Author's Note

I didn't proof read this chapter as well as I likely should have. If you find any grammar/spelling errors please leave a comment with a small section copy/pasted from where the mistake was so I can easily find it with cnt F. Thank you.

8: A Long Day

Considering how long he had slept yesterday, Selene had slept surprisingly long tonight, not waking until the sun had already come up. This was rather unusual for him, but last night had been a rather unusual night.

Neighbourhood's sudden, forceful advance had completely blindsided him. He had been trying to piece together what her motivation was since they had met. At the moment he was leaning heavily towards she's just using me, and didn't actually care what happened to him beyond how much he could benefit her—in effect, the mirror image of what he thought of her—but last night had complicated the matter significantly.

Does she really care about me? Or was she just using me solely for her own benefit? If that was all she wanted, why did she spend so much time focusing on me? Is she trying to distract me? Was that supposed to be a reward for something? I don't think I've actually done anything for her yet...

...Is she trying to make me more pliable, to more easily manipulate me? That's what I'd bet on, I suppose. Which one of these would be worst for me? That she's just using me, and would happily kill or abandon me at any moment, but I really don't think that's something she'd do; if I was expendable she wouldn't have blown so much—both literally and figuratively—on me, to buy me that armor and speed the recovery of my wing.

All that really leaves is that she really cares about me—heavily doubt it—or she's planing on using me for a long time, and wants to trick me into loving her. I guess there's no harm in me playing along.

As Selene dragged himself fully awake, leaving his thoughts behind, he found his head laying across Neighbourhood's neck as she lay curled around his body. At least I ended up on top... Selene personally preferred the lithe, light body of a Pegasus, but his experiences were spread pretty evenly across the three breeds. Neighbourhood's body had the soft, supple curves common to most Unicorns, but she was firm to the touch rather than soft: she felt more like an Earthpony.

He gently shook her awake. "Hey, it's time to get going; we have a long way to go... to wherever we decide to go today."

She groaned, and rolled away from him, onto her back, gently flailing her legs in the air.

Selene dragged himself onto his hooves. "Common, up." He put a forehoof onto her belly, and shook her side-to-side.

She let him shake her for a bit, but as he continued without letting up she eventually grabbed his foreleg in both of hers, and dragged him to a stop. "That's enough of that, Darling."

"Ok, well then lets go," Selene said, pulling his foreleg back, and dragging her up as well.

***

They had split up after leaving the inn, Neighbourhood going to collect supplies for their next trip, while Selene went back to the blacksmiths to pick up his armor. The ironically lightly colored smith had already locked up and left her shop closed, with his newly painted armor outside on a table. Apparently the ponies of this town were either very trustworthy, or the mare didn't really care.

She had painted the double layered chain mail sleeves a very dark grey that was a very similar color as his own mercury grey fur, but without the green tint. The chest piece was painted mostly dark grey-green, much more closely matching Selene's fur, with a cyan stripe running out from under his belly, up his chest before splitting in a Y to go over each of his shoulders. It matched the darker cyan shade from his tail, rather than the brighter one, which he was thankful for as that would have made him too easy to spot.

Still, even using the darker color scheme the armor wasn't at all subtle. It wouldn't just make him stand out, but would also leave a lasting impression in every pony's mind who he crossed paths with. So much for a low profile.

Selene picked up the armor from the table, and was once again surprised at how light it was considering it's thickness. He quickly discovered two new features that hadn't been there last night. The armor now had metal 'shoes' covering each of his hooves, that were integrated into and closed off the mail legs, and the armor now had a hood. He pushed at the hood, and was surprised to find it very stiff, and thick, with at least two layers of leather and metal plates hidden in it. The neck was still flexible enough he could push it back and leave it laying on his back, but the top half was basically an open faced helmet hidden in the black fabric. Clever, and hopelessly over engineered... How much did Neigh pay for this?

Selene loosened the armors neck up as much as he could, and stepped his rear legs down into the armor. It took some trail-and-error, but he was eventually able to get his hindlegs down their respective holes. He ended up with his tail lodged at his side, and he had to reach around behind himself to pull it out of it's small hole.

He then slid his forelegs into the armor, and easily got them down the mail sleeves all the way down into the metal shoes. His shoulders slid into place all on their own as he stood up, now entirely in the armor. It took some fumbling to tighten up the shoulder straps to close the neck hole, putting most of the pressure on the top of his chest rather than his neck.

