Final Verdict

Chapters

Chapter 1: Bounties
Chapter 2: Homecoming
Chapter 3: Reticence
Chapter 4: Indignation
Chapter 5: Confession
Chapter 6: Gathering

Chapter 1: Bounties

The griffon ringleader skulked his way through the damp alleyway, pausing for a moment to ensure that he wasn't being followed. He meandered through several corners, making sure to keep his profile against the wall until he reached his hideout's door, and stepped out of the pouring rain. Giving several sharp taps against the metal door, the viewhole opened up, quickly closing as he made himself obvious to the bouncer.

High atop a building across the way, cautious eyes watched the ringleader enter the building. The group of three gave silent nods to each other as they began their mission to apprehend the griffon. A Stetson-wearing human unholstered the heavy crossbow on the back of his duster, locking in a rope bolt in the groove and arming it. With a click of the trigger, the bolt sailed across the open gap and found purchase on a wall, slamming into the old brick and lodging itself in place.

The hooded zebra gave a nod of thanks, and locked in her zipline hook, zooming across the way and landing on the roof of the building, quickly disappearing within through an open window. The human's other companion, a buffalo equipped with a heavy steel helmet, departed soon after, quickly making his way down the fire escape and bounding around the corner, quickly but silently.

Giving the building a final look, the human locked the crossbow into safety and stored it on his back, pulling out his own hook. He held down his hat and sprinted for the edge, swinging the hook onto the line and feeling the brick beneath his feet disappear. His form was obscured by the heavy cloud cover, the flash from a single bolt of lightning as he crossed over the only trace of his entry, thunder cracking as if it were an indicator of the grim tidings to come.

The ringleader had been known to hold meetings once in a blue moon, among other locations. This one had required some clever string pulling and some interrogations to get the concrete evidence of his gathering. Unfortunately for him, there were plenty of unsavory elements within Manehattan who gave up him at the presence of directed force and the knowledge that there were bounty hunters on his trail.

He bounced off the line, breaking into a roll as he hit the wet roof, still clutching his hat. Looking around, it seemed that the only way in was through the open window, a rectangular shape that easily accommodate his buffalo companion if he had decided to sneak in alongside him.

With a soft push, he widened the entrance further, and peeked inside. The warehouse was completely empty save for lights that brightened the center of the area, where a group of criminals - griffons and ponies alike - stood conversing amongst each other.

"What'll we do now? We have a contract out on our heads, and there's a bounty hunter after us!"

"Shut up, you idiot! We'll deal with him as he comes, take him down when he least expects it. It's just one bounty hunter, how tough could he be?"

"How tough? Whoever that bounty hunter is, he single-hoofedly crippled all our operations in Manehattan, and now he's coming after us! This guy's serious business, so stop treating this like some stupid game!"

"Did you get any beans on him?"

"Yeah, yeah... got it right here." One of them pulled out a bunch of folded papers... papers that the human recognized as ones that he planted himself to give them something to go on. If it hadn't been for his bluff that he was working alone and on a cold trail, they would have skipped town already, and he didn't want that. "One... uh, Jameson Harper. A human."

"A human? You're telling me that a backwards hick from the plains down south is stomping all of our guys?" The griffon scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I already told you to stop treating this like a damn game, Crezio! This 'backwards hick' killed or jailed every single one of our boys he's come across. The bounty hunters are serious business, and now he's coming for us!"

"We wouldn't be having this problem if all of your guys were trained half as well as mine are."

"Are you slandering my guys? Your guys are pushing daisies right now; at least my guys actually managed to hurt the bastard."

"Hurt? Hurt who? Themselves? The way they held up against that bounty hunter, they must be real masters at stabbing themselves in the flank."

They continued arguing as the human hopped inside, landing on the brick floor with a soft thud next to his zebra companion.

"Hear that, Jamie?" she asked him, chuckling. "They're arguing about you."

"Yeah, well, criminal types never change, Anora," Jamie said. "I see three lights and plenty of open space. Can I count on you to work your magic when I give the signal?"

"Of course. And you know Redhorn will come charging inside the moment he hears any fighting."

"This plan practically works for itself," he laughed. "I reckon that we shouldn't bother their little party... let's get ourselves set up." He drew his pistolbow, a weapon that he made for himself early on in his bounty hunter career, and loaded switched out the ammunition for shock bolts. Loading the cylindrical magazine inside, he armed the lathe with a silent whir, ready to incapacitate any unwitting guard.

The slight jingle of Anora's belt could be heard as she readied several of her custom-made blinding bombs. "So, Crezio is here, after all, then. It's fortunate that he's so self-absorbed... makes it easier for us."

"So..." Jamie hefted his pistolbow. "You ready?"

"Whenever you are."

Jamie nodded, hopping over the railing and landing on the ground floor with nary a sound. Barely on the periphery of the darkness and standing just right where the light began was a earth pony guard, leaning against a pile of boxes, casually relaxing as his superiors argued their superiority over each other.

The guard sighed, shaking his head as he began to wish here were someplace else instead, muttering about better places to be... like a bar, or a brothel. Jamie decided to oblige him by sending him to dreamland and fired a shock bolt directly into the back of his head. The body spasmed several times as the bolt's contained magic worked its wonders, a voice of strain just barely unable to escape from the guard's mouth.

Dragging the body behind the boxes, Jamie slid up on the corner and peeked his head around to get a better count of the numbers. A good deal of them were senior members of the criminal group that he was familiar with, a bunch of influential crime types that owned several districts in Manehattan that revolved around foal-trafficking. Over the course of a couple of years, a dossier loaded with evidence and clues had been built up to the point where it was absolutely concrete that these members were guilty of the crimes they had committed.

Naturally, Princess Luna wasn't very keen on such things, and had given Jamie and his group the task of bringing them to justice. It went without saying that the Princess's draconian stance on this particular crime wasn't argued against within the Judicators, nor most of her trusted council. The very idea of sullying innocence through means that would leave foals scarred for life deserved no quarter.

Unfortunately for all of them, Princess Luna only cared to have one of them alive, and that was Crezio. The rest were entirely expendable, and Jamie had no intention of leaving any loose ends to come chasing back to him and his companions later on. Such was the nature of keeping his position a secret: they were not aware that a Judicator—a word spoken with terror in underground circles—had been assigned to this case, instead of a standard bounty hunter.

He looked up into the stands and nodded. Three bombs were let loose towards the center of the warehouse, exploding with a flash of white powder and blinding the entire group.

"Agh, what the—who did that?!" Crezio shouted, clutching his face. "Guards! Find them!"

Unfortunately, the other two bombs had been let loose towards the exits of the warehouse, blinding the guards, as well.

"We—we can't, boss, agh... we're blind, too!"

"Damn idiots, all of you!" Crezio waved his claw around in front of him in futility, stumbling around erratically. "You fucking find those intruders and deal with them now, you hear me?"

"So much for being well-trained," the other pony responded.

"Shut up!"

"You know, if you were half as good as me, you would have—agh!" A bolt flew into the side of his neck, and he crumpled without a word. Then more bodies fell around Crezio as Jamie reloaded and continued firing. By the time they had recovered their eyesight, half of their numbers had already been wiped out, leaving less than a dozen alive.

Crezio huffed, enraged by the ambush. "Guards, get that son of a—" He was interrupted by a crash from one of the exits, as the sounds of battles commenced. He could hear one of his guards give a bloodcurling scream before everything went completely silent again.

"It... it's that bounty hunter, boss..." one of his goons said. "He's here for us!" He pointed at the sarcastic pony's once-living body. "And he's not here to arrest us... every pony and griffon for themselves!" They all scattered, running for the single and only exit that hadn't been claimed by some deadly misfortune.

"Run, boys, run, we're home free! We're home—AHHHHHHH!" There was the sound of an explosion from the door, rocking the entire building and causing dust to spatter down from the ceiling. Jamie smirked: Anora had set up a tripwire bomb at the exit. Very clever.

Crezio turned around, his eyes darting in every direction frantically trying to discern his attacker. "Come out! I know you're that bounty hunter! We... we can talk about this! I can pay you!"

The attempt at an offer was always amusing to Judicators... a pathetic last attempt to save their own skins before they were sent to jail, the afterlife, or Princess Luna herself to be judged and found guilty... and then subsequently executed. There was no respect nor trust to be had for scum like them, beings who played off of the misery of others to perpetuate their own despicable lifestyles. Thankfully, Judicators were not bound to capture their targets alive, so justice could be delivered in a more final and immediate method.

Shaking his head, Jamie reloaded his pistolbow with shock bolts. Princess Luna had specifically stated that Crezio was to be taken alive so that she may speak to him herself, so Jamie would oblige.

"Please?! I know you're out there, just... just talk to me, please!" Crezio shouted. "P-please be merciful, I—zzzzzzzzzz!" Jamie implanted a shock bolt into his chest, knocking him out as the body fell to the ground, giving a few small kicks as the electricity faded away.

Redhorn quickly ran into the light and hefted Crezio on his back. Anora walked out of her side of the warehouse, stepping over the bodies and giving Jamie an amused look, while the cowboy himself holstered his pistolbow, satisfied with how well the plan had gone.

"That plan went off just perfectly" Jamie said. "Time to turn this one in."

The Lunar Office of Judicial Affairs—the Manehattan branch—stood brightly lit, sitting straight in the middle of one of the city's many commercial districts. Around this time of night, however, barely anypony would be found outside without good reason, so that made Redhorn's job easier as they could take the side entrance without garnering any strange looks.

Giving a nod to the police officer standing guard at the secondary entranceway, they walked through the grounds on their way to the back, passing by ornate griffon and pony statues in valiant poses and gardens teeming with plant life and small ponds. The door itself was always unlocked, but was enchanted with a special barrier spell by Princess Luna that only gave bounty hunters the right to pass through their specially-enchanted badges.

As they entered the silent back atrium, a bored official looked up from his counter.

"Badges, please," he said flatly. Jamie pushed aside the left part of his coat, revealing an ornate moonsteel badge, a circular object emblazoned with the emblem of the Commonwealth: a glowing sun with a single crescent moon within. The official leaned forward, adjusting his glasses to get a better look, before sitting back and nodding slowly. "Very good. Here to turn in a contract today?"

"Yes, sir. Here to turn in a contract on Crezio."

"Of course..." The official rolled away in his office chair to a row of file cabinets, and slid on open with the rickety sound of metal. The sound of pages flipping could be heard as he went through the envelopes. "C... C... C... Crezio... here!" He rolled back to the table and slapped the file down, giving a glance to the unconscious griffon on Redhorn's back. "Hope you didn't go through too much trouble to bag him."

"Not that much trouble, really..." Jamie said. "Sort of... played right into our plans. Everythin' went off without a hitch."

"Very impressive. A good number of bounty hunters like to overlook the foresight and planning part. It's nice to know that there are still some out there who value the virtue of thinking..." He opened the file and noticed who had put up the contract. "Well..." He looked up, smiling at Jamie. "I guess with bounty hunters like yourselves, it's sort of a given. We don't get many of you around here."

"Yeah... well... we tend to make ourselves scarce until the moment's right. Probably won't be seein' many of us just strollin' in during the day here, so I guess it was just fortunate that it was night."

"Very befitting of your group's rather intriguing nature," the official noted. He pulled out a photo of Crezio and compared it to the drooling griffon. "He checks out. Just have to turn him in and we'll arrange for him to be transferred immediately. The Night Guard fortunately serve here in Manehattan, so they'll be able to expedite his journey to Canterlot via carriage."

"So does that mean down to the cells, or...?"

"No need for that. Excuse me, guards!" Two pegasi Night Guard appeared and gave a respectful nod to Jamie and the official. "Take the prisoner, and take care with him. The Princess wishes to... speak with him herself." The guards saluted and took Crezio off of Redhorn's back before hauling him off. "As for you three, you will find your payment in full to collect at the front office." He stamped a red 'COMPLETED' mark on the file and put it into his outgoing box. He grabbed several more stamps and worked on more papers, giving a final signature before handing them over to Jamie. "Just show these to them. Have a good night!"

"How much do we get?" Anora asked. She fumbled with her taking her hood off as she attempted to look at Jamie for a response. "A tidy sum, I hope?"

"Enough to pay for my used bolts and then some," he said. "I think we'll be fine for a while, unless there's another crazy bandit crew runnin' around the Mild West again."

They walked past the desk and through the doors that led into the grand entrance chambers of the Lunar Office. The affairs of management for the police departments and the courts were handled within this building, and also doubled as the location where bounty hunters turned in their contracts after picking them up from the police department's bulletin board. What ponies still remained at this time of night paid the three Judicators no attention as they walked to the front desk.

The mare behind the table absentmindedly toyed with the tie on her business suit, unaware that she had visitors. The heavy iron bars that protected the front desk workers was old with age, but still sturdy in function. She sat alone in the booth, the other workers having already checked out for the day, and eventually, the night, too.

"Ahem," Jamie interrupted. The mare nearly jumped in her seat, immediately straightening her tie and giving an embarrassed smile to him.

"Uh, sorry about that... how can I help you, sir?"

"Can you check these in for me?" he said, sliding over the papers.

"Oh... just a moment, please." She quickly disappeared behind a set of doors and returned with three large bags stuffed with bits. "Here you go, sir," she said, checking off on the papers and putting them into an envelope. "Have a nice night!"

"Thank you," Jamie responded kindly, handing off each of the three bags to his companions. "So, any ideas on what to do now?"

"Well..." Redhorn said through his plated helm. "I'm tired. And hungry. I'd prefer to solve those problems, but not in that order."

"Agreed," Anora said. "I'd be glad to lay off of my equipment for a while. Really, you males have it so easy... I'd ask Redhorn to carry my bombs, but Celestia knows he might accidentally set one off with his rough-housing antics." She tossed her silvery mane around, thankful to have it out of her hood where it could freely stretch down to its natural shoulder length.

"I can be gentle when I need to..." he said.

"Not when you're crackin' heads, you aren't," Jamie joked.

"Okay, fine, maybe I'm not as... dainty as I'd like to think I am."

"Well, enough is enough, and this has been one long night for all of us." Jamie rubbed his chin. "Do any of you remember where the entrance to the base was in this place?"

"A painting? A painting is the entrance to the Judicator hideout?" Jamie said flatly. "That's practically the oldest trick in the book!"

The three had wandered through the maze within the Lunar Office in an attempt to locate the Judicator homebase hidden within. Unfortunately, none of them had actually visited the city nor the office in recent months during their stints in other regions of the Commonwealth, so it took them quite a while to actually locate it. The painting had been located down a rather nondescript hallway located between the janitor's closet and a windowsill that held a nice vase with a flower in it.

"You know that the Princess has enchanted our badges with special magic, Jamie," Anora said. "Only we can walk through that painting. To anypony else, they'll just walk straight into canvas."

"Judicator privileges," Redhorn sang, walking through the painting as his helmet clanked off of his side. The canvas shimmered slightly as the physical form passed through, making Jamie laugh.

"Well..." Jamie said. "Let's hope they're not too shabby when it comes to bunks... I think I've had enough staking out on hard floors and wooden boxes for a while now."

The inside held a hallway with a set of stairs leading down, into the lower areas beneath the Office where the base could be managed in secret. Most Judicator bases were located within Lunar Offices for safety and expediency, and could range from cramped in size to enormous in space. The base located within the Canterlot royal castle was obviously the largest, as it was the Judicator headquarters.

They walked down the length of the stairs until they reached an open chamber, a kitchen that was staffed by a single pony chef and two Night Guard. An adjoining doorway on their immediate left when they entered revealed a room of bunks on the other side. Opposite that on the far side of the room was a closed door, a sign above it saying 'chariot landing pad', for discreet air transportation between cities.

"Well, hey there!" the chef shouted, cleaning mugs at his station. "Didn't expect to get anypony in tonight, I'll get cooking on some food, just wait a moment." He fired up the stove and began chopping up ingredients.

Jamie went to bring back three cups of chilled cider as Anora and Redhorn took their seats. Bases always tended to be equipped with the best in foods, even if the bunks were lacking. Princess Luna spared no expense for her most trusted agents... well, except when it came to munitions. They had to pay out of their own pocket for that, since there was risk that the paper trail would lead back to the Princess if they became compromised in the case where she'd been funding their weapons. Things like luxurious foods and other necessities wouldn't set off any flags if any enterprising eyes found the expenditure papers.

"Woo-ee! You three sure are one strange bunch! Here in the Manehattan branch, we almost never get any visitors. And then tonight we get a zebra, a buffalo, and even a human!" He finished stirring the pot and began plating the food. "Don't see Judicators working in groups pretty often, especially not in a ragtag group such as yours."

He carefully brought over the three trays, handing off the freshly-prepared food to the tired Judicators, and prepared himself a mug of cider before sitting down with them.

"When was the last time you had anyone down here?" Jamie asked, taking a sip of his pumpkin soup. The warm broth was a welcome change from subsisting on the most basic dry foodstuffs during his careful investigation over the past few months.

"Well... I don't know, time passes by like a blur in here... I think around a few months? Last visit was a griffon Judicator who would probably stare everypony to death if he could." He shuddered. "That wasn't a pleasant visit... at least he retired to bed early and only stayed for a day. Princess Luna can sure pick them..."

"I'm sure he has his reasons... all of us do."

"The ultimate peacekeepers, huh? Well, I can't say I envy your job. The underground's a pretty bad place to be. Did a little moonlighting myself as a vigilante back when I worked the police department, but nothing like the kind of stuff you guys deal with... anyway, what's the story with you three? Not every day you see something like this, after all, especially the human. Could you tell me anything about humans?" he asked Jamie.

"Yeah, well... we like to keep to ourselves, mostly. Trade with the buffalo and all that," Jamie said, taking a sip of his pumpkin soup. "Most folks back home are a lot like myself, if you're gonna ask about that."

"Well, dang, you all talk like that?"

"S'the way it's always been, sir. We're fine with what we have, so we usually never leave our farms. The land provides for all of our needs."

"What about those tales..." the chef said, leaning towards him with expectant eyes. "...about humans being carnivores? Is that true?"

Jamie laughed. "Sort of. We don't have a lot of that sort of food down in the Southlands, so we maintain a mostly vegetarian diet. So it's no problem for us if we have to jump into pony cuisine... except hay or flowers. We can't eat those."

"What about magic? Do humans have magic? Er, sorry... don't get many humans around here, have to ask all these questions."

"Sort of... I guess we're kind of like earth ponies? We're tough and work real hard, but other than that, we don't have any fancy tricks or anythin' like unicorns can do, and we obviously can't fly..."

"Uh-huh... keep... going..." The chef was jotting all the stuff down on a small notepad. "For reference, of course."

"Are humans really that rare 'round these parts?" Jamie said, raising an eyebrow. He finished off his quiche and turned to his drink. "I didn't think we were that rare..."

"Psh, we barely get enough humans in Manehattan as it is! Most only ever show up at the farmer towns out on the south side of Equestria. I think there's a human in the Manehattan City Council, maybe I should go ask him sometime."

"Yeah, you go do that, then," Jamie laughed. He hadn't seen another human for several months now, though it didn't bother him much since he was always preoccupied with his work.

"Mm-hmm. So, a buffalo and a zebra. What's the story for you two?"

"Came to Equestria by boat like other Zebrican apothecaries," Anora said, shrugging. "One thing led to another, and I found out that I liked crime-fighting, and then I got an invitation to join the Judicators after a solo stint capturing a few thugs as a bounty hunter. Then I found these two gentlecolts and we've been running together ever since."

"You know we can't do anythin' without those potions and bombs you make, Anora," Jamie said, holding up his mug as a toast to her. "Got us out of more than a pinch with those things."

"Not as helpful as you and your crazy arsenal of bolts, Jamie," she responded. "If only it didn't cost a small fortune to restock your equipment." She looked at Redhorn's helmeted head. "At least Redhorn doesn't have to worry about that."

"Not true," the buffalo said. "I still have to worry about repairing my dents and scratches, you know."

