Pain.

I never felt true pain quite like today. Back in the stable I had the occasional scratch or bruise, mostly from flying accidents. Today however, was different.

I awoke to silence, utterly terrifying silence. I hadn't opened my eyes to see where I was, the pain was unbearably annoying. It felt like a burning metal rod had been shoved up my plothole. My left shoulder's pain was dulled down to a little bit above a noticeable feeling. A sensation that had been shoved out of my senses way began to appear, I wasn't laying on dirt anymore. It felt somewhat soft with some firmness to it. A little like my bed at the stable, such warm blankets. I just wanted to curl up and never wake up again. I soft groaning noise escaped my mouth as I felt something ruffle my tail, I slowly opened one eye up and peered where the touch came from.

"Mommy! Mommy! She's awake!" Came the voice of a small colt, I presumed was the one who had touched my tail. I almost jumped in the air at the sudden yelling. A pounding headache began to surface. I shut my eyes to try and block out the pain.

"What did I tell you about yelling with guests around?" Came the sound of an older mare. She scolded the young colt for his actions. I giggled a little bit at the scene. What? That doesn't make me a bad pony, does it?

"Sorry about Flash, he can be a handful at times." I got a good eyeful of the mare in front of me. She was fairly pretty with a yellow coat and a long red mane and tail. Don't judge me, I like to pay attention to detail, most of the time.

"That's ok," I giggled, there was a burning question in my mind though, "how did I get here?"

"My friend runs the caravans around here, he saw you lying on the side of the road unconscious so he brought you here right away. Luckily he figured you were not a raider, considering your barding." She pointed a hoof at my bloody barding I had scavenged from Nails. I gave her a half meaningful smile, nodding my thanks.

"I had an extra healing potion as well, as soon as that is finished healing your bullet wounds, I had to take them out, so if anything feels wrong feel free to come out. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you... Er... What's your name?"

"Sunny Shores, I run the towns clinic. If you will excuse me, I have some other patients. Oh yes, welcome to 'The Canyon' yes it is quite literal. We are in between Ponyville and Fillydalphia if you wanted to know." I nodded and said my thanks, she walked out and left. I caught sight of her cutie mark. It looked a lot like clear water. Just her cutie mark, I didn't look at anything else, I promise. I also reminded myself to ask her about those places she mentioned.

Once she left I finally got a good look at the room I was in. The bed I was currently in was in the corner of the room, with a small table next to it. On that said table, was some water, and an apple. Across from me was a small poster on the wall that was mostly faded. I could make out some of the bottom text:

of Morale will help y

Judging by the age, it was safe to assume it was either pre-war or during the war. The rest of the room was a dark grey color with some lights hanging from the ceiling. Most were broken and the rest were off. The doorway was leaking light though, it hurt my eyes to look in that direction. I sat up to get a better look at the floor and noticed an empty bottle. I guess it was that healing potion she was talking about. It was working its magic on my rump... Well magically... The pain was dulling, but it was weird to literally feel my skin etching itself back together. What was more weird was feeling like somepony was groping my rump... Wait, what? Did I really just think that?

"Do you need anything? No other patients need me right now, so I came to check on you." Sunny Shores was standing in the doorway while I was staring off into space.

"Uh, no thank you, it's a little lonely in here though, do you know when the healing potion should be done?" It was quite lonely, and a little depressing as well, I would’ve prefer that she stayed, but anypony would be fine right now.

"Well, I can't stay," Well, there goes that, "but my colts might be able to, if you are up for it. Oh yes, the healing potion should just be done right now, give it another minute."

"Ok, I'm great with colts." I lied straight through the fake smile I gave her, I was terrible with colts. Fillies, I was able to handle, but colts, no.

"Well that's good, they have been bothering me all day, I'll send them in." I gave her another fake smile before she left.

"Oh yeah, one more thing, you might want to close your legs, your mare parts are clearly visible." She popped her head in and quickly withdrew again. I was blushing so hard I thought my face was going to melt. I quickly did what I was told then snuggled back into the pillow. A strange stench assaulted my muzzle as I laid back down. I craned my head around and looked at the pillow. I was now grossly aware that the pillow still had stains on it, hopefully not blood stains.

"Hello!" I almost jumped as two little unicorn colts came skipping into the room, wait, skipping? I observed closer then realized, yes they were clearly skipping.

"Hi, um, what are your names?" Way to make it awkward, the pony in my head snickered.

"I'm Black Dirt." That was a strange name, considering he was a unicorn. However is black coat and blue hair sort of went with it. I almost laughed, I did my best to hold it back though, I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"I'm Flash." The white colored colt replied. His mane was a vibrant green. I snickered a bit at that name, I could understand Black Dirt -nope, not really- but Flash? That's pushing way too much. Though, they just sat there staring at me, not even phased I had just laughed at one of them.

"Well, it's nice to meet you two. Make sure you tell your mom my thanks." Haha, way to be awkward Shadow.

"Oh, she's not really our mom, we just call her that. His parents," Flash pointed at Dirt, "were killed when he got captured by raiders, the raiders sold him to slavers, who sold them to the town, now he is here." I stared at Black Dirt wide eyed, I saw his lip quiver a bit but he kept his straight face.

"So, what happened to you?" I pointed my hoof at Flash. He looked at me sheepishly then rubbed the back of his mane.

