Ace sat at a campfire cooking some soup for him to eat. He sighed as he realized it might not be done in time for bed. "Dammit, why can't it be simple to make food?" He thought to himself as he slowly started to nod off. "I'll just, rest my eyes for a bit." He soon closed his eyes and fell asleep, dreaming about the faces on the ponies that he killed just a few days prior.

BANG

He jerked awake to the noise of a gun being fired in the distance, he stood up and looked around, making sure that whatever made that gun shot, wasn't coming anywhere near him. After he settled down he took a quick peek at his soup and saw it had all been eaten by some sort of small lizard sort of thing.

"Not my soup!" Ace facehoofed and quickly shot the small lizard which had eaten his soup. "Wait." Ace thought to himself. "Maybe I could eat this?" Ace put his hoof to his mouth to hold back vomit. "Now way, i'm sleeping hungry tonight." He laid back down and quietly dozed off.

Ace walked into a small town that looked abandoned from afar, the buildings where ragged and worn down, some buildings where even in pieces. He sighed as the buildings where collapsing. "Maybe there's some loot here." Ace thought to himself, as he looked around he could hear things moving in the buildings. Quickly he took out his pistol which he named 'King' and pointed it around.

"Hello?" A small voice from behind him spoke, he turned around and pointed King at the pony who spoke. "P-please don't kill me!" It was a small skinny foal, covered in dirt and his eyes looking sunken.

"I'm not going to kill you." Ace spoke softly, he knelt down and took some bread out of his saddle bag. "I found this yesterday, I was going to eat it today, but here." Ace handed the bread to the foal. "You need it more than me."

"A-are you sure?" Asked the foal.

"Yeah, yeah i'm sure." Ace smiled and put away his gun as the little foal took a bite out of the bread.

"Thank you." The foal said with his mouth full of bread. "I'm Dusty."

"I'm Ace of Spades, but just call me Ace for short, okay?" Ace asked, and Dusty nodded. "Hey, how, old are you?" Ace asked.

"I'm not sure, some ponies say i'm ten." Dusty replied as he finished the bread.

"Where are the other ponies?"

"They're hiding in the buildings, sent me out to see if you where a raider."

"Why would they do that, if I was a raider you would have been killed!" Ace yelled angrily.

"They don't care about me, i'm an orphan."

"That's terrible, what happened to your parents?"

"The mayor told me they where killed by raiders."

"and I was telling the truth." A soft voice came from an empty building. "It was terrible, raiders said they would kill everyone of us if we didn't give them our supplies." A Blue mare with a red mane walked out of a building and went over to Ace. "I am the mayor of this town, you may call me Petal Candy."

"Nice to meet you mayor Petal, i'm Ace of Spades, Ace for short." Ace replied with a smile. "So I heard you say raiders, tell me where to find them and I can get rid of them for you."

"Well I do say that would help us so much, oh, and let me introduce my family." The mare spoke as two ponies a stallion with a brown coat and green mane, and a younger mare with a cyan coat and pink mane came from a mostly intact building. "My husband Ground Earth." She pointed to the gruff looking stallion who had walked out of the house earlier. "And my daughter Lilly Petal."

"Nice to meet you two." Ace said as he held out his hoof to the stallion.

"I'm glad that there is a pony willing to help us." Earth said. Ace pulled his hoof away from Ground Earth who didn't want to shake hooves with him, and instead he extended his hoof to Lilly.

"Nice to meet you." Ace said.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ace." She said as she shook hooves with him.

"Hey." Ground said as he took Ace's hoof away from Lilly. "Don't you dare touch my daughter you punk."

"Whoa, hey, chill out, i'm not going to try anything with her." Ace said as he took his hoof back. "Just tell me where the raiders are, and i'll take them out for you."

"They're in a cave, not too far from here, about maybe an hour walk south." Mayor Petal said.

"Okay, so i'll take out the raiders, and be back when i'm done." Ace said as he started walking out of the town.

"That's north!" Dusty yelled at him.

Ace turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. "I-I knew that." He said as he left the town and headed to the south cave.

After a long walk Ace got to the cave and saw the raiders outside guarding it, there was ten of them, two in makeshift sniper towers, and the rest where patrolling the area. Ace looked around more and saw that those where the only guards that where out, and it made Ace smile because he thought that he could take them all out relatively quickly.

"Alright, time for me to get to work." He said as he stood up, and ran towards the nearest cover. "Ten against one, seriously bad odds, for them." A smirk spread across his face as he aimed King at a guard and fired, the raider's head imploded on itself, his brain flying out behind him, and blood splattering everywhere. The gunshot brought the attention of the other guards, and they started shooting at Ace.

"Get that bastard!" One gruff voice said, and it brought the attention of Ace to it.

"I know that voice, it's, no way." Ace thought as he quickly took a peek, and to his surprise, it was Ground Earth, he seemed to be a part of the raiders. "How did he get here before me?" He thought a while and then realized, that after Earth blew up about his daughter, he had slipped away.

"Did we get him?" Another voice asked, this time it was more feminine.

"No, not Candy Petal too." Ace looked around and he then saw a broken piece of a mirror, and looked through it. It was Petal Candy, the mayor of the town he had promised to help.

"Petal and I will look, the rest of you, stay back, and if we die, then disperse, and form a new band somewhere else." Earth commanded as he and Petal walked closer to Ace.

"Think Ace, think, what do I do to stop the raiders, and let them live too." Ace heard Petal walking closer, as he finished his plan.

"He's not dea-" Petal started before Ace bolted up and held Petal with his front leg around her neck, and King pointed at the temple of her head, Earth started to run towards Ace, but he cocked the gun and held it firmly at her head, and Earth backed down.