"Nowhere near as expensive as buyin' a pack of shock bolts." Jamie pushed the tray back and wiped his mouth off with a napkin. "I pay to have the Judicator quartermasters to enchant them with magic, y'know. That ain't cheap. If all I had to worry about was gettin' a few scratches, I would be way better off. Of course, I could just use regular bolts... but that's lethal and sometimes contracts are worth more alive than dead. Shock bolts are probably my bread and butter in every contract we do these days."

"So, buffalo here, then," the chef said. "What's your story?"

"Met Jamie as my first partner when I started working as a bounty hunter. I was mostly a sign-on at the time as my chief ordered me to help him, but when I learned that there was a whole organization dedicated to stopping evildoers, I knew I had to sign up. And so we've all been partners ever since."

"Strength in numbers, huh?" the chef said, stacking the finished trays. "You're an interesting bunch; the organization tends to lean towards working the beat alone. Makes it a bit hard for everypony to get along, but I guess if they're all reporting to Princess Luna in the end, then that's fine." He walked off and deposited them in the sink, busying himself with cleaning work as he hummed to himself.

"Hmm..." Jamie said, leaning on his elbow. "Been a while since I've visited the Southlands..."

"I'm sure your parents would like to know how well you're doing," Redhorn said, taking off his thick-plated charging helmet. The griffon-forged plate was engraved with intricate carvings, some bloodied after the night's recent capture. "You haven't seen them in a while, haven't you?"

"Naw, my folks... I've been writin' to my folks... they know what I've been doin' in the center of the Commonwealth's influence and power. Granted, they ain't really happy about what I'm doin', but they understand, and that's good enough for all of us. They still want me to come down around for the next annual Bonfire Festival, but... well, shucks, I haven't gone to a festival for over six years now."

"Well, being a Judicator is tough work..." Anora said. "Uh... you didn't tell them about that, did you?"

"No, nothin' of the sort, just that I'm a... bounty hunter. If my folks knew I was a Judicator, that'd put their lives at risk, they'd flip tables and yell for me to come home... that, and our dearest Princess of the Night doesn't exactly let that fact slip around town all willy-nilly." He stretched his arms and yawned. "Ugh, these nights without sleep are gettin' the best of me. What say y'all we retire to the quarters for the night?"

Anora snored softly as she slumbered on her bed in the corner as Jamie hung up his duster and hat. He unlocked his heavy crossbow, looking over the weapon's lathe. It wasn't used very recently, so the checkup was short, and he turned his attention to his more preferred weapon: his pistolbow. The handheld device used cylindrical magazines locked into place in front of the trigger to load bolts into the groove.

The versatility with it was unmatched. On top of his non-lethal shock bolts, he could use net bolts, fire bolts, gas bolts, and a whole variety of other bolts depending on his needs. It usually cost a pretty penny to make, though, so that's what he usually picked up contracts in advance before ordering new ones to be made.

Redhorn's armor sat neatly piled on the floor next to his bed, as he began to make himself comfy. He flipped off his light, leaving only Jamie's nightstand lamp illuminating the darkness.

"Say, Redhorn..."

"Yes, Jamie?"

"That day's comin' up again... I think I'm going to tell her this year."

Redhorn raised his head, his face marked with concern. "Are you sure? You don't know how it might turn out... you haven't seen them for nearly ten years, Jamie."

"Almost ten years now, huh...?" Jamie sighed. "At the very least, I owe them an explanation. Runnin' around pretendin' like nothin' ever happened... like it was all just a random accident... it wasn't random, and it wasn't a mistake. It was deliberate. If anythin', they deserve now, more than ever, to know the truth."

He undid his vest, hanging it at the foot of the bed, before taking off his dragonscale vest. The vest was a special order, courtesy of Princess Luna, and had required a lot of strings to be pulled, especially in obtaining full-grown dragon scales. The durability was unmatched, though, and had kept Jamie alive more times than he'd cared to admit.

Frowning at the several open gashes on his white undershirt, he shook his head, dropping off his armguards on the nightstand and kicking off his boots. Most Judicators traveled extremely light, bringing along only their weapons and equipment, so that they could immediately relocate if need be.

"I would assume that there might be the chance that they'll react... badly to your news."

"It's a chance I have to take. I'm actually surprised that I've kept it a secret for this long... been a long time since I've been to Ponyville."

"Ah, Ponyville? I recall that being the hometown of the filly we rescued just a few weeks back..."

"Yeah... I grew up there myself for half of my childhood back when it was a small town, but times change, I guess. The whole place might have turned into a city, for all I know. Given how that filly acted when we rescued her, I wouldn't be surprised if it did."

"Mmm... go to sleep, you two..." Anora mumbled.

"Sorry, Anora," Redhorn whispered. "We can head down there as soon as you'd like, Jamie."

"Yeah, that'd be nice. Maybe pick up some contracts in the Canterlot-Ponyville area and give myself an excuse to drop in... and maybe twiddle my thumbs some more on whether or not I want to tell them. I'm gettin' jitters right now just thinkin' about it."

"Well..." Redhorn said, rolling over in his bed. "I have faith in your choice. Everything will turn out fine. Good night, Jamie."

"Yeah... good night." Jamie turned out his light and rested his head on the cool pillow, bidding his mind to hasten its descent to sleep. Thankfully, this night, it did, and his mind drifted off to a more simpler time in his childhood: a distinct memory where the sun was bright and clear, everything was peaceful, and the orchard he ran through was alive with the sound of laughter... shared between him and two foals.

Chapter 2: Homecoming

Jamie awoke the next morning greeted with pleasing silence. They were off-contract at the moment, and so had free time to spend at their own leisure. Except Jamie already had an idea of what he'd wanted to do next, so there wouldn't be any frolicking today, though the trip would be a mix of both business and personal reasons.

Anora, always first to fall asleep and first to wake, had already made her bed, her belongings neatly left at the foot of her bed. Redhorn still lay snoring in his own, the blanket barely covering him in an almost comedic way as his hooves and tails protruded over the edge. There wasn't much activity aside from the Night Guard standing on watch outside of the bunkroom and next to the entrance-exit that Judicators came in through, so the place had been quiet through the whole night.

Yawning and walking out of the room, Jamie caught sight of Anora sitting at the dining table, food and drink on one side of her and a plethora of bomb-making materials on the other. He rubbed his still slightly-wet face after he'd freshened up in the bathroom, noting how the only indication that time had passed were the hands on the clock, and sat down with her.

"Up and at 'em early, as usual, I see," he said, laughing at the sight of her munching and crafting bombs at the same time..

"Well, somepony has to be the one to wake you two up when we're not sleeping in beds," she responded, locking another shell cask into place and finishing another bomb. "Really, sometimes I worry about you two when I'm not around."

"It's alright. If there's ever any idiot dumb enough to try to disturb us in our sleep, the first thing Redhorn will do is give 'em a good kick in the face, and I'll just draw my pistolbow and poke six holes in 'em."

"I'm sure that would be a sight to behold. So, what's the plan for today, Jamie?" She carefully measured out a spritz of gunpowder and tossed it into her mixing bowl. "These contracts aren't just lining up for us, and I doubt Princess Luna has something groundbreaking for us."

"How about a vacation down to the Southlands?" he said.

"Oh, that would be fantastic! I know there's not a lot of crime down there, what with all you humans keeping to yourselves and not getting involved in Commonwealth affairs, but... well, do you think they'd accept a pony?"

"They ain't folks to judge, Anora. I'm sure the folks will love you all the same. We don't get many ponies down our way, only buffalo, so I'm sure it'd be a sight for 'em all to see."

"So, it's like what you go through when you're walking around Equestria, only flipped around."

"Well... yeah. You get some jerks every now and then, but otherwise, it's all smooth sailin'. Nothin' to worry 'bout down in the Southlands, I promise you that. We're all hospitable folk... more than I can say for some places around these parts." He grabbed an apple off of the fruit bowl on the table, staring at it for a moment before gnawing into it.

"How soon do you want to leave?"

"I was thinkin' that maybe we could all visit my folks somewhere down the line... but not right now. I have some other stuff to attend to."

Anora paused in her mixing, raising an eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

"Yeah... I was thinkin' of headin' down to Ponyville, to catch up with some old friends."

"Does this have something to do with... that, from the past?"

"Yes."

"Then you won't have any complaints from me. That means we're heading down to near the Everfree, then?" She snipped off a length of fuse and affixed it into the shell cask as Jamie finished off his apple.

"That we are."

Anora smiled. "That's excellent. I remember hearing of a Zebrican apothecary down near Ponyville, and I'd like to visit her, perhaps even pick up some extra materials for any powders or potions I might need." She carefully joined the pair of shell casks together, completing her resupply of the two bombs she'd spent the previous night. "Okay, all done! Now I can eat in earnest." She unceremoniously rolled the bombs aside and dug into her food.

Jamie chuckled as he turned to see Redhorn staring at them.

"Who let the parasprite in?" Redhorn joked, as Anora raised her head, mouth covered with food drippings.

"Oh, look, if it isn't the beauty sleep champion himself," Jamie joked. "You can sure sleep like a log."

Redhorn shrugged. "What can I say, we buffalo can fall asleep and stay that way. Where's the chef?"

"Over here!" a muffled voice came from the kitchen. "The stove's acting up again, so just let... me... fix it... the dry food's on the table with your friend there, knock yourselves out!" The clattering of pots and pans rumbled within. "Crud! Damn utensils!" There was some grumbling and then more clanging. "Woo! Alright, there we go. Should get this thing fixed before next year, I'm not cut out for all this leaning anymore..."

"Sounds like the old-timer's havin' some trouble back there..." Jamie began.

"Hey! I heard that!" The chef's soot-stained face appeared from the doorway. "I might be old, but that doesn't mean I can't do anything!" He disappeared for a moment as the sound of rumbling appeared within. "Aw, damn it! Can't anything work properly this morning?!"

Jamie exchanged an amused look with Anora and helped himself to the bread and cheese on the platter before him. Redhorn yawned and sat down with them, precariously rolling around one of Anora's flash bombs.

"Careful, Redhorn, you don't want to set it off," Anora warned.

"What's the problem? These bombs run on fuses, after all, it's not like they can instantly explode or anything. Er..." He moved his hoof away and stared at the bomb. "These are the ones that run on fuses, right?"

"Yes, they are. I was just trying to make sure you knew, since the last time you played with my bombs, you set off the blinding powder and the sleeping gas bombs, and left everyone blind when they actually woke up. And by 'everyone', I mean you, who ended up stumbling down the halls screaming for your mommy. You were lucky that it was at headquarters or else nopony would ever let you live that down."

"It was just an accident, no harm done." He gave her a puppy-eyes look.

Anora rolled her eyes. "Sleeping gas is expensive, you know... probably worth more than a good magazine of fire bolts for Jamie's pistolbow. You were just lucky that I got the bits from you to cover the cost."

"Alright, alright, that's enough," Jamie interrupted. "We have stuff to do today, and I don't want to keep my matters on the sidelines. By the way, what happened to the bodies we left at the warehouse ambush last night?"

"Notified the Manehattan Police Department, and they're cleaning up the bodies now," Anora said. "I should know, I was the one who contacted them."

"Great. So let's leave as soon as possible."

"The world isn't going to end tomorrow, Jamie, what's the hurry?" Redhorn asked.

"Ponyville doesn't have a Judicator branch, nor does it have a police department, which means no air chariot transportation since Princess Luna has ordered that we're only allowed to use it on official business... So that means we're goin' to have to take the long way there..." He gave an exasperated sigh. "...by carriage."

The night had fallen by the time the carriage had arrived at Ponyville. Jamie had been disgruntled over the long trek the whole way through, having completely ignored the travel part of the journey and expected to be able to have things sorted out by the time evening arrived. It didn't help that extra carrying capacity was required for Redhorn's armor, and even then, it had to be properly stored and out of sight from prying eyes, only lengthening the duration of their journey.

A single hotel lay within the town's limits, and but in a stroke of luck, it only had three rooms, which fit the bill for them perfectly. They each took one, dropping their luggage after a whole day's worth of travel. The trip was nice, but it was a stretch of Equestrian rural landscape that they hoped to never suffer through again.

"So... I'll take this one, and you take that one?" Jamie asked Redhorn.

"Does it matter? Aren't they all the same?"

"Are they?"

"No idea. I'll take the middle one, Anora takes the one in the back, and you take the one nearest the stairs?"

"Yeah, sounds 'bout right."

"Need any food? I have some rations in my rucksuck."

"Nah, I got enough food from the last stop. It'll hold me 'till mornin', at the very least. Have a good night." They split off to their respective rooms and retired for the night.

Jamie opened the window, storing his hat and duster on one of the bed columns before taking a seat and looking out into Princess Luna's sparkling night sky. He felt wistful, his view glazing over as he thought of how long it had been since he visited Ponyville. Even now, the architecture of the town hadn't changed a single bit, and the Ponyville Town Hall still retained its familiar shape. He had left this town as a naive teenager and came back a man... one changed from his experiences, for better or for worse.

And then his thoughts drifted towards what he would have to do... to tell the truth of a single lie he'd been keeping within for nearly a decade since his departure. He knew he owed it to those involved that they should one day hear what had really happened, even if it meant that he would be ostracized for it. He didn't know why, but at this very moment, it simply felt... right, as if this span of a few days was the most perfect time in the entire world for it to happen.

He left his bandoleers on the office table in his room, carefully storing his burlap-wrapped heavy crossbow underneath and just out of sight. This trip required that no such dangerous weapons be carried around with him... though for safety, and though his own intuition, he never left without his pistolbow. One could never tell when combat was around the corner, and it was better to have and not need than the other way around.

Lazing about, his gaze drifted around the room, noting how rustic and homely it seemed, as if it were a world away where the dangers of the world could not harm it. It was comforting to him to know that such places existed, and that the role that he played meant that he was protecting havens such as this one...

If only he could have protected those close to him when it meant the most.

The need to find mementos arose within him... except that he had none. When he had departed from the town, he had taken only his belongings and nothing else; he hadn't really picked up any souvenirs worth nothing, and that was a cut most deep to him after he returned to his hometown of Medley near the Southlands border and back to his parents.

He said nothing of the events that had happened, and his parents never pressed the issue... but he found closure years later after taking up the post of deputy for Medley's sheriff and went off on his own doing vigilante work. It was also around a similar time where he'd created his trademark pistolbow, though at the time it could only shoot to kill. And kill, he did.

Another heavy sigh parted his lips. He wondered how well his family's relations had been since the incident. Were their families even still keeping in contact with each other? Did they still even exist? Did they still remember him at all? He recalled that they had a newborn foal around the time he left before the incident... she would most likely not be familiar with who he was, but chances are, given their naming schemes, he would most likely know her when he met her... she would be in this town somewhere, oblivious to the past.

Kicking off his custom-made cowboy boots, he relaxed his mind and drifted off to sleep in his bed, a feeling most comforting in its softness, and dreamed a beautiful dream under the trees of an orchard beneath a resplendent blue sky. A familiar place, a familiar sky, a familiar family...

He was home.

"Home... sweet... home..." he whispered, his eyes closing as sleep took him.

It was a bright and sunny day, almost as if were mocking the dreariness of the situation. Ponies and humans stood in lines, all wearing black attire as a single member from each family, those that could be considered patriarchs, stood on a stage before them.

For the humans, it was Jamie's father.

"Dearest relatives... friends... acquaintances..." he began. "Today, we are gathered here to grieve over a tragedy... most unfair. Today, we grieve over the deaths of..." Jamie began to tune out the funeral as his mind blanked out, repeating what had happened. A cold beat of sweat broke out over his forehead as the flashbacks came to him.

It was nighttime when it happened. They were happening through a canyon pass on the way to one of the towns in the northwest, a bustling trading post where they were going to sell their wares. Their family name was renowned through all of Equestria for producing some of the finest apples that anybody ever had the pleasure of eating.

Jamie had volunteered at the time, a curious teenager around fourteen years old. With leave from his parents, he had been living with the pony family for some time now, and Ponyville had literally become his second home. He made friends quickly; after all, being the only human in town had some benefits to it, and those years were the best he'd ever spent in his entire childhood.

So when the time came, his extended family's foals were required to stay back on the farm due to safety, but relented to bring Jamie along after much pleading. He remembered that fine morning they left, far earlier than the sun was set to rise. He was wide awake before then, but so were the foals.

He hugged both of them: one red colt with a orange mane, and another orange filly with a yellow mane.

"I'll miss you both." He smiled at them. "You both be good now, you hear?"

"But, Jamie, why do ya haf'ta go with ma and pa? Can't you just stay 'ere on the farm?" the filly asked.

He gazed down at her. She was only a few years younger than him, almost the same as her brother, but it felt to Jamie that he was much older... and taller. "No, Applejack. This is really important business. I want to help around with all the paperwork later on, so if I'm goin' to be able to do that, I need to learn how this stuff works as early as possible."

"Oh... alright..." The filly sulked and went to stand next to her brother, who only gave a silent nod to him.

"You keep her safe, Big Mac. You hear me?"

"Eeyup."

He gave his final hug to Granny Smith, who patted him on the head afterwards before parting some advice. "Now, don't sleep too late, y'hear? And eat all your food, you're a growin' boy. And don't forget to wash! Bein' out on the road's goin' to be hot and tiresome! You're the only one from the Harper family down here and I'd rather mess up a zap apple season than have you get hurt!"

He nodded and smiled at her. "Yes, Granny Smith. I'll take care of myself, don't you worry."

"Good! And don't be makin' any trouble for your uncle and aunt over there, 'kay?"

"You have my word." He held his hand over his chest. "On my honor," he said, and laughed. "I'll miss you all." He gave them a sad smile before joining his uncle and aunt, Applejack's parents, in the carriage. Waving goodbye, they began their long journey to the northwest border between the Principality of Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom, embarking on the road that would take them there: the Matterton Route.

Jamie walked out of the hotel in the morning, stretching his shoulders. He made sure to keep his duster closed to avoid any unwanted flashes of his badge and only brought along his pistolbow, which remained within a covered holster. Bounty hunters in the Commonwealth were viewed with a mixture of both awe and suspicion: when one showed up, it meant that problems were about to be solved, but it also meant that things would get worse before they got better.

And he wasn't here to rangle up some bandits or anything, so it would be better to simply play it on the down-low. He decided to take the time to wander around town and see if there was anything new, since his companions were preoccupied themselves. Anora had left ahead of him to visit the Zebrican apothecary in the nearby forest, and Redhorn was unsurprisingly still asleep.

He leveled his hat to block the sunlight from his eyes. Not more than a few steps away from the hotel stairway, he felt something slam into the side of his leg.

"Aw, ponyfeathers! We're goin' to be late again!"

"Hold on, Applebloom! Are you alright?"

Applebloom rubbed her nose and looked up into Jamie's eyes. "Hello there, mister! You must be new 'round here. Welcome to Ponyville!"

So this was her... the filly whose whole life he'd been absent from, raised by what remained of the Apple family when he'd left. "Thanks. It's a nice place..." he said. "Uh, aren't you late for somethin'?"

She giggled. "You talk just like my family, mister!"

Her unicorn friend interrupted. "Applebloom! Late?"

"Oh, right! Nice meetin' you, mister human, hope you enjoy yourself in Ponyville!"

"I will, thanks." He waved them goodbye and watched as they ran towards a red-painted schoolhouse in the distance. He smiled to himself: the building was still there even after all these years... though the teachers must have certainly changed since he left, at the very least. "So they're still here..." he muttered.

He ventured around town, stopping in various places and enjoying the sights. That also applied to the town's residents: a lot of them stopped to look at him in wonder, many having never seen a human before, much less one that was casually strolling around their town like a tourist. Their tune might have changed if they learned that he was a bounty hunter... or rather, when, since he was going to have to let Applejack know, and Jamie was quite sure that she wasn't without friends in town.

Passing through the morning, he eventually ran into the old Ponyville library, an old treehouse that had been here for as long as he remembered. He decided to knock, seeing if the old librarian was still inside.

"Just a minute!" a mare responded. A lavender unicorn opened the door, and stared up at him with waiting eyes.

"Is this the Ponyville library?" he asked her.

