Black Flag continued to wait for the first strike from the mare, but it seemed to never come. It was after a couple of seconds that he noticed that not only had she not moved an inch, but she was also smiling. It started off small, sort of like a tiny crack in a mighty stone wall, but it quickly grew wider and wider until it formed into an all-out grin that doused the anger in her eyes as it formed. What was she smiling about? Was there something on his face? Why wasn't he bleeding profusely yet? Wait, was he hoping for that to happen like some kind of masochist? That would be kind of messed up if he was.

"I completely understand," She said, which finally broke the incredibly uncomfortable silence. Black Flag exhaled the breath he had been holding in for what felt like an eternity. What a relief that was. Hoping it was a good time for him to ask, he decided to pry at what she was even here for, and why she hadn't just called out from the outside to alert Red Ink or himself. Here went nothing.

"Glad to hear that, but why are you even here anyway? Why didn't you just wait till morning? You know that I come over to the tavern every morning. At the very least, you could have just told us you were outside instead of yanking open the flap and giving me a damn heart attack. I really could have gone the rest of my week without an obnoxious jump scare for cheap thrills." She didn't say anything at first. She just reached over to her side and grabbed something with her teeth. He couldn't see what it was due to the shadows and all that, but his curiosity was peaked, at the very least. He quickly found out, however, when she tossed it over to him in one quick motion: It was his pouch of bits. He must have left it at the bar when he and Red Ink visited the previous day. Forgetting that before leaving was bucking stupid, even by his standards.
"I figured you would want that back. Don't worry, I didn't take any of it." Despite her claims, Black Flag still pulled open the pouch with his magic and dumped the contents onto the soil. While he counted every last bit, she continued her explanation. "As for why I didn't tell you two I was out here, it was simply because I thought it would be funny to see you piss yourself. And you know what? I was absolutely right. Until you smacked me with that book, anyway. That was considerably less funny."
"I should think so," Black Flag said through gritted teeth as he tried and failed to hold back his tongue. What was previously concern for the barmaid dissolved into boiling anger towards her. "What were you bucking thinking?" He suddenly screamed, completely forgetting about the other occupant of the tent who was still trying to sleep. "If I grabbed my sword instead of that book, you would be dead right now! And let me tell you, cleaning up the mess would be a real pain in my ass."

"Alright, alright. I messed up. No need to get so mad at something as harmless as a little bit of fun," Golden Keg muttered with an annoyed roll of her eyes. For several seconds after that, neither of them spoke a word as the stallion finished counting the bits, before returning them to their pouch and pulling the drawstring closed. The unicorn then grabbed the pouch in his mouth and turned his back to the mare as he pulled the flap open once more. He had nothing left to say; he no longer cared. He just wanted to get back to bed and treat this entire experience like a bad hangover. I.e. try to forget it ever happened and never bring it up again as long as he lived. Much like the three years he spent trying to learn to play the harp, which was possibly the only mistake that rivaled his own birth in his personal list of largest screw-ups.
"Look, if it will make you feel a little better, I got a letter a few days ago that said that Shattering Steel will be paying my tavern a little visit. I figured that you of all ponies would want to know about that." That seemed to get Black Flag's attention. The soft sound of the pouch dropping to the ground was heard right before the stallion turned to face Golden Keg; his mouth agape and his eyes widened in utter shock.
"Are you bucking serious?" He inquired; voice raising to an excited shout. His mannerism reminded Golden Keg of a young foal, actually. When she gave a nod of affirmation, a wide smile spread across his muzzle, one that reached from ear to ear and revealed his pearly white teeth. His sapphire eyes twinkled with a sense of joy that the barmaid never thought she would see the usually bitter and cynical stallion have. It was like looking into the remnants of a golden age thought to have been abandoned long ago.

