The Good, the Bad and the Unfriendly

In a dive near the southern reaches of Equestria, the Shadowbolt Gang temporarily hung out in a small bar. Currently the gang was laying low and that’s why the rest of the town wasn’t on fire. Sunny Flare had encountered too many setbacks lately and she didn’t want to lose anymore men or get into trouble for probably nothing. A dive like this likely didn’t have anything worth stealing and the people living here were probably dirt poor. What Sunny Flare needed was another big job like their recent train heist that had backfired, or another hit on a big caravan.

Nothing had come up though and to be honest she was getting kind of worried that things for her were actually starting to take a downturn. She wasn’t used to failing at anything but the Shadowbolt Gang had unfortunately been weakened thanks to the deaths of numerous top enforcers in it. There had to be something she could do to switch things around and get the gang back on track. She wanted more stories told of the gang, vicious and brutal stories that would ignite fear in the hearts of Equestria all over again. Or at the very least a story of a spectacular victory where the Shadowbolt Gang made off with a fortune. Anything like that.

For now though she was just sitting at a table in this grungy old bar sipping watered down beer. Dealing with the disgruntled attitudes of her closest friends while she did so. Sour Sweet was always disgruntled to a degree, but now Indigo had been in a foul mood ever since coming across her old friend back at that train heist, and even Sugarcoat and Lemon were a bit negative lately. The five of them shared one table while the rest of the gang were at others or at the brothel on the other end of the town. Meanwhile the owner of the bar kept a careful eye on them, Sunny Flare wasn’t sure if he recognized them or not but he was obviously wary of such a large group coming into his place at once. How could he not recognize them though? In fact, Sunny would be insulted if he didn’t.

The sudden thought of that made her finger twitch. It was that easy for her desire to kill to rise. Well, she’d at least wait until they were all done drinking before she killed him. What was it about laying low again? Forget about that, if Sunny Flare had the urge to kill in her then people were dying, simple as that.

“So we’re still staying out in the middle of nowhere for the foreseeable future?” Sour Sweet grumbled.

“Yes, if that wasn’t obvious,” Sugarcoat answered her.

“Well sorry for stating the obvious,” Sour Sweet fluttered her eyelashes at Sugarcoat before immediately frowning. “Perhaps I’m just venting my anger for obvious reasons.”

“None of us are happy to be here, Sour. It’s just how it is right now. We’ll find something to do soon,” Sugarcoat frowned right back at her.

Sour Sweet scoffed and leaned back in her chair, putting her hands behind her head. “Yeah I bet our leader is coming up with a great idea right now.”

Sunny Flare frowned and glared at Sour, who glared right back at her while the others watched uncomfortably. This kind of insubordination was normally grounds for a bullet to the head. Sunny Flare did still consider Sour Sweet a real friend, and knew that this is just how she was, but she was getting agitated. What would normally be playful banter between the two of them was becoming strained and Sunny honestly didn’t know if Sour was one day going to cross the line. She considered all the girls at this table to be special compared to the others in the gang, and they were given special privileges and allowances because of that, but Sour was acting more openly resentful lately.

Lemon Zest chugging down her beer and slamming the mug back down on the table somewhat helped to break the tension though.

“Man, that was good!” The green-haired girl exclaimed and raised her hand, waving over at the bartender. “Hey, barkeep! More beers over here.”

“I’ll admit it’s better than what I expected from a hole like this,” Sugarcoat bluntly stated as she sipped hers.

Sour Sweet snorted and took another drink of hers, glancing away from Sunny Flare. “It’s alright, I’ve had worse I guess.”

With the situation potentially defused, the five girls continued to drink mostly in silence, allowing the others in the bar to make up for the noise. Of course that partially got on Sunny Flare’s nerves as she had to listen to the banal and irreverent chatter of her underlings as they got drunk and harassed the waitresses. If they wanted to pinch the butts of loose girls they should just go to the brothel.

Yes, she was definitely killing someone before the night ended.

Even this place would have some coin. It would probably be good for Sour Sweet to blow off some steam too. The whole gang could probably use a fun night like that. Only problem was there wasn’t a gun store in town and ammo was one of the things they were actually running a little low on. There were probably guns they could steal from some of the people living here but it wouldn’t amount to much.

Fucking Flim and Flam... Sunny Flare ground her teeth as she thought of the brothers. That had all gone wrong, the wagon train they were part of didn’t net them near as much as Sunny Flare had hoped to get and then the two of them conned her and got off scot-free. She sincerely regretted not just shooting the two of them. Nothing had been going well for them since that day.

Sunny Flare downed the rest of her beer and quickly grabbed a new mug that their waitress brought after Lemon Zest called for it. She wasn’t sure how but she’d get them back. She’d get to the very top of the world and make this whole damn country scream.

With a glance around her table she saw Sour Sweet still just sipping her beer in a bad mood, Lemon Zest had a smile on her face as she drank—probably not a care in the damn world, Sugarcoat was staring at her beer in silence, and Indigo Zap was staring off into space. Indigo. She had been too silent and even less enthusiastic with their normal escapades. Something might need to be done about Indigo too. Indigo had always been the sort of odd one out among them, but she still went along with what they had done. Maybe it was just Sunny Flare’s growing paranoia but she was starting to worry if she could really trust her friend. She already felt like she couldn’t really rely on any of them.

