I stared at the group of ponies in front of me, all waiting to hear my story from the other side of a cell where I would stay until I would rot, it was dark so I couldn't really make out their faces, but none the less they wanted to hear my story and how I ended up here in this damned cell. I blinked and sat back in my chair

"Guess I will start from the beginning then."

****************************

Prologue: New Day, New Job.

S: 3
P: 3
E: 5
C: 5
I: 4
A: 6
L: 1

"The world is your canvas, right?" -unknown pony

I was a stable pony for the first twenty years of my life, the worst twenty years of my life, I might add. Stable number that I don't remember, mainly because I didn't want to remember that hell hole. Fell in love, cheated on in a week, father was a drunk and ended up dying to alcohol poisoning, leaving me, my mother, and my best friend, my camera, all alone and fending for ourselves. Once we left the stable, everyone parted ways, me and my mother kept close and traveled until we couldn't any more and found a small town that we thought would help us, ended up being full of raiders who took my mother and killed her right in front of me. I barely got away, although I wonder if leaving was any better than dying, but that's all beside the point ain't it. That's the first twenty years of my life, oh also my cutiemark ended up being a camera with a flash on it. My name? Lensflare, wasn't allowed to be named until our cutiemark showed up, Stable rules. Now that we have got that out of the way how about we get to the real shit.

I was in this small town, called Lost Valley, I needed film for my camera, and this was one of four places to get it from considering the vendor only traveled to these four places. After several years in the wasteland, at the time I was twenty six, so six years, I had found a way to earn caps, a unique way. I would find ways to get pictures of targets for ponies who wanted somepony dead, they would pay less if I killed them, so I was more so just a recon pony. Yes, it was dangerous, yes, it would get my ass shot at, alot, but I loved it.

Anyways, I was in Lost Valley, walking around in their so called "market place" and came across the vendor I was looking for, a pony named Big Buck, stupid name for a pony, especially out here, but whose to judge. He was a tall and rather muscular pony, a big orange beard that contrasted his dark green fur nicely. He was sitting next to his caravan calling in ponies with his booming low voice,

"Come one come all to see my new wares, I promise ya they can help ya with your troubles!" He waved his hoof frantically with a big smile until a pony would ask to see what he was selling. His smile would fade as I walked up to him, a smirk of my own on my face. You'd think I would get along with the only pony that sold film, but I was a bargainer and found my way around his expensive prices, usually through blackmail, but I still gave him caps at least. I walked up to him and looked up,

"Flare," he nodded towards me as he turned and reached into his sacks, looking for what was probably my film. I acknowledged his nod and waited until he pulled out what I needed. During this time I took a small look of my surroundings, Lost Valley was quite literally what it was named after, a small town built in a valley that most ponies couldn't find without direction or if lucky, a PipBuck. The buildings themselves were old wood and metal plates, each looking worse than the last. One caught my eye though, a small saloon that doubled as an inn, built nicer than the other buildings which meant whoever owned it took care of it.

I turned my attention back to Buck who had just finished rummaging through his 'wares' and was pulling two items out with his hooves. They were the same item, film for my camera, but there was one problem.

"Only TWO, you said you would have a shit ton more by the time I was done with my job!" I cried out startling a few ponies close by who quickly sped off. Buck glared at me, probably because I scared off a few customers.

"I DID have a shit ton, but somepony came by and bought them all, except for two, and she wasn't very nice about he bargaining either, basically mugged me," he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof at the mention of being mugged. That didn't matter to me though, I needed to figure out who bought my stock and shoot the living shit out of them, made or stallion. I looked at Buck with a new fire in my eyes,

"Who." I took a step forward,

"Took." Another step,

"My FILM!" I yelled inches from the unmoving Stallone's face. He snickered and let out a hearty laugh, his breath reeked of whatever he ate earlier and his spit flew into my face.

"Who are you to threaten me Flare! Especially when you sound like a child who lost his toy!" He said in between laughs as he stood up and towered over me, a confident smirk on his face.