"Well, you see... My parents just dropped me off here, so not much of a great story there." He grinned a little. I let myself laugh a little, at least he hadn't been through Tartarus to get here. It also explained why Dirt wasn't the talkative type. I wonder what else has happened to him...

"Uh, ma'am, hello?" I snapped out of whatever stupor I was led into.

"Sorry, I zoned out for a second." He gave me a grin, and sat there. They both decided staring at me would be the greatest idea. I shifted uncomfortably for second then decided to get up. They were at the foot of the bed, so it might be a little bit difficult.

"Can you back up a little, I need to try to get up." They both nodded and shuffled back a couple of hoofsteps. I swung my hind legs around and sat on the side of the bed for a second. My headache decided now would be a good time to resurface. I clutched the side of my head with my forehoof for a second, and slammed my eyes shut. I opened one eye for a second to see what the two colts were doing. They were staring intently at something, but I was in too much pain to care. I shut my eyes again and waited for it to fade a bit. Thankfully, after a minute it did. I opened my eyes again and dropped to the floor, my wings jutted out straight after being held in one spot for Celestia knows how long. I looked at the two again and they still had their eyes trained on something.

"What are you two looking at?" I cocked my head to the side.

They both grinned at me sheepishly then looked away. I gave them a look, and started to walk around in circles. My legs felt numb and wobbly, but they should be fine after a while. My wings also felt better after giving them a test flap.

"Ma'am you never told us your name." Flash asked me after I had completed my fifth circle. I felt slightly better about the injury to my rump and the sprained wing.

"My name is Shadow Wind, born from a stable, came out here and got shot." I casually said, meeting their gazes.

"You were from the stable!? That is so cool!" Flash was now jumping up and down faster than I thought possible, and Dirt... Well he was being himself, I guess.

"Yeah, it's not as fun as you may think."

"Why not? You’re safe from Slavers, Raiders, and all that fun stuff!" Fun isn't exactly the word I would use, but I couldn't argue with that. Wait, what’s a raider?

"What's a raider?" I voiced my question.

"Wow, you really are from a stable, aren't you? As far as I know, a Raider forms tribes of ponies, and they torture and kill and expand their power. Nopony wants to ever trade with them. Not even the traders that are just in it for caps.”

"Mighty bad ponies if you ask me." Sounds like it.

"What are caps?" I must sound like a complete idiot right now, these are all probably common among the survivors out here.

"You know, like bottle caps, out here we use them as currency, to buy anything you want." Wow, that is the most stupid thing I've heard, so far. Caps for money, now I have truly seen it all.

"That's certainly different. I guess you can tell I have none."

"Well then momma is going to make you do some work for her if you can't pay in caps." I saw that coming; I figured nothing was free.

"Lucky you were picked up by Black Shield, if Raiders or Slavers had found you, you probably wouldn't be alive or free right now." Yes, I have experience with Slavers.

"Black Shield?" How does this child know so much? He knows more than I do for Celestia's sake!

"He runs the trade caravans around here, you will probably meet him soon." Good to know, more ponies that I have to meet, as if wasn't awkward enough.

"Great..." I mumbled under my breath. Before they could ask what I said, "Hey, could you show me where your mom is?" Flash nodded his head eagerly and Dirt just nodded. He was certainly a strange colt, not very talkative at all. The two led me out of my room into a brightly lit hallway, drowned in the same light I was trying to avoid earlier. Once my eyes adjusted, I took in the details of the building. Lined down the hallway, were 6 doorways, I peered inside each one and took note. They were exact replicas of my room. The hallway itself was sterile white, reflecting the bright light even more.

After reaching the end of the hallway, we reached the waiting room, if that's what you could call it. Broken chairs were strewn about, papers littered the floor, all the walls had strange stains on them. This was quite a contrast to the sterile white halls inside the clinic. The room was completely empty, save for me and the two colts. The room was quite expansive, it could probably hold 20 ponies easily. The two led me up to a window and inside was a crude remake of an office, with Sunny sitting on a chair shifting through papers with her magic. She looked up and opened the window separating us.

"Hey, how is my patient doing?" Before I could open my mouth, Flash responded for me.

"She is doing great mommy! She’s from the stable, did you know that? Oh and her cutie mark is a Marksmare symbol. She must be great with rifles!" The words flew so fast out of his tiny mouth, my jaw dropped to the floor. Sunny gave a slight chuckle at my reaction.

"Well hon, you might want to get used to it, Flash does that a lot." I didn't even respond, my head was still trying to wrap itself around what just happened.

"So, you're from the stable?" I nodded my head. "And your cutie mark is a Marksmare symbol?" I nodded again. "Well that sure as hell doesn't make sense at all, now does it?" I shook my head dumbly. "How does a stable-dweller have a cutie mark that deals with guns?"

"Well you see ma'am, my stable was one of the few that had a firing range, I practiced a lot and got my cutie mark. I have exceptional accuracy." I blushed a little, I hated giving myself more credit than needed. She put her hoof under her chin for a moment thinking.

"Well is it safe to assume you have no caps?" I nodded my head. "Hmm, well I have some jobs that need done, so you can do those as payment." Well, at least I didn't have to pay. Note to self: Get Caps.

"What kind of jobs?" I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Just some small wildlife problems, nothing a sniper like you can't handle, right?" I gulped but nodded.

"Well that settles it, let me show you around town, then you can get started."