"When is he arriving?" Black Flag pressed as he tried to keep himself in check to prevent another outburst. He'd been infatuated with the legendary warrior since he was a foal. It all started when he first heard about how Steel somehow managed to subdue a foe that was twice his size in only a couple of strikes from his sword, despite his opponent being covered in thick steel armor and wielding a large battle ax that could split a bear in half with a single blow. Ever since Black Flag heard about this and other stunning feats performed by Shattering Steel, he read all he could about him and basically modeled his own life after the swordstallion; learning the way of the sword in hopes of fulfilling his dream to become a warrior that was as widely recognized as his hero.

"Sometime before dawn," She explained with a slight yawn. She suddenly realized that, with all the work she would have to do in a few hours, perhaps this was not the best time to play spooky. This was definitely not her finest moment. She quickly mumbled a goodbye, then finally turned back and began to leave the patch of woodlands so she could return home and get some shut-eye.

Black Flag just could not believe it! He was going to meet Shattering Steel! However, that meant he would need to wake up super early to get to Filosofem before Steel did or else he would probably get flocked with admirers before Black Flag could even say hello. That would kind of suck. Though maybe he would get lucky and only a few ponies would know who he was. Once he grasped the pouch of bits again and hurried back into the tent, he was shocked to find that Red Ink was still fast asleep. Sweet Celestia above, that Pegasus slept like the dead. Good thing too, because waking Red Ink up before his sleep schedule was finished was guaranteeing a very painful death. Black Flag just shrugged, tossed the bits off to one corner of the tent, and stretched out upon the cool ground, ready to catch a few more hours of sleep.
Unfortunately, his plans did not work out as he hoped they would have. He was just far too excited to sleep. He just laid on the ground with his eyes closed for a little while, before he just gave up. He decided that it would just be better to wait for the arrival of Shattering Steel at the bar. Black Flag quietly stepped over the sleeping stallion and trotted over to where his sword was; buried under the cooking equipment. He then proceeded to carefully lift the different trinkets and pots and whatnot off the large weapon and set each piece off to the side. It might have been incredibly boring and tedious work, but he figured that a little bit of busywork was better than just yanking out the weapon and risking ruining the cooking tools. Or worse yet, waking up Red. He grabbed his sword with a dull white aura of magic stepped over the eponymous pony once more and was about to leave the tent when he suddenly heard something that made his blood run cold.

"Where are you going, Black Flag?" A familiar voice from behind him inquired. Black Flag slowly turned around to see, much to his worry, that Red Ink was awake. His harsh blue eyes locked with Black Flag's gaze, seeming to pierce right through him. Though, that wasn't any different from usual. It didn't matter if he was mad or upset or whatever, Red Ink's gaze still intimidated Black Flag greatly. It was something that he actually kind of liked. Red Ink didn't need brute strength to show power. No, not at all. His body language and his silver tongue could do all the work for him. As he patiently waited for the unicorn's answer, Red Ink got up and began to approach his comrade. Not wishing to make his hole any deeper than it probably already was, Black Flag immediately told the truth to his friend. Was his idea an absolutely ridiculous and stupid thing to do? Oh, most certainly. There was no doubt about that. But that didn't mean he should've tried exaggerating or telling a different story, that just wasn't the right thing to do.

"I see," Red Ink said with a sigh as he tapped his hoof against the ground; seemingly in deep thought. Surprisingly he didn't seem to be all that mad at all. Heck, he didn't even look annoyed. "I'm somewhat curious; would you mind if I joined you? I don't know much about him, but I feel that having a little company to wait alongside you is surely superior to going by yourself."
"I don't see why not," Black Flag replied with a smile. The Pegasus presented a good point; it would be a lot better with a friend. Besides, that meant Black Flag could spend a few hours informing him about Shattering Steel. This would be great! "By the way Red, why did you get up in the first place? I didn't wake you up did I?" Red Ink shook his head, causing his snow-white mane to sift around his body delicately.

