John’s perspective:

“Alright Ranger, lower you gun.” The marshal ordered. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was planning to do with Mane when I found him. Shoot him dead, hang him, send him off to a court…

“Come on John… listen to the marshal.” Mane snickered. I lowered the shotgun then led him down the stairs where one of the deputies slapped hoof cuffs on him. “So what’s the plan marshal?” Mane asked.

One of the deputies looked to him. “Ain’t none a yer business mister.” The deputy spat as he held his aim on the notorious outlaw.

“Well… you got a bounty on your head. Canterlot prison’s got a cell with your name on it… they’re offering 7500 bits to anypony who brings him in alive.” The marshal announced. “He’ll be sentenced, trialed for… twenty… three robberies, countless murders… among other things. Hanged… publicly.” He announced but Mane simply smiled smugly, like this was some sort of game.

“So what’s the catch marshal?” He laughed, almost like he already knew the answer. The marshal sighed then looked to us.

“We can’t ship him off from here. You’d have to get him to a train station closer to Canterlot… Ponyville would be your best bet. Get him on a train in Ponyville and you’ll be rewarded greatly.” The marshal offered. I was confused, why not just deport him from here?

“Tell em why marshal.” Mane laughed, almost reading my thoughts. The marshal sighed heavily then looked to us.

“His gang… they’ll catch up to the train and derail it if we put him on here. If you get him to the Ponyville station, they won’t have a chance to plan ahead.” He commented. That made sense.

I nodded. “Alright… we’ll get him to the Ponyville station.” I told him. The marshal nodded and we proceeded out the front doors. A deputy with a shotgun led the way but suddenly he fell and blood spurted out of an exit wound in his back. Only a second later, a gunshot echoed through the air.

“BACK INSIDE!” Red yelled and we all rushed back inside.

“Dammit… where the hell did that come from?” Billy asked frantically. Elijah answered.

“Far away. The gunshot came after the bullet hit, so probably… over 800 yards… that’s a good shooter.” He commented.

The marshal sighed. “Alright… we hole up here until sundown…. Then you all depart in the cover of darkness.” He ordered us and we nodded in agreement.

Several hours later…

Daring looked to me as she cuddled up against my side. “So John, how did you survive?” She asked. Mane smiled.

“Yes John. Enlighten us to how you survived that ghastly waterfall I keep hearing about.” He stated and I looked to him with a blunt expression then looked back to Daring with a genuine smile.

Several weeks ago…

The current pulled me over and I swore loudly. Just as I began to fall I saw Daring swoop down to catch me. ‘Thank goddess for wings…’ I thought to myself. Just as my thoughts came to ease, she missed grabbing me by mere millimeters. ‘OH FOR THE LOVE OF GODDESS!’ I thought to myself as I swore again.

The waterfall pulled me down and slammed me underneath the water. I bottomed out in the water and felt my head slam against something hard, probably a rock, and my world faded away.

My mind soon faded into focus and a beautiful zebra mare stood before me. “John… I’ll always love you.” She whispered.

“Hearth… HEARTH!” I yelled as I tried furiously to reach her. Suddenly a gunshot went off and the memory of her dying was the last thing I saw before my world faded away again.

My world faded out again and everything seemed cold… dark… alone.

“John… she needs you… death isn’t ready for you…” A voice whispered and my mind seemed to fade into reality ever so slowly. I felt like I was flying peacefully through cold air. Suddenly I gagged and realized my lungs were full of water.

I thrashed about as my entire body burned from lack of oxygen. I quickly surfaced against a shoreline and began to throw up all the water still in my lungs. I half expected to die right there, I could barely breathe.

Finally I calmed my body and breathing then rolled onto my back. I brought my soaking wet hoof to my face. ‘John… find her… she needs you.’ A voice called to me. I rolled back onto my stomach and tried to stand up but found my body to be extremely sore.

I groaned as I stood up and began to stagger back towards town…

Present time…

“So that’s it?” Brixie asked curiously and I shrugged.

“Well not quite. I had to rest in the forest due to my soreness and exhaustion. Then I had to ask Ray where you all had gone. Then got a train down to Marexico and eventually found you guys.” I informed them. Everyone seemed interested in the story, except Red, who simply continued to sharpen his knife hand.

Black Mane smiled. “Well, that’s a good story John. Almost makes me want to go to bed.” He commented but the marshal grabbed him tightly.

“I don’t think so Mr. Mane. You’ll have all the time in the world to sleep where you’re going.” He commented and Mane simply sighed.

