The Good, the Bad and the Unfriendly

Two duos and two solo acts quickly set out from the saloon to their various destinations in the town of Appleloosa. They had to work fast and they had to work together to deal with the Shadowbolt Gang and the other threats that besieged the people here. It wasn’t the kind of thing Applejack expected herself to be doing, she didn’t like the moniker of hero, and yet here she was doing it. Rainbow Dash on the other hand was fully invested in stopping the evil of Lightning Dust, and Starlight Glimmer wanted to stop the terror of the Shadowbolts once and for all. Celestia, despite her usual apathy towards most everything not involving her personal journey, found a strange sort of friendship with Applejack and Diamond Tiara in the short time they had met since earlier this morning. And she couldn’t deny it felt good to help them and do something like this. So as it was, the streets of Appleloosa were about to get loud.

Starlight and Trixie were walking in the back alleys on their way towards the building directly across the street from The Grand Appleloosan. Thanks to the large hotel being right on main street it was easy to find, but Starlight wasn’t going in guns blazing without a plan. And she had no intention of letting Trixie go in guns blazing at all. They quickly made it to the building they needed—a business of some sort, Starlight didn’t care to find out what—and entered through the backdoor. Empty, thankfully. No Shadowbolts waiting to surprise them.

“Trixie does not like this one bit,” the magician said as she and Starlight headed up the stairs. “You’re going to go in there all alone when you don’t even know how many others there are?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m me,” Starlight responded.

“That’s the kind of stupid boastful thing I would say,” Trixie narrowed her eyes.

“I’m just saying I can handle a few gang members. And the townspeople need to be rescued, Trixie. I still consider myself a sheriff after all. And besides, you’ll be watching out for me,” Starlight said.

They reached the third floor of the building, the top floor as it so happened to be, and discreetly walked into an office that had windows from which they could look into the hotel just across the way. Naturally they both had to duck down and hide next to the windows just in case anyone from the hotel was looking out and saw them. They really didn’t need to alert the Shadowbolts to their presence.

“You have faith in me to watch out for you but you don’t want me by your side, huh?” Trixie frowned.

“I can’t stomach the thought of someone shooting at you again. And we know how poorly you’d react to being directly in the line of fire.”

“Well… yes.”

“That’s why you’re staying here, where it’s safer. And where you’ll be using this,” Starlight said as she handed Trixie her rifle, leaving her with just a revolver.

Trixie gulped. “Y-You know I’ll probably never be able to hit anyone with this thing. Not from this distance.”

“Trixie, for the love of—it’s not even a hundred feet!” Starlight snapped at her. “We’ve been practicing, you can do it! Even if you don’t think you can hit someone you just need to fire at them and give me cover, okay?”

The magician bit her lip but nodded anyways. “Okay.”

Starlight smiled at her. “It’ll be fine, no random thug can match up to me when it comes to guns. Even if I prefer rifles to six-shooters.”

“But wasn’t there someone else here who was supposed to be dangerous? Sunrise Flicker or something?” Trixie asked.

“Sunset Shimmer. And yes, I’ve heard that she’s quite the dangerous one. But I still have to do this and she’s still just a criminal like any other. Have faith in me, Trixie.” Starlight said.

“I do have faith in you. I’m just worried,” Trixie folded her arms over her chest.

“Worried about me or worried that you’ll be up the creek without a paddle without me?” Starlight grinned.

“It’s not the time for jokes. Why am I the serious one all of a sudden,” Trixie pouted at her—before a blush rose to her cheeks. “Both.”

“That’s what I figured. Now come on, let’s take a quick peek out the windows and see if we can see anything. Then I’m heading right across the street.” Starlight said and motioned for them both to just barely peeks their heads out so they could see across the street into the hotel.

The Grand Appleloosan had its big front doors closed, Starlight doubted it was locked though. It stood a story higher than the office building the two of them were in but the top floor seemed to be entirely kept as an attic for storage. Most of the windows had the curtains down or the shutters folded up to make sure no one could see into them but a few rooms were still visible to Starlight and Trixie. The ones that were visible didn’t have anyone in them though, which actually told Starlight a lot. It meant that in all likelihood, all the townspeople were being held in the rooms they couldn’t see into. Either that or some back rooms not visible at all from the front of the building. The same for any Shadowbolts who were unquestionably left to guard the place.

Starlight peered down at the first floor and tried to look into the large lobby windows there but found that the curtains were closed for them too. Wouldn’t be surprising that some Shadowbolts were there to guard the entrance. So despite some reconnaissance, Starlight didn’t have a whole lot to go on for when it came to running in there for the rescue. Nothing more than kick the door down and shoot them before they can shoot her at least.

“Not a great situation, but I’ve been in worse,” Starlight said as she cracked her neck. “Alright, Trixie, I’m going in. There’s no more time to waste and I have to hit them hard and fast before they know what’s happening.”

“But-”

Starlight held up a finger to silence her. “Just watch out for me. I’m running straight from the front of this building into the hotel. They’ll be surprised, and I’ll have the advantage.”

“They’ll have numbers on you though,” Trixie murmured.

“That’s why I’m carrying more than one bullet,” Starlight grinned and briefly checked down at her revolver to make sure it was fully loaded before spinning the cylinder back into place. It definitely made her more confident to be holding a reliable Flim & Flam made weapon in her hand.

“Okay, it’s time for me to go.” Starlight said and walked towards the stairs.

“Hold on!” Trixie stopped her, grabbing her by the hand and turning her around before wrapping her in a tight hug. “This is for looking out for Trixie. I-I know I haven’t made it easy.”

Starlight smiled warmly and hugged her back, a light chuckle escaping her lips. “You sure as hell haven’t.”

In contrast to how those old friends were having a warm moment, Rainbow Dash and Indigo Zap were being much colder to each other. Their past being far less friendly had something to do with that but there was also the fact that Indigo’s hands were tied behind her back and she was being forced down the streets by Rainbow Dash that also had something to do with the sour mood. Rainbow Dash had decided that Indigo wasn’t going to be left on her own, and she might be useful, so she brought her with her as she searched through the streets of Appleloosa for Lightning Dust. She was even allowed to keep her sword—though with her hands tied there wasn’t much she could do with it.

“Are you sure Lightning Dust is even here? We probably would’ve found her by now if she was,” Indigo Zap said as the two of them walked down yet another empty street.

“She’s definitely here. And obviously she knows how to hide from some lousy Shadowbolt thugs,” Rainbow sniped back. “As long as we go through the parts of town that you said your gang hasn’t really checked out as much, we’ll find her eventually.”

“Or she’ll find us.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “I’d welcome that too.”

“She’s going to kill you, Rainbow,” Indigo frowned.

“See? That’s your problem, Indigo. That’s always been your problem. You can’t believe in anyone or anything. Not even yourself. Me? I never doubt myself, and I don’t even consider failure. I’ve been traveling all over Equestria kicking ass and being awesome. Did I have to do any of it? Hell no. Cause first of all I always wanted to find Lightning Dust. But I did it anyways cause stopping people like you and your friends was the right thing to do and because I knew I would succeed.” Rainbow glanced over at Indigo out of the corner of her eyes. “Can you say you’re as proud of anything you’ve done as I am?”

Indigo’s lip quivered and she stared hard at the ground, she could feel her tied up hands balling into fists and her sheathed rapier tapping against her leg with each step she took. “Shut the fuck up, Rainbow.” She finally bit out.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She then shook her head. “I just don’t get what happened to you, Indigo. I never had any problems with you back when we were students like I did with Lightning Dust. I just can’t believe you cared so little about everything that you’d join up with Sunny Flare and those other psychos. Friends or not with her, I just don’t get it.”

This time, Indigo was totally silent as they kept walking, only staring at the ground. Rainbow Dash hoped she was feeling bad or contemplative to be honest. She deserved it. And she needed to think about her choices in life. It was bad enough that she had to have Lightning Dust as her other fellow student, dragging the use of swords through the mud. Rainbow wasn’t going to let it or their master’s work be sullied so easily.

Rainbow turned her attention to the buildings on the desolate street they were on. Most looked recently abandoned, with their doors ajar and things left out inside them for anyone to just walk in and take. Windows were drawn and Dash tried to spy any movement or figure moving inside them but so far she hadn’t had such luck. Lightning Dust was hiding somewhere here in Appeloosa and she hadn’t felt to make herself known just yet.

Her fingers teased the hilt of her saber and she licked her lips. The anticipation was growing inside her that she could finally end things with Lightning Dust. Rainbow Dash could almost feel the eyes on her.

Rainbow Dash was far more correct than even she knew. Not only was Lightning Dust indeed in town and indeed in this abandoned area not often traveled by Shadowbolts, she was already watching Rainbow and Indigo walk down the street together.

“Well this is even more exciting than what I hoped for,” Lightning Dust said as she peeked from behind the closed blinds of a window on the second story of a local hardware store. The owners of the store had the second story converted into their home. But thanks to Lightning Dust they weren’t in need of it anymore.

The murderer licked her lips and found a grin forming on her face. “Indigo too… who would’ve thought? Although the two of them don’t seem to be on very good terms.” Lightning almost laughed when she noticed the binds around Indigo’s hands. “I thought I had heard that Indigo was in the Shadowbolts. Guess Dash is pretty upset about that.”

She paused and stepped back from the blinds. When it came down to it, it was a damn unlikely coincidence that she had ended up in this town where she was planning on facing off with Dash right as the Shadowbolt Gang arrived and started doing whatever the hell they were doing. Lightning didn’t care enough to learn. All that mattered was staying out of their sights and waiting for Rainbow Dash to arrive, which now she finally had.

“This town must’ve been built on a Buffalo Men burial ground to be so unlucky,” Lightning smirked.

She brought a hand up to her chin and cupped it while her other hand rested on the hilt of her rapier. “Oh… what to do now? Kill Dash first and then gut a helpless Indigo? Or kill Indigo and make Dash watch?”

A lady walked towards the home of Cranky Doodle. Tall, reticent, stoic, she walked with a purpose and in any normal situation the townspeople would’ve gotten right out of her way. Except today there were no townspeople around. The only people left that she would be facing were members of the Shadowbolt Gang, who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot her.

So Celestia would simply have to do what she did best and shoot first.

His home was at the end of the street near the south side of town. A simple two-story affair but decently spacious with numerous rooms on each floor judging by all the windows.

