Rise of a Bounty Hunter

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock. After taking a shower, I headed downstairs. Several people were passed out on my floor and couch, so I started waking them up. Some awoke and left without so much as a 'good morning', some were very pleasant, and some I am pretty sure were in a coma. I stepped into the kitchen and opened the fridge, and the emptiness reminded me of the things I needed to do.

After half an hour of pulling those who refused to wake up into my front yard, I threw on my dark blue trench coat and started towards the guardhouse. Ponyville is one of those towns that is small enough that there are no cars. You have to walk everywhere. Finally I arrived at the guardhouse, which was slightly smaller then my house.

I entered the lobby where a desk sat at the far end of the room. Chairs lined the room. A man wearing guard armor sat at the desk. He looked up at me and turned his attention back to the papers on his desk. I approached him.

"Morning, I'm Rise Aero. I'm here to talk to the captain." He looked at me with a surprised expression at the mention of my name.

"Yeah, just a moment." He quickly got up and walked over to a door behind the desk and knocked on it. "Sir, one of the bounty hunters are here!" I heard clattering, and after a few short moments, a man wearing silver guard armor emerged. Wait, one of the bounty hunters?

"Hello, I'm Captain Badge. You must be Rise, right?" He said gripping my hand and shaking it vigorously.

"Yes, is Rex here? He's an old friend of mine." I ask, Rex and I grew up together, and the paperwork said he was to be my handler in Ponyville.

"He'll be in shortly. Follow me into my office and we can begin the paperwork and what not." He motioned towards his office as I stepped in. He followed me in and closed the door behind us. "Take a seat and we can get started." He stated pointing at the chair in front of the desk.

After ten minutes of work, I asked the question that has been bugging me. "Who's the other bounty hunter? They told me I would be the only one in this area." I stated as I signed my name, again.

"I got the letter about her shortly after the one about you." He said as he signed his name, again.

"Well, less work for me then." The captain cleared his throat.

"Well, she is rather new, and is applying for a class 3 bounty license." I stopped my quill mid stroke and glanced up at the captain.

"So, there's a third bounty hunter coming then?" To go up in class, a bounty hunter must be able to handle the more dangerous bounties. To determine this, they send them to a bounty hunter that can already hunt those targets to be judged on whether or not they can handle it. She wants to be a Class 3 bounty hunter, which means she would be watched and judged by a Class 3 or higher.

"Not exactly." He quietly mutters while turning his gaze to the papers. He lifts one out of the pile and hands it to me. "You're her analyzer." I'm a class 4.

"No." I state calmly. He raises a finger. I raise my hand to stop him. "There are at least a hundred bounty hunters of Class 3 or higher in the Canterlot area. They don't need me to do it." I rested my case as I finished the last bit of penmanship.

"Yes, but your the only qualifying bounty hunter in the Cloudsdale area." I broke my quill. Shit, I forgot Ponyville is in both the Canterlot and Cloudsdale bounty zones.

"Damn, well who is she?" I said, giving up on getting out of it. He opened a drawer and reached into it, pulling out a letter.

"Her name is.." A knocking at the door interrupted him.

"Sir, the other bounty hunter is here!"

"Better introduce myself then." I sighed.

We stood up after filing the paperwork away and entered the lobby. I saw a few familiar faces, Rex and the guards that were at the train station. The older one leveled a glare at me. Rex has changed since the last time I've seen him. His hair is a darker blonde, and he finally managed to grow a beard. It was a short one, but it was there. He gave me a toothy grin and reached his hand out.

"Rex! You're still a goody two shoes." I grabbed his hand and pulled him into a brotherly hug.

"Well, you're still an ass. How've you been?" I took a step back and shrugged.

"Could be better, could be worse." He chuckled and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Remember when your parents told me that it was my job to make sure you didn't cause too much trouble." I nodded. "Finally, as your newly appointed handler, I'm getting paid for it." He struck a pose with his chest puffed out, and his fists resting on his hips.

"Yeah, but you always sucked at it." I stated, causing him to slump over. I noticed a bored pegasus woman standing of to the side wearing a Wonderbolt flight jacket. I grimaced at that fact, but I tried not to let my biases cause me to judge before I meet her. She had tangerine colored hair that made it look like she flies at high speeds everywhere she goes. Rex followed my gaze. He motioned for her to come over.

"Lightning, this is Rise Aero, Rise, this is Lightning Dust," he pointed at me, "he's your evaluator." She didn't look impressed.

"Shouldn't you be older?" Lightning asked. I blinked.

"What?" Both Rex and I said.

"I thought the judge guy was supposed to be.. I don't know more experienced." I held my tongue, but Rex didn't.

"Rise has the record for most confirmed bounties in the Canterlot Bounty Zone, forty seven." I raised an eyebrow in his direction. "They sent me your file."

"A lot of them didn't come in easy, I ended up killing thirty nine of those bounties." I threw my two cents in. Lightning raised her own eyebrow to this, and I heard a scoff behind me. We all turned to see the guard from the train station glaring at Lighting and myself.

"That's all you bounty hunters are, psychopaths with a license to kill." I narrowed my eyes.

"Hard Case, there is no need for that kind of attitude. I've looked into it, most of those kills were serial killers, rapists, and even enemies of the state." Rex defended me, but Hard Case had closed the distance between him and I to about two feet.

"Yeah, 'most'." He said through gritted teeth. I was ready to really grit his teeth.

"Case, Stand down!" Badge ordered. Case walked away grumbling to himself.

"Anyway," I turned towards my new 'protege',"We start tomorrow, I still got things to do before I get back to work, I'll see you around Rex." He waved as I left. I made twenty feet before realizing that I was being followed by Lightning Dust, so I stopped and looked at her.

"What?"

"Can I help you?"

"I don't have anywhere to stay." She looked off to the side. I raised an eyebrow.

"Rent a motel room?" I suggested. She scoffed and glared at me.

"Ponyville doesn't have any motels, and the inn is full." She stated in a tone that suggested that this was common information.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it? The Bounty Act states that if any bounty hunter in a designated zone needs a place to stay, they can be housed in the local guard house. They literally can't say no." It's a nice part of that piece of legislation that ensures a hunter gets a base of operations.

"And what? deal with the old corn dog in there?" I tilted my head.

"Corn dog?"

"Unimpressive phallic shaped object with a stick up its ass." She deadpanned

"That's good," I smirked, but it went away, "But you still didn't answer the question."

"Well, I was wondering if I could stay with you. Until the process to get my class 3 license is over." She suddenly adopted puppy eyes and a pout. It was cute, but it goes nowhere with me.

"I only have one bed." She shrugged.

"I can sleep on the couch." I shuddered at the memory of the Pinkie's boycott of physics last night.

"I have no food." I continued after collecting myself.

"I can pay for my own." Dammit. I couldn't think of any other excuse.

"Fine," She pumped her fist, "But we need to see the mayor first."

"Well lead the way teach." Shit, I hate nicknames.