It felt like the first time in weeks has Mac had a comfortable sleep. The conditions were no better than the rest of the nights, but the looming rocks gave a sense of security rather than sleeping in the plain desert. It was also the first time he hasn’t a dream involving Celerity and his vicious language. Nonetheless, it was a nightmare.

There he was back at Sweet Apple Acres, tucked in his bed at the barnhouse. The moon wasn’t to be seen behind the thick clouds and the only noise to be heard was the wind blowing through and the faint howling of timberwolves.

Then he started to hear it.

The soft steps of hooves lightly creaked on the floorboards outside his room. At first, he thought the hoofsteps were only directed to the door, but then they started to branch off to his parents’ bedroom. He softly sat up in his bed, his heart beating like a bull trampling on a dirt road. There was nothing to see but pitch-black. The slow hoofsteps stopped in front of his door and the door swiveled open with a couple degrees at a time.

A medium-sized stallion stepped one of his hooves inside and bent his head into the room. His eyes seemed to sparkle but his face was covered with what appeared to be a red bandana. The peeking head turned until it met its eyes with Mac’s. Mac’s eyes darted to his pistol, framed on the wall to the left of him, but now it seemed as if his room had expanded a couple yards. The mystery pony moved his whole body into the room and also glared at the pistol. He turned back and shook his head at Mac.

As if on cue, a mare let out a bloodcurdling shriek on the other side of the house along with the shouting of a stallion. It was Mac’s parents.

“Get under the bed, now!” commanded the male voice. “Sons of bitches, a stallion can’t just live the rest of his life in-”

A barrage of gunfire rang from his parents’ room. The red bandana pony maintained eye contact with Mac, paralyzing him on his bed. After what seemed an eternity, the gunfire stopped and the stallion stormed out the bedroom. The hoofsteps from his parents’ room joined with his as they stomped down the stairs.

Then Mac woke up.

.....

Mac felt his hoof connect with the face of Siringo.

“Aaagh! Second time, dammit!”

“Sorry.” he said sheepishly.

“That’s good, now you apologize.”

Marshal Cornfield walked up to them. “So we’re all awake now? Jeez, Mac. You were sleepwalking like a dog. Anyways, we all best be getting on the trail right away.”

“Stallions?” Little Strongheart called. All eyes looked up to the young buffalo stooped on a tall rock. She gave the thousand-mile stare to the West. “I do not think that that would be a good idea at this moment. Marshal Cornfield, if you will.”

With difficulty, Cornfield managed to scale the rock tower to reach Little Strongheart.

“What’s stopping us?”

She didn’t bother to look back at Cornfield. “Look that way.”

“I don’t see anyth- oh, goodness...”

Barely rising from the horizon, a mass herd of ponies were headed their way. If one could listen close enough, they could hear their sadistic cries from miles away. Above the disorganized formation, a single pegasus flew above them, hauling another pony on its back.

“I don’t think I could be wrong, but I have a feeling they mean harm if we are to be in their path.”

“We can’t backtrack out this place.” Cornfield muttered. “At the same time, we won’t stand a chance against all them, if they’re looking for a fight. Siringo, get up here!”

Unlike Cornfield, Siringo climbed the tower with ease. He gave a moment’s stare at the impending herd.

“What’re we gonna do, Siringo?” Cornfield asked.

“Well, what do you think is best, leader?”

“Don’t be a wise-ass. I really need some advice here, dammit!”

“There ain’t much we can do. There has to be fifteen or shit-like ponies out there against six of us. I think I know what we’ll do with this place, though.”

“And what might that be?” Little Strongheart asked.

“Seeing that we’re practically in a maze, we’d best split up.” Siringo turned to Cornfield. “That way, we won’t be vulnerable as one, and we can pick them off slowly. Marshal Star’s gonna be with Stone, you’re sticking with Mac and, well, I’ll watch after her.”

“Don’t think so.” Cornfield said. Siringo blinked, surprised by his somewhat sudden assertion. “I can watch over the miss. You go with Mac, I’d rather have you keeping him alive.”

