The Hunter and The Hunted

Twilight woke up, a strange haze of darkness overtook her, but the glow of lights could be seen shining through the threads of the bag she was in.  She could feel the terrain change from concrete of the road, then to cobblestone of the entrance gates, and finally sand, in a matter of minutes.

She started shifting around but her legs were tied and when she tied to use her magic, she would be refused by a massive headache.  After what felt for miles, she was tossed out of the bag.

She was met with the end of a hoof operated rifle in the face and an itchy trigger 'finger' of a bouncer behind it.

"Listen, we just wanted some water, we didn't mean any trouble," she started.

"Orders are orders, we don't make them, we just follow them."

"So you're gonna' shoot us over water?" She asked, trying get out of the way of the line of fire.

"No, try not to think of it like that, but what if we do let you go, and we get in trouble for not following orders, then you go free, and we end up in your position!"

Cerberus could be heard around one of the dunes behind the bouncer and by guess, he was dealing with the same situation, but the bouncer he was dealing with wouldn't start up a conversation with a dog.

What a pickle.

Twilight expected to hear a gunshot go off around the sand dune, but when nothing was heard, Twilight's bouncer started getting a little worried by not getting a response.

"Hey! You okay?"

Suddenly, a gunshot did ring out, but not from either of the bouncers.  This one came from over the dune behind Twilight, and the bullet penetrated the rope around her legs, just missing her skin, and setting her free.

"What?  That's impossible.  Nopony could pull of a shot that accurate," she thought as she scuttled around the dune the shot came from, having nowhere else to hide.

A figure slid down the dune, causing a trail of dust to pick itself up into the air and blind the armed thug.  He shot randomly into the cloudy environment, but was not able to hit anything but the ground as he was swiped up, thrown down, and have his for leg be twisted and snapping at the front joint.

He yelped out in pain, but was smacked unconscious by the butt of a different rifle.

Twilight was approached by the shady figure as the cloud died down, it was wrapped in a dark red cloak that blended in with the desert sand.  It examined her and spoke.

"You look like you needed a hoof."

It was a female, an earth pony, her eyes light blue, her mane and tail a dark blue, and a cutie mark with a red crosshair and circle.  A scoped rifle was slung across her back.

"Hawk, come on over here, and bring that dog I heard!" She called out.

A colt's voice was heard over the dune.

"This thing's got three heads, Bull!"

"What? Who are you ponies?" Twilight asked, getting up.

The cloaked pony turned around, "We're the ponies that just saved your life, my friend, I think the least you could do is say thank you."

"I'm sorry, but why did you save us?"

"Well, me and Hawk, who's comin' around the corner right now, were on our way from Phillydelphia when we heard you guy's over the dunes.  I hope we made the right choice and din't hurt the wrong ponies... You were the victims, correct?" Bull asked.

"Wha... Yes, we were the victims, and thank you, but I still have a few questions..."

"Shoot away."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Bull's Eye, my friends call me Bull."

Hawk came around the corner, "More like bull sh-"

"Hey, no cussin' in front of ponies who we just saved!" Bull snapped a look at Hawk, who was a green pony with yellow eyes and a yellow mane.  His cutie mark was showing from his cloak, another crosshair and circle, red.

Twilight was confused for a moment.

"Wait, your cutie marks are the same, how is that possible?"

I was technically impossible for a cutie mark to be the same unless twins were involved, but they looked nothing alike.

"Oh, these are not our real cutie marks, they are symbols.  We had them replace our cutie marks for the things we really wanted to be, marksponies," Bull explained.

Cerberus came around with Hawk as well.

"This is just dandy, this colt come rolling in and shoots a guard or whatever he was right in the chest!'

"He shot too? I only heard one shot," Twilight said.

"Uh, who are you talking to there, my unicorn?" Hawk asked.

Twilight remembered that all they could hear were barks.  It would take way too long to explain why she wasn't a cray pony talking to dogs, so they head to find a place to settle down.

"Never mind.  My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to bring this dog to a certain place far away.  I'm from Ponyville, but it's my mission to get him there.  I can tell you the rest if you have a place to go."

"Ya, we can get a hotel room, but it will be the last of our bits, we are running short on cash," Bull said.

"I can see that you have met my friend Bull's Eye, but I haven't properly introduced myself.  I'm Tomahawk, but my friends call me Hawk for short.  I'm a pegasus if you haven't been able to tell under my cloak.  We're traveling mercenaries, but friendly ones, so don't worry about us robbing and shooting you."

Bull elbowed Hawk in the chest and motioned them all to come back to the city.

"Need anything else before we get a room?" Hawk asked.

"Just some water, please."