Setting Sun

"Damn... I guess this was the only it could end." Sunset Shimmer murmured as she stared blankly at the corpse of her recently killed 'friend', traveling companion was closer to the truth. Her legs had not stopped shaking since she pulled the trigger of her revolver, the smell of blood filled her nostrils. Her breathing had remained steadied the entire time as she had watched her companion desperately crawl away from her, there was no sense of satisfaction as she had followed along side.

Sighing Sunset shook away the memory and leaned down to begin to rummage for anything useful the body might have on it, the duster was too torn up to be of much use, the ammo however was a welcome retrieval.

"So you're just gonna leave me here to die!" Sunset turned her head slightly to to stare at her best friend, her mind was reeling between her feelings of revenge and love. Sunset slowly turned away from her friend and started to walk away. "Sunset I swear if I survive I'll find you!" The screaming caused Sunset to pause as she she clenched her fists. "I can't stop... Not even for you..." She didn't see the look of betrayal in Twilight's eyes as she walked away.

Sighing Sunset slowly surveyed her surroundings, a few cacti stood tall among the barren waste of sand and hills, the sun beat down on her oppressively as she wiped her forehead of sweat. Getting up from her crouched stance Sunset lazily kicked some dust over her "friend" and slowly set off towards the south, there she would eventually find Apploosa, then Dodge Junction. She stopped and stared at her recently killed companion thinking of how much time they spent together, shaking her head she continued to travel towards her target, the time of regrets had long since passed, reminiscing served no further purpose then to distract and get her killed.

A few days had passed since Sunset once again found herself alone in the unforgiving wastes of south Equestria, the only company she had of late were that of lizards and birds and the occasional coyote. She stared forward as the sun beat overhead, the heat was as unbearable as always. The sound of distant shouting stopped Sunset in her tracks. She quickly rotated her head to pinpoint the sounds as she began to lower herself to the ground; East sounded the clearest to her as she started to pull her rifle from its sling and point it towards the noise.

Through her short scope she could see a small group of four travelers, though she could not identify them from her position as they kicked up dirt. Sunset began to dial in her range as she considered what she needed to continue her journey south; Water, more ammo, and food. The small group had a horse dragging a small cart behind it as they noisily crossed the desert. Sunset took a few deep breathes as she lined up her shot on the horse... A small mist of red was all she could see as the horse fell to the ground, Sunset quickly shot the person furthest behind the cart and just as quickly tucked her rifle away and hide among the sand.

She hoped that days of wondering through the desert had caked enough dust on her that she blended in with the environment. She lay flat against the ground as the shouting in the distance grew frantic, no doubt she assumed trying to ruse their fallen comrade, she decided she would wait for the shouting to calm down.

Hours had gruelingly passed as she waited for the sun to set, she could now clearly make out the three people trying to best cover themselves around the cart and horse, no doubt trying to spy who had crippled their caravan. The outline of the people gave Sunset the advantage as she slowly started to crawl along the ground stopping every few feet to make sure they hadn't spotted her. With the sun to her back she was almost untouchable, Sunset took a few steadying breaths as she lined up a shot on one of the taller people left standing, the small kick of the rife allowed Sunset to glimpse the crimson mist spray from the person, her next shot followed and tore half the face off the shortest of the two left standing.

Sunset felt a bullet rip past her head before the crack of the air finally reached her ears. Sunset quickly rolled to her left as another two shots flew by, she felt annoyed as there was not much time remaining in the day for her to line up shots. Sighing she resigned herself to a dangerous close quarters gunfight in the night, one to be decided by the shooter with the sharper ears.

After an hour the sun had finally set, the only light was from the moon. Sunset cursed her luck that of all nights this was the one that had to be cloudy, her visibility was reduced to a few feet in front of her, her hearing however made up for this short coming. Sunset stood up as she was a good distance from where the caravan was and slowly started to walk towards it, every few feet she stopped and listened for the last remaining guard, the last thing she wanted was to take a bullet to the gut. The crunching of the gravel beneath her feet was deafening as she traversed the ground towards the cart. A loud scrambling startled Sunset as she listened to it bump against a hard surface; Sunset started as she realized she was much closer then she thought she was. She carefully brought her revolver in front of her, she was breathing as quietly as possible, she felt her saliva building in her mouth uncomfortably; too afraid to swallow her spit in fears of giving away her position.

The pounding in her head was becoming deafening as the silence grew to envelope her... Then she heard it, a slight shift of gravel to her right, she didn't move as she listened for more sound; Suddenly a break in the clouds brought her face to face with a kid holding a knife in one hand and in the other a small six-shooter, his wide eyes burnt into her mind as the flash from her revolver illuminated the surrounding area coloured red with blood, the sound of him being thrown to the ground was last thing she heard that night.