Fireflight is a powerful assassin that has been recruited by a band of ponies with similar capabilities. With their hope, he plans on defeating those that destroyed his once peaceful life.
Fireflight, a fearsome assassin, has been thrown out of Cloudsdale, along with his sister, both branded Dashites. The dark world below holds a great many sinister things that he will have to battle for survival. But a far more interesting power is at work down below, forcing him to take a side: his heart, or his world?
Greetings and salutations dear reader. My name is Fireflight. And I am a ninja. Now I realize how fucking retarded that sounds, but it's true in most cases. Even though I'm only twenty-six, I am an assassin for hire. And I have never failed an assignment. But I have been caught, which led me to where I am now. Anyway, you're reading this because you've found my journal, which means that I'm either dead or dying. Which fucking sucks for me. Anyway, let me tell you how I got to where I am now.
I was brought into this world as a healthy pegasus foal by my mother, Sun Reacher, and my father, Jackknife, both of whom, I am happy to say, are still alive. I was more than healthy. So much so, that my extreme healthiness appeared as a disability, which makes absolutely no sense. I had eyesight two times better than a normal ponies, hearing was likewise. I also had what's called an eidetic memory, meaning I could very easily learn whatever I chose to learn.
By the time I was sixteen I had passed school, and two years later I passed Enclave training. Lastly, when I turned twenty, I had a kill under my saddle.
You see, a certain member of the Council was in trouble, so he needed to get rid of somepony. I won't say who, but I knew him. He was a good friend. And that didn't sit right with me. So I looked around. I learned who the Council member was. Turns out, he was not the most liked pony.
The friend however was still in the wrong. So began my first real taste at how the world worked. During those two days when I debating whether or not to kill, I learned something about myself. I hated killing. I had chosen to kill the friend. After all, how could you hide the death of somepony like a Council member? But it was strange. It was like somepony in my head was telling me I should, but I knew I shouldn't.
But I did anyway. And looking in the face of my family friend as he choked on the poison I cooked up. I was terrified. I couldn't do it. Why? Why couldn't I look in the face of the very pony whose life I had taken upon myself to take? But I didn't. I just lifted his body and hocked it through the clouds and forgot about him.
I learned that day. I learned the world was a fucked up place. And you wouldn't survive if you just tried to go along with it. You had to fight back, or the world would devour you. But I digress.
A year later, I was ready to join the Enclave. Only problem was, it was fucking stupid. The hours were bullshit, the pay was bullshit, the work was bullshit, everything about it was bullshit. So I quit. One year of my life I'll never get back. But there was one thing I got out of it. My friends.
Their names were Red Sun, Dusk, Quicksilver, and Light Feather. We worked in the same squad, so naturally, we became friends. They taught me poker, which after two lessons, I became the best player. We would patrol together, eat at the same time, hell, even slept in the same barracks. Nigh inseparable we were. But I chose to leave, and they chose to stay.
The day after I left, Dusk brought me something. He knew how much fun we'd had while we worked together, so he brought me a spare key card he had gotten from the office he worked in. So every Wednesday night, I would sneak in and we would play poker, darts, even go for a flight around the base sometimes. It was a good setup.
Then one day, I fell. Through the clouds. I hadn't even thought about it, but one day I was wondering about the world below, despite everypony in my life telling me that it was hostile and horrible. All the more reason for me to go there. If the world was so bad, then we should be down there, helping ponies. Not sitting on our asses doing fuck-all.
Now sooner did I do that, a pony tried to kill me. He had a knife. I was trained to fight against knives. Then I killed them. I was so surprised at the time, at how easy it was to snap a neck. And I hadn't even properly registered that they were dead. But this time felt different. I hadn't known the pony, but they had tried to kill me, and I felt...good. Knowing that the pony was dead, and wouldn't harm another soul. It would soon become my jump start to who I am today. But somepony else was in the room. I kicked the knife up from the corpse and readied myself to kill again.
But she wasn't trying to kill me. She was standing there, dumbfounded. I dropped the knife and looked at her. I mean really looked at her.
And reader...I had never met a mare so beautiful until that day. Her golden mane, tussled and rugged. Her dark blue coat glistening in the light, unkempt. But her eyes were the part that got me. They were impossible to describe. I guess the best way to describe them would be, imagine a sunset and the ring of blue and orangeish color that surrounds the sun. Although I guess a ground pony wouldn't have ever seen that, but just roll with it.
Her eyes were electric and blue and orange. One eye was a sharp orange and the other was sky blue. I struggled to get my words out.
Ar-are you okay? I asked. She nodded, looking at me.
What's your name? she asked.
Fireflight, I responded. An-and your's?
Name's Ginger Twilight, she said. She looked at the corpse. Thanks for saving me.
Huh? What? I asked, looking around. Ginger pointed at the body of the pony I killed. Who were they?