"Why, yes, it is!" Jamie knew who she was; most Judicators did. She was Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's personal protege and younger sister of Royal Guard Captain Shining Armor. That meant that she was a VIP, and if she should end up in danger, everything would be dropped to protect her. In the case where trouble was brewing, that is. "Would you like to check out a book?"

"Uh... no, not at the moment. But thank you for askin'."

"Are you from the Southlands?"

"Yes." Where else could humans come from? It's not like they materialized out of thin air in the middle of the Everfree Forest or some other hogwash tall tale.

"Wow, this is amazing! I've never had the chance to ask a human in-depth questions on the Southlands, so do you think I could bother you with some? I'd like to compile as much knowledge as possible since this is a first-time thing!"

Figuring that it could do no harm, Jamie shrugged. "Sure." She turned around and he followed her inside.

That was a mistake. Minutes turned into hours as Twilight posed question after question to him, some so exceedingly specific that it was a wonder how she didn't know more about the Southlands than he did. They talked about history, culture, dietary habits, and a variety of other things that Jamie wasn't even sure he was right on half the time.

"Oh, and how come we don't see many humans in Equestria?"

"We prefer to keep to ourselves. That, and there's a huge mountain range between Equestria and the Southlands that sort of makes direct transportation a pain to do. Unless you ponies like travelin' through the mountains with roaring snowstorms around you all the time."

"Oh... yes, the Swayback Mountains are known for having bad snowstorms all year round. So you travel through buffalo lands, then?"

"Sometimes. Not a lot. Usually the buffalo tribes trade with the Equestrians, and then we trade with the buffalo for anythin' we might need. So aside from that, there usually ain't a reason for us to wander out of our comfort zone."

"Mm... hmm..." She jotted down a note on her paper. "And what about politics? Do the Southlands have a ruling diarch like we do?"

"No. We have a democratic council, the Southlands Council, that deals with most of the politics for us. It's all inner affairs with some minor external politics, o'course. We'd like to stay on good terms with everybody if we can, and nobody stirs up trouble back home unless they want to end up on the business end of old councilman Jensen's shovel. He's righted more than a few wrongdoers with that thing..."

"Hey, Twilight, have you seen—whoa!" A purple dragon walked out of the kitchen when he spotted Jamie sitting in the living room. "A human!" He ran up to Jamie and compared their hands. "Another one with these flexible digits, huh? I'm Spike." He shook Jamie's hand. "Twilight's assistant."

"Nice to meet you, Spike." Jamie looked at Twilight. "I wasn't aware that there was a dragon in town..."

She smiled and nodded. "Oh, he's my dragon. I hatched him for my entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and he's been with me ever since. Now, aside from that, I've heard that humans are carnivores..."

"Yes, we are, but we also eat plants. There's a lot of fertile land down in the Southlands, so we have a mostly vegetarian diet." He hadn't gotten tired of explaining all of this yet, but there had to be a limit somewhere down the line... "So we can eat stuff that ponies eat, too. Just not hay or flowers, we can't eat those."

"Interesting. And your dialect seems to indicate that most of the Southlands is of farmer descent."

"That we are. How'd you wager that thought?"

"Oh, I have a friend in town. Her name's Applejack, and she owns Sweet Apple Acres right outside of Ponyville. You two talk alike, so I just proposed a guess and found it correct."

He wanted to ask her how Applejack had been faring, but perished the thought. There was no need to play his hand early, and he wanted to re-introduce himself personally. Spike had momentarily left and returned with a daffodil and daisy sandwich for Twilight, and some bread and fruit for Jamie. It was nearing the mid-afternoon, which Jamie only noticed when he actually bothered to look out the window.

"So, do you visit much? It seems like you're pretty well-traveled," she said.

"I am. Visited lots of places here in Equestria, and even some in the Griffon Kingdom, too. I guess the only place I haven't been to is Zebrica and the Dragon Empire up north."

"I hear the dragons aren't really keen on having visitors..."

Jamie laughed. "They aren't. Tried to get in myself one time and they just turned me away. They like keepin' to themselves more than we humans do. At least we try to be nice; the dragons are just... really touchy 'bout their privacy."

"Well, I've heard that some of them hoard their treasures up in their peaks..."

"What, those shiny rocks of theirs? Could never understand why ponies put worth in those things. Sure, they look nice, but they're practically useless. Except maybe the diamonds, those things are tougher than rocks and can last forever. Useful as a cutting tool."

"So humans favor practicality over aesthetics?" Twilight readied her quill, giving her scholar's smile waiting for an answer.

"I guess so. A lot of our buildings are pretty rustic, built tough and made to last. It don't really matter much to us in looks so long as it ain't an eyesore, and a lot of towns and cities follow similar patterns to that."

"Ah... I believe some of Ponyville's building have been built with such a goal in mind. Perhaps some of the pony towns down near the southern border or in the Mild West have a greater influence. I should look into that sometime, perhaps even write up a paper on the differences in architectural preferences between regions in the Commonwealth. I know Canterlot is probably built for a mixture of looks and sturdiness, while..."

He let her blab on as he tried to follow her as best he could while eating his food. It was maddening how this unicorn could become absolutely enthralled in her speech, sometime even shocking him with a question right in the middle of a statement, before completely ignoring him and returning to her fast-firing monologue. Eventually, he realized he had to put his foot down and stop her before he ended up staying the night.

"Well, I believe it's gettin' late, and I have some other things to attend to, so I'll be takin' my leave now."

"Alright, then. Are you staying in town long? I'd like to ask you some more questions, if that's possible."

"Maybe tomorrow. I think I'll be stayin' in town for a while."

"Okay!" She said, happily filing away her notes with a flash of magic from her horn. "Feel free to drop by anytime if you need anything!"

"I'll keep that in mind. See you later!" He tipped his hat to her and walked out the door, careful to avoid the bar above the door as the size could just barely fit him.

Jamie figured that a strong dose of liquid courage was in order before he got around to business. Looking around, he had trouble finding any sort of establishment that sold liquor that wasn't some sort of drink that only had a slight kick to it. Eventually, he found a tavern frequented with only a few ponies, and proceeded inside.

He immediately sat down at the end of the counter, rubbing his forehead as he took a deep sigh.

"Visitor, huh?" the bartender said. She was a purple mare with a similar mane, cleaning a glass mug. "Name's Berry Punch. What'll it be?"

"A mug of the strongest stuff you have."

"Coming right up." She poured the drink with efficiency and slid it down the counter to Jamie, who caught it with a snap of his hand. He deposited a small pile of bits on the table, which Berry graciously took.

"New around here, huh? Hope you're enjoying the town so far."

"It's not my first time here... haven't been here for a long time, though. Nearly ten years." He took a long drink before stopping and looking into the cup. The drink was cider. Unsurprising, since Applejack was still in business. They seemed to be doing well for themselves, at least. "This cider from Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Indeed it is. How'd you know?"

"Been there before."

"You don't say? You're from around here?"

"I grew up here... 'til I had to move away, that is, back to the Southlands."

"Strange... I grew up here, too, but I don't ever remember many humans around here."

"I liked to keep it quiet. Attended school for a bit and then left to help work at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Really? You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that—" A glare from Jamie that could cut straight through moonsteel hushed her quickly. "R-right... sorry about that..."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you... that's why I'm here in the first place. Have some loose ends to tie up."

"Uh... good luck with that, then."

"Thanks," he said, finishing off his drink.

He stood up and gave a silent nod to Berry, who merely returned one of her own, before stopping. The chatter in the tavern had all but completely stopped, and he met the gaze of a nearby cyan pegasus pony staring at him in shock, her mug frothing with cidery goodness left untended, before he realized that all the patrons were doing the same. Without a doubt, he knew what they were all looking at.

His gaze drifted down and he'd realized that he'd forgotten to keep his badge hidden. Great, now the word would be spreading around town, and before the day's end, everypony would know. It wouldn't be hard to figure out if the only thing they said was that the human was it. He was the only one in town, after all. Mentally cursing, he hastily made his way out the front door.

The path down to Sweet Apple Acres was worn and dusty, a piece of the past that remained with him. It was the last thing he saw leaving Ponyville many years ago. His younger self refused to cheer up and spent the entire ride home just watching the ground pass by underneath the carriage... and now here he was again, walking down that path with head high and eyes peeled.

He walked up to the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres, and looked up at the sign, filled with nostalgia. There were several notches on the right side, a remainder from the time when he had climbed it as a child, attempting to catch a dragonfly. He failed, and fell to the ground as he watched the bug dart away from him through the trees. Applejack and Big Mac had then offered to play tag with him, and they did so until the sun set.

"Howdy there, partner, can I help ya?" he heard a stallion say. Looking down from the sign, he stood face-to-face with Big Macintosh, the red stallion with a strand of wheat in his mouth and waiting for Jamie to respond. Jamie gawked for a moment: the stallion certainly had grown immensely in the past few years, and was a rightful powerhouse now.

"I'm hurt, Big Mac... don't you recognize?" he said sarcastically.

"I don't know who you—" Big Mac narrowed his eyes and leaned in for a better look. "Jamie... is that you?"

"Yeah... it's me."

Mac smiled. "Well, don't just stand there like a stranger! Come on in! I'm sure Applejack and Granny Smith would be happy to see ya!" He turned and walked towards the red barn in the distance as Jamie followed him.

"So... it's been a long time," Jamie said.

"Eeyup."

"How's the farm been holdin' up since I left?"

"It's been... rough, at times. But we've been holdin' out just fine, no need to worry 'bout that. What 'bout you, Jamie? You completely changed after the accident, you know, and then you just up and left on us without a word! I didn't understand that back then, thought you were just being mean and leavin' us when we needed you most, but now since I'm older, I guess I could see why you wanted to go home."

"Yeah, 'bout that... it was a bit of a rough time for me. Sorry if it caused y'all any trouble." At the time, the stress had been too much for Jamie to cope with, and the funeral had been the final straw that broke his back. He only wanted nothing more than to return home.

"No offense taken, Jamie. You went through that yourself, it must have been bad... seein' our folks..." He stopped as his lips quivered. "You had it the worst," he finished. "You ain't going to hear anyone from the Apple family bad-mouthin' you. And if you do, let me know, I'll change their tune."

"I don't think it'll come to that, but thanks, Mac. I really appreciate it."

"Don't need to thank me, Jamie, you're part o' the family. Now I think—" Big Macintosh stopped as they walked through a pair of trees, and ended up running straight into the mare Jamie had been meaning to talk to.

"Well, visitors!" Applejack said, bucking a tree. She threw her mane back as the apples collected in the buckets around them and walked up to them. "So, who's your friend, Big Mac?"

Big Macintosh said nothing, earning a raise of the eyebrow from Applejack. She eyed Jamie further, looking him up and down his wardrobe before gasping and stepping back. Jamie smiled softly at her; he had expected a reaction, though he wagered it could have been much worse compared to what he had received.

"Hello, Applejack. It's been a long time..."

Chapter 3: Reticence

Applejack stood idly, staring at Jamie with a blank face for several seconds. She walked up to him, and looked him in the eyes, making him shift uncomfortably. Tapping him on the knee, she bid him to kneel down to get a better look at his face, which he obliged. They stood looking into each other's eyes for the longest moment until she decided to break the silence...

"You... jerk!"

She leveled her right hoof and planted a straight hook right across his face, sending him reeling into the dirt and throwing his hat into the air. Big Macintosh gasped and attempted to step in, but was met with a glare from Applejack saying that this wasn't one of the things he should meddle in.

"Damn... you can sure hit hard," Jamie simply said.

"You show up after all these years and you act like nothin' has happened?! I... I don't... Grrrraahhh!" she shouted into the air, huffing and puffing as she stomped away.

"Well, that went well," he said, rubbing the side of his cheek. "I see all that applebuckin' has been good for her... not every day that somethin' like that can send me flyin' to the ground."

"Eeyup. Now come on, I'm sure Granny Smith would love to see you," Mac said.

"Unless she decides to stick one across my face, too," Jamie chuckled.

"Shouldn't that hurt?" Mac asked, leaning his head quizzically to the side. "A straight angry hit from Applejack could knock anyone out cold, even if they were a pony like myself..."

The cowboy picked himself up off the ground and patted off his duster. "Well, I've had worse, so it ain't that much of a problem for me. Now, come on, let's head back to the barn... heh, I wonder if Granny Smith will kick me in the shins or plant a kiss on my cheek." He picked up his hat and flapped it around before returning it to the top of his head.

"Knowin' her, she'll probably do the latter," Mac said. "You know she was right proud of you back when you stayed with us... 'fore our parents... well, you know..."

"Yeah, there's a lot of talkin' to be done, I guess," Jamie said, noting the truth behind his words.

Big Mac nodded. "Right, so let's just head on down this way. Applejack'll cool her head down some and then return to us when she can think straight."

"Does she still hang out at that same place? On the hill just a stone's throw away from the barn?"

"Does she?" Mac echoed. "She goes there every day. Just sits on that hill and watches the horizon every day 'til the sun goes down. Not sure 'bout now, though, what with you showin' up out of nowhere and throwin' her mind to the wind."

"Oh..." Jamie said, feeling all the worse for it. "Times sure have changed..."

"And so have you, Jamie. I remember back when we used to run 'round playin' in these orchards, while Ma and Pa worked on the harvest. Eventually, we all had to pick up some trade skills to keep the farm runnin', and we've been doin' things like this ever since."

"Those were the good days, weren't they?"

"Eeyup."

They walked up the porch as Jamie eyed the familiar red paint on the wooden frame. Big Mac opened the door and led Jamie inside, as they heard the sound of snoring coming from the living room, and a droning squeak that could come only from a rocking chair.

"Well, shoot, she's the same as always..." Jamie said, observing the napping Granny Smith. She sat right where he remembered: right next to the stairway and in front of the fireplace.

"Should I wake her up?" Mac asked.

"Naw, don't bother. You know how much she likes her sleepin' time."

"Like my what?" Granny Smith mumbled, smacking her lips as her eyes fluttered open. Looking around the room for a moment, she made eye contact with Big Macintosh. "Well, there y'are. You've been out on that field all day and—" Her gaze drifted over to Jamie, and she completely stopped. "Who're you?"

Jamie held a hand over his chest. "Why, Granny Smith, I'm hurt. You don't remember your favorite nephew?"

"Ehh... wh... Jamie?!" she shouted, nearly jumping out of her chair.

"Hello, Granny Smith," he said, laughing. "How have you been?"

"Don't just stand there, sonny, come give Granny Smith a hug!" She held out her arms as Jamie kneeled to give the old-timer an embrace. "Been... uh, close to ten years now! I never would have thought that you'd take the whole accident that hard, you know, but I understand. A heart needs time to heal. What're you doin' here in Ponyville?"

Jamie broke out of their hug and stood back up, taking special care to keep his duster closed with the buttons on the torso area. There was no need to have them see his badge before it was needed... if it ever will be. "Well, was just passin' through and thought I'd drop by for a visit."

"Eh? Are you a fancy-shmancy business-suit wearin' weasel now, Jamie?" she asked.

He smiled and shook his head. "No, no, of course not, Granny Smith. Just some business from the family farm down south."

"The Harper family... how're they doin'? I know your father likes to visit every once in a while, bless his heart. Sometimes stays 'round long enough to help out on the farm, too. I know how the whole family's been since you left; Applejack always wants to ask your father how you've been doin', but never finds the stones to. I wonder why. At least she can ask you, now that you're here, but I don't know why she keeps gettin' those jitters."

"She was just sour that you left all those years ago without so much as a word, Jamie," Mac answered for her. "Still is, actually. That's why she put a hoof across your face the moment she saw you."

"Applejack did what now?!" Granny Smith said. "Shoot, it ain't right for her to go 'round hittin' family, of all things! I should have a stern talkin' to her when she gets back, and I'll—"

"That won't be necessary, Granny," Jamie said, holding up a hand to stop her. "It wasn't that bad, and I'm sure Applejack just needs time to... cool off right now. It'll be good for her, and I don't hold it against her for it. Just let her have her time, and she'll be back to herself, okay?"

"Alright, son, if you say so," Granny relented. "Now, come on, I think it's 'bout time you had a little bit of Granny's old cookin'. Are you goin' to stay here long?"

"I'll be here for the whole week, Granny, so don't you worry. I might be able to stay longer, dependin' on how things go."

The three entered the kitchen as Granny Smith began to prepare the fixings for a hearty lunch. Big Macintosh and Jamie sat down at the table as she began to work her decades of experience in preparing the most scrumptious food that both the Harper and Apple families had ever tasted.

"So, you say you're in town for business," Mac asked. "But what is it?"

"Well, I can't really say anythin' much 'bout it, sorry... but I will say that I'm... sort of involved with protecting the Commonwealth's... uh, assets."

"So you're like a caravan guard? That's mighty fine, Jamie. I know how much Equestria runs those trade routes out northwest and west, so it must be somethin' real dangerous out there if they need folks protectin' them."

"Yeah, essentially like that. I don't mean to say that there's a bandit every two steps or so, but there's enough of them out there that they get gutsy and attack a caravan when they think the gettin's good." It wasn't entirely untrue: Jamie had served as a caravan guard for most of his early career, when he was a deputy and before he signed up for the bounty hunters.

"Is that what you're doin' now?" Granny Smith asked as she tossed around hash browns in the frying pan. "Goin' out there and gettin' yourself hurt?"

"I'm just protectin' other folks, Granny. Ain't nothin' wrong 'bout that," Jamie countered.

"Alright then, Jamie. But if you ever have a change of heart, we'll always be waitin' for you here at Sweet Apple Acres. Speaking of which, Big Macintosh, do you think you could get Jamie a mug of our best cider? It's been too long since he's been here, and I don't even think he's tasted any yet!" The red stallion nodded and headed on out through the kitchen's outer door, to the basement where they kept their kegs of reserve cider locked away for special occasions.

"I've had some before, don't worry 'bout that. Just... uh, not here, of course." He'd had quite a few mugs of the Apple family cider, and it was by far one of the best drinks to come from anywhere in the Commonwealth.

"Nonsense!" she said. "You've never had cider made from here at Sweet Apple Acres, I reckon! Even the rest of the Apple family agrees it's the best. The only problem is that we can only make enough for the whole town, so that's why you never see it anywhere else!"

"Well, if you insist, I have no choice but to accept," Jamie said laughingly.

"Of course!" Big Macintosh reappeared in the kitchen rolling along a small keg of cider. He put it on the nearby counter and mounted a spigot onto it, then poured Jamie a frothing mug of apple-tinted goodness, and passed it along to him. "Now drink up, Jamie!"

Obliging the request, he immediately downed half the drink. The taste was refreshing and absolutely different from the more standardized cider that was commonly available throughout the rest of the Commonwealth. "Wow... that's good," he said, finishing the rest of the drink with no complaint.

"Great! Now you can have another mug while you eat," Granny Smith said, sliding a number of plates across the table towards him. "You're still a growin' boy, so eat up!"

"Whatever you say, Granny," Jamie said, digging in. "Shoot, it's been too long since I've had a homecooked meal..."

"How long have you been away from the Southlands now, Jamie?" Mac asked.

"Well... roughly about... six years or so now?" he casually responded, digging into the food with his fork. "More or less, I think, I didn't keep track of most of it. You don't really get into the habit of keepin' track of time when you're runnin' with a caravan. You just learn to tell the time and that's the only important thing you need to do. Let the caravan runners keep track of the days."

"You should get back into the habit of doin' that, Jamie," Granny Smith said. "You're losin' your touch with the rest of civilized society, and that ain't good! In my opinion, you should be stayin' here for a few months, not a week! Celestia knows how much good that'll do for you."

"Can't, Granny. I have a job, remember? Sworn an oath to protect and all that business?"

"Ehh, cornshucks," Granny said. "Well, be sure to visit more often!" She looked at the clock on the wall at it struck past noon. "Jamie, you should stick 'round for a while longer, assumin' you don't have anythin' else to do today."

"Why's that, Granny?"

"We need to introduce you to the newest member of the family, of course!"

