Morning sunlight flared into my bedroom, aggravating me into waking up. When my hooves touched the floor, I stretched and got my things together.

Apparently hearing me move stuff around, Applejack appeared in my doorway, lightly pushing it open.

“Ah'm guessing ya' slept better, once ya' passed out?” She asked in a protective tone.

I sighed as I looked at the duffle bag on my bed, now filled back up again.

“Yeah, thankfully I did..”

Applejack trotted over and looked at the bag, initially having thought something was wrong with it, only to find out that it was perfectly fine.

“Lemme guess, ya' can't carry it over yer' side, because of.. well, yer' side.”

A chuckle escaped my muzzle and I shrugged in response. “Yeah, I'd say that's definitely the problem.”

She nodded and looked at the bag, thinking of alternatives for a few minutes. “Is it heavy 'cause of the load, or the bag itself?”

I scanned over the bag at least twice before responding to her question. “I mean, it's pretty damn thick, but there are a lot of extra pockets that I'd never need... Why?”

My head looked back to Aj, who in return smiled. “Well.. Ah have a friend who could possibly lighten up the bag a lil' for ya. That is, of course, if y'all would like that.”

The offer was hard to refuse, considering I knew that attempting to carry it in my current state as is, would probably tear the wound open again.

“That'd be great. Just do me a favor, and make sure that nothing is changed too drastically. I still need it to be able to carry a heavy load, if it has to.”

We made a deal, so I removed everything from the duffel bag and gave it over to her. Luckily I hadn't put Dwight's revolver in it yet, since I had planned on packing it last anyways; but something told me that if she knew I was going to bring it with me, then she would worry about me getting caught with it, once I met up with Steel at the jail...

It's a good thing I didn't plan on waltzing into jail with a weapon, anyways.

Applejack returned the bag to me a few hours later, having had her friend 'Rarity' do the work for me. The finished product was so neatly done that it was evident this 'Rarity' knew what she was doing.

The useless extra pockets had been removed, the mouth-pulled metal zippers were swapped out for a much lighter yet still strong material, and the actual strap of the duffle bag was thinned out from pure bark leather, to a lighter, more compact natural leather, using what I assume was just the bark of a more flexible wood that had been reduced to be half as thin as before. Needless to say, once everything was put into the bag (including the revolver that I slipped out from under the bed-side and snuck in secretly while packing), I had it fitted onto my back, and what do you know- a perfect fit.

“That strap is perfectly replaced, if I couldn't feel the difference in comfort, I'd have assumed it wasn't changed at all, and the bag; it's perfect, like it dropped six pounds!“

“Five point seven, ta' be exact.” She wanted to mimic Rarity, but refrained from doing so with the mental reminder that Cross still hadn't met the fashionista, and that it might make her sound insane to do so.

“It took a bit of convincing ta' keep it from lookin' girly, or standin out too much.”

I trotted over to Applejack to thank her again, and had to look down slightly just to make eye contact.

“Thanks, again,” I said with a warm smile, “It means a lot to me.. that you care so much.”

The orange mare flustered and looked down slightly in a failed effort to hide her abashed expression from me, seemingly feeling guilty with herself for even blushing to begin with.

“Yer' welcome, Cross.” Her tone held a clear hint of frustration.

I was going to initially wait a moment for her to say something, but after a few seconds I realized that she seemed rather perturbed

“Alright, what's going on?”

She scowled for a second before faintly and barely looking back to me. “Ah.. Think ah'm just pissed off.”

The look I gave her was puzzled, and queer.

With an impatient sigh she looked up at me fully. “Ah mean, that's tha first time I've ever been intimidated by a stallion.”

My eyes shot open and I had to physically cover my muzzle to avoid snickering.

“Cross...” Aj growled, “Ah swear ah'll beat y'all ta' Tartarus if y'all laugh!”

It took everything in me not to die right then and there, even though I knew it was wrong to laugh at a mare for being so open about something like that– I just couldn't help it. Not under these circumstances... However, that didn't mean I wasn't able to regain my composure.

My hoof lowered from my muzzle and rested back on the floor. “I'm sorry– it's just that, well.. You, intimidated? By a pony who's been such an emotional train wreck recently?”

Applejack rolled her eyes and gave me an unamused stare. “Y'all just ain't gettin' it, are ya?”

I thought for a second, and slowly shook my head no.

“It ain't jus' about being hard, or tough. Y'all are assertive, an' that look in yer' eye a lot of the time'll make any mare forget whatever 'as on her mind. I suppose intimidatin' ain't really the right word, then.. It's passion, Cross.”

The harshest glare can come from the softest eyes, but she already knew that. It was just a wonder to me, if she really understood it.

“Fer' a moment, ah could feel that determination. Ya ain't gonna let anything get in the way now, an' ah respect that.”

“She's my family, and as much as I hate to admit it, so is Steel. So of course I'm not going to let anything stop me now. Just like you said, right? Anything for family. The last thing Rose told me face to face, though, was to not get myself killed.” A smile graced my muzzle again as the memory came back. “Nearly becoming griffin chow just about broke that promise.”

