Harmony of Machines

by CreeperZone

Cowfilly Bebop

“Where?!”

“DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOU! Look up, Hue!” Felix shook his friend.

“Oh! That's Appleloosa?! Where’s the dirt roads and saloons?! I've seen southern movies! There should be cowfillies and bandits everywhere!”

In front of the trio stood the mighty city of Appleloosa. Sure, it wasn't the wooden, old fashioned, heart of the wild wild south it had once been, but it also had not lost its soul. The paved concrete streets and modern infrastructure bore resemblances of the southern style in their details, stars and apples littered the seams and signs of buildings. Even some of the ponies still wandered around in cowfilly hats and farm-themed clothing, despite the modern era they lived in.

“There's still saloons, Hue... They just look more modern now. Those films are set hundreds of years ago you know.” Bun interjected with an enduring and knowing grin.

“Yeah, but!” Hue slumped down a little, “But I've always wanted to be in one of those movies! I love them!”

“Well, how about a book?” Bun giggled.

“As in, be in a book? Why would I want that? There's no old south books! Earth Ponies couldn't read back then!” Hue protested.

“Oh, no reason.” I'd say Bun giggled again but I believe that's quite obvious.

Anyways, the three of them finally moved their asses and trotted on into Appaloosa.

It was the dead of night, the stars of the sky speckled down light upon the city's dusty neon signs that overwhelmed the main street with strong orange and red pigments, thick scents of whisky swooned in their direction from the many bars and their hooves crunched down on the dusty and sandy pavement coated by the winds from the desert.

“So we're looking for some gang called the Vipers, huh?” Felix assured himself.

“Yup, I don't know how one would go about doing such a thing though.” Bun gave him his answer.

Hue hopped over to a window of a bar and peeked inside, “If southern movies taught me right, the smartest pony in any town is a bartender!”

“That... Doesn't sound like a bad idea. Which one do should we try first?” Bun scanned her eyes down the rows of drinking holes.

“Hmmm... Maybe we should split up! Do three at a time!” Hue hopped.

Felix turned to Hue with skewed eyebrows, “Are you sure that's a good idea, Hue? I know we can handle ourselves but what if Bun... Well... Gets into trouble by herself?”

He shouldn't have said that. “WHAT?! You don't think I can handle myself?!” Bun yelled far too loud for public decency.

“W-Well, more than a regular pony sure, but you've never been trained in combat and...”

“I can literally crack ponies’ skulls in with one punch! I cannot believe you two!”

Hue took a step away from Felix, “You cannot believe Felix, I didn't doubt your abilities! Nope! Never once!” She smiled to top off her lying.

“H-Hey, Hue!” He looked over to his friend.

“Sorry, you dug your own grave on this one! Hehe!” Said Felix's now ex-friend.

“I have had some training! And I grew up on some really tough streets, I know how to handle myself even around some gang members!” Bun huffed and puffed, ready to blow a house down.

“I'm sorry, Bun, I didn't mean to offend you.”

“Yeah, well... I forgive you, now let's stop wasting time and split up, I'll take... That one, the Bronze Stable. Meet back here in two hours, got it?” Bun's eyebrows crossed fiercely. Bun immediately checked the time and noted it down.

[01:03]

“Yes, missus commander Bunny!” Hue saluted and ran off to find her own target, and Felix soon followed her example after a sigh.

“Good, now.” She looked to the bar across the street, it was a reasonably sized tavern with hundreds of years of history in its well worn wooden walls. A large brown horse-shoe, presumably made of bronze judging by the name and all, shined at the center of the door and on each of its signs. Bun swiftly crossed the street and skipped to the door, confidently striding in and...

“Oh shit.” She cussed under her breath when she got a hoof into the tavern and saw the several parties of burly stallions and mares along the bar, in the many leather-clad booths and playing pool on the antique pool table sitting under a candle-lit chandelier. Each pony had a cold look in their eyes and a devilish smile under their cowfilly hats as they all looked in the direction of Bun's unfamiliar face. Each of them looked either strong and menacing or so drunk off their asses they couldn't tell a tiger from a tumbleweed.

Somehow she had stumbled into the most hardcore bar in all of Appaloosa.

Bun lowered her head to try and not cause a stir up as she trotted over to the bar and sat down in the furthest seat from anypony, she managed to sit somewhere somewhat isolated in the center of the bar. She looked over to the bartender and waited for his attention.

The bartender was not quick to attend her, but after a dozen minutes he finally walked up to the pink mare.

“What can I getchya, miss?” His fur was a dark brown, his teeth partially missing and a bartending vest worn with pride sat cleanly over his shoulders, his pulled back blonde mane wasn't a bit less maintained than the glossy countertop and each of his fine collection of drinking glasses.

