Graphite wondered through the market for about an hour. He lost the count of time himself. He wanted to get out from the market as soon as possible, but he made a couple of wrong turns and only then he understood how big the market actually was. Ponies over there tried to sell everything, from food to medicine and from guns to simple tin cans and metal scraps. Graphite had been through the market multiple times, but it was the middle of day, and the crowd was at its biggest. Being nudged wasn’t even possible, the only movement one could make now were small shuffles across the market.

Followed the current of the marketers, Graphite found himself steadily drifting outside the market. He neared a building, one of the walls that set a border for the market stands. He stopped, standing just on the sidewalk of the buildings. He was going to backtrack around to the sleepless market again, when he heard a noise. It was a loud yelp, a cry for help. He across the buildings to find an alleyway, noisier than the normal alleyway should be. Graphite ran to the side street, sliding to a stop just as he reached the opening to the alley.

In the alley was a scrawny, brown stallion screaming for someone to come and aid him. He was tugging on a satchel with another pony - a dark stallion with hair just as rough as the stallion’s. Just at the thief’s hooves was a dirty cream coloured colt, batting and beating at the thief's legs trying to get him away. He remembered the little family from earlier, just as he stepped into town they were asleep in their own corner lot of the town. The small colt and his father weren’t going to get out with their bag if the thief wasn’t stopped. The thief pulled out a knife, dull and rusted but still able to cause serious damage. Graphite jumped in to stop the mugging before it became a murder.

All three ponies saw one large stallion barreling towards them; the colt jumped back and the father released the satchel and ducked away - the mugger stuck without anywhere to dodge the charge. Graphite reared up just as the mugger swung his knife at Graphite’s chest, his head was stopped by Graphite’s hoof, a swift punch to the face before he could be cut open. The stallion was knocked back, Graphite swiping the knife away with his telekinesis spell and tossing it behind himself somewhere on the sidewalk.

The petty thief reared back, trying to get in a punch back - but was halted again by Graphite’s hard and swift jab. He was struck down before being struck up, pulled up to his hooves by his neck. Graphite stared right into his eyes, shaking him as he yelled, “Get lost!”

He tossed the stallion back, throwing him into the dirt as he scrambled away with fear for his life. Graphite leaned in to grab the satchel from the dust, handing it to the feeble stallion, who took it with caution. Graphite tried to shoot a smile, but it didn’t come any bigger than a short grin. The stallion was sitting the ground leaning against the building just waiting for the fight to blow over. Graphite stuck out his hoof, asking, “Are you alright?”

The stallion didn’t respond, backing against the wall even further than he was already. He trumped around Graphite, staring at him with a cold glare of terror before taking his child by the hoof and sprinting off towards the other end of the alley. Graphite watched as they ran, a bit disappointed there was no thanks given to the stallion that just saved your life.

Graphite blew it off as just another of the normal behaviours of a begotten town; he jumped back into line with the ponies swerving about the market. He continued scooting through the marketplace when something caught his attention - a young mare standing at Pomidor’s stand. She was wearing an old, brown leather jacket that was collared and had one zipper going down the length of it. She seemed to be quite confused, looking back and forth over the selection of weapons and arms. He waded through the swarm of shoppers until he managed to get a better look of this mare, he recognized her - it was Sunny.

Graphite casually approached the mare. She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she didn’t notice that someone was standing next to her. Sunny looked good in her jacket - at least better than her old, greasy apron she wore at the bar. She was looking at the large arsenal of weapons which Pomidor had placed before her. It featured everything from small nine and ten millimeter pistols to large light machine guns and even a rocket launcher. It seemed that the red stallion was annoyed by her uncertainty. He simply lied back to one of the supports of the booth and looked down at the guns.

“Need some help?” Graphite offered, breaking the train of Sunny’s thoughts.

Sunny jumped a bit and turned to around, but smiled when she saw Graphite standing next to her, “Oh, Graphite! It’s nice to see you here. Could you help me pick a weapon?”

“Um, yeah sure, what are you looking for?” Graphite asked, standing back up from the booth and checking out the guns with Sunny.