How many Shadowbolts were in there, Celestia had no idea. But with both guns in her belt she feared nothing. If any of them tried something, they would die. That was the promise Celestia told herself. Not even for justice or for the sake of Cranky Doodle, but for her own drive that so far was still unfulfilled. Rescuing Cranky was a favor to her friends and because maybe, just maybe, Celestia still cared about truly doing the right thing. But any killing or self-defense was purely so she could go on living until she found Luna.

They likely had guards inside the house. She already knew that there were at least some important Shadowbolts inside in charge of roughing Cranky up and finding the nugget. Someone would see her coming from the windows soon.

And the lady kept walking down the middle of the street.

Applejack checked her father’s revolver, dusting it and cleaning it to make sure everything was perfect as she walked towards Appleloosa’s town hall. It was her only weapon on and the thing was well worn so she really didn’t need it failing on her. Since she had so much experience with it though she could pretty much tell at a glance that everything looked good. Maybe she was just being fussy. Or nervous. She didn’t like getting in gunfights, she really didn’t, but it seemed she couldn’t avoid them.

No, that wasn’t true. She could’ve taken Diamond and left here without giving a shit about what was going on in Appleloosa. But she didn’t. She chose to do this because she didn’t want anyone else to end up like her or Diamond.

She still couldn’t fight all the jitters she felt right now though. If she had died in the past while out traveling it didn’t mean anything. Just one more person gunned down by someone else, not like she had anything to live for or work towards back then anyways. But now with Diamond Tiara under her watch and protection… what would happen to her if Applejack died? What would she think if she lost Applejack right after losing her parents?

And yet Applejack had still thrown herself into danger just cause it was the right thing to do.

Damn it.

“What the fuck am I even doing?” The blonde muttered to herself as she walked to town hall. “Who knows how many are in there, Sunny Flare’s in there, and they might make the kids hostages.” She scratched her head. “What the fuck am I doing?”

It would probably be a bad idea to go in from the front. Applejack had been in several uneven shootouts and had survived them through a combination of both luck and skill. But if she didn’t have to put herself in such a bad situation to begin with then she wasn’t going to. So instead she was going to try and find a backdoor or window into the town hall and pick off the Shadowbolts in there one by one if she could. Of course the first bullet fired would alert them all to what was happening. Things were going to be rough.

Applejack looked down at her gunbelt. Sixteen bullets along with the six already in her revolver. Hopefully enough. She was generally a good enough shot to make them all count, but her nerves were getting to her now, and you couldn’t always aim so well if you were already in the middle of a shootout. Maybe she could scrounge bullets or another gun off one of the Shadowbolts.

The cowgirl reached the middle of town and stopped behind a building on the street that turned towards town hall. Wouldn’t be good walking right out there just in case someone was watching or standing outside. Peeking around the corner she saw town hall just standing there, a wide open square in front of it. The building was two stories and quite wide, with a clock tower built into the middle of it. As far as she could tell there weren’t any guards outside it either. But that didn’t mean Applejack was just going to charge on in. Like she decided earlier she was going to sneak around to the back. It was a pretty big building so just getting around was only going to be her first problem. Finding Sunny Flare and where the kids were being held hostage was another can of worms.

Applejack took about five minutes of darting between buildings and hiding under cover before she made it behind town hall. In addition to a couple of doors there was a fire escape leading all the way up to the roof. Maybe that was the best way in? She doubted the Shadowbolts would be expecting someone to come in and attack them from the roof.

Applejack nodded to herself and after taking one last time to look around and make sure nobody was watching—she sprinted towards the fire escape and then slowly walked up the wooden steps to make sure nobody inside heard her.

Sweat coated her brow and she reached up a hand to wipe it away. “This is a damn crazy idea but it still can’t be as dumb as marching in through the front door.”

Diamond Tiara didn’t know if she was anxious or bored. But she knew for certain she was both upset and angry at being left behind like some helpless child in the saloon while everyone else went out to fight the Shadowbolts. Everyone else was putting their life on the line for this town none of them have even been to before but she had to stay put? Just because Applejack was being overprotective of her?

In reality… Diamond knew that Applejack was probably right. And she knew that Applejack was really worried about her. But she hated feeling useless like this, not just useless but actually weighing down Applejack and the others.

She rhythmically thrummed her fingers on the table she was sitting at, frown growing deeper on her face.

Applejack was in danger right now. Her friend, her protector, her sis—the person she looked up to. And all she was doing was sitting here.

“Damn it!” Diamond Tiara slammed her hands down on the table and stood up. “This isn’t right!”

But as much as she hated being here she knew it was probably for the best. And Applejack would be really pissed off at her if she left and came after her. Really, really pissed off. On the other hand… she could say that being left alone in a town full of criminals was dangerous too. What if some random Shadowbolt showed up here just like Indigo did? Thinking about it that way maybe she should go find Applejack. It was probably just as safe by her side.

Diamond Tiara grinned and ran out the saloon door, heading to town hall after Applejack.

The heavy boot of Starlight Glimmer kicked open the front doors of The Grand Appleloosan hotel. Her revolver was raised right next to her grim face and ready for her to fire if it was needed. She looked around the lobby and saw three startled men standing around the receptionist desk. Shadowbolts, obviously.

“Don’t move a muscle!” Starlight shouted at them, doubting that they would listen.

They didn’t.

All three men reached for their guns but a quick fanning and three pulls of the trigger from Starlight put them into an early grave. While the last one was still groaning as his breath left him, Starlight was already putting more bullets back into her gun and walking to the stairs.

“Told you not to move,” she said. Glancing up she heard numerous people running about on the floors above her, alerted to her entrance. A grin wormed its way onto her face. “Time to get rid of some more scum.”

On the second floor, and a minute before the shooting had begun, Sunset Shimmer was busy playing cards with some of the captive townsfolk. It was not a privilege to be able to play with her, however. They had all come to learn just how quick her temper was and she was only ever playing cards with them for her own amusement. Just to torment them. Lose and she puts a single bullet in her gun, spins the cylinder, and pulls the trigger once in your face.

Most thankfully had been lucky enough to survive.

But if you win a hand, she puts three bullets in.

And lord have mercy on you if she decided that you were trying to lose on purpose.

The Grand Appleloosan actually had a medium-sized upstairs ballroom where most of the townsfolk had been gathered and were held hostage. With some others in individual rooms and of course the kids over at town hall. The ones remaining here were tied up and gathered in large groups, except for the ones who were playing cards with Sunset. They all got to sit at a large table with her.

And all Sunset had in her hand right now was a pair of nines. Something that sure didn’t bode well for the others at the table.

So the townsfolk were quite lucky when gunshots rang from down below and all the Shadowbolts guarding them sprang up into action. Guns were drawn and a man by the name of Royal Pin opened up the door of the ballroom.

“What the hell is going on?!” He shouted.

Sunset Shimmer—who had not gotten up from her seat when the shooting started—turned to him with a wide grin on her face. “I’d say we’re getting some excitement here finally.”

Another Shadowbolt frowned. “Sounded like someone just came through the front door and started shooting.”

“Sunny’ll be pissed if we screw up here...” Royal Pin spat. “Damn it, everyone get down there and take care of whatever dumb son of a bitch decided coming here was a good idea. Probably just some stupid bastard from town who we missed that got a dumb idea in his head about being a hero.”

Sunset Shimmer didn’t agree with him on that. In fact she flat out knew he was wrong. The spacing of those shots was perfect and all of them came from the same gun, her ears were good enough to tell that. Whoever had come into the hotel, they certainly weren’t some delusional nobody from Appleloosa. They knew how to use a gun. Of course, Sunset had no intention of sharing this with her Shadowbolt “allies”. Where was the fun in that?

She turned back to look at the frightened people she had been playing cards with. “Looks like you get a lucky break. For now.” Sunset then stood up and pulled her revolver out of its holster. “Cause I’m pretty sure something way more fun just started.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed as she stood in front of an alleyway leading into the backroads of Appleloosa. Things had been quiet enough already but there was a distinct feeling of dread now permeating the air. Indigo Zap could feel it too as she leaned up against the brick side of one of the buildings. Around them were just empty houses and closed windows. That was it. But their instincts were both telling them that they were in danger.

Were they flies who hadn’t seen the web?

The only thing that offered anything to their senses was a stable near the end of this street. Dash could smell the horses still inside it. But besides them there were no other sings of life around.

The sound of a blade cutting through the air reached Rainbow’s ears and she jumped out of the way right before a knife stabbed into the ground where she had been standing. Grabbing Indigo by the arm she pulled her away from the alley and looked up to see where the knife had come from.

“Yo.”

Lightning Dust stood on the roof of the building opposite the one Indigo had been leaning against. She had an easygoing smirk on her face as she waved down at her two fellow students.

“Hey, Lightning,” Indigo coldly said up to her.

Rainbow Dash only glared.

“What? No words for your old friend?” Lightning Dust said down to the rainbow-haired girl. “And I even left you a friendly message to come meet me here.”

“We were never friends. Rivals once. But now the only thing I see you as is a disgusting murderer who needs to die,” Rainbow Dash growled at her.

Lightning Dust shrugged. “If you wanna be so sore about it then fine.”

“Get the fuck down here!” Rainbow Dash snapped, she could feel a vein pounding in her forehead.

“If you say so,” Lightning Dust chuckled and hopped off the roof onto the awning of the building’s first floor and then jumped off that onto the street. Her movements were as lithe and perfect as ever. No stumbles or sprained ankles from someone like her.

Rainbow Dash unsheathed her saber while Indigo Zap stepped back from the both of them.

“You know I didn’t care in the slightest about you until I figured out you were trailing me. Did you really have a death wish that bad? Cause I was willing to live and let live,” Lightning said, the smile in her tone disgustingly evident.

“Shut up and take out your sword,” Rainbow Dash said as she gripped the hilt of her blade so hard her knuckles turned white.

“Don’t let her get you angry like that, Rainbow,” Indigo frowned.

“And you shut up too!” Rainbow turned to her. “Unless you suddenly care, huh?”

Indigo bit her lip, looking between the two others.

“Hahahahaha, oh man, I almost miss those old days back when all three of us were together,” Lightning Dust said and pulled out her rapier, the immaculately clean blade glistening in the sunlight. “Whatever. Time to die, Rainbow.”

The two duelists faced off with each other—neither moving an inch—while Indigo slowly backed away. With her eyes she could see that Dash’s form was sloppy, unfocused, she hadn’t bothered moving her feet into the correct position and her hand was shaking in anger. Lightning Dust on the other hand was the very measure of a duelist. Unwavering, unbending, purely focused on the target in front of her with nothing but a small grin on her face. Dash was letting her hotheadedness get to her and it was going to get her killed in Indigo’s opinion. Even if she got control of herself, Lightning would still likely win.

