My Little Sniper: The Beginning

“Help! Help me!! Somepony!”

I knew crying for help was useless. Nopony would hear and even if they did, they wouldn’t save me. But still I screamed, I screamed, for I wanted to live.

I was sprinting through the streets of a small abandoned town at a speed worthy a pegasus on wing. Even so, I was almost certain I would never leave. They were much faster than a tired little zebra.

I glanced back and shrieked in horror as one of them almost caught up with me. Saliva dripped from its open jaws, dilated black pupils staring straight at me, drawing me in, mesmerizing me, as if beckoning me to join them… I forced my gaze to the ground under my hooves.

If I stumbled and tripped now, I could be considered pretty dead… Keep your breath. Keep your breath, and you’d find a way to escape from these creatures. Ohh, I still hadn’t lost a sense of humour, had I! What a place could you be safe in when you were being chased by a pack of nightbeasts?

The sound of sixteen hooves stomping on the ground was piercing the night. I peered up at the sky: clouds in every direction, no stars and moon in sight. That’s crummy. Although moonlight was not as dangerous for them as sunlight, it’s better to see the road in front of you when you fled.

The beasts were rapidly closing in on me. My heart was faltering, pounding so hard like it just wanted to jump out of my chest and speed on its own, my breathing ragged and shallow, knees buckling, brain churning over thoughts of me finally done… It happened a second later. I didn’t know what had got under my hooves, but I felt myself flying, then I collapsed, wailing in sharp pain and fear, as they were upon me…

I woke up. I was lying on the floor, having rolled out of bed, and my right forehoof was badly bruised. It was still dark. I dared not to move a muscle for a few seconds and just lay on my back, eyes closed, breathing deeply, trying to calm myself. It was just a dream…

Creaking. The creaking of the stairs. I listened to it cautiously. Holy Celestia, Luna and Twilight Sparkle! I looked at my watch and for a moment I thought my heart would stop. It was a whole hour before dawn!

As I scrambled on my legs, I pulled a lighter out of my saddlebag and lit the half-burnt candle end. I threw spare magazines onto the bed, put out the already opened box of ammo, and grabbed Little Dragon as I took the safety off. I slipped a hoof into the hoof-holder, pointed the gun at the door and froze waiting, praying in my mind to all three princesses.

It had already got upstairs and must have smelled the air. My smell permeating the air. I felt fear rubbing my back with its pointed, sharpened claws. Okay, freak, come here! I’m gonna give you lead for dinner!

It scraped at the door. Thought I wouldn’t notice it? That almost joyful thought flew into my head and was gone just as fast. I put my right forehoof to the trigger helix, trying to steady my breath and waiting until it started to break in.

A tremendous blow shook the door, but the small hook that held it fast somehow didn’t budge. I felt my fear gone and instead there was only cold calculation. My usual thoughts began to flash through my head, working out the situation and what to do next. Shoot, twist the helix, shoot, twist, shoot again, pull out the magazine, two seconds, load a new one, four seconds, twist the helix, one second, shoot again, one second… So little time!

Another blow. Was the creature so weak?

“Come on!” I shouted to provoke the nightbeast.

Where had they come from? Hell knows. Nightbeasts… Eternal wanderers, an accursed lot with a rotten soul, driven by the single desire: to kill. Kill anypony who got in their way. When the day came, they lose their physical body and hid from the sun’s rays in crevices and depressions of the earth deep enough to be impenetrable for sunlight. At night they went out to hunt, returning their true form in the time when darkness reigned supreme. But they were not the same cheerful ponies that once frolicked on the plains and meadows of Equestria. Neither dead nor alive… Not even zombies. I’d felt sorry for them as a foal, and as I’d been growing up I hated them, but now I felt about them the same way as I did about everyone else who deserved a bullet in the head. My only consolation was that when I killed them, I sent their souls to eternal rest. Or maybe not rest, but a better life? I guess I’d be able to check it out soon…

The third blow was stronger than the previous two, but the door held sturdy again. Good, hard wood, I thought. But the fourth one was unlikely to bear no effect.

There was a howl, a deafening, high-pitched howl, and simultaneously the creature struck the last blow. The door came off its hinges and I hit the trigger helix with all the strength I could muster. The shot banged painfully in my ears, the supportive bow slammed into my chest, and the bullet thundered out of Little Dragon’s barrel, swooping toward the nightbeast and smashing into its ugly face. Though I had closed my eyes quickly, the bright flash of sunlight still hurt my eyes. The nightbeast roared in rage and pain, torn apart by a burst of solar energy. Then the howling stopped and there was silence.

I twisted the helix and ran a hoof across my face, keeping my sights on the doorway while trying to ignore the stars dancing before my eyes. Was it the only one? But they always went in a pack!