"No, not at all. I simply needed to get up to avoid soiling myself," His friend replied with a dry, humorless laugh. "Actually, if you will excuse me... Go on and head to the bar, I will catch up." Red Ink suddenly took off like a frightened animal, galloping out of the tent and into the woods with lightning speed. Black Flag was kind of shocked; he'd never seen that pony haul ass so quickly. The unicorn just shrugged and began to make his way to the bar located in the town of Hawk's Rest. He never knew why it was called that, seeing as there was a distinct lack of hawks in the town. He did see a hawk feather there once, but that wasn't exactly worth getting all riled up about. Bah, humbug. Not like he cared about rubbish like that anyway.

The town itself was eerily quiet at night. The chitter-chatter and lively joy of the townsfolk that made the small village seem to burst with life during the day now as silent as a graveyard, as most ponies returned to their homes after the moon rose into the night sky. There were still a few ponies out and about at this hour, but most of them were just the ever-diligent guards assigned to protecting the populace from whatever new threat showed up.

Black Flag continued to travel down the dark streets, the dim light of lanterns guiding his way to the bar. Even with the knowledge that there were guards stationed in the town, making his way down these lonely roads was giving him chills. That was partially the reason why he brought his sword along with him, but even that wasn't helping very much. He should have just gone with Red Ink while he took a leak and they could have journeyed into town together after he was done. Well, hindsight may have been 20/20 but that didn't help much in the present. He made his choice, and there wasn't much he could do about that now.

After a few more turns around town, Black Flag finally came across the tavern Filosofem. Such a pleasant and welcoming sight, if pleasant was a synonym for repulsive. Several windows were boarded up thanks to how often patrons were being smashed into them or objects were thrown out of them, and there was some kind of nasty stench that secreted from the bar. Vines crawled along the walls like the tendrils of a sea monster. Come to think of it, the place almost seemed to be begging to be shut down. It was a shit-hole, yeah, but it was also a very welcoming place for the rundown and downtrodden commoners of the town to come socialize. It didn't matter who the patrons were; pony, zebra, griffon, or even eldritch abominations called forth from beyond the realms of sanity. If they paid, they would be served.

The warm breath of the wind brushed through the stallion's fiery red mane as he rested his blade against the tavern's wall. As he sat down upon the ground, he looked around for Red Ink, hoping to spot the Pegasus soon. He shouldn't have been hard to find, considering both his mane and fur were white as snow. How long could it take for him to do his business and fly over to the bar, anyhow? Or to trot on over to it, even.

It was just as he was about to go look for his friend when he saw the pony approaching from the dark road that led to Filosofem. Thank goodness for that, because Black Flag was starting to grow quite anxious that something terrible happened to him. After all, Red Ink never carried a weapon of any kind, so he would be a prime target for something like a thief or a wild creature. A few moments later the stallion arrived at the bar and sat down beside Black Flag.

"What took you so long, Red? It's been at least fifteen minutes since I got here. Surely you don't take that long to piss, do you? You would have to be dousing the entire forest in urine for something like that to happen." Red Ink just shrugged. "Wait, you weren't...busy, were you?" For a few moments, the Pegasus just stared at him blankly, before he put two-and-two together and realized exactly what his friend meant.

"What?!" Red shouted in surprise; his cheeks becoming doused in a crimson red hue. "No! I wasn't busy, Black Flag! I just got a little lost on my way back."

"Ah, I understand. Sorry about that misconception," Black Flag said with some embarrassment. Why did his mind immediately jump straight to that conclusion? That was completely juvenile and ridiculous.

"So, uh, anyway. Who is this Shattering Steel you are so fond of?" Red Ink asked, hoping to learn a few things before the eponymous stallion arrived. While he was bubbling with excitement to inform his friend about his idol, Black Flag took a couple of deep breaths before he began to speak. He remembered his foalish outburst from before, and he did not want to do something that stupid ever again. It was time to act cool, collected, and calm.

Over the next few hours, Black Flag informed his companion about both the warrior's feats and his upbringing. He started off with how Steel was raised by a band of mercenaries led by a griffon named Silver Feather, who took him in not out of pity but to be put to use as a soldier and for labor around his camp. Silver Feather, to be put nicely, was not a good father figure. As if the fact he was using a foal for combat wasn't obvious enough. If the mental and physical strain of his training to become a soldier weren't enough torment for him, there was also the constant fear of perishing on the battlefield.

