Bits are bits. (Appleloosan area)

The Appleloosan desert. There was more to it than meets the eyes. Where one pony saw endless wastes and hills with rocks, he would see it laying with hiding places to sleep with more comfort than any town could afford him.

Silver absently plays soft tunes on his harmonica, eyes watching the vast landscape. He laid low along the peaks of small jagged rock faces. Though the sun was beating on his back, it blinded most that may be looking his way from the road. The road which now had a caravan approaching on it.

It had been a while since someone had tried to take advantage of Silver with a job offer designed to kill him. He had to give this one credit for doing all his homework. Normally he would just salvage what he could and go, but this one would just be a danger to him later. With the war going on, attention had quieted down on him. But the persistence of this one made him an ongoing threat. Plus he would like to have the bits promised to him.

Once the caravan crossed a familiar rock, Silver firmly pressed down on the detonating handle. The wires buried under the rocks and dust carried its charge to the TNT. The blast erupted close to the caravan, shattering wheels and throwing ponies off their hooves. Some looked to be dead outright, but the explosion was not timed as well as Silver hoped.

There was plenty of chance for him to see the aftermath neigh immediately as he darted forth with wings flapping furiously. The first one didn't have a chance. His blade severing most everything in his neck. Most the others were still recovering from the coughing fits of the huge cloud of dust around them now. They became one less than before until he was noticed.

"Its Blood Spurs!" Shouted one, and fired a wild shotgun blast. Silver was lucky the pony was too eager to take aim.

With his wing, Silver hooked under the lever of the makeshift lever action strapped to his side and quickly worked the action, unloading four rounds rapidly until enough found their mark.

As another pony perished, Silver caught the silhouettes of two more ponies jumping from the caravan. He immediatly hugged the side of the caravan and darted around, finding a unicorn with a rifle leveled at him. Silver reactively worked his wing on his lever action, but then something...inconvienent happen.

Click

The unicorn smiled madly, savoring the moment. Silver grumbled. The dust must have really locked it up this time.

"Drop it!" Said one coming from behind him. The other pony had moved in. This one being an earth pony.

Silver looked between the two. Without much more thinking, he tossed his katana up and caught the blade in his teeth before offering the handle to the earth pony. It was just his luck when he moved in to take it. Just as soon as Silver felt him tug on it, he pulled hard and pushed his body aside and behind the earth pony with his wings. Such a quick jerk didn't give the pony time to pull back hard enough and soon found his head and body being pushed in ways it was not meant to.

The unicorn screamed and pointed his gum more firmly, moving in closer. "Let him go! I am more than close enough to put one right in your hea-"

A blast resounded from Silver's front hoof. The single short barrel shotgun that had been strapped to it had gone unnoticed enough in the dusty air. That unicorn getting a little closer was all he needed.

The earth pony screamed as he tried to pull away, but a Silver pulled the blade from the earth pony in his shock and sliced him in such a way that a dentist would shudder at the thought of saying 'open wide'.

Quickly, he broke away from the mess and scanned the area. Nothing else moved. He trotted about the caravan as his spurs softly rang. With the dust clearing, he could try to spot any runners that may be trying to get away. And then secure what bits are owed to him.

"261 bottles of rum on the wall, 261 bottles of rum! Ya chug one down, pass it around, 260 bottles of rum on the wall! Your turn."

Suspicious Package walked alongside Flame Disk as the two made their way through the Appleloosan desert on their way to the Rebellion's headquarters. They'd only left the small town of Appleloosa maybe twenty minutes ago, and both ponies could already see that it was going to be a long journey. The only reason that Package had started singing '375 bottles of rum on the wall' in the first place was to simply pass the time.

The two poines kept on heading towards their destination until they neared a small bump in the land's flat terrain, a hill with a barely discernable incline. They reached the top of said hill quite quickly, at which point Package noticed a dark spot in the pale landscape, not too far away, but still far enough that he was unable to determine what it was.

The Pegasus outstretched his right wing to block Flame Disk's path. "Wait..."

He squinted at the spot. A...cart? Maybe caravan? No...wreckage, I think... He reached back and unhitched the sniper scope from the rifle still strapped to his back, holding it up to his eye and looking through it at the spot ahead. Yep, wreckage. Aw, wait, that's not good... He lowered the scope and gestured at the wreckage ahead, turning to Flame Disk.

"Ya see that? Caravan wreckage. Not a good sign in my opinion, ya wanna take the long way around it, or you just wanna keep goin' straight?"

Flame shrugged and looked off towards the dark spot. "May as well see what happened there, maybe help out people who need it." He said, looking over at package.

As the dust began to clear, Silver could see the lanscape about him clearly. No pony was running. But it was not hard to miss the contrast of the two ponies in the far distance with their more elaborate colors. Silver had developed somewhat of a camouflage with all the earthy dust that was now settled on him. At least where there was not blood on him. There was a bit of that.

He took cover behind the wrecked caravan. If they had any interest in investigating, they likely had the means to fight. Silver coudn't pick out what race they were, but he wasn't going to make a run to the sky. They might be pegasi, and he had yet to get his bits.