Bun smiled up to him from her seat, making sure to put on a confident face. “I'd like a glass of your strongest stuff, and if you don't mind I'd like to ask a question or two about the city; I'm new here as I'm sure you can tell.”

“My strongest? Are you sure, miss? I don't want a flower like you bein' clipped somethin' I served ya.”

“Very sure, trust me, I'm no lightweight.” She eyed down the stallion.

“If ya insist.” The bartender took out his strongest bottle and poured her a glass, and while Bun drank it down she heard two ponies trot over behind her.

“Quite impressive for a young lass like you to be drinking like that.” A grizzled voice from a large Earth Pony wearing a short black cowfilly hat along with a studded leather vest complimented her while he sat in the available bar stool at her side, his less bulky friend sat on the opposite side of Bun, encapsulating her.

Bun scoffed, “What do you want, punk?”

He raised his eyebrow and the bartender took his leave. “Punk? That's quite rude of you, lass... You must not understand what me an' mah buddy came here for.” He leaned onto the bar and exposed the underside of his vest where a holster sat snuggled above his chest.

“Really? You really think you and your little buddy can take me on?” Bun lifted her head high in confidence.

“I really didn't wanna do this the hard way... Fitz, help me with our lovely lady here.” He sat up, and so did his friend, both grabbing Bun by either hoof of hers. She went to push the larger one off of herself, knowing full well she was capable, but just as the tussle began it ended as a gunshot rang through the entire tavern, every whisper ending to look over to the entrance.

“Get your filthy hooves off of my girl, Clank.” The mare spoke from the middle of the doorway, smoking gun held high in her non-missing wing, her fiery red fur glistening under the candlelight.

To Bun's surprise, the stallion stepped back. “Ace?! What in tartarus is the damned T-Rex doin' back in Appaloosa?”

“I hope it ain't to put a bullethole in your flank, Clank.” Ace strolled down the saloon while the ponies returned to their chats and drinks, only Clank and his friend Fitzgerald kept a close eye on the mare.

Bun felt a nudge at her side and she looked to the fear-stricken Fitz begging to her, “L-Look ma-am, I apologise, d-didn't mean no harm... I-I'll be off now...” He bolted back to the table with other thuggish looking stallions and sat down with them, all of them avoiding eye contact with Ace.

Clank growled, “Fuckin' coward... What do you want, Ace? This mare's new to town, you know that's fair game.”

Bun's eyes widened at the comment as she imagined how many ponies have had the misfortune of being forced upon by these thugs.

“I do know that, but she's already mine. You ain't touching her.” Ace strolled over and sat down where Fitz had fled from.

“What? That's bullshit, what's she to you anyway, a marefriend? I ain't ever hear you hooking up with a mare.” He yelled at Ace, ignoring Bun completely by this point.

“If ya must know, she is my marefriend, now scram.”

“Bullshit, prove i-”

Ace pulled Bun in and layed the pink mare over her lap and leaned down to kiss her deeply and sensually.

Bun nearly fainted. Her eyes wide, mouth moaning gently in surprise and body relaxing into the kiss, her heart fluttering to the top of her chest. She held Ace back tenderly, leaning into it after realising what was happening.

After only a few dozen lifetimes of kissing, Ace lifted her apparent marefriend back and looked at Clank.

“I... Fine... You're a lucky bitch to be the T-Rex's pet.” Clank directed the latter statement at Bun before trotting off in a huff.

Bun sat there completely stunned, she forgot what words were.

“S-Sorry bout that, Bun, I just had to get him off your back.” Ace whispered over as she dipped her hat down to cover her face.

“Ah... I... It's... F-Fine... H-Honestly I swear... I am just... Surprised... I think...” Bun blushed and giggled to herself.

“I-It's fine... L-Let's just not talk about it okay...” Ace begged of her.

“Y-Yeah... All right. Thank you though, Ace.”

“No need to thank me, jus' tell me how's your side of the investigation goin'?” She was still hiding her face, despite the fact she regained control of her voice, and she spoke somewhat distant, her mind in another place.

“It's been good; me, Felix and Hue are looking for some gang called the Vipers. I assume you're the same?”

“Mmm Hmm.” She nodded in confirmation, “I heard whispers of 'em a few years back when I still lived here... They musta grown since then.”

“All right... I was about to ask the bartender about it before you know, all that.” Bun chuckled gently.

“Sounds good...” Ace looked over to him serving someone else. “Jack might even give you a straight answer now that I'm here, heh.”

“Heh, right. Well, while we wait, you mind telling me why that Clank guy was calling you the 'T-Rex'?” Bun watched as Ace raised her hat up once more, no longer having anything to hide.

Ace had a little wicked smile, “Oh nothin', just a nickname I picked up here, you know what a T-Rex is? It's this fictional beast that's sorta like a dragon. Ponies call me that cause I once killed a pony using just my teeth... Not a story I wanna get into at the moment though.”