However, apparently, the constant fear of a painful death from a sword blade getting rammed into his skull really paid off in the long run, because he was molded into an incredibly powerful and skilled mercenary. Foe after foe was struck down by his mighty blade. He didn't care who he was fighting, nor did he remember the reasons for doing so. He just felt compelled to continue swinging his sword until he eventually keeled over and died.

Steel eventually left his father's mercenary band, hoping to forge his own path instead of being dragged down by a commander's whims and orders. Since that day, he traveled Equestria as a wandering warrior. His path was simple; fight, get paid, fight some more. Quick and to the point.
This talk went on and on for what felt like an eternity to Red Ink. As his friend continued his loooooong exposition dump, the poor Pegasus pony could only feel pity for Shattering Steel because when he showed up, he knew Black Flag was gonna be all over him. He understood why; the unicorn idolized him. But he doubted that the merc was going to be very thrilled about somepony rambling for fifty minutes about how they were their biggest fan ever or something stupid like that. Even with his high patience, Black Flag's inane rambling was truly reminding Red of something a dear friend told him once during one of his speeches: "If you say another word I think I might just kill myself!"

"Black Flag, please be silent," Red Ink said firmly. He just couldn't take any more of it. Black Flag's rants had been going on for three hours without pausing to even take a breath. How was it possible he did not get a Cutie Mark related to filibusters? He would be a master at them! Thankfully, the stallion did become quiet as soon as Red Ink asked him, so at least there was that small blessing.

"Sorry Red," Black Flag said with a sheepish grin. "I guess I did get a little carried away. I'm just really excited about this meeting, that's all." Red Ink just rolled his eyes.

"I think I could figure that out pretty easily by myself," Red Ink muttered as he gazed into the dimly lit road. All of the sudden he caught the sight of a pony making their way towards them. The flicker of the lanterns that guided the pony's way did little to hide her identity; Golden Keg. The poor mare must not have gotten hardly any sleep, and with how uncivilized the patrons could be this day was probably going to be a bucking nightmare.

"What are you two doing here so early?"
"Just waiting for Shattering Steel to arrive," Black Flag said; not taking his eyes off the road for even a second. He was like a vulture waiting to see what rotted, just with less death and scavenging involved. Which was probably a good thing, because eating decaying flesh was usually looked down upon in most towns. Probably. He never thought to ask, 'cause it would be more than a little weird if he just went up to some official and asked for their views on eating the flesh of the dead.

"Well, good news." Golden Keg said as she pushed open the oak door leading into her tavern. "He should be here within the hour because the sun will be rising soon." The soft ding of the small copper bell above the door rang as she entered the establishment to finish getting things ready for his arrival.
"Red, you can go and head in if you want. You've stayed out here for long enough, there's no need to stay any longer. I'll just let you know when he shows up," Black Flag said as he stretched a little bit. The constant lack of any motion aside from his mouth was starting to make his muscles cramp up. Red Ink shook his head, dismissing such a preposterous idea.

"Nope, that's not going to happen. I'm in this for the long haul," Red Ink said stubbornly. Black Flag shrugged; he would have figured the Pegasus would do anything to get away from him now that he'd been forced to listen to him go on and on and on about somepony that he probably didn't care about in the slightest.

"Alright, if you insist," Black Flag said with a soft chuckle. He wouldn't deny it; his friend's insistence that he would stay with him through the whole morning did warm the ruffian's heart a little. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that Red Ink might've had romantic feelings towards him or something like that. But that would be just silly, like something out of a badly-written novel that was made by somepony who was graced with about as much knowledge of how to write as Black Flag did. That is to say, absolutely none at all. "I must thank you for doing so. It does feel a lot better with you by my side."

"You're welcome," Red Ink said quietly as he stretched out his back to relieve some of the tension that had begun to build up from waiting around for so long.