“Well, I’ve always had my pistol,” Sunny pulled out a pistol from her holster, one that looked just like a Zebra pistol, but it looked like it was made out of a higher quality metal and was reloaded by a magazine, instead of a clip. Sunny gave Graphite a view of the pistol, tilting it left and right before holstering it again, “But I’ll be making a longer journey and the pistol alone won’t cut it.”

Graphite scratched the back of his head, checking out the rifles on the left table, “Hmm, you’re going to need something with better range than a pistol...”

Both of them had their hooves on their chins, browsing right over through the guns. Pomidor was standing ahead of them, going unnoticed as he steamed and boiled with impatience. Pomidor, trying to vent it out, stepped back from the tables and went behind his booth doing whatever he needed to do to release his stress. Graphite and Sunny searched until Graphite came across one particular rifle.

It was a short, black carbine. It had black polymer grips and stock of the same material; its receiver was solid steel, a carrying handle was built right into the top and acted as it’s iron sight; the hoof-guard was round and lead up to it’s short barrel, and the front sight that was raised to line up with the rear sights; the magazine was a curved cartridge that could hold thirty rounds into it. It seemed to be the perfect gun for Sunny - lightweight, easy maintenance, and could get just the range Sunny was going to need to protect herself, “How about this one, Sunny?” Graphite tapped her shoulder then pointed to the carbine.

“Maybe...” Sunny grabbed the rifle in her hooves, looking over it. Pomidor finally got over himself enough to come back around and notice she was finally nearing a decision.

Pomidor’s eyes widen, a grin formed on his face, “Ah, yes - that’s the ‘Assault Carbine.’ It’s a great gun for a beginner like yourself - and - it doesn’t require the use of a battlesaddle. If you attach a sling to it, you can wear it around your shoulder and fire it using your tail- seeing as yours is long enough.”

Graphite turned over to Sunny, “You’re probably not going to find a battlesaddle anywhere in this shambled marketplace.”

Sunny paused for a moment, taking a last minute thought on it. Pomidor was rubbing his hooves together, eyes beaming as he waited with anticipation. Sunny set the rifle down, facing Pomidor as he glared stubbornly, “I’ll take it.”

Pomidor pumped his arm close to his chest, but quickly caught himself before he was ready to scream ‘Yes!’ He brushed his fur and fixed his head wrap, “Well the gun, plus some ammunition to fire... that’ll be about four thousand caps.” Pomidor said, perhaps a bit too excitedly.

Graphite was astonished, he hadn’t a cap to his name but knew that four thousand was a lot in any form of currency. He looked at Sunny, who didn’t seem the slightest bit worried, “Sure,” She said with her usual happy smile. She reached for her saddlebag, sticking her snout in to gather some change.

A notable amount of jingling came from her bag, it almost looked like it was filled to the brim, but that might just because Sunny’s head was inside it. Eventually, she came back out, placing a pile of caps right on Pomidor’s table. Pomidor’s eyes almost formed caps, his smile was starting to grow larger. Sunny fiddled and counted the caps on the table, “That’s four thousand caps for everything.”

Graphite’s jaw almost dropped to the floor, “H-how? Where did you get that kind of money?” He stammered.

“Let’s just say that I found Stripe’s retirement funds,” Sunny grinned.

Graphite then turned to himself. In the rush he must have forgotten to check Stripe’s office for any valuables waiting in his desk and anywhere else one could keep riches.

Sunny was also coming up with an idea of her own. She put the magazines for the Assault Carbine in her saddlebag and then used the sling to place the weapon over her shoulder, “Say, Graphite are you still looking for a job?”

“It depends on the job.”

“Well, I am going to travel to visit my family in the south of Buckago. It’s a long way ‘till I get there - might be even several days. What do you say of being my bodyguard?”

“Okay, I’ll join you on your little trip, but you can keep your caps. I just want to get out of this place as fast as I can,” Graphite agreed without hesitation.

Sunny shrugged and then smiled again, “I’ll get us some supplies for the road, then we can head out.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The two trotted away from Pomidor’s booth, he was left to count his caps. They merged into the crowd, waiting for the traffic to move down far enough to reach the right booth. They passed a few booths that sold food and water, but none of them seemed fresh enough to eat. They kept moving, hoping to pass by one stand that had some clean food. A few more booths went by; a few medicine stands, but they decided not to come back until they found fresh food. The shuffled on, realizing that they should have gone ahead and got the medicine after about another hour of crowd walking. It was too late to turn back, traveling against the tide of the swarm was almost impossible at this hour of the day. They pressed on, until eventually they reached a proper food booth.