“Well in that case… let’s make haste. I’m tired.” He said with a laugh. One of the deputies aimed Mane’s black Colt SAA on his back. Mane smiled, “Careful… that gun’s got a curse.” He laughed quietly.

We untied our horses but the marshal stopped us. “Take Jake with you. He’s a sure shot.” He informed us and the deputy, known as Jake, gasped. The marshal simply patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry son, you’ll do fine.”

He nodded then we all mounted up onto our horses. The deputy holstered Black Mane’s pistol and began fidgeting with Celestia’s revolver.

Hours later…

We sat around a camp fire, exchanging stories. It turned out that Brixie had been a ‘Show mare’, I say she was a circus mare, since she was young and got her cutie mark, which just so happened to be a magic wand and a wizard hat.

Billy told tales about when he was young on his ranch and helped his parents out. We didn’t really want to hear Red’s tales. I didn’t even know why the guy tagged along.

Red sneered “So sugar tits an I…” he began but I cut him off.

“Who’s sugar tits?” I asked, having never heard the name before. Red pointed over to Daring Do. My eyes went narrow. “Don’t call her that. It’s disrespectful.” I told him sternly.

“Or what?” He laughed insultingly. I just shook my head. He chuckled “So you’re a coward huh?” He laughed and I snapped. I lept up from my seat and cross checked him into the ground with my shotgun, bringing the fore grip across his throat.

Black Mane clapped his hooves together. “Superb, superb display. Hay, I might just let you guys kill each other off, then trot away like nothing happened.” He laughed. Daring pitched up.

“John… just get off him. You’re gonna learn that he’s an asshole and nopony can fix it.” She sighed. I slowly stepped off him and he gave me a wink. I just growled at him silently.

Black Mane spoke up again. “So… everypony has told a little bit about themselves… except you Elijah.” He said but Elijah simply looked away. “What, no story telling?” He asked curiously. Elijah didn’t speak. “Fine. I’ll tell your story for you.”

Elijah’s head whipped around quickly and his eye narrowed. “So Elijah here, was in the civil war, as you probably know. However, he had been conscripted and…” Mane began but Elijah cut him off.

“Shut up.” Elijah hissed and Mane raised an eyebrow.

“Would you like to tell the story?” Mane asked but Elijah didn’t answer and instead continued to give him a cold glare. “Like I was saying… he was conscripted, lost his eye from a sharp tree branch, and then deserted out of the military before the year was out.” Mane informed us.

Elijah was steamed, I could tell. “How…” Elijah hissed as he gritted his teeth.

“Did I know?” Mane interrupted, almost on cue. “It wouldn’t be wise of me not to research on my hunters, now would it?” He answered with a question. He probably knew something about all of us.

“In fact, Brixie, you forgot to tell them about that time you used your magic to duplicate a mirror image of yourself to use as a ‘volunteer’ for one of your performances… oh and Billy, how about that time you helped your father blockade the stream to drought out your neighbour so that you wouldn’t have competition the following year?” He asked, making everypony in our group look bad, everypony except Daring and myself.

“What about me… and Daring?” I asked curiously and Mane raised an eyebrow.

“The golden ponies? Ha, don’t make me laugh. John, you don’t smoke, you don’t drink, you have never shot an innocent pony before in your life… what in Equestria would ever make you bad?” He laughed, almost insultingly. “And Daring? She’s just like you. It’s no wonder you two hooked up.” He laughed

The deputy pulled out Celestia’s revolver. “Alright Mr. Mane. That’s enough.” He ordered and Mane simply smiled.

“Yeah, whatever. Go ahead, pull that trigger.” He laughed. The deputy simply scoffed. “No seriously. Do it. Say that I jumped you and tried to wrestle the gun out of your hooves…” Mane said as he stood up.

“Sit down Mr. Mane.” The deputy ordered. Mane took a step towards the deputy who in turn quickly cocked back the hammer and pulled the trigger… but nothing happened. Black Mane chuckled then sat back down as the deputy looked at the pistol in disbelief.

The deputy cocked back the hammer, pointed the gun to Mane and pulled the trigger. But once again, the gun simply clicked. The deputy got a wicked grin on his face. I leaned back and shook my head as I heard the constant clicking of the revolver but after a few moments, it stopped.

Daring lay on my chest as I lay on my back. “So… what happens after all this is done?” She asked. I shrugged.

“We’ll see when we get there.” I replied as I slowly closed my eyes.

Author's Notes:

Jake... you're gonna get it... or maybe Red... I think Jake's gonna get it though. Don't piss off Mane. Oooh I'm so exited to see what happens.