Chapter 7: Reunion

"What were you thinking Nails!" Twilight yelled at him, "You could have hit him!"

"If I had, then I would have lost." Nails replied.

"Lost?" asked Fluttershy.

"Ya, it's a game me and him used to play. We would put a cigar in our mouths and try to cut them as short as possible with our guns." Nails replied.

"Hell of a game." said Whiskey.

"You called Talon Nails. Why did you do this?" asked Delta.

"That's my real name. I found it at the wreck on a piece of paper."

"So you did go back there?"

"Yes. Oh, before I forget, would you care to accompany me to the gardens?"

"Not at all."

The two departed for the gardens leaving eight ponies confused.

"Do you think we should go after them?" asked Applejack.

"No." replied Whiskey, "Those two have not seen each other in years. I think it best that we give them their space for this one."

Nails and Delta walked into a secluded area of the gardens where they decided no one would find them when Nails spoke up.

"Strike two."

"Already? It seems like only a few weeks ago we got word that you captured Iron Foot. What else happened?"

"I moved to Ponyville. Or rather it moved to me. There isn't any fighting it Delta!"

"How did that happen?"

"I moved outside of the town limits and so they just expanded the town to include my house!"

"So it is true that you can't fight it. If that's the second event then there's only one left. How long until the execution?"

"The execution will take place whenever Luna returns from the diplomatic mission with the griffons. Based on how fate is cruel, the talks will keep getting extended until I give in."

The two sat quiet for a minute until Delta finally broke the silence.

"How many know about it?"

"Just three: you, me, and the bastard."

"So do you plan on telling those ponies that seemed to know you?"

"Only if a time comes where I have to, the fewer people that know about it the better." said Nails.

"Remember how we met?"

"Like it was yesterday. I saw you and I had just gotten my gun. I tried to shoot you and missed and hit you in that wing. I got really close to you and was about to stab you before you told me who you were."

"And?" said Delta expectantly.

"And I didn't believe you so I hit you in the mouth for lying. Did you ever get those teeth replaced?"

Delta chuckled before grinning revealing several gaps in his teeth.

"Why would I fix something that you did to me? I owe you my life."

"You owe me a lot of lives. I saved your ass more than once you know."

"Ya." Delta looked up at the night sky. "So this was strike two?"

"Ya."

"Listen, Nails wasn't it?"

"Ya."

"Listen Nails, if what we fear does happen, I will have flight teams ready to assist in any way possible."

"Even if I get an army behind me the only time that would matter would be when I was alone."

"You know that you're never alone Nails."

"I know you would come to my side in an instant Delta, but in truth only I can fight this battle."

"I guess you're right."

Delta reached into the pocket on the suit he was wearing and pulled out a cigar. "I think you may want in case something happens." he said as he handed the cigar to Nails who put it into the pocket on his suit.

"Thanks."

The two sat in silence until a voice from behind them broke the silence.

"Nails?"

Nails turned around to see Princess Celestia standing there.

"Yes your majesty." said Nails as he bowed.

"What you did tonight was extremely foolish; you could have killed the griffon ambassador. Then the peace talks would have been shattered."

"I understand your majesty. I accept any punishment you decide upon."

"Now hold on Nails." said Delta, "Princess Celestia, Nails and I go back to when he could barely shoot a gun. I watched him grow into the greatest shooter in all of history. I would have trusted him to make that shot over any of the griffon army's best marksmen."

Celestia was taken aback by what Delta had just said. Griffons by nature were extremely proud of their own race and held all races beneath their own. For him to state that Nails was a better shooter than any of the griffon army's marksmen was a very extreme statement for a griffon.

"You say that Nails is a better shot than any griffon?"

"He trusted me to make that shot. For him that was a very trivial shot."

"Based on what you have said ambassador Delta, I have decided to withhold all punishment towards Nails. I hope that this incident doesn't spark any repercussions from the griffons?"

"They will be told that this was a very great night."

"Very well then." Celestia turned to Nails, "I believe your friends are beginning to miss you." after saying this the princess turned to return to the party.

"Your friends? I thought you told me that you were alone?"

"I am alone. They're just always looking for me."

Delta turned to leave before noticing that Nails was not following. He turned around and was asked a question.

"Delta?"

"Yes Nails."

"You said that I would have to hold out for as long as I can."

"That's right."

"At what point do I give in."

Delta went back and sat next to Nails, "I think that the point you give in at is when you become faced with a two-way road. One way may seem easier, but the cost of taking this road is steep and leads to pain. The other road however, though it is harder to take, leads to something far more important."

"What's that Delta?"

"It's the thing that keeps us separated from the animals Nails, we are not savages we are soldiers. My duty was to protect the griffons of the world. Your job is to protect Equestria. At what point do we let our own suffer for our own desires?"

"Never, such act would be treason."

"Exactly Nails, you need to remember that while one road is easy, the other one is the one that keeps the whole from turning against each other. When you became a soldier you realized that sacrifice was involved, that you may die for what you believe in. Is it any different now?"

"No it's not." Nails said, "Thanks Delta, I'm glad that out of all the griffons of the world, that you care about me." At this, Nails and Delta left the garden.