The first attack came blindingly fast at the courtesy of Lightning Dust, her blade turning on edge so it almost disappeared in the light, so razor thin it was. Slicing at Rainbow Dash’s head, right above her right eye, to take her out with a single cut. Dash’s reflexes and experience were still far to great for her to fall to something so simple though. A backstep and slight tilting back of her head caused it to harmlessly pass by her face and then her own blade came up, thrusting towards Lightning Dust’s throat.

A quick turn of Lightning’s wrist brought her blade back as she batted away Rainbow Dash’s sword. Rainbow Dash didn’t let up for a second though, pressing towards Lightning Dust with repeated thrusts and slashes that were all deftly parried by Lightning Dust’s own blade. Screeching metal rang down the entire street, though likely no one else but the three of them could hear. Again and again the sharp cries of steel echoed over the dirt street as Rainbow Dash went for the throat, the head, the torso, and the chest. Targeting each area as expertly and precisely as she could.

But each time she did, Lightning’s rapier was there to parry or turn Rainbow’s saber away. And she did it so simply, so effortlessly as she backstepped and let Dash keep charging forward. That stupid smirk was still on her face the whole time and it infuriated Dash. She wanted to wipe it off her face, to bloody Lightning Dust, to make it so she never laughed or smiled again.

Another quick slice came from Lightning Dust while Rainbow Dash was in the middle of her charge. She almost hadn’t seen it but managed to parry the rapier to the side just enough so that it only brushed against her left shoulder.

Rainbow Dash felt an instant of white hot heat and looked to see a cut in her shirt and fresh blood dampening it.

“Fff!” She sucked in her breath and stepped back from Lightning Dust, the pain in her shoulder now registering as a sharp throb. The wound was probably no wider than a papercut but it hurt so much worse than one.

“Keep your head in the game, Rainbow. That was always your problem,” Lightning Dust said and Rainbow didn’t have to look to know she was still smiling.

“It’s never been a game,” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. “You treating it like that—and treating other people like nothing has been your problem.”

Lightning Dust’s smile grew wider. “Actually, I’d say that’s what’s kept me alive in this world.”

“It’s people like you in the first place who have made this world so tough to live in,” Rainbow Dash spat. “And that’s why I’m trying to change it for everyone.”

“Well since you’re about to die here, I think you’re going to fail at that,” Lightning Dust said and then sprinted forward, going on the offensive now. Her attacks were relentless and sharp in a way that even Rainbow’s weren’t. Savage.

As Rainbow Dash was pushed back by the dizzying offense, forced to do nothing but parry blows and not even think of attacking on her own, she was reminded of the days when they practiced like this together. The many times Lightning had assaulted her in much the same way she was doing now and how Rainbow could never overcome her. But it just made the fire in her chest burn hotter too. That desire to not just stop a horrible murderer but to finally defeat someone she never could. And to avenge her master as well. All of this was right here in front of her, if only she could win.

A slash came at Rainbow’s torso that she managed to parry away but Lightning Dust then immediately went for a sharp cut at Rainbow’s forehead. This time Rainbow only barely managed to avoid the steel slicing into her skin. But her hair wasn’t so lucky. A lock of it fell to the ground while Lightning Dust momentarily stopped her assault and chuckled.

“You know you can just quit now and die with some dignity. Otherwise you’ll be bleeding from a dozen wounds by the time I finally kill you,” Lightning Dust said.

Rainbow Dash exhaled deeply and finally got into the correct stance with her feet, holding the saber out at Lightning Dust and putting her other hand on her hip. “No way.”

Indigo nervously sweated and looked between the two of them. Her feelings when it came to Dash were certainly mixed right now, but Rainbow winning was basically her only chance of surviving this day. And truthfully she didn’t have any sort of fondness for Lightning Dust either. And just maybe, she was finally feeling a little ashamed of herself.

Before Lightning Dust could begin her attack again, Indigo Zap spoke up. “Untie me.”

Both of the duelists looked over at her in surprise. Quickly, Lightning’s smirk grew bigger.

“What?” Rainbow Dash glared at her.

“Cut these ropes, Dash. Let me fight with you and we can beat her together,” Indigo said.

“Hahahaha,” Lightning Dust laughed. “Oh, go right ahead. That might actually make this fun. I don’t mind killing you both when you’re trying to fight me.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and shook her head at Indigo. “You think you can just expect me to-”

“You’re going to die, Rainbow! You’ll die and everything you’ve done will be pointless. And you’ll never avenge our master,” Indigo said. “Whatever you want to do with me afterwards is fine but… let’s deal with Lightning Dust together.”

Lightning Dust meanwhile had actually put her rapier down, finding immense amusement in the two’s conversation. “I’m waiting.”

Rainbow Dash glared sharply at her before turning back to Indigo, then glancing down at her sword. “I… you…” She tilted her head back and groaned in defeat. “Fine!” She grasped Indigo by the shoulder and turned her around before slashing upwards and cutting the rope binding the other girl’s hands. “If you want to try redeeming yourself just a little bit, then go ahead.”

“Thank you,” Indigo calmly responded before pulling out her rapier. The two of them now stood together in front of Lightning Dust, swords raised.

Lightning Dust brought her rapier back up in anticipation. “Alright, let’s see which of you I get first.”

“I am fucking sick of this already. I don’t care what Sunny has to do to those kids to get the old bastard to talk, I just want to get out of this god damn town already,” Sour Sweet complained from inside Cranky Doodle’s home.

Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest were with her along with two other Shadowbolts Sunny Flare had lent them to make sure nothing happened with Cranky. At the moment they all stayed in the living room on the first floor of Cranky’s home, with him tied up somewhere upstairs. Lemon Zest was leaning against the windowsill that faced the street with her lever-action repeater rifle standing next to her while Sugarcoat was boredly sitting on a couch with her and Sour’s long range rifles sitting behind it.

“I mean, I agree with you but what else are we gonna do?” Lemon shrugged. “We can’t leave here without that gold nugget.”

“You should stop complaining so much or Sunny is going to shoot you one day,” Sugarcoat said.

“You think I don’t know any of that?! I’m just pissed off!” Sour yelled.

Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. “And I’m pissed off having to listen to you.”

Lemon Zest glanced out the window for a second, trying to ignore the other two. Her head tilted as she saw something and looked back at Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet with a raised eyebrow. “Hey guys, all the townspeople are still captive at the hotel, right?”

“Yes, stupid, that’s right,” Sour Sweet said.

“Then how come there’s someone walking down the street right towards us?”

“What?” Sour Sweet frowned and walked over while Sugarcoat stood up as well.

The three of them came to the window while the other two Shadowbolts went to another window on the opposite side of the front door. All five of them were now watching the female figure slowly walking towards Cranky Doodle’s home.

“Did we miss someone?” Sugarcoat said.

“Who cares? We can’t let anyone rescue Cranky anyways,” Sour Sweet said and glanced at Lemon. “Shoot the bitch.”

“Whatever you say,” Lemon Zest shrugged and picked up her rifle.

The moment, the very moment, she tried to level it towards the window and place the butt of the rifle against her shoulder, a shot rang out and a bullet hole was blown in the glass window from outside. Lemon Zest felt the whumph of the bullet as it hit her in the shoulder and knocked her backwards, her rifle falling from her hands as she fell to the ground and reflexively reached up to grasp her injured shoulder. Her hand came away with blood and the green-haired girl paled.

“Oh fuck! Fuck!” She screamed in pain and kicked her feet on the ground.

“Everyone get back!” Sour Sweet yelled and she and the three others darted away from the windows.

“Shit… oh shit,” Lemon Zest cried as blood flowed freely from her wound, already making a large puddle on the floor. “Sour, Sugar, help me...”

“I don’t know any first-aid. Maybe there are medical supplies somewhere in the house,” Sugarcoat said.

“Forget that! How the hell did that bitch out there make that shot!” Sour Sweet roared as she grabbed her rifle and tossed Sugarcoat’s to her. “She only had pistols, I saw it!”

“Is she still coming? There’s no cover out there so we still have the advantage,” Sugarcoat said.

“It h-hurts...” Lemon Zest moaned as she rolled on the floor.

Sour Sweet ignored her and looked at the two Shadowbolt flunkies. “You two! Get back to the window right now and fill the bitch full of holes!” She then looked to Sugarcoat. “You and I are heading upstairs.”

“Wait! Wait, don’t just leave me here!” Lemon Zest said and struggled to get on her knees, but the pain and fatigue from blood loss was getting to her. “Ohhhh, fuck!”

The two other Shadowbolts glanced at her in worry but honestly they were a lot more scared of Sour Sweet and disobeying her. One of them slid up to the wall and inched to the window, his pistol in hand, and peeked out to see where the approaching lady was now. As soon as his face was reflected on the glass of the window, a bullet came through with a thundering crack and penetrated his right eye before leaving out the back of his skull. He didn’t fall so much as collapse like a rag doll.

The other guy was so startled he dropped his gun to the floor and backed away to the nearest wall. Lemon Zest meanwhile was just getting more and more pale and lightheaded. The bleeding wouldn’t stop. It was just her shoulder right? She wouldn’t die from getting shot in the shoulder would she?

While her thoughts were drifting off in that direction, the other Shadowbolt heard someone step up the porch and stop right in front of the door. His eyes were glued to the doorknob as it was turned and the door slowly slid open.

A tall lady stood framed in the doorway, taller than him, with a stoic look on her face and both her guns sitting in their holsters. She didn’t look worried or scared at all despite obviously knowing she was outnumbered in here. And why would she? He had seen her effortlessly dispatch two of his comrades with what should have been next to impossible shots. Her eyes first went down to Lemon Zest, who was sweating and staring back up at her, before they drifted over to him.

He froze and his eyes glanced down to the gun by his feet.

By the time he glanced back up he had already been shot through the heart.

Celestia stood with one pistol drawn in her right hand, the barrel pointed towards the floor as her eyes drifted to the ceiling and her ears picked out the tell-tale sounds of movement.

“How many?” She suddenly said.

When no one else said anything in response she glanced down towards Lemon Zest. “How many?”

“T-Two...” Lemon wheezed. “P-Please, I’m sorry, just please don’t kill me. Please, help me.”

Celestia calmly looked at her and blinked once. “You’re a member of the Shadowbolt Gang, right?”

Lemon Zest squeezed her eyes shut and sniffled. “Yes.”

“Then no,” Celestia cocked back the hammer of her pistol and fired a bullet between Lemon’s eyes. In a way, it was a courtesy. Since now she was out of her misery.