So they continued to wait. Everything was quiet and deathly still. They didn't bother talking, they just patiently observed the shadows that covered the road for any movement towards the bar as if they were a couple of the guards assigned to protecting the rundown establishment from invaders. However, their patience was beginning to grow quite thin. It truly felt like time was slowing to a complete and total crawl, and Shattering Steel was nowhere in sight. However, their patience did pay off.
The sky was just beginning to turn to a light pink color when Black Flag suddenly noticed a stallion strolling down the road. His fur was the coarse color of the desert sands. His mane was black and long, coming down his neck and swaying fabulously with every move he made. Honestly he looked like he trotted right out of an advertisement for some kind of mane product. A tan cloak whipped around his muscular form in the gentle early morning winds; caressing his figure ever-so-delicately. Strapped to his side was a brown saddlebag that swayed back and forth with every step that he took. And, much to Black Flag's joy, there was an almost comically large sword strapped to his back.

"Oh my gosh, is that him?" Black Flag whispered happily. His heart was pounding with excitement, beating faster and faster with every step that the warrior took closer to the tavern. His friend, however, was not exactly smitten with awe or affection for the stallion. Honestly, he felt that the only way his attire and stride could be more ridiculous was if there was just a trio of singing ponies that accompanied him to sing some kind of epic choir or chant as he walked down the road. What was with that sword, anyhow? For goodness sakes, that looked impractical as heck. Despite how he felt about the mercenary so far, there was something kind of cute about his friend's reaction. He was just like a young foal on Hearth's Warming.

"Yup, I think it is. Why ask me, anyhow? You're supposed to be the way-too-obsessive expert on everything about him," Red Flag replied with a playful smile. His retort was merely a jest, of course. He would never say something so rude to Black Flag and actually mean it. He would never even dream of doing so. He watched as Black Flag slowly stood up, a grimace on his face. He surely must have been feeling the aftereffects of being motionless for so long. To be fair, his own joints and his rump weren't exactly feeling peachy either.
Those blatant joint pains didn't hinder Black Flag, not one bit. He still managed to break into a quick trot despite them; meeting the warrior halfway down the road. As ecstatic as he was to meet his idol, he knew he needed to compose himself. He didn't want to be an embarrassment to anypony, after all. Especially not to his idol.

"Are you Shattering Steel?" Black Flag inquired, making sure to keep his voice as level and calm as he possibly could. No more outbursts, he kept telling himself. No more shouts of foal-like glee or rambles about how awesome Shattering Steel was. Would probably be a little redundant on top of being really obnoxious, considering that he was right there.

"Who's asking?" Shattering Steel said, his voice cold as ice. That kind of pissed Red Ink off. Was he just too good for giving a simple answer, was that it? Was his identity so important that he couldn't say his name without a dozen combatants leaping out of the bushes to try and kill him? And what was with that cloak? Was there any real purpose to it aside from looking dramatic when it whipped around him in the wind? Bah, he probably thought it could do stuff like block crossbow bolts or something like that. However, he said nothing and kept those thoughts to himself. Well, verbally, anyway. His gaze was a different story. He watched the swordstallion like a hawk, his eyes burning with pure, untamed, hate. Hatred for bewitching his friend with his almost assuredly false tales of combat, for molding Black Flag's dreams into something that nopony could ever hope of reaching.
"My name is Black Flag," The unicorn said with a smile, then gestured to the Pegasus who was still resting against the wall. "and that's Red Ink. I'm just a huge fan of your accomplishments." The warrior only looked at him with confusion. Hoping to break the uncomfortable silence that settled around the two like a fog, Black Flag reached out with his hoof, offering a simple greeting, but the mercenary merely looked at the unicorn with a death glare.