A slavers, she said. They cornered me and they were going to take me and enslave me.
I know what slavers are, I said, eyebrows furrowed. I'm not an idiot. Why did you feel the need to explain?
Oh, uh, sorry, she said with an embarrassed smile. I just thought because you were a pegasus, you might not have known.
Understandable.
Well, I said reaching into my saddlepack. I had brought it in case of an emergency. Inside was a long-range communication device. I brought it down just in case I needed to call for help. It was connected to a similar device in my home. Unlike most of the technology in our cloudy home, this one was mechanical rather than made from cloud.
If you ever need help, call me, I said.
Thanks, she said, putting in her own saddlepack. But maybe you could help me right now.
She led me to her house, which was situated a few miles from the slaver pony. It gave me time to observe the world around me. It was, in a word, depressing. Unlike the bright and sunny days topside, this world was gray and sad. How long had it been since the ponies of down here seen any real sunlight? Decades? Centuries? I couldn't fathom living in such a world.
Yet here I am. Writing in a journal I got from a Wastelander, spending my time killing and running and killing and running on the ground I never once believed I would walk on or fly over.
Anyway, Ginger introduce me to her family, a group of traders. They explained to me how they were scavengers, and how their scavenging grounds had been over taken by ponies working for somepony called Red Eye. If this Red Eye character was as big as they made him out to be, there would be no getting the scavenging ground back. So I proposed a different idea.
I would bring them old technology from up top, and in exchange I got to stay with them for a little while. I wanted to learn everything I could about the world below mine. I also wanted to see Ginger more. I always tried my best to hide my emotions from her, for reasons even I didn't understand.
But things started getting bad in my home. Ponies were starting to question where I was going behind my back. I had to try harder and harder to explain where I was going. I had to keep secrets from everypony. I began to get desperate. I wanted to help Ginger and her family, but I also wanted to stay with mine. All of my skill at sneaking and deceiving was starting to wear thin.
Then one day, my entire world crumbled.
The Enclave got involved. I was using my key to get in the Enclave buildings to get the supplies as well as play poker with my old Enclave buddies. They found my access card. I got home one day to see two Enclave soldiers there with my access card. They threw it on the ground and smashed it. I ran to my room behind me and grabbed my communicator. They tried their best to catch me as I flew as fast as I could around the city.
I couldn't go down because the only hole I made through the clouds was in my room, and I didn't have time to make another. I couldn't fight back because that would give them the green light to go ahead and shoot me. I only had one more option. I gave up. I couldn't fight off or outfly an entire army. I fluttered to the ground and turned myself in. They seized me and branded me a Dashite. One of the most painful experiences of my life, but one I could get over.
I didn't care. Being branded a traitor by a bunch of traitors? What did that matter to me? But my family. I would never see them again. That was what got me the most.
After they finished, they threw me through the clouds and left me for dead. Little did they know, I was alive and well.
I found Ginger Twilight and told her of my recent experiences. They were nice enough to take me in. I was lost for a few months. My world had crumbled around me. I was on the ground, never to be let back to home. My parents. My sister.
Or so I thought.
A few days later, there was a knock on the door. I got up and opened it. Standing there, her wings spread wide, was my sister. I had never been happier to see her in my life. She told me how she had argued with my parents, and the Enclave. It had not gone well. She had attempted to do what I had done. Help the ponies who needed help. Unfortunately, she was not as smart as I was, and she got caught quickly. My heart fell to the pits of my stomach. I looked around at her flank to see the Dashite brand where her cutie mark used to be.
In that moment something snapped in me. I was willing to be branded a traitor, if it meant helping ponies. But my sister? I wasn't going to take it. I couldn't kill the entire Grand Pegasus Enclave. I slammed my hoof on the ground in anger. Then I noticed what my sister was carrying. My bow.
I had never preferred guns because there were so many things that could go wrong with a gun. But a bow? Only a true marksman could have enough skill to operate one with the level of skill that I did. It was a silent weapon of death.
I turned to bounty hunting. Arguably the most dangerous job I could've taken, but it was well worth it. My sister had not only brought the bow, but the enchanted arrows and quiver. The arrows never broke and never dulled. The quiver could return my arrows once I had shot them. A truly unique weapon to be sure.
It has been exactly seven months, two weeks, and four days since then. Now I write my life since then in the form of the journal that you are about to read.
Hope and pray that you never read this, because if you do, you might have just signed your death warrant.
I knocked an arrow and aimed slightly up. I lined up the shot with the pony's head. Let it fly. It hit it's mark and the pony went down. Two more had already taken notice and began shouting for backup. I knocked two more arrows and fired. Two more targets down. It looked like it was going to be a flawless victory. There were only three more ponies. All of them were unicorn mares.
I activated the Stealth Buck. I pulled out my knife, flipping it from wing to wing as I stalked towards them, trying to be as silent as possible. I got close enough and dove right into one of them. I stabbed her right in the skull, a spray of blood shooting up as her body went limp. The other two were completely baffled as well as scared. They were standing back to back now.
