Chapter 3: Sundown
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Sunny Breeze first put on his sleeveless, striped, white and green undershirt. After that, he put on the black uniform pants with minimal difficulty. His shortly-cropped tail gave him no problems. Next, Sunny stood in front of the mirror, gradually sliding the buttons on his uniform jacket into place. His brow furrowed as he went through the fiddly little things one by one, but left the top one undone. Lastly, he pulled on a balaclava. The stallion gathered the last few things he needed, including his FN FAL on a two point sling, before heading out the door. He didn’t take a drink; this was not the time for that. On his way down the hall, Sunny stopped, turned to face a picture of four young stallions, three zebras and a pony. He tapped it thrice with his hoof. “Ich lasse,” he sighed, turning away.
The back doors of the wagon slammed shut with a satisfying thunk. “Do you remember the plan?” asked a stallion standing on the freight elevator and carrying a Barrett REC7 attached to a three point sling.
Another stallion, who was wearing sunglasses, answered him, “Affirmative- we’ll use route Shire 2, do the job, and be back within ninety minutes.” He turned to face two armed ponies clad in black. One had part of a telnyashka visible on his withers. The other wore old style aviators’ goggles over his eyes. “Get in position; we’re headed out.” The stallion got onto the driver’s seat and instructed the two harnessed ponies to start walking. The armed ponies stood on running boards mounted to the wagon, a forelimb wrapped around a handle kept them from falling off. “All ready?”
“Ready all.” And they were off. They only moved at a moderate pace. This was to make it easier on the ponies riding on the running boards, and also to avoid crushing pedestrians.
The armed stallions astutely scanned the streets as they drove. One of them called out to the other, “Hey, Telny, do you think anypony will give us trouble at the bank?”
The other one quickly shot back, “Negative, Goggles.” He had so far seen nothing of interest; just the usual empty streets and illuminated windows to the left. Ponies on the street gave the odd group second looks. The streets were emptying out with the rising of the moon. “You’re paid to watch- not talk.”
“Sorry.”
The conversation died and the noises of hooves and wooden wheels filled their ears. They came to a crowded intersection still full of ponies. The crowd gave way unusually quickly. The one called Telny heard some fearful murmurs and clopping coming from the right side of the vehicle. He groaned, “What did I tell you about sweeping the crowd, Goggles?”
“Oops- sorry, Telny.”
Goggles brought his suppressed Sterling SMG down a very low ready position, which made its single point sling taut. The stallion’s pulse quickened and his eyes darted around the swarm of pedestrians. He kept it tilted to prevent the cartridges from falling out. Unfortunately, the sides continued to narrow as they pressed on into the eye of the maelstrom.
Telny maintained his composure and paid closer attention his surroundings. His pulse elevated a bit too, so he coped by singing softly to himself. It was a foreign song from a foreign land in a foreign tongue. Goggles didn’t have the faintest idea what it meant. It sounded simultaneously harsh and beautiful. So many consonants were jammed together in strange, impossible ways. However, the vowels were bold and strong. The tune was stirring and martial, filling the heart with passionate courage. Its richness was apparent, despite the harshness of Telny’s accent as he sang. What was it called? He thought its name was something like Zeldatikshy, but couldn't remember for sure.
The tension remained until they were clear of the midtown crowd and rolling along a roomy boulevard. The sun was now well below the horizon and the moon cast its pale glow over the land. This particular area of Ponyville most didn’t visit once the sun went down. To the van’s right was a lovely park, perfect for picnics, enjoying the sun, and meeting friends. To its left was a row of storefronts for things such as ice cream, fast food, barber shops, and the like. It was too chilly and dark for a stroll in the park and too late for business; Ponyville was a town that appreciated its shuteye.