Bun giggled, “I used to read comic books, I know about dinosaurs. That's cool.”

The bartender, or 'Jack' as Bun came to know him as, slid over with apology in his eyes and voice. “I hope you may excuse me, Ace and Ace's assuredly wonderful mistress, didn't know who you were. How can I help?” He bowed his head to Bun, trying to make up for his sub-par service from prior.

“Oh grow some balls, Jack,” Ace laughed to him, “Get us a whiskey each and tell me about this Vipers gang.”

“Right away, ma-am.” He poured two glasses of a fine drink for the two ladies, “Vipers are just a buncha no good hoodlums, I don't serve 'em in my house.”

“Would you know where we could find them, sir?” Bun asked politely.

“I heard they like to hang around this old abandoned apple orchard east of the city, they extort ponies comin' down the road that way to get to the badlands. The name escapes me.” Jack replied.

Ace jumped a little, “You wouldn't mean Goldlake farms by any chance, would ya?”

“That's the one.” The bartender nodded.

“Well, that's very helpful, Jack. I hope to see you sometime later when I ain't workin'.” Ace carelessly threw a few bits onto the counter and took Bun's shoulder with her left and only wing and walked her out while she thanked the Bartender. “So, Bun, Appaloosa treatin' ya well?” Ace grinned once outside.

“Wouldn't say that exactly... Hey, I forgot to ask, how did you find me?” Bun smiled to herself, knowing full well what Ace's answer would include.

“I can sense valuables, Bun, your gem heart is like a beacon to me.” Ace calmly explained.

“Aw shucks.” Bun nudged Ace playfully, “I'm happy you think so~”

“N-No, wait!” Ace growled and dropped her hat down to hide herself once more. “I meant monetarily! I-It would sell for a lot of bits, I w-wasn't using my power like... Well.. Ehh...” Ace caught sight of Bun giggling like a schoolfilly. “I will throw your ass back in there, you bitch!” Ace harshly pointed her wing at the bar, flustered and breathing heavily.

“I apologise! I was kidding, let's just wait for Hue and Felix.” Bun brought Ace back to their arranged meeting spot.

“G-Good... How long until they get here?” Ace blurted out.

“Uh... Oh...”

[01:31]

“Um... An hour and a half...” Bun blushed.

Ace's eyebrows crossed like daggers, very soft furry daggers made out of hair. “You're kiddin', right?”

“Uh, no... Guess I miscalculated how long this would take.”

“Follow me.”

“W-Wait are we gonna...” Bun watched as Ace trotted right off, and she galloped on after.

---

“Nope.” Bun and Ace were in the middle of a conversation while taking the eastern highway off Appaloosa, though it wasn't much more than dust formed into a thick line where they were at. It was very early morning, just before sunrise, and the moon was still out, sitting proudly high above them in the sky. “But I imagine you've been here a while?”

“Born an' raised.” Ace nodded. “Only time I left was to start stealing from bigger fish in the bigger cities a few years ago.”

“Got any fun stories for me?” Bun said slyly, “I'd love to see how the great T-Rex spins a tale.”

“Glad to hear you're so interested, how 'bout I tell ya about my biggest job, the Canterlot job.” Ace smiled to Bun, her dark gray eyes were filled with the desert's moon, filling up with the soft blue and yellow pastel's of sky and sand like two pools of dye.

“I would absolutely love to hear about that.” Bun gave her a heartfelt smile.

Ace tipped her hat, “So, every filly knows about the princess in canterlot, and I've always been fascinated with what immense treasures Celestia could be holding.” Ace looked down the road, the moonlight fondly grazing her back fur. She noticed a group of thugs wearing sombrero's walking in their direction, “Oh, hold up, buttercup, we've got a snake down the trail.”

“Oh damn... Do you think it's them?” Bun took a step back, holding a defensive stance.

“I'm as sure as the sun is hot.” Ace gripped the handle of her machete with her wing, taking it out and holding it hidden at her flank.

“Hmm... You don't mind me trying something crazy do you?” Bun raised an eyebrow.

Ace enjoyed that, “Go for it.”

“Howdy, ladies, what brings ya to the land of dragons?” A stallion yelled over as the group trotted, a mare from the group adding in her own word. “Hope ya'll have been havin' a nice walk.” A third joined in, “Yeah, lovely weather we're havin' ain't it?”

“Actually now that you mention it, it's been lovely, thank you.” Bun smiled confidently, a deep spark of chaos drove her.

Ace turned her head softly away from Bun, “Ya'll the Vipers?”

The group came closer to them, becoming more defined out of the blurring horizon of the desert. They laughed really hard.

“Ah, I'm sorry, ya'll came down here knowing what was gon' happen? You two must be dumb as rocks.” The head pony stated, pinning up his hat to reveal his light tanned fur face and crystal blue eyes.