Thoughts like those were bad though, if she overplayed her hand and started acting too tyrannical to her friends they might up and depose her. And if she just plain killed all of them the rest of the gang would likely break apart completely. Who the hell would be dumb enough to stick around after that? The others might be afraid of her but they weren’t stupid enough to follow someone who would kill them without a second thought, not when she didn’t have anyone left to be her enforcers. So she certainly couldn’t kill her friends just yet. Maybe after they had made a big score and she could use that money to attract some more peons?

While these thoughts were swimming through her head, the doors to the bar were thrown open and a local man ran in. Sunny Flare (and quite a few others) hand went right to her gun but when she saw he wasn’t coming in here to shoot or nothing she lowered it again. The man ran right up to the bar, out of breath, and threw his hands down on the counter while looking at the bartender with a look of ecstasy on his face. Sunny Flare raised an eyebrow at what this yokel could be so damn ecstatic about.

“You won’t believe the message that just came in at the telegraph station! I tell you what it’s the most amazing news! I knew I should’ve traveled to Appleloosa already!” The man loudly said.

The bartender held his hand up to get his friend to slow down. “Hold on there for a second. What in the sam hill are you talking about?”

The man took a deep breath and wiped the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead before continuing. “Gold, you nunce! The mother of all gold nuggets was just found in Appleloosa by some prospector by the name of Cranky Doodle. They say the damn thing is upwards of fifty pounds! Can you even imagine how much something like that is worth? We’ve gotta get down to Appleloosa and go looking for gold too, before the word of this gets out further.”

“We are close by...” the bartender murmured, chewing his lip in thought. “If the news only just got here then we could get up and ready to go before most of the country.”

“Right? It’ll take some time before the news travels to Canterlot, hell, it’s only traveling at all cause of some reporter in Appleloosa wanting to spread the word and get famous himself. Others have heard that gold can be found in Appleloosa but it’s nothing like this, we can really be some of the first to get out there before the big rush!”

A smile spread on the bartender’s face. “It’ll take a day to get everyone ready and to convince the family and all but… you’re right. We’ve gotta go to Appleloosa!”

“That is absolutely correct,” Sunny Flare said as she appeared right next to the two of them at the bar.

Both men looked over at her and for the first time the man who had run in really looked around the bar and saw just who filled it up. Things had become quiet while the two of them obliviously had talked about Appleloosa and the miraculous golden nugget. Every eye of every Shadowbolt was on the two of them.

“Now um, if you could be so kind-” Sunny Flare said as she pulled her revolver out of its holster and laid it on the bar. “Could you direct me to the local telegraph station?”

Five minutes later Sunny Flare learned, much to her dismay, that the message had already been sent along to other stations and would surely arrive in big cities soon. She was able to somewhat remedy her mood though by cutting all the lines at the local station and making sure that no one who had heard about Cranky Doodle’s find would spread the story by mouth. Forever. Some time after that she had everyone in her gang gathered up and get ready to head out immediately. It didn’t matter that it was still nighttime, they were going south to Appleloosa and they were going to find this Cranky Doodle and his gold nugget.

Sunny Flare grinned. It seemed like everything was coming back together for her. This was just what she was hoping for and exactly what she needed to get her gang back into gear. If the nugget really was as big and as pure as that guy had said then it would be worth thousands all on its own. Not to mention that there was probably a whole bunch of other gold to loot from Appleloosa too.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Sugarcoat asked her as the girls got on their horses and prepared to leave.

“Why wouldn’t it be? Just think of all that gold,” Sunny Flare answered her with a predatory grin.

“I’m just saying that it’s different for us to try and attack what’s a booming town compared to the places we normally knock over. There are going to be a lot of people there thanks to the gold rush and I would imagine the local sheriff has quite a dew deputies. If we are going to rob this Cranky Doodle person and whoever else, it may not be possible to do a quick hit and run,” Sugarcoat said.

Sunny Flare scowled but had to admit her friend was right. This was different, but also too good to pass up. “I see your point but it’s still going to be a few days of riding before we get there. I’ll think of a real plan.” She flashed a smile at the blunt girl. “I always come out on top. Just remember that.”

“Will the rest of us come out on top with you?” Sour Sweet sniped.

Now Sunny Flare could’ve just shot her right then and there but she decided to act with restrain. Something a bit unusual to her lately but she was in a good mood after learning about the nugget. So she just kept smiling pleasantly as she turned to look at Sour Sweet. “You will, I guarantee it. We’re all the best of friends here and I promise that it’s either going to be all of us or none of us at the top of the world. Even you have to admit, Sour, that we can do a lot with so much gold.”

Sour ground her teeth but eventually relented. “I suppose you’re right about that. I wouldn’t mind having some nicer stuff.”

“Yeah for real!” Lemon Zest added. “I want like—a solid gold plated rifle!” She said as she held up her own repeater to show it off. “Like this but richer, you know?”

Sunny Flare laughed at Lemon’s silliness and dug her spurs into her horse, getting it to start galloping through the night while the others quickly followed her. Once her four friends were with her she looked back and saw that the rest of the gang was following too, hooting and hollering and having fun with each other after enjoying their time in town. A lot of them had pilfered whiskey and beer or at the least were trading stories of some of the pretty ladies they had just bedded. Consensual or otherwise. It all brought a smile to Sunny Flare’s face knowing that she controlled these people and they lived and died by her will.

