Pretty Horses

by Starblazer225

Chapter 2: Dirt

That morning something broke my slumber. Noises out on the desert, not too far away, maybe over the next ridge or so. It sounded like long cracks, one following the next out in the distance. Some were loud and only rang out once or twice, others were quiet but rapid fire.

It was still dark out, pin streaks of clouds were painted across a dark purple sky, still early in the day. The moon was just falling over the western horizon. Stars still shone brightly, decorating the scene. I began to rub my eyes to get adjusted. Crisp cool air invaded my nose, the sweet cold dry air was refreshing. The sounds still echoing out in the close distance. Then they stopped. I finally realized what they were, gunshots. Not just one or two, there was a fight, with a lot of ponies out there in the desert shooting at each other.

I jumped over the railing of the truck and hopped into the drivers seat of the truck. As I turned around in my seat to back out into the highway something huge lit up the dark early morning. A bright orange light flashed out in the desert. I could feel the heat from it against my face and peel through my mane. I turned the wheel around and made my way into the desert.

The terrain was rough, the car jerked and shook as the wheels tumbled and rolled over and over. Cacti and desert shrubs were pulled from their roots as I tore over them. It took me awhile to finally clear through the brush. In a matter of minutes the wheels evened out and the truck leveled, and was driving on a tight soft strip of dirt.

Up ahead I could make out a few shapes in the early light. They looked to be cars and trucks of some sort, I'm not sure of any specifics about them but they were vehicles all right. I pulled down the shifter and the truck yielded to a slow stop. I opened the door and sat there with my hooves resting on the wheel. I reached one over to the glove box and drew the pistol from it warm slumber.

"Everypony fine an good out there?" I asked slowly getting out. My hoof upon meeting the floor was met by a heat as well as a deep shadow as the sun was pulled up and the light casted out across the land. Now, when your eye meets witness to something you can't comprehend you find it as normal, and until the encounter ends you still find it as such.

Sixteen, that how many I could count, sixteen bodies laid there. Each on one side of a group of cars or the other. Buzzards were now soaring overhead and the blood was just now setting into the dirt. My mind felt fine, this felt normal, I have never seen a single dead colt or mare in my life but this, despite how normal it felt, seemed odd.

I turned my focus to one particular car, yeah that one, the one that was smoking. The car was black, the windows broken, one door off the front was the only one still attached. In the front was a corpse that was in such bad shape I couldn't even tell if it was even a horse it was charred so badly.

One buzzard finally made its landing, it jumped from body to body until it began to poke an older horse slouched up against one of the trucks. The horse swatted at the bird, cursing at it as it jumped off to another body.

"I'm not fuckin' dead yet you flyin' varmint!" He screamed at the thing raising one hoof. His eyes stared blankly at a patch of dirt in between his legs and one hoof pressed up against his waist. Red was seeping out of his side as the stain of the same color grew. At that point I drew the gun and aimed it at him.

He looked over to me with eyes that were near death, his lips were dried and chapped and the rust of age on his voice came out as he spoke.

"Shoot me," He muttered.

"I ain't got too much time left anyhow." His head rolled over to where it was.

"What in tarnation happen'd here?" I asked, not taking the gun off of him. There was nothing, not a single sound from him.

"Hey," I said moving over to him.

"I'm talking to you!" I demanded nudging him hard with one of my hind legs. He fell over to one side, his mouth hung open and his expression was empty.

"Mister?" I asked backing away. He was dead, no doubt about it I didn't need to check for a pulse, the look just gave it away.

I looked around to see if anyone else was still alive there. A shotgun rested on the ground by another dead horse, except, this one was a pegasus. I picked up the gun and cocked the pump back, it had two shells. One already in there and the other was spit out onto the ground. I did what was smart and picked it up and placed it back into the gun.

I passed by more of the ruin, the number steadily increased. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-two. Then it all ended with one, one that laid upon the rest on a small pile of three. A metal briefcase was under his foreleg, It shone brightly amongst the blood and bodies. A splatter of red stained the front of the case. As I trudged closer I was just starting to smell what was around me, my mind was starting to piece together what happened. Within seconds I felt sick to my stomach.

"They're... they're all dead..." I mumbled under my breathe, my legs felt weak as I fell beneath them.

"They'rall dead..." I said again slowly breathing hard. My heart pounded against my chest as I began to take it all in, they killed each other, they all did. I propped myself up using the gun I acquired and looked over the grizzly scene.

"Applejack, jus calm yerself." I said softly to myself.

"Yer alright, that's all that matters right now." I said dragging myself to my hooves.

I quickly went to the dead horse holding the briefcase, he was staring up into the sky. His open forelegs stretched across two others who were in the same slumber. I grabbed a corner of the case and pulled it out slowly. I flipped it onto my back and ran for my own truck quickly.

I jumped into the drivers seat and tossed the shotgun into the seat next to me beside the briefcase. I began to back up before I noticed something move. I clicked the truck into gear and spun around. A single round tore through the mirror hanging above my head exploding into tiny glass shards as two more flew through my wind shield leaving tiny holes in its place.

I followed my tracks out to the main road and burned rubber going down the highway. The ride wasn't as jerky as I remember, but that might be because I'm shaking too. You don't feel the same after something like that, ya know? Whatever was so important about that briefcase though was pestering me, haunting me, taunting me and asking me what was inside it.

Comments

[Aatxe360]

Taking a break from Mane 6? Inquiring mind would like to know.

[Starblazer225]

2845773I've been working on the same chapter ever since about two days after the last chapter came out, less of a break and more of writers block.... I've deleted, rewritten it, deleted again, started from the ground up, and once more tore it down. I had some other ideas that I had with writing it so i decided to get those down and uploaded them, i PROMISE withing the week i will have a new chapter for hunting the 6.

(On top of that I'm sort of a amateur musician and I just got a new microphone that I've been playing with.)

[Aatxe360]

2846438

No need to rush anything. You don't have to promise anything, I was just curious. If you continue to have writer's block, take a breather. We'll wait.

[Starblazer225]

2846488I can't have that though, i am privileged to have people as you and some other followers that enjoy my work. I should not make you wait due to my own problems. By the end of the week, i promise that