The two had agreed they would start in the morning, giving the both of them time to prepare. The gryphon had ammo, a sleeping bag, and a few weapons to make the trip worth it. An assault rifle, a pistol, and a bat. The bat and pistol were in case of an emergency, she had a fondness for her rifle. The two met outside of the small town and with a nod, the two were off to start their adventure...

...Did he EVER shut up? Silverbeak had been leading the way to Manehatten and was seriously resisting the urge to shoot her “employer” in the face.

“I mean it's the concept, really...” Lure says as they walk, “If zombies are supposed to spread their disease through biting, then why do they eat the corpse? It leads to half-looking zombie things or just a pile of skeletons that barely move. And they call Ghouls “zombies” just because of how we look. You don't see me biting everything in sight.”

Silver needed to change the conversation or she was going to shoot him. “...What's with your voice?” she asks the ghoul, turning to look at him. “Last night you sounded pretty normal... Now you sound like every other ghoul.”

Lure smirked a bit, “Ah. I guess you would catch on to that.” he says with a nod. His fedora lifted slowly, revealing a glowing horn. “Just a bit of altering magic. Makes me sound less... Nasty.”

“A ghoul AND unicorn?” Silverbeak asks, raising an eyebrow. Last she heard, ghoul unicorns were rare outside of Canterlot, and she didn't know they could do magic. But if he had some good spells on him, then he wouldn't need a bodyguard.

The ghoul smiles at that, perhaps a bit proud of his magic. “At least I kept something useful, eh Beaky?”

“...Don't call me that.” Silverbeak says flatly. She had told the ghoul her name after they had agreed to this contract... And now she had more of a reason to hate the ghoul.

“But it's a cute name.” he says with a grin, more than likely knowing that it got on her nerves.

“I'm NOT cute.” the griffon says, her feathers bristling a bit.

“Sure you are.” he says, “Cute beak, cute walk, a cute little wiggle to your hips...”

And just like that, the ghoul ended up with a black eye (well... kind of black) and was leading the way this time. “It was just a joke.” he says, rubbing the spot.

“It wasn't funny.” the griffon says, cracking her knuckles a bit.

“Griffon's really need a better sense of humor...” the ghoul says, still smirking despite the punch to his face.

“And ghouls need to learn when to shut their mouths.” Silverbeak says, contemplating how quiet it would be if she just... Wait... She reached out and grabbed him, pulling the ghoul back. “Armed ponies.” she says, looking ahead.

Quick Lure's smile turned into a frown and he followed her gaze. “How many?”

“Four.” she says, seeing them before they noticed the two. “They don't see us yet. But at least two are armed...” she says, guns glinting a bit in the light. She also saw they had saddlebags, but couldn't see what was inside. They were also pretty scruffy looking. Dirty bodies, unkept manes. Raiders? No... Not crazy looking enough. Slavers? Her claws clenched a bit as her mind raced, the thought of getting into a fight so soon like this...

“I see...” the ghoul says as the group approached, keeping his tone mild. They could try going around, but they would get seen now. “Well then... Let's keep going.” he says. He tried to be cool, but Silver could hear his heartbeat pick up a bit.

“Rrgg...” Silverbeak growled in frustration. She wanted to avoid fighting in an unfair matchup, especially since she didn't know what the ghoul could bring to the fight. However, she didn't feel like walking around that group, especially if they did spot the two.

In time it didn't matter. The two continued forward and the four ponies had now noticed the griffon and ghoul. Two immediately drew shotguns as the other two walked forward. Yeah... This was gonna get rough.

“Well well...” A blue coated pony says, “Looky here, boys. A griffon and a zombie.” The others laughed a bit, the two with shotguns slowly edging their way around the two travelers.

The ghoul smiles, “Hello gentleponies.” he says, his voice changing to the same he had used in the bar. “Nice day for a walk, isn't it?”

“I'm thinking... 220 caps for the ghoul.” the blue pony says to his friends, clearly ignoring the pleasentries. “We might be able to get 700 for the girl.”

Silver scowled a bit. They WERE slavers... And now she couldn't reach her gun without getting shot.

The ghoul paused, Silver could see the gears whirring in his head. “Oh... I doubt that.” he says.

“Oh you DO, huh?” the stallion asks, finally turning to face the ghoul. He was scowling now, slowly pulling out a plank of wood from his saddlebag.

“Yeah.” Lure says, “I mean come on. Who wants a zombie around? We look and feel nasty. I doubt anypony would pay the caps for that.”

The pony paused, his brow furrowing. Silver could tell now the pony was thinking about killing the nonprofitable zombie.

“Now the gryphon...” Lure says, patting Silver's side, making her scowl more. “She's great stock, isn't she?” Silver shot him a look. What WAS he doing? “Big... strong...” the ghoul walked around the gryphon, “And nice hips, good for ponies with an... exotic taste.” If that ghoul was in kicking distance... The ghoul walks up to the blue stallion. “Best of all? Dumb as a rock.” Ohh he was a dead ghoul... “Seriously. She only grunts. I think she was dropped on her head as an egg.” The ghoul turned to her, “Isn't that right, Sil?”