“Your word, Marshal.” Siringo affirmed, nodding. The herd was halfway there. Little Strongheart went ahead to hop down the rock tower. Siringo began after her but was stopped by Cornfield.

“Siringo?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m scared as hell, man.”

Siringo tried to let out an I-told-you-so chuckle, but also felt empathy. “I know.” he simply said. The two of them then climbed down to regroup. Unlike Star and Stone, Mac appeared to have already been aware of the situation.

Cornfield tried to step up again to tell the news. “Alright now. Out there, are a buncha gang members wanting to take our blood. This clearly didn’t come expected at all, so we’re gonna have to do something as a last resort. I, er, we came up with the plan of splitting up so we won’t easily die as a whole and we can catch them by surprise little by little. You two, Star and Stone, are sticking together. Stone, you better not be flying off this time, hear? You, Mac, is sticking with Siringo and I’m watching over Little Strongheart. Understood? Okay then.”

Marshals Star and Stone went one way into the boulder maze without question. Siringo chose another way off but said one last thing to Cornfield.

“Good luck, Marshal.”

“Thanks.” He and Little Strongheart sprinted off and moved out of eyesight.

Siringo was already walking another way, but noticed Mac still looking over to Cornfield and Strongheart. “Mac, he’s gonna be fine. The both of them will be, just come on!”

…..

Boss Gristle and his gang, with Sharps, stopped in front of the expanding landscape of boulders. Compared to his gang’s dirty, ragged clothing, he wore a vanilla-colored coat with a red bandana tied around his neck.

“Hold up, you ain’t gonna fly up there. You won’t have the same mistake.” Gristle said to Sharps.

“What? That crap had nothing to do with me flying.” Sharps complained.

“Just do what you’re told and stick with me.” Gristle faced his gang. “Y’all know what should be done. Spread out and find the sons of bitches. Make sure our cannon is still working handy.”

With cries of “We’re gonna fuck them up!” to “I’m callin’ the last shot!”, the ponies flooded into the pathways between the rocks.

Following behind, Gristle muttered, “It’s gonna be nice to see him grown up after all these years.”

…..

Mac and Siringo briskly walked wherever the path took them, keeping themselves to the walls of the boulders. If there was a fork, the two of their minds seemed to form as one and always took the same path as the other without hesitation.

“I gotta say, now I’m not so sure this plan’s going to work well.” Siringo said. Gunshots finally went off in the distance and they both stopped, startled. “Ah, shit. Here’s hoping those are in favor of us.”

Immediately, they heard a shout coming from all directions. “Just heard one of ‘em! This way!”

Siringo pulled out his revolver and Mac his rifle. “I reckon this time you won’t be as sparing?”

“Only for these ponies.”

Seven of the Gristle gang members appeared from around the corner. Three of them were Earth Ponies and the other two were Unicorns. They all had their red headgear, as masks or bandanas. As soon as the two parties made eye contact, they raised their guns and aimed for the two.

Mac had to tackle Siringo to get them both behind cover. By inches to centimeters, the bullets whizzed past them and then struck hard on the rock in front of them. Before Siringo could say his thanks, Mac rose up and fired his rifle the instant a gunshot wasn’t heard. He managed to hit one, but the pony still staggered around. Mac immediately ducked into cover, barely getting hit himself as he had his hat shot off the top of his head.

“We’ll take them on at the same time, alright?” Siringo asked. The seven enemies kept relentlessly firing upon their cover to no avail.

Keeping to the the ground, Mac crawled to wear his hat and loaded one bullet into his rifle. “Eeyup.”

At once, Mac jumped to the side and Siringo climbed on top of the rock. Sideways and laying on the ground, Mac was a tricky target and was able to shoot at three ponies. He aimed one in the heart, making the pony step back and trip, screaming in pain. He scored a direct headshot on the second mark, expanding the red color wrapped around his head in a beautiful bloom. Mac shot the foreleg off his third pony and when that one reeled in pain, he fired again at its stomach, dropping it to the ground.

Simultaneously, Siringo killed another two ponies with proficient accuracy. Using the obvious red covering their faces, he easily aimed and fired at them, one shot each.