"Come out and stop hiding you fucker!" shouted one of them. She lifted a submachine gun and readied it. I got in right as close as I could to her. The Stealth Buck died.
"Boo," I said. She screamed and jumped back, firing at me. It took me less than two seconds to dispatch her. The other one whipped around and fired two shotgun blasts right into my chest. I threw the knife as hard as I could before I fell to the ground. My armor had held up, but it was going to bruise pretty badly.
I retrieved my knife and arrows. A dozen bodies lay before me. I set to work. I built a funeral pyre out of old twigs and tires and laid the bodies on it. I lit the pyre with my flint and steel. As the bodies burned along with the building, I paid my respects. They had fought well for their survival, but they were not enough to best my superior skill. I left the building to burn. It was more of a shack really.
I launched up into the air with some difficulty, the heavy slugs from the shotgun still lodged halfway between my chest and armor. It hurt like a motherfucker, but it would heal. I reached into my saddlepack as I flew on and grabbed a healing potion. I landed on a hill and used my knife to pry out the slugs. I drank a small bit of the potion, just enough to dull the pain. I put it away and continued on flying.
It was another hour before I got to the shack that was the bounty hunting firm. I walked inside to see my main employer, Killshot, sitting as his desk. He was engrossed in several papers that appeared to be bounties. He looked up.
"Ah, Fireflight," he said looking back down. "Did you tag that mean ol' fuck?"
"Maybe," I said putting the ear down on his desk.
"Well, well, well," he said looking at the ear of the bounty. "You never cease to amaze. As promised, your reward. 200 caps. Don't go blowing it all on the hookers and gambling, you hear?" He nudged a foreleg in my direction and we both chuckled.
"Thanks Killshot," I said. "You got the next bounty?"
"You kidding me?" he asked. "There's never a shortage of shitheads that need offing."
"True," I said. "So who are they?"
"Come on kid, you just got back from a two day stalk, you need to lighten up!"
"Yeah maybe you're right."
"Come back and see me in the morning," he said. "I'll get you your next bounty then."
"Fine," I said with a sigh, suddenly feeling very tired. I began to leave then had a thought.
"Hey, you think I could have the-?"
"No," he said. "And the next time you ask, you're going to get it, but you'll be on the end of the barrel."
I said nothing and left. I needed that revolver. With it, I could get so many bounties done so much quicker. As much as I liked my bow, I needed a better gun. My rifle would simply not do the trick. Little Macintosh. Just the name gave me shivers. I've heard it was one of the most powerful hand cannons ever conceived. But whatever. My rifle would have to cut it for now.
I took off again and began to fly off into the southwest.
I reached the house just before night. I walked in and was immediately greeted by my sister tackle-hugging me. We laughed and enjoyed the embrace for a few seconds before getting up.
"So, how did it go?" she asked excitedly.
"I got two hundred caps and some more supplies," I said, brushing off my wings. "But I didn't get any closer to figuring out how we're going to get back the scavenging grounds. Sis, we should just give it up."
"What!?" she asked incredulously. "We can't just give up now! What about helping ponies, and helping your girlfriend!"
"I know, I know," I said, feeling embarrassed. "But what do you propose we do? We don't have the firepower to take them out. Gawd and her griffins are still trying to get a hold on Junction R-7, so it's not like they could help take out the ponies she'd be able to spare anyone. And any other allies we've made in the past six months won't be likely to help us since they're out fighting trying save their own fucking skins!"
"How did you get Gawd indebted to you anyway?" she asked.
"Let's just say, I asked nicely," I said. "And by that I mean a few hundred bullets and about a metric ton of prisoners, and then I asked nicely."
"Whatever," she said. "But please, keep looking for a way to get back the scrapyard!"
"Fine," I said under my breath. "Where's Ginger?"
"In the back," she said. I walked past her into the back room, which served as the bedroom for all of us. Ginger was sitting on the couch reading an old book that I found. I crouched low and snuck up on her. I wrapped my forelegs around her neck and she jumped. She threw me off playfully while I smiled wide. I walked around and got on the couch with her. She leaned her head against my shoulder.
"How are you?" she asked.
"Fine," I said, following her eyes and reading the book with her. "Got shot a few times."
"That good huh?" she asked. "Usually you get shot a lot more than a few times."
"Low risk bounty," I said. "Just capped a few goons and burned the evidence. Brought back an ear and came back with caps in tow."
"Hmm," she said without looking up. I looked at her.
"I'm thinking about shaving my legs with my knife," I said.
"Hun, I'm trying to read," she said. I smiled. I slowly closed the book and memorized the word, page, and chapter she was on. I put a hoof under her chin and made her look up at me. I leaned in and kissed her, ever so gently on the lips.