She laughed and returned the smile, then stepped aside. “It's nearly mid-afternoon, ah'd reckon. Y'all should probably be gettin' on.”

Agreeing, I moved past her and left the house with her trailing behind me.

Before leaving Ponyville, I wanted to visit Twilight to retrieve the blue feather, as she'd been studying it for whatever reason since the night before. Once Applejack and I realized we were both heading to the same destination, we looked at each other.

“Sayin' farewells?” She questioned.

I shrugged slightly. “Yeah, that too. I'm also just retrieving the feather, if Twilight doesn't mind... What about you?”

“Jus' personally, ah want ta' talk about the whole 'colt adoption' situation.”

She looked forward, and I nodded.

Twilight was flipping through a book with pictures in it, sitting with the colt and reading aloud, when we trotted into the room. I felt kind of bad about interrupting.

“Hey, why don't you go up and see if Spike will read to you for a few minutes, huh?” Twilight smiled warmly at him and gave him the book.

The young colt struggled a little to get up the staircase with it, slightly leaning as he went, but ultimately still reached the top.

“So, what's going on?” Twilight looked at us, “No new problems, I hope?”

Aj shook her head no, and I spoke up.

“I just wanted to stop by to say farewell for now, and to see if you had gotten what you needed from that feather.”

Twilight retrieved a thin, clear, plastic folder that was serving as a protectant for the feather, and gave it to me. “I was hoping to learn something from it– but nothing that I found, I didn't already know..” She frowned slightly, “There's no doubt about it, though. It's an alicorn feather.”

“At least it wasn't just a random feather,” I said optimistically. “We know exactly where Luna is probably at, it's not like she can go far without anypony noticing.”

Twilight smiled and extended a hoof, which I took up in my own and shook with yet another thanks.

“Thank you, again. Currently I don't know where I'd be without the support of you and Aj.”

She shook her head slightly. “I think I owe you a bigger thanks. If you hadn't come to the Crystal Empire with me, we might not have gotten to the colt in time, and there could have been even more murders...”

There wasn't any reason to remind her that Dwight was actually still out there. She knew it, and at the moment it seemed wrong of me to ruin a good mood by bringing it up.

“Random question,” Twilight said kind of sheepishly, “I was thinking recently and was wondering if you were going to try and get a motel for the night while you're in Baltimare or Manehattan, considering you're still at large around the area of not just those cities, but Fillydelphia between them. It was a large scale bank heist, after all!”

My mind replayed the statement Twilight had just made about how 'it was a large scale bank heist', and I chuckled. “It was pretty magnificent, considering how we're still only known by witness descriptions, despite making it into the headlines of news spanning across half of Equestria.. But no, now that you mention it, I think that when I leave the outskirts of Manehattan and head to Baltimare, I'll be sure to go around Fillydelphia.. I don't want to get recognized and be thought of as trying to nonchalantly flee after months of hiding out. Besides, it probably won't be hard to find areas to rest, when I have to.”

Twilight offered a tent instead, insisting that it'd be a safer option.

I expected it to be a hassle to set up and take down, but that thought was quickly shut down once Twilight explained the simplicity of it.

“My brother gave me an old hoof-me-down guard tent, and with your side like it is, it's a good thing it can be put up with almost no effort.” She waved a hoof over the rolled up tent for emphasis, “The center has a thin line of spring-steel in it, so that the tent has a sturdy top. There's four wooden stakes, an extendable metal rod, and the tent itself. You just take out the metal rod and put it in the ground where the tent's center would be. Then you take two of the wooden stakes and ground one side of the tent, align it so that the center of the tent is over the rod before you extend it, and then you ground the last two stakes.”

To make sure I remembered it right, I repeated it back to her until I had it memorized. Two times was all it took, and I had the rolled up tent resting on top of the duffle bag at my side; the flap of the bag buttoned over the canvas, so that the rolled up mess was secured along with the bag.

“How is the colt doing, with uh.. adjusting.” I said to Twilight, and turned to face her again.

“He's been alright, believe it or not. I've learned something new about him, too.” She smiled a little and glanced up towards the balcony of the staircase. “He's been hiding a horn under that tuft of mane, it's a peculiar shape and I imagine his magic might be a little different from others, but.. I haven't seen him use it yet, and it bothers me a little.”

“What about it is bothering you, specifically,” I asked, “Curiosity?”

Twilight removed her gaze from the balcony. “No, well– yeah that's part of it. The nature of it is what bothers me. Each unicorn is different with how they get to using their magic openly; for some it comes naturally, and they start using it at a young age; but it's not the same for everypony, and that's what bothers me. I can't figure out if he's insecure, not ready, worried, or– goddess forbid.. can't.”

“Ya said it yer'self, Twi. It ain't the same fer' everypony, and ah'm sure that he'll open up eventually.” Applejack reassured her friend with a determined smile.