"Whoa, okay, calm down there, you don't need to shoot her." Earth said as he panicked.

"I'll tell you what I need, and don't need to do." Ace said, keeping Petal held firmly.

"What are you waiting for, Earth, shoot this bastard!" Petal yelled, and Earth started to pull out his gun, Ace then cocked the gun again.

"I'm warning you Earth, I will shoot her."

"Okay, okay, what do you want?"

"Toss your gun away." When Ace said that Earth tossed his gun to the side. "Good, now disperse your lackeys."

"Do it." Earth commanded, and every raider ran off. "Anything else?"

"Why did you do it?" Ace asked shadows covering his eyes, keeping them hidden from Earth.

"What?" Earth asked his face showing obvious confusion.

"Why did you kill Dusty's parents!" Ace shouted at the top of his lungs, the shadows dispersed showing his red, furious eyes.

"Why, why not?" Petal said. "His parents where behind on their taxes, meaning no protection from the raiders, no protection from us." She laughed maniacally.

"Does your daughter know?"

"Of course she doesn't, why would she?"

"I can't believe it, you two are monsters."

"It's everypony for themselves out here, you can't expect all to be nice." She looked at Earth and nodded, he took out a second pistol and aimed it at Ace, but reacting quickly Ace pointed King at Earth and shot him. Earth's eyes looked shocked as he collapsed onto the ground, Ace had hit him in his throat, blood gushing out, painting the earth red in crimson, like if you looked deep enough into Ace's eyes.

"I'm sorry." Ace said as he looked to the ground sadly.

"I forgive you." Earth said with his final breath, Petal was crying the whole time, and when Ace had let her go she ran to her dead husband's side and cried over his body.

"Why, why would you do this?" She asked, her voice jumpy, and full of sadness.

"I had no choice, he made me do it."

"I supposed you're going to kill me now?"

"That's the plan, I did say, all the raiders, didn't I?" Petal nodded at his question, and looked submissive.

"Then go on, kill me." Ace walked over to Petal, and held king to the back of her head. "Can you promise me something, Ace?"

"What is it?"

"Please, after you get back to town, please take Lilly, and Dusty with you."

"Why?"

"Lilly, she won't know how to live with me and her father gone, and Dusty, well, you saw him, my guess is, one, maybe, two weeks left to live."

"No, I won't bring them with me."

"Please, do this for me, do this for the town. The town was in shambles anyways, and many ponies hated me and my family, but we provided protection, at a price, so we made alot of enemies, once they find out you have wiped out the raiders, and that Earth and I are dead, they'll most likely kill Lilly, and you don't seem the type to let that happen."

"You're right, i'm not."

"Dusty won't live long either, so please take him, tell him you avenged his parents, be a brother to him." When Candy said be a brother, an image flashed in Ace's mind, and it was of a filly with a tan coat, with a dark brown mane that had teal stripes in it, and deep, chocolate colored eyes.

"Okay, i'll do it." Ace replied with a small tear in his eye.

"Thank you Ace, maybe we shouldn't had tried to kill you, also, mind doing one more thing for me?"

"What is it now?"

Ace walked back to the town where at the entrance Lilly was waiting with Dusty, both of which where happy that Ace had returned safely, and almost unharmed. Lilly's face soon turned to sadness as she noticed that Earth and Candy weren't there, Lilly then ran to Ace with worry in her eyes.

"W-where are my parents?" She asked, her voice sounded panicked.

"They." Ace paused as he looked at how sad Lilly was, he knew that if he told her the truth now, then she'd kill herself almost instantly. "They told me to bring you along with me, they'll meet us somewhere down the road."

"B-but why would they do that?"

"The raiders are gone, and your parents where worried about their enemies killing them, and you, so they ran off, and they told me to protect you."

"Oh, well, I guess that does make sense."

Dusty ran up to Ace and looked up at him. "Wow, you're so cool, you took out all the raiders?"

"Yes, I did kiddo, and guess what?"

"What?" Dusty looked at Ace confused.

"You, me, and Lilly here, we're going on a trip."

"Whoa, really!"

"Yes really, and some other good news, i'm going to be your big brother." Ace smiled at Dusty, as he started to cry. "That's right, you aren't alone, i'll be the brother you never had."

"Thanks Ace!" Dusty hugged Ace as tight as he could, Lilly looked at the two and smiled, believing that she'd see her parents again.

"Come on, let's go." Ace said.

"Where to though?" Lilly asked.

"Where ever we're needed." Ace started walking, with Lilly and Dusty close behind, they followed the sun to the east, again Ace not knowing what lie ahead for him, and to Dusty, and Lilly, they where walking into a new life.

"Subject delta five oh has been to this cave." A pony wearing dark armor, and a mask to cover his face walked up the the cave that Ace had already been to, looking at the three dead bodies.

"I see, any signs of him nearby?" A voice in the pony's com asked.

"No signs, but there is something interesting here."

"Really, explain."

"There are three dead bodies, and no more, one body is a stallion, far away from the others."

"And what about the others?"

"The others are embraced with one another, a mare an a stallion, seeming to be married, gunshot wounds have been patched up, making the bodies seem almost, alive."

"That is interesting."

"And there's more, the two embraced are, happy."

"I see, Seven Three Two, report back to base."

"Affirmative." The pony in the armor walked away from the cave, leaving the bodies of Earth, and Candy alone.

Author's Note

What did Candy ask Ace? Who is this Seven Three Two? Who did Ace see in his vision? What will Ace do with Lilly and Dusty? And more importantly, why did that mysterious pony call Ace subject delta five oh? Who knows, if you have any theories on how to answer these answers, tell them in the comments, they may or may not be right.