//------------------------------//
// S2E04: Taking Aim 
// Story: My Little Zombie: Friendship is Dead Season 2 
// by Nortes432 ft Spitfire 
//------------------------------//

	Applebloom and Scootaloo were getting older. They all would share a room with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. It seemed pretty crammed, but they got used to it. Rainbow was sleeping next to Scootaloo, who was still awake. Scootaloo's childish mind was wondering through her imagination. 
"Scootaloo." Applebloom whispered. Scootaloo looked over the edge of the bed, and saw Applebloom right next to it. 
"What do you want, Applebloom?" Scootaloo asked, crawling out of the bed.
"Wanna go watch the sniper team?" Applebloom asked. 
Scootaloo shrugged. "I guess." She whispered. 
Applebloom smiled and led Scootaloo out of the room. They made their way through the various halls, hiding from the guards. Soon enough, the two made their way to the field where the sniper team were supposed to do their training. There were five soldiers with rifles, each one accompanied by a spotter with a bag filled with tools of all sorts.
The two fillies hid in a bush and watched as the snipers lied down on the ground. Each one flipped out their bipods and set their rifles on sandbags. Their spotters took position beside them. They took out their binoculars and looked through the lenses. Their targets were on the other side of the field.
Scootaloo and Applebloom watched as the snipers took turns firing rounds at the individual targets, while their spotters talked them over on all the elements they need to consider so that they could hit their target.
"It looks like fun." Scootaloo whispered. "Those guns are real cool!"
Applebloom nodded. "Maybe that could be our cutie mark!" She whispered, reviving their antics from a year ago.


Intro


Everypony left the range but two. The sniper and spotter duo stayed behind and continued to practice, perfecting their talent. Scootaloo and Applebloom watched them, even though they were about to fall asleep. 
When they felt like they were about to pass out, Applebloom saw something. "You see that?" She whispered to Scootaloo. Scootaloo raised her head and looked where Applebloom was pointing. There was a small gleam that flickered from a tower. A few seconds after they saw that gleam, the sound of a bullet soaring through the air sounded, followed by the penetration of the spotter's cranium, causing him to drop dead. Applebloom and Scootaloo gasped and held each other's muzzles closed so they wouldn't scream. 
The sniper jumped, and turned his rifle to aim at where the bullet came from. He searched for the shooter, but tables turned as a bullet shattered the sniper scope and went straight into the stallions's eye. The stallion fell backwards, dead. Scootaloo and Applebloom stared in horror.

The next day, news was spread that one of the snipers and his spotter were shot last night. Scootaloo and Applebloom barely spoke of it. They pretended like they took no notice of what was going on, scared of what they saw. 
"I'm scared." Applebloom whispered. They already lost Sweetie Belle, and they've seen ponies die. The difference, is that they saw a pony kill another pony. Right in front of them. They have been mentally scarred.
Scootaloo halted in front of a sign. "Look." She told Applebloom.
Applebloom read the sign. "Looking for two basically trained marksmen to join the sniper team." She looked at Scootaloo. "Are you thinking?-" She began to ask.
Scootaloo nodded. "Dash taught me how to use a rifle once." She said. 
Applebloom sighed. "Well, Applejack did teach me how to use a rifle too, but I wasn't really good at the shooting part. So she taught me how to read all sorts of tools that helped ponies snipe."
"Let's go see if we could join!" Scootaloo said happily.
The duo were able to convince Rainbow and Applejack to help them sign up. "Don't y'all get in trouble now, ya here?" Applejack asked. "Y'all lucky that ya just turned the right age to join."
Scootaloo and Applebloom were set into training. Scootaloo was given a pretty small rifle, so that she could hold it easily. Applebloom looked through the bag of tools. "They all seem pretty fancy-like, but I could probably tell what each one means." She told Scootaloo. 
The captain for the sniper team trotted up to the two. "You two fillies ready?" He asked. The two nodded. "You may begin, now." He started a stopwatch, and the two set to work. Applebloom relayed information to Scootaloo, and Scootaloo took in what she said. When she felt that she knew all she needed, Scootaloo took a shot. 
"Missed." She whispered. Applebloom quickly told her the changes in conditions, and Scootaloo quickly took another shot. It hit close to the bullseye. They continued this for a minute, hitting close to the bullseye multiple times.
"Stop." The team captain told the two. He trotted towards the target as Scootaloo and Applebloom got up. The rest of the team stepped out of the shadows, looking at the two.
"Look who's filling in for Bullseye." One said. "Two little fillies. That's cute."
A mare nudged the rude stallion. "Watch what you say, Skull. I'll knock that sarcastic look off your face."
A second stallion adjusted the glasses on his face. "They're just school-age, though." He said. "There's not much of a chance for them."
The team captain came back with the target. He held it up. "They passed." He announced.
Skull's jaw dropped. "Those two fillies actually passed?" He asked.
The mare laughed. "Told you." She said, trotting up to the two.
Scootaloo and Applebloom were celebrating their success. "Welcome to the team." The mare introduced the two.
"Thanks, ma'am." Applebloom said, smiling widely.
"Ma'am? That's too formal." The mare said. "My name's Coco." She pointed at the others. "That smart mouth over there is Skull. The nerdy one is Jax."
The stallion with the glasses raised his hoof and waved. "You two are impossible!" He called.
"And this is our team leader..." She began, pointing her hoof at the captain, who cut her off and introduced himself. "Hawk, at your service." 
"Ah'm Applebloom." The country filly introduced.
"I'm Scootaloo." Scootaloo added, smiling widely.
"It's nice to see two youngings still into helping out the guard." Coco said. "Although, we're gonna miss Bullseye. He was one of our best shooters."

