“Our feelers out in the field have some leads, I’ve got some guys running them down now,” Twitch says, leaning back in her seat. “We know some of Rail Spike’s usual haunts, but word is he hasn’t turned up there yet. Nothing yet on Clear Air or Off Speed, though.”
I take a sip of my coffee and shrug. “Hm. I was kinda hoping they’d show up by now.”
“Yeah, well we don’t always have it that easy. You want us to just pass them off to you if we see them?” Twitch asks.
“Sure, but can you give me what you’ve got? I’d like to go hit up those places myself, see if I can find anything.”
Twitch shrugs and throws some papers into a folder, sliding it across the desk. “Knock yourself out.”
We’re interrupted by a rap on the door, and Stellar Eclipse sticks his head in. “Strawberry, someone’s here to see… her.”
Twitch raises an eyebrow. I shrug in response, but follow Stellar out of the office. A familiar face is waiting for me in the lobby.
“Raindrops!” Guiding Light gasps as she rushes towards me. “Your eye! What happened?”
I shrug it off. “Nothing. Why are you here?”
Guiding Light frowns. “The police came and told me that they think you might be working against them. Raindrops, what did I tell you? I don’t want you to get involved!”
I raise an eyebrow and take a step back defensively. “What? I’m just doing my job!”
Guiding points a hoof at me accusingly. “And do what? Kill ponies? You know that isn’t what Fading wanted!”
“Stop saying that shit!” I snap. “All of you! You keep saying that as if you know exactly what he wanted! Stop putting words in his mouth!”
Guiding is taken aback, but she doesn’t let up. “And you think you know him better than you know us?” She shakes her head in disgust. “Then how are you any better than us?”
“Fuck you!” I spit. “What do you want me to say? Yeah, he’s fucking dead! I know that! I know killing ponies isn’t going to bring him back. But I don’t care what you think, because that’s what I’m going to fucking do!”
Stellar clears his throat awkwardly, shifting in his wheelchair behind the desk. “Er… perhaps you should take this outside?”
“There’s no need for that,” Guiding hisses as she recollects herself. “I was on my way out.” She shoves past me and heads for the door.
I huff, trying to calm myself down, and glance at Stellar. He drops his gaze and refuses to look at me. For a second I think about apologizing to him. But instead I lower my head and head out the door. It closes with a thud behind me.
It really does feel like every single gangster likes to hang out in the same place. I’ve spent most of the day alternating between the spots Twitch’s guys identified and trying to see if Rail Spike turns up.
Right now I’m hanging out near a mechanic shop, watching as some gangbangers hang out in the front, smoking and laughing at each other. I stretch out my wings, shaking the stiffness out of my body.
I glance around the building lazily. I see a team of Village Idiots hanging out on a nearby roof, keeping an eye on the place. They haven’t noticed me yet though. I roll my neck and sigh again, settling back down.
Think I’ll give it another half hour before I rotate to another spot. Not that the view will be any better there, seems like Rail Spike’s got a fetish for absolute shitholes. Maybe it’s just a gang-thing. I dunno.
I shoot another look at Twitch’s guys on the nearby roof. I’m pretty sure that she heard that whole fight with Guiding, which means she probably knows the truth now: that there’s no bounty at all. Probably best if I steer clear of her for a while… although it’s weird her guys are still here. Maybe they just haven’t heard the news yet.
Still remember when we first met each other, way back when we were both contracting for the Bounty Hunter’s Guild. Dunno what drew her to me, but we made a pretty good team back in the day. Hell, she’s been trying to get me to sign up with the Village Idiots for awhile now. Don’t think Stellar’s a fan though.
I mean, it’s not because I don’t like working with her, I just work best alone. Other ponies just end up dragging me down anyways.
I let out a hefty sigh and stretch out my wings. Nights like these bring back memories of sitting on Fading’s porch with a bottle of whiskey, sipping the night away as we’d make horrible jokes and just talk about life.
I miss that. Just being able to talk to someone. It’s hard nowadays finding ponies who’ll listen to you, and even harder to get them to understand. I found that out a long time ago. Fading understood me in a way that nopony else could, that much I’m sure of. Now that he’s gone… Celestia knows what I’ve got to do to be heard.
I sigh and close my eyes. I imagine his wheezing laugh and that scratchy voice of his, as he gives me sage advice from the comfort of his porch chair. “Killjoy, you listen here. One day like this, at the end of the world, we ain’t ever gonna be the same. So don’t you go frettin’ about who you are now.”
Then his daughter would come outside and he’d pull her into his lap, laughing and holding her tight… Oh Celestia, I can’t imagine what this is like for little Rising. I shudder as I picture guiding, weeping and holding her daughter tightly, as some stone-faced deputy tells her that Fading is never coming home.
I shake off the thought. That’s not a train I’m interested in riding at the moment.
My ears perk up as the sound of laughter carries over the rooftop. There’s a group of gang bangers hanging out by the front of the garage, smoking and fucking around. One of the earth pony mares rubs up against another one, batting her eyelashes at her.
The unicorn rolls her eyes and shoves her away. The rest of her friends laugh at that, but the earth pony frowns. She says something which the unicorn brushes off. The earth pony swats at her. The unicorn turns around and decks her hard in the face.
I flinch, but the other gangsters laugh and cheer. I raise my binoculars to my face and see the earth pony stagger backwards, tears welling in her eyes. “Bastard,” I mutter under my breath. Shit like that makes me sick.