"I love you," I said, pulling away. "You know that right?"
"Of course," she said. I helped her off the couch.
"Prove it," I said with a devious smile.
"Oh I'll prove it to you alright," she said, returning the smile. We went upstairs to our private bedroom. She jumped up into the bed and flopped down, belly up. I walked onto the bed.
"I guess I won't be getting to that bounty tomorrow," I said.
When I woke up, something was wrong. I heard something. Downstairs. A commotion. Somepony was seriously upset. I grabbed my knife with my wing as put on my clothes and lept down the steps. I stalked low, my killer instincts kicking in. I looked around. Fleet Wing was on the floor. I rushed over to her.
"Fleet Wing?" I said, checking to see if she was breathing. She wasn't. "FLEET WING!" I began the resuscitation I learned in the Enclave training. One, two, three, four. Breathe. One, two, three, four. Breathe. After a few more tries she coughed and woke up. I hugged her and checked to see if she was okay. It was strange though. If somepony had done this, then where were they?
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Out...side," she croaked. I looked at the door and ran outside. I stopped dead. There were several ponies armed with flamethrowers. About a dozen more were armed with guns. I did the sensible thing.
"Who are you?" I asked, raising my knife. I wasn't afraid. I could more than easily run back inside and come back with full armaments. A pony walked forward. He was dressed in a red suit and bow tie. When he spoke, it was with an accent.
"Apologies," he said. "My name is .308. And it appears you have killed a few of my lieutenants."
"So what if I did?" I said.
"So, I can't have you tampering with what I'm doing," he said. "They were useful to me. And I can't have you killing anymore of my people."
"Am I suppose to be intimidated?" I said angrily. I flared my wings. "Killing you would be easy. And if you're so confident, why don't you just kill me?"
"I have my reasons. And while it may be true that you could kill me," he said. He kept his voice calm, which made me angrier. "Will you be able to save them in time?"
I had forgotten about the flamethrowers. They opened fire and house was almost instantly set ablaze. My eyes widened at the flames licking up and down the building. I immediately ran inside and found Ginger. She was in a wild panic and trapped behind a melting door. I bucked at the door a few time. It didn't budge. I stepped back. I flew as hard as I could into the door. It gave way and I landed right on the burning door.
I screamed as the door burned my skin. I pushed myself up off the door, gasping in pain, barely able to breathe from the burn marks. I saw Ginger. I didn't think before I ran up and slammed into her, carrying her and bashing through the wall. I flew for a seconds before hitting the ground. I told her to stay put and was about to run back inside, but then Fleet Wing flew through the wall in a similar manner to the way I had.
"You okay?" I asked. She nodded, then her eyes widened.
"What?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Twilight are still in there," she said. I ran past her, and into the door. The last thing I remember was an explosion and flying through the air, then landing and blacking out.
When I woke up, I was in a bed. A comfortable bed. The last time I had slept in one of those was seven months ago. I was also...naked. Which was strangely uncomfortable, even though ponies don't normally wear clothing. I felt raw, exposed even without my armor. I was also in a cage. A slaver cage. I immediately looked around, but nopony else was in the cage. Just me.
"Why?" I said to myself, "Why would they cage me alone if they're slavers?"
"Because we heard you was a slippery littl' bastard," came a voice from up front, no doubt one of the slavers.
"Yeah, the boss said you gots all manners o' skill," said another voice, with the same accent.
"Good on him then," I said. "You'd both probably be dead now if you hadn't caged me."
"Shut your fuckin' mouth!" one of them said. "Or I'll come back there and make yu."
"I'd like to see you try," I mumbled. "Why is my cage comfortable?"
"Cuz we gots to keep you in tip top shape. You'll be doin' all manners o' work," said one of the slavers. I swear I could hear him smile. "You got to work in the mines, fightin' in the cage, and even doin' a bit of clearin' out some fools."
I said nothing as they continued to cart me along. I had always liked my ability to get information without even having to ask directly. Even Fleet Wing had told me I had a "silver tongue". So if I would be clearing out problem ponies, that means I would get a weapon of some kind. Same goes for working in the mines. Escaping should be easy as shooting.
I waited for a few more minutes before asking, "Where's my sister?"
"That littl' bitch?" said one of them chuckling. "You'll be meetin' her real soon."
So she was already at wherever it was that I was going. That could either be bad or good. I decided to keep quiet until we arrived. I looked around the area of the cage I was in. There were two mares bringing up the rear. I couldn't make out anything else because the back wall of the cage was, well, a wall. After two hours or so, the location came into view. Fillydelphia. I had always dreaded the place. It smelled of death and despair.
I sat up as the ponies brought me into the town. Slaves milled about in ragged clothing, or even naked like me. The guards let the slavers through. We got to a plaza and the slavers let me out. I hopped out of the cage, but remained where I was. No use trying to escape. I could already see snipers positioned far above us. I looked around, trying to find anything that could eventually aid my escape.