The walk around the small town was quite short. The town itself sat on the edge of a canyon, so Raiders -I think that's what they are called- and other ponies had less means of attack. Inside the crudely built walls, was a crudely built town (yes, crudely, everything was basically falling apart). A general store and casino dominated most of the town. Then the clinic was the second biggest building. Each sat on opposite sides with houses in the center. The houses ranged from actual houses to small wooden shacks. Dirty, weary ponies looked at me with sadness in their eyes, it was a depressing sight.

"From what I've seen so far, why have you been nice to me? I was captured by slavers then proceeded to get shot by them." I broke the silence of walking around.

"Well hon', I try to help as many ponies as I can. Out here is dangerous and terrible. So I try to shine my own little light onto the darkness of the outside." I guess that made sense, not really, but my brain wasn't working at full capacity, anyway.

We stopped outside of the clinic again and she began talking to a stallion that I didn't see throughout the town. He was tall, at least a full head above me. He had dark grey fur that was dirty and stuck together in some places. His mane, longer than any stallion should have, was black and blue. His tail, being the same colors, almost touched the ground. Even though my mane and tail were longer, he was certainly close to my length.

"Black Shield, how was the trip?" That was an odd name.

"It was fine, ran into a few problems, but that was quickly resolved." His voice was scratchy but deep. I then stared wide eyed at the assortment of items he was carrying in his saddlebags. All different types of guns were poking out and in different directions. Butts of rifles and tips of all kinds of different weapons. I think I saw a tip of a rocket in there.

"Who's your friend?" He broke me out of my stupor and I stood at attention.

"She's the one you brought back, remember?" He looked at me, seemingly studying me for a few seconds. At least, I think, his black sunglasses were not exactly easy to see through.

"Oh yes, I remember, the one who I saved from being shot while down." Wait... What.

"What do you mean?"

"My caravan wanted to shoot you, we do not deal with Raiders, ever." He gave me a hard stare that I looked away from. Even though I couldn't see his eyes, it felt like he was staring into my soul.

"Quit scaring her, she is from the stable." Sunny Shores said in a soothing voice. I feel like "from the stable" is an insult.

"Oh really? That cutie mark doesn't seem to be from a stable born pony." I tried not to, but I facehoofed. Just because I'm from the stable doesn't mean I don't know what a gun is.

"So you're from stable 7?" How did he know that.

"Yeah, how did you know?" He facehoofed, I was strangely unsure of why.

"You realize you have your stable barding on, right?" No, actually I didn't. I wear it all the time and it just became a second skin.

"Yeah, I knew, don't worry." I lied straight through my teeth, nice job Shadow. Way to make a first impression. He chuckled and went back to Sunny.

"So, I brought back as many things as I could get, I managed to get some Med-X, some health potions, and a super restoration potion for a fairly cheap price." I swear, it's like they wanted me to blank out, how am I supposed to know about this stuff? All I know is healing potions... Heal you. And Med-X is pain relief or something. Super restoration potion, that's new. I guess it's super restorative? That sounds... Smart...

"Well that sounds good, do you mind taking the medicine into the clinic? Flash and Black Dirt should know where to put them." Black Shield nodded his head and went inside, leaving Sunny and I alone. To my relief she spoke first.

"So, hon', I think I know how ya can earn your caps." Great. "You will help guard Black Shield's caravans from wildlife and someponies that get a little too close. I'll pay you of course, but those health potions are not cheap, so if you go on two trips, that should be enough to pay your debt." No, I do not want to get shot again! Ugh, I have no other choice. I swear I heard the pony in my head laughing.

"I guess that's fair," even though I don't know what a fair trade would even be, "but I don't have a gun, or anything really." Good ol' nothing, except that small gun, but I wanted a rifle like my old one, if I could get my hooves on one of those, I'd feel just at home.

"Hon, did you hear me?" Huh?

"No, sorry, thinking." She chuckled, and repeated herself.

"Well I'm sure that since ya will be workin' then Broken Chains will give ya a gun." She acts like I'm supposed to know these ponies. She smirked when she saw the blank stare I gave her, so I guess that was a good enough of a hint.

"Broken Chains supplies our caravans with weaponry in exchange with 10 percent of the items they acquire." See, that's where I need to learn about fair trades.

Fair trades and you; haha. I'd like to see that happen.

Shut up brain.

"Hon' do you need to make a revisit to the clinic? You look a little pale." I waved her off with my hoof, making sure to tell her it is nothing. Now that I think about it, I zoned out a lot back in the stable as well, hmm, never thought of it that much. Oh Celestia no flashbacks, my foalhood was haunting. With a shake of my head, I realized that Sunny was trotting away motioning for me to follow her.

We walked for a few minutes, which counts for an eternity for me, I'm the most impatient mare you will ever meet and I don't intend to change that. Okay! Psychological analysis aside! We walked into the town store that dominated the backside of the town. Inside, well, words can hardly describe it. Half of the building (which I'm surprised I didn't notice before) was missing. Like fell off the canyon missing. It was poorly reconstructed out of scraps of sheet metal, that had many holes with gray light pouring through.

The store itself matched the terrifying poor design of the building. Shelves toppled over, and left to sit for centuries, were thrown about the better half of the building, the other half was in a, somewhat, better shape. Some of the shelves had been poorly rebuilt and repurposed as holders for food, an assortment of guns, medicine, (I think, it resembled the stables clinic's medicine) and an assortment of tools and other survivalist looking thingies.