Right as she fired she heard more footsteps above her, the floorboards creaked and a light amount of dust drifted down from the ceiling. Celestia paused and looked over to the stairs. Obviously she would need to go up them at some point. But not yet. The two other Shadowbolts up there were probably lying in wait, preparing a trap to just shoot Celestia immediately the moment she showed herself. So she could make things much easier for herself before she went up the stairs.

Celestia took a few silent steps while keeping her eyes trained on the ceiling. She walked into the living room, stepping over Lemon Zest’s body, and narrowed her eyes at the wood right above her head. Lifting up her gun she pointed it at the ceiling and fired a single shot into it.

The whump of a body hitting the floor above her was all she needed to hear.

The loud “Fuck!” yelled right after was just extra.

Celestia’s hand moved, almost automatically, towards the source of the yell and she pulled the trigger again, sending another bullet through the ceiling and into the second floor. A pained yell was the response along with the sound of the last Shadowbolt falling over, not a kill shot, at least not instantly, by the sounds of screaming in pain and anger still coming from above. But at the very least it meant that Celestia wasn’t really in danger anymore. She holstered her gun and exhaled, taking a slow and steady walk towards the stairs.

Trixie’s hands were shaking around the rifle as she looked down its sights into the hotel, peeking through any window that wasn’t blocked so she could maybe get a sign of Starlight inside. She had heard three shots followed by silence for the next couple of minutes and then another, much more sustained, salvo of shots. And the hotel had pretty much sounded like a warzone ever since. Only rarely did she get a glimpse of movement from her position across the street. Seeing a man or woman occasionally run past a window. But no Starlight just yet.

Of course since the bullets were still flying it meant that Starlight was obviously still alive. So Trixie was at least pretty damn relieved to know that.

She felt her palms sweating and quickly wiped them off on her pants. Bad enough if she had to use the rifle to begin with, she didn’t need her sweat making things worse. Why did Starlight have to trust her with this? No, it was more like Starlight just didn’t have another choice. Trixie doubted Starlight expected her to be able to actually help her if it came down to it.

And she was right, Trixie glumly noted.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t watch over her and do her best. So Trixie brought her nerves under as much control as she could and held the rifle steady—watching the hotel.

Meanwhile inside The Grand Appleloosan, Starlight was already on the second floor raising havoc with a trail of dead bodies in her wake.

That was right up until she kicked down the door to one of the rooms and came across a bound and gagged couple. They tried to warn her about something and Starlight got the message once the door to the room across the hallway opened up behind her and someone immediately started firing at her. Starlight dove out of the way, the bullets harmlessly flying past her and into the wall, and raised her gun to make sure she could instantly gun down whoever charged into the room after her.

But nobody came and Starlight quickly realized her new adversary wasn’t so reckless.

“Hey, that was a pretty nice dive! I think most people would just be dead by now,” a female voice said from the hallway.

Starlight frowned and didn’t lower her gun for a second. “Is that the voice of Sunset Shimmer I’m hearing?”

“You know me? You wouldn’t believe how happy that makes me!” Sunset laughed. “And who are you? I gotta admit I didn’t expect anything crazy like this to happen while I was here.”

“The world’s full of surprises, neither did I. I’m Starlight Glimmer. Sheriff Starlight Glimmer,” Starlight replied.

“Well now, I’ve heard of you too. You’re a pretty well-known officer of the law. What are you doing all the way down here though?”

“This.”

Sunset laughed again. “Good answer. Well, sorry to say but I’m sure as hell not going to let you leave this hotel alive out of respect or anything.”

“If you’re so interested in killing me then come right in here already,” Starlight sweetly said.

“Hah! Yeah that’d be a short trip. Sorry but I think I have a better way of dealing with rats,” Sunset said.

“Oh yeah? And what would that be?” Starlight asked.

“Well you see, all these hotel rooms have multiple entrances unless it’s one of the big luxurious suites. You can actually look to both sides of the room and you’ll see doors leading to the rooms next to the one you’re in,” Sunset said.

Starlight briefly checked to make sure and yes—there were two currently closed doors on either side of this room. She bit her lip. “And?”

“Hah, and it means I can send some of my Shadowbolt, “friends” for lack of a better word, through the other doors at the same time. And there won’t be anywhere for you to run or hide. Sorry, sheriff, you’re a rat caught in a trap now,” Sunset said.

“Guess I’ll be shooting my way out, how unexpected,” Starlight muttered.

Still, she knew she was in a lot of danger if she could get attacked from three directions at once. There weren’t any places to run to or hide inside this room either. If she could deal with whatever flunkeys were coming from one direction before the others it wouldn’t be so bad. But Sunset Shimmer might come in and try taking her out personally as well.

Starlight’s eyes glanced over to the windows.

“Don’t fail me now, Trixie,” Starlight whispered and quickly slid over to them.

“For once I really need you to not let me down,” Starlight said as she pulled open the curtains. “You better be watching for me...”

Starlight then slid against the wall, ignoring the muffled pleading from the couple still tied up in the room, she couldn’t afford to bother with them for now. From outside in the hallway came a shrill whistle and then Starlight heard footsteps gathering in the rooms surrounding this one. She kept herself against the wall so whoever came from the left wouldn’t be able to immediately see her and she’d still have a line of sight on the front door and the one to the right. With a calming breath she kept her revolver aimed squarely at that right side door. She had two advantages in this situation: they didn’t know exactly where she would be standing when they came in and they didn’t know about Trixie.

Starlight hoped that was enough of an edge to survive this.

At once both doors were kicked open and two Shadowbolts from each side came into the room with guns drawn. Starlight fired two quick shots and downed the ones who came in from the right--just as Sunset Shimmer also leaned around the front door looking for Starlight and the ones from the left turned to see where she was standing. Starlight ducked and fired a wild shot at Sunset Shimmer just to try and deter her. Sunset Shimmer leaned behind the doorframe as soon as she saw Starlight aiming at her and then also fired a blind bullet at her but it went over Starlight’s head thanks to her reckless aim.

That still left two people who had a straight shot at her.

Their guns were already pointed at her before Starlight could swing hers around towards them. She could see them getting ready to pull their triggers-

When a potted plant on the cabinet behind them exploded.

It caught them and Sunset Shimmer off guard, surprising them, their aim faltered and they momentarily looked over in shock at the destroyed plant.

Starlight smirked. Good enough, Trixie.

Another quick fan of her gun and the other two Shadowbolts were dead. Starlight then ran towards the wall away from the window so Sunset couldn’t get a good shot at her from the hallway. Sunset still took another shot but missed in her haste once again, growling in anger and then retreating back into the hallway and out of view. Starlight could hear her cowboy boots running somewhere else into the hotel.

She took a quick sigh of relief and walked over to the window, smiling and waving out of it.

“Thanks, Trixie,” she said, though the other girl certainly couldn’t see her. Starlight then ran to the door and prepared to chase down Sunset Shimmer. “I’ll come back for you two later!” She said to the bound couple without a second glance.

Applejack peaked around a corner on the upper floor of town hall. Nobody there. Waiting a few more seconds for her heart to settle down, she walked down the hall as quietly as she could and tried to figure out where Sunny Flare and the children were. She could hear voices coming from elsewhere in the building, but no children’s voices. Sunny probably wanted the kids to shut up and be quiet but Applejack doubted they could actually keep them all from making any noise.

Maybe I should be looking for a room big enough to hold all those kids? Applejack thought to herself. There were probably some rooms for storage or maybe a big office somewhere that the Shadowbolts were using for that.

Applejack turned another corner and came into a three-way intersection. Looking right and left she both saw carpeted hallways that were just about the same with some doors on either side of them leading to more rooms. She only heard voices coming from her left though, distinctly adult male voices now, she could tell. Biting her lip, Applejack decided to go left. As much as she wanted to avoid Shadowbolts she knew the children and Sunny Flare were far more likely to be in the direction she was hearing other voices.

As long as she didn’t accidentally bump into or get spotted by someone before she saw them it should all be okay.

Practically tiptoeing down the hallway, Applejack listened intently to figure out which of these doors the voices were coming from. There was one set of double doors at the end of the hallway that looked like they led into a larger room, so Applejack was willing to guess that, but she couldn’t hurry herself up and get reckless. Wiping her brow she stopped by every other door and pressed her ear against them for a moment to make sure she didn’t hear anything inside. And by the end of that she reached the double doors that had a large placard labelled “RECORDS” above them.

With her ear against the door she heard two voices coming from inside.

“Well then...” Applejack whispered and stepped back, cracking her neck. She pulled her revolver out of its holster, checked the cylinder one last time, and reached for the door handle.

Applejack opened it slowly as if she was just walking in normally. It needed to sound and look natural if anyone was right there.

“Sunny? I thought you-” a guy said before stopping as he realized it most definitely was not Sunny Flare who just walked into the records room.

Applejack blinked and took in all the details she could in that brief moment. The room had been ransacked with what looked like a bunch of drawers, cabinets and desks all pushed to one side where a couple of windows peaked out to the street below while on the other side a number of blankets and pillows had been spread out. And currently resting on those blankets and pillows were several dozen children. They looked right back at her with a mixture of fear and lack of recognition on their faces.

But most importantly was the fact that right in front of her, sitting at a small table, were two guys playing poker and smoking cigarettes. And they didn’t have their guns drawn.

“I’m going to give you two a chance, since I’d rather not scare the kids, but can you tell me where Sunny Flare is? And then put down your guns,” Applejack said.

The two bolted out of their seats-

Bang! Bang!

Two shots from Applejack put them right back down.

Immediately just what Applejack didn’t want to happen happened--the kids all started screaming. And who could blame them. Applejack winced as she tried her best to smile at the children backing away from her, running to the other side of the room.

“W-Wait! Hold on now ya’ll! I’m here to rescue you!” Applejack tried telling them. Seeing that not help, she reached up and rubbed the back of her neck. “Oh boy...”

And in the mayor’s office on the first floor, someone heard those two shots loud and clear...

“What the hell?!” Sunny Flare stood up out of her chair and slammed her hands on the table, staring up at the ceiling. “Did those fucks shoot two of the kids? I told them not to waste any bullets! We need to do that in front of Cranky!”

Her jaw clenched in seething anger as the loud screaming came echoing down from the second floor and Sunny Flare pulled out her gun, stomping out of the office. “Two stupid idiots and a bunch of whiny brats are about to die. I hate screaming. That was the god damn rule--if you stay nice and quiet, I don’t kill you. You didn’t need to know that I was going to kill you anyways later, stupid brats. Stupid town, that bastard can’t even tell us where the nugget is.”

