//------------------------------// // Appleooza // Story: Bane of Equestria // by PhilosipherKing //------------------------------// The Train trip to Appleooza was uneventful as always, Bane spent most of the time sleeping. When he arrived at the station and got off the train, he was met by a brown horse with a blue jacket and red bandanna on his neck, on his flank was a large silver star. The Pony looked at the Duro Bounty Hunter with some nervousness and a little bit of suspicion. “So…uh… you the bounty hunter?” “Who wants to know?” Bane replied. “Um… I do.” The Pony said gaining a little more courage. “Name’s Silverstar, I’m the Sheriff of Appleooza, and as I’ve already told the Princess, I got it all under control.” “Sure you do sure you do” Bane said sarcastically “I mean why else would the Princess send me to do your job if it’s obvious you got this.” Silverstar was about to retort before Bane simply pushed him aside and walked towards the wall on the outside of the station. On it hung a poster of the pony he was looking for. After snatching the poster Bane turned to Silverstar “where was this guy last seen?” Silverstar replied “he’s been mostly hiding out in the mountainous area in the west, I’d go myself but I can’t get any volunteers to come with me, that Wily Desperado is a scary one.” “You’ve seen him before” Bane asked. “Once or twice” Silverstar said “and each time he stares at me with a scary look” the sheriff pony shivered at the notion. Bane rolled his eyes “well you’re going to have to face it again, because I don’t know my way around here and I need a guide.” Silverstar was a bit worried about going to the west mountains with a stranger he knew little about, but if it meant capturing Desperado then he’d do it. “Ok” he finally said. “I’ll help, but let’s not go into town, someponies might get a little… upset if they saw you walking around.” Bane acknowledged the point and the two set off, walking around the town and towards the west mountains. The trip, surprisingly, was a short one, only took an hour and a half to get to the western mountains. Bane stopped half a mile away from their destination and scoped the area out with his binoculars. “Where’s he usually found?” Bane asked as he looked for all possible escape routes. “Anywhere in the mountains, that place is a maze.” Silverstar replied. “He can come and go at anytime and from anywhere.” “Then we’ll have to draw him out” Bane concluded. If years of hunting had taught him anything, it was that it was never a good idea to follow or pursue a target in a maze like area, there was just about as much chance of getting lost as there was in losing the target. “How do you reckon we lure him out?” Silverstar asked. “Give him something to attack?” “Not a bad idea” Bane mused as a plan formed. “Go back to town and gather as much supplies as you can then meet me back here.” Silverstar was perplexed “What? But wh-“ “Just do it!” Bane interrupted harshly. The lawpony quickly went back to town. Three and a half hours later Silverstar came back dragging a large cart full of supplies. “Huff. Huff. Still don’t see…huff…huff..why we need…huff huff.. all this stuff” Silverstar spoke between panting. “Bait” Bane simply replied. “When it gets dark, take the cart and leave it close enough to the mountain entrance that he won’t suspect anything’s up, but far enough that we can grab him.” “We?” Silverstar asked. “Yes we, your the Sheriff aren’t you? That’s your job.” Bane replied. “Well I mean yeah but…what if..” Silverstar paused for a minute. “What if he stares at me all scary like again?” Bane rolled his eyes. “Just stare back at him, it works for me.” Seeing that the sheriff didn’t look convinced he sighed. “I’ll handle the capture, you stay here after you get those supplies moved.” Silverstar sighed in relief, happy that he wasn’t going to be near Wily Desperado when he came. “What makes you think he’ll fall for this? It seems a little obvious.” “Call it a hunch” Bane replied. “If he’s the kind of criminal I think he is, the chance of an easy score will be too tempting for him to pass up.” It’d been several hours since the trap had been set. Bane was hiding behind a rock near the mountain that was close enough to the entrance for him to cover it. As the hours ticked by, Bane sat behind the rock, watching for any sign of his target going through a back exit. No doubt my ‘partner’ fell asleep Bane thought bitterly. It was beings like Silverstar that reminded the Duros why he preferred going at it alone. Sure he had worked with droids before(TODO could be helpful…sometimes), but that was usually for huge jobs like heists, and unless they were IG model Assassin droids, they never asked for rewards. Organics on the other hand were unreliable and untrustworthy, and again, Bane only relied on them when huge jobs were needed. The bounty hunter was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of small rocks tumbling from the entryway. Bane immediately got up and went into position, blaster drawn. Out of the entryway came a large Black Stallion with a poncho and a large wide brim hat. On his flank was a red mask. The Pony inched his way towards the wagon and looked around to see if anyone was nearby. “Hehehe” he chuckled in a deep and menacing voice “Wily Desperado you lucky stallion you, your gonna eat well tonight.” Bane came out from behind the rock and drew his blaster. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that if I were you son.” Desperado turned and jumped in shock as a two legged blue creature wearing a duster and wide brimmed hat as well holding a strange device stepped out from behind him. Desperado had never seen anything like that, but he was sure it was dangerous. “You’re a surprisingly easy target to track down.” Bane said as clicked his blaster to set it to stun. “Who are you?” Desperado managed to say. “Names Cad Bane” Bane replied. “And you’ve got a large bounty with my name on it.” “Bounty huh?” The outlaw asked, his expression changing from fear to smug joy “bout time that happened, I was beginning to think I was going unnoticed.” Bane looked at him confusingly, he wanted a bounty on him? While it wasn’t unheard of for some criminals to be proud of the fact they had prices on their heads(some even got offended when the price wasn’t high enough), many didn’t find it something to be proud of since the higher the bounty, the more skilled hunters would come after you. The Stallion laughed at his confusion “I can see I need to explain myself, you see growing up in Appleooza I was a nobody, but now that I’m a notorious outlaw I can finall-“ BZZAT The light blue circle of a stun bolt slammed into Desperado’s face, knocking him out. Bane just walked over to his unconscious target and shook his head “Why is it some of these slimos want to tell me their life stories?” He wondered out loud. He didn’t really care for how his target got to this point, after all that wasn’t his business. Sheriff Silverstar came down the lookout hill and arrived next to the bounty hunter. “Whoo ee partner, we got him!” He exclaimed excitedly. “We?” Bane asked skeptically. “Yeah we” Silverstar replied. “I showed you the way to the mountains, I got the supplies and the bait, and you took him out, that there’s teamwork.” Bane sighed irritably, he’d been in the business long enough to know what was coming next. “Alright let’s cut to it, how much?” Silverstar looked confused. “How much what?” “Don’t be coy with me!” Bane snapped. “How much of the reward for this ‘team effort’ do you want?Don’t expect fifty fifty!” “I want none of it, you can have it.” Silverstar said simply. The shock from that response nearly floored Bane. He had been a bounty hunter for years, and in all that time whenever he teamed up with someone, no one EVER insisted he keep the reward, it was one of the reasons he preferred either working with droids (who had no use for money) or working alone. Once he regained his composure, Bane looked at his unconscious target then back to Silverstar “Tie him up. We’ll take him to the train station in the morning.” He ordered. The Law Pony obeyed and the two set up camp. The night had been pretty uneventful, Aside from Desperado waking up (and promptly being put to sleep again). The next morning, the two made their way to the train station and Bane tossed his target in the train and got ready to leave. One thing stuck in his mind, something he had to know. “Why?” Bane asked. Silverstar took off his hat “look… I really love this town, I would do anything to protect it. The fact that a dangerous outlaw like him” he motioned towards Desperado “is out of this town and not hurting our community anymore, is good enough for me.” Again Bane was surprised by this answer. Being a bounty hunter, he often rubbed elbows and fought with and against the very worst that society had to offer, especially with law enforcement officers who were just as bad as the people he brought in. But this guy sounded completely sincere in his explanation. “Well I wasn’t gonna give you a large cut anyways” Bane said as gruffly as he could be. He got ready to go on the train when Silverstar called out to him. “Hey Bane!” He shouted. The Duro Bounty hunter looked at him. Silverstar tipped his hat “thanks for the help.” Bane looked at him for a while before tipping his hat and getting on the train. Taking a seat, he stared out the window as the train slowly pulled out of the station. This was indeed a strange planet, on most planets in the Outer Rim, the inhabitants were hostile and always ready to blast first and ask questions later, this place was different. Aside from some hostile moments here and there, on the whole , everyone was quite friendly. Hell, even the rulers were friendly enough to repair his ship and asking for little in return. It was an interesting change of pace. But Bane knew he couldn’t stay here long, after all, he was a bounty hunter, he didn’t fit in with this kind of place. Bane put his hat over his eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.