"Do not touch me," Shattering Steel growled with evident anger in his tone, causing the unicorn to recoil in surprise, after which the swordstallion seemed to immediately regain his self-control. "Sorry about that outburst. I just cannot stand being touched; brings up memories I would rather like to forget." Black Flag nodded in understanding.
"Sorry, didn't mean to trigger anything like that," He apologized quickly, lowering his hoof back to the ground. He felt so ashamed. he had one job, and he bucked it up within five minutes of meeting his lifelong hero. Congratulations. He added yet another disappointment to his ever-growing list of them.

"It's fine," The Earth Pony replied with a sigh. "Now, what exactly do you mean by "a huge fan" of my accomplishments, Black Flag? I don't quite follow what you are getting at. I'm just doing my job, and that is all my occupation as a mercenary is."

"What I mean is that I completely adore you," Black Flag said happily. "Why act so modest, Shattering Steel? You took down an enemy soldier's spear to your chest and kept fightingin the battle, for crying out loud! There is no denying the fact that you performed an incredible feat, and you should be proud of doing something so awesome! I've been striving to become a warrior as famous and powerful as you are ever since I was young."

"Look," Shattering Steel said firmly as he met the unicorn's gaze, which was brimming with amazement and ambition. "do you have any experience as an actual mercenary? I'm not counting fighting off a few random brigands or bandits. Any half-baked pony with a sword can do that. I mean fighting against real trained soldiers." Black Flag shook his head. "Alright, that's what I was afraid of." His eyes shifted to the large sword that was leaning against the tavern's wall. "How about we have a little duel. If I win, you will be my underling for a year."
"And what do I get as a reward if I win?" Black Flag inquired with a raised eyebrow. He really didn't care what he got. It could be a clump of pocket lint for all he cared. For a chance to face his idol in combat would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it would be one he took regardless of the prize.

"How about I give up this?" Shattering Steel slipped off his gear with a single fluid motion, flipped open his saddlebag, and pulled out a large sack of bits. He tossed it a couple of times into the air, flaunting the obvious weight of the currency inside. "If you win, you get all of the contents within this sack. And trust me, there's quite a hefty load of bits in here." Red bit his tongue so hard that he began to taste blood, because he knew that he was about thirty seconds away from saying something involving loads that was going to get either him or Black Flag killed.
"Prove it," Red Ink said as he finally stood up and approached the other two stallions. He knew that Black Flag would have simply accepted the deal without confirmation that this good for nothing mercenary's sack wasn't just full of junk that he'd collected. Without another word, Steel pulled open the pouch and showed the contents to the skeptical stallion. And much to Red's shock, he was actually being honest. But surely Black Flag wasn't going to risk everything he knew here for some cutthroat's coins, was he?

"It's a deal," Black Flag said excitedly. Red Ink was left completely speechless. All he could do was bury his face in his hoof and let out an annoyed sigh. Why was he going through with this fight? He was going to risk his life for a full year over some bag of bits? Was he completely insane? No, he wasn't. He was just blind to the risks. Romanticised tales of grandeur were blinding his common sense.

"Black Flag," Red Ink said as gently as he could, trying one last-ditch tactic to change his friend's mind. "is there anything I could do to convince you not to fight him? Anything at all?" Black Flag shook his head. His mind was set, he was going to take him on with everything he had. And probably get his ass kicked in under ten seconds. Red Ink sighed, and wrapped his hooves around the stallion's neck in a firm embrace. "Be careful for me, will you?"

"I will, Red Ink. I promise." Reluctantly, Red Ink let go of his friend and stepped back as he watched the unicorn levitate his trusted sword to him with his magic. The Earth Pony, on the other hoof, grasped the hilt of his sword in his mouth and began to take a few paces away from the unicorn. They both took their stances, and all the Pegasus could do was watch.

As the red sun finally began to cast its crimson rays over the flat landscape, the nocturnal creatures began to retreat into the shadows. The wind was low, blowing through the Pegasus's mane ever so softly as he watched the unmoving combatants. He still couldn't believe that his friend was going to risk his freedom for a full year over something so worthless. Why? Did he not care about everything they had done together?

"Alright," Black Flag said calmly, shattering the silence at last. "Let's go!"