“Yeah, we know who ya'll are... But do you know who I am?” Ace stepped with her side exposed to the pony, respectfully exposing her cutie mark to give him the best chance at guessing at her identity. Her cutie mark shone in the cool moonlight, a greatly acclaimed symbol sitting on her haunches.

“Nope, don't know a thing about you. An' why should I?” He growled.

“Thing is, you do know who I am, you just aren't aware of it yet.” She stood face to face with him once more, “The name Ace Derby ring a bell? I don't like to toot my own horn but I'm somewhat of a local legend.”

They pony furrowed their eyebrows and bared his teeth, “Always sounded like a washed out ol' cowpony who got lost to me.”

“Trust me, buttercup, never lost a thing in my life.” Ace exposed her machete, sounding that it was time to fight.

“HEY! What's that over there!?” Bun yelled and pointed behind the group, only one of the thugs falling for her blatant trick, turning around all the way to find that Bun was standing directly behind her. “Gotchya!” Bun exclaimed as she landed a quick punch on the pony, launching them to the side, their hat was thrown off their bleeding forehead as they fell into the sand. “Ha! It actually worked!”

“Leave Ace to me! You two grab the pink one!” The stallion pulled out a revolver from beneath his vest, holding it tight in his jaws and aiming over to Ace, who bolted at him, machete in tow.

Bun, on the other side of the thieves, grounded herself against the two remaining lackeys as one drew a club and the other a leather whip. “Hey there, friends! I hope ya'll don't mind me testing more tricks on you! Oh, look at me, saying 'ya'll', I feel like a cowfilly already!”

“Shut your trap, weasel!” The one with the club yelled out before dashing at Bun, swinging her weapon at the giggling pony.

Bun threw her hooves at the weapon, taking a small bruise to her hoof in order to catch the club in both hooves and wrap herself around it. Then she pulled herself away and with a spark of her magic, suddenly the club was gone, and in its place the pony held a bouquet of flowers. “Tada! Hahaha!” She sat back and did jazz hooves.

This quickly proved to be her downfall as her other opponent slung the whip around her neck and yanked her in, toppling her over and leaving her to be grabbed by the now unarmed mare. “A-Ah! Shit! F-Fine, less showmareship!” Bun stuttered out while being tackled by both ponies.

She was held down by one while the other kicked her stomach with deadly force, the metal chassis under her fur being dented inward, “Fuck!”

Bun concentrated on her inner magic, going with its chaotic flow best she could. She sent the power down through her tail, gaining an impossible level of control over the strands of hair, she slid it up the side of the pony that kicked her and wrapped it around his neck, pulling back with all her strength.

As the pony was being yanked downward, they used this momentum to land a knee-slam underneath her belly, in the place that cannot bedescribed without having to mark this as a 'mature' story.

“Ahhh!” She screamed, even with the immensely different version of 'pain' her robotic body felt, she felt that one. “Urrghh! G-Get off!” She concentrated her strength into her upper hooves, pulling the mare down with enhanced cybernetic muscles and throwing her into the sand. She then kicked the stallion at her hind legs away and stood up, quickly tossing the sand around her up into the air which concealed herself briefly.

She made her voice low and smooth as best she could to speak. “I've got two guns, one for each of ya.” When the dust cloud cleared Bun was wearing a cowfilly hat she managed to take from the mare she fought, along with two revolvers, one held high in each hoof. (She was holding them with the flat bases of her hooves, despite the weapons being designed for a mouth.)

“W-What the? H-How?!” The thugs checked their empty holsters. “Y-You bitch!”

“Sorry, not sorry!” Bun then shot, her pieces destroying the air with repeating explosions, the bullets tearing the ponies open. They were long dead by the time Bun ran out of bullets and threw the guns down to take a breath.

“Nice one, Bun!” Ace mustered while tussling with the head of this group, holding him by the neck with her machete while tying up his hooves with his own lasso. “So, you gon' tell us your name?” Ace smiled down to the restrained stallion.

“Y-You bitches! You killed Slide and Drillbit!” The pony struggled before promptly being reminded of his situation when Ace pulled the machete's edge up to his throat. “A-Ahh! My name is Wick! Wick Queller!”

“Thank ya, Wick, now I only have one lil' question for ya, where can I find your leader?” Ace gave his throat some room to speak.

“F-Fuck you! I ain't te-”

Ace pulled up her revolver in her wing and shot the lackey Bun knocked out at the very start, killing them immediately. “Rethink your answer.”

“Ah! Y-You! Y-You bitch!” He yelled, and the revolver was placed against his temple. “F-Fine!! P-Please don't kill me! V-Viper is at the home, it's about five miles that way!” He pointed off into the distance.

“My gracious thanks, Wick.” Ace slipped the revolver down to his hooves and with a bang bang, his two forelegs were left bleeding. Ace threw him onto the dirt path. “Hope I never got to see your face again. Let's go, Bun.” She holstered her weapon and trotted away from the crying and crippled pony.