"Fireflight!" I heard my sisters voice shout. I looked around to see her running towards me. Her wings were bound in an iron clamp that wrapped around her torso. She stopped in front of me, smiling.
"I'm glad you're okay," I said to her. "Where's Ginger?"
Fleet Wing stopped smiling. "She's over here."
I followed her to a building and she led me inside. I looked around and immediately saw Ginger. She was sitting in a corner, facing away from us.
"Ginger?" I said cautiously. She slowly turned, revealing her red puffy eyes. She had been crying. A lot. Her mane was tousled and her coat was unkempt. I knew why. It took me a moment to process it. Her parents were dead. Burned alive by some fuckshit I didn't even know. I walked over to her and sat next to her.
"Th-they're gone..." she said in a quiet, shaky voice. I looked into her eyes. They were so full of sadness and grieving. I wiped a tear from her cheek. She began sobbing again. I caught her and held her in a tight embrace, cooing words of comfort to her. I held her and fought back tears of my own. I looked up and saw Fleet Wing, her eyes always welling up. Suddenly, Ginger spoke.
"Fireflight?" she asked without looking at me.
"Yes?" I said quietly.
"Promise me something." she said.
"Anything." I replied.
"Whoever they are, whoever killed my parents," she said. She looked up, and her dual colored eyes were dead and full of rage. "Kill them. Promise me you'll kill them."
"Ginger," I said looking back at her and standing. "I swear upon my life. I will not rest, I will leave no stone unturned, until they are dead. Every. Last. One."
"We escape," I said flatly. "First things first, I'm going to get a weapon. The slavers told me that I would clearing out something. I assume that mean they'll give me something. It also probably why they didn't bind my wings like they did Fleet Wing. You two just stay safe until I do."
Fleet Wing and Ginger nodded. I left the building and was immediately bucked in the chest. I grunted as the wind was knocked out of me. I stood up to defend myself against my assailants. They were two Earth pony mares, both wearing wicked armor and stupid, malicious smiles. I flexed my wings and saw their smiles waver just the slightest bit.
"What's the matter?" I asked. "Afraid of a couple wings on my back?"
"Shut the fuck up, you stupid ass little bitch," said the one on the right suddenly scowling. "We fucking own this town."
"Not so long as I'm here," I said, "So you stay out of my way if you know what's good for you."
The one who spoke grabbed me with a hoof so quickly I didn't even have time to react. Her face was scarred and her breathing was ragged. Her muzzle was scrunched up in an attempt to be an intimidating scowl.
"You really want to make trouble don't you?" she asked in a low voice. "Sledge, fuck him up."
She let me go and the other mare walked forward and hoofed my hard in the face. I think they expected it to knock me out because they turned and began to walk away. I stood and spit blood from my mouth and flew towards Sledge. I tackled her hard and got to my hooves as quickly as I could. I ran and kicked her in the face as hard as I could. I flipped around to see a bat make contact with my side. I crumpled to the ground in pain. My ribs were definetly broken. I looked up and saw the other mare with the bat in her mouth. She dropped it and got real low.
"So long as your here, you follow my rules," she said. "Remember that."
I headbutted her and got up.
"And so long as your here, getting out is going to be tricky, so stay out of my way." I ran and slid right into her neck, knocking her out. I stood and immediately regretted it, my chest heaving with broken bones. I grasped my sides and hissed in pain. I fluttered my wings, ever so slightly, just enough so that I could move without hurting. Even with my wings helping me, it was difficult to move. I began to move towards a group of slave ponies, but a guard stopped me.
"You, come here," he said. He didn't wait before grabbing my arm and hauling me to a door. He pushed me through and lifted me to my feet.
"Today's your first day on the job," he said. "Can you walk?"
I shook my head. He handed me a healing potion. I drank it greedily and felt my broken bones mend. They still hurt, but I could at least walk. The guard handed me an old blowtorch.
"Your first job is to go in and fix the old water purifier. And make it snappy." he said. He pushed me towards the door on the other end of the room. I stepped through and into the next room. I looked around and saw only two more doors. Each were at the top of a flight of stairs on either side of a desk. There was a back wall going up behind it, so I had no idea if there was another door.
"Well, way to be specific," I said. I flew up the steps to the door on the left and walked through. Inside was an office, with cubicles going up and down the middle of the room. There would be no use looking in every one, so I ignored them. The room was eerily quiet. I looked around. There was another door on my left. I tried that one.
There was nothing but a metal box. Inside was some nails and duct tape. I grabbed them and looked around for something. I found an old piece of rebar. I picked it up and taped some nails onto the end. I swung once and hit a cubicle to make sure it was good. It was a feeble weapon, but it was better than nothing. I held it with my wing and continued to look around.