Her eyes drifted to Indigo Zap, who still had a blank expression on her face.

“Indigo? Don’t tell me that you aren’t looking forward to this?” She asked.

The fencer blew a long breath out her nose. “Eh, it’s better than doing nothing.”

Sunny’s lip twitched. “Perhaps you’ll get lucky and find someone who really likes to knife fight in town. Then you’ll have something to do.”

“Wouldn’t be so bad,” Indigo shrugged.

“You’re starting to sound a little too unenthusiastic, you know?” Sunny Flare said to her and reached a hand over to squeeze her shoulder, a little harder than was friendly. “You are still a Shadowbolt, you know? Don’t forget all the things you happily and willingly did for me.”

Indigo sighed but didn’t move to remove Sunny’s hand. “I know I’m still a Shadowbolt, and I haven’t forgotten anything. We’re still friends and everything I’ve done has been my choice.”

“Good,” Sunny smiled. “So loosen up and let’s have some fun in Appleloosa. All of us.”

The five girls and the rest of the Shadowbolt Gang then rode south to Appleloosa. Greed and glory was in Sunny Flare’s eyes. That golden nugget that Cranky Doodle had uncovered may very well portend his doom and the doom of his town. Every single one of the gang members would want their share or more, and who knew what would become of the town after the dreaded Shadowbolt Gang ran through it.

Rainbow Dash was really wishing she knew how to read a map because she was almost certain she was lost in the middle of nowhere.

She was on a road and that was basically all she knew. It was clearly not a major road either and was essentially more of a dirt path out in the wilderness that she might have not even noticed was a road were in not for the slight indentations in the ground that showed a wagon had been traveling over it not long ago. Rainbow Dash of course wasn’t even lucky enough to have a wagon or a horse. It was just her feet carrying herself down the road in the middle of the night, with the moon hanging overhead. At least it was easier to travel on feet than during the miserably hot day. She wore too much damn black for that. Unfortunately she didn’t really have any other choice, south was where Lightning Dust had gone and Rainbow Dash had to follow her.

Lightning Dust had committed another murder in a town a little bit north of here. According to the townsfolk she had deliberately provoked a fight with someone and when he pulled out a knife she pulled out her sword. And that was that. She hadn’t made it clean or quick either. The townsfolk told Rainbow Dash that she had ran off on her own into the wilderness, going south.

To be honest, Rainbow didn’t exactly know what Lightning Dust was thinking. As far as Rainbow knew she wasn’t a survivalist or anything. Was she expecting to just live off the land and be a-okay? Or maybe she knew something that Rainbow didn’t. There had to be something up with why Lightning Dust would go this way. That either being someone else for her to kill or some other reason still unknown to Rainbow Dash.

Whatever it was, it led to Rainbow Dash lugging her sword and most of her knives on her back as she traveled down this road too. Her feet, calloused and broken in as they were, were still starting to ache. Rainbow Dash may have been in peak physical condition but she got worn out just like anybody else.

As the night went on a rabbit carefully stuck its head out of its burrow, sniffing around, ears and whiskers twitching for any sign of danger. Not sensing anything in the immediate area it hopped out and began thumping along on the ground, nose at the dirt as it sniffed for anything. The rabbit’s beady eyes looked left and right to scope the world out and then it quickly darted through some small bushes before coming out in front of some rocks.

A scorpion crawled over one of the rocks but the rabbit paid it no mind, neither of them would bother the other unprovoked. It wasn’t a danger the same way a rattlesnake would have been. The rabbit paused for a moment. Standing up straight and swiveling its ears around, it prepared to-

A knife cut through the air and impaled the rabbit through the neck, pinning it to the ground.

“There’s dinner at least,” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she walked off the road to collect her meal.

The knife pulled out easily but she didn’t bother cleaning it or pushing it back up her sleeve. She still had stuff to do with it. Now she may not have had any pots or pans with her but she could still skin a rabbit, make a fire, and shish-kabob it on her sword and that would make for a pretty good meal. Still took some work to skin it the right way and then use her knife to get some twigs and rocks to start a fire but after some time she got it all running. The knife was great for making sparks at least.

It wasn’t much longer before Rainbow was eating roasted rabbit off the tip of her sword, savoring every bite and the natural gamey flavor of the rabbit. Only once she was done did she clean things up and start to head back down the road.

Now some water would be nice if she could find it too but this didn’t look like the area that would have any flowing streams or anything like that.

Rainbow Dash instead started whistling to herself to pass the time. It wasn’t as good as having a harmonica but it would do. Maybe she should just find a nice rock to lean up against and rest for the night? Course in the morning she might find herself crawling with scorpions and tarantulas so that wasn’t the most inviting thought. She cracked her fingers, then her wrists, and then her elbows as she continued her walk. If only she could find some further sign of Lightning Dust or proof she was going the right way.

What a huge damn pain it was to try traveling across an entire country looking for one person. Even if they were infamous it wasn’t exactly easy.

At least the rabbit would keep her stomach full for a day. If Rainbow Dash did happen to stumble upon her hated rival and former fellow student she was going to need to have as much strength in her body as possible. Lightning Dust was good. Very good. Preferably Rainbow would want to be fully rested before facing her, but beggars can’t be choosers. More than likely she was probably just going to stumble across Lightning Dust one day after wandering around in the wilds for a while.