The next day, the team met up at a tower to have some target practice. They found a herd of zombies shambling around the outside walls, and the undead would make great test dummies.
Scootaloo and Applebloom set up on the far right, next to Coco. "You two little youngings ready to shoot some walking corpses?" Coco asked them.
The two nodded. Scootaloo looked through her scope, and looked for a target. She took a shot at a zombie, dropping it. Various shots rang out from the team as they took turns dropping the zombies. After a few minutes of ringing sniper shots and clanking shells, the team decided it was time to stop. Coco stayed behind so that she could practice. The rest of the team departed and went their own ways.

When they were almost back to the room, Applebloom stopped. "Oh no! I forgot mah bag!" She turned and galloped back to the tower where she left her stuff. Scootaloo took off after her. "Wait for me!" She called. Scootaloo struggled to keep up, but she lost her friend. Scootaloo found herself wandering the wall pathway. She stopped at one of the towers and froze as she saw something she probably wasn't supposed to see.

Applebloom walked into the tower, and saw Coco. Coco looked at the filly. "What you doing back here?" Coco asked.
"Ah forgot mah bag." Applebloom told her, picking it up. "That's all."

Skull sat in the tower with Scootaloo, aiming his rifle at the other tower which contained Coco and Applebloom. He aimed directly at Coco's head. "You're dead now, miss goodie." He muttered. Scootaloo snapped back into reality, and threw herself at Skull. Skull fumbled the rifle, causing it to fire a shot before he dropped it out of the tower. 
The bullet flew towards the opposite tower, hitting Coco in the hind leg. She screamed in pain, falling backwards and dropping her rifle on the floor. Applebloom's eyes widened, and she looked at where the bullet came from. 
Skull turned around and kicked Scootaloo, sending her flying into the wall. He growled and took out a knife. "You stupid little foal! Outta teach a lesson!"
Applebloom ran over and grabbed the rifle. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she had to save her friend. She set it up, just like Applejack taught her. She looked through her bag, and checked things quickly. She went back to the scope and aimed at Skull.
He raised the knife to hit Scootaloo. "You're dead, kid!" He growled. Before he could lower the knife onto her, Applebloom fired a shot that grazed his hoof. He dropped the knife in pain and held the injured hoof. He turned to look at Applebloom, eyes wide. Applebloom quickly cocked the rifle and pulled the trigger, sending a last bullet into Skull's head. Skull fell to the floor, limp.
Scootaloo got up and coughed. Guards rushed over to both towers, and Applebloom watched as both Coco and Scootaloo were escorted out by them, along with the now dead corpse of Skull.

Applebloom walked into the room where Scootaloo and Coco were in. 
"Well if isn't the big hero." Coco said, smiling. "What you got there?"
Applebloom held up a bouquet of flowers. "Ah brought these for both of ya." She said. Coco took hers, and she gave another to Scootaloo.
"I can't believe you actually taught yourself how to shoot the gun under so much pressure." Scootaloo said, smiling. "Thanks for saving me back there, Applebloom.
Applebloom ducked her head. "Ah...Ah'm not really proud of mahself. Ah killed somepony." She whispered.
Coco looked at the filly. "Don't fret over it, Applebloom." She said. "He was a bad person. You did what you had to. You saved us."
Secret walked into the room. "I heard what happened." He said. "I need some explanation on why Skull tried to kill his own team." He said. The ponies looked at each other.
Secret realized it. Nopony knew why. This is just what happened with Prince Blueblood.
Something big is going on here. Secret thought. And I'm afraid it won't end well for anypony.