Her sour mood didn’t abate in the slightest even as the screams above her started to die down when she reached the stairs. The stress of being here far longer than she wanted to be with no sign of Cranky giving in was getting to her. She brought her other hand up to her mouth and started biting her thumbnail in agitation.

“I’m getting that nugget, and then I’m killing Cranky, killing these kids, killing their parents, killing Sunset, and killing Sour Sweet too just because.” Sunny Flare grinned, the thought of that finally pacifying her as she felt a few truncated laughs escape her mouth.

“Calm down, Sunny. Nothing good comes from going red. Two idiots still need to be punished, but don’t ruin things after working so hard,” she told herself and took a few breaths. But still kept her gun out too.

The rage she was feeling had simmered down a bit once she made it to the second floor and began walking to the records room. If she let herself get that mad every time something went wrong for the gang she would’ve killed everyone else by now instead of just a few of them. But she was still annoyed since she couldn’t believe those two idiots would do something so stupid. How could they think disobeying her was a good idea? What the fuck possessed them to kill two of the kids against her orders?

Turning the corner that would take her to the records room she had a nasty frown on her face that would surely make her two minions quiver in fear.

Only she happened to see some strange young woman she didn’t recognize standing in the open doorway with a bunch of children behind her. They were fifty feet away from each other and both froze when they saw the other. The children that Applejack had just managed to calm down however had a much different reaction to seeing Sunny Flare. They screamed in terror and ran back inside the room.

“Aw shit,” Applejack winced and aimed her gun at Sunny Flare.

“Who the hell are you?!” Sunny Flare yelled, and was much faster at bringing her gun to bear on Applejack, letting out a single shot at the cowgirl.

Her accuracy left a lot to be desired though as the bullet smashed into the slightly open door next to Applejack. Applejack slammed both the doors shut and ducked down inside, firing two shots blind through the door and down the hallway, hoping to at least deter Sunny Flare if not outright hit her.

“Knew I needed to find Sunny before getting these kids out of here...” Applejack groused.

Sunny Flare hadn’t been hit by either of Applejack’s shots but she had practically felt the bullets go right by her. She swore under her breath and hid behind the corner for now.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She said to herself. “What the hell is going on now? Fucking unbelievable!” She peaked out from around the corner and saw that the door was still closed. At least there wasn’t anywhere for that other girl to go, whoever she was, those doors were the only way in or out of the record room.

Sunny Flare’s eyes opened up wide. “Except for the windows... and if they tied the blankets together...” She grit her teeth. “Shit!”

And Applejack happened to have exactly that idea. Since there was only one way for Sunny Flare to come in here, Applejack could watch the door while the kids made it out the windows to safety. Or at least relative safety. She’d probably have to watch over them and deal with some other Shadowbolts later, at least depending on how the rest of her partners did now in the rest of Appleloosa.

“How are you kids doing?” She asked without looking back.

“W-We’re tying the blankets together as fast as we can,” one of the oldest captured kids said,

Applejack smiled. “That’s good, but remember to be careful with em, you need to make sure the knots won’t slip apart or nothing. It’d be a bad drop out onto the ground otherwise.”

“T-Thank you.”

Applejack didn’t respond with words, she just nodded curtly and kept her eyes and gun trained on that front door. She was standing at an angle where Sunny couldn’t just shoot through it and try to hit her. She’d have to come in first. Applejack prayed that that’s what the Shadowbolt leader would do. And she prayed that the sweat coating her hands and the nerves of having to protect these kids now wouldn’t affect her aim. How come she could be so cool in most situations but now with kids involved she was all nervous? Well, she knew why. At the least, Diamond was safe and out of danger this time.

The sound of someone running down the hall towards the door broke Applejack out of her thoughts. That could only be Sunny Flare. Applejack narrowed her eyes and put her finger on the trigger of her gun, waiting for the criminal to barge in here.

Diamond Tiara ran to the side of town hall and pressed herself up against the wall. She had just now heard some gunshots come from inside it, Applejack must’ve already started. Diamond wasn’t exactly sure what the next part of her plan was, “Help Applejack” was pretty vague, but she at least knew it would probably be dumb to head in through the front door. There had to be something else she could do. Even if Applejack got really mad at her later.

Diamond Tiara bit her lip and looked down the side of the building to the back. Maybe there was a backdoor she could sneak in through?

“I’m capable. I can defend myself. I’m not some useless kid that you need to protect or look out for every time there’s trouble,” Diamond Tiara said to herself. “I can help you, you don’t need to be on your own doing everything anymore.”

She took a deep breath and swiftly paced to the back of the building.

A slash came at Rainbow Dash’s head that was only barely blocked by the blade of Indigo’s rapier, giving Dash the opportunity to stab at Lightning Dust. The vicious woman stepped back though and Dash’s saber only hit empty air. Indigo Zap knocked the other rapier blade away and went for a quick swipe at Lightning’s extended arm but found herself parried by a quickly redrawn blade.

Their three-way duel had taken them to the inside of the stable Rainbow and Indigo had seen earlier at the end of the street. Despite Rainbow and Indigo’s best efforts, Lightning Dust had been able to match them and even press the two of them back at times. It was going about as well as Indigo had expected things to. Now with each clash of their blades a frightened horse whinnied and kicked about in their stable. Indigo did have a little hope though, since even though Lightning Dust had proven perfectly able to fight the two of them at once she’d have to tire before they did.

That was so long as Rainbow Dash kept herself under control and didn’t do anything stupid.

“Haaaa!” Rainbow shouted as she wildly slashed at Lightning Dust over and over, barely paying attention to what Indigo was doing or trying to work together with her.

“Rainbow!” Indigo grit her teeth and watched as Lightning Dust effortlessly turned all her attacks away. Indigo tried to join in on the attack to overwhelm Lightning Dust’s defense but Lightning casually kicked an empty bucket of horse feed at her legs that Indigo had to hop over. The murderer then parried one last blow of Dash’s before slicing her across the cheek and kicking her in the stomach, knocking the rainbow-haired girl down.

Indigo quickly helped her up as Rainbow Dash pressed a hand to her cheek to feel the blood falling freely from her new wound. “Damn it, Rainbow! Stop attacking her like a wild animal!”

“She’s just being herself,” Lightning Dust laughed.

Rainbow Dash pushed Indigo away and glared at Lightning Dust before taking a deep breath. She dropped her hand and let the blood drip down her cheek onto the floor of the stable. “I know, Indigo. I know. It’s just... difficult.”

“Well you better keep your cool better from here on out or we’re both going to die,” Indigo Zap frowned.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded and took a proper stance against Lightning Dust. “Alright, let’s do this together.”

Lightning Dust as well shifted from a relaxed stance to a ready position, her body turned to the side while her head faced the two of them and the rapier outstretched and pointed directly at them. “Come on, I’ll give you guys the first move again.”

Rainbow Dash went forward and aimed her saber at Lightning’s face--but then quickly pulled back in a feint as Indigo leapt forward at her instead. Lightning’s eyes briefly had to flicker from Rainbow to Indigo but she still brought up her rapier just in time to parry the attack. Right after that though, Rainbow Dash came in with a thrust aimed at her midsection, timed together with Indigo going for her shoulder. Lightning had to bat Rainbow’s saber aside and turn her body to avoid the razor edge of Indigo’s rapier. She was just lithe and quick enough to do so.

However it was still the sort of thing that was tough for her, Rainbow Dash knew they just needed to keep pressing the attack like that, working together and making it impossible for Lightning’s sword to keep up. That was easier said than done however, Lightning was always looking for an opening to attack back at Rainbow and Indigo each time they tried to wound her. Each outstretched arm and unprotected torso might as well have had bullseyes on them and Lightning Dust wasn’t stupid enough to always be looking for a mortal wound. She was whittling away and doing any damage she could.

The horses were yelling and bucking around in their stables the fierce the fighting got, each sharp slide of metal on metal was echoed by the frightened yelp of one of the horses.

“Hey, you’re actually giving me a challenge now!” Lightning Dust said to them with a grin on her face.

Rainbow Dash didn’t rise to the insult, merely methodically continuing her assault along with Indigo Zap.

It actually made Lightning’s grin falter. Especially since Indigo and Rainbow were now working in good enough tandem to put her on permanent defense. They had been getting better and sharper with their teamwork and the results were now showing through, it had only taken them some time to get used to each other. Each time Lightning Dust saw an opening to attack one of them, the other’s blade came in and she had to defend against it instead. That’s not how she wanted this to go. She figured Rainbow would’ve stayed angry and gotten herself killed by now.

And she was quickly running out of stable, soon she’d be backed up against a wall and something like that would be a death sentence even for her.

So Lightning Dust was going to improvise.

Turning away a slash from Rainbow, she dug the toe of her boot into the dirty ground of the stable and kicked up a cloud of dust at the two of them. Both Indigo and Rainbow Dash backed away while covering their faces with their free arms at the same time. Knowing that they had to protect themselves in a situation like that instead of trying to keep on the offensive against Lightning. That opening was still exactly what Lightning Dust wanted though.

She yanked open the gate to the stable nearest her and ran inside. “Let’s take this fight back outside! And make it a bit more fun, huh?!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she rubbed the last bits of dirt away from her face and looked for her opponent again.

“This!” Lightning Dust said as she jumped onto the back of a horse. “Catch me if you can!” She grinned and smacked the horse on the back with the flat of her blade. The horse reared back and neighed loudly before galloping out of the stable on its four powerful legs.

Rainbow Dash and Indigo Zap both had to jump to the side to avoid it as it ran past them, with Lightning Dust laughing atop it the whole way.

“Shit! That bitch!” Rainbow Dash roared as she picked herself up.

“Come on! She’s obviously desperate so let’s not let her get away!” Indigo said.

“And just how are we-” Dash said before stopping and looking around at all the other horses. “Ugh, you ever fought a duel on horseback before?”

Indigo shook her head. “Nope, but I hadn’t fought one on top of a train either until I met you again.”

“Tch,” Rainbow dash clicked her tongue and grabbed the reins of the next nearest horse. “First time for everything.”

Celestia made it to the second floor of Cranky’s home and peered from the top of the stairs into the small room straight across from them. It looked like a small guest bedroom thanks to the single one-person bed and small cabinet inside. Unfortunately she doubted anyone would want to use it again, thanks to the fact there would be two young women who had died inside it.