All was going quite well until I saw the pony. Well, I'm not even sure you can call that a pony. The thing behind the counter was staring at us with lifeless orbs that represented eyes. Fur was hardly still existent on the walking corpse. When it spoke I screamed and ran behind the shelves for cover.

"What's got her tits in a bunch?" The zombie-like form ponyish thing said.

"Well this here is a keeper, straight from the stable." The thing gave me a blank impassive stare and caused me to look away.

"Well how does that help us? She's from a stable, no gun training, remember. I've been living for over 200 years for Celestia's sake! Stables were built for ponies to survive in, not for training an army!" Seriously, how many times today am I going to have to explain myself.

"Well she's a real keeper then, just look at her cutie mark." Sunny Shores replied in her silky smooth voice, until I realized what she was implying. Buck that, I ain't moving. She motioned me to get up, so I very unhappily obliged.

"Woo-Wee, damn straight! That there is a marksmare symbol, hell, haven't seen a pony come by here in years with something like that!" As I moved closer I gagged, the stench coming off of the thing was unbearable, not including the sight of him. Which I'm totally assuming it's a him. This could get awkward. He leaned over the short counter with little difficulty to get a better look at me.

"Damn, you know you're pretty. Haven't seen a mare like you in years, no offense." He said while turning to Sunny. I don't know which I should be feeling. Happy, or disgusted. I'm going with the latter.

"Anyway, you didn't just come here to let me compliment you, right? Sunny, what's this all about?"

"She needs to do work for me to pay off her health potion. I told her she can accompany Black Shield on his caravan trips. Two trips should suffice enough."

"All I'm hearing is that she needs a gun." I smirked, he can read minds woo-hoo.

"Yes, she will need one, give her one that doesn't cost a lot and won't break the instant it shoots." Sunny seemed to laugh at what she said, but from what I've seen, I'm sure he sells the guns I saw broken on the floor.

"Ah, I see, well missy, would you mind accompanying me to the back?" Yes, I would mind.

"S-sure..." I stuttered, like I always do in front of new things… Not as much ponies but… I don’t even know what this is. Dear Celestia, I'm so awkward. I had some points on my side though, I'm not sure you can even call this thing a pony.

I followed him around the counter while trying to suppress my gagging reflex. He smelled absolutely horrid. I have smelled some revolting things so far, but this tips the scale on a whole new level.

We left the main room behind and went into a storage room. It was small, but big enough to hold guns on all shelves. Shelves, shelves, and more shelves. The entire room was covered in shelves that were covered by guns. Speaking of guns, I didn't even know what half the guns in the room did! I did however, see some really, really big rifles. I almost tripped on a few broken pieces lying on the floor while Broken took me to the back wall. Once there he gestured in front of him with his hooves.

"Well, I've got these four guns here that are not to expensive, nor in bad repair." I looked at the four guns sitting in front of him. One, very small, just like the one I had acquired from the slavers was on the far left of my options. The one next to it was slightly bigger and held a large clip. On the side with faint letters it read: Equestrian forces, standard issue: SMG.I'm not sure what an 'SMG' stands for, but it didn't look like something I would want. Next to that was a bigger gun. It looked like a rifle without the long barrel and scope. Attached was a fairly sized magazine for bullets. The rest was what looked like stock parts, nothing special, besides the metal rusty frame. That is until I turned it over with my hooves.

Equestrian Special Forces: Airborne units: Designed for pegasi only. I could literally feel my face light up.

"Yeah, that is a good choice if you pick that, we don't get very much pegasi around here. Them being up in the clouds and all, it's hard to sell these kinds of weapons. Besides, this is one of the few rifles that shoots bullets instead of charged lasers." Lasers? What? Whatever, I'll ask him later.

I literally almost dropped the gun in my hooves when I saw the last gun. I recovered and set down the short rifle and looked at the rifle. I felt my heart skip a beat when I looked at it. It was almost an exact replica of the rifle I shot back in the stable. Except cooler. The rifle had a strange dark purple glow emanating from the inside of the gun, so subtle, that I had to be close to see it. It had a special faint engraving on the side as well as the last two guns before it.

Pegasi snipers only: Marksmares only. If a Marksbuck please see an armory officer to get

one fitted for you. Enchantments are as follows: Lightning Bullets: Fire Bullets: Poison Bullets. Can be switched between settings on the dial.

That... Sounded... So... COOL! I was literally jumping up and down with the aid of my wings to make me shoot even higher.

"Whoa there missy, I see you're excited but this isn't like the others." Broken 'broke' me out of my gun induced lust. I looked over at him to continue. He sighed and gave me a small frown.

"Well, I understand you are the only pony who has come through who can actually use this, however, it won't be that cheap." Nothing is ever that cheap is it?

Nope.

Shut up brain, I didn't ask you.

"If you want the rifle I expect to hear good reports from Black Shield, AND I want more rare guns in exchange for this beauty." He jabbed a hoof at the amazingly awesome, brilliantly crafted, rifle. No, I'm not falling in love with a gun, not yet that is. I looked at the rifle then back to him, thinking if that was fair or not. I decided that I really had no other choice on the matter anyway.

"Ok, I will bring more guns." He smiled and showed his rotting, falling apart, yellowed teeth. I looked away and found something to look at that was more interesting. I heard a shuffle behind me so I turned back around to see Broken picking the rifle up in his hooves.

"Here, I'll let you use it for now, but if you don't do what I asked, I will kill you." Ouch, that stings. I thought he liked me, whatever.