The stand didn’t have much to offer, anything that was for sale had already been bought up in the early hours of the market’s opening. They sorted through what they could deem edible. A lot of what was left over was meat - to Graphite’s poor luck. Jerky, raw meat, and something else that sort of looked liked a giant cockroach - but not a single straw of hay. Sunny got a few strips of the jerky, Graphite kept trudging along with the crowd, searching for a single booth with something he could eat. They passed a few booths with fruits, their lines were piled back to booths across the aisle.

Another hour of walking, a stand came into sight at the end of the market, one that was selling canned foods and a few bits of that red apple-like fruit. Graphite picked his head up, pushing forward against the crowd to get to the only appetizing food in sight. He piled, squeezed, and pushed his way to the stand - taking a good look at what was to offer. Sunny was caught in the crowd behind Graphite, slowly making her way there. Graphite noticed a high supply of great food before looking at the prices; he realized just why it was in high supply. Graphite turned around, waiting for his VIP to arrive to help him out.

After sliding passed one more stallion, she marched her way to the booth, where Graphite was waiting patiently, “Let’s get some real food, eh?” Graphite gleefully suggested.

“‘Real food’,” Sunny joked sarcastically, “If you call this stuff ‘real food’ then your really must be two hundred years old.”

Graphite grabbed a few of the canned vegetable soups and two of the blue fruit, just in case; there was also two cans left over of some corn kernels. Graphite picked all of those up, asking for Sunny to get it for him like a foal asking his mother to get him his favourite cereal. Sunny reached into her money bag once more, using the last of her caps to buy Graphite his portion of their meals.

“Well, that seems to be the last of my caps- I think we’re ready to go now.”

“We’ve got everything we need, Sunny, we should be going before sundown.”

With an ‘Alright,’ the two finally set out to leave the dreaded marketplace. Graphite was eager to leave the stench of this old town - the shady ponies that walked about also helped bring up his feelings to leave. The sun had passed its peak of the sky was starting its decent down west, the duo of Graphite and Sunny were setting out deeper downtown. Their bags were full of supplies, clanging and jingling with every leg motion - or hip sway on Sunny’s part. They reached the intersection of the town; Graphite turned east, looking down Deacon’s street. Sunny came up ahead of Graphite, turning and looking down the street with Graphite, “What are you looking at?”

Graphite took a moment not to respond, taking his thoughts back in before he could respond, “Nothing.”

Graphite started down the north street again, Sunny riding behind, “You don’t like to tell me stuff, don’t you?” Sunny questioned.

Graphite didn’t respond, just to taunt Sunny, knowing it would bother her. Sunny shook her head, sighing, but chuckling shortly with Graphite afterward. The two ponies traversed through the southern end of town, which was obviously the upper-class of Rossmore, seeing as the buildings were actually halfway built with brick and mortar; the top half of the buildings were still wood and sheet metal, but the condition of the metals and woods were much better than the north side of town. The ponies there didn’t appear any happier than the north end of town, nor any friendlier. Waiting outside almost every building and street corner were ponies with weapons in tow and eyes shifting from left to right, scanning the area like hawks. Their weapons never ascended passed a bat or rusty iron pipe, but the way they overlooked the area was enough to scare away anyone walking in their view. Some of them were wearing fedoras on their head, tilted low to cover their eyes with the shade and creating an even darker image for themselves. Their clothes ragged and dirty just as the other townsfolk, but they attempted to gather bits of cloth to make themselves a suit; whether it was the addition of a tie, some type of cloth to look like a blazer, or that fedora they probably stole off some other poor pony. The streets guarded by these dastardly mares and stallions were almost completely empty other than one of these mob members walking about to find their next victim or the small family brave enough to venture through the valley of the streets to reach the market and buy food for the week.(Big ol’wall o’ text)

They passed by what looked like the southerner’s version of a bar; it was two stories, just as Stripe’s Bar, but it was entirely made of hardwood and the sign was made of one piece of lumber instead of the scraps of the left over diner. There was even a light hanging right over the sign and shined down to the front door. There were two window panes at the front of the bar, giving Graphite a clear view of everyone of the sad drinkers and sorry drunkards that were waddling around with two beers in their mouths or just another cup of Apple whiskey. Just like the rest of the town, two ponies with weapons found in the streets were ready to beat down anyone who looked at them wrong. For all Graphite knew of this bar, another gangster just like Stripe could be up in the back room hiring off another gun to deal with another victim.