Bun followed quickly, leaving Wick all alone.

“Good work back there, I thought I might have had to help, but you took those two really well.” Ace tipped her hat to Bun.

Bun sighed and giggled delicately. “Yeah... Though I kinda tried to rely on my magic a bit too much; got carried away. They would have had me if I wasn't so much physically stronger.”

“You're learnin', no need to put yourself down. Ya did great. I liked your lil' tricks too, they were kinda funny.” Ace gave her a pat on the back, “How does that magic of yours work anyway? I don't exactly see a horn on ya.”

“T-Thanks... Hehe, well, it's a bit complicated... There's just a pool of chaotic energy inside me, and the way a unicorn focuses their magic into their horn I can focus it into different parts of my body, and then the magic can let me do more than what is physically possible normally. Like if I focus it into my tail I can do this.” She concentrated a moment and stood up on her tail and then she bounced on it like it was a pogo-stick.

“Wowie, that's mighty interestin'.” Ace laughed to herself.

“Yeah, problem is controlling the damn stuff... I have to kinda guide the magic, like when I shouted that there was something behind those ponies, once that mare turned around I was able to teleport over. I gave my magic an opening and that let me kinda know what it was going to do.” Bun's cheeks burned up a little. “Am I over explaining it..?”

Ace shook her head and chuckled. “Not at all, buttercup.”

“Right... Well, you were telling me about your heist?” Bun and Ace trotted on, getting ever closer to the Vipers’ den.

“Indeed I was, now where did I leave off?”

---

“Probably somewhere in there, though it doesn't look like a secret lair for a gang.” Bun suggested; she was sitting behind a dead tree with Ace inspecting the abandoned apple orchard, noting the large and mildly preserved barn.

“Hmm... One moment...” Ace steadied her vision and looked to the barn. She grew a little frustrated and covered her face with her hat after a momentary glance at Bun. “G-Gimmie one moment, my sense of valuables is a bit fuzzy from this distance...”

Bun turned to her a little bewildered but nodding. “Go on.”

“Thanks...” Ace hopped over to the next tree over, finally being able to use her ability as she scanned the barn. “There's a buncha bits in there, a real nice rifle... That's about all I can see.”

“Well, how are we going in?” Bun trotted up behind her ally carefully.

“I have been itching for a good ol' fashioned shootout, if you're up for it of course.” Ace gleamed.

“You bore witness to the first time I've ever shot somepony, I don't know if I can be very helpful. I'd probably be more use standing off at the side being pretty and cheering you on.” Bun placed a hoof on her cheek and struck a pose. “Whatya think?”

“D-Do you gotta tease me? I-It's really not the time...” Ace turned her face away from Bun to look at the buildings of the orchard.

“My apologies... How about I call out their locations? I can set my vision to infa-red and see where they are very clearly.” Bun gave a legitimate suggestion for once.

“Yeah... Sounds all right.” Ace took out a small earpiece from her a pocket under her vest and placed it into her ear. “Can you connect to this thing?”

“Yup!” Bun switched into her interface.

<Nearby Devices>

[S-Service M30 Earpiece] -~= (Great Connection)
—
Searching...
—
[Refresh] [Connect To Devices OFF ==0 ON]

“All right... And I'm connected, can you hear me?” Bun covered her mouth to make it more clear if the sound was coming from the earpiece or not.

“Clear as a whisky glass.” Ace pulled out her revolver and held it to her side. “I'll go on in then, don't get spotted.”

“Will do, good luck!”

“Thank you.” Ace grinned and let herself out into the open, trotting down towards the farmhouse, making herself known. “Howdy! I'm here to speak with your leader!”

A lot of disturbed rustling came from inside before an answer. “W-Who in Equestria is out there?! What's your name?!”

“Ace Derby! Now come on out here and let's have a civil talk.” Ace came up to the gate and leaned up against it.

Bun made her way to the side of the complex, watching closely in her infa-red, she saw another creature flanking. “Ace there is a pony climbing up the silo, I think they have a rifle.”

“Thank you kindly.” Ace whispered to her earpiece and spotted the pony herself. She holstered her pistol to equip her machete and with a hearty chuck she sent her blade into the side of the silo as close to the ladder as she could, the pony climbing it yelped and fell a few dozen hooves to the ground, straining their legs and wincing in pain. “Ya'll better not try be all sneaky on me! Come out an' face me if you wanna face me!”

“F-Fine, have it your way! Get her!” Came a voice from inside and several doors were then kicked open from every side of the building.

“Coming out of the farmhouse, there's... Seven? Eight maybe. Watch out, Ace!” Bun hunkered down behind a tree.

