Bonus Chapter: Cutie-mark Stories; Headshot
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Headshot, the young blank-flanked Pegasus, walked alongside his father, Buckshot. The young colt stared at his mother and father with a look of confusion.
"Hey, Dad. Where's big bro?" Headshot asked. His mother smiled as the colt.
"He's already at North Coltorina, just to make sure we had a place to stay." His mother said, her eyes shone brightly in the sunlight. Her mother was named Cherry Bomb, she was colored red like a cherry and knew how to make a few fireworks here and there.
This was his first time in a big city like North Coltorina. He was excited to finally get there.
"Don't worry, we're almost there, kiddo." Buckshot said, his wings were outstretched and popped a few joints here and there. "It's been a long time since I've been there."
Headshot fluttered overhead. "Sweet! I'm finally going to see a big city!" He pumped his hoof in the air in excitement.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, kiddo. We're only stopping there for a few days." His dad said, though that didn't deter the young Pegasus.
The three of them stood outside the city limits.
There was a rustle from behind them. They didn't notice.
An Earth pony came out of the bushes and took Cherry by the throat, he held a sharp knife. He kept the knife close to her neck and stepped back. The two other ponies turned around in shock.
"Don't you dare." Buckshot yelled. He stepped closer, but the blade pressed tighter on Cherry's neck. Buckshot stepped back in defeat.
"Pay up or this fine fruit's going to get cut!" The thug said, and pressed it down harder.
"I'll kill you if hurt her!" Headshot yelled and was about to charge at the thug. His father stopped him and pointed to the city.
"Head, leave and I'll handle this." He said with a somber expression. He stared darkly at the smiling stallion.
"But dad..." Headshot protested.
"LEAVE NOW!" Buckshot yelled. Headshot flew up and hid on a cloud, the other stallions didn't see him poke his head out of the cloud.
"Pay up, daddykins." The thug said.
Buckshot sighed and threw the bag of bits on the ground. The thug smiled and slit Cherry's throat. Buck didn't notice it before it was too late, the knife he had used was thrown and stabbed in the eye, killing him instantly.
Headshot saw this and hid in the cloud. After the thug was gone, he flew down and looked at the two dead bodies of his parents.
"BROTHER!" A distant voice called out. "Brother? Oh my..." Boom said and stared at the bodies.
Headshot cried and jumped into his brother's arms. "Bro!" He cried.
"What happened? Stop crying and tell me what happened!" Boom said to his younger brother.
Headshot, between sobs, told his brother what happened.
"I remember father saying something about finding an old friend in case of his death..." Boom said, in an eerily calm tone, though the tone was force for his own brother.
"Wh-what?" Headshot asked, he had a tear-stained face and his eyes were red. "What about the bodies..." He glanced over the two of the dead bodies.
"Right now, we should go home and rest..." Boom said and hovered above the air.
"Who was the guy dad wanted us to find?" Headshot asked, anger crossed his face. "I will kill the man responsible for this."
Boom looked at his brother. "A pony named Scopes. He was supposed to live in this city."
Headshot rocketed toward the city and started his search. Boom followed behind, his younger brother was faster than him, that's for sure.
"WAIT!" Boom yelled. The young and angry Pegasus stopped and looked around, scanning the crowd. "We don't even know what he looks like, if we take this nice and slow-"
"That creep would get away!" Headshot yelled.
"Rather then wasting energy trying to find a pony we don't even know what he looks like. I rented out a place near here and we could start our search there." Boom said. His brother sighed and cried a little. "Put on a brave face, for me? Okay."
Headshot nodded and wiped away his tears. "Right, let's think rationally here. A little rest would be a good idea." He said.
The two of them made their way to an old apartment building, they walked inside. The decor was outdated but it was still in good condition.
"Mister," Boom addressed the guy behind the counter. "I would like to change it from four ponies to two."
The pony behind the counter nodded and traded keys with the white Pegasus.
