Breaking Bad

"Hey yo, Ocho!"

The mare walked calmly into the stallion's house, finding him standing near her, a large bucking bag grasped tightly in his hooves. Stopping on the marble floor, she raised a hoof to speak, but stopped herself as she noticed the bag, its form reverberating and causing the stallion to grunt in retaliation as he applied all of his weight to it.

Raising a brow, Rainbow leaned slightly over to assess the situation.

"I uh..." she began, "I see you got a new dog. Right on, man."

The Pegasus gave no response, his attention focused solely on the bucking bag the large, brown and white pitbull was currently charging.

"I uh, I used to have a dog like that once. We uh, we had to give him away because he... couldn't uh... walk on clouds but me personally? I'd uh... train him to go for the ballsack-"

"Just shut your mouth and show me the money."

"I'm not buyin' Ocho."

The Pegasus turned around silently, brow raised in surprise.

The mare gave a short, simple response, "I'm selling."

"Bullshit."

"Ah ah ah," Rainbow tutted, waving a hoof around with each enunciation. Reaching into her bee-striped jacket, she withdrew a baggie, the contents inside shining a brilliant white light onto the stallion's hoof as it reached for the Rocks.

"Now, tell me you've seen a finer pack of slab in your life," the mare gave a sly look toward the stallion, who motioned over to his couch and proceeded to sit down in it directly after. Sitting down, jaw barely hanging on, Ocho looked incredulously at the rainbow-maned mare sitting across from him, a pompous look on her face.

Realizing what he wanted, she chimed, "Go ahead. Try it."

Watching slyly as the stallion retrieved a knife from nearby, Rainbow looked down, noticing the pitbull currently staring at her with pleading eyes. Giving a small squee, the mare quickly looked over to the stallion to see if he had heard it. Currently preoccupied with the Rocks now spread across his knife blade, he hadn't. "Hey poochie, how ya doin'?" she asked, reaching a hoof out. Ruffling the dog's fur, Rainbow watched in amusement as it shook the appendage with her hoof.

Turning her head, she found the yellow Pegasus, eyes widened like dinner plates, shaking his head vigorously. Laughing heartily, the mare asked, "Hell yeah Ocho! What'd I tell ya?"

Looking over to the mare as if he had just been caught red-hoofed, he suddenly snapped into a normal pose, waving his hoof lightly like a school teacher, "S'all right."

"It's 'alright'?"

"Yeah," the stallion responded simply, "it's alright. So what, you're back in business?"

"Hell yeah I'm back in business."

"You might wanna tell your partner about it then."

"Dime got caught, remember?"

"Yeah, I do. He thinks you maybe, uh, dimed on him."

Restraining herself from laughing at the joke obviously not caught by the stallion, she sneered, "Whoa whoa, hey, that's bullshit. Ohco Psyche, that is bull. Shit. I should... kick his ass for even thinking that."

"You know what, Dash?" Ocho asked, face fixated in a nonchalant position, "Next time you chat with Dime, you go ahead and tell him that, alright?"

"I will-"

"Oh wait. Why don't you tell him yourself?"

Rainbow raised a brow.

"He made bail this morning."

Suddenly, as if on cue, a large, burly brown Earth pony stepped out from the staircase, stopping when in full view of the rainbow-maned mare currently biting her lower lip in nervousness, "Go ahead. Kick my ass, shithead."

"Hey listen..."

"Where'd you get this?" Ocho asked, holding the baggy with a coiled hoof practically inches away from the mare's face.

"Hm?"

"I know your blue ass didn't cook it."

Glaring angrily at the stallion, still seated on the couch, Rainbow raised a hoof to defend herself, but was halted as Ocho glared suspiciously at her, the burly brown stallion trotting up silently from behind him and giving a likewise expression.

"The hell are you, some kinda nudist?"

Turning around slightly, his right brow raised in unimpressed curiosity, the apron-wearing stallion replied, "We're ponies. We're always nude."

Obviously snuffed, Ocho raised his hoof, "That's some fine ass Rock you've been cookin'. How 'bout you," Ocho pointed a hoof to his chest, "come work for me, uh?"

Suddenly stopping, the stallion fully turned around and wiped his brow, his gas mask still attached to his forehead. The ponies stood outside in the middle of the Badlands Arid Desert, the tan RV standing idly in the hot Equis sun. Giving a look of disbelief, the light olive stallion spoke in a low voice, "I'd be willing to sell it to you, if you raise a fair price."

