The Oasis Inn was the only thing in between the towns of Fillydelphia and Las Pegasus that provided shelter from the harsh desert climate known as the Equestrian Desert. It was common for travelers to stop by and rest for a day or two before continuing their trek across the hot sands that covered what once was a heavily traveled road. Not much happened at the inn, aside from the occasional person stumbling in, dehydrated because they underestimated the intensity of the desert. However, today felt much different.
Today, the inn was almost empty, save for a blonde-haired girl with a Stetson angled over her face taking a nap in a corner booth. She had been staying at the inn for at least a week, helping out whatever way she could in exchange for the owner, Whiskee, giving her a place to stay. He wore a plain white shirt tucked into a pair of black dress pants. His belt buckle, which was as large as the glass he was cleaning, depicted two sixshots crossing over each other. His ginger hair was unkempt, and stubble covered his lower face.
The woman in the corner, however, wore an orange shirt under her brown leather vest, the rolled-up sleeves revealing her slender arms, and tied around her neck was a red plaid bandana. Tattooed on her right arm was the word 'duty', and on her left was 'sacrifice'. Her denim jeans were ripped all over, showing obvious signs of wear and tear. Sown on both of her breast pockets were the outlines of an apple. On her left hip was a holster that held a fully loaded sixshot – a powerful weapon which only held six rounds – mostly hidden by her vest. The heels of her boots had spurs, hints of blood standing out against the metal. When the door to the inn opened, ringing a bell, her eyes shot open, and she repositioned her hat so she could see the room in its entirety.
A clean-shaven man and a two long-haired women walked through the door, seemingly unaffected by the whipping winds outside. Their vests, jeans, boots, and hats were black as night – the standard uniform of the Canterlot Defense Agency – with the stitchings on the breast pockets bearing two insignias; the right pocket bore a sun, while the left had a moon. They all wore ironed white shirts and black ties under their vests, and black sunglasses concealed their eyes, giving them an air of professionalism. The boots of the woman on the left had small white wings instead of spurs, granting her a limited flight ability, and the man wore black leather gloves. The holsters of the two women hung on their left, while the man placed his on his right. They all took their hats off and hung them on the rack by the door before sitting down at the bar and removing their shades. Their white hair was neatly styled and seemed to shine in the light of the inn.
"Name's Whiskee, what can I do?" Whiskee asked, putting the glass and rag on the counter.
"My name is Task Force," the man explained, placing his sunglasses in his right pocket. "These two are my partners Dust Devil" – he pointed to the left – "and Deadeye" – he pointed to the right – "and we're part of the Canterlot Defense Agency. We're here to ask a few questions, then we'll be off."
"I have no problem with that," the bartender said. "You fine folks want any drinks?"
"Water will be fine, thank you," Task Force said.
"So," Whiskee asked, filling three glasses with clean water, "what kind of questions would you like to ask?"
"We're here to ask if you've seen a group of women ranging from their early twenties to their mid-thirties pass through here. Part of a gang called the Wasteland Bandits. Their names are as follows: Applejack the Liar, Rainbow the Two-Faced, Rarity the Greedy, Pinkie the Fierce, Fluttershy the Cruel, and their leader, Twilight the Siren. They're wanted for conspiring to attack the city of Canterlot and take down the only defenses that protect it from the desert out here. There's a ten million bit bounty on each of their heads, dead or alive. Double for the Sirens."
"No sir, I, uh, don't believe I've seen them," the bartender said, raising suspicion from the three agents.
"Are you sure about that?" Dust Devil asked, placing her magshot – a weapon similar to the sixshot that makes up what it lacks in power with ammo capacity – on the table. "You seem pretty unsure about what you've seen."
"I told you," Whiskee said, "I don't think I've seen them. Now, are there any other questions you'd like to ask?"
"Just a few," Task Force said, removing the glove on his right hand. "Do you know what the punishment for lying to a government official is?"
"Yes sir."
"And do you know what the punishment for harboring criminals is?" Task Force placed his bare hand on the bar, and the area around it immediately ignited.
"Y-yes, sir."
The man removed his hand from the bar and made a sweeping motion with his hand, extinguishing the fire. "Then I suggest you tell us the truth, bartend. We know you've bee—"
"I heard yer lookin' fer some bandits," the woman at the back of the inn said. Her red bandana was covering her mouth, and her Stetson was positioned so that her long locks of golden hair were hidden in it. All four heads in the house turned to her, Whiskee almost surprised at her choice to speak up. The woman got out of the booth and slowly walked over to the bar area, each step on the wooden floor making a deep sound that seemed to echo throughout the inn.
"I must request that you remove your bandana, ma'am," Task Force said. "We need to know who you are."
"Consider this an anonymous tip," the woman replied. "Now, are y'all lookin' fer information on the whereabouts of the Wasteland Bandits?"
"Of course we are, numbskull," Deadeye said menacingly.
"I'm gonna pretend that didn't come from her lips," the masked woman said, "and tell ya what I know."
"You'll have to excuse her," Task Force explained as he used his gloved hand to slap Deadeye in the back of the head, "she doesn't fully realize yet that being part of the CDA means being professional in how you act."
"I see a couple of 'em climb into some of the rooms at night ev'ry now and then," the woman continued. "I wasn't sure if they were bandits at first, but I'm very sure now, what with their hootin' and hollerin'. If I'm right, there's one still sleepin' upstairs. If we can get the jump on her, she'll be caught quicker than a horse can run in July."
"What should we do?" Dust Devil whispered to Task Force. "How can we trust her?"
"We can't," he whispered back before turning to face the woman. "Here's what we're gonna do," he said. "You're going to go up there, bring the bandits back down, we'll arrest them, and you'll get the bounty. Deal?"