One girl was lying on the floor, already dead, her white ponytails soaked in blood and her eyes wide open in shock. That must’ve been the first one Celestia shot. The other was still alive at the moment, sitting up against the cabinet with her hands tightly clenched against a bullet wound in the gut. That wasn’t doing anything to help though, enough blood to completely drench her shirt and pants had already bled from the wound. And if Celestia’s eyes were right, her liver and probably at least something else had been shot through.

Tears streamed down the face of the dying girl, she didn’t even bother to look up at Celestia as her killer ascended the stairs. Her wet eyes were locked on her wound and through choked sobs she continuously told herself: “I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die...”

Celestia ignored her and one by one looked through the other rooms on the second story. A bathroom, a closet, a small study overlooking the front of the building, and another room whose door was locked. Celestia raised an eyebrow at it, this must be the master bedroom. She was worried about shooting the doorknob off so a powerful kick would suffice here.

Knocking it open with enough strength to make it slam into the wall, Celestia stepped past the door and into the bedroom to find a man bound and gagged on a chair next to a large bed. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Cranky Doodle I presume?”

The tied up man nodded, he was sweating something fierce but he seemed to realize that she wasn’t a Shadowbolt or anyone else here to torment him. With a muffled grunt he tried talking to her. Celestia smirked and walked over to him, untying his hands and legs before taking the gag out of his mouth and letting him get up.

“There you go. That should be better,” she said.

“Much,” Cranky rubbed his wrists and coughed. “Ugh, I don’t know who you are but you aren’t a Shadowbolt so that’s good enough for me.” He frowned and looked at her with an inquisitive eye. “Are they-?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes.”

Cranky sighed. “Bunch of dumb young bastards, well, not like I exactly feel pity for them. Not after all they’ve done and were threatening to do...” He dragged a hand down his long face. “I knew that that story about the nugget would cause nothing but trouble.”

“Speaking of that I think you’re rather brave for holding out for so long and not telling them about the nugget you found,” Celestia said. “Most would have broken and told them instantly.”

Cranky scoffed. “Brave? The exact opposite, sweet cheeks. I knew they were going to kill me once I told them the truth. And everyone else too. I just wanted to live as long as possible.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed as the way Cranky was talking about the nugget was a little strange. “Truth? Is there something the Shadowbolts didn’t know?”

“Yeah. The fact that that giant gold nugget they were looking for doesn’t exist. Never did,” Cranky sighed and took a seat on the bed. “You see, while gold’s been found in the hills and rivers around Appleloosa, it’s not nearly as much as people have been saying. I’m friends with the mayor of this town, or was at least, and he got the idea to spread the rumor of me finding a gigantic gold nugget to drum up travelers to Appleloosa. Getting more people here who would spend money and help build up the town and all. Well he got more than he bargained for, Magnet was the first person Sunny Flare killed when she got here.” Cranky looked up at her with shame in his eyes. “I wasn’t brave or nothing. I was scared cause I knew they’d kill me the moment I told them that, and they’d go and kill everyone else too. That’s why even when she started threatening other people and the kids in town I didn’t say anything. This whole damn thing... I never should have gone along with it.”

“Considering all the problems you and your deceased friend have caused, no, you shouldn’t have,” Celestia stared down at him hard. “But you can at least rest easy now. My... friends... are dealing with the rest of the Shadowbolts right now. Appleloosa will be free again by the end of the day. Then you can deal with your regrets and try to make up for things.”

“Your friends? How many of them are here? I’m happy to hear that, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think any group of gunslingers from nowhere can deal with the entire Shadowbolt Gang,” Cranky said.

“Hm. Call it a good feeling I have. There’s just something about them,” she smiled. “But for now, you should just stay here and lay low, I’m going out to help clear out the hotel if I’m needed.” She turned and began walking out of his bedroom before pausing and looking over her shoulder at him. “Sorry about the bodies in your house by the way, I’ll help clean up later.”

Cranky chuckled. “Thanks.”

Sheriff Glimmer chased Sunset Shimmer through The Grand Appleloosan hotel. As far as she knew, Sunset was the only target left in here. Starlight hadn’t kept track of how many Shadowbolts she had killed but it had been a considerable amount, she doubted there were many left if any. Once she gunned down Sunset, she’d find wherever the hell the people of Appleloosa were being held.

Don’t get ahead of yourself, Starlight. The sheriff told herself. Don’t need to go blindly running around a corner and getting your head blown off.

She could still hear Sunset running down the halls though so she knew at least that she wasn’t lying in wait to spring a trap or anything. But it was still possible the girl could try shooting at her while on the run. Right now though the hallways twisted enough where there was enough distance that the two couldn’t directly see each other.

After another minute of running, just a short ways ahead, Starlight heard a door thrown open and slammed shut and the sound of Sunset’s steps disappeared behind it.

Starlight skidded to a stop along the floor and pressed herself against the nearest wall. Now she really couldn’t just keep running recklessly. Starlight clicked her tongue and held her gun up by her head, ready to shoot if she needed to. Like that she slowly made herself to the corner and peaked around it to see a closed set of double doors.

“That’s not the entrance to any room. An office?” She thought out loud. Glancing at the wall to her right she tried to picture where Trixie would be across the street. “Hopefully it has a window. You’ve done a good job of covering me so far, Trixie, just keep it up.”

Starlight took a deep breath and ran for the doors, at the last second she skidded to a stop once more and ducked down, yanking one of the doors open and rolling into the room. Coming to a stop low to the ground and on her feet she held her gun out in front of her, scanning around the room for Sunset Shimmer.

Nothing.

She was right though, this looked like some kind of office or maybe worker’s quarters for the hotel. It was a large room with a few different sections, right now Starlight was in the foyer with a desk to her left and a table with several chairs to her right. And windows. Starlight only took a brief glance out of them but she could see the building across the street where Trixie was. She couldn’t actually see exactly where Trixie was but none of the windows in this office were blocked so hopefully Trixie could at least see her.

Starlight slowly stood up but kept her gun trained forward, never relaxing for a moment as she slowly walked through the office and searched for Sunset. Walking into the main section of the office she saw a set of stairs leading up to the attic or roof of the building, it was possible Sunset used them but Starlight was going to check the rest first. There were more desks and cabinets around her, with most of the cabinets opened up and empty. Likely by Shadowbolts looking for any stray money. The far end of the room had a sink on it along with some more cabinets and a large wardrobe closer to the right side of the room by the windows.

And the left side...

Across the street, Trixie had been trying to follow both Starlight and Sunset as best she could even when they were running through inner hallways that she couldn’t see into. She kept her eyes peeled and was watching any unobstructed window on the floor she knew the two of them were running on. That’s why she saw Sunset run into the office and she knew just where she was now. Although Trixie could’ve tried shooting at her, the reality was that she was horrified at the thought. It was already tough enough shooting at those guys earlier and truthfully she was glad she missed them. The thought of killing someone made her sick, even if it was to help Starlight. But if Starlight was in a life or death situation... thinking about it made her hands shake.

When Trixie saw Starlight also burst into the room she sucked in her breath and froze. Especially as Starlight got further and further into the room. “Oh no... Starlight!” Trixie yelled, even tough she knew Starlight couldn’t hear her.

Back in the hotel, Starlight saw another dividing wall jutting out of the left side of the room, separating the mid-section of the office from the back. There was maybe ten feet of space back there that Starlight couldn’t see.

Aside from the tips of a pair of black boots just barely sticking out from behind the wall.

Careless. Starlight smirked and aimed her gun at the spot on the wall right about where Sunset would be standing. Pulling the trigger she fired once, the loud bang of her gun echoing in the office as a hole was blown in the wall-

-and a second later a return shot came through the wall from three feet away where Starlight shot in. The bullet came out and hit Starlight in the shoulder, spinning her around and making her fall to the ground while her gun flew out of her hands.

“Mmph!” She grunted in pain and reached up to grasp her wounded shoulder. It was a through and through, her clavicle broken, and potentially fatal if untreated.

“Whew! That was a good shot, wasn’t it?” Sunset said as she walked out from behind the wall, shoeless. “Knew that would trick you. And thanks for the nice clean shot, I knew right where you were standing.”

Starlight didn’t say anything, she just glared up at the criminal as if she was trying to burn through her skull with nothing more than the anger in her eyes.

“Ooh, that’s a good look. I’m gonna remember that, sheriff,” Sunset said as she cocked the hammer on her gun back. “Poor Starlight Glimmer. The famous sheriff got killed by the criminal Sunset Shimmer. Soon enough everyone in Equestria is going to know that.” The barrel of the gun was brought right between Starlight’s eyes. “Goodbye.”

Bang!

The sound of shattered glass accompanied a gunshot, but not a shot from any pistol. Starlight couldn’t help but wince as she felt something on her face and thought for sure she was going to be dead but in the next instant she saw Sunset falling to the ground with half her skull missing and a trail of blood and brain matter spread across the floor of the office to Starlight’s left. It matched the blood splatter that had found its way to Starlight’s face.

For a second she just lied there, the pain in her shoulder temporarily forgotten as she looked at the dead body of Sunset Shimmer. Breathing heavily, Starlight turned her head to look at the window on the other side of the room, a single bullet hole now in it that the wind breezed in from.

“T-Thanks Trixie...” Starlight managed to say with a weak smile before passing out.

Something smashed into the door of the record room with enough force to knock the doors open and Applejack immediately fired two shots into it as it tumbled to a stop in the middle of the room.

A chair.

“Fuck-” Applejack spat and turned back towards the doorway to see Sunny Flare standing there with her gun leveled at her. No time to aim. Applejack and Sunny both emptied their guns at each other. Most bullets went nowhere but one from Applejack’s gun cut into Sunny Flare’s thigh and made her stumble backward while a bullet from Sunny Flare’s gun blew off part of Applejack’s left ear.

The adrenaline kept both of them on their feet even as Sunny could feel her leg losing its strength and for a while they repeatedly pulled the triggers of their revolvers even as they only made empty clicks. Applejack knew that behind and beside her some of the children were screaming while trying to get out the windows and her ear was throbbing painfully but she didn’t know how bad the damage was.

After another few seconds and pointless clicking the girls both realized that they were still standing and just firing blanks.

And Sunny Flare noticed immediately she was in a worse spot with a much worse injury.

“Shit,” Sunny Flare choked out and pulled a few bullets from her belt, her fingers were shaking as she tried to insert them into her gun.

Applejack was doing the same but doing it much faster. Sunny Flare, still without a single bullet correctly placed in her revolver, looked up to see Applejack spinning her’s shut. Sunny really didn’t want to give up, she didn’t want to have to back down and let that blonde bitch rescue her hostages, but she was pretty sure if she didn’t back out of this room right now she was going to die.

