War... war never changes.
At least that's what they say, honestly war has never really been my forte. I'm just your run of the mill bounty hunter, I've done some work for the NCR sure back during the war with the Empire, but I honestly haven't ever fought a proper war.
I've done a lot of work around the Wasteland, but there's one town that always seems to be drawing me back, Reino. Maybe its because I was born there, maybe its because I just like it.
Celestia only knows really, but its certainly a great place to at least relax, and often I can get jobs while I'm here.
You're probably wondering who I am aren't you? My name's Silver, I'm a Bounty Hunter who works out of the western Wasteland.
Honestly I don't really know what else to do, I'm just a mare trying to make my way in the Wasteland. I don't really know what's going to be so exciting about my story, but here you go.
It all started one morning in Reino.
00000
I groaned as I woke up next to the stallion that I had spent the last night with. He was young, barely out of his teen years, but he at least gave me a better night than most stallions did in the wasteland.
I checked my rifle Easy Money, it was in bad shape but it was a family heirloom. Really, it was the only thing left of my family, and it seemed like I was going to be the last in the proud Silver family line.
I slipped out the door without waking up the stallion who's name I couldn't remember. I had more important things to think about as I headed downstairs.
"Another night of fun for the illustrious Silver, eh?" The mare at the Bounty Hunter Guild's job desk asked as she looked at me.
"Shut up Rain," I said with a groan. "What's the latest jobs?"
The Bounty Hunter business in Reino was always good, but lately it actually seemed to be slowing down a little. I was about ready to head west to Seaddle at this point, I could usually get good business out of Haven or one of the other settlements.
"Well lets see, looks like one of Timber's girls ran off with a customer last night, has a decent payout," the mare said as she looked through the information.
"Pass, last time I did a job for Timber he tried to make me one of his girls," I said with a groan, Timber ran the local brothel in Reino, I nearly had to geld him last time.
"Good point," the mare said as she went back to looking. "Well lets see, a barfight killed one of Galvez's top lieutenants, but the pay's lower than the Timber job."
"That Griffon is always stingy with his caps when your," I said with a shake of my head. "I'll think about it if there's nothing else."
"Ah, here we go, this is a strange one, came all the way from New Pegasus for somepony named Rocket," the mare continued, that was interesting normally jobs didn't come here from New Pegasus since Mr. Rider didn't particularly like Bounty Hunters. "You have to get a package to Fillytown unharmed, and it has a payout of 10,000 caps."
"10,000 just for a courier job?" I asked incredulously, that sounded almost too good to be true. "Well, I could use the caps... where's the pick up?"
"The Blazing Sands Saloon," the mare said, I knew where that was, it was a bar on the outskirts of town. "Are you going to take the job?"
"Yeah, sure, it seems easy enough I might as well," I said with a shrug. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"Just be careful, something about this is weird," she said, I nodded and trotted out of the building and towards the Blazing Sands Saloon.
00000
"Your usual, Silver?" Xavin the Zebra bartender at the Blazing Sands asked as I came inside.
"Not today, I'm on the job," I said as I took a seat at the bar. "Just an Opal Grape for me if you have it."
"You're in luck, we just got some more in from the caravan," Xavin said as he took out a bottle of the drink and set it down on the bar and I set out the caps. "So, what brings you to my bar?"
"I'm here for a job," I said as I popped the cap and took a drink of the tart soda. "I'm supposed to pick up a package for a pony in Fillytown."
"Package huh? Well no packages have been dropped off here," Xavin said with a shrug. "You can hang out here for awhile if you want."
"Yeah, what the heck, I've got nothing better to do," I said with a shrug and took another long drink.
Some time passed and more ponies came in and out of the bar, but none of them looked like they were here for anything other than a drink. Of course it was too good to be true, 10,000 caps, probably was somepony's idea of a joke.
I was about to get up and leave when I heard a small voice next to me.
"Hey there, are you a Bounty Hunter?"
I looked down and was surprised to see a blue Pegasus filly looking up at me with the biggest bluest eyes I've ever seen. She wore a white cowpony hat over her medium length blue-green mane.
"Look kid, I'm waiting on a package, you're a bit too young to be dealing with Bounty Hunters," I said as I took another drink. "So why don't you go play with your little friends or something."
"Silly, I'm your package," the filly said, which nearly made me choke on my drink. "You're taking me to see my family in New Pegasus!"
I blinked in surprise at that, I hadn't expected the package to be a pony, let alone a filly, this job just kept getting weirder and weirder.
"Do you have any proof kid?" I asked, afraid of the answer, I didn't work with kids, maybe it was because I knew I'd never have one since I was barren.
"Yep, right here, the nice pony said this would be enough," the filly said and took out a piece of paper.
I read it over, it was an official bounty contract from the guild, it said everything I already knew that it was a courier job, but it added the detail that the package being transported was a Pegasus filly named Clear Sky.
I looked over at the filly again, she was young, heck she didn't even have her cutie mark yet. I wondered why whatever pony worked this out didn't take her with her, but there was nothing I could do about that.
"So kid, your name is Clear Sky?" I asked and the filly nodded. "Okay then, you can call me Silver, just let me finish my drink and then we can go."
"Thanks Miss. Silver!" Cloudy said, her wings buzzing happily, I smiled a little and went back to my drink.
"Looks like somepony is taking interest in you," Xavin whispered to me, I glanced behind me to see three ponies dressed in armor and carrying weapons coming into the bar and they looked right at me and Clear Sky.
Things were about to get a lot more complicated.
00000
It seemed that whatever the kid was involved in was trouble, I knew those ponies, they were from the Marauder Gang, very dangerous mercenary Raiders.
I had found myself in the middle of a conflict between whatever force wanted Clear Sky in New Pegasus and the Marauders, and the kid was right in the middle.
It was starting to become clear to me why they needed a Bounty Hunter like me, and that's how I got involved.
This was going to be quite the adventure, I just had to hope that we'd make it out of this alive.
A new war was brewing in the Mohoofe Wasteland.
And war, war never changes.