"Ok, thank you, I won't let you down!" I gave a small half salute which he heartily laughed to. He led me back out of the room that Sunny was in. She was rummaging through some guns lazily with her hoof. When my hoof clanked against a piece of metal jutting out of the ground she turned around.

"So how was gun hunting?" She smirked, not sure why, but she did. Wow, I'm really stupid.

"She picked out one of the most rare pegasi bullet weapons I have. Granted, I don't have any laser weapons anyway."

"No use crying over spilled milk. What'd you make her do for it?" Then it hit me, maybe she'll convince him to give me the gun for free!

"Just for her to collect some more rare guns for me, oh yes, and to be good for Shield, Celestia only knows how much more stress he can handle." I feel like I shouldn't be listening to this conversation.

"Wow, you went easy on her, it's about time you didn't make somepony literally give a forehoof and a hindleg just for a gun." She then turned to me. "Yes, if you were wondering, he actually made somepony cut off their ligaments and hand them over as payment." I gave Broken a stare that I hoped looked menacing, but he just smiled back showing his ugly rotting teeth. I guess it didn't come with the effect I had hoped it would. He turned away from my contorted face that I was desperately trying to make look menacing. But I'm me, and when has me being me ever go right in the first place? Dear Celestia: I hate being me. While I was destroying my inner self esteem I was blissfully unaware of the engaging conversation I was supposed to be listening to. I hate you brain.

I only have one brain cell, I'm sorry I can't understand your request, please call again.

I hate you brain, go away.

Not like you would be losing much intelligence if I left anyway.

Shut. Up.

"-thing about a gun? I think Shield said that he was taking a small caravan to check it out." Broken was saying. "Hey missy, get over here." I rambled up to him as my anger ridden mind adjusted to the actual world.

"So, Shield needs to know, and I apologize for not knowing my manners before, but what is your name?" Sunny looked at me expectantly as well. To be honest, it got awkward really quick as both of them stared at me with unwavering glances.

"U-uh, my name is Shadow Wind." I seriously sounded like I was scared of my own name, what is wrong with me?

A lot of things.

Oh would you just butt out? While I was yet again facing conflict with my own self, I hadn't realized that the ponies before me were now expecting another answer; judging by their expressions. I gave them my now signature ‘what are you looking at’ face, eliciting a slight chuckle from the both of them.

"Are you ready? Shield leaves in less than an hour, so you better get ready." Sunny smirked, apparently that was what she did every time I dozed into "la la" land.

"Yeah, I think, don't I need ammo?" At that point, Sunny walked around me to see the gun that I had strapped around myself. She gave a silent nod of approval after reading the label. Although, I detected a slight taken back gesture, which I could only assume was from giving such a high powered gun to a stranger.

"Yes, let me go around back and get some. Don't expect much, as I said, I don't carry much for pegasi." I nodded and he gave a slight smile. He turned around and walked back into the same storage room that we had been in before.

"So, what is its name?"

"Huh?"

"The gun, what's its name?" Uh, since when do guns have names?

"I didn't think of one..." Seriously, who names their guns?

"Come on! Everypony names their guns! I'll help you."

"Ok..."

"So... Let's see... It glows purple... Shoots three types of bullets... Sniper... Hmm... Ah hah!" I stared at her curiously waiting for the answer.

"Mareciless!" Wow, not bad. "All I did was take merciless, and you being the mare you are, just combined them! What do you think?" For an older mare she was getting very excited over a name. Then again, it did sound really cool. Mareciless it is.

"I love it actually, thank you Sunny!" No faked happiness needed, it was indeed a good name. I just hope I'll only have to keep it trained on wildlife... not other ponies... Nightmarish thoughts of ending the poor unicorn's life flooded my mind, I couldn't get rid of them. The thought of me killing somepony was unheard of in my mind, but yet here I stand. Nothing can wash the blood of my hooves. I could feel tears welling in my eyes at the thought... I cannot live with myself if I have to do that again...

Hoofsteps could be heard coming from the direction of the storeroom, I made my ninety degree turn to face Broken. As much as it pains me to smell and well... look at him... he did give me a very nice gun and hopefully now some ammo. So he isn't that bad.

"Here you are. Forty rounds was all I had, hopefully it comes to use." Dear Celestia! Why would I need forty rounds?

"Why so much ammo?" I had to ask, I would never have imagined needing that much ammo.

"Many of Shield's guards have died to numerous wildlife attacks over the years, so it couldn't hurt to be prepared right?" Good point, who knows, I may need this later.

"Oh, ok... As long as I stick to shooting just wildlife then that should be no problem." Both Sunny and Broken exchanged worried glances. That couldn't have put me anymore on the edge. There is something that I am not being told, and I want to know. However, questioning their actions could lead to unfortunate circumstances for me... I would rather not be shot my first day being free. Which led me to my last, unfortunate, question.

"When do I start?"

An hour later I found myself flying overhead of a small caravan. It was consisted of three small wagons, five guards: all of which were unicorns, and three large stallions pulling the caravans. They too were armed, which was smart, except there was no way that they could aim and shoot fast enough if we did indeed get attacked.

I was doing my ten minute patrol of the surrounding area. Black Shield said that I was a new, but good addition to the team. Although, I could feel the distrust emanating from him while he spoke with me about my job. Again, I was confused, I had done nothing noticeably wrong to him.