I realized I was right when I heard more screams below. Three or four of them… Shit!

I darted out into the hall. There it was, coming up the stairs! I struck the trigger but the shot went amiss, the bullet sliced through the air above the creature’s head as it deftly leapt down; the shot hit the wall and flashed — but the beast was too far from the epicentre to suffer any harm. I fired again just to buy some time and immediately ran back into the room. The empty magazine dropped to the floor with a distinctive ringing sound as I loaded the second one, turned the helix and glanced back — just in time. The monster already stood in the doorway. Given its snout and broken horn, it had once been a unicorn mare. But so long, long ago. I could see her sharp, non-pony teeth and dilated pupils.

“Catch it!” I yelled and struck the helix.

Once again, my ears were tested, even the protective spell that was supposed to muffle shots didn’t help. Being already erased, probably.

But I didn’t miss; the bullet reached its target, piercing the head of the nightbeast and bursting behind its rump, sending the monster into nothingness in a wave of light. Two down.

I veered Little Dragon’s helix, waiting for the show to go on. But now that they were convinced of my power, I didn’t think I’d have to wait long.

I heard a strange thump a moment before the creature reached the window, climbing easily up the outer wall. I turned and fired, raptly turning my face away. The bullet smashed through the glass, dug into the beast’s forehead, and exploded. Maybe I still had a chance to hold it till morning?

Not before long, my hopes were shattered. Since I’d turned away in an attempt to save my eyes I did not notice the attacker coming for me from the doorway. As soon as the flash died out, something heavy hit in and threw me on my back. I yelped in pain and fear, trying to point Little Dragon at the beast, but it knocked the rifle with a powerful blow sending it flying over in the corner of the room. I tensed and kicked the monster in the stomach with all my strength, then delivered a mighty facer as I heard its teeth snapping. With another blow, I managed to throw the monster off me. I rolled over on my stomach as the creature leapt at me and clamped its jaws on my back. I screamed in pain but somehow shook the creature off me, and with a left rear kick, I finally knocked it over. As the thing squirmed on the floor, I got up abruptly, ignoring the agonizing burning in my back, and scampered to the rifle.

The nightbeast pounced on me from behind, clearly intending to chew off part of my rump. The impact of its hooves was strong enough to send me sprawling on the floor again. It — I still couldn’t tell who it was — punched me hard in the stomach, forcing the air out of my lungs, then grabbed my leg and tossed me aside. For a moment I realized that I was flying, but only to feel an indescribable pain when I bumped into the wall. I sank to the floor and collapsed at the nightbeast’s hooves, feeling my consciousness leave me.

But just a second before I blacked out and the creature were ready to finish me off, I heard somepony shout. Then came a thundering shot.

“Ma! No! Ma!”

I see the vague memories of my past. I see myself: a pretty little filly cowering in a corner of her room and watching in horror as her foster mother (only when I was older did I realize that she was adoptive, for how could a zebra have been born of a unicorn and an earth pony; who cares though?) is overtaken by a light brown pony and stabbed in the neck with a knife attached to an iron-shod hoof. She collapses, blood spurting from her throat… A furious cry from father, followed a second later by a shot, and the stallion goes down with a split skull just as he stands in the doorway. The little me crouches in the corner, weeping and covering her face with hooves. The real me is trying to move, to rush and help, but I simply can’t. My hooves don’t move, my body refuses to obey me. I see the knifed pony come up to the other me and run the flat of the blade across my throat. Even now I can feel the chill and fear as the bastard stares straight into my blue eyes, as he tries to figure out with his tiny brain what to do with me next…

“Hey, Crag? Maybe we’ll kill her, what you think, huh?” he asks his comrade.

The unicorn that killed my father enters the room, levitating a sawn-off shotgun beside him. He stares at me with a lustful gaze, licking his lips as his eyes ogle my croup, still blank at the moment. I just cry, trying not to look at him.

“Don’t,” he says suddenly. “I think we can make her useful.”

The pony’s knife folds with a click, and he reaches with his dirty hooves toward the little me. But suddenly, she swings and slaps him on the cheek — too weak, too easy. He howls at my audacity and punches me in the chest. I fall, and he delivers a hard kick to my side…

“Don’t you dare!” the unicorn yells to stop his friend…

And everything disappears.

Light. Bright light. Bright sunlight!! It can’t be! No! Yes! I’m alive!!!

I tried to get out of bed, but my entire body ached and wouldn’t obey. I didn’t give up and tried to open my eyes.

I was lying in bed, gently covered with a blanket. How weird, I felt so strange… I had to force myself to lift my leg and throw off the blanket, which completely stupefied me. I was bandaged. What? Whom? By Celestia’s radiant light!