Applebloom bid good-bye to her friends for the day and hurried down the path to Sweet Apple Acres. Her saddlebags clinked with the sound of her stationery as well as the day's homework, which she'd already taken the liberty of finishing half of thanks to free time in class. She wasn't entirely keen on having to work on math again, but it was fine since she could always ask Sweetie Belle for help.

As she passed by the orchard, she found it strange that there were no sounds of working to be heard anywhere. Big Mac's plow wasn't making the familiar dinging noise it made when he pulled it through the fields, nor was the constant sound of Applejack bucking a tree and picking up several bushels of apples. What was going on?

She entered her barn and heard saw Granny Smith and Big Macintosh in the living room conversing with a guest... and a human, no less. Looking closer, she saw that it was the same one from earlier that morning!

"Hey, Granny Smith, Big Macintosh!" she said.

"Howdy, little sis!" Mac said, patting her on the head. "Granny and I would like you to meet someone. This here's Jameson Harper, or Jamie, for short. He's an old family friend from the Southlands," he said, gesturing to Jamie with a hoof.

"Nice to meet you, Applebloom," Jamie said, tipping his hat to her.

"Uh, nice to meet you, too, Mister Harper! So what's your history with our family?"

"I grew up here with Applejack and Mac until I had to move back home a little under ten years ago. Helped run the farm on the day-to-day business."

"Really? Well, what do you do now?" she asked, depositing her saddlebags on the nearby couch.

"I work for Princess Luna and the Commonwealth as a guard, of sorts."

"Wow! So you're like a royal guard or something?"

"Actually, yeah, just 'bout. I'm here visitin' the family 'cause I have some extra time. Have you seen Applejack out there, by any chance?"

"Nope, I didn't see sis at all on the way in. Why?"

"No reason, just... didn't get off on the right track since I came back, and I wonder if she even wants to talk to me..."

"She's probably just working out in the orchard still," Applebloom said, oblivious to the recent scuffle between Jamie and Applejack. "She'll be back in time for supper, don't worry 'bout it."

"Well, I hope so..."

"Now that you've gotten acquainted with little Applebloom here," Granny Smith said. "You can take our guest room and rest up here. Spend some time back on the farm, maybe get in an honest day's work!"

"That sounds mighty fine, Granny," Jamie said, walking to the door. "But I'm stayin' at the inn in town, so I'll just go grab my things and I'll be right back. Is that fine?"

"So long as you ain't bringin' a trainload of suitcases with you, that'll be just fine." Jamie nodded and opened the door. "And Jamie?"

"Yes, Granny?"

"It's nice to have you back."

He smiled. "It's nice to be back."

"Redhorn! Are you awake yet?" Jamie asked. Receiving no response, he knocked on the door several times and was greeted with a groan as the door slowly opened.

"Ugh, Jamie, don't talk so loud... I was in the middle of my beauty sleep..."

"You and your beauty sleep," Jamie said, shaking his head. "Anyway, I'm relocatin' to the Apple family farm. I'll be leavin' most of my stuff here in my room, and I'll be takin' the key with me. Is that alright?"

"We already put down the payment on the rooms for the whole week," Redhorn said, yawning. "I don't think you'll have any trouble with that. You go on and have some family bonding time. I'll let Anora know when she gets back this evening."

"Thanks, Redhorn, you're a real pal."

"Yep, I know I am..." he said sleepily, closing the door and returning to his sleep.

Jamie went into his room and grabbed a few bags of his extra clothing. He paused for a moment, debating whether or not he needed to bring along his combat equipment, but decided against it... at least for the most part. He stuffed a few regular pistolbow magazines into his bags and locked the door on his way out.

He made his way down the stairs, making sure his duster was buttoned up before heading back outside again.

"I hear you're that you're in Ponyville on some... official business," the innkeeper said.

"No business here. I'm just visitin' family," Jamie said, still hefting the bag on his shoulder.

"You're a human. What family do you have in this town?"

"I'm an old family friend of the Apple family. I figured I'd pay them a visit since I haven't been back here for so long."

"Is that so...? Well, if that's the case, enjoy your visit. But there's been rumors flying around town about how a bounty hunter has shown up... and I'd like to extend the town's worries to you. We're all hard-working ponies, and we don't want any trouble around here."

"You have my word. I'm not here to look for or make any trouble."

"I'll take your word for it, since anyone that the Apple family trusts is okay in my book. You have a nice day now."

On his way out, Jamie nearly bumped into a bright pink pony as she walked by the inn. "Uh, 'scuse me, miss." The mare turned took a single look at him before going wide-eyed, gasping and then disappearing faster than Jamie could blink. "Well, that was strange..."

"That was Pinkie Pie," Twilight said, coming up behind him. "I'm sure she must be concocting plans for a new party, no doubt."

"Parties?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah. She's the resident party pony for Ponyville. She works down at Sugarcube Corner, the local bakery, so she has access to all the materials she needs to throw a party."

"She's a rather lively one... almost too lively, if I do say so myself."

"Well, she does tend to rub off that way on newcomers to Ponyville. She throws a party for every new arrival, did you know that?"

"Isn't that a little... costly? I can't imagine throwin' a party for every new visitor to be very... cheap."

"I've thought that myself, actually," Twilight said. "But it's Pinkie. You're probably just better off not asking... Celestia already knows that I got into a whole bunch of problems just trying to figure out her strange Pinkie Sense."

"Her what now?"

"Pinkie Sense. It's her version of a sixth sense that never ceases to be right... every single time. She's a strange pony, on that I agree, but she's a good friend, too. You have nothing to worry about from her. So, what are you up to now?"

"I'm just headin' on over to Sweet Apple Acres. They've asked me to stay with them as a guest, and, well, I think it'd be mighty rude if I didn't accept. They're like family to me, after all."

"Oh! Well, I'd hate to interrupt your moving. I have some shopping to do, so see you later!" Twilight said, parting with her as she headed on down to the Ponyville marketplace.

"Have a nice day!" Jamie said.

"Say, is Applejack back yet?" Jamie asked, dropping the bag on the floor as he entered the Apple family home.

"She just came back a while ago," Big Macintosh said. "I asked if she was alright, but she just shrugged it off and said she needed to go sell apples in town."

"Is that where she is now? Drat, I was just in town."

"I don't think it would have done you any good to try to talk to her, anyway." Big Macintosh appeared from the kitchen with another mug of cider and placed it on the living room table. "Here's another mug. Granny keeps sayin' that you can help yourself to cider whenever you feel like it."

"Why not just give some to the town if you have extras?"

"The town gets all... strange when they know the cider's in season. We get lines that go all the way back to Sugarcube Corner when we set up our stall here at the farm, and some ponies are a little crazy for it. 'Specially Applejack's friend Rainbow Dash... she just loves the stuff. So we just keep a stock for ourselves for, like I said, special occasions. Just don't tell any of the ponies in town 'bout it, of course, don't want any trouble for that."

"You can trust me with your deep and dark secret, Mac," Jamie laughed. "Now, I assume I'm goin' to be settin' up in the same room like in the old days?"

"Eeyup. Last room on the left after you head up the stairs. Granny's kept it nice and clean, but it still looks the same as the day you left. I think the same bed's there, too. Good thing your pa insisted we keep the human-sized bed... it looks like it'll come in some use now," Mac said, chuckling.

"Thanks." Jamie headed up the stairs, grabbing the bag on his way up. The simply-adorned hallway still had the same wallpaper like he had remembered all those years ago, seemingly still pristine despite the passage of time. A single small wooden table with a flowerpot sat at the end of the hall, in front of a window which had a great view over the farther areas of the orchard.

He walked down the hall and paused before the door. It still bore the scratches of the initials 'JH' he had left there long ago to show ownership of the room... except there was a new one next to it. He didn't know when it had been etched in, but a '+ AJ' was next to it. Undoubtedly, it must have been Applejack's doing.

"I see you noticed the scratches on that door," Mac said, walking up behind him. "She put those in the day you left."

"Apologies if I'm overstepping my station here, Mac... but does she like me? Like, like-like me, more than just friends?"

"We don't say much 'bout it these days, but, yes, Jamie, she did. Or does. You were her first foalhood crush, you know. You were practically everythin' that our family appreciates in a pony: hardworkin', honest, and always there when you needed 'em. It wasn't hard to see why she fell for you back in the old days, what with all the tales of the perfect stallion Ma kept tellin' her and how she met Pa."

"I find that a little strange, Mac. Pony-human relationships aren't exactly common, you know, and even then, there's always the prejudice against non-pony partners within Equestria."

"It ain't as bad these days, Jamie. You have to remember that we were just young back in those days... we weren't like grown-ups where all that stupid hubbub 'bout 'society' and all that other hogwash 'bout datin' was so important. She saw you for you, and she fell in love 'cause of that."

"Right..." He said, nodding and running his finger over the scratched initials. "I keep forgettin' to see things simply sometimes. I assume that's why she's still sour 'bout it?"

"You can't imagine how many stallions approached her when she became a mare, Jamie. Lots still do, actually, just not recently given that they don't like to bother her 'round applebuckin' season."

"Aw, shoot... this is goin' to be awkward..." Jamie said, shaking his head.

"You intend on pursuin' a relationship with her?"

"No... no, I can't, Mac. That's the problem. My job prevents me from doin' so."

"You said you were just a guard, weren't you? What's the problem with gettin' a marefriend? You know Granny Smith would jump onboard with this the moment you mention it to her, so if your problem is approval, I'll say that all of us—Applebloom excluded—think you make a good match for her."

"I'd like to think she's moved past that by now, Mac... the truth is..." Jamie opened up his duster and revealed the badge on his belt. "I'm a bounty hunter."

Big Macintosh stood staring at the badge for several moments, his mind running through the sudden revelation. "You... you're a bounty hunter? Damn, I should have known when you said that you worked for Princess Luna..."

"That's why it's best that Applejack finally get over this crush thing once and for all."

"You know she'll be stubborn about it."

"She ain't Applejack if she isn't, Mac. I might be leavin' with a black eye or two after this is all over, though, but I guess that's to be expected."

"Well, good luck with that, Jamie, but I don't think it'll end up like that. You know she thinks the world of you, right? She just cares 'bout you... and when she learns that you're gettin' tossed up in all this police business, puttin' yourself in harm's way, she'll probably just explode in your face."

The sound of a door opening came through downstairs, as a familiar voice shouted. "Hey, Granny Smith! Applebloom! Big Macintosh! I'm back!" Applejack shouted.

"Well, it's now or never," Jamie said, not even bothering to look over the room as he went inside and left his bag in the corner. "Best for you to find somethin' else to do until this all blows over." Big Macintosh nodded and headed downstairs, avoiding the front door where Applejack was at and making for the outside to continue tilling the fields.

Following him downstairs, Jamie watched Big Macintosh's tail disappear out of the kitchen just as Applejack's head peered inside from the living room. "Big Mac, I—oh, it's you."

"Applejack, we need to talk."

"What's there to say? You show up out of nowhere without a word, and now you can leave the same way," she said, not bothering to meet his eyes.

"Mind tellin' me why you put your initials on my door?"

Applejack raised her ears, and her eyes widened. "You... you saw that...?"

"Yeah. And Mac told me the rest." Jamie walked past her and took up a seat in the empty living room, as Granny Smith continued working towards dinner in the kitchen. "Come on, can't we talk 'bout this, at least?"

"I... I've gotten over it," Applejack immediately responded. "I don't like you anymore."

"Then that's all there is to it, isn't there? Why can't we let bygones be bygones?"

"You left all those years ago without sayin' a word, and then you show up actin' like it's nothin..." she repeated. "I cared for you so much back in those days! I still do! I love you, Jamie, you stupid hardworkin' good-for-nothin' human."

"I love you, too, Applejack..." he said, still unsure on what to think of Applejack's inclination for him. "But I'm not in a position to reciprocate at the moment. My job comes first."

"And what job would that be?"

"I'm a bounty hunter."

Like Big Macintosh before her, the silence was palpable. She slowly stepped backwards, settling herself into a chair before she slowly turned to look at him again. "You... signed up for that? But why?"

"Because I needed closure."

"Closure? For what?"

"For what happened to your parents."

"My parents?" Applejack said, immediately on her guard. "My parents died in an accident... an accident you were in, Jamie! Or did you hit your head too hard sometime durin' that darn job of yours and forgot?"

"They didn't die in an accident, Applejack. They were murdered."

"Wh..." She stopped, unable to find any words for Jamie's sudden truth. "That's... I want to say... I want to say that you're lyin'. I want to say that you're a cheat, a weasel, and that I should kick you out and hope you never come back here again! But, no... you're tellin' the truth... aren't you?"

"I am, Applejack. You were too young to know back then, and the trauma from the event stayed with me for a few years. I left without a word 'cause I thought it would be better that way... better that none of you know what happened."

"Who... who else knows about this?"

"Only Princess Luna herself. I think my father suspects somethin', but I never told him anythin'."

"So... you lied to me? This whole time? You didn't tell any of the Apple family the truth? Is the Harper family nothin' but a bunch of liars?! And the Princess, too?!" she said angrily.

"My father and the Princess have nothin' to do with this! I was the one who made that call!" Jamie yelled back. "I didn't think anyone else needed to know, and I was goin' to solve it, anyway!"

"Solve it how?! You sign up, play cowboy, and pretend that killin' folks is gonna bring them back?! We don't need to answer violence with more violence, Jamie! I was a stupid foal for ever thinkin' that you were Apple family material!" Before Jamie could answer, she disappeared into the hallway, slamming the front door as she left in a hurry.

"Eh, what was that?" Granny Smith asked, coming in from the kitchen door with a bucket of water on her back. "Did you get into another tussle with Applejack again?"

"Yeah..." Jamie said wearily. "This is goin' to be a lot tougher than I thought..."

"I heard the whole thing from outside," Granny Smith said. "While I don't approve of the way you dealt with things, I can at least understand why you did 'em. You were young, angry, and you wanted to make things right for what happened. If anythin', I guess I'm proud that you finally found the strength to come forward with the truth."

"I guess I did... though I guess that's comin' back to bite me in the rear now. I'm wonderin' that it might have just been better if I had just played my cards close to my chest and said nothin' 'bout it at all."

"She'll come 'round, Jamie, just give her time."

"I wouldn't blame her if she never did." He got up and quietly exited the house, leaving Granny Smith to a deathly quiet household.

"I take that it didn't go well?" Mac asked, pulling off the plow. "She sure stormed out of there in a hurry."

Jamie sighed. "She's probably around the hill again, near the tree. I'll try to talk to her again, and give her nothin' but the whole truth this time. The fact that she still has feelings for me doesn't make this whole problem any simpler. If anythin', I think it only made her more angry."

"Not sayin' that I agree with her, but to us folks, it just looks like you're wranglin' with a whole mess of unsavory business for nothin', Jamie. The only thing we ever wanted was for you to come home."

"I know that now, Mac... but there's no goin' back now that I'm where I'm at. You won't believe the kind of things I've seen, Mac... the Commonwealth's not that pretty when you have to look at all the parts. For now, though... shoot, I just think I need some quiet time. Maybe Applejack might want to talk later, but that's up to her..."

Mac shook his head. "Just might need more than a week to solve this one, Jamie..."

"Cider sounds good right 'bout now..." Jamie replied. "Maybe a dozen mugs of it, that is. Granny's still preparin' dinner, so she isn't goin' to be done for a while. Where's Applebloom?"

"She went off to play with her friends in the orchard, just past the trees on the east side of the farm."

"Our old clubhouse?"

"Eeyup. Renovated the whole thing and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Practically brand new now."

"Now that's somethin' I'd like to see..."

They sat there in silence until a pair of fillies came running out of the trees with urgency. Turning their heads to look at them, the pair of fillies skidded to a stop before they tumbled over each other, panting before they could answer.

"What's wrong, Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?" Mac asked. "Where's Applebloom?"

"Applebloom... scary stallion... clubhouse... took her to the Everfree forest!" Sweetie Belle gasped.

"I... I think... they were... foalnappers!" Scootaloo choked out.

Big Macintosh looked to Jamie, but found only a steeled face gazing into the distance. He had heard rumors of a foalnapper group operating in the Ponyville-Canterlot region, but the authorities had never caught them. Ponyville was close to Canterlot, yes, but it had little to no guard postings at all, making it a prime target to strike, and was right underneath the police's noses. That same group was also known for trafficking, and Princess Luna had made her stance clear on what was to be done with them.

Jamie's cold and professional eyes looked to him, filled with nothing but determination and knowledge of what he was going to do.

"Mac, find Applejack and get the fillies inside. Lock your doors and don't come out until I return with Applebloom."

"What're you goin' to do, Jamie?"

Swinging open his duster, he revealed his badge to the fillies. They knew of the stories, of the rumors of the bounty hunters whispered between classes, and now here one was, standing right before them. He unlocked his pistol's covered holster and put it into free-grab mode, readying it to be pulled and fired on a moment's notice.

"I'm goin' to find her, and I'm goin' to bring her back home."

Chapter 4: Indignation

Jamie opened the door to the Apple family home and immediately stormed up the stairs to his room. Reaching his bag, he immediately retrieved the magazines from within and stowed them under his arm. Big Macintosh returned with Applejack and the two fillies, stopping just outside as they met Jamie in front of the house.

"Are you goin' to be headin' for the forest?" Mac asked.

"No, not yet. I'm not the only bounty hunter here... one of my team came here to visit a zebra that lives within the forest, and another one, a buffalo, is stayin' at the inn in town. I'm goin' to gather them all up first before we head out," Jamie said. "All of you stay inside, lock the doors, and don't come out until I return. Don't worry about warnin' the town, I'll deal with that myself."

"Well, if you say so, Jamie. Just stay safe out there, you hear?"

"Always, Mac. Don't you worry 'bout me, I can take care of myself." Jamie nodded at the door behind him. "Now get yourselves inside and lock the doors." He avoided meeting Applejack's eyes as he began his sprint for the town.

A small trail of dust picked up behind him as he ran through the orchard's path for the front gate. If what he assumed was true, then the criminals involved would have most likely been sloppy, and left minor but telling clues for Jamie and his group to track them back to their hideout. Given Ponyville's location and security, they would most likely set up somewhere close to the town but in a place where none would venture.

Like the Everfree forest.

His journey had to be quick, and he needed his equipment. The element of surprise was still there, as it was highly unlikely that the perpetrators had been tipped off to his presence, but extra urgency never hurt. He just hoped Applebloom wasn't their last grab before moving on to another town.

"Redhorn? Redhorn!" Jamie shouted, running up the stairs of the inn. He heard a loud groan coming from the buffalo's room as he opened the door to his own, immediately pulling out his combat equipment from his luggage and slinging his heavy crossbow over his back. "We got trouble!"

With that, there was a loud thud as Redhorn immediately jumped out of his bed, followed by the sound of clanking as he struggled to put his armor on hastily. "What is it, Jamie? What's happened?" he shouted through the wall.

"I'll talk about it later, when we head out. But all I can say is that trouble's a-brewin', and we got a filly that's in danger. Where's Anora?"

"She's still out. Might be for the whole day, who knows?" Redhorn appeared outside of Jamie's doorway in full battle armor, ready to move out.

"Damn, every single damned time this happens, I always hate how none of us have magic. The unicorns can use their badges to communicate through magic, but us...? Dead like a fish out of water." He stocked his belt's pouches with his variety of pistolbow ammunition and slung the heavy crossbow bolt quiver across his back. "Let's move."

Jamie quickly locked his door and walked downstairs, leaving the key with innkeeper and Redhorn thundering down behind him. The pony gave an interested look.

"I assume something has come up?" he said, slowly filing several papers into a cabinet, before folding his arms and reclining into his chair.

"Nothin' that I was expectin' to happen. So much for a vacation," Jamie said. "I'll leave the key here with you, but I'm just here to let you know that I am going to return."

"If you say so. Good luck with whatever it is you're doing... and keep the townsfolk safe."

"As always," he said, tipping his hat as he ran out the door, pistolbow in hand.