As much as I hated to say it, I was truly scared. Today was only my second day, although it feels like the first because I was gunned down and put into a knocked out state. Now I am guarding over a caravan for ponies I don't know, mostly, against my will. The only consolation that I had was that this was much better than what the slavers could do to me.

I began to feel the scared feeling creeping back up again, but Mareciless shifting against my back gave me some confidence.

Come on Shadow, you can do this!

Oh look who feels all high and mighty just because of some mediocre gunmareship.

Go. To. Heck.

That made my inner voice shut up. Gladly enjoying the peace in my head, I actually began to do my job.

I squinted to get a better view of my surroundings. We were walking along a once pre-war highway. What had once been a natural wonder, was now a desolate ruined slab of concrete. Holes throughout the road made traversing the road difficult. Especially for those on the ground, which is about everypony, except me. It did seem a little odd that I was the only pegasus around, but then again, Broken had made it very clear on how little he sold pegasi weapons.

*CRACK*

I saw a flash from the right of the caravan from behind a rock. I swallowed and my eyes widened in fear as I realized that somepony was shooting at us, more importantly it was aimed at me. I ducked and flew straight forward, towards the rock, and right on top of the path of the caravan. I landed in the first wagon and saw Black Shield blink in surprise.

"Shield, we have a problem." I said in ragged breaths.

"Calm down, calm down, what is it?"

"Somepony shot at me from behind a rock over there." I pointed my hoof through a torn piece of cloth that made up the coverage of the wagon right at the rock.

"Well then go take care of it, you have to follow my orders, right?" No, I can't kill somepony again!

"B-but... I can't kill another pony..." He looked at me in surprise.

"What do you mean you can't kill another? Do you know where we are! Now go out there and take care of it! That's an order!" I gave a half meaningful salute and flew out. Then it hit me, why aim at me but not the caravan? I shook it out of my head as I made my way to the rock. Whenever I got close, another crack could be heard with a flash. Thankfully no pain followed and I heard a slight gasp. I landed in front of the rock so that whoever was behind it, would stay behind it.

I pulled up Mareciless and gently floated off the ground. I checked the safety to make sure it was off and turned the dial to the "poison" setting. I was about to kill another pony, after I just told myself I wouldn't. What kind of a monster am I?

Then I realized it... This pony tried to kill me first, without any regret I'm sure. Does that make it right to do the same to them? It didn't matter now that I realized I still had this immediate problem to deal with. I brought up my sniper and thought of the best course of action. I smiled at the plan I had come up with, so I put it to action.

I flew straight up, so far that the pony on the other side could easily be seen. He didn't even track me with his weapon, but then I saw where it was pointing. Right at the caravan. I fumbled with Mareciless for a bit as nervousness wracked my body. I steadied her with my PipBuck leg and aimed down the sight, at his now fully exposed back and took a deep breath.

*BANG*

The shot was so loud it made my ears ring. I stood steady though to make sure he was subdued. His body dropped like a sack of apples. I flew down to investigate. Only then it seemed odd to me that the wind was so calm. I wouldn't have been able to make such a shot if the wind was buffeting me. Actually... Come to think of it, all of this was odd. Wouldn't ponies be smart enough to attack in numbers? I midair shrugged before continuing my descent towards the, hopefully, killed pony.

I gently landed against the ground and stretched my tired muscles in a poor attempt to ease the tiredness. I then peeked around the rock to get a better look, and a look and then some is what I got.

Laying behind the rock was a corpse of a pony; melting... His bones were now exposed and his remaining flesh was sagging off of his body. It was enough to make me gag, and don't even get me started on the stench. It smelled like well... rotting flesh... I can't really compare that to anything. Then came the grossest thing I have ever seen.

The ponies eyes were staring at me, then began to melt. So slowly and agonizingly that made it painful to watch. They slowly pooled into a small pool of... Eye... I didn't get to see what happened after that as I flew away as fast as I could, trying to keepback tears and throwing up.

I killed another pony... I'm a terrible pony... I'm so sorry Mom and Dad... I wanted to be a good pony just like you asked, but right now I'm not being a very good one... I promise I'll make it up.

Sometimes I talked to them, no, that's not weird. I had so many beautiful memories as a small filly. Playing with them inside the stable, safe and sound was the best life ever, now... I'm a killer...

Running away from mistakes had never helped me in the past, nor will it help me now. All I can do is try to forget the two ponies I had murdered for my own personal safety. Even that they would've killed me first cannot ease my mind on the crimes against ponykind that I had committed in two days! Two days! In two days I had killed two ponies and almost died myself... I was thankful for the ponies back at the town for their hospitality but I can't do this, and I can't do this job. I was supposed to be protecting from wildlife, not using my skills to hurt other ponies!

But... How bad could I really be? What crimes have these, selfishly devoted, ponies committed? Does it really matter?

"Equestria to Shadow, hey you there?" I looked at Black Shield and gave him a silent nod, then went back to my self pity. After witnessing eyes melting, I flew as fast as I could back to the caravan to report my progress. The fact that I had actually killed the attacker pleased Shield. He told me he wasn't into the whole "capture" thing. I asked him why but he didn't explain further.

Then again, what do I know? I'm not even a full grown mare... but I do full grown mare stuff... I already figured that out... I wish I could erase what I had done, but Black had told me before: "If you don't put the past behind you, it will only come back to haunt you forever." So, I put my actions into the back of my mind, hoping they would stop trying to be the forefront of my thoughts. Maybe I would eventually forgive myself, but I have to deal with the task at hoof.