If that did happen she’d pull out her sword and charge her, and they’d finish things once and for all. Rainbow Dash didn’t know if she’d say anything. Probably just yell in rage, or scream Lightning Dust’s name. Whatever happened happened, she wasn’t going to plan too far ahead.

A midnight cloud rolled across the moon and the night temporarily became even darker than it normally was. Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky and exhaled through her nose, she hated times like this. Boring walking and nothing else. She wanted to be doing something, anything, even if it was a distraction from her goal of finding Lightning Dust she would relish it. She loved taking out other bandits or doing something heroic. It’s like it was her true calling in life and Lightning Dust just needed to be taken care of first before Rainbow Dash could really go for it.

Rainbow Dash knew she was meant for greater things. In essence she wanted to be the exact opposite of Lightning Dust or the Shadowbolt Gang. She wanted to be someone others could think about and be happy was out there on the roads, protecting the weak and the helpless. Just being awesome like that and making Equestria a more awesome place to live in again.

By the time the cloud left and the light of the moon came back down, Rainbow’s eyes had adjusted pretty well to the darkness. Well enough to see something up ahead slightly off the road. A couple of somethings at that—Rainbow Dash happened to spy a small campsite that had been set up by the road. No wagon or anything but there were three small tents set up around a firepit that had long since gone dark.

She wouldn’t have given it a second thought at all normally, figuring that everyone was asleep inside their tents. But one slumped over figure next to one of the tents told her that something was dreadfully wrong.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash yelled and quickly ran off the road towards the campsite.

Not a soul stirred at the sound of her voice. Rainbow Dash slung her sword case off her shoulder and opened it up, grabbing the saber out of it and unsheathing it just in case. The pristine blade glistened in the moonlight and as Rainbow Dash made it closer to the campsite the smell of dried blood and death reached her nose. Flies buzzed around the body of the man slumped against his tent, he lay on his side with a gun fallen out of his slack grip. Rainbow Dash grimaced and tipped him over with the toe of her boot, revealing his bloody front side to her.

He was an eviscerated mess, disemboweled with a long thin cut across his throat. Overkill and not the work of any gun. Rainbow Dash knew exactly the weapon that was used for this.

She left the body there and searched the tents, two were empty but one had another dead body in it that was covered in stab wounds. Unnecessarily brutal and cruel, Lightning Dust could’ve easily killed him with a single stab to the heart but she made him suffer instead. From what Rainbow Dash could tell it looked like he had tried to scramble inside it and reach his gun before he succumbed to his wounds. That was three tents and only two bodies though. Where was the third one?

It took a bit of looking around but she saw a trail in the dirt leading away from the campsite and road, further into the wilderness. Rainbow Dash followed it, quickly realizing that the “trail” was made by someone dragging themselves through the dirt, and they had been bleeding the whole time. She came across the final body almost thirty feet away. He had really tried to get away from his attacker. Tried really hard but in the end…

Rainbow Dash frowned down at the dead body with a knife protruding from its back. Sighing, she closed her eyes and shook her head, pitying these poor guys who just happened to come across an unrepentant murderer.

The only good thing about all of this was she knew now that she was definitely on the right trail. She hated knowing that Lightning Dust had killed again but with any luck this would help her put a stop to the butcher for good.

Rainbow Dash was about to turn away when she paused. “Huh?” She tilted her head and looked at the knife impaled in the man’s body. It wasn’t just stabbing into his coat, there was a piece of paper also right beneath the dagger. Lightning Dust hadn’t left the dagger in him for no reason, she had used it to keep the paper pinned to him.

Rainbow Dash bit her tongue, not liking this one bit, but still sheathed her sword and bent down to yank out the dagger and see what the paper said. There wasn’t much blood on it, so the guy had probably already been dead when he was stabbed in the back. When Rainbow Dash turned the paper over and read what was written on it, her hands shook and her knuckles went white from how tightly she ended up gripping it.

I know you’re following me, Rainbow. Meet me in Appleloosa.

She could feel herself almost shattering her molars from how hard she was biting down. Rainbow Dash tore the paper into scraps and looked for something to punch. When she saw nothing she settled for kicking a rock across the ground.

“Damn you… you killed these guys just to leave me a message...” Rainbow Dash grabbed her wrist to stop her hand from shaking. “So you know I’m coming after you? Well it’s not going to save you.”

Rainbow Dash took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and get herself together. She then put her sword away and stomped back to the road so she could resume her travels south. If she had the time she would’ve at least given these guys a proper burial but she didn’t want to take too long to find Lightning Dust and allow her to do the same to others. Her mood had darkened considerably but now at the very least the end of her travels was in sight.

“Appleloosa, huh?” Rainbow Dash ground her teeth. “Here I come.”

“Hold your arms steady, that’s the key to all of this. It’s the most important part,” Starlight Glimmer said to Trixie as the two of them stood out at the edge of a farm.

Trixie was holding a rifle in her two hands and aiming it at a series of cans that Starlight had propped up on the farm’s fence. She was having trouble keeping it steady though and the barrel kept wobbling, even just a few dozen feet away like they were, Trixie would never be able to hit one of the cans like this.

“Trixie is trying!” The failed magician spat.