Almost as if on cue, Jamie bumped into a familiar unicorn, knocking over her saddlebags full of groceries and various book-related goods. "Ow!" Twilight said. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was—oh, hello, mister! I'm sorry to ask, but I never really got your name when we spoke earlier. I'm Twilight Sparkle." She quickly got to her hooves and replaced all the contents in short time with her magic.

"Jameson Harper, Jamie for short. Uh, listen, I have something really important to attend to, so I'll have to talk to you later." Twilight's eyes widened when she noticed the badge on his belt, and slowly drifted her gaze to his pistolbow and the lumbering buffalo behind him.

"Uh... sure... that's fine..." she whispered.

"Thanks. Come on, Redhorn, we have to move."

As if we didn't already have enough trouble... A number of ponies gave him strange looks as the two ran through the town towards the Everfree forest, some displaying outright shock when they realized that their quaint little town had bounty hunter visitors. Doors and windows began closing and it became plainly obvious that the town's streets would be empty before they finished their task.

Entering the path outside of town as the sun was lowering, they spotted the familiar sight of a hooded zebra approaching them.

"Jamie?" Anora asked. "What's going on?" Her saddlebags were stuffed to the brim with various alchemical agents and poultices of all kinds, but unfortunately, did not seem to have many of her bombs.

"A foal's been taken, right outside of Ponyville. Redhorn and I are goin' to track 'em down and bring 'em to justice."

Anora gasped. "Really? I... I didn't hear of such a thing. Forgive me, I took far too long trying to catch up with my own kin."

"Just grab your gear and meet us in the Everfree on the stretch between the Apple family orchard and the forest. If what I'm thinkin' is true, then the tracks might still be fresh. We have to move fast."

"Of course, Jamie. I'll be back as quickly as possible." Anora galloped for the town, leaving Jamie and Redhorn to continue on to the forest uninterrupted.

"See anythin'?" Jamie asked.

"I have several hoof tracks here, leading into the forest," Redhorn said. "However, it seems that given the dirt's consistency, they weren't moving very quickly. There are a lot of tracks that go further in."

"Then that means that they aren't aware of us. That's good." Jamie kneeled and closely examined the tracks. Given the number, and split paths, there was obviously more than just one involved in this abduction.

"I am here!" Anora said, running behind them in with stocks of bombs all over her belts and in her saddlebags. "Are we too late?"

"No, you're just in time," Jamie said, loading in a magazine of shock bolts into his pistolbow. "Trails lead into the forest, and it seems that we might just catch them with their pants down." They carefully proceeded into the Everfree, still conscious of the forest's reputation for harboring dangerous creatures in addition to their wanted criminals.

The birds chirped nonchalantly as the trio entered the gradually darkening shade of the forest, their steps growing increasingly erratic as simple dirt and roots gave way to more rocky paths and precarious falls. The trail also began to fade, but they occasionally found a single hooftrack or a group of them, or even markers, indicating that they were going in the right direction.

"Shh..." Jamie held up a hand. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Anora whispered. "I hear nothing."

"That 'nothing' is exactly the problem. No birds. No chirpin'. Even in the Everfree, birds chirp even if there are beasts running around. Here... there's nothin'."

"What could cause such a disturbance?"

"I've been around on a few errands 'fore I joined the Judicators that were like this..." he said. "These critters ain't stupid. They can recognize the smell of death, and they'd be rightfully dense to linger 'round long enough to find out what's causin' it."

"You can't possibly believe that—?" Anora began.

"I don't," Jamie said, cutting her off. "But that possibility is always there. And I never like bein' right when it matters most."

He motioned for them to continue forward, as the natural green of the trees began to change, turning into a more twisted sickly green as the bark accompanying the trees began to appear more mangled and unsightly. There was no doubt that they were far into the forest, farther than Jamie thought they would have had to go.

"Luna watch over us..." Anora whispered. "This place... it feels so... disturbing..." There was the sound of clamor on the wind, faint, but still there. They took cover behind a group of rocks—quietly enough, despite Redhorn being a walking castle—and listened closely for the source of the noise.

"...get the foals out of here now! We've already had enough trouble with one of our own trying to turn us in..."

"...serves him right. Grows a spine now of all times? Damn pathetic, if you ask me."

"Shut up, both of you! Ready the wagons and prepare to move! And if the foals try to start making noise again, then you shut them up! Our clients are paying top-notch for this sort of cargo, and we've already stirred up enough trouble by cutting our numbers from four down to three!"

Jamie exchanged looks with Anora and Redhorn. At least there weren't any doubts as to who their targets exactly were. Anora already knew what Jamie had in mind, and nodded as she proceeded down the trail to their left and took up positions in the trees above the small cave. Jamie headed off to the right, weaving between the rocks as he moved in to get a closer look at the traffickers.

The small cave was brightly lit, with a wagon and several metal cages surrounding it. Within said cages were foals, numbering a paltry number less than five. Applebloom was among them, cowering in fear with the rest of the group as one of the stallions came by to inspect them.

"You little shits better not give us any trouble, or else we'll put the stick to you, real nice like," he said. The foals quickly clamored to the corner of the cell opposite the stallion as he gave a throaty chuckle. "Yeah, that'll teach you. Play nice and we won't have to hurt you, understand?"

Jamie stowed his pistolbow, slowly taking out his heavy crossbow as he made sure the bolt within was locked and loaded. He still sat quite a distance from the cave, the ground between his rocky cover and entrance containing nothing but open ground. When the trap was sprung, though, that would only work heavily in Redhorn's favor.

Open ground, for Jamie, was a great boon when he wanted to gain the upper hand with his crossbow. Leveling the sight, he aimed at one of the stallions outside the entrance, examining the wagon for final checks before they left. At this distance, the shot would be a fairly risky one, but in the case where he failed and they took notice... Anora was waiting above to deliver her own brand of justice to them.

Nodding to Redhorn, he steadied his breath and pulled the trigger. The bolt flew from its perch, advancing with lethal speed and impacting the side of the stallion's neck with a thud, knocking him over underneath the wagon and into the darkness where he couldn't be seen. A quiet croak escaped the pony's lips before he went quiet. No survivors were needed, and if proof was required, Luna needed only to send out her own Night Guard to examine the location themselves.

"Hey, you got any..." One of the other stallions walked out of the cave, and looked around for his comrade. "Huh...? I could have sworn he was here a moment ago... maybe he went to take a piss." He shrugged and went back inside.

Anora hopped down from the tree she was hiding in and perched herself on the arch of the cave's entrance, acting as overwatch for their approach. Jamie quickly skulked towards the wagon by staying on the sides of the approach, staying in the shadow of the hills as the orange of the horizon faded into darkness.

"Hey, where's the rest of the crew? Didn't they say they'd be back by sundown with more supplies? Oh, I sure hope those bastards didn't go turncoat on us..." he heard from within. The body of their former comrade lay nearby, covered with a lethal amount of slash marks.

"I don't know, just give them time. If they don't show up, then we leave without them. Simple and easy." So there were indeed more of them... Jamie locked another heavy bolt into his crossbow before switching it out with his pistolbow again. In such narrow conditions, a more versatile weapon was better.

As Jamie prepared to storm the cave, however, there were a number of shouts and clanging in the hills behind him. He turned to look just as a pony was thrown clear off of the ridge above, landing in the ground behind him with a painful thud as the hill exploded with a rain of ponies. Redhorn had run into the returning group, charging down the hill and engaging them in combat.

"What the—a buffalo? Here?!" one of the cave-dwelling stallions said.

"Then stop yapping and start bruising him up! We can't let anyone know about our stint here, buffalo or otherwise!" They ran outside to join their friends, circling around Redhorn as they attempted to size up the armored behemoth. Some of them gave looks of disbelief and fear at seeing what was essentially a tower of steel staring them all down as if they were insects.

"How... uh, how do we deal with him, boss?"

"Rough him up!" The boss jumped forth and whirled around, planting a solid buck against Redhorn's chest... which did absolutely nothing, save for earning a deep chuckle from the buffalo.

"You're all going to get what's coming to you," Redhorn said simply, slamming his plated head into the boss's, sending him crumpling to the ground with a sickening crack. A small pool of blood formed on the ground as the ponies nervously stepped back. There was a gasp as all heads turned to one of the other members of the group.

"Shit! He's... he's got the badge! It's a damned bounty hunter!" one of them cried fearfully.

"Oh, fuck!" Several of them turned tail, only for Redhorn to break out of his circle and immediately run them down with no qualms.

"Screw him, boys, let's take him down! He can't fight all of us at once!"

If only they knew... Jamie chuckled to himself, looking up into the darkness and nodding towards Redhorn's direction. Two small casks were let loose by Anora and cut off the path of retreat for the traffickers, dousing the areas around them with a crescent of fire.

"Shit! Where in Tartarus did that come from?!"

"We're all screwed!"

"Run for your lives!"

"You idiots, we're cut off! We've got nowhere to run!"

Jamie took the opportunity to knock out several in the ensuing chaos, eliciting several bouts of jittery screams as his marks fell unconscious as unrestricted magical shocks coursed through their bodies. He was rather surprised that Redhorn was actually holding himself back here: perhaps he just didn't want the fillies knowing that the traffickers actually died, but were instead just wounded to a point just before death. Either way, Princess Luna would be pleased with the outcome of the results.

A blur escaped the corner of his eyes as he saw a pony—most likely the one chastising his comrades over their lack of proper situational awareness—opening the cage and taking a foal. As the child struggled in his grasp, he managed to gain ahold of a knife, and held it close to the foal's throat. As Redhorn finished off the last of other traffickers with controlled strikes, he paused as he approached the cave.

"Stay back! I—I'll do it! Stay back or I'll hurt the filly!" The rising smoke from Anora's incendiary bombs partially obscured Jamie's sight, but eventually, he could make out the color of the fur and mane of the filly that the trafficker was holding. As if it wasn't already worse enough... it was Applebloom, fearfully staying silent as the blade remained held at her throat.

"That son of a bitch..." Jamie swore under his breath. The shock bolts produced spasms in the body, which meant that if he decided to use it, there was a chance that Applebloom could get hurt or even killed. He couldn't chance that, nor did he find any greater solace in knowing that any shot with his pistolbow regardless of ammunition could force the pony's knife to inadvertently shift.

So a close-quarters option was the only choice here. Holstering his pistolbow, Jamie slowly began to creep around into the cave, passing just behind the cage holding the foals. He stopped behind them as he attempted to console them.

"Who... who are you, mister?" a blue pegasus filly asked. Her face was covered with dirt and what appeared to be... bruises. Jamie's heart sank for a moment: for children to experience such pain...

"I'm a bounty hunter, miss," he said, tipping his hat to her. "Don't you worry. I'll make sure you all get out safe and sound, I promise you that. Now I need you all to be quiet... I know another filly over there is in danger, and I don't want her to get hurt, either. Do me a favor and... just try not to make any noise, okay?" The foals nervously nodded at him. "Great. I'll be back for you all."

Turning his attention back to the trafficker, he tuned into his ramblings as he slowly began to approach from behind him. "Now... now you'll let me pass, unharmed, and you won't give any chase! Otherwise... I'll hurt this filly real bad, you hear? Now move aside and let me pass!" Redhorn stood silent, waiting for Jamie to strike. "You fool, let me through!" Jamie paused as he saw the pony hold the knife straight against Applebloom's neck, earning a shriek from her.

Redhorn only then decided to step aside as the flames behind him began to subside. The stallion laughed crazily to himself, assured in his victory as he slowly stepped forward, knife still in hoof...

*CRACK*

...only for Jamie to appear beside him, leveraging his arm in the opposite direction away from Applebloom's throat, and snapping the elbow joint. With a shriek of pain, the knife clattered to the ground as he planted a swift jabs into the stallion's side and throat, knocking him out instantly. Jamie mentally thanked himself for actually taking the martial arts classes on Griffonic Wingbelt.

Applebloom fell to the ground, coughing as she breathed in for air. She struggled as he picked her up, only for her to cease her struggling when she saw who it was.

"Hey, there, kiddo," he said, smiling at her.

"Mister Harper! I... I don't understand. What're you doin' here?"

"Your friends came runnin' through the orchard and told me and Mac what happened. I couldn't just let that slide, now could I?" Anora hopped down from the cave arch and moved to release the rest of the foals, shepherding them outside as she produced small flasks of water for them to drink. Redhorn merely turned around and kept an eye out for any others that would attempt to gain the jump on them.

"You... really came all that way just to rescue me?"

"Applebloom, you're family. I'd wade through Tartarus to save you if I had to," he said, chuckling. "Now, come on. Let's get you back to your family." He ruffled her mane and placed her back on the ground as he heard a mare clear her throat. He turned around to see Anora standing in front of the foals as they fed themselves on the former trafficker's food supplies and water.

"There's still the issue of these foals, Jamie. We can't just leave them here."

"I know, Anora." Jamie sat down in front of them as they stopped, waiting to hear what he had to ask. "Where are you foals from? Do you have any family?"

They sadly looked to the ground, avoiding his gaze until one of them found the courage to answer.

"We... we don't have families, mister... we're orphans." Jamie nodded: orphans were among the most common targets for foal traffickers. While children being left on their own at such early ages was rare, it certainly wasn't unheard of, either.

"All of you are orphans?" he asked. They all nodded, sniffling sadly at their own state of affairs. "Then don't worry... you'll be coming with us. We'll keep you safe." Their eyes brightened at the news, and they all scrambled around to hug him. "Whoa, hey there, don't all jump at once."

"Oh, Jamie, you're so good with kids..." Anora laughed.

"I guess it must be my rustic cowboy charm," he said. "Come on, let's get you all out of here. This forest is already a terrible place as it is."

The crickets had long begun chirping by the time they had returned to Ponyville, and as expected, the streets were completely empty, devoid of even the standard nighttime crowd that would frequent the clubs and taverns in the area. Jamie and Anora led the group of foals through the streets as they approached Sweet Apple Acres, with Redhorn silently bringing up the rear.

"Hold on a moment," Jamie said, stopping right outside of the Ponyville Library. "I need to contact the Princess." He knocked on the door and saw a light flip on upstairs. He was soon met with the sound of hooves thumping on the treehouse's wooden floor as the door opened.

"Uh... who is it—oh, Jamie! I hadn't expected a visit on such short notice..." She looked past him and saw the group of foals huddling outside. "Is something wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"The problem's been solved," Jamie said. "But I need your help. Can you use magic, or specifically, communication magic?"

"Why, yes, I can, but that normally requires a focus object in which to—" Jamie tapped his badge. "Oh. May I ask as to who you're going to call?"

"Princess Luna."

"Oh... well, of course then!" She sighed, concentrating her magic as she activated the moonsteel badge's enchantment with energy, surrounding both her and Jamie in a purplish glow. "There we are. The link has been established, and you'll be able to speak telepathically."

"Twilight Sparkle?" Princess Luna's voice came in clearly. "I hadn't expected you to speak with me, of all ponies. To what do I owe the—"

"That would be me, Princess. Judicator Jameson Harper speaking, Your Majesty." Jamie merely fiddled with his belt, unsure of what one would actually do in a telepathic conversation.

"Ah! Well, then, Mister Harper. I trust that your interruption was with good reason?"

"It is. My group managed to catch wind of a foal traffickin' group within the Everfree Forest, after I learned that one of Ponyville's own had been abducted. We tracked them back to their hideout and incapacitated them with controlled force, and they await imprisonment by authorities."

"Excellent work. I shall dispatch my Night Guard immediately to bring them to justice. I assume you've found the foals?" she asked.

"We have, Your Majesty. Save for the one from the Apple family that we rescued... the rest are orphans." Twilight's eyes widened at the mention of Applebloom, now aware of the hurried business that Jamie had mentioned earlier in the day.

"I had assumed that to be the case... as our usual deeds go, this one is no different. Very well, then, I shall arrange transportation for them. They must be very tired and scared, and I wish to grant them a safe place to stay within the Canterlot Orphanage."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, that was what I had intended to ask 'bout. Let your guards know to look for us at Sweet Apple Acres outside of Ponyville. If they lose their way, just tell them to look for the acres of apple trees just outside town."

Luna's light laugh was like the sound of chimes tingling in the breeze. "Of course, Judicator Harper. Like all Judicators, you have done well. Never cease to stop in the deeds that you carry out, for all of the Commonwealth benefits from it. Thank you for taking the time to contact me directly about this affair... the wellbeing of the foals is something I would have been very concerned about."

The magic faded away as Princess Luna closed the line of communication between the badge and herself. Twilight merely stood for a moment, curiously gazing at the badge until Jamie cleared his throat. "Well, thank you for your help, Twilight. Have a nice night now, and don't tell anyone about what you just heard..." He tipped his hat to her and walked back to the group, leaving the mare to go over everything she had just seen.

Jamie waved her goodnight as Twilight lazily did the same, closing the door behind her as she returned to whatever it was she went to do, seeing as the lights in her treehouse stayed on as they walked away.

"Well, what did our dear Princess have to say?" Anora asked.

"She's sendin' guards to pick up the goons in the forest, and transportation for the foals here to take them to the Canterlot Orphanage," he said, trudging along in the darkness as they veered on to the path that led to Sweet Apple Acres. "We're to meet 'em at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Fantastic, then! I must admit, this has been quite the long night. Strangely enough, I think we've had official assignments less intense than this, actually." She snorted. "Ah, if only things were as easy as a simple track-and-arrest job from the bounty board."

"Be careful what you wish for," Jamie said. "We might just end up gettin' a job where we bite off more than we can chew."

"It'd certainly be quite the day when that happens, though..." she laughed. Her hooded head turned to see the foals chatting among themselves, Applebloom regaling the group with tales of her adventures in Ponyville with her friends. "I certainly wish the best for these little foals... they have much ahead of them."

"As do we," Jamie said, as they walked past the wooden gates of Sweet Apple Acres and entered the orchard.

"See, look! This here's my family's farm! Sweet Apple Acres!" The foals gasped in awe as they looked on the lines upon lines of apple trees, illuminated with the light of Princess Luna's moon, now high in the sky. "Oh, I can't wait to reach our home! You can try all sorts of apple foods and it'll be delicious!"

"They're certainly not doing too badly," Anora said.

"Being scared does things to you, Anora," Jamie said. "I guess that since that's all been said and done, they just want to return things to normal. The other foals, though... I don't know how long they've been like that. Days, weeks, months, even years. And we might have just been the first kind folks that came along and helped 'em."

"Such thoughts are dangerous to dwell upon... what matters now is that they can get help, and Princess Luna will see to that." They entered the dusty ground outside of the lit Apple family home as Jamie walked up to the door and knocked.

"Who's there?" a voice came from inside.

"It's me, Mac. Open up." Big Macintosh opened the door slightly, and only then revealing himself after he saw Jamie at the door.

"Where is she, Jamie? Is she safe?"

"She's safe," Jamie said, as Applebloom and the other foals approached from behind him. "See, here she is. Get along now, Applebloom, your friends are waitin' for you inside."

"Hey, Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle cried. "Oh, you're safe! We were so worried that you would get hurt!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered together in a group hug as a white unicorn mare stepped towards him with Applejack. As Jamie met eyes again with Applejack, however, she only looked away.

"Oh, my, so this is the dashing hero who helped save my sister's friend?" the unicorn spoke. "I thank you for all that you've done, as Sweetie Belle was worried sick over here. I dare not think what would have happened if things hadn't turned out the way they did."

"It was no problem, miss. It wasn't anythin' that we couldn't deal with," Jamie said.

"Well, I certainly hope you put those ruffians in their place," she said. "But, enough of that. Please, come in, I'm sure you must all be tired."

"I can't object to that, miss...?"

"Rarity, darling. I am Ponyville's premier fashion designer, and a dear friend of Applejack here." Rarity looked to Applejack with a smile, only for her to frown as she noticed the earth pony's face. "Darling, you've been silent the entire time. I would think that your sister returning would be great news."

"I know it's great news, I'm just... I don't want to talk 'bout it," Applejack said, walking off into the kitchen.

"Hmm..." Rarity said, staring at the kitchen doorway. "There must be something going on... I have never seen her so... cold before."