Our caravan was about 20 minutes away from our destination, and of course Black Shield reminded me that this is one of their worst trade partners, so I would have to stay behind and snipe from a distance if something went wrong. If Black Shield had purposely used me, this was the pinpoint of it all. The road had been increasingly bumpy, probably because the integrity of the road was beginning to worsen. Through the floorboards, I could see the amount of holes in the road from wear and tear damage. Not only had apparently a Megaspell weakened anything in this area, somehow Black Shield knew that, and the fact that this road wasn't paved recently before the Great War.

The road was becoming more chaotic as I felt the minutes tick by. Fear was rising with every passing moment and I couldn't bear to feel it. Again, I thought back to the time when I was a little filly... When I was bullied for having wings, until I showed what I could do... Back then was what I felt again.

"Shadow... We need to talk." I perked up my ears and lifted my head to look at Black Shield. I reeled back in surprise when he was standing right in front of my muzzle. He had his neutral face on... Which was about all the time. I haven't even seen him give a smile. Or even something different than a straight line plastered against his muzzle.

"Sorry, but you need to go and hide." He led me over to a tear in the side of the wagon. "I'm sorry I didn't realize how traumatizing this must be for you... Sunny Shores gave me a note concerning you, and I didn't decide to open it until now. The only way to get used to killing ponies is to remember they are your enemy just as much as you are to them. They will kill you unless you kill them. Kill or be killed..." I admired his ability to speak in an emotional tone but not even show the slightest of it on his face. He kept the rock solid line and stared straight ahead.

"So, will you forgive my harsh orders?" No, but I felt myself nod anyways. "Good, now will you please go hide behind those rocks with your gu-"

"Mareciless." I corrected him before he could say gun. He waved his hoof at me to show his disapproval of my interruption, but -nonetheless- he continued while pointing at a group of rocks on a cliff.

"Yeah, whatever, it's still a gun. So, you hide behind those rocks and shoot anypony making trouble, ok?" I nodded my head and he did something I never thought I would see from the stallion. He smiled.

I watched the small towns lights from a distance, passively waiting for my moment to do something. Whether it be guard the caravan on its trip back or shoot another pony. Even with Black's advice, it still felt wrong to shoot another living pony. As much as I hated to do it, this is my life now. Whether I die, or... Yeah there is no "or" there. I know for a fact I won't be let back into the stable. Static started coming through my PipBuck and I investigated the noise.

I guess I should've listened to my dad’s lessons on the PipBucks more often, because half the time I have no idea what it’s doing. I looked at the flashing lights dancing across my screen and frowned, this was like trying to learn a different language.

"Initiating Radio Signal: Please Stand By." I jumped three feet in the air when I heard my PipBuck speak in a smooth robotic stallion voice.

"Shadow, you there?" Wait, what. I looked at my PipBuck closely and noticed it connected to a radio frequency. Black's radio frequency. I fiddled with the new thing he gave me so that I was able to talk back to them.

"Yeah... Uh, I'm here." I heard a large feedback of static on the other end, only to clear up moments after.

"Good, good, at first I was afraid you didn't know how to use the communicator. But no matter, I need you to cover us with your sniper, we are close and I don't want any surprises, you hear?" No surprises, got it.

"Yeah, but I-" Static droned then the connection died. Dangit, I needed to tell him I don't know how to use this thing! I shrugged and got up from my crouching position. Standing on my hindlegs was tough for anypony, but my wings help me sustain balance. Looking down the scope, I watched the caravan slowly crawl towards the town, then I saw something that made me gulp. Perched on a cliff beyond the caravan was another sniper, except he wasn't likely on my side of the deal. If push came to shove, he would die first.

Checking Mareciless for any damage (why there would be damage, I won't know) and I switched the dial to fire. After witnessing the last pony die, I wasn't going to shoot another poison bullet ever again. The pony in the distance why brightly colored, standing out against the reddish gray rocks. His mane, which was very peculiar, was a bright yellow. His body was a bright red. Why he would be chosen as a sniper, that's what confused me.

That doesn't go without saying that my white fur doesn't give me away, but at least it doesn't look like I'm the bucking sun. Wait... did I really just say that...? I need to watch my mouth.

The caravan coming to a stop interrupted my thoughts greatly as I watched Black Shield and two of the guards walk out and greet the opposing party. The wind started to pick up again and that's when I realized I had never grabbed my saddlebags from the clinic. I mentally reminded myself to grab those once I got back. I checked my forehoof opposite to my PipBuck and made sure my extra clip was securely strapped to my hoof. Nodding once, I went back to looking down the scope, I was now fully ready for whatever was about to come.

"Shadow, keep on a lookout, don't let anypony try anything funny. I'll keep my microphone on, if you want to hear the conversation you can." Nothing funny? Now why would somepony try to do something funny? Were they throwing a party? I dismissed as Black Shield's humor. Words started coming through faintly at first, but slowly picked up volume. I winced at how loud it became, I needed to ask Black for a way to minimize noise, but that would be for later.

"Ah, Black Shield. Come back to our beloved town again I see?" Something about this pony’s voice threw me off.