“Don't worry about me, buttercup, it's not my first rodeo.” Ace retook her six shooter into her wing and sprang it up to her sightline, an elegant placement of bullets left the most exposed of her targets on the floor in the first few seconds as ponies sprinted out from the front, back and side doors of the farmhouse.

With six shots Ace managed to kill four of the eight right off the bat, their bodies tumbling down into the sand as their buddies took cover and went to fire back.

Ace smiled at her work and at the adrenaline, reloading her revolver while sliding down behind the gate to keep cover as bullets whizzed down by her, though the protection left her blind to where to shoot next. “B-Bun, give me their positions. I'ma try get 'em in one sweep.” Her voice was a tad cocky.

“Okay, well, there's one a meter to the right of the main entrance on the farmhouse, another running up along the left side of the house, a third is by the side of the riflepony that fell off the silo, last one ran behind a tractor at your ten o-clock.” Bun's eyes flicked back and forth making clicking noises as she locked on to each pony.

“Thanks!” Ace waited for a lull in the enemies’ barrage, and the moment the air stilled from gunfire she hopped up over the fence with her gun at the ready, with a flick to the farmhouse and a single round sent at the pony peaking up from behind the house's railing, she had landed a killing shot, the porch being doused with blood.

“One!” Ace yelled out to herself in victory and ran towards the silo, on the way the pony from behind the tractor popped out and Ace let her hooves out from underneath her to fall into the sand, the thug missing their shot while Ace lined up hers, a pulled trigger later she had killed another. “Two!”

She got back up and sprinted to the Silo and used her momentum to ride up the side, climbing halfway up it to hook her foreleg around her embedded machete she threw earlier, spinning her head and wing back around just in time to catch the flanking pony run into the open. She saw them pause for a moment in confusion as Ace was not to be found anywhere on the ground, making them an laughably easy target. “Three!” Her revolver's chamber rolled over to the next bullet.

As she hung from the Silo she was hit with a long, nasty rotting smell, the stench of death was coming from inside this thing, though she didn't have time to worry about that.

Ace looked over to her last target; they were struggling on the ground dragging the pony that fell off the ladder into the house. “Heh...” She grinned and took three easy shots at them, one to shoot the pony’s hat off, one at the doorway they were heading for and the last at the sand under their hooves. “Four, Five, Six!” She holstered her weapon and pulled the machete out of the metal shell of the silo, leaping down beside the toppled over pony.

“Hey there!” Ace pressed her hoof against their chest and pinned them down against the sand. They were a young stallion with a short stubble and a long dirty mane. “I see you were helpin' your friend there, I find that quite honourable, even enough to maybe let you live. Though first I wanna know what kind of pony you are, what your heart truly desires.”

The stallion shook and stumbled over his words, “W-Wha, mnff, wait! P-Please!”

“Quiet while I'm bein' merciful all right?” Ace leaned in and planted a kiss on the pony’s lips, her inner magic activating at the touch. She immediately knew all of this pony’s deepest desires, better than even the stallion themselves could. “Oh my, that's...” Ace smiled over at the unconscious mare she had knocked off the silo earlier and saw that her hind leg was completely fractured, but not badly enough to kill her. “... quite adorable, you and your lover can run along now.” Ace took her hoof off of the stallion.

“T-T-Thank you... M-Miss...” The stallion blurted out, picking up his mare and trotting with her away from the house.

Ace watched as they went off, her heart a little warm.

“Aww... That's really nice of you, letting those two go. And you did some amazing shooting too!” Bun said through Ace's earpiece while trotting on up.

“I never kill in cold blood, and he didn't care about anythin' apart from that mare, how could I not let 'em go?” Ace tipped her hat back and reloaded her revolver. “Now let's see if we can make this snake rattle.”

“I like your attitude! Let's go!” Bun ran over to the side entrance of the farmhouse, opening the door which Ace already helpfully marked with a bullet hole.

“I can smell some bits moving around in the basement; seems this Viper is trying to hide from us.” Ace trotted into the rundown and unwashed home, they strolled through a chewed up kitchen and into a hallway.

In the hallway a staircase led up to the second story, but the two mares were far more interested in underneath the staircase, which had a small spandrel door that gave way into a closet. Inside lay a busted up washing machine from at least a hundred years ago, and not much else.

“Huh... Guess the way down has to be somewhere else...” Bun commented and turned her head to scan around the room.

“I disagree...” Ace slid her hoof over the washing machine's face-plate. “The dust was disturbed, which implies...” She pulled on the panel and it gave out instantaneously and it fell down to the floor with a thud and crash, the insides of the ancient device exposed.

The guts of the machine machine were gone and replaced with a tunnel leading into the cellar hatch hidden beneath.

“See?” Ace grinned.

“Wow, you don't stop impressing me, do you? Hehe.” Bun bumped her rump against Ace's side playfully and then poked her head into the darkness of the cellar, her eyes adjusting to night vision as she crawled in.

