.

The group heard a surprised yelp from the other side of the stone. “Bulkhead? Bulkhead!”

A unicorn ran around the rock, but he was ambushed by Dust Demon. The pegasus wrestled the unicorn to the ground, as an earth pony and a pegasus jumped down from the top of the boulder.

“How did they find us so quickly?” Eclipse yelled.

“I’m more concerned with how they got around us!” Sagebrush responded, throwing a punch which the lighter pegasus managed to avoid.

Eclipse sent a pulse of magic through the ground which caused several stones to shoot up and wrap around the bandit pegasus’ legs.

Sagebrush bucked the pony in the head, knocking him out. The two turned to find Braeburn and Little Strongheart standing over the earth pony, while Dust Demon tied up the unicorn with a rope that the gang member had fortunately decide to bring with him.

The unicorn grimaced. “I’ll just use my magic to get out of here. Might as well just tie yourselves up for me!”

“Braeburn, if you would do the honors?” Eclipse bowed, motioning towards the unicorn.

Braeburn smiled. “I do believe I may.” He trotted over to the unicorn, raised a hoof, and bid him a good night’s rest. With him out, the ambush was over. Eclipse was still wary, but the danger had passed for now.

The filly popped out of the chariot she had hid inside. “Way to go, daddy!” She said, jumping onto Sagebrush’s back.

Eclipse glanced at Braeburn, who whispered in his ear. “Cactus Star’s mother died from childbirth complications. Sage don’t like to talk about it.”

Eclipse nodded respectfully. He trotted around the rock in search of how the ambushers snuck up on them, finding a deflated hot air balloon just on the other side.

He came back around the stone. “I figured out how they found us.” He said, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Really?” Braeburn asked. “How?”

“Let’s just say that we should really start looking up.”