"Hey wait, I know you."

Turning around, Ocho found Dime trotting up next to him, the open car door behind them being a good indication of the Earth pony's ignorance, "I saw you. At the bust a few weeks ago," Dime looked over to Ocho, "talkin' to the Captain."

"He's with the DEG."

Rainbow, her teeth clenching her lip in an almost bloody embrace, looked over to Flam with a betrayed look, hearing the low but loud growl of Ocho now behind her.

"You fuckin' snitch-"

"Run Mr. White, run!"

Rainbow's head suddenly snapped forward, her partner watching in horror as she fell to the floor in a cold heap, Ocho standing ominously behind her with a pistol clasped to his hooves. Raising his forelegs and falling to his haunches, Flam's lip quivered in a mixture of anger and fright. Looking to the right in the corner of his eye, he found a large, sharp rock practically gleaming in Celestia's sunlight. Lighting his horn, he looked toward it and began to envelope it in his green aura.

The sound of something heavy clicking in place met his ears. Slowly turning his head, he found the business end of a Fetlock staring death into his forehead. Growling in resistance, Flam allowed his horn's aura to fade, watching in defeat as Ocho stood menacingly in front of him, his friend walking toward the fallen mare currently lying unconscious on the desert ground. Giving an evil grin, he gave her a swift buck to the stomach, turning her body over onto her back.

Throwing a hind leg over her body, he began to unzip his jacket with his teeth.

"Step. The fuck. Away from her." Flam demanded,

"What the hell are you gonna do about it, shit-"

"Doesn't even matter. We're gonna cap both o' you anyway," Ocho interrupted, staring unblinking daggers at Flam. Bringing the gun up to his mouth, he cocked back the slide and let it shift back into place, placing it back to its previous position and shoving it against Flam's skull, "starting with you."

"No, please-"

"You're a damn artist, 'Mr. White'. Damn shame.."

The Pegasus' hoof tip closing in on the trigger, Flam threw his hooves into the air and yelled, "Wait a minute! Wait a minute!"

Though not moving his firearm, the stallion raised his right brow, indicating his curiosity at Flam's insistence.

"I'll teach you my recipe, huh?" Flam inquired in a slightly hushed tone, as if talking to a stray dog, "how about that? You wanna cook like me?"

Ocho, still pressing the gun against Flam's skull, turned his head and looked toward Dime, who gave him a questioning look in return.

"You let us both live," Flam started, pointing a hoof to himself then to the cyan pegasus lying on the ground, "me and her. You let us both live, and I will teach you, how does that sound?"

Throwing the RV door open with his horn, Flam found himself shoved into the vehicle by a yellow foreleg, its cousin soon joining in with a silver pistol clasped to its length, immediately followed by a very unimpressed-looking Ocho Psyche, who motioned for his friend to join in, who followed suit and climbed into the RV.

Sets of glassware and chemistry equipment met the stallions' gaze, the light olive Unicorn in front already magicking the black gas mask previously sitting atop the counter and strapping it to his face. Turning his head, he surveyed the two curious ponies and spoke in a muffled voice, "I'd... put on a mask if I were you," motioning to the hat rack currently housing a wide assortment of gas masks.

"I'd cook us some Rocks if I were you, shithead. We'll be fine."

Eyes scanning the RV's interior, the stallion found no way to fend off the two possibly battle-hardened stallions standing menacingly before him. Biting his bottom lip from underneath his mask, he looked back toward the cooking supplies sitting idly by the kitchen sink.

He got it.

Standing like a statue in front of the sink, he felt a weight press into the back of his head. He didn't have to turn around to know what it was. Shutting his eyes, he whispered a prayer to himself and lit his horn, preparing to levitate the graduating cylinder to begin the process of his forced cook.

Just about to grasp the can of fertilizer in his green aura, he caught the sound of a match being struck from behind him. With a raised brow, he turned his head, finding Dime lighting a cigarette currently grasped within his teeth. As he puffed in the nicotine and breathed out a white smoke, he found the olive stallion staring at him in a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.

"Put the cigarette out," he spoke through his gas mask.