Both of them walked up the stairs and quickly found their door. Boom pulled out the key and unlocked the door.
The room was a run-down piece of shit, but it was enough for now.
Headshot went over to the table and looked through the drawers.
"What are you looking for?" Boom asked and stood beside his brother. "You should take a nap first, you look tired."
Headshot ignored his and left. "I'm looking for a list." He said and went to the bookcase. "A list of names."
"I'll look for it. Go to sleep, brother. You need the rest." Boom said and helped him look for the list of names.
Headshot stared at his brother. "You're right, I need to calm down and plan it, not just run it." He said and went to the bed. "But I doubt I'll get any sleep."
"That's fine. I'll go look for it downstairs. Just don't overwork yourself, I know you're a perfectionist." Boom said and left. He headed down stairs, and asked the guy at the counter if he know a pony by the name of Scope.
"Don't know anything about that," He said, Boom deflated a bit. "but I may be able to help you." He pulled out a list of all the costumers he ever had. "I don't remember a Scope, but maybe this would help."
"Thanks!" Boom said and picked up the list, and quickly skimmed through it. He found a name Scope, and it even had a small picture.
"I remember that one say something about a funeral earlier, though he said his name was Sniper, not Scope. That's an old list." The guy at the counter said.
"A funeral? Where?" Boom asked. He got the direction and left, He flew up and headed to the direction of the cemetery.
He landed outside and walked in, the air was moist... Water? He walked around, trying to find a tall Pegasus, wearing a black vest and a slouched hat with black sunglasses.
There was a large pony made of water slowly walked towards him. There was a loud crack of thunder and the water pony sank to the ground.
"Oy! Get moving, mate!" Somepony said as he fired another electric shot.
More water monster appeared and splashed Boom with water.
"Bloody hell..." From a nearby cloud, a bright grey flash zoomed pass and picked up the colt.
They flew out the cemetary.
"What the hell!" Boom called out. "What the hell were those things!?!"
"Water sprites, don't mind that now, why are you looking for me?" The older dark coated Pegasus said.
"Looking for you? Wait. You're Scope, right?" Boom asked with a curios look on his face. "You are! I need you to come with me!" Boom jumped out of his grasp and pulled his arm.
Scope didn't budge. "Hold on, wanker. Who the bloody hell are ya?" Scope said and pulled the boy and examined his face.
"I'm the eldest son of Buckshot..." He said. He was chocking by his strong grip.
Scope eyed him for a few more minutes. His icy stare even made Boom swallow a lump in his throat. "You got his eyes..." He dropped his grip and Boom choked as he stumbled in the air. "You got my attention. What do you want?"
"He told me to find you in case he..." Boom trailed off and looked down to the ground.
"Suck it up, yer dad won't be wanting to see ya like this." He said and flew in front of the colt. "Listen here, wanker. I know what he had planned if he wanted you to find me, and it. Will. Be. Hell. I want you to know what he had planned."
"First... We need to get to my brother, he's itching for some payback." He said and then muttered under his breath. "And so do I."
Scope shook his head. "That... That is why you'll be dead before you get your 'precious' payback. Forget that revenge bullcrap and listen." He sped off towards the city, Boom following closely behind. "Your father wanted both of you to be a professional, like me."
"Professional what, exactly?" Boom asked.
"I'll tell ya when we get to your brother." He said and quickly went towards the apartment building. Boom thought that he must have known they were searching for him.
The two of them went inside and got to Boom and Headshot's room.
Headshot was out of bed and was shifting through pieces of paper after paper. He didn't even notice the two of them walk in, he just kept looking through each paper, searching for a name, a picture, his target.
Boom coughed to attract his brother's attention. "Brother, we have a guest." Headshot turned to face the older Pegasus and only stared.
"A pleasure." He said and turned back to his work.
"I can see ol' Buckshot in him. Workaholic." Scope said and went to his side. "Looking for the wanker that killed your folks? Want to make it up to them?"