I pondered why they would need a water purifier. Maybe they just wanted to see me fail? Just a reason to kill me or something like that? I gave up trying to figure it out and instead focused on finding the stupid thing. If I were in offices, then a maintenance level would be farther below. I searched the building for a stair case. I found one, but there were ghouls at the bottom.
I dropped into a crouch and snuck down the stairs, making as little noise as I could. I grabbed my weapon and jumped down the last flight of stairs and swung my weapon. The nails stuck into the ghouls head with a crack. I pulled it out and swung at the other ghoul, show thankfully was very slow. The weapon hit its head and almost took it clean off. I put my weapon back under my wing and walked through the door.
The maintenance level. There were magical generators that hadn't worked in years. I heard more ghouls and prepared myself. I stalked low behind one of the generator's and saw a dead pony. It looked like a slave. He had been ripped open by the ghouls, his limbs strewn about and half eaten. I had to stifle a gag. The smell was awful. I did see a gun next to his body though. It was the tiniest revolver, about the size of my hoof.
I charged in and swung my weapon. I quickly killed the ghoul I'd hit and was about to swing at another one, but one had already bitten me. I howled in pain and wrenched myself away. I could feel blood leaking from the bite. I swung the rebar and smashed its head in. Two more. I jumped and drop kick one of them and scrambled away. I smashed its head into the ground with my hoof and swung the weapon at the last one. Dead. I panted and felt the stinging bite bark. Luckily, it hadn't taken any flesh. I put my weapon back and picked up the revolver. Checking the magazine, there was three bullets.
I put it in my other wing and check the corpse of the slave. He had about six more bullets, as well as the tiniest healing poultice. I rubbed it on my neck and felt the pain subside a little. I set to work fixing the water purifier. It was heavily damaged, but most of the damage was cosmetic. Easily repairable with the spare parts that were laying around. I kicked it a few times and it whirred to life. I smiled, a job well done. I picked up the gun with my other wing wing and was about to leave when I heard something.
"Psst!"
"Who's there!?" I immediately said, whipping around to try and find the source of the sound. I saw the vague image of a pony in the shadows, just beyond the ring of light created by my blowtorch.
"Sh-sh-sh!" said the voice, "Don't panic, we're here to help."
"And why should I trust a mysterious voice in the darkness?" I said. As if on cue, a couple of lights flickered on. There was a small ring of four ponies around me. I drew my weapon and readied for a fight.
"Whoa man calm down!" said one of them, backing up. Then I noticed what they were wearing. They were decked out in black cloth and leather armor. They all had jet black coverings on their faces as well as eye patches. Two mares, two bucks. They looked tough.
"We're here to help you escape." said the one in front of me. "My name's Dead Night."
"I'm Fourleaf." said the one on the far left, a mare.
"Masky's the name, friend," said the mare on the right.
"And that's Silver Bit," said Dead Night, taping a hoof on the buck next to him. "He's mute."
"Alright, any reason I should trust you with my name?" I said.
"No need." he said. "Listen, when you get topside, find a pony with a black bandanna and tell them that 'the care package has arrived' and follow them. Got that?"
"Sure, but hold on," I said, releasing my tension. "Who are you guys?"
"We're the Thieve's Guild." he said. "And we're your ticket out of this hellhole."
They backed up and the lights switched off. I heard subtle movement, and when the lights turned back on, they were all gone. I made my way back up and out of the building where the guard pony was waiting.
"I see you fixed it." he said. He looked me up and down, then left without another word. I waited until he was gone and then ran back to Ginger and Fleet Wing. They hadn't moved much. Fleet Wing looked up as I walked in. I must've been gone for about an hour.
"Did you get anything?" asked Fleet Wing. I nodded and showed her my rebar weapon and the revolver.
"Take it," I said, giving her the gun. "I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you."
She took it and nodded. "What about you?"
"I'll be fine," I said, "Just stay here and in hiding."
I walked out the door, but before I could go anywhere, Fleet Wing came from behind and hugged me tight.
"Be safe," she whispered. She let go and I nodded. I ran from the building, scanning the area for any sign of a black bandanna. After a few minutes, I spotted one. I sprinted up to the pony who looked at me funny.
"Got something you want to say?" he asked angrily. He was a tall, tan buck, worn from work. There were bags around his eyes.
"Yeah," I said, leaning in. "The care package has arrived."
He grunted and instructed me to follow. I did as he lead me to a small hole in the ground. It was barely big enough, but we jumped in. Inside, there was a small door. We walked through and I was greeted with the readying of weapons. There were two ponies, each one pointing rifles at us and wearing the same garments as the other ponies I had met earlier. They took notice of the black bandanna and lowered their weapons. They opened the door they were guarding and ushered us in.
"Where have you been?" asked a voice. I looked around the room, which was dimly lit by some lights. The room was made from the surrounding stone, and was really more of a cave than a room. Suddenly, Dead Night trotted up to us from nowhere. He waved off the other pony who immediately left through another tunnel.