Graphite was starting to lose his pace, Sunny was several steps ahead already and he was just hanging back staring at the ponies in the bar. He trotted forward, almost galloping, trying to get ahead of Sunny again. Sunny noticed him trotting ahead, thinking he was racing her. She picked up her pace a bit, looking away from him. Graphite saw Sunny come up from behind in the corner of his eye; he scooted ahead, picking up his pace further to keep up. Sunny was trying to keep ahead, her quick trot turned into a gallop. Graphite wanted to keep ahead of Sunny, not noticing she wanted to race; he galloped passed her, staying in front. The two were starting to go head to head, their gallops turning into full sprints and beyond as they raced neck and neck down the south side of the street.

They were head to head, then nose and nose, coming ever closer to each other as the two stepped wildly down the street. They dashed by the brave souls wandering the streets and even a few of the mob minions going about the town. Soon, their competitive edge was getting to them, Graphite thrust himself left, pushing aside Sunny as he darted forward. She rushed back in, recovering quickly, grabbing Graphite’s duster with her teeth and pulling him back. He reacted, tugging on his duster and pulling Sunny with it. She lost her balance, stumbling on her own legs and and tripping - bringing Graphite down with her. Graphite was pulled down by the weight of Sunny then tripped by her flailing legs. They both came down together, tumbling forward a distance before finally stopping against the stone and pavement.

Graphite’s head was being wedged down by Sunny’s elbow, their legs were knotted together like a pretzel, and they were both covered in scrapes and scratches from the rough stone pavement. They were groaning, Sunny was too sore and too tangled to move; Graphite was trying to get free, sliding aside hooves and arms away from his body.

Eventually the knot gave way, they both jerked away and grabbed hold of their aching body parts. Graphite tried to stand, pushing himself up with his cut up arms. Sunny was holding her leg, searing slightly at the road burn. He lent out a hoof, Sunny took it with a faint smile, trying to hide away the pain. They both got up, stared down by the gang. Sunny grinned badly at them as she was picked up hastily by Graphite; the two dusted each other off, helping each other to the sidewalk. The members too lazy to bother.

They stopped, leaning against a building to nurture their wounds with some mild rubs or wash it off with whatever water they had to spare. They both slid down the wall they leaned against, and sat down on the ground. Graphite held his head with one hoof -- having your head crushed against stone isn’t a gentle feeling, “Maybe that was not the best idea, Sunny,” Graphite mentioned, turning to Sunny with his hoof still on his head.

Sunny snickered, rubbing her eyes a bit, “No, maybe not...” she grinned, then turned to look at Graphite, “But I still won.”

Graphite slid his hoof of his head, shaking his head, “But I was ahead of you, Sunny - that usually means I won.”

Sunny grinned wider, nudging Graphite, “‘Ladies first,’ Graphite!”

“True- but, I still won!” Graphite rebutted, nudging Sunny back harder.

Sunny turned her head to look at her bruised legs, pouting a bit, “I guess it doesn’t matter, any idea that stupid isn’t going to end well.”

Graphite looked at his arms, turning them around back and forth looking at all the scrapes, “You got that right,” he chuckled.

“Well, maybe we should get going; the sun’s going down, and we’re already down one bottle of water - and we haven’t even left Rossmore.”

“We did cover more ground than usual, though.”

“Of course,” Sunny giggled, “But we’re not going to cover any more ground sitting here.”

Graphite slid back up the wall, then planted his four hooves back on the ground; helping Sunny up off the ground, “We should find some place to refill the canteen and the bottles before we go any further,” Graphite said while he shacked his empty canteen.

“There should be a water pump nearby, let’s keep moving down the street ‘til we find one,” Sunny tugged on Graphite’s duster, taking the lead once more.

“Sure,” Graphite agreed, following her lead down the street.