Rather than rushing his homicidal pillaging, he opted to prepare for the encounter with these others and do a thorough job after. He pulled at the small ammo pouch under his wing and fumbled about with putting another shell in the breach of his leg mounted short shotgun. Most of his time went into his lever action under his wing though. He took a significant fall on it on his last job. There was no telling if he could fix it anytime soon.

Until the other two arrived, the site looked dusty and horrific. A crater lay next to the caravan with several torn up bodies laying about. Not a friendly sight.

Package nodded as Flame Disk voiced his opinion. Well, I'm a jerk. How could helping those in need have slipped my mind so easily? I guess I really haven't changed much at all since I became a Rebel...

"Alright then, let's go see if anyone's there."

Package resumed his walk with Flame following close behind, and within a minute or two the two had reached the caravan wreckage. Now that the pair was near enough to be able to discern some of the less-obvious details of the crash, looking around easily showed that there was a handful of dead ponies around the area near the wreckage, most quite brutally mutilated.

"Who did this...?"

Package walked to the nearest body, and looked it over. Bullet wounds. A lot of them. And a lot of bullet wounds meant powerful firearms, which Package didn't think was the best thing to encounter at that time. As for affiliation, none of the dead ponies had any U.A.E. markings or clothing on them, though, from what the Pegasus could see, there was also no sign of the Rebel insignia anywhere, which meant that this wasn't connected to the war. Well,this could be bad...

He spoke to Flame Disk. "From what I can see, looks like bandits."

Flame nodded. "Probably. Doesn't look like there's any survivors though. Not much we can do except for try and clear a path so it doesn't block the trail." He said, looking at the crater. "Although this doesn't seem like a typical bandit raid. All of the bits are still here."

Silver peeked around the corner, checking the two ponies. A pegasus and unicorn. They didn't appear to be threatening. Silver still needed to check their bodies too. Confrontation might be inevitable. Avoiding physical confrontation was preferable. These ponies has nothing against him. Well, unless they pieced together it was him killing and were apt to enforce their idea of justice.

Silver sheathed his katana and stopped trying to be silent. Cautiously, he began to rummage through the bodies and items laying about, acting as if he were oblivious to any observers. He rather they approach him under a false sense of security provided by his false ignorance.

"Probably. Doesn't look like there's any survivors though. Not much we can do except for try and clear a path so it doesn't block the trail. Although this doesn't seem like a typical bandit raid. All of the bits are still here."

Package nodded. "That's true. Well, may as well clear the way, nothing can be done for these ponies now. Keep your eyes peeled, though. We don't know if the bandits are still here or not... Do you hear that?"

The Pegasus turned his head to face the sound. Yeah, that's not my imagination. Sounds like...shuffling, or something. Package went around the wreckage of the caravan, and spotted a Pegasus pony rummaging through various dead ponies' bodies. He looked around, but, from what he could see, no one else was there. And it was quite hard to hide in the middle of the desert, so he doubted anyone could have remained hidden from his view. That's strange... I doubt this pony could take on a whole caravan by himself, he must have been scavenging the wreck. But bandits didn't leave valuables... Either way, if he's been here longer than us, then he must have heard us talking. No point in trying anything sneaky.

"Hey, you! Watcha doin' here?"

Flame walked over to suspicious after getting unhooked from the cart. "Who's that? Is he a rebel?" He whispered over to package.

Silver did not acknowledge Package. Rather he finished searching what looked to be the remains of a pony from the blast. Sighing with some frustration, he found nothing and turned aside to look at the two from under the brim of his hat. He kept his sword side facing away from them. Best not tell them off too quickly who he was. While the wanted posters with his face on it had nearly all but gone with recent events, some few still may recall it.

Silver glanced about after a prolonged stare, instinctively checking for other ponies that might pose a threat to his well being. Only after he returned his gaze did speak.

"Looking for my bits...." He said in a deep voice that would come as a surprise considering his rather agile looking frame.

"Who's that? Is he a Rebel?"

Package shrugs, still observing the pony in front of them. "Maybe. I don't think so though, never heard of Rebels going through dead bodies."

The pony in front of them either didn't hear or simply ignored Package's question, and resumed looting the body nearest him. After a moment of silence, the Pegasus sighed with apparent frustration or annoyance, and stepped away from the corpse. He faced Package and Flame, seemingly observing them. He took a second to observe the area around the two ponies as well, and then rested his gaze on them again. He spoke.

I'm looking for my bits.."

"Ah." Bits. Of course. Perfectly valid answer. Obviously... "And...why would your bits be here?"

This pony seemed slightly suspicious, but not too dangerous. Regardless, Package loosened his rifle strap a little, just in case.

Flame disk noticed that package had loosened his rifle strap and unhooked himself from the cart, in case he needed to get out of the way quickly. He then looked around that what the pony had done to the caravan. "Did you do this?" Flame asked the pony.

Silver watched every twitch of movement the two had. He especially noticed the rifle. Still, they seemed not so determined to start a fight. At least not yet.