"I have to apologize for that, Miss Rarity. She's actin' that way because of... well, we had a few... disagreements," Jamie said.

"Well, my dear, I won't pry, but you should sort out whatever it is with her. To see one of my dearest friends in such a temperament makes me deeply worried... and I'd rather not have to get involved," she added, with a tone of accusation under her voice. "What is your relation with Applejack?"

"I'm an old family friend. I lived here at Sweet Apple Acres for a time until shortly after... her parents passed away. I moved back to the Southlands after that."

"Oh, I am so sorry to hear that, dear," Rarity said quietly. "I had no idea that the Apple family had relatives outside of their own already-large extended family. Nonetheless, I would hope that you would try to patch up your relations with her. It wouldn't do either of you much good to keep things going like this."

Jamie looked to the living room as Granny Smith dispersed various baked treats and drinks to the foals, as they talked among themselves. "I certainly hope I can, Miss Rarity."

"Well, then you know what you must do," Rarity said, walking into the living room. "But I'd like to make it obvious that if you hurt her... then you shall hear the wrath of myself and all of her friends."

He sighed sadly. "I wouldn't ever dream of doing such a thing, Miss Rarity."

"Then I hope you will remain a gentlecolt. Now, if you don't mind, I bid you a good night." She joined speaking with Big Macintosh and Granny Smith in the living room as Anora walked up beside him.

"Well, I think things have gone quite well, haven't they?" she said.

"Better than I expected," Jamie said, turning around and finally noticing the red sheen on Redhorn's armor. "Redhorn, go find some water and get yourself cleaned up. I can only imagine you'd only end up scaring the foals half to death with that blood all over the armor."

"Fine, fine..." Redhorn muttered. "I noticed a river nearby when we walked out of town. I'll be right back." He trudged back along the path to Ponyville as Anora and Jamie stood watching him go.

"Sometimes I think we don't appreciate Redhorn enough for the work that he does," Anora said. "He's a strong buffalo with a good heart... and he's gotten us out of so many situations that I think we should actually find a way to give thanks for his help somehow."

"We'll get to that in due time. Perhaps we'll throw one around the time we go visit the Southlands," Jamie said, laughing. "You can head on in now, join the folks in partyin'."

"Not going to join us?" she asked, pulling off her hood and giving her mane some air.

"Maybe later, but for now, I'm just goin' to get some fresh air. Let Redhorn know when he gets back, okay?" Anora nodded and Jamie walked off into the orchard, contemplating on his own set of affairs. Eventually, his feet brought him to the very hill where he, Big Macintosh, and Applejack stayed out during the nights, watching the stars... but the tree was gone.

Perhaps it was merely a sign that things were changing, that they had grown up and realized that the real world had taught them things that meant that they could never return to what once was. Sitting down in front of the rough patch of dirt where the tree once stood, he looked into the night sky as he felt a presence coming up behind him. He turned to see that earth pony mare he'd known for so long looking at him with her emerald eyes.

"Hey..." Applejack said awkwardly. "I just wanted to... thank you for savin' Applebloom today."

"It was no problem, Applejack," he said. "I'd help family in a heartbeat."

"See, 'bout that... I kind of feel... really bad for what I said earlier today... you didn't deserve it, and I was bein' a bit dense for not listenin' to you. So I want to talk with you... in earnest, and not all that word-slingin' we did earlier."

"Of course, Applejack, I would appreciate it if we could talk. But I have a question, though..." Jamie said.

"Yeah?" she said, watching as Jamie pointed at the rough patch of dirt with his thumb, his face scrunched into one of pure confusion.

"What happened to Bloomberg?"

Chapter 5: Confession

“Oh, so cousin Braeburn got Bloomberg, then? I didn’t know they started up a new town down south,” Jamie said, chuckling. “Nice to hear that they’ve sorted out all their troubles, though.” He and Applejack both stared up at the stars, laying next to each other with their respective hats sitting on top of their chests.

“At least we got all that business with the buffalo all sorted out,” Applejack said, giving her own laugh in return.

“How come I’ve never heard of this happenin’? Seems like it would be some pretty big news for a while if ponies end up settlin’ on buffalo grounds.”

“It was out west, near the top of their turf, Jamie. They don’t got any towns up there, so I don’t think news spread until they managed to talk to the others.”

“Oh. Well, point taken, then.”

“So...” Applejack rolled over, and met Jamie’s eyes. “Tell me what happened.”

Jamie sighed. This had been a long time coming now. “Why... don’t you tell me what you remember about your parents? About what happened to them?”

Applejack stared into the distance in thought for a moment. “I... remember there bein’ a lot of ponies. Practically everypony from the Apple family showed up to pay their respects. I remember Mac being really quiet like, more quiet than he usually was, and... I remember your family bein’ there.”

Jamie nodded, urging her to move on. “And then you were quiet, too... and you didn’t want to talk to any of us. I remember everyone bein’ so sad, and your dad and Braeburn’s dad stepped forward and...” She grew quiet, replaying the scene in her mind. “...and told us that our parents were in an accident, and that they didn’t... make it out.”

“That’s what they told everyone else, anyway... Applejack, your parents were killed. By bandits,” Jamie said.

“I... wh...” Applejack stuttered.

Jamie sat up, remembering the cloth-wrapped heavy crossbow that sat next to him, and stretched for a moment. His underlaying dragonscale vest was tough, but it was definitely built for utility, not comfort. “You remember that we were on our way north, up near the Matterton Route?”

Applejack. “Yeah, but that route was always kind of out in the nowhere...”

“Oh, it was. We loaded up on days’ worth of supplies and headed out like it was nothing, and our wagon was full of apples and all that stuff. But it was nighttime when they struck...”

”Hey, Papa Apple?”

“Yes, Jamie?”

“Why’s it got to be so hot out here? Can’t the Princess just move her sun away for a while?”

Papa Apple chuckled. “That’s just the way things are, Jamie. If she moves the sun to make it cooler here, then there might be somewhere else that ain’t gettin’ the sun it needs for crops.”

Jamie pouted. “I guess I can understand that...” He took a sip out of his own canteen, filled with apple juice. “How far away are we goin’, anyway?”

“Real far northwest, Jamie, up near the top of the Commonwealth, right between the griffon and buffalo lands. I’m sure you’ll like it once we get there; some of our family’s been waitin’ for us and they’ll have some right proper vittles to get you back on your feet.”

“I can’t wait!” Jamie said, earning a laugh from his two foster parents. “At least the sun is going down now...”

“That it is, Jamie, that it is.” The sturdy stallion looked around for a moment, gauging the land around him as he looked for a place to set up camp for the night. “Better set up camp before night falls... don’t want to be stumblin’ around in the dark here. Jamie, make yourself helpful and help Mama Apple set up camp, would you?”

“Yes, sir!” Jamie happily responded.

Mama Apple giggled. “Really, boys,” she said. “Come on now, Jamie, let’s see if we can’t get a fire up and runnin’ before our stomachs start grumblin’.” Hopping off of the wagon, she and Jamie followed alongside Papa Apple until they found a nice suitable place to set up, a small patch of flat ground, just right off the route.

“Well, this looks mighty fine,” Papa Apple said. “Flat ground, no brush, and a nice hill to stop the wind from blowin’ dirt into our faces.” Jamie helped bring out some firewood and a pot, as Mama Apple brought out some vegetables for stew.

“Oh, my, it seems that I forgot the spices. Jamie, be a dear and fetch them for me, would you?” Mama Apple asked.

“Certainly!” Despite his grumblings, he was still overjoyed to actually be able to take a trip to learn how actual Apple family business worked, not just bucking trees or making cider. With this, he might actually be able to help Granny Smith fix up those taxes and get the numbers straight. Shoot, he could even help his dad’s farm back in the Southlands!

As he dove into the wagon, though, he noticed something strange. Looking up over the hill, he first thought it was just some brush moving in the wind as the night began to fall, but he could make out that it was something more. Something unnatural. He stayed in the wagon, fully intent on spying whatever it was that was out there.

Then, suddenly, more figures rose. Jamie was definitely sure that it wasn’t just plants now, there were too many of them... and they started shifting around, moving left and right as they fanned out across the hillside.

“Oh, I forgot the ladle. Silly me,” he heard Mama Apple say from outside. “Now where did I leave that thing...?”

Suddenly, the figures exploded from the hilltops, charging down the inclines as they gave a shouting cry. Jamie could see that they were griffons, wearing armor and... wielding weapons!

“What the—?” Papa Apple immediately dove into action and bucked two of the charging bandits straight in the face. Apple family strength certainly came into play in this very moment. Mama Apple grabbed a frying pan and slammed a trio of of them straight in the face in quick succession, as Jamie watched on in awe.

That advantage, of course, did not hold up in the long run, considering that their opponents had the advantage in numbers, but were also only down, not out. They quickly rushed Papa Apple and pinned him to the ground, as Mama Apple was hit with one of their blunt weapons, knocking her to the dirt.

“Well, well, looks like we have a couple of fighters...” one of the griffons said. “You know, if you just played nicely and let us have everything you had on that cart, we would have let you leave alive...” He hefted his club. “But since you didn’t, well...”

“No!” Mama Apple screamed, before the griffon’s buddies joined in on beating the stallion. “Leave him alone! Please, stop!”

“Well, looks like the mare has a mouth, too.” The griffons laughed, as one of them kicked her. Jamie was shocked, horrified: he sat numbly in the wagon, his arms shaking as he held a fire stoker in his hands. Attempting to step forth, he accidentally kicked over the box of spices he had originally come to find.

The griffons all turned to him. “Well, well, a human, too? I didn’t know ponies were into that sort of thing,” he said, laughing. One of them began approaching him.

“No! Run! Run, Jamie, just run!” Mama Apple shouted, before receiving another kick to her side.

And that was what he did. Slamming the door on the other side of the wagon open, he sprinted as fast as he could, and as far as his legs could take him. His mind blanked out, focusing only on him, daring not to look back for fear of being caught. He ran through the darkened desert, eventually only collapsing once he’d reached a small tree, in the middle of nowhere.

He spent the rest of the night crying, until a pegasus guard patrol found him the next day, absolutely delirious. There was nothing he could have done for them, he knew... but in his mind, he already made his choice. He was going to fix that.

"I... they said... they said that rocks fell on their wagon when they were going through a pass..." Applejack said, staring blankly at the ground. And part of it was true: the Matterton route went through several passes, all lined with precariously-placed rocks. "So then the reason why they didn't hold an open casket funeral was...?"

Jamie nodded. "That was why... I learned after I became deputy that the bodies were... they weren't treated kindly. And it angered me, gave me no closure. I had to find those that did it, and make 'em pay."

"I can't believe it..." she said, but swallowed hard and met his eyes with resolve. "I thank you for tellin' me 'bout this, Jamie. It... it means a lot to me. Though I'm not sure whether or not I can actually thank you for puttin' all of this on me..."

"I'm sorry, Applejack," he said, bringing her into a hug. "But I felt that you needed to know. And with that, you could understand why I'm doing what I do now. Why I'm a bounty hunter and everythin'."

"So what happened next?" she asked. "What'd you do after you went back home?"

"That was easy for me. I went down to the sheriff's office and demanded to sign up. Of course, given that everyone back at home heard about what happened to me... they all got the hint. Never told my Ma or Pa about it, but I could tell... they knew, and they understood, as well as I would let them, anyway."

"So that's how you ended up as a bounty hunter..." she said.

"Yeah, it's also how I met Anora and Redhorn. We all signed up together, and the job pays decently well. But my first job was one I did alone. I tracked down those who killed your parents... and I ended them." He sniffed, shaking his head. "It was easy to find them. Even around the period where I started to track 'em down, they were still raidin' groups on the road. It was only a matter of time until someone had to deal with them, and I wanted it to be me."

"So you're a peacekeeper now. Of sorts, I guess," she muttered. "I... I don't rightly like how you've ended up. Haven't you been hurt before?"

He shrugged, tapping the scaled plate on his chest. Applejack noticed the telltale gleam of dragonscale, and she ran a hoof over the light, but tough, material. "Been hurt plenty of times, AJ. Don't worry, I try to help out as best as I can, but even we only take some of the more lighter jobs... plenty more vindictive bounty hunters to deal with the dirty work."

Such was the nature of Princess Luna's domain. Jamie and his friends had managed to keep their hands clean of some of the most disgusting and vile parts of the underground, instead opting to leave the job to the more veteran Judicators or bounty hunters to deal with. He'd met some of them before, and after speaking with them, it was clear why Luna had chosen such outliers to be the judges behind the most heinous crimes: no allegiance, no family, no loose ends. Only an obligation to duty and a loyalty to the crown to ensure that retaliation against the Princess would not only be discouraged, but utterly crushed, ensuring that turncoats were an impossibility in the higher ranks of the peacekeepers.

The crimes that demanded such brutality were few. Jamie knew none of them, and he intended to keep it that way.

"Just... have you ever thought about stoppin' all of this business? Just come back to the farm and settle back down with us?" she asked. She pawed the ground in front of her; a small blush formed on her cheeks as she realized the underlying reason why she wanted him to return. "I want you to return here... return home..."

"I will," he said. "Just not... right now. Princess Luna is... well, let's just say that my oath to her is absolute. I guaranteed her my service until the contract is finished. Then I can leave, though it's... it's usually permanent. But I think she'll listen if I talk to her."

"And if she doesn't," Applejack said. "You can tell her to talk to me. I'm Applejack, the Element of Honesty, after all."

"Oh, are you now?" he said. That little fact wormed his way back into his mind, and he wasn't sure how he forgot about it: Ponyville was the home to the bearers of the Elements, and Applejack was one of them. Now that he recalled, Pinkie Pie was also one of them, as well. He'd yet to meet the others, and hoped to keep it that way: the town was most likely abuzz with talk of his arrival by now, and the last thing he needed was the entire town thinking that the Elements were somehow involved.

"Yep! Saved Equestria a couple of times now, heh..." she said. "So I guess... you know about the whole... thing? You know, with the door and... and our initials and all that..." She stopped, waiting to judge his reaction.

"I do," he replied. "Mac told me all about it. To be honest, I... never really thought you felt that way. Or maybe I did, and I just chalked it up to you bein' a foal and everythin'." He rolled onto his side and balanced his head on his arm. "D'you still feel that way 'bout me, AJ?" he asked, smiling at her.

Applejack couldn't figure out a response, too busy staring at his grinning face to say anything. Instead, she just slowly looked away from him and covered her face with her hooves, giving a tiny squeak that Jamie interpreted as some sort of response.

"So... is that a yes or a no...?" he inquired. Applejack covered her face with her hat, rolling around several times as she deliberated on a better answer. "You know, you don't have to say anythin' if you don't want to..."

"Okay, I still like you, okay?!" she shouted, jumping to her hooves and giving him her best pouting look. "I remembered you as this sort of... all the best things Pa told me to look for in a stallion, except you weren't a stallion! But I could tell he was fine with it, the way Ma took me aside one night and talked to me 'bout... 'bout havin' a crush on somepony. And how that somepony could someday be your special somepony..."

"And you talked... 'bout me," he simply said, standing up himself and finding himself gazing down upon her. "So... what is it you liked about me, anyway? So your Ma just told you 'bout all the good stuff you'd be lookin' for in a stallion, and then you started matchin' up other colts against the best example you could think of: me. Or your brother, but I guess he doesn't count."

"Yeah, pretty much," she said, giving a suggestive smile as he checked him out. "Though you're a lot more rugged and handsome than I last remembered you bein'..."

"Thought you said you didn't like me anymore?" he joked.

"That was... spoken in the heat of the moment," she said. "You... wouldn't mind tryin', at least, would you?"

"I'd... like to give it a try." Jamie flapped his hat around and reseated it on his head. "I like you, too, AJ, but I'm just... I don't know. Guess I'm just not that sure yet. Maybe when we have more time, we can sort these things out, but I didn't come back to stay... not yet."

"One more." Applejack blinked for a moment, letting Jamie tilt his head in confusion. "Just one more job, and promise me you'll come back to the farm. And if the Princess won't let you do it, I'll talk to her. Agreed?"

"I..." Jamie paused, putting his hands in his pockets. He walked around in a circle several times, conflicted over what he truly wanted to do. If he left, that would have meant that he would be leaving Redhorn and Anora to operate in a pair now—unless they were willing to resign with him. They'd had their run and things would be fine in the hands, hooves, and claws of the rest of the force. There wasn't any harm in it, and with Jamie around in Ponyville, maybe he could help keep the peace here instead.

"Er, you don't have to give me an answer right now," Applejack said, nervously waving her hoof at him. "Just... let me know when you have somethin'. It's a tough choice to make, ain't it—"

He stopped pacing. "I agree."

"Eh?"

"I agree," he said, picking her up into a hug and spinning around in their embrace. "I agree, Applejack! Oh, it'll be so nice to come back home to the farm, and just go back to plain applebuckin', and maybe we can even get my friends to help, too, 'cause Redhorn's super strong and Anora's—"

"Ahem," the aforementioned zebra interrupted. Jamie fell over in surprise and tumbled along with Applejack to the ground. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Huh? Oh, nothin', Anora, absolutely nothin'... um, what're you doin' up here?" Jamie asked.

"The guards have arrived and have whisked the foals away to safe haven," she said. "What was that you said about returning to the farm? Thinking of leaving the force already?"

"It's nice and all..." he said, his lips creasing into a sideways frown as he thought it over some more. "...but... I was thinkin' that maybe I'm done with this sort of life. Maybe just have things go back to normal, and you and Redhorn can settle down here with me!"

"Jamie, you know our contract hasn't ended yet. Ten years of service, minimum. We've only done six so far, though I assume that Luna might be willing to allow us early resignation if we can appeal to her." Anora shook her head, reaching into her bag and withdrawing a small sack of bits. She tossed it to him, and he caught the vessel, shaped about as big as a pair of fists atop each other. "There, the payment for the impromptu job. I counted them, and we all received the same: roughly around two hundred bits each."

"The Princess is nothin' if not generous," Jamie noted, but looked at Applejack. "Is the farm hurtin' for cash?"

"Jamie, that's blood money! You know I could never take that," she said concernedly.

"Yes, but this is payment from savin' your sister and stoppin' a group of criminals from operatin' in this loosely-guarded region, AJ," he countered, dropping the bits on her back anyway. "And I haven't been hurtin' for cash for a while, and you could probably spend this better than I can."

"Hmm, what was that about bolts costing an arm and a leg to buy?" Anora said.

"Can always make some more," he said, shrugging. "And 'sides, I got plenty left."

"I guess so," Anora said. "Still, though, I guess it wouldn't hurt to settle down here. Ponyville seems to be a nice place, and the zebra living in the Everfree Forest is actually a shaman from my homeland. I learned a great deal of alchemy from her, even during my short stay, and I think I have several new potions I'd like to test. For Redhorn, though... well, I'm not entirely sure what he might do. He may just return back to his tribe."

"Seems like him, yeah," Jamie agreed. "Though it wouldn't be too bad since I'd be traveling between the Southlands and Equestria every so often. Maybe I can finally take you all for a visit there." He looked at his childhood friend. "And that includes you, too."

"You think they'd have me?" Applejack asked. "I know your family's nice, but I... I ain't so sure 'bout the rest of the folks."

"Plenty of folks have known about the Harper-Apple family dynamic for some time now, AJ," Jamie comforted. "T'ain't nothin' to be scared 'bout. I'm sure folks will love you all the same."

"So does this mean you're an item now?" Anora asked. "Ooh, I'm sure Princess Luna would love to hear that. An Element of Harmony getting hitched with one of her own beloved Judicators..." She snorted and trotted down the hill before he could respond. "Don't stay out too late, Jamie! It's pretty cold tonight..."

They stood there for a few moments, just the cowboy and the cowfilly taking in the weight of their situation. Such an odd couple they were: a humble farmpony from Ponyville who went and embarked on a quest to save the world more than once, and a farmer boy who grew up to be a proud upholder of the law, with badge and pistolbow. And they were together now.