"Where is this?" I asked. "And where are the others?"
"They're out and about." he said. "Firstly though, follow me. I'd like to show you something."
He lead me through one of the tunnels and to a room with a bunch of technical equipment.
"We've had a small team work on something. You're going to love this." He walked over to a rack where there was a piece of barding similar to the one he was wearing. He instructed me to me to put it on. I did and he immediately pulled out a pistol and shot me. I gasped, expecting to die or even feel pain, but all I felt was the slight force of the impact.
"What the hell was that!?" I half-shouted.
"Impenetrable armor," he said, putting the gun away. "We've been working on this for a long time. It only stops small caliber rounds, maybe a shotgun if you get lucky. We're hoping to make it better by the end of the year. You can keep it."
"Wow," I said, feeling the place where he shot me, only feeling the slight indent where the bullet had lodged itself in the armor. it was so thin, it felt like just cloth, but sure enough, the bullet was there. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"Test run," he said. "If it works, great, if it doesn't, makes no difference to us."
I suddenly felt less gratuitous. I inspected the armor further, and found that there were plates of a mystery metal in between swaths of cloth. I decided it would be best if I left it on.
"Now, about the other's," he said. He led me to another room, directly adjacent to the one we were in. inside there were a couple of ditches dug into the dirt. The other three were sitting in a couple, but there were four more ponies than the the one's I'd met.
"So, you're a group of eight?" I said, inspecting the faces of all of them. "Four mares, four bucks?"
"Got to keep it even," he said. "The other four are the trainees."
"And how big is this guild?" I asked, still looking at them.
"We've got about one hundred across the entire Wasteland." he explained. "Ten groups of eight were assigned to different locations to gather as much resources and intel from highly active locations. We have a command group at an undisclosed location."
"Pretty extensive," I said. I walked over to the four in back and they stood up.
"Name's Night Flower," said one of the mares. "The other mare is Sandy."
"Gee thanks," said Sandy, looking over at the other trainee.
"Bloodhoof," said the largest of the trainees.
"Lastly, but certainly not least, I'm Quiet Hoof," said the last buck with a bow. I could tell he was smirking.
"And what's your name?" asked Night Flower, walking up to me.
"My name is Fireflight," I said to them.
"Fireflight here is going to help himself by helping us," said Dead Night. He turned to me. "We're bringing down the Wastelands."
"It means, we're going to turn the powers of the Wasteland, good or bad, against each other and start the world anew," said Night Flower.
"Right, and I'm going to grow a second pair of wings and became an object of ultimate power," I said sarcasticaly. "How in the fuck are you supposed to do that?"
"With your help," said Dead Night.
I sighed and hung my head. "I was afraid you might say that."
"Aw, come on, it's not going to be so bad!" he said, pulling me into a rough embrace with one arm.
"Yeah, well, let's just stick to escaping from this damned place first, okay?" I said, pulling out from under his leg. "How are we going to do it?"
"Simple," said Sandy, "We'll wing it. Uh, no pun intended."
I ruffled my wings. "Yeah, sure. But I'm not going to leave this place without my stuff first. Do you know where they might keep it?"
"Probably with them," said Dead Night. "They keep anything they took in a secure building. It's heavily gaurded, but shifts change, leaving about a two minute gap. If we could all get in by then, which we can, without alerting everypony within a half mile, we should be able to retrieve your things and leave."
"When does shift change?" I asked.
"In about two hours," he said.
"Right," I said, "Let's do it then."
About two hours later, we were all outside the building, safely hidden in the shadows. The building was guarded by about a dozen or so guards, with snipers positioned on the roof. The door was flanked by two ponies that I'd never encountered. They were a pegasus and a unicorn. They stood perfectly still and didn't even blink. They bore no cutie marks, which I found odd. Usually the slavers had cutie marks like knives or shackles or something equally as morbid, but these ponies had nothing.
"What are those?" I whispered to Quiethoof, who was crouched right next to me.
"Alicorns," he said. "They're like pegasi, but they can cast some seriously powerful magic. I've only heard about them, never seen them."
I looked at him. The way he shuddered made me think there was a lot more to them than he was letting on. I also noticed the slight film of sweat on his forehead, and the way he breathed through his mouth, which was slightly open. He looked slightly pale.
"First mission?" I asked him.
"How could you tell?" he asked quietly without looking at me.
"Because you look exactly like I did when I was on my first mission." I said. "You don't want to disappoint your leader, you want to prove that you can be a good operative."
"A good thief," he said very quietly.
"Well," I said, taking a breath. "You should probably start by putting the mask on."
He looked at me, then put on his face coverings. Just then, the perimeter guards started walking away. The alicorns didn't move though. They stayed, staring off into nothing. We moved in. Night Flower and Dead Night took the lead. She must have been like the senior apprentice or something. They walked up to the alicorn guards and gently caressed them as they brushed past them. Suddenly the alicorns gasped and fell to the ground.