With an angry grimace she turned and bolted out of the room, trying to ignore the pain in her thigh, and ran. Ignoring the pain didn’t work so well though as she almost tripped and stumbled immediately. From then on, Sunny Flare had to hobble away, her right leg feeling almost dead to her.

When Applejack saw her run off she swore and looked back at the escaping kids. “Are all of you good now? Can you get out and hide in one of the other buildings around here?”

“I think so,” one of the older kids responded. “M-Miss, your ear...”

“Nothing but a little cut,” Applejack grinned. “Now you all get, you hear? I’ve gotta chase her down and make sure she doesn’t get away.”

"Okay, good luck, miss,” the kid said and started helping the younger children out the window.

Applejack cracked her neck and ran after Sunny Flare. It was easy to find where she had gone after all, she just had to follow the blood.

Diamond Tiara had made it to the back of town hall and was now in the middle of an attempt to psyche herself up before traveling up the fire escape. She stood beside the stairs and breathed deeply with a dainty hand held to her chest. Applejack was in there and she was already in danger, what was Diamond being scared over, huh? If Applejack could lay her life on the line without a second thought then Diamond should at least be able to give her a little support.

“Okay, okay, I can do this,” Diamond said. “Let’s go in there and help Applejack.”

“Well hey there, little lady,” a voice from right above said as the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against Diamond Tiara’s head.

Diamond Tiara seized up and with wide open eyes slowly turned her head to look up at the voice.

Sunny Flare was leaning on the wooden railing of the fire escape, having just come out of one of the door’s leading to it from inside town hall. She looked awful, sweat running down her face and her eyes half-glassy from shock, her thumb twitched against the hammer of her pistol. “Boy are you in the wrong place at the wrong time. That blonde a friend of yours?”

Diamond Tiara gulped but found she couldn’t move or do anything else with that gun pointed right at her.

“Hah,” Sunny Flare grinned and stepped down the fire escape onto the ground, keeping the gun trained on Diamond. She then grabbed the poor girl’s arm and pulled her in close, using her one free hand to hold Diamond Tiara against her chest.

“Hey, stop it! Applejack!” Diamond Tiara yelled as Sunny Flare grabbed her.

“Shut up!” Sunny Flare growled and pressed the gun back against Diamond Tiara’s skull to make her compliant. “You’re coming with me or I blow your fucking brains out! Now pick up your feet and let’s move!”

Sunny Flare started walking away, half-dragging Diamond Tiara along with her as they went towards another street on the south side of town. Diamond Tiara wanted to struggle, she wanted to scream more and make this as difficult as possible for Sunny Flare. But she was scared. Why did she have to do this? She felt her eyes start to water as she prayed for Applejack to see and rescue her.

“You are going to be my safe ticket out of this town. Fuck the nugget, fuck the rest of the gang, hehehe, I’ll get somewhere safe and get my leg patched up,” Sunny Flare started rambling, feeling light-headed from blood loss. “I can restart somewhere else. There’s probably scum all over the country who would love the opportunity to help Sunny Flare remake her gang. Maybe I’ll even pay Rarity a visit and get some cash from her to get things started? She’s always been so generous.”

The two were now walking past a couple of buildings as they got to the next street--where they then heard the sound of galloping horses.

From their left, three horses came galloping at full speed down the dirt. One in front with someone unfamiliar to either of them standing on top of it with a sword in hand, blade locked with Rainbow Dash standing atop her own horse.The last horse had Indigo Zap riding it like normal with her own sword out, ready to attack Lightning Dust’s open legs. In an instant the three horses passed them by and continued on down the street.

“What the hell?” Sunny Flare said.

Applejack burst out of the door onto the fire escape and looked around for the next sign of Sunny Flare. Blood that went down the stairs showed that she had gone done, but some movement off to the side caught Applejack’s attention first. She looked over from her vantage point right outside the second floor of town hall and saw Sunny Flare dragging a very familiar young girl along with her down the street.

“Diamond!” Applejack yelled. She sprinted down one flight of stairs and jumped off the rest, running after the Shadowbolt leader and her companion. “What the hell, what the hell? What were you doing here, Diamond?”

As it turned out, standing up on top of a galloping horse was pretty difficult, even for ones as athletic as Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust. They had to be very careful as they traded blows with each other to not accidentally fall off their horses. Indigo Zap meanwhile was taking the much saner approach and staying seated while she tried to get in close enough to use her rapier on Lightning’s legs. However thanks to Dash not being able to keep up a continuous attack on Lightning, whenever Indigo closed in, Lightning was able to keep her at bay.

“Who’s going to fall first? Care to bet?” Lightning grinned as she fought with Dash.

“You’ll fall, but only because I’ll have finally gotten you,” Rainbow glared back at her.

“Sure,” Lightning scoffed and swung at her head.

Rainbow Dash ducked below it and sliced at Lightning’s waist but Lightning leaned back to avoid it and then swiped low at Indigo to keep her sword away. Indigo probably could’ve stabbed the horse Lightning was riding on but... she didn’t exactly want to do that after just now deciding to do the right thing. So she kept looking for an opening on Lightning as best she could while hanging onto her horse for dear life. Rainbow Dash in turn focused entirely on dueling Lightning like normal, the fast attacks they traded with each other still as accurate and deadly as ever even if they couldn’t make quite as many while trying to stay on their horses.

A slash at Lightning’s face was parried just barely, the two blades sliding against each other and both girls trying to out-muscle the other and push them off their horse. Lightning at last pushed the blade of Dash’s saber aside and sent the other girl off-balance. Rainbow Dash wobbled on top of her horse while Lightning Dust thrust her rapier towards her chest. At the last second Rainbow Dash twisted sideways and the blade of Lightning Dust’s rapier went right past her chest. Before Lightning Dust could twist it and try to slash towards Rainbow, Rainbow had brought her saber up and slashed it across Lightning Dust’s torso.

A gasp of shock came from the murderer as she felt the white hot blade of metal slice across her stomach and the bottom of her chest. It wasn’t a deep cut but it was enough to go right through her clothes and draw blood from her. She was more shocked than hurt, shocked that Dash had actually managed to get a wound on her at all.

“Bitch!” Lightning Dust roared and slashed towards Rainbow Dash’s head.

But in her anger she had made the same mistake Dash had been making earlier. Lightning Dust had lost sight of her surroundings and forgot to pay attention to Indigo.

And Indigo sure as hell didn’t let that opportunity pass her by. She stabbed her rapier out and impaled Lightning Dust’s left leg right above the ankle.

Lightning Dust squealed in pain and immediately felt her leg buckle, ankle turning, and making her fall from her place atop the horse. Indigo withdrew her blade quickly and moved to the side as Lightning tumbled from her horse, hitting the ground hard and getting knocked around by her own horse’s heavy hooves and legs and ending up right in front of Rainbow Dash’s horse, about to be trampled. Rainbow Dash saw what was about to happen and jumped from her horse onto the back of Indigo’s while a bruised and broken Lightning Dust was only barely able to glance up in time and see four big hooves coming at her.

“Oh...” she weakly muttered right before the first horseshoe clad hoof hit her in the jaw.

Rainbow Dash and Indigo Zap both winced as Lightning Dust’s body was trampled and crushed by the horse running over her. She was carried with it for a few feet before coming to a stop, her arms and legs twisted the wrong way and her face a partially caved-in mess. Wheezing breaths came out of her mouth, missing half its teeth, and her cracked fingers twitched around the hilt of her blade. A cough of blood came out of Lightning’s mouth and the rapier fell to the dirt harmlessly.

Indigo turned her horse around and slowly brought it to a stop in front of Lightning Dust’s mangled form. Rainbow Dash hopped off it and stood over her hated rival.

“Not exactly how I wanted to finish you. But honestly? You being dead in any way is a good thing,” Rainbow said and lifted up her saber, pointing it to Lightning’s chest. With one stiff jab the blade penetrated into her body and skewered her heart.

Lightning Dust whimpered once, another mouthful of blood splattered out of her mouth, and then she was gone.

“Well... that’s all then,” Indigo Zap said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said as she removed her blade and flicked it to get the blood off before putting it back in its sheath. She then looked up at Indigo Zap. “And what about you?”

Indigo Zap looked down at her with tired eyes and dropped her rapier, letting it fall to the dirt. “It’s over for me too. I won’t run or try and fight you. You were... you’ve been right. I’ve got a feeling that things are already over for the rest of the Shadowbolts too.”

A grin found its way to Rainbow Dash’s lips. “I only just met those gals before you did, but I could tell by looking at them that they know how to get things done. Let’s go find them and we’ll see if they’ve saved this town already.”

Sunny Flare was breathing heavily and Diamond Tiara could feel blood seeping from the wound on her leg onto her dress as she hobbled down the street with her. Still, Sunny kept her gun in a tight grip and Diamond knew there was nothing she could do to get away right now. The Shadowbolt leader was constantly muttering under her breath, her eyes twitching and searching in every direction, Diamond wasn’t even sure if she totally realized what was going on. Or if she even remembered what she was doing.

“A horse or something... or a nice little house to hide in... or maybe we’ll go down by the river and find a boat or just travel upstream,” Sunny Flare said.

Diamond Tiara bit her lip, becoming more terrified every second in the grasp of the unhinged Sunny Flare.

They were walking through the middle of the street now thanks to Sunny completely forgetting that she was on the run and trying to lay a little low. She brought her hand up to her head and used the back of it to wipe away the sweat on her forehead. She felt hot, feverish almost. Was it because of the wound or something else? Her leg, especially the part around where the bullet hit her thigh, felt cold though. She was sure she was still bleeding but she couldn’t feel it at all anymore.

Sunny glanced down at the girl she was holding. “Hey kid, how good are you at sewing? Ever practiced?”

“I-I-I...” Diamond Tiara could only sputter in response.

“Whatever, learn by doing. Next house we pass we’re going on in and finding a sewing kit,” Sunny Flare licked her lips, they were dry. “Then I can figure out what happens next.”

“If I... If I patch up your leg will you let me go?” Diamond Tiara sniffled.

Sunny Flare couldn’t help but chuckle through her teeth. “Hell no, kid. Sorry but I think the two of us are going to be together for a long time.”

“I want to go back to Applejack...” Diamond Tiara cried.

Sunny Flare was about to say something when a shout came from behind them-

“Stop right there!” Applejack’s voice boomed down the street, her gun pointed directly at Sunny.

Sunny Flare wheeled around, placing the barrel of her gun right against the side of Diamond Tiara’s head and holding the girl right in front of her body. “Well you sure made some quick time! But I think if you give a shit about this girl at all you might want to reconsider what you’re doing!”