"Now do me a favor and buy the two so I can get to better customers or else I get my boys to shoot ya and give ya to the raiders," he growled quietly. My ears flattened, I wasn't a strong pony, hell I barely used my horn, and not only that for a pony who had lived in the wasteland for awhile, I still had the fear of getting beat up. Now being shot at is one thing but I hated getting physical, hoof-to-hoof or sexual contact scared me even now it still does, well not so much the sexual as the physical does but that's for later. I took a step back as he took another forward,

"Now pay up or shut up and get the fuck away from me," he finished and pushed a hoof against my dirty, white furred chest, forcing me to sit. I kept my ears flattened and my head down as I lifted my dusty, black fedora off my head and floated the bag of caps underneath it with my piss colored magic to his open hoof. He took it and gave me the film before turning to the next customer, who was looking to fix their rifle with some screws. I placed the fedora back on my head and walked away, stuffing the film into a small metal case in my saddle bags. I then fixed my leather armor chest piece, which only covered part of my chest, and walked away, heading straight for the inn. I stopped outside the door and sighed,

you forgot it again you dumbass. I scolded myself in my thoughts as I took a detour and walked up to the cliff face which was about a hundred yard trot from the inn if I remember correctly. I then looked around for a sec before picking up a desert camouflage sheet off the ground to reveal my two guns.

My primary weapon was that of an old assault rifle that I had gotten from a raider camp that I had managed to sneak into. My camera was screwed to is as a makeshift scope and a part of the weapons stock had a bad painting of my cutiemark on it, art was never my talent, but tilt your head slightly and you could see the mark. There was also two small buttons next to the mark, the one in front would make the flash come on while the one behind the mark would take the picture. The button on my camera was broken and there was a slight crack on the lens near the bottom that was only noticeable if you paid really close attention to it. The rifle was a mixture of brown wood and dirty, silver metal, I had the wood replaced when I had the buttons installed, but otherwise the weapon was nice and usable.

My secondary was a pistol I had bought at a general store in New Appleloosa. It was pretty worn but it worked well when I needed to switch. It was a nine millimeter and held ten rounds and was completely black with some rusty metal showing in a few places. The AR or Snapshot as I had named it, held a twenty round magazine that was shaped like a banana. They both aided me well when they were needed and as of right now I didn't really need them, but Lost Valley was known for raider attacks from a group just south of there so I had it ready just in case. I picked up the rifle with my magic and wrapped the strap over my neck and right shoulder and put the pistol in a small holster on my right left hind leg. The holster was strapped to my leg and was connect to a part of the leather armor on my flank and back. I looked like a makeshift bounty hunter but it worked none the less, plus the brown contrasted nicely with my white fur and dark teal mane and tail. My mane was rather short at the time, just messy, my tail was what some would consider medium length.

I left the sheet and made my way back to the inn quickly so I could maybe get a quick meal before renting a bed for the night.

................

I sat at a small table chewing on the flesh of a cooked rad gator, savoring every bite as I felt the meat break between my teeth. I had entered the inn about an hour ago and immediately made my to the innkeeper, who was a pretty mare that I almost had the nerve to ask if she had a special somepony, and asked for a room and a table for the night. She quietly nodded and gave me a key along with a menu before guiding me to the table that I sat at now. She also brought me my food and drink, but then went back to the counter and sat there, waiting for the next customer, like it was all she had to do. By then I had taken in my surroundings, there were five other ponies playing some gambling game but otherwise it was just me. The building was one story and had six doors on one side, probably the rooms. Behind the counter was another door and next to that, another one with a label that said bathroom on it.

After looking around I decided to look at the key she gave me, it was after I noticed the key was painted blue that the six doors were painted different colors that matched each key. It was all organized too, almost as if it was brand new, the wood was cleaned and the tables were all perfectly spaced, it was strange. I had never been in here before, mainly because I didn't trust the town, but I decided to this time because unfortunately my stuff was left behind from my last job so for now I was stuck, but even so why did this place almost look like it was unscathed. I thought about it for a moment as I swallowed my bite and took another,

"Hey loner! You ever play a game of Hooflocks," I perked my ears as I noticed there was now someone talking to me.

"No i haven't and I don't exactly have the caps to pitch in either," I replied calmly and pushed my food away and stood, placing the strap of my rifle back over me and stepping away from the table, remembering what manners I had I pushed the chair forward underneath the table.

"Now if you'll excuse me I need some-"

"You got that weapon there!" Another one of the ponies said gesturing towards Snapshot, his hoof swaying slightly. I sighed and turned away heading to the blue door on my left, ignoring the drunken gamblers.