The two walked back into the castle and towards the main ballroom where they found Whiskey explaining to the six ponies what a bounty was.

"You see," Whiskey said trying to explain, "When somebody does something very bad they become wanted. Now there are people called bounty hunters who will go out and find these people. Once they find them they will kill them. They don't work for free though, you have to offer a reward for that pony and when they show a sheriff the body they will collect the reward for it."

"Does the bounty hunter always kill the pony?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yes Fluttershy. They always kill them." Whiskey responded

"Why?" Fluttershy asked again.

"Because," said Nails coming into the conversation, "Once life has no value, death has its price. I would know, back before I became a mercenary, I was the most famous bounty hunter around. I became a mercenary once the ponies came to me and paid me before I found the wanted ponies."

"I remember those days. That was when a wanted poster was more of a headline for who was about to die." said Whiskey.

"Ya, well the night is getting late and I believe that Big Macintosh would be getting bored. It pains me to say this Delta but I guess that we have to leave now. Farewell."

"Good-bye Nails, I wish you the greatest of luck."

"As do I." replied Nails.

"Good-bye Nails, I hope we see each other soon."

"Good-bye Whiskey."

The seven ponies left at this point. Nails found Big Macintosh waiting patiently by the carriage.

"Didn't you get bored?" asked Nails.

"I ain't been here for most of the night; I just got back from a donut shop."

The two hitched up and worked their way back to Ponyville. It was about midnight when they finally did get back. Nails helped each of them off the carriage and then they all retired to their homes. When Nails got to his house he didn't go straight to his bed. He walked around and thought about all the time he had been in Ponyville. His thoughts went back to that day when he first visited, how happy each of his friends had been to see him. Finally, he decided that he couldn't sleep. He decided that he would do some exploring along the cliff wall and see if he could find a good spot to do most of his mining. He took out a match and lit a fire. Then he took a torch and tied it to his hoof. He anchored his rappelling nylon and started to descend down the cliff.

At first he didn't see anything special, but then something caught his eye. He looked to his left and saw a plot of land jettisoned out from the cliff but it wasn't the land that caught his eye. He slowly crawled over to the ground trying to see what it was that had caught his eye. Once he got close he started to descend once more until he saw it.

The bones of a dead pegasus impaled on a stalagmite. He had seen worse things in his life, much worse. This was probably just a case of bad flying with high winds. But then again, he wondered why the pegasus's skull was facing up. His answer came quickly after that.

A sharp gust of wind blew into the area from over the lake. As the wind hit the cliff it was redirected upwards and towards an overhang. Now he understood perfectly, a pegasus had been flying around this area when a sudden gust came. The updraft pushed the pegasus into the overhang either knocking them unconscious or breaking their wings. When the wind died down the pegasus, unable to save themself, had fallen onto one of the stalagmites killing them. His eyes widened in fear. He quickly made his way back up the cliff to his house where he got out his backup nylon. He went over to where the overhang had been and found an anchor for the rope. He tied the rope to a tree that he had decided would suit his needs. Satisfied with his work, he made his way back to his house. He tried to go to sleep but couldn't.

The next day found Nails wide awake in bed. As Special Forces he was used to having sleepless nights and then having to perform a mission the next morning. As he sat up in his bed he rubbed his eyes. He was almost finished building his workshop and planned on finishing it today. He went outside to find a few embers still burning in the fire pit from the previous night. He could use these to start a new fire. He gathered a few grasses and put them on the fire to start the initial burn. He then added a few sticks and he quickly had a burning fire. He prepared a breakfast of a few eggs he had bought from Fluttershy and quickly set to work. The other day his furnace had been delivered and today he was going to build the location for it and place it. Once this was done all he needed was his anvil and he could start working. It was about noon when everything was in order. He looked at his handiwork. There was an empty stump in the middle of his shop which was where the anvil would be housed when it arrived. The walls were lined with various tools; the furnace was at the back of the room. There was a barrel filled with water next to the anvil. His work was finished. He turned around and saw Pinkie Pie sprinting towards him wearing a crazy looking umbrella hat. This made him wonder about the sanity of the pony as she got closer to him.

"Nails! Nails! My tail! My tail!" the pink pony said as she got close.

The sanity of this pony was no longer questionable, it was gone.

"What about your tail Pinkie?"

"It's a-twitcha twitchin!"

If there was a negative sanity, this was it.

"And?"

"That means that something's gonna fall!"

Never mind that last thought, this was a negative sanity.

"Pinkie Pie, nothing is going to fall." Nails said before he got hit in the head by something.

"Ow."

"Hey Nails? This anvil is addressed to you."

"What the hell."

My thoughts about Pinkie? She's not insane I love her. But I saw this as an opportunity to have a little fun. If I was to describe Pinkie in a statement of how she lived her life it would be this: "If you're going to do something, do it in a way and get such a task done that it leaves people staring and wondering 'What the hell? How the hell did you do that?'" Pinkie Pie is one of my favorites, probably number 3 out of all ponies. Why? Because she is so random. And she will stay that way... (Pinkie Pie jumps out of sandwich)

"FOREVER!"

Me: "What the Hell? How the Hell did you do that?"