“W-Well... I ain't tryin to...” Ace gently tipped her hat down and lowered her head, waiting for Bun to finish getting inside before slipping in herself.

The two traveled down each dusty stone step carefully into the dim cellar, the scent of mold and aged alcohol slipping through the air around them. Each step echoed like a miniature wave of thunder, the clatter of hooves reached the cooled stone bottom and their eyes searched around the room.

Bun's eyes supplied the most light out of anything down here, revealing a hazy general layout to Ace, who relied on her treasure sense to guide her forward. They bumped past dried out bottles and barrels of cider and stale stores of bread and rotted hay to reach a large farm tool cupboard at the very back.

Ace and Bun tried their best to keep their hoofsteps quiet as they approached, the smooth stone flooring making it a hassle, but they managed. The two reached the cupboard and looked to each other with nods and Ace placed her wing on the handle, with a rhythmic 'three, two, one' being mouthed to Bun, she swung the door open.

The moment the cupboard opened a gunshot went off into the darkness from inside, Bun's eyesight allowed her to see the greenly-highlighted pony hiding inside with her revolver stuck in her mouth. The bullet ricocheted around the cellar, getting absorbed by the mass of decayed furniture.

Bun pushed herself in, pinning the pony down and pressing her head up with the pistol as the accosted mare attempted to fire off the last five rounds she had left, all of them landing in a scatter at the top of the cupboard. “Mfff! Grr!” The pony inside squirmed and spat her gun out, “Die, ya bastards!” She screamed out enough to peak Bun's hearing and she kicked Bun down in the stomach.

Bun tumbled back to the ground and was jumped on by the mare, something sharp and pointy being stuck into her neck in the commotion. “A-Ah! Get off of me!” Bun struggled back and wrapped herself around the mare, her greater brawn helping her edge out a pin on her assailant. “Gotchya! Argh!” Bun felt the pony end her resistance.

“B-Bun are you okay?!” Ace called out, finding it hard to see clearly.

“Yeah! No worries!” She cheerfully replied.

“Hahahah! Hahaha! I don't know who you are! But I'm ever so happy to watch you die right now!” The pony blurted out maniacally.

“D-Die right now?” Bun's voice rose and grew defensive.

“Yes! The poison will end you so very soon! Any second now!” She kept going.

Bun just became more confused, but then she figured it out once her eyes caught sight of a needle sticking out of the lower right side of her neck. “Ohhhh! You poisoned me! Right. I get it now.”

“Yes! Yes! And you shall die in utter pain! Y-Y... Why aren't you screaming in pain?” Her voice turned on a dime, from evil and insane to concerned and blunt with no inbetween.

“Oh, well, um... Sorry to say this, I'm a robot... Soooooo...” Bun bit on the needle and yanked it out, letting it drop onto the floor. “How about we have a little chat upstairs where we can see each other more clearly?”

“A... I... Uh............” The pony choked.

“I'll take that as a yes!” Bun picked up the pony by the collar and pulled her up to the stairs with Ace following behind at a safe distance.

Once they brought out the mare, Bun finally could get a good look at her. She saw that the mare's coat and mane were genuinely bright green without her night-vision active, and that her cutie mark was a venom-soaked fang. She was tied up against a chair inside the kitchen, still unable to comprehend how in Equestria she ran into the one pony who wouldn't die to her deadly toxin.

“So... You're the Viper I presume?” Bun asked and turned to Ace and then back to the helpless mare.

“I... I am... Y-Yes...” She stammered out.

Ace tipped her hat, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance. We're just here to ask you a few questions about your... Business.”

“W-What? You want money? Is that it? Who sent you? T-The Dodgers? The Sweepin' Mares? W-Who?!” The Viper began to panic and writhe in her seat.

“Nobody that concerns you, and we wanna know about the corpses you've been sellin'. From what I know, there's some Zebra in the market for fresh dead meat and you’re their hook up.” Ace took another seat and pulled it under her.

The Viper laughed, completely brimming with anxiety. “Y-You just wanna know about that?! R-Really? Look! I-I ain't even do much! I'm just a middlemare! I obtain the dead ponies from all sortsa gangs around Equestria, w-we keep em in the Silo an' then smuggle 'em south every few weeks...”

Ace was pleased, but not done. “That all is mighty good to know, but we really just need one thing and one thing only... To know who you're supplyin' and how we can reach that individual.”

“I-I'll tell ya if you don't kill me!” She begged, shaking to the core.

“Fine... I won't lay a toe on ya.” Ace nodded to Bun, “Yeah, so tell us.”

“All right! It's this Zebra, Xavierian Deathtouch! That's his name! H-He wants his next shipment in three days, we always meet him on the border to Moonstone off the Appaloosa highway! H-He wears a big dark cloak!” She took some large breaths to try and contain herself, “Ya gonna let me go now?”