He brought the hood up, just to see what the complete experience would be. It was just long enough to protect the majority of the side of his head, but didn't come forward enough to obscure his vision to the sides, which also meant it didn't protect his eyes at all.

The hood also didn't hide his face. Not only would the armor draw attention to him, even with the hood up anypony would easily be able to recognize him. So much of Selene's life had been spent sneaking around, stealing what he needed to get by. Now, with who he was effectively painted across his armor, that would not be possible without terribly harming his reputation.

Not ideal for a scouting mission, but it's a change I've been putting off for far too long anyway.

He pulled the hood back and went to meet Neighbourhood halfway across the plaza.

***

Neighbourhood hadn't arrived yet, but Mineral Fortune was wondering around nearby, so Selene wondered over to talk to her. They traded complements, Mineral to Selene's new armor, and Selene to Minerals general appearance. They talked about the towns history a bit, and the basic geography around the area, but as it turned out Mineral had lived her entire life in the town, and, outside of her and her fathers patrols, had never gone far enough astray to ever visit any other towns, so what she could tell Selene was very limited.

"So, what were you planing on doing for your second day in our town?" she asked, crossing her forelegs and leaning forward.

"Me and Neigh are leaving pretty early, probably not long after she gets here. I'm not quite sure where we're going, but neither of us really want to stay in one place right now." He knew how shifty that would sound, but it was true, and he didn't really have any better reasoning.

"Oh... well, I hope your journey is a safe one, and you can make it back to us some day."

"Yea, me too," Selene mumbled, letting the conversation fall into an awkward silence. He didn't really have anything he could talk about without revealing what he considered too much.

"Umm... Me and my father are going on another patrol today. Until I'm old enough to start taking over from mom he thinks it's the best way for me to be useful, and I like the opportunity to stretch my wings, you know."

"Yea, I do," Selene said, stretching his own dis-used wings out from under their chain mail and cloth coverings. He hadn't checked his left wing today, and took the opportunity to fan it out in front of him to see. Whatever that was Neighbourhood had bought him was apparently working: not just one, but three blood feathers had begun to grown in, and were much larger than they should have been. It was too early to take an accurate guess, but he very well may be flying again in less than the promised week.

"Oh, umm, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you of your injury."

"No, it's fine; I needed to check it anyway. It doesn't hurt at all, just some missing feathers. Thanks to that potion Neighbourhood got me I should be back in the air soon enough."

"That's good to hear!" Dusty Skies roared, coming up to join the group. "It's always a good thing to have another set of eyes watchin' over us. So where are you stayin, son?"

"He's not. Him and the Unicorn are leaving today," Mineral answered for Selene.

"Awe, shoot, I'm sad to hear it," Dusty said, giving Selene a rather rough bat on the shoulder. It carried enough force to rock Selene sideways, but his armor dissipated the force to the point he hardly felt it as it was spread across most of his side.

"Are you sure?" Neighbourhood asked, finally having arrived, taking up a position opisite of Selene, creating a square with a pony on each side. "Not many Pegasi, at least those I've met, would be willing to admit missing a Unicorn."

"You're more Earthpony than Unicorn," Selene stated, running with the observation he made earlier.

Neighbourhood gave him a vicious glare, but it only lasted a moment. Still, it was a much stronger reaction than Selene had expected from such a harmless observation, and one most independent ponies would take as a complement.

"So, have we decided where we're going?" Selene asked Neighbourhood.

"I'm thinking south," she stated simply.

"South?" Dusty asked. "Anywhere in particular?"

"I've heard that there is a trade town on the edge of the San Palomino Dessert. I'm thinking that would make a good enough rest stop on our way further south." Neighbourhood looked happy enough with that logic, although both Mineral and Dusty looked a little concerned over their lack of a specific destination.

"I think you mean Dodge City," Dusty offered. "It's a nice enough little place, mostly run by Earthponies, but they accept any kind... and I do mean any kind of pony. Slave traders, raiders, gambling and prostitutes. It's not a pleasant place, but they have their own small army to stop their visitors from killin' each other, so you should be safe enough."

"Hey!" Mineral suddenly burst out. "We're patrolling pretty far south today anyway; do you think we could give them a wing, pa?"