Telny let his rifle droop by his side and slowed his scan, although he remained vigilant. He always liked this part of the trip. The park was always pretty and the long sightlines made it nigh impossible for somepony to suddenly ambush them. The same wasn’t quite so true for Goggles. He heard something metallic repeatedly hitting the far side of the van. “Goggles,” he yelled, “you’ve got to keep your guard up!”
“How did you know?” Shot back the other pony.
“Because I can hear your gun clanging on side of the van! Do keep in mind that your Sterling is an open bolt design; if you’re not careful with it, you can very easily slamfire the damn thing!”
The bespectacled pony replied, “sorry!”
“Y’know, you don’t have to take the graveyard shift. If you’d like, I’ll let you borrow my rifle.”
“No, it’s okay- really.” The other one snorted. Silence reigned for several minutes. Telny spied the occasional pony, but none of them ever came close. Rather, they stared. He was content to leave it that way; nopony ever approached armed strangers without reason. If they did approach, then it most certainly meant trouble. Besides, maintaining one’s anonymity was important, not only for security, but also for keeping the respect of one’s peers. Pony society actively shunned violence. It had no mercy for those whose livelihoods depended on it.
Presently, they reached their object, the Ponyville Royal Bank. They pulled into the back and set to work immediately. The driver signaled a stop and the guards leap to their feet. The driver unlocked the rear entrance and beckoned to Goggles, “Come on!”
“Affirmative, Shades,” he said, following his superior inside, leaving Telny all alone outside.
Once they were decidedly out of earshot, he let out a hoarse laugh. “Shades- what a callsign!” It got to him every time. It suddenly occurred to him that nopony knew any of the others by their real names or faces. They certainly wouldn’t believe who he was during his own personal time. Well, he and one guy knew each other.
Even in the dead of night, Telny did not lower his guard. This was important. Goggles and Shades trusted him to stand outside and watch their backs- the company trusted him to safeguard tens of thousands of bits almost unsupervised. Earning that trust hadn’t been easy, but it had been well worth it. They worked for the Paddock Monetary Express Company. It was the subsidiary of the nationalized Royal Banking Corporation which was tasked with protecting both shipments of money, as well as safeguarding the financial institutions themselves. Sure, the Ponyville outfit was small, but that only meant that the competition to prove oneself was tougher. There were never many threats, or at least credible ones, in Ponyville. Missing one or making a single mistake could tarnish your career for a long time. The menace of occasional attacks from beasts of the nearby Everfree hardly counted as a threat. At least they weren't in Hollow Shades.
Telny remembered the last time when there had been an incident was more than half a year ago. That day was just at the end of summer when a huge beast came bounding out of the Everfree Forest. It was some sort of Cerynitian Deer. It came bounding across the meadow in a matter of seconds for Celestia knows why. It smashed its antlers into the side of the wagon, which flipped it. Telny just raised his gun and fired away. The Cerynitian stag bolted, but it only managed to get maybe a couple hundred feet before it fell dead in the meadow over by Fluttershy’s house. He heard that she was really upset by it.
Telny stopped reminiscing. Something was moving in the direction of the Everfree! It wasn’t gargantuan, but he couldn’t determine its distance. It wasn’t yet worth pointing his gun at it, but he went into a low ready stance and got ready to put pressure on the trigger. It walked on four legs and was walking a course perpendicular to him. After several tense seconds, the shape stepped out into the open and was silhouetted against the moonlight. Telny was relieved to see that it was a pony. He slung his rifle onto his back. Some might have called his actions paranoid or excessive. Obviously, they had never found themselves in his place. A shift or two doing his line of work would change their outlook.
Presently, Shades and Goggles returned with a dolly loaded with money. The next fifteen minutes were punctuated by the sounds of them moving the hard currency into the back of the van. Once that was done, they would have to go deal with all the kiosks scattered around town. Thankfully, the traffic ought to have lessened by now. None of the banks or kiosks in Ponyville were guarded around the clock; they just didn’t have the staff or the need to do it. Besides, Pinkie Pie always found a way to make their most valiant attempts at hermetic security pointless, such as the time she threw a party in the interior of the bank’s new vault. Never mind that it had never been opened before then. The look on the manager's face when he opened the vault for the first time in front of the bank guards, the press, and other company ponies, only to find Pinkie Pie already inside it was priceless. It still brought humorous smiles to everypony's faces.