Behind them, a few more ponies and a griffin waltz out of the building. I narrow my eyes at the lead: a blue and black pegasus in a black bomber jacket. Rail Spike himself has finally reared his ugly head.
I lower my binoculars and grab my rifle, lining up the sights with Rail Spike’s stupid face. I take a deep breath to steady my aim--
Something rams into me from behind, and I go falling off the roof. It takes a second for me to register what the fuck just happened, but I spread out my wings and glide safely to the ground. Unfortunately, that means Rail Spike and the gang have noticed me.
“Who the fuck is that?!” one of them shouts.
A green and yellow pegasus lands next to me, kicking my rifle farther away while drawing his own gun. “Check it, Rail, found her perched on the roof.”
“Well, shit, Off Speed,” he remarks. “This is the fucker that got Lowball!”
Off Speed grabs me from behind while Rail Spike takes my pistol. “So she’s the bitch that killed Greeny, Ferret, and fucked up Dogma?”
“That’d be the one,” Rail Spike replies. “Reckon we oughta return the favor.”
I struggle in their grip, spitting at the ground. “Motherfuckers aren’t the only ones I’m gonna drop--”
Rail Spike drives his hoof into my chest. I cry out in pain and tears well in my eyes. Fuck, he hits hard. The other gangsters cheer and shout at me. “Fuck her up, Rail!”
I glance up to see the earth pony who got punched. Her eyes dart to the ground, but she doesn’t say anything.
“Oh yeah,” laughs the griffon. “We’re gonna have some fun with you. Such a purdy face…”
With a burst of strength, I’m able to yank my right foreleg free of Off Speed’s grip, and I use it to turn and deck the gangster on my left. He staggers backwards and loosens his grip, letting me pull my left foreleg free.
Before they can react, my hoof thrusts into my jacket and pulls out my trusty knife. The unicorn charges towards me and throws a hook aimed at my head. I duck it and thrust my hoof forwards. The mare screams out in pain as my knife slides through her body. I yank it out and push it in again, but this time it gets stuck. She staggers backwards and falls to the ground.
Off Speed slams me into the ground again, and I get a nice facefull of dirt. I throw up my hooves to try and block some of his punches, but a few still get by. The rest of the gangsters join in and start whaling into me, racking my whole body with blows.
“Fucker just stabbed Galley!” screams a voice. “Someone help me!”
Through the pounding in my head I hear the crack of a gunshot. The gangsters scramble off of me and draw their guns, looking around for the source. “What the fuck?!” shouts Off Speed, distracted.
Mustering the last of my strength, I deck him in the chin as hard as I can. He staggers off of me and I try and get to my hooves. Vaguely, I can make out the form of a bright orange pegasus landing besides me.
“JD, Village Idiots!” she chirps. “Here to help, ma’am!”
I raise an eyebrow but don’t say anything. She unholsters her pistol and passes it over to me. I take the revolver and try to shake the pain off. “Where’s your partner?”
“Calling it in,” she replies, hefting up her rifle. We duck down behind a parked car as the gangsters start returning fire.
“Great. Let’s try and get this under wraps before the cops show up,” I reply. I pop up over the hood of the car and fire some shots as the gangsters run back towards the garage, nicking one in the back. He cries out but doesn’t stop running.
A few of them fire back, but the bullets sail way over our heads. “Fucker shot me!” one of them screeches.
“She’s gonna fucking pay!”
I raise the pistol and fire a few rounds back. A pony tries to dart across to cover, but I land a few hits on them and they go crashing to the ground.
A unicorn throws up a shield spell and drags him behind one of the parked cars inside the garage. The griffon breaks out of cover and charges down the street, firing from their hip.
“Head down, kid,” I shout at JD as he bears down on us. The bullets fly over our heads, but that just means he’s closing the gap. As he gets closer, I try to land a few shots on him. He howls out in pain but keeps moving.
The griffin spreads their wings and uses them to boost himself towards us. As he comes around the side of the car, I spin the gun around and swing it hard. It makes contact with his head, and he cries out in pain.
I turn back around to see Rail Spike climbing into one of the parked vehicles. My eyes widened as the car suddenly roared to life. “Get back!” I shouted, shoving JD aside. The car bears down on us as Rail Spike floors it, the headlights almost blinding me. The sports car rams into the other car, making a nice dent in the side.
I scramble to my hooves, squeezing some shots off. One flies over the roof and the other lands in the passenger’s side door. Even with the engine smoking, Rail Spike somehow manages to throw the car into reverse.
Getting to my hooves, I steady my pistol and fire again. The bullet shatters the back window, and someone screams. The car speeds off down the street, tearing down the asphalt. “Fuck!”
I spread my wings to give chase, but someone grabs my lag. “Wait!” JD shouts. “We gotta help ‘em!”
I glance backwards to see the mare from earlier kneeling by the stabbed unicorn. The earth pony sobs into her coat, clutching her tightly as the unicorn’s blood leaks out onto the sidewalk.
“There isn’t shit we can do,” I hiss, trying to pull my arm free. But JD’s got a death grip on me.
“We gotta try, at least!” She starts dragging me over to their side.
The earth pony looks up at us as we near. “Fuck you,” she hisses at me. I go to raise my gun, but she doesn’t move.
JD kneels next to the unicorn. “Hey, she’s gonna be fine. No, no, leave it in.”
I roll my eyes and turn down the street again. “Call an ambulance or some shit. I’m going after them.”
JD stares at me in disbelief. “Wait--”
I ignore her and take off into the air, leaving the crime scene behind me.