“That's exactly the kinda thing I wanted to hear! And sadly we can't just let you go, we're gonna call the sheriff, and you're gonna be going away for a long time. Bun... Knock her out so she doesn't go anywhere.” Ace kicked her chair off and stood up, letting her seat fall back onto the floor and splinter a little against the floorboard.

“Gladly, Ace.” Bun wound back her hoof.

“W-Wait!! No! Y-You said!” The Viper got much louder once more.

“I said I wouldn't lay a toe on ya, and I ain't gonna, cause I'm a mare of my word. Goodnight now.” The last thing the Viper saw was Ace's devilish grin before Bun knocked her lights out, the pony being thrown back in her chair against the floor, her forehead leaking out red blots of blood against her dusty green fur.

“That went better than expected.” Bun noted as she wiped her hoof clean.

“Yeah... This whole thing has been going great... Let's get back to the city quickly now, we need to notify the sheriff and tell Felix and Hue what we know.” Ace picked herself up and went to the door, holding it open for Bun.

“Sounds good! Let's go!” Bun ran out with a big smile on her face, her heart filled with adventure.

Seeing this really made Ace smile, “Heh... You're real cheery...” Her voice wavered slightly.

“Hehe, why wouldn't I be! This has been awesome!” Bun turned around once outside, seeing Ace covering her face with her hat. Again. “Hey, Ace, why do you keep doing that?”

“Doin' what?” Ace gulped and took a step out of the doorway, but not an inch further once she stood on soil.

“You keep covering your face! Whatchya hiding?” Bun trotted up gentle and curious, trying to show a soft tenderness to ease Ace's nerves.

“W-What do you mean? I ain't hidin' nothing! I! I...” Ace squabbled, but Bun simply tilted Ace's hat all the way up until her face was fully visible.

She was blushing.

Ace was blushing hard, her cheeks burned bright and pink against her solid red fur, her eyes quivered in reserved embarrassment. “W-W... What? Whatchya lookin' at?” Ace did her best to cover it up.

“You're blushing!” Bun's smile widened greatly, “It's adorable! You really shouldn't hide it, I'd love it if you let yourself be seen like this.”

“Ah! D-Don't! Stop saying stuff like that!” Ace turned her head away.

“I'm sorry, I'm just trying to be supportive...” Bun whimpered.

“N-No... It's... Uh... It's not that...” Ace forgot how to formulate her sentences.

“W-What is it then? I'm really sorry if I overstepped my bounds...”

Ace growled at herself and grit her teeth, “Bun!”

“Yeah..?”

“Y-You know my talent... Have I told you..? W-What I can do to others...” Ace mumbled under her breath.

“Uh... Oh, yeah... You can tell what others’ deepest desires are if you feel them up or...” Bun's eyes went wide. “Or you... K-Kiss them...”

Now both mares were blushing hard.

“B-Bun... When I kissed you back at the bar... I... W-Well... Mnff... W-Why do you like me so darn much?!” Ace's eyes looked up to Bun sheepishly as she pleaded for an answer.

Bun gulped. “I... I dunno... I just... I've always liked bold... Adventurous ponies like yourself... And when we first met you reminded me of Rainbow Dash... Do you know her? She was this famous wonderbolt... From before I was born... She was my idol... And well, I guess that's kinda where I get my tastes from... I'm sorry...” Bun dropped her head.

“N-No, Bun it's okay... I...” Ace swallowed her words, “I just never had no pony ever feel about me in that way... Being a Pegasus in Appaloosa... Everypony always either thought I was worthless if they didn't know me well, an' if they did... They were scared of me... Nopony has ever... F-Flirted with me before, I'm just not used to it.”

“So, you didn't mind me calling you cute..? Or any of the flirting from before..?” Bun let out a cute little hopeful smile.

“N-No... Not necessarily...” Ace took a deep breath and composed herself, “B-But I need time to settle my thoughts, and think about what I want... So until then... Would you mind stoppin'? Just for a lil' while so I can think this through clearly..?”

“Yes! Of course! I won't say anything even remotely suggestive, I promise.” Bun sighed in relief.

So did Ace. “Thank you... It's been tough not to let it distract me... Heh...” Ace rubbed the back of her head. “C-Can I say something though? Before we pause the flirtin'..?”

“Sure, anything.” Bun helped Ace begin walking along with her, the two of them trotting down towards the road side by side as the sun rose in the distance, breaching through the horizon it shone shattered light into the deep abyss of the cosmos, bleeding up into it and illuminating everything across the desert in its roasting orange glow.

“You're quite cute yourself...” Ace blushed.

Bun knew she blushed because Ace didn't cover her face in her hat this time, she could see it plainly across her soft yet rugged features, the lovely little pink highlight of her cheeks.

Bun smiled and blushed along with her. “Thank you, Ace. Thank you very much.”