"Deal," the woman said, sticking her hand out. Task Force put his glove back on his hand and took her hand, shaking it.
"I assume you have a weapon of your own?" he asked. The woman reached into the left inside of her vest and pulled her sixshot out, leaving her finger off the trigger. "I see you've been trained in gun safety."
"Ya hafta be out here," she replied before walking up the stairs and out of view. It wasn't long before there was the sound of a wooden door being kicked open and the woman shouting, "Stay right there!"
"You'll never take me alive!" came another voice, and the sound of a shattergun – a weapon with massive stopping power – resounded from upstairs. The three agents downstairs heard the struggle and immediately took out their magshots, aiming them at the upper level.
"Is everything alright up there?" Task Force called out.
The woman popped her head over the railing of the second floor and said, "Don't worry, I got her!" She came down the stairs with her sixshot aimed at the back of a young woman's head. The lavender shirt under her leather vest was impeccably pressed, each crease sharp and prominent. She lacked a hat, revealing her purple hair and signifying magenta streak, and a purple starburst was embroidered into her breast pockets. A purple plaid bandana was wrapped around her mouth to act as a gag, and her purple-gloved hands were tied behind her back.
"I don't believe it," Task Force said to himself, holstering his gun. "You caught a Siren alive…"
"Caught a what now?" the woman asked.
"A Siren," Dust Devil explained. "It's not rare for a man to be born with magical powers, but for a woman… it's incredibly rare. The Royal Princesses have named such women Sirens, as their beauty conceals their danger. Only two of them are known, and they're both part of the Wasteland Bandits."
"You see those gloves her and I are wearing?" Task Force continued. "They're so our magic powers don't accidentally get set off during our day-to-day routines. Of course, with such an evil mind like hers, I'm not sure why she'd even need them. Isn't that right, Twilight the Siren?"
As the agent took the makeshift gag out of Twilight's mouth, her captor said, "I saw another one escapin' through the window, but her leg was injured. Can'tve gotten far."
"Deadeye, Dust Devil, go chase the other one," Task Force ordered. The two agents nodded silently and ran out the door.
"You're fighting on the wrong side, Task Force!" Twilight said. "The Princesses have corrupted your mind!"
"And what evidence do you have, Siren?" the agent asked, starting to get angry. Before Twilight could speak, he said, "You have none! Why? Because there is none! I have outstanding evidence of your treasonous acts, though, oh yes I do! You used to be the star pupil of the Royal Princesses, but you went and threw it all away! And why? Because you mistook their protectiveness for oppression!"
"Don't you ever associate me with them," Twilight demanded, loathing in her voice.
"Honey, I've got you tied up right in front of me, powerless. I don't think you're in a position to make the rules."
"Abou' that," the woman who captured Twilight the Siren said from behind Task Force. He turned around to find himself staring down the barrel of a sixshot. The woman had let her hair out and removed her bandana, revealing herself to be Applejack the Liar. "I'm gonna need ya to tell me where yer magshot is. Make any sudden movements, and I'll kill ya right where you stand."
Task Force looked worriedly at Whiskee, who had a sixshot of his own aimed at the agent. Without taking his eyes off him, he slowly said, "It's in my holster, right hip." Applejack took the gun out of the holster and threw it on the ground away from its owner. "You won't get away with this," he told them.
"Sure we will," Twilight said, letting Applejack untie her hands so she could remove her gloves. "Here's how this is going to work, Agent Force: when your two friends get back, we're going to strip them of their weapons, and then we'll send you three back to Canterlot where you can scuttle back to the Princesses."
Twilight was cut short, however, as Dust Devil and Deadeye returned from their excursion. "We didn't find anyone out there," Dust Devil said, "but we did fi– WOAH!"
The Siren had used her magic to levitate the two agents in the air, leaving them helpless. Their magshots were telekinetically separated from them and thrown across the room before Twilight picked up Task Force and placed him with the others. "Here's what you're going to say to the Princesses," she said. "You're going to tell them that we're coming to take them down. Tell them that they better prepare for the fight of their lives. And most importantly, you tell those nihilistic, corrupted, one-track minded, poor excuses of leaders that I am not their pet!" A flash of purple enveloped the three agents, and in an instant, they were gone.
"Thanks a might, Whiskee," Applejack said, holstering her sixshot. "I had a feelin' we were bein' followed."
"Not a problem, Apple," Whiskee replied. "Hey, by the way, I got my wife Stitch to make something of a banner for you guys. Want me to show you?"
"Why not?" Twilight said gleefully.
"Alright, I'll get it from the back."
As Whiskee entered the back room, Applejack leaned on the bar and said, "Looks like the Princesses have branded us as a group of liars, thieves, and murderers, huh? Anyways, ya did a nice actin' job there, Sparkle."
"You as well, Apple," Twilight responded. "Thanks for the use of your shattergun, too. I have to admit, it's got a lot of kick, but it looks pretty powerful."
"Don't forget, squirt," Applejack said, "yer 19. I'm 32. I've got stronger arms."
"Please don't call me 'squirt.'"
There was a moment of silence before Applejack said, "It still 'mazes me that you, at the young age ya are, were one of the best people the Princesses coulda asked for."
"I'm a Siren, remember?" Twilight replied. "They would've done anything they could to get their hands on me."
"Here it is!" Whiskee said, coming out from the back and opening up a banner to show the two girls. Sewn against the red backdrop was an image of five gems connected by a golden ring circling a larger gem, which was connected to the outer gems by golden lines.
"I think it's perfect," Twilight said. "It accurately represents our real name, not whatever name the government in Canterlot gave us."
"Ya mean to tell me we're not the Wasteland Bandits?" Applejack asked.
"No, Apple," Twilight replied, taking the banner and hanging it up above the bar. "We're the Elements of Harmony."