The burly Earth pony stared back at him, sweat beginning to drip from his bare head. Feeling a bump at his side, he looked toward Ocho, who gave him an unimpressed look.

"Please."

Ocho gave a nod toward Flam, causing Dime to grunt in annoyance and walk toward the window behind him. Opening it with a hoof, he pursed his lips and leaned toward the window, giving a sly look at the olive Unicorn still staring back at him with disbelief. Pointing his lips toward the outside, he spat the cigarette into the desert ground, still staring nonchalantly at Flam.

Flam rolled his eyes, and immediately received a shove in retaliation from the yellow Pegasus standing behind him. Grunting in frustration, the stallion lit his horn and hovered a small pot toward the oven in front of him. Placing it onto the appliance, he reached for the heat knob with his magic, turning it to high and re-adjusting the pot to maximize its heat exposure. Suddenly noticing the feeling of the two stallions literally breathing down his neck, Flam's heart pounded in his chest.

Sweat almost dripping down his brow, he breathed in and out, lighting his horn yet again and feeling for the gallon of water by his hooves. Feeling the gun against the back of his head tense as he brought it out, it soon relaxed as he assumed that Ocho figured out what it truly was. Looking to his left and his right, finding an impatient stallion on either side, he gulped down the large lump in his throat, opening the jug and tipping it over atop the pot.

As the water began to fill the pot, his eyes wandered the various condiment containers of mixtures sitting in a row behind the oven. Raising his hoof, he passed over the containers marked Iodine and Isopropyl Alcohol, his light olive hoof landing above the jar labeled Red Phosphorous and remaining there, hovering shakily over the jar. Grabbing it, he brought it over the steaming pot and coiled his hoof around to open it.

Jumping in place, Flam found the barrel of a Fetlock placed forcefully onto the jar's lid. Looking to his left and toward the firearm's owner, he breathed a hitched breath.

"Move it, homes. We don't got all day now, do we?"

Slowly looking back toward the steaming pot, he found the barrel of a Hydra slowly rising in the right side of his view, signifying Dime's own revolver. Flinching, Flam shook his head lightly and stuttered, "O-okay."

His heart pounding, Flam slowly rotated the lid, beginning to screw it off. Placing the lid onto the counter next to him, he shut his eyes and breathed in and out for a second. Slowly raising it, he suddenly tipped it over and poured the entire jar of red powder into the pot.

The pot exploded in flames.

Thinking quickly, and sucking in a breath of now dwindling fresh air, Flam turned tail and scrammed for the door, leaving behind two very confused and now slowly dying stallions lying on the RV floor. Reaching outside, Flam immediately turned his entire body and threw all of his weight into the door, listening as the two ponies now trapped inside shouted curses at one another and to the stallion currently blocking the door from the outside.

As he struggled there, Flam flinched in surprise as he heard gunfire emerge from inside, not even looking up as bullet holes appeared from directly underneath the window, hovering dangerously over Flam's head. As the coughing from the inside began to die down, Flam, gritting his teeth in frustration, the sound of a hoof slapping against the glass resounded and echoed endlessly through Flam's head.

The yellow hoof slid down the glass window as the coughing ceased to a halt, the olive stallion safely outside hearing the sound of bodies collapsing to the ground. Five heartbeats later, Flam quickly scrambled away from the door, looking to the sky and breathing in fresh Equis air. Breathing out, he looked to his right, finding the cyan Pegasus still lying forgotten on the floor, back to the air and her head buried into the dirt.

Rushing over to his partner, Flam looked around in a panic. Finding the gas mask still lying on the desert floor, Flam lit his horn and levitated it toward the mare. Lifting her with his hooves, he magicked the gas mask onto her face, placing the straps behind her head and tightening them to his full advantage. Gulping audibly, he threw the mare over his shoulder and placed her over his back.

Rushing back toward the door, he slid the gas mask on his forehead back over his muzzle, magicked the mare, and hovered her in front of him. Opening the door, he quickly trotted to the front seat, magicking the curtains and sliding them toward the right side. Placing the mare into the open passenger seat, he took a look to the back of the RV and found the two dead corpses of Ocho and Dime lying cold on the carpet.

Lighting his horn, Flam slammed the RV door shut, jumped into the driver's seat, and threw his hoof into the clutch, pulling the RV out of the cooking site and into the Badlands.