Flames question would largely be ignored as Silver kept his attention mostly on Package. Giving the place another once over look, he became sure it was just these two here and moved to another body nearby to absently search.

"I was promised bits. For a job. Didn't pay and tried to kill me." He said simply, with little hesitation. "So I'm taking it."

"I was promised bits. For a job. Didn't pay and tried to kill me. So I'm taking it."

"Ah, I see."

That was something Package could relate to. It was one of the worse things that could happen to one participating in a criminal profession. Not too uncommon, and in that situation it never ended well. 37,000 bits lost, 8 near death experiences, 3 times jailed, one special somepony dead. Never ends well... Package could relate to the pony's situation, though whether it was his place to tell him whether killing traitors was wrong or not wasn't obvious, and so he didn't really say anything concerning the scene. No point in causing trouble where it hasn't already started...

The Pegasus looked over at Flame Disk after a second of thinking, with a kind of "So now what?" expression on him. He wasn't inclined to do anything drastic about the mess, though if the Unicorn felt action was necessary, he had no problem with that either.

Flame shrugged then noticed something under one of the wrecked caravans. "Hey. I think I see a small chest of bits underneath here." H said, trying to get in.

Silver stopped looking and paced slowly over to the caravan wreck. His spurs chimed as he trotted, getting closer to Flame. He kept an eye on him as he got closer to the chest. A quick glance confirmed it. There was a chest. What was in it was to be determined.

Without anything said, Silver began to pull things out of the way to free the chest. He didn't bother to make way for Flame. Right now all he wanted was to secure his reward.

Package watched as Flame Disk went over to try and get to a chest he had noticed in the wreckage, and also observed the other Pegasus as he followed suit. The pony seemed quite determined to get his bits, he was quickly pushing stuff out of the way, including Flame Disk, in order to get what he believed he deserved. Package simply stood where he was though, waiting for Flame Disk to finish what he was doing.

Flame disk stepped back as the Pegasus began to go through the caravan to get to the chest. "Must have been a lot of money to make him like this." He said to himself, occasionally having to avoid debris that were thrown towards him.

Silver pulled out the chest. A padlock was on it, but already damaged from the explosion. He jammed his hoof down on it several times before it broke. Carefully, he opened it, knowing it was possible to make traps out of chests. This one opened with no problems.

Inside was less than Silver hoped for. There was at least a few hundred bits in it, but it was not the amount he had seen before.

"....The must have spent it...Traded with some pony." He now started to look through the wreckage in general before speaking aloud. "What are you two doing here?"

His comrade's, and his company's, tracks clearly lead in this direction, so Wesson knew he was heading the right way. Of course he was heading the right way. He would be very surprised if his years of survival experience didn't extend to following tracks correctly. In fact, he knew he was approaching the location of the source of the plume of smoke he had spied.

Taking higher ground, Smith Wesson reached the edge of a rocky outcrop and carefully peered over to spot the wreckage of of a caravan below. His steely demeanour left him mostly unfazed by the sight of the chaos or dead ponies, but when he saw who Package was talking to, he almost did a double take.

Silver Spur. Immediately, Wesson worried for the safety of his fellow rebels. This pegasus was dangerous. Only looking at the surrounding scenery proved this. Hunching down so as not to expose his position, Wesson pulled out his revolver and checked it was loaded, more out of habit than anything else. He didn't want to start a fire fight but not being prepared for it wold be fatal...

"....They must have spent it... Traded with some pony. What are you two doing here?"

"Well, we're goin' that way." Package pointed to a direction vaguely indicating the path the two rebels were taking with a hoof. "Or, were going, I guess. Hey Flame, you ready to leave? I think this pony should be left to his dutes now."

Flame nodded. "Yeah, not a lot we can do here now." He said, walking back to the cart.

"You can't go just yet." Said Silver. He found it suspicous that they wanted to get going the moment he asked their reasons for being here. He wondered if it was worth letting them go or if they wouldn't be trouble later.

"Do you plan to report this when you get to where you are going? And who are you affiliated with?" He turned his side to them, not looking threatening, but being ready to move.

(Sorry, i totally forgot who was next on the topic.)

Keeping watch from above, Wesson's eyes were focused on Silver Spur. He knew this pegasus could kill the two ponies down there within seconds. Just looking at the scene around him confirmed this.

Unfortunately, from this distance, he couldn't make out what they were saying to each other. It had looked like Package and Flame were about to leave, but Silver's stance put him on edge.

Laying flat on his stomach, he slowly raised his revolver and trained his sights on the criminal. From this range, most ponies would completely miss, but Smith Wesson was confident in his abilities. Of course, this was a last resort, if things suddenly turned violent.

"Come on, let 'em go peacefully," Wesson muttered to himself.

"You can't go just yet. Do you plan to report this when you get to where you are going? And who are you affiliated with?"

Package turned back to the stallion to respond. He thought a second about the question(s), and then spoke. "Well, I'm not sure if we should tell you who we're 'affiliated' with, and I don't mean that in a threatening way, and as for the report thing: I don't see why we would. Why ya askin'?" Somewhat over-suspicious isn't he...