Now Mac stood up, not at all surprised by his feat. Mac shot at the sixth pony only using his right foreleg this time and that one spun around before falling to the ground. Suddenly, the seventh and last one popped out from his cover. Mac held the rifle again with his two forelegs before realizing it was unloaded. He dropped the rifle and promptly spun his revolver out to snag yet another headshot. Mac turned aside and saw Siringo still aiming at what was supposed to be his last target.

Siringo gave a few moments to reflect on what happened in those thirty seconds. “Well, we’d better get on back to Cornfield and the re-”

Ka-boom! The ground shook beneath them and the path behind them was caved in by rocks collapsing from the walls. The two of them both succumbed to the force and fell.

“The hell?! No way are they using their goddamn cannons! We’re gettin’ over there now!” Siringo dashed ahead of Mac, giving Mac little time to reload and to pick up his rifle off the floor.

Fumbling around, Mac did so and looked up. Siringo was already nowhere in sight. Cursing to himself, Mac ran up the path, past the dead gang members. The rumble of cannonfire trembled again. Struggling to maintain balance, Mac tripped and knocked into a wall head first. Before he knew it, he laid sprawled on the ground and his senses started to black out.

…

Mac woke up after another tremor of the ground. He could hear gunfire echoing not far from where he was. He felt a pony standing above him, mysteriously. As a precaution, Mac reached for his holster. His revolver wasn’t there.

“It’s been far too long, boy. Not that you remember me.” the pony said, chuckling.

Keeping his face down in the dirt, he looked up to see a pony in a vanilla-colored coat. Top Gristle held and inspected his special revolver with a smile. “You know there’s, I think, only two of these to be found in Equestria.”

Mac lifted himself up and stood in front of Gristle above eye level. “That’s mine.” he said.

“Don’t you worry. I won’t be using it. For now, anyways.” Gristle glanced up at Mac and gave a sly smile. “You have grown a great deal, I can say that. Cap would be especially surprised. You have a clue of who I am?”

“Nope.”

“I expected so. You see, I-”

Mac swung a left hook at Gristle right on his jaw, with no desire of taking any more shit. Gristle twirled around and fell on his face, knocked out cold.

“I was on my way somewhere.” Mac said. He could still hear the gunfire nearby. He grabbed his pistol from Top’s unconscious hooves and was on his way.

...

Running and turning through the rock maze left and right, the sound of gunfire was closer and closer. What was that pony acting so special about, he wondered. He dismissed it and continued navigating the maze. Soon enough, Mac even heard Cornfield’s voice.

“Siringo! What the hell are you trying to do!?”

Mac was sure they were just around the corner now. When he looked upon the situation, time slowed down.

Stone and Star were perched atop a boulder on the wall in front of Mac firing upon the rest of the gang members. Little Strongheart was hiding behind a rock right below them and Cornfield was right to her, bending over the rock as if he was trying to reach to Siringo. Siringo stood only fifteen feet away from the cannon causing the ruckus the whole time.

BAM! The cannonball was launched right towards Siringo.

Siringo’s horn glowed and he unleashed a belligerent scream. He caught the cannonball with his magic, shoving him back several inches back as a result.

All eyes gazed at him in astonishment.

Siringo continued to scream and he struggled to take a step forward. The cannonball in mid air spun wildly and caught on fire. As soon as his hoof stomped on the ground, the ball shot back, just as it did from the cannon itself and it caused a fiery explosion, killing the last of the gang members once and for all.

Breathing heavily, Siringo only showed a slight smirk before collapsing in fatigue. Cornfield hurried over to Siringo to check him.

Mac heard the flapping of wings from where he came from. Looking up in the sky, there was Sharps ascending on his flight with Top Gristle.

Star yelled out, “They’re flying away again, the yellow bastards!”

He had to deal with this finally, Mac decided. That, and they were going to spread the word on them, of course. He reached for his rifle, but remembered he forgot to reload it. He thought about Siringo’s carbine as a last resort, and how it has misfired two times already. Screw it, it was going to be worth a try.

Mac raced over to Siringo and grabbed the carbine from his sling and aimed down its sights. Barely visible over the rocks, Sharps and Gristle were further away now.