Dusty considered it for awhile. Selene couldn't help but remember how he had refused to offer them a flight back to town when they had discovered them, with him crippled, out in the snow. It had been fairly obvious he had refused simply because of Neighbourhood, and given how he was glancing at her now it was obvious she was still the sticking point.

Selene would have offered to ride with him, leaving Neighbourhood to Mineral, but while they weighed about the same, him and Neighbourhood, Selene could at least help take some of his weight with his wings, while Neighbourhood was just dead weight to them. More than that, he strongly suspected the only reason Mineral was offering was so she could get close to him.

Dusty finally came to a decision. "Yea, I suppose we could. We're not going that far south, but we should be able to get you close enough you can reach the town on your own by nightfall."

"Oh, that would be lovely, dear," Neighbourhood said, giving Dusty a head-dip.

"Then I guess we'd better get going," Mineral said, moving right up beside Selene. "I call this one."

Selene glanced at her, then looked at Neighbourhood. She was looking back at him, but doing a very good job of hiding what she was thinking, hidden behind a small smile. Looking closely Selene began to notice the small signs, the tension in the corners of her lips, the cold, almost emotionless look in her eyes. She was actually upset about this. Maybe she really does care... or is just afraid Minerals going to mess up her plans of getting me dependent on her, but I'm definitely not expendable to her.

"Ok, on you go, miss," Dusty said, moving up beside Neighbourhood, and leaning over slightly.

She gave Selene one last glance, then climbed on top of Dusty.

"So, how would you like me to..." Mineral trailed off, looking Selene over.

"Whatever is most comfortable for you," Selene answered, hoping whatever she chose wouldn't be too personal.

She smiled at him for a moment, then spread her wings and hovered off of the ground on quick, light flaps. "Go on, we'll catch up!" she shouted to her father, who nodded and took off himself, flying in a loose circle as he gained enough altitude to clear the buildings around them, Neighbourhood clinging to his back.

Mineral lowered herself over Selene's back, and latched all four of her legs around his torso. Before Selene could complain she flapped aggressively, and pulled him straight off of the ground.

Selene had spent much of his life able to fly on his own, so it always felt extremely wrong to be in the air while he couldn't fly himself. It wasn't all that bad though; while he couldn't fly missing as many feathers as he was, he could still slow himself enough for a rough but perfectly survivable landing, unlike Neighbourhood, who would probably die, or at least be crippled if dropped from any significant height.

So he forced himself to relax, and enjoyed the soft pressure of Minerals full body hug as she hauled him into the sky. They caught up to Dusty fairly quickly, who began to pick up the pace as they moved into formation on his right and a bit behind him.

Selene spread his wings out as Mineral dragged him through the air, only opening his right wing about halfway to compensate for his left wing missing half it's feathers. He wasn't able to add much to their forward propulsion, but his wings could still provide a decent amount of lift to take much of his weight off of Minerals legs.

He experimented with the angle he held his wings to the air, and as he steepened the angle enough he actually managed to generate enough lift to press his back into Mineral's belly, not just taking all of his own weight but some of hers too. She would have to work harder to push them forward with all the extra drag he was causing, but her legs wouldn't get tiered this way.

She nuzzled the back of his head in thanks, then returned her attention to flying.

***

They made good enough time, everything considered. Selene enjoyed the feeling of air beneath his wings for as long as it lasted, even though the majority of their propulsive power wasn't coming from him.

They had traveled all the way down the south side of the mountain range, and extended a decent way into the San Palomino Desert before Dodge City finally came into sight. It was one of the larger towns Selene had ever been too; at least as large as New Canterlot had been on the East Coast. It was completely surrounded by empty desert on all but one side, which was sprawled over the good sized river that fed the town. Selene made a mental note to ask about the rivers name if he had the chance.

Dusty moved in to land first, bleeding off his altitude in a gentle spiral glide down. Mineral followed, descending in a vertical hover. She dropped him while still a few feet above the ground, then landed beside him. "Don't forget to write..." she mumbled, leaning against his side.

"Thank you for the lift," Neighbourhood said, giving Dusty a rough bump on the shoulder before moving away. "You've saved us at least two days traveling."

"No problem, miss," Dusty said, with a little bow and a hat tip.

Neighbourhood nodded once, then turned and walked away towards the city, still a few minutes walk away.