Headshot didn't even pay him any mind. He rifled through each picture and each name.
"Want me to teach ya' how to kill him?" Headshot looked up and saw the stallion, dead serious. "How to hunt, how to be what your father wanted you to be."
"What did dad want us to be?" Headshot said.
"A Professional."
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Five months have passed, each day was filled with rigorous training for both brothers. The three of them stood outside of town, the site where the two young colt's parents died.
Headshot has a self-made Storm Rifle in memory of his parents strapped on his back. Standing beside him was his brother.
"Name the three standards of being a Professional." Scope said as the two colt saluted.
"One, be polite." Headshot started.
"Two, be efficient." Boom continued
"And three," Both of them said in unison. "have a plan to kill everpony you meet."
"Good, now we're going to go on a little hunting." Scope said, and threw two empty saddle-bags on the ground in front of them. The only thing in these bags were a picture with a quickly written scrawl of a name on it. "This is your prey. The name is Dead Ringer, actually both of them are Dead Ringer, twin brothers together since birth, and big deal mobsters that harass and abuse the striving folks." He said and stepped closer to the two colts. "And this is what I want you to do, lads. Find them and kill them. DISMISSED!"
The two colts saluted and flew off. Headshot led the way and stood on a small cloud. He unstrapped his rifle and scanned the area. Boom landed beside him.
"So, where should we start look-"
"There! Five o'clock, building on the far right." Headshot said and looked at the picture he had. "No, wait... that's a double. Ears are too short..."
"They know we're hunting them..."
"Only makes it more challenging." Headshot smiled.
"And all the more rewarding." Boom said and picked up a non-cloud rifle and scoped out the area. "Looks like the doubles are scattered throughout the city..."
"Should be easy for us then." Headshot stretched his wings. "Soon as these losers heard we were coming."
"They hid and ran." Boom flew off the cloud. "I search east side, you search west."
"Last one to get his kill buys the pizza." Headshot smiled and flew next to his brother.
"Get ready to spend your bits, brother." Boom sped off to the east.
Headshot shot off to the west and quickly perched himself on nearby cloud, right next to the hospital. There was more chaos every day, more death. The city was run by an underground mafia now.
Bodies were lined up everywhere, some injured, some dead, all mortaly scared. Headshot cringed as a few young foals were sent in the hospital. There was sounds of gunshots a few blocks away. The local gangs were at war again.
One of the gangs had a close relationship with Headshot and his brother. He decided to help and he flew in, above the battlefield. There were ponies in green hoodies that were shooting at another group with black bandanas.
Headshot was taking out the ones with green hoodies, each popping heads without missing a beat.
"HEY," Headshot yelled to one of the ponies down below. "Need a hoof?"
A black coated mare with a light blue mane looked up to him. "Thanks, Sweet heart!"
"No prob, Jun."
The rival gang was slowly retreating, the others cheered. Headshot flew down and gave his marefriend a large hug. "Hey, Juno."
"Hey there, heart breaker. So who's the target today?" Juno said with a smile and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Maybe I could help?"
"A guy named Dead Ringer, red coat, short black mane, Pegasus and his brother who looks exactly like him except he's a Unicorn." Headshot said and pulled out his target's picture.
"Yeah, I know the Pegasus, lots of duds around the city. He's actually in the Falcon mansion."
"FALCON! You have got to be kidding!" Headshot facehoofed and sighed. "Take care of the ponies, alright? I'll be back... Hopefully." Headshot flew up and headed to a large mansion on a hill outside of town.
Headshot landed a few ways away from the Falcon mansion. "Crap... That's a lot of security..." There were a ton of guards, each wielding a type of rifle, sword or crossbow.
"Alright... Now what did Scope taught me again?"
"Use the force." Scope's voice echoed through his mind.
"No that's not it."
"FUS RO DAH!"
"Not that either."
"The simple way is the best way."