The door was soon sealed and they were soon on their way again. Telny bullied Goggles into swapping weapons by pulling rank. He was careful to active the rifle’s safety before giving the rifle to the rookie. At the first of three kiosks, they repeated their main bank arrangement. Telny remained outside while his coworkers headed indoors. While he waited, Telny spied Haye Bailer walking down the opposite sidewalk.
“Enjoying graveyard?” asked Haye.
“It puts oats on the table,” responded Telny. “Anyway, why do you ask, Keffiyeh?”
The other stallion snorted, “C’mon, Sunny, we’re friends; no need to use the ridiculous callsigns off duty.”
“Have it your way, Haye.”
“So, how’s the rookie?” Keffiyeh inquired. The groan emitted by Sunny Breeze told the whole story. The other stallion laughed. “Better you than me.”
Sunny said, “Could you see about getting him shunted to something like monitor duty? Goggles is an accident trying to happen. Yes, he’s really that bad.” The unicorn watched the kiosk for signs of the rookie; he and the other stallion would be coming along very soon.
The bay roan paused to contemplate for a moment. “I’ll see what I can do,” he replied.
“Thank you, sir,” replied the unicorn. “I’ll see you later then- good evening.”
“Later,” responded Haye. He kept on walking down the street. It was only a few minutes later that he was riding to the next kiosk.
The wonderful silence of the empty street was spoiled by Goggles opening his mouth. “Yo, Telny, who were you talking to?” Great! He just had to hear him speaking.
“A friend, Goggles,” snapped Sunny.
“What did you say to him, Telny?” Forget monitor duty; have this busybody reassigned to custodian!
“It was nothing important, Goggles.”
“Well, whatever you were saying, Telny, it sure didn’t sound like Equestrian.”
Why didn’t this pest just shut up and do his job? “That’s because, Goggles, it wasn’t Equestrian!” Sunny caught himself getting angrier than he should at a greenhorn who didn’t yet know the rules of engagement. All Goggles was trying to do was get to know his coworkers. Sunny couldn’t blame him. Now he felt bad about snubbing the poor guy. His whole demeanor changed. “Sorry, Goggles, but in this business, we don’t really like having to divulge more information than is necessary. You might know this already, but this isn’t the sort of job that you want ponies to know you have. He and I have already known each other for a long time. If I felt that you should have known, then I would have told you. Never ask for real names or any other sort of identifying information.” The journey carried on in awkward silence.
The second kiosk was a long affair. The same procedure was repeated again. Sunny expected this one to be the longest stop because it was located right by the main town marketplace. What they collected on their rounds were mostly profits made from fees and loans. These profits would be rounded up and shipped off to company headquarters in Canterlot. He wasn’t really sure how the system all worked. It was above his pay grade and it probably would make his brain blow a few fuses. None of it really mattered to him so long as he got paid.
The third kiosk was quite brief, being located in a residential area near the library. Based on the cacophony of lights and sounds, one massive party must have been going on down there. A wicked grin crossed Sunny’s face. It was a stupid prank, but it was just too damn funny to refuse. He was sorely tempted to knock on the door, announcing the hunt for a dangerous fugitive. Once inside, he would order all the occupants to help him search, by which he meant do ridiculous things on command. He would then grab some random pony- perhaps a mare, announce success, and steal off into the night. The festival was still going on, so his chances of even getting inside the party were minimal.
His thoughts turned to Rainbow Dash. Surely she was living it up right now instead of grinding through an extra-long shift at a crummy job. He hoped that she really did enjoy the time they had spent together and was being completely serious about wanting to see him later.
