"Pick up the pace slacker," Potshot said. He turned to face the long road ahead.
My hooves were tired. Of all the ponies in the world, I cannot afford to be unprepared for combat. I am completely and utterly useless if I cannot sneak or gallop. Even more useless with this burning question in my mind. If only I was a unicorn like my brother. Where did it all go wrong? He never explicitly told me why we left.
He only told me the town was not good enough for us. It was our home. Now we only have each other. Right now I'm fairly close to forsaking even that. I have to ask him. I have to know.
"Hurry up, I know a safe place to sleep." He stopped for a moment to reconsider what he had said. "Scratch that, there is no such thing as safety." He should know. Potty had been providing the town with all these bullets for all these years. Now, he can't give them the munitions to fight back.
"Hey Potty." He looked over his shoulder with a grunt. Gulping down my anxiety I asked, "Why did you come with me?" It was the one question I had been hesitant to ask for the past five days. "The town needs you. They only wanted me out after all."
"They wouldn't put the bullets to good use. It was full of sheep, the lot of them. The only thing they were good for was standing around and cowering in fear."
"But why? Why do you hate them? Those people were our friends."
"Were our friends. Not anymore. They let a foal like you do the fighting for them. I gave them the ammo, the most advanced weapons and armor, and my good will. They turned their backs on themselves. Forget that 'protect the weak' hero shit. The people wouldn't help even if they had the chance. Even our friends wouldn't give even half a shit if both of us were killed that day. How do we protect people that don't even want us there?"
"And how do you suppose we go get work? We'll die out here in a few more days. We don't have enough supplies or energy for a return trip. We'll die of radiation before then. Two ponies can't live off of irradiated land by themselves."
"Contracts." He was seriously considering this? "The Talons are always looking for able bodies. Even better if I can provide them with exclusive services."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"I'm sorry kiddo. I was hoping I could keep you closer to the camp. You'll make money by doing contracts."
"I'm going to kill ponies . . . for bottle caps! I can't do that."
"And you won't. I'm sorry, but you're not old enough for guard duty. You'll be spying for them, incognito. The job you have is to stay out of trouble, blend in, and do whatever the hell it is they wan't done." We set down in a ditch. " This looks like a good spot."
I desperately wanted to protest. But I knew deep down inside that there was no other choice. I would be doing the dirty work. I could quite possibly die in my line of work. I imagined every single possible way I could die as I tucked myself into the dirt.
"Just remember. You got that fancy sword of yous in case you get in trouble." My sword. It wasn't even my own actually. It's not even particularly special. To be honest, I was still better at running people over and stomping their heads into the ground. Martial arts and speed will only get me so far. The books on traditional martial arts are rare, even rarer to find a practitioner.
The only way to stand a chance in a real fight is to learn how to fight with this blade.
The clouds turned a darker shade of black and lightning strikes occur far off into the distance.