Starlight smacked the back of her head and frowned. “Stop speaking in third person around me, I told you that already.”

“Ow!” Trixie yelped and rubbed the back of her head, temporarily lowering her rifle. “Meanie...”

“I don’t need any lip from you, we’re doing this for your own good. You’re an awful shot and we’re on the run from the law and might end up in all kinds of dangerous situations. You need to learn how to shoot for real,” Starlight sternly told her.

“Okay, mom, I’ve got it,” Trixie rolled her eyes.

Starlight smacked her again. “Just raise the damn gun, Trixie!”

“Fine!” Trixie shot her a nasty glare but didn’t feel like getting hit again. She lifted the gun again and tried to hold it as steady as possible while aiming at one of the cans. It felt awkward in her grip, uncomfortable, she very much preferred her old shotgun. Squinting she aimed down the sights of it and took a deep breath, pulling the trigger.

There was a thundercrack of gunfire but the bullet went completely wide, going who knows where.

Starlight sighed. “You have to take more time, Trixie. You can’t just fire wildly like that and hope for the best. Square your feet, take a calming breath, and make sure the gun is steady. You didn’t do any of these things.”

“Then maybe I should just get a shotgun so I don’t need to? That way I can’t miss at close range,” Trixie grumbled.

“Well then be my guest when it comes to finding or buying one while we’re on the run like this,” Starlight spread her arms in annoyance.

“Who said anything about buying? We can just steal one somewhere.”

At that, Starlight’s face darkened considerably and she stepped right up to her “friend” and glared right into her eyes. “No. More. Crime.” She brought up her finger and started poking Trixie in the chest. “Crime and your poor decisions are what got us into this mess. I don’t care if we’re fugitives right now either, I still consider myself on the side of the law and I’m not going to do anything wrong or illegal just because you refuse to learn how to shoot straight.”

“So what? I’m just supposed to be totally helpless,” Trixie asked.

Starlight snorted. “Like that bothers you. You’d love to be totally helpless so long as you had someone else to take care of you. Like me.”

Trixie smiled. “You know me so well. That’s why we’re best friends.”

“Ugh!” Starlight rolled her eyes and facepalmed, dragging her hand down her face in annoyance. “You’re impossible...”

“And you’re wonderful for putting up with me! We’re a great match!” Trixie raised her hand for a high-five.

Starlight only glared at her. “Get back to shooting practice.”

It was very slow going getting Trixie to shoot right. Just getting her form correct was tough enough but even after that she still struggled immensely to hold the gun steady and actually hit anything. She had no patience. As soon as she saw her target she wanted to shoot at it, regardless of if it was lined up or not. Starlight watched with annoyance the whole time. The girl was damn near hopeless. Guns certainly weren’t for everyone, some took to them better than others, but she figured what with Trixie’s bank robbing experience she would’ve at least picked up something. Instead it was practically like trying to teach a complete beginner to shoot. A very annoying, mouthy, beginner who made Starlight want to wring her little neck.

Upon Trixie’s twelfth missed shot in a row, Starlight finally told her to hand over the rifle. “Just what am I going to do with you?”

While Trixie frowned and folded her arms in front of her chest, Starlight stepped away with the rifle in hand, walking back until she was twice as far from the cans as Trixie. “Just watch me Trixie. Watch what I do.”

“Whatever,” Trixie muttered.

“I’m serious. You’re about to see an expert at work. You’d want someone to pay attention when watching one of your magic shows, wouldn’t you?”

Trixie scoffed and stomped her foot in annoyance. “Yes.”

“Then watch,” Starlight ordered and shouldered the rifle. Now the thing was, Starlight was so good and so used to this kind of thing that she could’ve instantly blown all of those cans away. But she wanted to show Trixie the proper way of doing things for someone who wasn’t quite as skilled with a rifle as her. So she calmly inhaled and exhaled, held the gun steady for longer than she needed to, squinted her eye shut, and aimed dead center at the first can.

Pow!

The first can was blown away. Starlight reached up to the bolt handle and got her next shot ready with a pull of it.

Pow!

Pow!

Pow!

Each can was blown off the fence by Starlight with practiced ease. Only a single shot needed for each one and all of them were perfect bullseyes. Starlight exhaled through her nose with a blank expression on her face. Satisfied that she was still as good as ever but more hopeful that maybe Trixie had actually learned something. She slung the rifle over her shoulder and walked up to her obnoxious friend.

“Well? Did you see the difference between my shooting and yours? Next time, just emulate what I did,” Starlight told her.

“Trixie will figure it out,” the girl flippantly responded.

Starlight flicked her nose, getting a yelp from the magician. “You had better. You’re the one who got us into this, I’m not going to just do everything for you.”

“I’ll do something then,” Trixie frowned. “How much money do we have left?”

“Barely anything. We’ll need to scrounge up some someway.”

“Hah! I have an excellent idea for that!” Trixie proudly stated. “Though I may not have any of my props, I can still put on an excellent magic show with nothing more than a deck of cards. Let’s visit the local tavern or something and I can perform for the people there. That’s sure to make us some money. See? Trixie can be useful and contribute to our well-being just as much as you.”

Starlight furrowed her brow and glared at her. “Absolutely not. You still have wanted posters up across the country. I’m not letting you go to a place like that. And besides, how often have you actually been able to make money from any of your shows?”