"So... I guess... I'll see you back. After you've talked to the Princess, right?" Applejack slowly asked.

"Eeyup," he said.

When they returned to the Apple family household, they noticed that the guards still hadn't left. Rather, Anora was speaking quickly with one of them, only for her to stop upon realizing their presence. "Jamie," she said. "Change of plans. Princess Luna needs us back at headquarters immediately. She says it's urgent."

"What 'bout the foals?" he asked, gesturing at the group peeking their heads over the rim of the chariot cart that the guards were pulling. A third Night Guard sat with the foals, ensuring that none of them would fall over during the course of their journey to Canterlot.

"They'll be taking them back. We're to take a separate route, and she has proposed that Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville as the one to speak to." She looked at Applejack. "I'm sorry, Miss Applejack, but I must ask that you return to your household."

Applejack reached a hoof to touch Jamie's hand. "One more job, Jamie. Promise me."

"I... I promise, AJ," he said, closing his hand around her hoof. "I'll come back, don't you worry."

She said nothing and trotted back to the doorway, where Big Mac stood waiting for her, but never breaking her gaze on him. It was only when Mac said something to her that she finally looked away, and entered the house. The door closed soon after, leaving him with Anora and the guards.

"Where's Redhorn?" Jamie asked.

"He's returned to the inn to gather his things," Anora said. "I'd propose that we join him soon." She looked to the Night Guard ponies, and nodded to them. "Thank you for relaying Her Majesty's message to us. You may leave now... I'm sure the foals have had enough of things."

They nodded, and with a powerful rear, galloped forth and took the skies, the foals gasping in wonder as their newfound protectors brought them higher into the air. Jamie and Anora simply watched as they left, waiting until their speck was indiscernible among the stars of Luna's night sky. Anora began to trot for the orchard gates as Jamie followed, and the cowboy checked his pistolbow. "Did the Princess say what we were needed for?" he asked.

With a quick flash of her hoof, Anora replaced the hood on her head. "She did not specify. I assume it must be something important, a lead, or perhaps an assassination. Either way, the need to convene so suddenly brings up many questions that I intend to ask."

"Supposed to be our last job, and it might turn out to be our biggest yet... I'm not sure if I like the sound of that..." he said uncertainly. Urgent callbacks were something that Luna only did when things were bad... but the severity of situations that demanded it was never discussed. Every agent only knew of the job he or she worked on; only Luna knew of the whole picture of the Commonwealth's underground machinations, and that was to preserve their exposure to other agents.

"It can't be that bad if she's chosen to call us back instead of one of the elites," Anora said. "Perhaps she merely has something to say to us... it is no mystery to her that you came to Ponyville without being assigned a contract, after all. And she does know of your past..."

They walked through the road, weaving on that dirt line between the sturdy trees of the orchard. A small flock of fruit bats crossed across their way, and Jamie remembered the days of leaving out small bits of fruit for them to eat as he and the others played in the field. He swallowed hard; the years had given him a different take on sudden appearances, and he relaxed his grip on his pistolbow, which he'd aimed up into the skies.

"Gettin' a bit too antsy for my likin'..." he said, stowing the weapon away in its holster.

"Only a healthy paranoia, Jamie," Anora said. "Perhaps an occupational perk that you've learned on the job, if you will. Don't think too badly of it; I'm sure it will come in handy some day when you have to catch an apple before it hits the ground." She chuckled at his action, remembering that humans could certainly react much faster than an average pony with the hands that they boasted.

"Hmm, so I hope." They exited the gate and proceeded down the road to Ponyville, the moonlight guiding their way. Idyllic was the scene before them, painting the town in a quiet peace that Jamie realized he missed the simplicity of such a life, and his heart ached. "I'm... surprised that this place doesn't really have any security."

"As am I," Anora said, still boasting her repertoire of bags filled with containers, holding liquids of all sorts. "Zecora—that's the zebra living in the forest—told me that she found it surprising, too. Unusually enough, there is more security to be had within the forest's depths than a place such as Ponyville. She told me she set up in the Everfree because it reminded her of Zebrica, and that she had no reason to fear animals stealing her stock."

The streets were empty with only the soft glow of streetlights to pave their way back towards the inn. Within the next day, word of their deeds would reach the ears of every pony before the day's end. However, it was not a problem, since they would be gone before then. Those more inquisitive would find their trail leading to Sweet Apple Acres, but he knew that Applejack would tell them the truth: that he and his group had saved her sister and a group of foals from a band of criminals operating from the Everfree Forest.

Stemming from that, the standard response left him unworried: no doubt that Celestia would now be allocating a patrol to Ponyville after their eventual outburst at the knowledge that such disconcerting groups were easily operating within the city's bounds. Mayor Mare may even hold a speech about it, with Applejack to testify what had happened. The ponies would be calmed down, and things would return to normal, albeit with an increased guard presence.

But the Equestrian Royal Guard was not limitless: they were already stretched thin enough as it was, and their stringent requirements meant that they didn't have every stallion or mare lining up to join the ranks. And the Royal Protectors were far too busy dealing with the protection of the politicians of the Commonwealth to be of any use, so the task again fell to the police departments and the bounty hunters.

"They really need to step up the Guard recruitment campaigns," he said aloud.

"Oh, they certainly do... the police force can only do so much, and it must certainly be a drain on the Commonwealth's coffers to continuously rely upon the bounty hunters to deal with things," she said. They were bearing down on the inn now, and the shadow of Redhorn moving about in his room could be seen from the street. "Notwithstanding the Judicators, since we are, at the basest, also bounty hunters, as well."

The innkeeper was absent from the front desk as they entered, but they ignored it. Shuffling could be heard coming from Redhorn's room as they ascended the stairs, catching the buffalo in the midst of packing his bags. "Oh, hello," Redhorn said, still clad in plated armor now devoid of blood. "Glad to see you've both finally caught up."

"You have any idea why the Princess called us to headquarters?" Jamie asked him.

Redhorn shook his head, unceremoniously tossing his travel packs on his back. "No idea myself. The Princess is prone to keeping secrets like that... how are we to return to headquarters so quickly, anyway?"

"Twilight Sparkle is to assist us with that," Anora answered. A tilt of a smile appeared on her face. "It would be interesting to see what exactly the Element of Magic is capable of. No doubt that the request definitely involves teleportation... but whether Her Majesty or Miss Sparkle herself is to cast the spell has yet to be revealed."

Redhorn waved a hoof at them, and they relocated themselves to outside his room. He locked the room again for their departure, and tossed the key to Jamie. "Best to grab your things now, huh?" he said to Jamie. The cowboy nodded, pocketing the key and going into his own room. All of the bags were still there, though he'd planned to stay for much longer, and he picked them all up from their short-lived positions. Most were basic amenities, food supplies, and spare clothing changes.

He appeared back in the hall with them in tow, dropping several and kicking them aside as he locked his door. Anora returned, carrying nothing more than she already was, key in mouth as Jamie relieved it from her. "See, this is why you always pack light," she said, giving herself a confident hum. "Less trouble that way."

"Uh-huh," Jamie mumbled, picking up his bags again. They returned to the front desk to find that the innkeeper had returned, and Jamie placed the keys on the table. The pony raised an eyebrow at him.

"Leaving already?" he asked. "I heard there were bounty hunters in town today..."

"There was trouble," Jamie said. "Nothin' that we couldn't handle, though. Ponyville should look into havin' some more guards 'round here sometimes."

"Hmm, yes, an issue that has been brought up before in several town meetings." The innkeeper rubbed his chin, shaking his head at the state of affairs. "The Guards would normally be better used elsewhere, but seeing as we now have malcontents skulking about so close to town, I guess it can't be avoided. I bid you all safe travels, wherever you are going. Good night."

"G'night to you, too," Jamie said. They exited the lobby into the freshness of the night air, catching the sight of that gargantuan tree house just down the street from the inn. "If anythin', at least Miss Sparkle's house is easy to find..."

"Wait!" they heard a barely-restrained whisper call out. They stopped, turning towards a pair of bushes at the side of the road when a pink mare jumped out. "You're all leaving already?! But I haven't even thrown you all a party yet! Can't you stay a bit longer?"

"Well... uh, no," Jamie said, looking over her at the brush. They were a pair of nondescript bushes, sitting out in the open. How had she managed to hide in them without being seen? They were far too small to fit a pony of her size. "You must be Pinkie Pie."

"Yep, that's me! But I'm really sad that you can't stay around for a party..."

"Sorry, maybe next time," he said. "I promise."

"You promise?!" She darted up to him, going all googly-eyed and smiling widely. "Pinkie Promise?!"

"Uh, sure... Pinkie Promise," he said, gently pushing her back and stopping her from invading his personal space any further. "Want to shake on it?"

"No, no! You have to do it differently for a Pinkie Promise! See, here, just follow me." She stood on her hind hooves, dangling her upper ones in the air. "Cross my heart..."

"Cross my heart..." he copied, including her hoof movements.

"..and hope to fly..."

"...and hope to fly..."

"...stick a cupcake in my eye!" She jabbed her hoof directly into her optical organs, eliciting a sharp gasp from her. "Yowch!"

"...stick a cupcake in my eye," Jamie finished, though avoiding accidental damage to himself. "Is that good?"

"Perfect!" she said. "Where were you all headed to, anyway?"

"Twilight Sparkle's place, on extremely important business for the crown," Anora said.

"Oh, boy! Are you guys planning a party?" she asked, hopping up to Anora now.

"Er... no. We're bounty hunters, Miss Pie." Anora took her turn to slowly push Pinkie away. The party pony simply opted to lean forward farther than normal instead. "Though you are cleared to listen in on our conversation given your position as an Element of Harmony, we would rather prefer to limit exposure of our mission's nature as much as possible."

"That doesn't sound fun, so I think I'll just leave you guys to it," she replied, shaking her head and beginning to skip away. "Good luck with whatever it is you're doing!" She bounced away humming to herself.

"That was..." Jamie said.

"...strange?" Anora ended. "Well, she is the Element of Laughter. It figures that parties would be her expertise... Zecora tells me that she can throw quite the gathering."

Jamie turned to look at the treehouse down the lane. The lights were still on, so Twilight must have been told to expect them soon. He recalled hearing about her assistant, a young dragon who had the ability to send missives through the use of dragonfire. Perhaps that was how they were to communicate with Princess Luna to notify her that they'd arrived?

Such a communication device would have been useful... if it weren't for the fact that dragons were near impossible to see outside of the Empire. Jamie waved Anora and Redhorn back on track, passing down the dirt road towards the treehouse. A small sign boasting the words "Golden Oaks Library" could be made out in the dim light.

They stopped outside the red door, and Jamie knocked.

"Who is it?" someone asked. The voice wasn't Twilight's, nor was it Spike's.

"It's Jameson Harper, from earlier today," he said. "Is that you, Twilight?"

"Ah, yes..."

The door glowed with midnight blue magic, and opened to reveal the alicorn standing within. Behind her, within the library's lobby, was Twilight Sparkle, sitting at a table with two steaming cups of tea before her. They'd apparently interrupted their conversation, but since the Princess was here now...

"You called for us, Your Majesty?" Jamie asked. She had come here of her own accord. He both was both curious and apprehensive of what was to come... Luna almost never saw fit to leave her station in Canterlot, and certainly not for the more regular Judicators such as he, Anora, or Redhorn.

"Indeed I did," she said. "Please, come in. There is much to discuss..."

Chapter 6: Gathering

“Wow, I didn’t realize we were meeting with you guys!” Twilight exclaimed, sitting down at the living room table as she poured tea into a trio of cups, placing them on platters and levitating them in front of the Judicators. “I take it that you’re all here to discuss Commonwealth business?”

“Indeed we are,” Luna said, daintily taking a sip of tea. “I had figured it best to perhaps reacquaint myself with quiet Ponyville before I visited you here, Twilight.”

“Oh! That’s very kind of you...” Twilight noticed tension in Luna’s stance, almost as if she were waiting for something. “So... I guess I’ll just leave you all to your business now?”

“No, please stay,” Luna said, waving her down as the unicorn attempted to stand. “Given that you are... invested in learning, perhaps you would be interested in the things we have to discuss this night?”

“Um, I think that would be... really nice, actually.” Twilight sat down and scooted closer to the table. “So, what do you guys talk about, anyway? How do you know her?”

“We work for her,” Redhorn said plainly. “As I’m sure you might have noticed with the commotion in town recently.”

“Oh, that sort of work, huh?” Twilight said, nervously clapping her hooves together. “Is there any intention of opening up a Lunar Office of Judicial Affairs in Ponyville? Or maybe just having some extra guards here? I know Ponyville isn’t really that well-known on the national map, but maybe you can speak with Mayor Mare about setting aside funds for our own police officers?”

“It has been noted, Twilight,” Luna assured her. “I will ask my sister about dispatching more patrols within the general region, or perhaps I should see fit to deploy my own guards here instead...?”

“Anything you see fit,” Jamie said. “Now, let’s just get down to business. What’d you call us here for?”

“Originally, I was to inform you all of your upcoming mission, but I have decided to save that for later, now that I’ve been speaking with Twilight. I will make this short by discussing only a single piece of news I have heard recently: did you know that the Southlands have been opening their borders recently?”

“Really?!” Twilight said, if only a tone too loud as she promptly covered her mouth with a hoof. “Sorry, Spike’s sleeping. If the Southlands are opening themselves to travel soon, then I’d like to visit it!”

“Well, we were supposed to visit it at some point in the future,” Anora said, nursing her teacup as the tea steamed from within its vessel. “Maybe Jamie could take us all on a tour? You know, since it is his homeland and all that.”

“Can you do that?” Twilight asked him.

“Uh, yeah, of course—er, I mean, normally the folks down south don’t take kindly to non-human folk just prancin’ on in, but usually if you’ve got a guy like me with you, they’re okay with it,” Jamie said. “Not really sure how things are workin’ out down there, though... last I heard, the Southlands Council have been fightin’ over how they were goin’ to work with the rest of the Commonwealth. I guess someone must have won out.”

“In all honesty, I haven’t been to the Southlands, either,” Luna said. “Perhaps we shall partake in this visit with you, as well. Now, back to your original question, Judicator Harper: bounty hunter business, of course, though I see fit now that since Twilight is my sister’s personal student and trusted confidant of the Commonwealth, perhaps she, too, should know.”

“Er... is Princess Celestia okay with this?” Anora asked.

“Oh, yes, perfectly fine,” Luna immediately replied, pulling out several folders she had concealed underneath the table and laying them neatly in front of Twilight. “Required reading, if you would, Twilight. You must understand that ruling a nation is a rather taxing business, and I’m sure the bureaucracy of the bounty hunters may be of interest to you.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up at the information before her. “Well... I don’t think I’ve ever read much into bounty hunters before,” she said. “Maybe I can skim through it and see how things work. Thank you for the notes, Princess Luna, I’ll put them to good use.”

“You are very welcome, Twilight,” Luna said. “Though if you do have any questions, I am here to answer them.”

“I have one!” she said, looking at Jamie, then Luna’s chestpiece, and then Luna herself. “Earlier today, when Jamie had me use his badge... I’ve never seen a magical enchantment like that before. How does it work?”

“Lunar magic enchantments,” Luna replied, tapping her chestpiece with her ornamented hoof. “It is a school of magic that only I have access to, but that makes it particularly useful for the functions that I wish for them to serve. However, a conduit is required in order to channel lunar magic, and that is where moonsteel comes in.”

Twilight’s gaze honed in on the resplendent steel that Luna wore. “Moonsteel... how is it forged?”

“Only under specific conditions that I cannot specify, of course,” Luna said. “The only existing reserves of moonsteel in the entire world are either under lock and key within the Canterlot castle, or delivered to my chosen subjects—such as our present company—where I can stay in touch with them, their location, and their state of well-being.”

“You can actually monitor their health and track them—er, the steel, not the people—anywhere in the world?” Twilight said in wonder. “That’s amazing! Oh, but I’ve read every single book in my library, and I don’t think there’s anything on moonsteel...”

“The records were most likely purged of such subject matters,” Luna replied grimly. “Such is what I gleaned from conversations with my sister regarding my reputation after the Nightmare Moon incident. Its power is likely the only reason why my sister sought to avoid it from becoming knowledge in the public sphere.”

“Ah... I should really be taking notes on this...” Twilight said, laughing lightly at her lapse in her normally bookish demeanor. Here, Princess Luna was giving her a piece of history she’d never heard of before, but she couldn’t bother herself to actually record it. It was no matter, though, given her eidetic memory for all things lore, so she simply wrote it off. And if that was going to be a problem, she could simply contact Luna again for the details. Who knew, perhaps there was a chance that she could publish a book on it?

Luna chuckled in return. “Pay no mind, Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps it will make a return someday, once the stigma of my past reputation no longer clouds the judgment of people everywhere. Now, I believe we have overstayed our welcome here, and there is still much to be done back at Canterlot.”

“Oh, you’re leaving already?” Twilight said, looking at the clock. “But it’s only... wow, that’s actually pretty late. Well, it was nice to have you here in Ponyville again, Princess Luna. Will you be returning for the next Nightmare Night?”

“Of course,” Luna agreed, standing as the Judicators did the same. She met eyes with Jamie and gave a lopsided grin before continuing, “Now, good night, Twilight.”

“Good night, Princess Luna,” Twilight said, giving a heavy yawn as they turned to leave. “I should really sleep earlier...”

A small click was all they heard as Twilight closed the library for the night. The lights darkened as she made her way upstairs, and before long, her bedroom joined the ranks of the quiet rooms in the treehouse. As soon as all was done, Jamie crossed his arms and looked at Luna.

“You were going to tell her somethin’, weren’t you?” he asked.

“I... had intended to,” Luna said. “She has experienced much, but has far more ahead of her. Great things, things that will shake the politics of the Commonwealth to its very core... I had thought that since such grand intentions were already in store for her that I should at least notify her of the existence of my secret branch...”

“You were going to tell her everything about the Judicators?” Redhorn whispered. “That’s confidential, even to associates of the crown! The most we can let her know is who we are, but nothing more, am I not correct?"

“I know, I know, that was why I... reconsidered my decision, at the very last moment.” She hung her head low and sighed. “She has much in store for her. I wanted her to at least know just how deep-seated the influence of the Equestrian crown is.”

“Don’t you think that Princess Celestia would oppose your decision?” Anora asked.

“Yes. It was one of the many reasons factoring into my rescinding of the truth. Now, our duties here are finished. We return to the Judicator headquarters now, and I will take us all there. Brace yourselves,” Luna said, wrapping them all in a energy colored midnight blue, before producing a sudden flash. The treehouse creaked in the wind as all trace of their presence disappeared.

“Ugh, I’m glad we brought all our gear along. It’s a good thing we pack light, huh?” Jamie said. He coughed dryly for several moments, holding up as he readily accepted Anora’s remedy for teleportation sickness and guzzled it down enthusiastically. “Oh, damn, I hate teleportin’...”

“You’re such a foal,” Anora teased, accepting the empty flask from him as Luna looked on with a silly smile. “Sorry, Princess, I guess some of us just aren’t used to the whole magic thing yet. Even for one that should be accustomed to it, thanks to standardized bounty hunter training, hmm?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll just walk it off,” Jamie said, looking up to notice that the entirety of the headquarters was bustling with activity. Judicators that he’d only heard of in name and reputation were here, conversing with each other as the Night Guard began handing out information sheets, detailing assignments and intelligence as the recipients walked off to briefing rooms buried deeper within the headquarters. “What’s the buildup for?”

“Important things, clearly,” Luna replied quietly. “There has been a worrying development of events, many things that I fear that will give the Judicators their toughest trials yet. Please, come with me. We have much to discuss.”

Luna led them past through the foyer and past the statue of Mare-Do-Well, rearing into the air triumphantly. Her cape was permanently held in a waving state as her emotionless visage stared straight ahead towards the stained glass emblem of the Commonwealth mounted above the heavy doors, the only physical entrance to the headquarters from within Canterlot castle.