"Hey!" I heard the sound of a gun being pulled out of a holster behind me. I turned my head slightly to see the pony who had just gestured towards my gun staring at me, his eyes glazed over from the alcohol and his gun, a simple revolver, being held lazily by his purple magic. I turned full circle and unholstered my own pistol with a slight smirk,

"Ohhh a revolver, I'm so scared of the drunk with a revolver," I snickered as he was taken aback and lowered his weapon slightly.

"Now go to wherever you're staying and leave me out of it, I don't have time for bullshit like this right now," I told him, placing the pistol back in its holster and turning away once more. I got to my door when there was a gasp behind me forcing me to turn with both weapons ready. The quiet mare, was now being forced to sit down next to the drunk while also being groped by said drunk. I sighed and turned away, sometimes I hated the wasteland.

you seem to forget you will probably be stuck here longer if involved in a case with the law. I turned back around and took several steps towards the ponies at the table,

"Hey leave her alone as well, this town doesn't take crime very well, especially when it comes to mares," I pointed out, and looked at the mare she seemed unphased by their groping, instead she smiled at me and her own horn glowed orange slightly. I looked around, trying to see what she was moving,

"Hey what are ya looking around for," the drunk said, slowly picking his gun back up. For the first time ever the mare spoke,

"This," BLAM the drunk's head exploded into a bloody mess, a combat shotgun behind where his head just was. The other ponies jumped up out of their chairs and started to reach for their weapons. I jumped back as another shot rang out and caught another pony in the shoulder, throwing him to the ground screaming. The mare quickly turned to another pony this once was pulling his gun up with his teeth when she shot him twice. I pushed a table over and readied Snapshot, this was getting out of control. I peeked over the table to see one the stallions had gotten behind her with a knife in his teeth. I aimed my rifle at him,

"DUCK!" I called out and started to pull the trigger. The mare quickly drove out of the way as I fired my gun in the direction of the knife pony. Six shots and only two had hit, both had hit his forelegs dropping him to the ground. I still wasn't used to the recoil of the weapon and it took everything in me to not drop the weapon, Snapshot was still new to me, only acquiring him a few months before that fight. I peeked over and saw the mare reloading her shotgun from behind her counter as the two other stallions creeped up on her, seemingly forgetting about me. I knew I wasn't a good pony but if she died I was next, so I peeked back over, this time with the pistol as I could control it better than Snapshot, and fired three shots towards the two. I hit the one on the left in his flank with two of the shots making him jump away and running to cover, the other stallion jumped to the right as the last bullet hit the counter in front of him.

"OH FUCK!" He screamed as he tried to get up and make a run for it as the mare peered around the counter with her shotgun ready. He didn't make it very far as she unloaded four shells into him, dropping him onto his whimpering knife holder. The other stallion started to run for the door, well limp-run as his ass was alittle bloodied from my pistol. The mare beat him to the door and put the barrel to his forehead. BLAM BLAM two shots put the pony down for good.

I waved my guns,

"Don't shoot! I'm coming out!" I called out as I slowly peeked around the side, the mare ignored me and walked up to the knife pony who had just freed himself from his friends corpse. He looked at the mare with fear in his eyes,

"Wait, wait, please...I...I don't want to-" BLAM she didn't let him finish as blood sprayed the floor and herself. She floated the shotgun back to its spot behind the counter and turned to look at me as I was flipping the table back.

"Don't bother with it, when the sheriff gets here he will want everything the exact same way that it was left." I nodded and let it go. I decided to actually take notice of her now that I knew she wasn't mute. Her fur was a dark purple and her long mane was a vibrant orange, the same color of her eyes and magic. Her name was Sunfleet and her cutiemark was a camera similar to mine but with a tripod and no flash either. After a small chat with the sheriff and helping with the cleaning up of the battle in the inn, I decided to head to bed, Sunfleet even let me stay for free and gave me a refund. I took a note of her face as I fell asleep, making sure to remember who she was from now on when I came back to Lost Valley. Little did I know though we would be involved for a lot longer than just in that town.

......................