“Applejack!” Diamond Tiara yelled.

“Shut up!” Sunny Flare screamed down at her and pressed the gun harder against her while her other arm tightly wrapped around Diamond’s upper body. She then grinned and looked back up at Applejack. “You throw that gun away right now.”

Applejack glared hard at her, her eyes moving back and forth from Sunny Flare’s crazed eyes to Diamond’s teary ones. Applejack was more confident in her aim than anything but she just couldn’t risk it this time. She just couldn’t risk taking a shot at Sunny Flare and missing. She ground her teeth together and clenched her jaw, left hand balling up into a fist while her pistol shook from how tightly Applejack gripped it.

“Let go of my little sister.”

Diamond Tiara’s eyes went wide while a bark of laughter escaped from Sunny Flare.

“Sister? Oh, that makes this all even more fun,” Sunny said. “Sure, I’ll let her go, but only if you throw down that gun first.”

“Applejack, don’t! She’ll kill you!” Diamond yelled.

The blonde smiled sadly at Diamond. “I know, Diamond. I know. But I can’t see you hurt. I can’t... go through anything like that again. If I can save you, that’s good enough for me.”

A tear rolled down Diamond Tiara’s cheek. “Applejack...”

“Alright, Sunny Flare, here you go,” Applejack said and tossed her father’s revolver to the side.

“Thank you,” Sunny Flare smiled and pulled her gun from Diamond’s head, aiming it at Applejack and cocking the hammer.

Diamond grabbed the arm that was holding her and bit hard into Sunny Flare’s wrist.

“Aghhhh!” Sunny Flare yelped in pain and accidentally let Diamond go.

For good measure, Diamond elbowed her in the side as she jumped away from the criminal.

“Little fucking bitch!” Sunny Flare yelled as she doubled over, glaring at the girl before her eyes darted back to Applejack. “Shit!”

Applejack dove to the ground and grabbed her revolver just as Sunny Flare was reaiming at her. She lifted up her gun and took only a second to aim, firing a single shot.

Bang!

The heavy impact of the bullet into Sunny Flare’s stomach caused the young woman to fall to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut. Her gun tumbled uselessly out of her hand and she reflexively brought both her hands to the quickly blossoming red spot in her cow-print shirt.

“Oh... oh fuck...” Sunny Flare looked down at her stomach, she didn’t even feel anything at this point but her hands were drenched in her blood already.

Applejack stood up and walked over to Diamond Tiara, who was white as a ghost. “Are you okay?”

Diamond Tiara struggled but managed to nod after a second. “Yes. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-”

“None of that,” Applejack held up a finger to silence her. “None of that at all. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Diamond hugged her, crying into Applejack’s shirt. “Applejack...” Her muffled voice choked out.

Applejack smiled but still pried the girl away after a moment. “Easy now, I’m not quite finished yet.” She said as she looked over to Sunny Flare with a frown. “This’ll only take a second, but can you turn away?” Applejack didn’t wait for a reply as she walked over to the dying leader of the Shadowbolts and stood over her.

Sunny Flare’s breathing was ragged and disheveled, but she still felt Applejack’s shadow over her and looked up to see the farm girl pointing her gun at her.

“Wait... just wait...” Sunny Flare said and reached a hand into her shirt, pulling out her necklace that had well over two-dozen wedding rings looped through it. “You can have this, just let me go. Take this and go... altogether they’re worth a lot.”

Applejack looked down at her with cold and unflinching eyes. “Just how many poor and innocent people did you kill to get all those rings?”

Sunny just looked back at her for a moment... before a grin stretched across her lips. “Ehehehe... hahahahaha... ahahahahahaha!” She shut her eyes tight and threw her head back, laughing so hard she started to cry. “Hahahahahahahaha!”

Bang!

“You know you should really consider yourself lucky. As far as gunshot wounds go, that’s just about the cleanest you can get for where you were shot,” the Appleloosan nurse said to Starlight as she lied down in her bed.

“Thank you, but I’d prefer to not have been shot at all,” Starlight said. She was feeling decently at the moment thanks to the morphine in her system but it would be a while before she was back to normal. It took a lot of stitches to fix her up and now her whole shoulder area was wrapped and bandaged and she’d have to keep that arm in a sling for a month.

It was the very night of the day since Applejack and the others had arrived in Appleloosa and things were attempting to return to normal. But first of all, the injured needed to be taken care of.

“You know you should really be resting after the surgery,” the nurse told Starlight.

“Give me some more morphine and put me right out then,” Starlight frowned.

The nurse sighed and stood up. “I’ll go get some...”

As she walked out of the room, a voice to Starlight’s side spoke up- “I wouldn’t mind some of that morphine too.”

Starlight glanced over at Trixie. The magician was sitting in a chair next to Starlight’s bed, clutching a mug of hot coffee. Deep bags were under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept in a week and she couldn’t stop shaking. Trixie hadn’t been hurt physically but she didn’t escape this without any scars either. Knowing she had killed someone was taking a toll on her, even if she did it for good reasons.

“Sorry, Trixie, I don’t think the nurse will agree to that.”

Trixie shrugged. “Trixie will just have to not be so soft. You don’t get like this after killing someone.”

“I’m—I’m used to it though,” Starlight grimaced, feeling for her friend. “Trixie just... just don’t beat yourself up over this. You’re a good person, not a smart person, but a good one. Don’t forget that.”

“Trixie will try,” she said and took a sip of her coffee, trying to keep the mug steady.

“You’ll never have to do it again. I promise. We’re starting new lives here. Soon everyone in town will know you for all your wonderful magic tricks,” Starlight told her.

It made a small smile come to Trixie’s face. “And everyone will know you as their new hardass Sheriff.”

Starlight chuckled even though it sent waves of pain through her shoulder. “Yep, yep. It all... it all doesn’t sound so bad now that we’re here.”

“Are you saying you don’t regret traveling with me and helping me out?” Trixie asked.

Starlight rolled her eyes. “I’m saying... aw hell, yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”

Trixie sniffled and Starlight looked over to see the magician crying. “Trixie would like to hug you right now, but she will refrain.”

“When my shoulder’s feeling better then,” Starlight smiled at her.

“It doesn’t hurt, does it?” Diamond Tiara asked in concern as she looked at the bandaged up ear on Applejack’s head.

“It does but it aint a big deal,” Applejack frowned. “Stop obsessing over it. Just a damn ear.”

Diamond Tiara frowned. “Well excuse me for being concerned!”

Celestia giggled at the two of them. “Well you’re both certainly acting like sisters.”

Both Diamond and Applejack blushed and looked away from each other.

At the very same saloon they had all met up and planned things earlier in, Applejack, Diamond Tiara, Celestia, Rainbow Dash, and Indigo Zap were being treated to all the beer they could drink and all the food they could eat. Most of them at least. It was a huge celebration but without a mayor and some others dead in Appleloosa there was still a lot for the people to start fixing up themselves. So the heroes of the town were left pretty much on their own, with a few thankful parents and other citizens coming by to thank them. Any idea of a reward was shot down immediately by Applejack. The group of five now sat at a table together, just talking and relaxing until they finally decided to turn in for the night.

Applejack’s eyes turned to Rainbow and Indigo. “So uh, just what exactly is going on with you then?” Her eyes narrowed at Indigo.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I figured she deserved to at least get one last night with a beer in hand before we head out... considering on where we’re going next and all.” She frowned and sadly looked over at Indigo. “Are you really sure about it?”

“I’m sure,” Indigo calmly replied and looked at the others. “As the last surviving Shadowbolt, Dash is taking me to Canterlot to stand trial for the gang’s crimes.”

Applejack blanched and frowned uncomfortably. “You do realize what’s going to happen, don’t you?”

Indigo nodded. “I’m just as guilty and responsible for what Sunny and the others did. If this is where my choices have taken me, then I’m prepared for whatever happens.” She took a sip of beer and glanced sideways at Dash. “The reality of our mortality is something our teacher taught us well. I never forgot that at least.”

“Yeah... yeah,” Dash glumly replied.

Indigo rolled her eyes. “Don’t get upset over me, this is supposed to be a celebration for you guys tonight.”

“I hear that!” Diamond said and raised her mug of beer before downing more of it.

Applejack frowned at her. “I said you could have one glass, don’t make me regret that.”

“Don’t worry, Applejack. Let her have her fun,” Celestia said with a smile on her face. “And you too, I think you’ve earned it.” Celestia looked down at her own mug and the beer swirling around inside it. “You, Starlight, Rainbow... in one way or another you all found what you came here for, haven’t you?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow at Celestia. “More or less, maybe. But I remember what you told me about why you were coming here. So you still...?” She trailed off.

“I’m still waiting,” Celestia said.

With the full moon in the sky in the middle of the night, a dark horse with a rider upon its back slowly walked into the southern edge of the town of Appleloosa. The rider wore midnight black clothes, pants, shirt, hat, all a dark black that practically made them damn invisible at this time of night. The only thing that glinted in the night light was a pair of silver pistols she wore on her waist and the metal spurs on back of her boots.

The rider calmly took their horse down the first street of Appleloosa towards the middle of the city, taking a look around at things as she went. Below the brim of her hat, flowing dark hair could be seen along with wide, beautiful, eyes and a pair of luscious lips.

A single man was on the street, cleaning up the front porch of his business that had been ransacked earlier by the Shadowbolts before retiring for the night. When he heard the steady clop of hooves on the road he looked up to see the dark rider going on by. Surprised and rather flummoxed by her appearance, he couldn’t help but gawk. And truthfully he got a little concerned and frightened when she brought her horse to a pause just barely in front of his building.

“Hey,” the dark rider said.

“Um, hello, miss...” the business owner said back.

“Looks like something happened in this town recently,” she said, not looking at him.

He scratched the back of his head and looked down the road towards the more busy city center. “You could certainly say that... big gang tried to rob the whole town just about. But some ladies from out of town came in and cleared them out. Saved us all, just like that.”

“Hm, is that so?” A smiled tugged at the dark rider’s lips. “Would one of these ladies happen to be quite tall? With multi-colored hair and a sun medallion she keeps around her neck?”

The business owner thought for a second as he tried to recall what all the women who rescued them looked like. “You know, I believe so. Yes, I think that is one of them. Didn’t catch her name though.”

“Celestia. That’s her name,” the dark rider said as she grinned fully. “So you are here.”

Without waiting for the business owner to ask another question, the rider told her horse to get moving again, and the two of them slowly continued their walk into town.