"Yes. We would like to trade some items." Black Shield's voice had drastically changed... To one of friendliness? Shaking my head I focused on the sniper pony in the distance. Thanking Celestia for Mareciless's unnatural range, I was able to make out details of his actions and movements. He was currently lounging back in a position that looked like he didn't care about the current conversation. Moving my rifle away from the lazy pony I looked for Black Shield and whoever he was meeting with. At the front of the towns gates, of course, is where they were conversing. Black had his back to me as he conversed with a very strange stallion. He had a jet black mane and white fur. From the angle I was in I couldn't get a clear view of his cutie mark, not like it matter anyway. The stallion's smile was what threw me off the most. Somehow he was keeping a perfect smile while talking. It was very unnerving.

"Well, what would you like to trade? You know I am a very reasonable stallion." I thought I heard somepony scoff, and what happened next surprised me. The white stallion pulled out a gun so fast, that I was impressed. He pressed it to his guards throat and began yelling.

"How dare you scoff at me! You know I am a very reasonable pony, I gave your family a house, and you a job!" With that said he jumped off his comrades stunned body and walked back in front of Black Shield with the same smile plastered on his face. He put the gun back in his holster on his back and resumed listening to Black. From this angle I couldn't tell if he was surprised or not amused. Either way, it didn't matter, I sensed movement by the other sniper.

Moving Mareciless around using the rock as a makeshift bi-pod I looked in the snipers direction. True enough he was now fully alert and looking down his scope at the ponies below. I kept my gun trained on him as if daring him to do something. Secretly, I hoped he would just stay where he is. I then turned my attention back to the conversation at hoof.

"Sorry about that Shield, sometimes my guards need some discipline. Anyway! I have some items that you may find interesting..." I heard some rummaging around but I was intent on keeping the sniper in my line of sight for as long as possible, so I didn't bother looking at the group below. That is until I heard two gunshots echo through my PipBuck. I swung Mareciless around to face whatever had happened. I gulped at the scene. Black was surrounded by corpses from both sides. Now all that was standing was Black, himself, and the crazy white stallion.

"So this is what it has come to?"

"Seems like it," I heard Black reply.

"You know, I feel truly sorry you never did find yourself a sniper, they truly do come in handy." My face went white... Well... Whiter... I realized what the stallion was getting at. Swinging Mareciless again, I aimed at the sniper. It was now or never. I took a deep breath and waited for my breathing to calm. I aimed at the pony’s body and took the shot. The flash was bright, and the sound was loud, but the bullet kept its intended course, and flew right through the pony's chest. An instant later his body lit up in flames, thankfully I wasn't near enough to smell it. I swung Mareciless back once more to find the strange stallion's smile had been replaced with a frown.

"Well that was certainly unexpected." He trained his eyes at the fallen sniper and saw his frown deepen.

"Fire, why does it always have to be fucking fire." I heard Black laugh, at this point he was really confusing so I just shook my head. Until realization of what I had just done came to mind.

I just killed another pony, without even thinking this time! What kind of a monster am I becoming! I began to cry, cry for my heartlessness, cry for my failure, and most importantly cry for my loss of my old life and everything that went along with it.

"Seems as though I am at a loss. Well, until I summon more guards I would get your sorry ass out of here, and give this to your new sniper. Don't come back." I heard something heavy land on the ground with a plop and heard hoofsteps slowly drowning away. I didn't hear anything but my own pitiful sobs until the hoofsteps had become nothing.

"Well done Shadow, you saved my ass back there." I detected a faint sigh escape him. "But not without consequences, we lost two good guards today... I just don't know how I'll tell their families’." That made me cry even more. Why did I get to live but others didn't? Not wanting to be selfish by listing off reasons of why I should live, I replied.

"Yeah... What did you get for your trouble?" I might have sounded insensitive but when he sees my face he will think otherwise.

"A few guns... some potions... ammo... whoa what is this..." His voice clicked off as the connection was broken. I aimed through the scope again to see what he was doing. He was walking back to the caravan with a small bag in tow. He was holding it in his unicorn magic while looking intently inside the bag. I stifled a laugh when he tripped over a rock. Deeming that the area was clear I flew off toward the waiting wagons to begin the journey back. I looked once more at the bright town beside me. It was a beautiful sight, if only everything wasn't corrupted, that would be a nice place to live. That doesn't mean where I'm currently staying is any better, but at least some of these ponies showed me kindness.

Landing in the front wagon I was greeting by a happy looking Black Shield. Although he wasn't looking at me, he was analyzing something in his vision. I took a glance at it to see if I could determine what it was. To me it looked exactly like the smaller rifle I had held back at Broken Chain's store, except it was pulsing in the center with a strangely cool red energy. It captivated me for a second before I looked away and took a seat. I hadn't realized that the flying and the shooting had taken so much of a toll on my body. Laying down in a normal fashion like any mare would do, I watched as Black Shield was turning the gun around in his magic. The only thing I could remember before falling asleep was to ask him lots of questions when I got up.

If I got up.

Footnote: Level up!

Accuracy Addict: Your accuracy has been increased by 15%! No making silly mistakes!

Broken Mind(status): Your state of mind and your stand against killing ponies is slowly wearing away. Better watch out before you go insane!

***(A/N: Well here we are again folks. I deeply apologize for the extended time, not sure if I said it or not but I wanted to upload monthly, but obviously this isn't monthly. So, from now on I will try and tell life to back off every once and awhile so I can write. On to the helpers! I wanted to thank my editor G-man64 for fixing any of my lore that was misplaced or didn't make sense. I also wanted to tank my proofreader spongebob1000 for making this crazy language I write in make sense for all of you. Thank you for sticking with me so far on this journey, and don't fret! More will come!)***