“Hey,” Siringo panted out. “what are you gonna do...?”

“Third time’s the charm.” Mac held his breath and his hoof pressed down on the trigger.

Bang!

After a second delay, a cloud of red popped out and the two spiraled down the sky. The single bullet pierced Top’s heart and tore off Sharps’s right wing at the same time.

“Damn, today’s been all sorts of miracles.” Cornfield said.

“Marshal Stone.” Mac called. Stone knew what to do and swooped in to pick him up.

…

It was the first time that Mac has been so high up in the air and took a breath of fresh air and relief after a claustrophobic-like experience. He looked down at the river and it appeared just as it was on Siringo’s map. If he was right, they weren’t so far from the Gristles’ Plantation by now.

It didn’t take long to reach the crash site, seeing as it might be only a five minute walk from the rocky landscape. They landed a few yards away before Sharps and Gristle.

“Just stay here.” Mac told Stone. Stone nodded and Mac slowly approached the two.

Top’s corpse laid face down on the hot sand, his whole torso bloodied. A few feet away from him, was a squirming Sharps. His hind right leg was bent in an agonizing way and his left wing helplessly flapped in the sand.

Mac didn’t bother to take a second looking down at Top. He stepped towards Sharps and pulled out his revolver.

“You stay away from me, you fucking hillbilly!” Sharps pitifully crawled away from Mac. “I’m done, just fuckin’ leave me here or something, anything!”

Mac stomped on Sharps’s left hoof, the one that he shot, and stuck the barrel of his revolver on his forehead. Sharps let out an atrocious bitch cry.

“Mac!” Cornfield’s voice called. Mac turned around and the rest of them were somehow already there. “He’s bad as it is. Just let it go, son.”

Mac grimaced, shaking his gun. Glaring at Sharps in the eyes, he forcefully pulled his gun away and stepped off Sharps and walked up to the group. Sharps continued to groan and turn in his blood.

Cornfield looked past Mac to see Top’s lifeless body and whistled in admiration. “So you took down the head of the Gristle gang, did ya?”

“I did?”

“Good news, we’re actually close to the plantation. Where AJ is being held.” Siringo stated. He still looked tired from his magical move.

“That has to be good.” Cornfield said. “I mean, with Top Gristle ‘fficially out of the way, it shouldn’t be so hard to sweep out the rest of his gang and to free any pony we can find over there.”

Siringo shook his head. “It should, actually. Look, there’s going to be five of us and we barely survived back there. I’m betting there’s still around twenty or more out there waiting for old Top to come back.”

“What now, then? Get the rest of my deputies from the north to come there?”

“That’s exactly what.”

“How can you expect me to do that?!”

“Assuming they all ain’t dead out there, all you can do is look for them. I’m sure you had them rendezvous somewhere after their work was done. Did you do that, at all?”

Cornfield sighed. “Nope, but I’m sure they planned it themselves.”

“You’d better find them all soon, then, ‘cause only Mac and I will be going to the plantation ourselves. We'll try to get AJ out there one way or another to leave the rest to you.”

“I can assist you in finding them, Marshal.” Little Strongheart added.

Cornfield noticed Mac straying from the group, looking down the river as he did before. “Siringo, are you sure he’ll be okay?”

“Marshal, he’s survived this long. I’m sure he will.”

Cornfield kept staring at Siringo. “I didn’t mean if he will stay alive.”

“That, I just don’t know. I can’t seem to get him, myself. But, how can I be sure you’ll come back for us?”

“Now that, you’ll just have to trust me on, will you? You used to trusting others?”

“I was. Now will we get going?”

“Sure, we will. Y’all ready, Star and Stone? Miss Strongheart?”

“Always.” Marshal Star said.

“Alright, then. Mac!” Siringo called. “We’re going for your sister. For real, this time.”

Mac just nodded his head and waited for Siringo.

After their short goodbyes, the group split and headed north and west.

“Goddammit, don’t leave me here!” Sharps yelled.

Author's Note

Finally got it done, after 3 months. Now it's on to the whole ordeal of Mac and Siringo trying to get Applejack out of the plantation.