The two companions trotted slowly across the stones -- nothing at all like the pace of their race. The looked left and right for a water pump of any size - Graphite also busy watching out for Sunny. They walked for a while, no sight or sign of a water pump anywhere. The town was starting to reach its end, the buildings were starting to shrink and rot, the towns people were retreating back to the main section of town, and the stones were becoming a lackluster colour of black and brown. Graphite lost track of his focus, taking his eyes from the streets to look up towards the roofs of the buildings and the faded blue skies that surrounded them for miles. The roofs of the buildings were flat, the architects didn’t seem to have the right supplies - or the right knowledge - to build a pointed roof. There was no shortage of sheet metal, for sure; but, as much as the material is used, no pony seems to bother to round out the edges or cut the sharps splits some of the pieces had.

Sunny turned her head, looking at Graphite, “See anything?”

Graphite was snapped back into focus, whipping his head right back to Sunny, “Oh, um... no.”

“You’d probably have more luck looking at the ground than in the clouds, Graphite,” she smiled a smile at him, turning her head back around.

Graphite smirked, shaking his head while he went back to searching the streets for a water pump. They walked along another long while, reaching the outskirts of town. The signs of a water pump were absent, just like the signs of ponies anywhere around. Graphite and Sunny were alone together, traveling through an empty section of town looking for water. Graphite looked right to left and left to right when he realized he wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for. He knew what a water pump was, but he had never seen one before - there were no water pumps in Carnen. Something as simple as a pump for water had to be made of something simple; some iron rods, a head for the water to come out, and another rod for the actual pump. He had the idea in his head, but could never get the full picture.

“Ah, there’s one!” Sunny shouted to Graphite, pointing towards a small garden area, no bigger than a few couple metres.

In the middle lied the pump, the look of which came to no surprise to Graphite. It was a small cast iron rod that stuck out of the middle of the garden and stood around chest height; there was a spout in the front for the water to come out and a long handle on the opposite end that was the pump. The design could be no simpler, just one large rod, a cap at the top to keep the water from leaking, and a few bolts to keep everything in place. The thing was old and rusted, Graphite was unsure there was still water to be pumped out of it.

“It isn’t much, but it’s our only shot,” She said, walking behind the pump and gripping the handle.

Graphite unlaced his canteen from his belt, placing it under the spout and letting Sunny know to start pumping with a nod. She lifted the handle up as far is could go and then pressed down - the handle would barely budge. She jerked and hammered the handle, but it wouldn’t move. Graphite walked up aside of her, giving her the canteen as he rubbed his hooves together before grabbing the pump.

He jumped up, jamming the handle downward. It squeaked a bit, moving down about an centimetre. Sunny looked over, holding the canteen under the spout and shaking it impatiently. Graphite bit down on the pump, pulling it down only to make his mouth sore. Graphite held his jaw for a moment, then wiped his lips; he gripped the handle with his magic and used all his willpower to force it down. The pump started to creak loudly, the body of the pump starting to bend, and the handle still not budging. He eased a bit - Sunny waiting a few steps away from the squealing pump - he grabbed the handle again and jerked the pump with his telekinesis, pulling the handle down and cracking the cap off the pump.

Water spewed from the cap, the handle just fell off its hinges. The spray of water died down quickly, turning into a light trickle down the side. Sunny placed the top of the canteen against the rod and held it in place as the drips slowly filled the canteen.

Graphite came from around the backside of the pump, shaking his head and rubbing some water droplets from his face, “There we go. It just needed a little elbow grease.”

“Good work, Graphite, that elbow grease of yours broke some pony’s only water source,” Sunny mentioned.

Graphite grabbed the empty bottles from his bag, holding them to the trail of water too, “Ah, there’s no pony out here - no need to worry.”

They filled their bottles until the spout stopped pouring, packing away whatever they had filled, “That’ll be fine, we have enough for a while there,” Graphite added.

“Good, let’s get going now - we don’t need anymore delays,” Sunny affirmed, closing her saddlebag tight.

Graphite already started heading out, leaving the small garden square, “Sounds good to me.”

The duo set out again, bags full and now just the more heavier. They walked along side by side, taking in unfamiliar sights, talking about what they saw and what they want to see, and even just sharing a silence together. The trip out of town was one pony less lonely.