“Well...”

“Exactly.”

Trixie clicked her tongue in annoyance and stomped a foot on the ground. “So then what? We just starve? I ate enough squirrels on my way to find you and I really don’t feel like doing that again.”

“Well the other possibility is you getting groped and pinched by a bunch of drunken boors who might recognize and shoot you. So what do you want to do?”

“If I’m performing it makes things like that much easier to deal with. And what’s your plan for making money then?” Trixie raised an eyebrow at her. “I haven’t heard any ideas. And let it be known that Trixie will not be selling her exquisite and luscious body, she already considered doing that once and immediately shot it down.”

“You wouldn’t sell for much anyways,” Starlight grumbled. “And why is that where your mind goes?”

“How rude! And Trixie was just thinking of the possibility.”

“Well maybe I will sell you off if you keep speaking in third person!” Starlight yelled.

“It’s a habit I can’t just get rid of it!” Trixie yelled back.

Starlight placed her hands on her temples and shut her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m even friends with you.”

“Huh?”

Starlight opened her eyes and saw Trixie standing there, her lip quivering and her eyes starting to water as an incredibly hurt look came over her face. Instant regret filled Starlight as she rushed over and grabbed Trixie’s hands.

“I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it okay! I was just a little angry, you know how much I care about you, you’re my friend!”

Trixie raised a hand and used the back of her wrist to wipe away some tears. “Trixie is sorry for being annoying...”

Starlight rolled her eyes but smiled and pulled Trixie into a tight hug. “I’m sorry too, I’m just a little upset lately.”

“I wonder why...” Trixie sniffled as she returned the hug.

“Heh,” Starlight couldn’t help but giggle. She reached up to pat her friend’s head. “There, there, Trixie.”

Not long afterwards the two of them were back in the small room they were renting from the owner of this farm. He was an old fellow and he didn’t seem to have any clue who Trixie was, he was just happy to have a little extra cash. That situation worked well for Starlight, they got to stay in a place a little out of the ways from the local town and nobody asked them any questions about who they were or where they were going. Unfortunately they still wouldn’t be able to afford to stay here for that long and Trixie was getting bored of not being allowed to go out into town. Starlight had to make all of their trips. Trixie knew this was the smart thing to do but it didn’t stop her from making a fuss over it.

“I just want to go to the bar and play cards or something, anything...” Trixie grumbled as she flopped down onto the small bed the two were forced to share.

Starlight frowned in annoyance at how her friend was taking up most of the space. Like usual. “Move over a little. And don’t take your clothes off this time, I am not sleeping with you while you’re naked.”

“Prude,” Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” Starlight scooted into the bed and threw the itchy cover over the two of them. “We wore pajamas when we were kids so I don’t know why you’re so against wearing clothes while sleeping now.”

“It’s just more comfortable, okay?” Trixie frowned and turned away from her.

Starlight sighed and reached a comforting hand up to Trixie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Trixie. I know how bored you must be and I know it isn’t easy traveling like this when you’ve always been used to, well, being the center of attention wherever you go. I know you must really want to do something but it’s just too dangerous.”

“Trixie doesn’t blame you...”

Starlight bit her lip and laid back, staring up at the ceiling. “Trixie… how about I buy you a deck of cards next time we’re in town? We can play together or you can play solitaire while I’m not around.”

Trixie immediately turned over with a bright smile and wide eyes on her face. “Do you really mean it?!”

“I didn’t want to spend any money on things like that but yeah, I think I can spare enough for a deck of cards. You deserve it,” Starlight told her.

“Thank you!” Trixie hugged Starlight and kissed her on the cheek.

“Blegh! Don’t do that!” Starlight groaned in disgust and wiped her cheek.

“Oh relax,” Trixie huffed. “You act like you’re a virgin.”

“Shut up, Trixie.” Starlight ground out, red in the face.

Trixie just smiled and let her go, the two of them lying down side by side. Trixie didn’t feel like just falling asleep yet though and her mind couldn’t help but wander. Her mind often wandered. Peeking over, she saw Starlight trying to get some shut eye. Well that was just too bad for her.

“Hey, Starlight?”

“Yes, Trixie?” Starlight answered without moving or opening up her eyes.

“Where are we going anyways?”

Starlight did finally open up her eyes but was still silent for a moment, just staring up at the ceiling. “Well for a while… we were just going anywhere. I just never wanted us to stay in the same place for too long and get caught.”

“What about now? Do you really think there are that many bounty hunters after me anymore?”

“Probably not. Especially not with the Shadowbolt Gang and other criminals still committing new crimes all the time. But I wanted us to be careful.”

“But you do have a real destination for us in mind now, don’t you?”

Starlight turned her head slightly to look at Trixie. “Yeah. I was thinking we go to Appleloosa.”

“Appleloosa?”

“It’s the southernmost town of Equestria. Been booming lately so there’s plenty of work and plenty of drifters coming in. I figured it would be a good place to hide and, well, start out lives over. All the people going to it may make it kind of risky that someone might recognize you but we’re still a ways off from getting there. By the time we arrive I doubt anyone will have you in mind anymore. And if they do we’ll just get you a disguise and have you go by a fake name. Like we should’ve always been doing if you weren’t so stubborn about it.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie wants to be well known and remembered!”

“Does she also want to be swinging at the end of a rope?”