Little Dragon stood in the corner, and next to my bag on the dresser was a jumble of my things from boxes to jars to flasks to the flashlight to candles etc. And that sound. There was… clatter of dishes coming from downstairs?

By Celestia’s triple-darn, double-bucked radiant light! What’s going on?

“Are you awake yet?”

I pulled the blanket over me, staring at a young unicorn of a dark red coat and a light black mane. He was clad in a light green vest and had on his back a peculiar short-barrelled rifle, much smaller in size if compared to my Little Dragon. He levitated a tray with a mug of tea, a few drops of the liquid rolling off its side, and some salad in a deep plate.

“Good morning,” he said smiling at me. “Excuse me, we don’t have a royal breakfast, just this.”

“Yeah… Good morning,” I said.

My head was filled with thoughts. Who was it? How did he end up here? Why as I still alive? And why instead of robbing me or taking me as a prisoner or something worse did this pony just bandage me up and give me breakfast?! Was I still asleep?

“Who are you?” I blurted out the first of my questions.

“Flamestrike,” he introduced himself.

“You… Did you save me?”

“Well, who else?” He nodded. “Okay, no more questions until you eat.” He carried the tray over to me and placed it on a corner of the dresser empty of anypony’s belongings.

“That… all for me?”

“I told you not to ask questions! Now eat, no talking.”

“I-I—” I stammered but he was already gone.

The thoughts kept rolling in my mind like a swarm of angry wasps. I decided to save all questions for later, and so I delicately picked up the spoon in my hoof, scooped up the salad, and put it in my mouth. Mhm. Delicious! It was no match for my canned food.

After emptying both plate and mug, I felt much better. So much that I wanted to act. I got off the bed with awareness and staggered out into the corridor, then down the stairs.

Flamestrike was consumed by the process of surveying the kitchen cabinets. He had spread his findings on the table: two long-bladed knives, a metal plate, a package of some medicine judging by the lid painted with an eight-pointed star, and a jar perhaps containing some condiments.

“Oh, you’re up!” He smiled happily as he turned around. “You’re lucky they didn’t hurt you too much.”

“Excuse me… I’m just stunned a little… You… “ I shook my head, trying to calm down. “Why did you help me?”

“Stupid question. We’re all ponies!”

“An equally stupid answer,” I retorted. “You could have looted my things and as for me—” I decided against further explanations.

He gave me an appreciative glance. “I’m not that low, you know.”

“That’s not what I meant.” I felt my cheeks burning red hot. A red zebra, that’s a sight. “I’ve got some good supplies and the gun…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. This is a real gun.” He pulled a rifle off his neck. It had a sniper scope as well, the hoof-holder located under the barrel, a two-bladed side trigger helix… Quite a fascinating sample. “This is Shock, the best babe you’d ever find. Light and comfortable, capable of shooting a parasprite in the eye from four hundred metres. Magazine for six rounds. A recoil-smoothing spell and stuff as a bonus. Also a Vulture-type scope with a crossed sight…”

“I know, I know,” I said and waved my hoof to silence him. “But how did you find me?”

“It wasn’t difficult. The house shone like a signal light,” he nodded. “And so I rushed to your aid.”

“At night?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“But… They… They’re…”

“Ah yes.” The smile seemed to never leave his face. “Look at that.”

He lighted up magic in his horn to remove from his neck a queer grey hexagon on a white thread and showed it to me.

“A shadowstone?” I murmured. “But they don’t exist!”

“Do they?” He hung the amulet back around his neck. “Well, you’re dead then and it all is just your imagination. I’ve introduced myself, and what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Twilight Sparkle Black. Twilight is fine.”

“Twilight Sparkle? Like, Princess Twilight or what?”

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“Anyway, I hope you’ve completely recovered by now. We have to hit the road in two hours.”

“We?”

“You don’t think I’m going to leave you alone, do you? You owe me your life after all, which means you owe me a wish.” He winked at me mysteriously.

“I’m sorry, but I’m travelling alone.”

“You mean dying alone? What if I’d been too late?”

I wanted to answer him but I didn’t as I realized that what he was saying made sense.

“But you still haven’t answered me, why didn’t you leave me? You could have just left.”

“You’re going to torture me with that?” Flamestrike’s smile vanished from his muzzle. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll show you how good a shooter I am.”

I froze being not sure how to react, but all of a sudden the gravity was absent from his muzzle as fast as the smile had.

The unicorn laughed. “Did you believe me?”

“Actually, yes,” I said. “If anything, I got a rifle upstairs, too. And I can shoot, too.”

“We’ll be able to find out it soon enough,” he said. “Have you heard anything about Silver City?”

Silver City? Buck me. No, buck Celestia. Two strange words expressing my boundless amusement were currently coursing through my mind.