Selene nodded to Dusty, then pressed his shoulder against Minerals, before saying, "I'll stop by to visit again in a few weeks," then moved away before she could respond. He wasn't quite sure what he intended to do with the young mare, but getting close to the mayors daughter seemed like a good idea at the time, and the grin Dusty gave him revealed he either approved or at least trusted his daughter to make her own mistakes.

As he hurried after Neighbourhood he heard the two Pegasi take to the air and begin making their way back to their own town.

***

Selene and Neighbourhood spent the next few hours wondering around the city. It wasn't a very tall city, with the majority of it's buildings being only one story, but it was enormous in circumference. It had a few wide main streets cutting it into pieces, and then many smaller streets criss crossing almost at random between the larger buildings, which then had large side alleyways cutting between them, and even smaller alleyways dividing the city further, creating a massive maze.

They eventually wondered passed a large tailors workshop, and after a brief discussion decided to have them make Selene a harness to go over his armor, so he could start carrying a heavier fraction of their supplies. It took Neighbourhood a bit of haggling, but she was able to convince them to rush through and make the harness overnight so they could pick it up and leave in the morning. They agreed, but only if she pay them in advance, so she did.

After they had taken Selene's measurements, over the outside of his armor, the two left and went to a nearby nightclub.

"I'm going to go look around for somepony," Neighbourhood told Selene as they entered.

There was a good sized dace floor in the middle of the club, although it was less than half full. On the far side was a bar that was more packed, with a large collection of ponies that looked to all be part of a gang, or something similar. To the side there was a lowered section that was full of tables, with ponies gambling on card games. It wasn't quite what Selene had pictured when Dusty had told them about the town, but there was so much tension it did feel like ponies would start killing each other with just a small spark.

"Who?" Selene asked before she could leave.

"Don't worry about it. I doubt he'll be here, but if he is I'll find him fast enough."

"What should I do?" Selene asked as she started moving away from him, heading towards the gambling ponies down in the large side den.

"Go talk to the barkeep and figure out where we're going next," she offered over her shoulder, then disappeared down into the den.

Selene walked around the dance floor to the end of the bar. The gang-ponies had filled up it's entire length, with even more standing behind them and talking with the rest, but they had apparently ordered all the drinks they would need and the barkeep wasn't busy, and came to the far end of the bar to see Selene immediately.

"What can I getcha?"

"Umm, nothing. I'm new in town and I just have a few questions about the surrounding area."

"Are you sure? We have a special tonight on—"

"Yea, I'm sure," Selene interrupted as nicely as he could. "Look, when I say new in town, I mean really new in town. I'm originally from New Canterlot, on the East Coast. I've only been here a few weeks and I—"

"Hey!" the barkeep interrupted Selene, turning to address the gang ponies at his bar. "This stallion new in town, and doesn't have any affiliations yet. You said you guys were looking to recruit, yea?"

Selene felt his heart sink as the entire gang of ponies, some of them nearly twice his size, all turned to stare at him in unison. ...I'm sure I'll be fine...

About half of them moved to step away from the bar at the same time, but one of them started shouting, "whoa, hey guys, give him some space! I'll talk to him!"

A powder blue Earthpony stallion who was covered in large black splotches squeezed himself out of the crowd. "In fact," he continued, still shouting, "I think it's time most of you head back! Go on, get!"

The group of ponies glanced around at each other for a moment, before they all started to amble away from the bar, most grabbing and taking their drinks with them, and a few dropping tips on the bar.

The blue stallion moved around them to come up to Selene. He was about half an inch shorter than Selene, but he made up for it with a confident step and a massive grin. "Hey there. You can call me Thunder Flint, or T.F." He held out a forehoof, looking up slightly into Selene's eyes.

"Selene," he threw out his name, grabbing the littler ponies hoof. He was stronger than Selene had been expecting, but Earthponies generally were.

"Nice armor," Thunder Flint commented, stepping back a bit. "Are you a knight?"

"No," Selene answered, shaking his head. "Just a stallion with some style."

There was a sudden bang from down in the gambling den. It sounded like somepony had thrown a chair against a wall.

Neighbourhood came rushing up from the entrance to the den, and forced her way through the gang-ponies still filing out. Selene was about to rush after her when no less than eight Earthponies came rushing up after her, and followed her out into the night.