It was then that one of most bizarrely improbable events of Sunny’s entire life came to pass. Out of the library stumbled six pegasi who had obviously had way more than a few too many hard ciders. Sunny almost instantly recognized their Wonderbolt uniforms. “So they really do like to party hard…” He mumbled to himself. That didn’t matter. What did matter was that six intoxicated ponies were headed his way. Nevermind- now it was only four ponies, with two of them going off in some other direction. Drunken partiers and armed guards never met peacefully, especially when the guards were outnumbered.
He turned to present a larger silhouette and held out the gun in a way that made it obvious. They still kept coming. There was no way that they hadn’t seen him. They were now close enough to identify. To his horror, Rainbow Dash was present among them. He cursed his luck. “They just all had to be mares, didn’t they?” The familiar heat effused his face. He had always had a thing for pegasi, and having four stunning examples in front of him wearing those skintight jumpsuits wasn’t doing him any favors.
Sunny Breeze fell back on his training. It was best to not say anything at all; that's what they'd always told him at Grollen, and it had served him well. One of the mares in front of him whispered something to her friends. They giggled and looked at him. They were nearly close enough to touch him. He raised his gun a bit, but stopped short of point it at anything. He was technically within his rights to fire and get away with it. Perhaps he would have done so with any other group which would incite less fallout. Sunny opened his mouth and tried to speak, but couldn’t make the words come out. Why did somepony who'd recognize his voice have to be among them? Why did his weakness have to be so damn common?
Their leader, whom he knew was named Spitfire, must have noticed this and decided to tease him. “Hey, baby, you like what you see?” He nodded, hoping that they’d go away if he humored them. They didn’t.
Another one cut in. He didn’t recognize her. She had a black coat and a spiked green mane. “I didn’t know you liked brutes, Spitifire.”
“Shaddap, I do not! Leadheads are seriously uncool, Arrow! What you think, Lightning Dust?” She had a teal coat with a yellow and orange mane.
“It looks like another worthless foal killer if you ask me,” spat Lightning venomously, the rest all nodding. Ouch! That really hurt. “Think he’s any good in bed, Rainbow Dash?” His eyes dampened.
“Nah! I bet he’s a virgin.” Sunny’s ears drooped. “Watch,” she said, rubbing against him. “He’s totally spazzing out.” Goodbye, self-confidence. “And what’s with that stupid striped shirt? What else can you expect from a leadhead?”
Arrow cooed at him seductively, “Y’know, if you want some of this, all you have to do is ask… Say, why don’t you show me that face of yours?” The drunken mare moved to grab at his balaclava. He couldn’t let them happen- he couldn’t let them know his face! Sunny stepped back violently. His cheeks must have been on fire.
“Whuddamatta, skrrd” slurred Spitfire.
“Scared of mares?” The others taunted him.
Sunny lifted the Sterling with his support limb and pointed it squarely at Arrow, his other flying to the stock and the trigger plate within . Why couldn’t he talk properly? He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a strange, choking, yell; it was almost an infuriated sob. “STOI!”
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Cool it!” Rainbow Dash backed away and held her hooves over her head. “Geez, you don’t have to get violent- we’re just joking.” Not from Sunny’s perspective. This could have turned into a fight or a robbery at any point. Considering that they had approached, taunted, and goaded him before trying to either attack or expose him, they were practically asking for it.
Lightning Dust shot at her, “Foal killers like this one wouldn’t understand.” Sunny wanted to yell at her. Didn’t she realize just how much that hurt him? Did she understand what she was saying? Had she ever seen a dead foal? His hoof was tugging on the trigger. He turned the gun on her! It would be so easy to just slide the plate, pull the trigger, fire the gun, and kill her. He’d be well within protocol to do it. But he couldn’t do that. There was no point in murdering somepony over drunken words, no matter how callously cruel and hurtful they were. More importantly, if he shot the mare, then he would prove to all Equestria that gun users really were murderous psychopaths for hire. He had to be better than those who misused their tools to cause harm.