'Sil'? The gryphon girl stared with anger, but made a grunting noise. The ponies were listening to the ghoul... meaning they were both going to live. Silver needed to play along... For now.

The ponies laughed a bit at that, moving closer. Lure smiles, “Yeah... Worth a bit more than 700 caps.” he says, “I would say 1,000. Most ponies would leap at the chance to get a dumb griffon to do whatever they want. She can be a hell of a bodyguard. Tell her where to shoot and she will.”

“Hell I wanna go at her.” The second unarmed pony says with a grin.

“No way, you'd damage her.” one of the armed one says, stepping closer. Both were looking at the ghoul while standing next to Silverbeak.

Silverbeak finally got it. He was distracting them, keeping them busy... She slowly slid a claw in her pack while backing up.

“Now I'm betting,” Lure says, “smart guys like you can see how valuable she is. So let's say you give me 200 caps and I'll tell her to follow you. She'll even bark like a dog.”

“200? Man that's a steal.” the other unarmed pony says, completely forgetting they were gonna kill the zombie not even a minute ago. These guys were freaking idiots...

3...2...1. Silverbeak pulled out her bat and swung it, catching one of the armed ponies in the back of the head, making a hard, wet THWACK as she cracked his skull. He shuddered and his body jerked forward, but he fell flat to the ground.

The other three turned towards the griffon and the ghoul acted. His small hoofgun flew out of his duster and the barrel pressed itself to the temple of the annoying unarmed pony. BANG!! Blood and brain spurted from the side of the pony's head and he fell.

Silverbeak raised the bat and swung again as the raider with the shotgun raised it slowly, but the griffon was too close. The bat connected to the side of the pony's head and he spun a bit before falling to the ground, dead.

The final blue pony looked between the two, a hoofgun in his face and a bat near his side. “...Hang on... we can talk-” BANG! The sound startled Silverbeak as Lure pulled the trigger, letting the pony fall to the ground and collapse, a hole in his face.

Lure sighs, pocketing the gun. “Filthy slavers...” he says, the magic gone from his voice. “A pony that treats other ponies like things... They're fucking scum.” He kneels down, digging through the slaver's saddlebags. “Better loot what we need, and what we don't. Extra caps can only be better.”

Silverbeak went quiet, looking down at the ponies before looting them. She didn't think the ghoul would have it in him, but it was obvious this hadn't been his first fight. Then again, they had been lucky these guys were idiots. She picked up one of the shotguns the pony had, then checked how much ammo he had before putting it in her own bag and moving to the next.

Quick Lure had found some ammo he could use, and took the weapons to sell later. A couple of healing potions were also found, and about 369 bottlecaps in a small pouch. He separated a healing potion and half of the bottlecaps, levitating them over to Silverbeak. “Here. I think this guy was the leader. I doubt the other three have anything decent.” he says.

“...I don't need your charity.” she says, swiping the loot in a claw and pocketing it anyway.

“I know.” he says, “But you did half the work on these four, you take half the earnings.”

“You're the one that shot him in the face.” she points out.

“Like I said, he was the boss. I'm guessing he handled all the money and stuff for the others.”

“Whatever.” Silver says with a shrug.

The ghoul hesitated. “Sorry...”

“For what?” she asks.

“The things I said. I needed them to lower their guard, so they needed to hear some decent bullshit.”

Silverbeak shrugs. “I figured.” she says, “But if you HAD tried to sell me, I woulda killed you.”

Lure smiles, “I wouldn't blame you.” he says.

The two continue on for a bit, staying relatively silent thanks to the attack. However a few questions popped into Silverbeak's head. “So... What spells are you packing?” she asks, “Mind control? A beam? Something useful?”

Lure laughs a bit. “Well, I can't control minds.” the ghoul says, “I have levitation, as all unicorns do. I can make myself look a little decent, make my voice change to be a bit clearer. But I cannot affect others with my magic.”

“Right...” Silverbeak says. So much for magical backup... “Why didn't you do that in the town? Pretty yourself up and walk into the bar like that?”

The ghoul laughs a bit, “Like that would have worked on you?” he asks. Good point. “Believe me, I'm not an idiot. It's a good disguise, but touch my body and you'll feel my real skin. Get close enough and you'll smell me. Yeah I know.” he says, rolling his eyes as Silver let out a single laugh at the comment.. “Ghouls smell. I've taken a bath three times a day and still smell it.” He looks back at her, “Besides, even if you had fallen for the act, I can't power up that spell forever. I would have dropped it and you would have found out in a terrible way. I prefer to tell the truth.”

How much of that was the truth? Silver wondered. He still hadn't told her what they were looking for at those locations... Ah well. The sooner they got to Manehatten, the sooner she'd get paid her first payment, and the sooner she'd be done with this job.

“We made good time today.” the ghoul says, looking around the area. “Let's set up camp a little further up.” he says. Though night wasn't bad, ghouls apparently did need some form of rest... At least Silver assumed they did, anyway. She shrugs, looking up at the setting sun as the two pulled out camping supplies, designating that Silver would get the first watch, since she could see pretty far. This was gonna be a long trip...

Author's Note

Whooo second chapter finally up! Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave comments, criticisms, or things you feel would make the story better. I love reading them!