I stared in amazement and followed them into the building. Inside was a guard. Staring right at us. Before he could even speak, I flew forward. I grabbed his head and wrenched it to the side and he fell to the ground.
"What the hell was that?!" said one of the mares, Fourleaf, as she pushed me away from the body. "You didn't have to kill him!"
"Check him," I said.
She frowned, felt his neck and then perked. "He's alive. But how?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said, clicking my tongue.
She huffed. "Not bad."
We crept through the building, scouring the whole place and taking anything and everything worth taking. I found my stuff and put it on. My bow safely rested on my back, where it belonged, along with the magic quiver. I didn't have any non-lethal tips, so I would have to use my rebar club.
I wound my way up to the roof. There were no guards, only a lone sniper. He had his face down the sight of his rifle, so I snuck up and grabbed him by the neck. A quick whip and he was out cold. I looked at the sniper. My kind of weapon, but too loud. It was different than other snipers though. The body was painted and the sight looked almost brand new. I had seen some of these types of guns everywhere. I picked it up and took it apart, deciding I would take it to Dead Night.
The others appeared right behind me.
"That all?" I asked. Dead Night nodded.
"That's it," he said, "Got your stuff back I see."
I nodded in response and he seemed to ponder something with a faraway look in his eyes. I noticed something strange that I hadn't seen before. The white of his eyes glowed slightly in the darkness. I looked away and flew off the roof to the ground. They looked down.
"Showoff," I heard one of them whisper.
"Don't get mad at me," I said. "Just a victim of chance." I flapped my wings and took off, flying low, right back to where Fleet Wing and Ginger were staying. I walked through the front door and stopped dead. They weren't there.
"Fleet Wing?" I half-shouted, puzzled. "Ginger?"
I looked around the rooms, but could't find either of them. I heard a slight muffled voice. I listened closely, closing my eyes. The closet. I walked up and opened it.
Inside was Fleet Wing, tied and gagged. I immediately drew my knife and cut her bindings.
"Are you okay!?" I asked, helping her up. "Where's Ginger?"
"They took her," she said quietly, not looking up. My eyes widened. How was I going to find her? And when I did, what method would I use to kill her captors? I knew a place where I could find out.
"What do you mean you can't help me!?" I shouted at Dead Night.
"I mean, you haven't done anything for us, in fact, we helped you when we didn't even have to," he said, his scowl deepening. I looked down.
"But there is a way we can teach you to find her," he said.
I perked. "Really!? How?"
"We were going to do it anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter," he said. "We will train you in the art of Shadowmancing. It will give a multitude of otherworldly powers, but at a cost."
"I don't care what happens to me," I said, "I just want a way to save my girlfriend."
"Very well," he said, "Follow me. Thieves! Gather round! We must perform the Ritual of Shadows."
He led me to a circular room that held no light. He led me to the center and instructed me to sit. I did and they all congregated in a circle around me. I heard the sound of cloth being moved, and I assumed they were taking off their clothes. I did nothing but sit. One by one, their eyes opened and I saw them glowing in the darkness. Suddenly, strange runes began to appear and form the vague shapes of ponies.
I deducted that everypony in the room was covered in runes, which is why they always wore the cloth. I starting to get a little freaked out, because the runes started flowing off their bodies and formed a circle around me.
Then all the runes started coming towards me. As they went onto my body, I felt an excruciating pain, one I had never experienced before. I screamed.
In the light that the runes created, I could see my coat being burned away, leaving raw skin, which also was flayed leaving nothing but muscle tissue. I screamed louder. It felt like my whole body was being ripped apart.
Layer by layer, my skin, muscle, fat, organs, and all burned away, until I was nothing but a skeleton. Then I blacked out.
I woke up on the hard ground. Everypony from the Guild was still sitting around me. I must've only been out for a few seconds. But I could see them. There was no light source in the room, but it looked clear as day. They all looked exhausted. I was covered in black runes, from my face down to my hooves.
Dead Night stood. "I guess it's time you got your wrappings, Dead Light."
"My name...is Fireflight," I said, panting.
"Not anymore it's not," he said. "In order to keep our operation small, whenever there is a new member, they take the place of an existing member. I've been at this for near a decade. It's time I retire. Goodbye Dead Light, leader of the First Faction of Thieves. "
His wrappings fell off and all of the runes covering his body flew onto mine. Then he collapsed. I blinked and he turned into a pile of bones. I felt a flood of memories, none of them mine. It must've been everything that Dead Night did when we was in the Guild. All of the others got back up.
"What are your orders, sir?" asked Sandstorm.
I raised my hoof, feeling the power of shadows surging through it. I stopped it to the ground and my shadow appeared, even though there was no light. I also noticed something. I had a second pair of wings.