Sunny Breeze pointed down a street with the gun. He mustered up all his will to just say one word. “Leave.” Miraculously, they did. Good thing, because Goggles and Shades came back just seconds later.
“Hecklers, Telny?” inquired Shades, holding his gun ready. Sunny nodded and Shades let his Barret hang free. No more words were spoken. As soon as Sunny was alone on his platform, he slumped forwards. He needed a drink; something to drown the pain. They were back at the train station just a few minutes later. Sunny forced himself to feign indifference. It wasn’t difficult. Soon enough, the wagon was unloaded and that was the end of his shift. The stallion wasted no time in getting his FAL back and getting the hell out of there.
Alone, Sunny walked slowly down the street. He had had enough for one night and just wanted to go home, drink himself stupid, fall asleep, and forget that his encounter with the Wonderbolts had ever happened. That was what he wanted to do. What actually happened was that he heard the gentle sound of a pegasus attempting to stealthily alight on a cobblestone street directly behind him! In the near-total silence of the night, it seemed as noisy as a gunshot. Sunny turned on instinct, readying his rifle to face the potential ambusher. To his dismay, it was the one mare he did not want to see at all.
Rainbow Dash was out of her uniform- the first time he had seen her like this. She cautiously walked up to him. He slung his rifle across his back. What did she want? Before he could brush her off, she spoke. “I’m sorry about how we acted. I mean, we’ve all had a little too much to drink, but that was just not right. I’m really sorry about how Lightning Dust behaved. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” Sunny just started at her, dumfounded. So many emotions swirled around his head again. He wanted to hug her for what she was doing for him. He wanted to punch her for what she did to him. He wanted to thank her for the festival. He wanted to escape her for fear of how she would react once she realized who it was beneath the balaclava. “Can I buy you a drink?” she ventured. With the exception of clipping Lightning Dust’s wings, this was the course of action most agreeable to the stallion. He nodded. “C’mon, I know a place.” For some reason, it suddenly occurred to the mare that this nameless stallion might be fairly young.
They walked in awkward silence. Rainbow led the way, flying close to the ground. She tried to get closer to the stallion, but he swung at her with his hoof and flatly refused to say anything. She could live with that. She kind of wished that he were one of her friends or colleagues. Even Sunny would have been a better conversationalist than this almost mute stallion! Being silent was par for the course when it came to armed guards. It’d take a braver pony than her to risk making it known that this was their chosen profession.
The interior of the bar was nice and clean; it wasn’t seedy, glamorous, or even unique. The best part was that there were few ponies here other than themselves and the bartender. “Take a seat. This was my favorite place back when I was younger."The bartender was waiting for them by the time their bottoms had found stools. Sunny was somewhat surprised by who received them.
“Yo, Dash, wassup?” Vinyl Scratch called out to her friend before looking at Sunny. “Who’s this guy?”
“Just some random colt I met. He doesn’t talk much.”
Vinyl eyed his back and scowled. “You know the policy on leadheads in the bar. We don’t serve them.”
Rainbow leaned in closer and whispered, “Take it easy on the ribbing, okay? He just got off work and came off of a really nasty Lightning Dust bitch-out.” The white mare grumbled but assented. Rainbow knew that she owed her friend a huge favor.
“So, what can I do you for?” Vinyl took a stab in the dark. “Scotch?” Sunny nodded enthusiastically. “How much?” The stallion gestured for a huge glass. “Got it!” She set to work. “Not much of a talker, are you?” She received a blank stare. “Fine, forgive a mare for trying…” She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Just what exactly did she say to him?
Rainbow whispered, “Foal killer”. In the corner of her eye, the stallion seemed to wince a little.