Somehow none of us neither heard nor saw the colt make his way down the staircase and over to us, up until he said something from right behind me.

“When can I go home?”

Twilight looked at me pleadingly, hoping, praying, that I could some up the words to say something better than she could in this situation.

With a sigh I glanced at Applejack while turning around to face the confused colt.

“How about you and me go for a little walk?” I asked him in a calm, gentle tone.

After a little convincing, the colt and I left the library– in turn leaving Twilight and Applejack to talk.

The second the door closed, Twilight took a deep, almost quivering sigh.

“Aw please tell me ya' ain't gonna cry, sugarcube.” Aj frowned and studied her friend.

Twilight was silent for a moment, before she sniffled and spoke, never looking up from the floor. “This is going to be harder than I thought..”

Applejack went over to Twilight, and wrapped her forelegs around her friend's neck.

“But it's worth it, Twi.. Ah've been watchin' Apple Bloom grow up. She's a real pain in my flank sometimes, but she's gettin' older an' older. Soon she'll be gettin' inta' colts— er.. Maybe even fillies. But all them hard times, they add up ta' somethin..”

I came back into the building about twenty minutes later, after having explained to the young unicorn that this was his new home, the best I could. There would be time for when he was older to explain why his parents aren't around, and I figured that Applejack would help with that better than anypony.

There wasn't really much left that needed to be said between any of us though, so I went on to catch the next train.

I took the train to Manehattan, and paid for a boat ride off the island to the shore. It was pretty late and by the time I reached the sight that we had all drank and reminisced at after the heist, it was two or three in the morning. The plot of dead grass where we had lit a fire was still ashen, and the logs hadn't been moved.

Luna was watching my every movement. I could feel it.. and I didn't care.

For three minutes I shuffled in the dark, for three minutes longer I struggled to reach a hole in a tree. It was just out of my reach and I kept straining my side each time I tried again. My hoof caught the edge of the burrowing hole and with my other hoof I reached inside.

“Come on, God damn it..”

My hoof slid against what felt like knotted fabric and I quickly grabbed hold of it.. Just as I lost my grip on the tree. Whatever I was holding inside that tree was at least half my weight and before I knew it, I was on the ground with gold bits and nuggets falling onto me. They weren't just any gold bits either, they hadn't been engraved and were unpolished. Pure, solid gold.

I took as much as I could carry in the duffle bag without putting myself at risk of injury. Sadly, this meant that I had to leave the gold hanging out of the tree. However, what was on the ground, I buried about twenty yards from the camp for safe keepings.

“Cheers to the lucky bastard who finds this lot..” Before walking away, I took one good look back at the scene. It made me nauseous, remembering that night. It just wasn't necessary, I shouldn't have had to go to such extreme lengths to buy my freedom...

After about an hour of trotting South, I set up a camp and passed out the moment I had stepped hoof inside of it. Upon waking up, I realized that I had pounded two of the corners into the ground sideways.. had a good chuckle about that.

When the tent was packed up again, I continued my journey towards Baltimare. It took two weeks to work my way South, around Fillydelphia, and into the city. To look far less inconspicuous, I had to leave behind the tent set, every gold nugget, my bandana, and the revolver. But one thing was missing, and I realized my problem a little too late. My eyes weren't transformed again before I left Ponyville, so when I saw my reflection in a pond it was an immediate reminder of my infamous status. It would have been a good idea to find something to cut my mane with if I could just get a sharp enough object– hell, I could even make do with something dull if I had too, but if I was still closer to Fillydelphia, it wouldn't be such a problem.

That's when it hit me, and I retrieved my bandana from it's nearby hiding place; in the undergrowth of the ground at a few close trees, where I had the bag's contents wrapped within the tent itself along with the tent's parts.

The bandana I had been using was turned into a makeshift eyepatch. I tore the two corners opposite of each other just slightly, so I could tie them, and folded the other two inwards. From there I managed to unwrap the bandaging on my side, and tear it just enough to wrap it on one side of my head. The torn end at my side was tucked in the wrap of the bandage, making it look thinner than before, and once I had wrapped the ripped away bandage to cover the upper left side of my face and head, I carefully slid the bandana under it to cover my left eye. The torn corners of the bandage, I slightly tucked under the inner wrappings on my head so that it wasn't clear where the ends of the 'eye patch' were. Finally, using pond water, I slicked my mane in a messy manner to make it seem like I did it myself and was trying to look decent despite having a fucked up face.

With all of that out of the way, I hid the duffle bag and the tent pieces once more. It was time to go bail out my former gang accomplice, and brother-in-law, 'Shadow' Steel.

Author's Note

This took longer than it should have, but I had hit a block a few times while trying to balance other things. To be honest, I wanted to keep adding onto this chapter, but I feel as though my writing will flow out better if I continue on in a fresh chapter. It's less time consuming, and although I prefer longer chapters and the fluidity is just the same, it takes me longer to make gaps fill better in longer chapters. It's just one of those things I'm going to be working on better as I go.