Mare-Do-Well was an embodiment of the duties that the Judicators upheld: to bring justice to the worst of criminals, through either force or persuasion. Her return in the budding years of the Commonwealth, long before bounty hunters had ever existed, had been riddled with excited rumors and wanton assumptions about her identity, and though the Judicators themselves had as much knowledge on the subject as the average citizen, many assumed it had been Princess Luna.

Though never directly expressed to the Princess of the Night, she was well aware of the rumors, and found it endearing that her subjects thought of her as such, but no direct refutation was ever released. “So many things to tend to, yet we have so little time,” Luna said casually. “Tell me, Harper, what do you know of the invention known as blackpowder?”

Reaching the steps that led up to the open second floor halls, Jamie pondered as they walked up the stairway. “Well, folks back home always use it for blastin’ rock so they can mine deep in the mountains. Stuff’s kind of hard to put together, so we usually just use it for minin’ and nothin’ else.”

“I see,” Luna replied. They reached the top of the stairs, where Luna then ushered them into her office, located just beyond the railings that overlooked the foyer. Direct access had been more than just a concern for Luna, given that her more veteran Judicators had sparse amounts of time for layovers between missions, and so were required to report directly to Luna before they were off on their way again. “Please, enter, and feel free to take a seat.”

Luna’s taste for aesthetics was fairly straightforward, with lovely portraits of moonlit landscapes and decorative dinnerware bearing the crescent moon situated around her office, accentuating the room’s adumbral atmosphere and midnight blue rug bearing an exact replication of Luna’s own cutie mark upon the floor. The door, operated by complex gearwork and magical commands, closed shut and locked itself behind them as they took their seats.

“Well, the Commonwealth has taken a particular interest in this blackpowder, Judicator Harper,” Luna said, sitting down at her desk and looking over the reports sitting upon the tabletop. Her magic lifted the pile up to her as she began to browse through it, and she removed only one and placed it before herself. “Samples have been limited, of course, but there is interest on my behalf that we may somehow weaponize this blackpowder, as it seems that roving band of griffon bandits have been utilizing this commodity to assault townships.”

“That’s some dangerous fire they’re playin’ with,” Jamie replied, reclining into his plush seat as he looked up towards the ceiling. “I don’t think the Council is goin’ to play nice with trade if they hear ‘bout that. How’d those griffons get their claws on it?”

“What do you think?” Luna responded, sliding forward the report towards them. “They raided mining facilities in the northern fringes of griffon territory and stole them. Nonetheless, the griffon army is none too pleased with what’s been occurring, but they cannot stop them without our aid. I’ve seen fit to send a few Judicators to help them resolve the matter. Development in the blackpowder field has been halted completely until then.”

“That’s nice of you,” Jamie said. He picked up the report and flipped through several pages as Redhorn and Anora watched him, waiting for his reaction. “This is... a snatch and grab? By who?”

“I do not know,” Luna said. “Certainly there are powerful hands, hooves, or claws at work here, if our purported suspects have managed to accomplish what they’ve done. The Dragon Empire is demanding action, and I have decided that you three shall be the ones to tackle this case.”

“Kidnappin’ a dragon hatchling...” Jamie muttered, handing off the report to Anora for her to peruse. “That’s a hot potato case if I’ve ever seen one. Is it wise to just send just us three in for this? I can imagine how’d the dragons would react if we don’t find the young’in...”

“A valid concern,” Luna said. “Most likely, they will leave their nests in number and attempt to reclaim the hatchling through any means necessary. I’d rather not let the Commonwealth’s first exposure to the Empire in years be through an act that may as well be considered a declaration of war. It is already with great restraint that they have offered this mission to us, otherwise we would already have a crisis on our hands.”

“I can understand why they all keep themselves now,” Redhorn said. “The buffalo tribes have spoken much of their migrations before, saying that their temperament truly makes interaction with them very difficult, and ultimately, not worth it. Why do they even choose to associate with us at all?”

“Because they see potential in unity, Redhorn.” Luna pulled out several drawers from her desk, lifting out more reports and sealed documents stamped with the seal of the crown and labeled ‘confidential’, dropping them in a stack on the table. “They wish to look beyond their normally reclusive and possessive ways and attempt to branch out from their heritage, to perhaps make more of themselves. But their innate fire calls them to defend their kin to the death, which is why I assume that blood will most certainly be spilled should this mission not be completed.”

“Well, there’s certainly no pressure now, is there?” Anora said. “So this hatchling... Ignistra, she is called... we have details on what she looks like, what she likes to eat, doesn’t like to eat, and all sorts of things, but there’s nothing in this report stating why she was here in the first place.”

“That’s because her presence here in the Commonwealth is supposed to be secret,” Luna said, frowning at the papers before her. “There is a traitor in our midst, somepony who knows where the dragon was. She was supposed to be taken care of at a small shire between Equestria and the Empire, sitting right upon the border and at the intersection where they meet with the Crystal Empire. This location is not easily accessible, not by any normal means, but only through flight as the ground is far too erratic to travel upon.”

“And that doesn’t really explain why she’s here...” Anora pressed.

Luna sighed, leaning over the table and whispering, “Ignistra is the daughter of the Dragon Empire’s emperor and empress, whose names, even now, will not be disclosed. She was learning the ways of the Equestrians from our scholars by being given a controlled exposure to a pony-centric environment, as she was to become the Empire’s diplomat in the coming years.”

As Luna sat back, Anora remained silent, blinking in hesitation after receiving an answer far more than she had expected. “I certainly hope we’re not working alone on this,” she said after several moments, flipping through the reports again. “This job needs more than just a trio of Judicators on it. More like a small army, if you ask me.”

“You are the primary officiators of this assignment to the Dragon Empire, yes, but you will not be working alone,” Luna confirmed. “Alongside you will be many Judicators, all working from the shadows to ensure your success. Information gathering, subterfuge, or perhaps even direct assistance, if need be, will be at my immediate disposal should you require it.”

“So, this emperor and empress...” Redhorn said, shifting around in his chair, clearly one size too small for him to fit in. “Are they sending anyone to help us with this? Why don’t they mention who they are, anyway?”

“Reclusive, Redhorn, reclusive,” Jamie interrupted. “They don’t want folks knowin’ who they are, for whatever reason. I guess they can’t really involve any of their own because, come on... how hard do you think it’ll be to spot a dragon, of all things? They ain’t regular down in these parts, and if Equestria gets a whole rash of ‘em just sniffin’ out places for Ignistra... well, things’ll go south real quick.”

“Judicator Harper is correct,” Luna affirmed. A faint ping echoed across the room as Luna placed a hoof upon the levitating crystal sitting at the corner of her desk. “Yes, Eclipse?”

“Greetings, Princess. I have arrived, as you have ordered. I noticed that the door is locked...”

“I have current business to attend to, Eclipse. Wait a moment as I conclude this affair.” Luna removed her hoof and pushed the rest of the documents their way. “Within these documents are clues, contacts, and other various facets of information that may be of use to you. Our analysts have not had enough time to comb through all of it, so you will have to make do for now, or wait until their reports are completed. For clearances in this mission, given that the stability of the Commonwealth is at stake here, you are hereby granted full privileges to any resources you may need, Lunar Office or otherwise.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Jamie thanked, rising from his seat and gathering the reports. “We’ll be taking our leave now.”

“Oh, and one more thing, all of you: for the purposes of this mission, I have seen fit to grant you all an upgraded arsenal. Whoever the perpetrators were, they were well-equipped and well-trained, so I should only make sure that you can at least function at their level. Visit the quartermasters as soon as possible... I’m sure they have some new inventions they’d like for you to utilize.”

He smiled at Redhorn and Anora, wiggling his eyebrows in jest. “I guess I can look forward to that.”

Luna nodded sagely, wheeling her chair around to open the curtains behind her desk. The dim moonlight shone in, contrasting with the candlelight from the inside the room as she gave an approving sigh at the sight of her sky. “Excellent. You are not expected to deploy until tomorrow afternoon, after we finish setting up our contacts and ensuring that the other Judicators are deployed before you make your first moves. Enjoy your time until then.”

Jamie tipped his hat at her, following Redhorn and Anora towards the door as it clunked, unlocking itself and presenting a hooded unicorn mare—Eclipse, certainly—waiting on the other side. She sauntered in as they exited, giving Jamie a saucy look and a teasing whistle as she trotted up to Luna’s desk. Their reactions went unnoticed as the door closed and Jamie shared looks with Anora and Redhorn, and shrugged.

“Isn’t that Eclipse one of the more feared Judicators around?” Anora noted.

“Is she?” Jamie said, chuckling as he stored the reports underneath his duster. The foyer was now back to its original routines now, with guards and staff on duty with only a meager number of Judicators still meandering about. “Wasn’t she one of those more scary ones? Like, she liked to screw with her targets or something like that...”

“That’s the thing with some of these Judicators, Jamie,” Redhorn said. “I can appreciate the fact that we’re all on the same side, but you can’t help but wonder if some of them have... problems.”

“Problems that Princess Luna is in the act of sorting out,” Anora added. “A lot of these people here are good folks who have had bad things happen to them. The Princess is their bright light in a time of darkness, and she’s helped out some of them more than anything the public services could ever do for them.”

“I guess,” Jamie said, scratching his chin. “Let’s not dwell on that subject any further... I think I can feel eyes watchin’ us or somethin’. Let’s head down to the quartermasters and see what they’ve got for us.”

The armories within the Judicator headquarters were among the best that money could buy: a fully-trained staff with a forge that worked around the clock ensured that equipment could always be produced on the spot, and sometimes before Judicators returned from their missions. Such a function was completed through a preliminary restock request before entering the headquarters, and Jamie had used it on more than one occasion to grab another stock of pistolbow bolts before he had to head out the door.

Pay was still required, of course. Top-notch services weren’t cheap, and no matter how organized they were, Judicators were still bounty hunters, working for pay and giving it in return. It only made sense to help subsidize a portion of their equipment costs.

The quartermasters in attendance took notice of their entrance; after all, it was habit by now that they always entered as a trio, and always requested the same fixes or refitting that they did before a mission. This time, however, was different.

A scruffy unicorn sitting at the front desk sniffed loudly as they stepped forward, peeking at them over his spectacles. “Ah, you’re the three we’ve been told to expect, yeah?”

“That we are,” Jamie replied. He looked behind the unicorn to find the staff already busy at work, pulling out a line of heavy steel boxes and opening them up. They retrieved something from within them, fusing and welding parts together before they were ready to be presented. “Princess Luna said you had somethin’ for us?”

“Right, laddie! Bring ‘em out, boys!” The unicorn stepped aside as the rest of the crew presented their new equipment, still hot from the welding and gleaming with golden steel. “A mergin’ o’ moonsteel with some o’ Celestia’s sunsteel. Ain’t nothin’ goin’ to be hurtin’ you without a fight, no, siree.”

“Is it better than dragonscale?” Jamie asked. The armor pieces sitting before him were made to provide protection that he already had in place, but their effectiveness had yet to be tested. “Besides that, it looks like they’re just made to replace my old armor.”

“You can bet your damn arse that they’re better th’n dragonscale, boyo!” The unicorn pulled out an ornate warhammer from underneath the desk and smashed the center of the golden chestpiece repeatedly, with each strike not even make a dent upon the glimmering finish. “See? Looks even better than that and is twice as tough!”

“That sound great,” Redhorn said, knocking his hoof against the plate himself as he pushed down on it to test its resilience. Even against the full brunt of his exertion, the plate still maintained its form, so he approvingly relented. “But we’re going to be doing some sneaking around with this mission, I think. Is there any way you can rub off the shine on it?”

“That’s where the moonsteel comes in. It reacts to anythin’ glimmerin’ in the sky, or even a regular ol’ torchlight, if you will, and even electrical ones, and it can turn as dark as the blackest night. This’s alicorn-blessed steel, kiddos, don’t take it for granted. It can do lots o’ things that your crappy armor can’t.”

“Excellent,” Redhorn said, smiling at his reflection in the golden steel. The quartermaster zapped it with a bolt of magic, causing him to jump back as the armor began to purple, darkening into a flawless emulation of the moonsteel that the Night Guard wore. “Hah! Look at that, Jamie! It can change colors!”

“I can see, Redhorn,” Jamie said. An apron-clad unicorn dropped a stack of heavy crossbow bolts for him on the counter, but he couldn’t recognize this particular version. “Hey, quartermaster? What’re these bolts?”

The quartermaster looked over and his eyes lighted. “Hoho, lad, those’re the new explosive crossbow bolts, to be used with the heavy piece of work you’ve got on your back. Fused with fire magic and a heaping helpful of blackpowder, courtesy of the Southlands, all packed into one mean little poker ready to send any poor bloke straight to Tartarus!”

“How... unstable are these things?” He picked up a single bolt and lifted it to his eyes. Faints motes of fiery sparks floated off of the tip of the bolt, and tickled his nose with the dry stench of magic latching itself onto the blackpowder. “These don’t exactly look like they’ll hold up to the rough and tough that we’ll be goin’ through...”

“Don’t worry, they only activate specifically only when the magic detects that its flyin’ faster than you can run or in most cases, fly. If you do it like this, for instance—” They all jumped back as the quartermaster picked up another bolt and slammed the tip into the table. Nothing occurred, and the stallion just laughed boisterously as he set it back down. “See that, huh? Nothin’ happens! So you don’t have to worry about mussin’ up the bolts and gettin’ yourselves all blown to bits.”

“What about me, then?” Anora asked. “Surely you must have something for the wayward zebrican apothecary...?”

“Extra duffel bags!” the quartermaster joked, dropping several freshly-crafted ones made with special aether-woven fabric and durable moonsteel clasps. Anora’s lack of amusement caused his chuckle to fade, and he appeased her by dropping a bundle of flasks and bundles of crafting materials into a container before her before sliding the gargantuan storage box towards her. “Just joking, lass! ‘Ere you go, all the materials you need for your brewin’, and then some!”

“Hmm, yes...” Anora muttered. A rainbow of colors danced around her eyes as she hoof-checked the bushel of leafy plants. “Ooh, these are rare... where did you find these?”

The quartermaster clicked his tongue. “That’s for us to know, and for you to never find out! Moving on now, for the buffalo: here are some... urgh... heavy plates for you to deck yourself out in! Give those slimy folk somethin’ to fear, eh?” With great effort, the unicorn heaved a set of buffalo charger plate armor onto the counter, slamming it into the heavy marble tabletop with a thud. “Whew! This one took the longest to make, lad, so don’t take this for granted!”

“Amazing. What skill it must have taken to forge such a glorious set of armor!” Redhorn said, enthusiastically tossing off his own armor to adorn his new one gleefully. No sooner had he put on his new helmet did he look at Jamie wearing an expression of pure shock. “This armor... it’s so... light!”

“Sunsteel mixed with moonsteel combined with some real damn good forgers down here in the armory ought to make one of the best sets of armor in all of the Commonwealth,” the quartermaster said. “Now, that’s about all of it, so if you don’t mind, we have other orders to catch up on.”

Jamie stopped the unicorn with a wave before he could walk off. “Er, wait a moment... don’t we have to pay for all of this?”

The quartermaster snorted, shaking his head as he said, “This mission’s an important one, so Princess Luna is frontin’ all the costs for it, includin’ the equipment. Treat it well, you hear? And be sure to thank our glorious Highness, because the cost of all of this could easily break the First Bank of Equestria with how much peddlin’ had to be done to get them to headquarters.”

“We’ll be sure to pass on our thanks,” Jamie said, stashing away his bolts and assisting Anora with her own possessions, grunting loudly as he picked up the box. “Er, you guys can... go now... any moment, yeah?”

“Of course. Let’s go find our rooms so we can go over the details of the mission,” Anora said, tossing over a makeshift net bag over her back to carry all the new bomb materials she had received. She began to trot, Jamie in tow, until she stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Redhorn? Aren’t you coming?”

“Just a moment,” Redhorn said. “Hey, stallion! What should I do with my old armor?”

“Leave it on the floor!” came the faint response, fighting to be heard over the roars of the forges’ burning pyres and hammering of steel. “We’ll get to fixin’ it up later!”

“Thank you!” Redhorn called out, stomping away through the exit to rejoin Jamie and Anora, who were already on their way to their rooms.

The quartermaster chuckled as he returned back to his forging. “Damn kids these days...”

“It says here that our best lead should be to start in Manehattan,” Anora said, sighing as she took a sip of her herbal tea. “Honestly, we’ve been visiting that city far too many times for my liking.”

“Every time we get rid of someone, another one just pops up,” Redhorn agreed, no longer donning his armor, but instead wearing the traditional light robes of his tribe. “Ugh, sometimes this job just gets pure tiring. To be honest, I think I’m with Jamie: maybe we should consider retiring after this mission.”

“Think it over after we’re done with it,” Jamie interrupted. “For now, just focus on the mission. Okay, so here it says there are some folks in Manehattan who may know where she is, but it doesn’t specify. We have no contacts that have solid evidence on the sighting of Ignistra in the city, and—speaking of her, what does she look like?”

“Er, says here that she’s a dragon hatchling, obviously, with a most ruby-red scale coat with golden fins,” Redhorn said, flipping over the patch and rotating it to gain a better look at what was detailed upon the page. “Very regal in appearance, and her size... well, she’s clearly larger than Twilight’s assistant Spike back in Ponyville. They say that she’s early in her development as a dragon princess, so she should be... well, roughly around Anora’s size, if this drawn comparison chart is true.”

“Great, so we should have no trouble trying to find her,” Anora said cheerily. “Can’t be hard to find a dragon around here, unless... we’re dealing with people who clearly have magic at their disposal. Don’t dragons have an immunity to magic?”

“Correction: they have an immunity to elemental magic,” Jamie said, circling the note on his intelligence report. “Otherwise, anybody can just up and drop a disguise spell on ‘em... hoo, boy, if that’s what happened, this mission is going to be a real pain in the keister to finish...”

“They’re clearly not going to let her prance about,” Redhorn displeasingly said. “And even if they did, what’s to stop her from simply crying out that she’s a dragon princess and that she needs to be saved? I’m pretty sure that little outburst would have been heard by the Princess’s little birds and sent up the chain to headquarters.”

“Exactly... they’ll be keeping her somewhere where she’s secure and our suspects are keeping an eye on her.” Anora switched around her reading material and dipped a dry quill into an inkwell, hovering just above the parchment she now held in her hooves. “Okay, maybe there are possible locations that she could be held. I have a feel that it’s not somewhere openly vulnerable, so warehouses and abandoned districts are out of the picture for the moment. Where else could she be?”

“If we’re talkin’ guys with tons of money here—which I don’t doubt, given how many aristocrats we seem to bag on a regular basis—then they might have some elaborate set-up hidden underneath a hotel or fancy park or somethin’ along those lines,” Jamie said. “Seems like every major bad guy these days just has to have a home base to operate out of.”

“Well, they’re going to run out of places to hide eventually with how many Judicators end up in that place on a monthly basis,” Anora said. She tossed the reports onto the table stationed between them and closed her eyes. “Okay, so... we’re going to have to find information. I’ll start looking in the Zebrican district. What’ll you two take?”

“I’ll head down to the buffalo camps outside of the city,” Redhorn added. “Seeing how they’re situated at the city’s entrance, there may be a possibility that they might have seen something that could help us. What about you, Jamie?”

Jamie tightened his lips and shook his head. “Well, I... don’t really have an idea of where to look. Human folks are still a rarity ‘round these parts, so maybe I’ll try to work out a region from what we know.”

“Alright, then. I think we should all get some shuteye before we start up tomorrow. It’s going to be a long day...” Redhorn exited the conversation, disappearing into his bedroom as his door clacked shut. Anora was next to follow, downing her tea in the timeliest fashion she could manage before heeding the call to slumber.

Jamie was left alone in the room, having already decided on his next course of action. He pulled out a business card, crumpled at the corners from having been neglected for so long. Satin Sheet. If there was anything the criminal underground loved to indulge in, it was in the pursuit of carnal pleasures.

Satin—the mare’s stage name—would be more than willing to let him in on everything she knew... he just hoped that he wouldn’t have to end up playing her games to get what he wanted.