“… point taken.”

“Either way I also know the sheriff in Appleloosa, he’s a good man, I don’t plan on getting in touch with him considering our current situation but if things go bad he may be able to help us.”

“If you say so. You haven’t steered us wrong yet and I know whatever decision you make is going to be better than anything I come up with.”

“Mm,” Starlight grunted and went back to looking up at the ceiling. “It’s probably a long way off but… maybe one day when all of this has blown over for good, you can open up a magic shop in Appleloosa or something. Selling tricks and toys to kids and putting on shows on the weekend. And I’ll… I’ll support you, with whatever it is you want to do. We’re best friends after all, through the good and the bad, the better and the worse.”

A hand reached under the blanket and gently grasped Starlight’s. “Thank you, Starlight. And I’ll try and make things as easy as possible for you. But no promises.”

“Hah. You didn’t need to add that last part.”

The two of them drifted off to sleep together and the next day Starlight began their preparations to head to Appleloosa. With luck, a happy new life awaited the both of them.

Celestia walked into the southern Equestrian town of Vanderbit just in time for the sun to start disappearing behind the horizon. A small town as she had been likely to wander into on her travels more often than the big cities. The reason she was here and still traveling through Equestria was the same as ever, to find the wearer of the moon medallion that matched her own sun medallion. So far though, despite all the towns she had been to and all the people she had met, she had had no such luck. It was beginning to wear on her attitude and make her think she was never going to find the woman she was looking for. But Celestia was never going to stop. This was her entire life and she had to find her. It was everything to her now.

With a start, she realized she had unintentionally been glaring and scaring the townspeople who had seen her walk in. She sighed to herself and shook her head, gaining a more neutral expression on her face. Wouldn’t do any good for a stranger like her to look like she was about to shoot up the place. All she wanted to do was go visit the local spots of interest and ask around, then she’d leave just like normal. Of course her timing was a little bit bad. She’d need to stay the night here. Might as well find a hotel first and get some rest, then she could go ask around tomorrow and leave all in the same day.

The one thing she didn’t ever want for on her travels so far was money. She had more than enough to spare for a quiet room. Not like she was trying to hide from anyone but she just didn’t want to be bothered. There had been enough sidetracks on her journey and things getting in her way.

A couple of coins left on the innkeeper’s counter was all she needed to head upstairs, though she could feel his leering gaze practically groping her body as she walked up. Too bad for him, he’d just have to imagine. Her heavy duster didn’t exactly show off her curves or anything but he had still gotten a decent look at her large chest when she came in. Looks like that were just another thing she had really gotten used to on this journey. But she didn’t have the time nor the desire to indulge any poor schmuck’s fantasy. It wasn’t that she didn’t have any of these desires herself—it got lonely out on the road after all—but she just couldn’t be bothered or take the risk in getting caught up in something.

For now the most she would do is occasionally send the same kinds of looks at anyone particularly handsome who caught her eye in town.

To her surprise and joy though, when she finally got to her room she realized that this inn had something she really wasn’t expecting it to: Indoor plumbing.

Five minutes later she was undressed and taking a shower, the only thing still adorning her pale, curvaceous, body being her sun medallion. Her sopping wet hair was cascading down her backside, wet like this it hung just above her butt. The bar of soap for the shower was powdery but it still worked enough and soon she was pleasantly humming a tune to herself as she slid it up and down her body. Her mood was improving by the second and she was promising herself to not get angry while taking the shower. This was going to be her time for rest and relaxation.

Thirty minutes later she was done with the shower and with a towel still wrapped around her head she left the bathroom and plopped onto the bed. How she wished she could go back to the days of sleeping and waking up whenever she wanted. She finished drying her hair off and dropped the towel on the floor, lying naked atop the feather bed. Her guns were on the nightstand right next to it in case she needed them in a flash, though she doubted it.

Feeling her eyelids getting heavier, she allowed them to close as she tried to get to sleep. “I just want to...find… you...”

The next morning she was up at the crack of dawn doing her usual thing. After getting dressed she went out into the small town and started asking at pretty much every store if they had seen another lady who kind of looked like her but with dark hair and a moon medallion. The going was slow but she had all day and like always she was working her way from one side of town to the next. But no one at the general store had seen her, or the gun store, or the local tavern, or the group of gamblers who used the alley behind the tavern.

It looked like she wasn’t getting anywhere again. A disappointment to be sure but not exactly a surprise.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but I cant help you. I’ve never seen someone like that in my life,” an aging seamstress told her as Celestia stood in her store.

"That’s alright, thank you for your help,” Celestia sighed and turned to leave.

“Why are you looking for her?”

Celestia stopped. Her eyes flickered to the seamstress and fixed her with a long stare. “The two of us have… unfinished business.”

“You and her related?” The seamstress asked. “The way you describe her and all...”

“She’s my sister,” Celestia replied.

“Oh… it sounds like you don’t have the best relationship with her either?”

“Not at all I’m afraid.”

The seamstress pursed her lips. “Well, if I may be so bold to speak, holding a grudge aint any way to live your life. Especially towards your sister. I don’t know what may have happened with you but it seems like it would be awfully sad if you couldn’t make up.”

Despite herself, Celestia felt a smile worm its way onto her face. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m not expecting things to go so well when I see her again.”