"Right!" Headshot took a large stone and aimed it at one of the glass windows on the guard tower, missing completely and knocking out the guard above. "Not what I had in mind, but the air space is clear. I could land there."
He flew up and landed on one of the towers, the courtyard was surrounded by guards, some of Dead Ringer's men and the Falcon family's Doms and Capos.
"Alright, my target is..." Headshot trailed off when he saw the stallion that killed his parents, he learned his name through the months he worked as an apprentice. "...Blade..." Headshot saw Blade and his target talking to each other. A young red maned filly was nervously shifting her hooves.
Headshot stayed silent and watched the conversation. The two of them were smiling and nodding they were going inside the building. Headshot saw the filly being dragged against her will.
After a few minutes, they appeared on the third floor. The filly looked like she tried to run away, but only got hit by Blade. She was pushed down by Dead Ringer onto the bed and...
Headshot couldn't take it anymore. He picked up his rifle and quickly killed the two stallions in the room. The others were alerted by the two loud thunder shots that echoed through the courtyard.
There were three more sniper shots that rung out. To Headshot's left, Scope was taking down the few unaware Capos and Doms, and to his right, Boom was taking out Dead Ringer's men, he wasn't as good as his younger brother, but he knew where a bullet would hurt the most.
Headshot nodded to his brother and jumped down to a glide. He pulled out his rifle and fired. He quickly sped off the ground and dodged the bullets and crossbow bolts that were headed his way.
He crashed into the window where his two victims lay dead on the ground. The scared young filly shivered as Headshot approached her.
"It's not safe here! Let's get you out of here!" Headshot yelled and grabbed her, he flew out the window and almost made it out, but he got clipped in the wing and was tumbling down to the ground.
Boom saw this and threw away his rifle and jumped down from his perch. He quickly went to Headshot's side. "You flap right wing, I flap left!" Boom said and wrapped his foreleg around Headshot and both of them began flapping their respective wings. The filly was clinging on Headshot's neck.
Scope was making quick work of the other guards, he was being a great distraction for the two colts.
They quickly made it out and flew away to a hide-out.
Headshot landed in exhaustion and saw his wing bleeding an insane amount of blood. Juno quickly picked him up dragged him inside.
"MEDIC!" She yelled. Boom picked up the filly and followed Juno. Scope came in with a content smile on his face.
They went to the infirmary and washed off the blood and dirt. "You're going to be alright, hun." Juno said, they washed off the dirt on his flank and saw a picture of a crosshair and a pony skull.
"Now, this is embarrassing, my younger brother got his mark before me." Boom laughed as he put down the filly onto one of the beds.
"Head, Boom. You done me proud, lads. You're real Professionals now." Scope said and gave Boom a pat on the back. Headshot was in deep pain, but he couldn't help but smile.
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It was the dead of night, Headshot didn't like being this quiet at night. He got up from his bed and left through the back door.
"Are you sure you should be out right now?" Juno said from behind and closed the door with her magic.
"I... I just need somewhere to be." Headshot said and started to walk, his wing still hurt, his bandages were already covered in blood. "Just to visit my parent's grave."
"Don't stay out late, I hate you if get a cold on my watch." Juno said and gave him a peak on the cheek.
Headshot walked towards the cemetery. Boom would probably be there already, it was their parent's five month death anniversary. He stopped by a small flower shop and bought a few rose buds, those were his mom's favorite.
He made it to the cemetery and placed the flowers on their headstone. Boom came up from behind and dropped off some sunflowers, his dad's favorite.
"Hard to believe it's been five months since we got here." Boom said and looked at the clouds above. "Weather's been working on its own now, since Anarchy's back in full control." A few droplets fell from the sky, making the dark sky even gloomier.
"I miss them..."
"I do too, but I'm staying strong, for you. You should do the same, Mother and Father wouldn't want baby brother to be a cry baby now."
He forced a smile. "Right, let's just move on, Blade is dead, and we're real professional snipers now."
"Never forget them, alright?"
"Never."