The ears flattened a little bit. “That’s harsh. I mean, I’m no fan of leadheads, but that’s just awful.” Vinyl really meant it. It was the kind of insult that drove even the most gentle of ponies to blind rage. Not even the most irreverent comedians would dare use it in jest. “You’re telling me. For a moment, I thought he was gonna shoot her.”
“No…”
“Yeah, really. All he had to do was pull the trigger. But he didn’t.”
“Did he deck her?”
“No, not even that. Arrow tried to grab him, so he yelled something in a funny language and pointed his gun at her, and then pointed it at Dust.
The barmare leaned in closer, fascinated that a hired gun would display so much restraint. “And then what happened?”
Rainbow ruffled her own mane, as if she didn’t funny understand what had transpired either. “He just pointed down a street and told us to leave, so we did. There was no emotion, anger- nothing.” Sunny ordinarily would have been proud to hear this glowing review of his performance, but not now.
Vinyl handed a large glass full of whiskey to Sunny. All she could see of his face was his eyes. They were slightly red and damp. She replied after a moment’s thought, “For whatever reason he didn’t kill her, it means that he’s been through a lot, or he’s got unbelievable self-control.”
Rainbow said wistfully, “I just wish I knew…”
The bar went nearly quiet for perhaps ten minutes. The stallion managed to put away his liquor surprisingly quickly. At the end, Rainbow Dash kept her word and paid the tab. Sunny Breeze was certainly feeling much better. He even waved Vinyl Scratch farewell as he exited the bar with Rainbow. She didn’t acknowledge him. The booze was starting to affect him.
“So, are you feeling better?” Sunny nodded. He even surprised himself by hugging Dash thankfully. Oh well, it’s not like she would ever know that it was him. She could never know. After all, she had agreed with Lightning Dust when she had called him a foal killer. There was no way that she’d consider him dating material, knowing what he did. In a small way, she was justified. After all, in a land where even the royal guards were only armed with ancient spears, the display of such deadly modern arms was shocking. Given the fact that weapons were only ever present if lethal force were an immediate concern, then one could be forgiven for associating guns and their wielders with death. There hadn’t even been modern firearms at the time of Luna’s return ten years ago. A lot of things had happened since then. Equestria was changing, but the Equestrians could only be made to change so quickly. Ponies didn’t like living in a world where it seemed as if everything was turning harsh and deadly. Most ponies alive today still remembered the days when guns were strictly pulp science fiction stuff. Imagine a tiny piece of soft metal flying really quickly being able to kill anything in its path. The concept was implausible, but the carnage was horrifying.
Rainbow flew off, leaving Breeze alone again. He felt much better about both himself and about Rainbow. She wasn’t just a beautiful body with a brazen attitude. Underneath all of that was a very morally upright pony who would stick up for others. She would stand by ponies who needed a friend or a protector. Plus, she had good taste in drinking establishments. He’d need to find some way of thanking Rainbow later without tipping her off that he was the stallion from tonight. Sunny suppressed a yawn. It was time to go to bed.
The walk home seemed to be simultaneously brief and prolonged. On one hoof, it seemed to take a lot longer than he had expected. On the other hoof, he was so drunk that he hardly remembered much of it later. Upon regaining access to his apartment, he immediately stepped inside and deposited the FAL in the closet. Then, the stallion walked through the hallway and turned to the picture of the four young stallions, three zebra and one pony. He tapped it thrice with his left hoof and said, “Ich kehre.” He took several swigs from the whisky bottle before making a beeline to the bedroom. Once inside, he stumbled through disrobing himself of his uniform. He tossed it on the closet floor; he’d pick it up later, eventually. Tomorrow would definitely be better. In fact, the first thing Sunny decided that he was going to do was go and take a lovely nature hike. With that, he collapsed onto his bed and drifted off into an uneasy sleep plagued by nightmares filled with gunfire.
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To be continued.
The next chapter is much lighter than this one. Go ahead and see for yourself.