When I had woken up the inn was quiet and Sunfleet wasn't out in the front so I took it upon myself to just grab my items and leave. It pained me to leave without saying anything but I had to get another job, the few caps and film I had left wouldn't last me for another month. I sighed and made my way to the little board outside the sheriff's office, which I had also never gone into and didn't plan on it so I just focused on the board. There were several jobs available but only four had anything to do with pictures. Three of them were low paying, twenty caps for a picture of a filly, only fifteen for a raider, and thirty for a picture of an elderly pony for what was going to be her funeral picture. The fourth one was high paying but wanted me to get a picture of Redeye himself, no thanks. I took the other three and turned to walk away when I heard a familiar voice coming from the sheriff's.

I turned to see Sunfleet and the sheriff, a young gray stallion, talking about some slavers to the north of here and to the south of a town called Hope Springs, a town I had never been to. Sunfleet then smiled and shook the sheriff's hoof before trotting towards the board and sighing sadly,

"Dammit somepony took all of the good ones," she grimaced and turned towards. She looked up and blinked as she realized I was there.

"Oh...hi there Lensflare," she said with a mock smile. It slowly started to occur to me that she was looking for the photo jobs. I smiled,

"Hey, um what jobs were you looking for," I asked with mock confusion, I needed confirmation for my assumption. She sighed,

"You heard that huh, well I was looking at three jobs the other day that weren't crazy dangerous but some pony took them all," I levitated the three jobs out,

"These ones?" I asked holding them out in front of me. She jumped up in joy,

"Well thank the goddesses you got them!" I pulled them back away.

"I need the caps though," I told her with a smirk. She looked at me confused,

"But I thought we were friends, ya know 'ponies that fight together stick together' heh" she said with a smile, trying to win me over. I sighed, this is why I don't like helping anypony,

"First of all, one of the reasons I helped was because I was afraid that I would be stuck here for another month because of a murder and or rape case, second of all, if you had managed to kill them all then I knew you come after me too since I didn't do anything about it, which you confirmed yesterday, it was a mutual understanding so I will be taking these jobs and be on my way," I told her, stuffing the papers back into my saddlebags.

"And I'm guessing you are also the one who bought all of the film from Big Buck yesterday," I assumed as she was the only other one wanting the jobs I had. She glared at me for a moment and then smirked,

"Yeah I did, and I left two behind, and you have three jobs, so ya gotta give one of 'em up," she held out a hoof, thinking she had won probably. I smirked in return, I was good at alot of things, lying being one of them at the time.

"Yeah me and Buck go way back I actually have two more thanks to him, not to mention I still have another one from my last buy and will have even more after that, so nice try filly," she turned red with what I could only guess was anger. I had won,

"Ya know what, fine, but the only reason I bought alot of film was because I was preparing for my highest paying job yet...one worth more caps than my inn," I raised an eyebrow unconvinced,

"Oh really, how much then," she smiled and pulled out a piece of paper and happily floated it towards me. I read the paper thoroughly,

SLAVER CAMP IN NEED OF DESTROYING WITHOUT THE HARM OF SLAVES PIC NEEDED OF LEADER FOR BOUNTY HUNTERS WILL REWARD 4000 CAPS FOR PICTURE - LOST VALLEY MAYOR

"Four thousand caps! That's more than what I have earned for the last year!" I told the mare in awe. She nodded in agreement,

"mhm, that is why I need the film, it could take me several days and pictures to get one good photo even with this being my talent," she told me with a smile.

"The only problem is...its dangerous, apparently the slaver was once a stable pony who loved everypony doing what he wanted them to, plus he's smart, really smart, and charismatic alittle too charismatic...several of the slaves he has are convinced they aren't slaves, so he's good at what he does, if he is even a he," she said, rolling up the paper and placing it safely in her saddle bag. I looked at her, this was a good job and one that would take more than one pony to complete it...we may have become rivals right then and there but we also barely knew each other so maybe we could work well together to get this job done and split the caps fifty-fifty.

***************************

"sure as hell was stupid enough to ask as I wouldn't be here in this cell...speaking of which can ya maybe let me out?"

Author's Note

Footnote: new perk: Sweet Talker

You sure can talk to a mare!

You now have an easier time convincing ponies of the opposite sex that what you say is true.

And that's chapter 1 everyone, I wonder what will happen when Lensflare and Sunfleet start their quest to find the slaver outpost...find out in chapter two...Silvermoon out *click*