Celestia’s right thumb dragged across the butt of one of her holstered pistols and she turned to leave.

Back outside she stood in the middle of the street for a moment and just looked around. Looked at the people going about their daily lives, and saw a group of carefree children playing around in the street. Celestia only had one last place to check, a farm at the edge of town, then she’d head back to the inn to check out and get back on the road. Although she should probably eat something first too, she needed to keep her energy up. Getting a refill on water before she hit the road again would be smart too.

Unsurprisingly, the farm was just as much of a bust as anywhere else, so half an hour later Celestia found herself walking up to the door of her inn.

Her sixth sense told her that something was wrong though. Celestia often felt that she was guided by something, or had a power others didn’t, it was why she was able to shoot better than any person should be able to. Draw faster, pull the trigger faster, hit targets that should be impossible. She could sense danger, and no matter what situation she was in or how badly outnumbered she was she always could rely on her guns to get her out of it. Right now that strange power was giving her the feeling that there was danger inside the inn.

Celestia opened the door and walked inside. To her left was the doored off desk and office of the innkeeper. Peering over the counter of it she saw him lying on the floor with a large knife stuck in his chest.

She didn’t reach down for her gun yet, somehow knowing she’d be fine.

That proved to be true when a door to her right opened up. Celestia had already noticed that it had been kept open a crack. Whoever was behind it had been sneakily spying out of it, waiting for Celestia to walk in the front door and turn their back.

“When I heard that a tall lady with two guns, long flowing hair, and a valuable looking necklace like yours was wandering around town, I knew I had the right woman.”

Celestia slowly turned to see a younger woman standing in the doorframe. She was tall, though not quite as tall as Celestia herself, with short red hair under her hat and an eyepatch over her right eye. She held a gun in her right hand but it wasn’t trained on Celestia just yet. It was easy to tell what kind of person she was just from her aura, the hard look in her eye, and the serious frown on her face. Not to mention the fact she had just killed a man.

Never the one to start a pointless conversation, Celestia kept quiet until the other woman opened her mouth again.

The other woman’s nostrils flared before she opened her mouth again. “Alright, obviously intimidation isn’t going to work on you. But your name’s Celestia, right?”

Celestia furrowed her brow but did answer this time. “Yes. And you are?”

“Doesn’t matter to you,” Tempest said. “I just have a message for you from someone. They paid me a tidy sum to deliver it to you.”

That got Celestia’s attention. There was only one person she could think of who would do something like that. “What message?”

“Your little sister says to meet her in Appleloosa. She’ll be there in a couple of days.”

Though Celestia was calm and cold on the outside, inside she was a raging inferno. It took her a second but she tried to speak as evenly as possible the next time she opened her mouth. “You’ve met Luna?”

“Ran into her a little while back,” Tempest nodded. “She said I looked like someone who’d be willing to do a simple job for money. I told her she was right. She said that she knew you’ve been looking for her all over Equestria or whatever, and she finally wanted to settle things with you for real instead of just having you chase after her.” Tempest shrugged. “That’s it. Easiest money I’ve ever made just about.”

“Thank you,” Celestia quietly said. She then glanced over towards the body of the innkeeper. “And him?”

“I’m not a fan of people remembering my face.”

Celestia kept her eyes on his dead body for a second longer before turning around and facing the door leading back to the street. “I guess I’ll be going then, thank you for delivering her message.”

She reached up to grasp the handle when Tempest spoke up again.

“There was another thing. That valuable necklace of yours? She told me about it so I could better identify you. She even told me how much it was worth.” Her hand moved to raise her gun towards Celestia’s back.

“You had best not move that gun another inch. Or you’ll regret it,” Celestia said.

Only the briefest moments of stillness passed between them before Tempest tried raising her gun again and pulled back the hammer on her pistol. In that instant, Celestia whirled, drew, and fired, blowing off Tempest’s right thumb and making her drop the gun in agony. She didn’t say anything, just grabbed her right hand and doubled-over before looking up and glaring at Celestia.

Celestia fired again and blew off Tempest’s hat, then aimed her gun right at Tempest’s face and shot again.

Tempest squeezed her eye shut, expecting death, but when it didn’t come she opened it again and looked at the other woman in confusion. Then the feeling of her eyepatch falling off her head reached her brain and Tempest looked on in shock as the cleanly shot off garment fell to the floor. Reaching a hand up she felt to where the cloth had snapped on the side of her head. She wasn’t bleeding. There wasn’t even a scratch.

“Hold up your left hand.”

Tempest’s startled face snapped up to look Celestia in the eyes. Her gun was still trained on her. “What?”

“I said: hold up your left hand,” Celestia repeated.

Shakily, Tempest did so.

Celestia cocked the hammer on her pistol. “That was one for trying to shoot me. This second one is for killing him. And for whoever else you’ve killed before.”

Tempest’s eye widened. “Wait-”

Celestia fired and lopped off Tempest’s left thumb.

“Agh! God—fuck!” Tempest squealed in pain and fell to her knees, holding her disfigured hands in front of her face. “Oh fucking… why...”

But Celestia didn’t give her another look or word, she twirled her gun around and deposited it back in its holster, now leaving the inn and getting back out onto the road. She couldn’t say she was in a good or bad mood but her mind was certainly much clearer. Luna. Appleloosa. Things were finally going to be over soon.