Chapter 8- Reunion
"You can't pick up chicks in a tank"

As we were walking back to the Hollow, Nettle and I learned a shitload about each other. I already sorta figured she'd escaped Northpass as a slave, which was impressive in it's own right, but so had her father, Thorns. As far as that sort of thing went, it sounded impossible to me, until I recalled hearing about that, no names used there, but then again, names were rarely used with slaves. It was a really sick demoralization tactic my dad used. It generally worked too, but the few times it didn't, we had slaves either try to or actually escape after memorizing how the guards moved and all the shit they'd need to for the purpose of getting out alive. Which is exactly what Nettle did with her dad. They escaped and her father actually died of old age and as a good parent. I, thankfully, didn't know much of what happened to the slaves other than beatings and whippings, and despite how harsh and indifferent it makes me sound, thankfully she didn't want to go into it. She was a lot tougher than Bullet or anypony else had given her credit for, and clearly a lot smarter. I mean, she sounded like a common thief, but just knowing she was a slave, and my father's slave at that, meant the world to me. If I could help her, then it would mean that my road to improvement was under way.

She was somewhat sketchy to me though, even if her story was entirely true, it was still theft. A justified theft, and it just got more and more confusing as to what the right thing to do was. But, the pay was there, and I needed that, and if she decided to tag along, then it just made us stronger. After all, two is always better than one, and if she broke out of Northpass, she could probably break in too. Not to say I couldn't get in on my own, but then I'd need to get out unseen when the guards already knew I was there. If I put it bluntly, I couldn't break in undetected on my own, I'd just end up being completely fucked. If she were to assist me in breaking in, then I'd stand a pretty good chance of taking him down. Not amazing odds by any means, but better than going in by myself. Though in all reality, I didn't actually know that she was the brains behind breaking out beyond her word. Though in all likelihood, anything she knew at the time would be pointless now just due to timing. The whole idea was just racing through my mind the entire time we were setting up camp and after we set it up, the thoughts were even more prominent.

"Silver?" Nettle asked when she noticed me staring off into nothing.

"Sorry, just thinking about things." I replied

"It's okay, what's on your mind?"

"Well, a few things. First, there's you. Are you okay? I know there was a lot you didn't say about your time as a slave, probably with good reason, but I need to know you're not going to have some sort of flashback and shoot me in the back."

"Silver, you aren't your dad, and I can separate fact from fiction. There's things I left out, and that's mostly due to the fact that I don't want to think about them. Maybe we should just get these questions out of the way now, save us time later on." I nodded in reply.

"I got my first one out of the way, now it's your turn I guess." I braced myself, knowing that it would likely be about my time living in Northpass.

"Did you ever do any of the slaving?" That was put bluntly for sure, but a good question if she was an escaped slave.

"No, but I was complacent in it. I knew it was going on and I never tried to stop it before now. I'd sometimes try to bring it up in conversation with my dad, but he always talked about it like it was his life's greatest accomplishment. I should have done something at least."

"Well, like I said before Silver, you aren't your dad, and really, I don't think knowing that it happened and not stopping it is complacency. You tried to do something, even if you failed it at the most basic level. I'll give you at least partial credit as long as that's honest." Nettle looked back to me in an almost questioning manner.

"It is, swear on my grave. Well, future grave I guess." Just that seemed to put her a little more at ease.

"That'd be your turn, just preferably not about what happened." for a moment, I could see her tense up.

"Are you addicted to any drugs? No offence, just want to know if you are." I actually meant no offence by it, but if she was going to travel with me at all I needed to know I could rely on her in any circumstance. She pulled out a metal container, not unlike mint-als, but rather than a smiling zebra on the front that was common to mint-als, this was completely blank and had a different opening method. She pressed a button on the side and the tin swung open.

"Just cigarettes, withdrawal just sorta makes me act bitchy for a while. Now, are you?" she asked, offering me one. I took it in my magic and rather than asking for a light, I used the one nonstandard spell I had in my extremely limited collection and used it to light it.

"Truth be told, I smoke sometimes. Not frequent enough to risk addiction, but that's just me. But right now I could definitely use one." I took a drag and exhaled. "You prefer mares or stallions?" partially asked because of curiosity, and partially because she was an attractive mare.

"Don't really have a preference. Was that a sorry try at hitting on me?" She took a quick look at me and came back with, "Well, no need to answer, that beet red face did it for ya. Guess since ya technically answered, that means it's your go."

"That was dirty, and can ya really blame-"

"Nah, I suppose I can't, but I didn't think you'd find a wanted mare attractive, physically or otherwise."

"You got enough time left to meet my mom?"

"Let's just see how this goes and maybe I'll have an answer then. So which is it? Physical, or uh, otherwise?" Should have known that was coming, but I honestly didn't.

"What? No both option? You're strong in more than one way, you've got some serious guts, and on top of that, you're probably the most beautiful mare I've met in my life. All things considered, pretty much all around attractive." Then, from behind me came a very much male voice

"Aww, ain't that sweet?" followed by the racking of a Northpass hoofmade rifle. A sound I was all too familiar with, though the voice wasn't anypony I knew. "Silver, good to see you with an escapee. That doubles my pay from yer daddy." I turned around to see a big,red, earth pony buck, with the exact rifle I expected on a battle saddle. However, I knew these rifles very well, likely better than somepony who just bought one. Especially considering he didn't have his dust cover closed, leaving all of his internals open both to the dust and to me.

"Well, it would, if you could take both of us. But I'm not going anywhere." Even basic telekinesis was something most earth ponies couldn't see coming, and in that few seconds, his carrier spring and bolt were on the ground. "Or even one of us. But I think this might get my point across pretty damn well." I said, cocking the hammer of my revolver back. "Nettle, you might wanna look away."

"What? You're just gonna kill him?" she asked, just to have me look back at her and fire.

"Yeah. Yeah I am. He was taking part in the slave trade. Directly. They've got no right to live."

Level up: Level 5
New Perk: Nerves of steel- When confronted by force, you manage to keep your cool.

Author's Note

Once again, lotta stuff I've been dealing with. Family, former friends, former partners, medical shit, all that stuff that kept me from writing. Since I can't rightly promise I'll upload at a schedule, just keep an eye out if you're interested in seeing where this goes. I'll post (hopefully) more frequently till this ends.

And once again, again, shoutout to Kkat and Somber(Who I realized was also on here at https://www.fimfiction.net/user/17398/Somber) for the inspiration. But this time, another thank you goes out to No One, who you can find https://www.fimfiction.net/user/872/No+One

Much like last time, if you aren't a fan so far or at all, don't give these other authors any shit. Even if I'm good, these guys are gods in comparison.