Author's Note

It's been a long wait but here's the new chapter! It's a bit of a longer one so I've decided to split it into two. Writing is taking longer now due to my new job, but I'm still writting. If you'd like to help support the story while getting something in return consider ordering a sticker from my new Redbubble ( https://www.redbubble.com/people/Magichunter148/shop?ref=account-nav-dropdown )

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Chapter 15: The Bounty

One week later.

Rose woke up and rubbed her eyes, she slowly sat up and looked around the room, after seeing everything how it was before she went to sleep she stretched and pulled the uniform to her with magic.

After pulling it on she left the room and walked down the stairs to the bar. She sat down at the bar and waited. The bar mare set a tray in front of her. “Red mare from before again, in the backroom again.” She said before walking back to some other ponies waiting at the counter.

Rose lit her horn and picked the tray up, she walked to the backroom. She held the tray near her chest and watched the glass cup as she walked. She glanced around the room as she entered and saw the mare sitting at the same table, beside her sat a rifle like her own.

Rose walked to her and set the drink onto the table while watching it, after setting it down she looked up and saw a logo on the chest of the red mare’s armor. It was a sword surrounded by an apple with gears inside the apple, strange looking stars were inside the gears, wings flanked the sword.

“What’s that mean?” Rose asked while pointing to the logo.

“Means I’m a Steel Ranger, why do you care?” She asked defensively.

“Never seen it before.” Rose replied obliviously.

“Oh.. Alright then.” The mare relaxed as she talked and took her drink.

Rose walked back to the bar with the tray, while walking back a stallion stopped her. “Hey there, why dontcha lead me to a room.”

Rose tilted her head at him. “Uh sure, why?”

“Are you stupid or new?” He asked, annoyed.

“New?” Rose asked nervously, she took a step back as she said it.

“I want you to come to a room with me so we can fuck, I’ll give you a hundred caps if you shut up and hurry up.” He said, getting more annoyed.

“Oh, sure I guess.” Rose said nervously.

He went back to the front room, Rose followed and floated the tray back to the bar and followed him up the stairs to the rooms. After finding one empty he entered and waited for Rose.

Rose entered and stood near the bed. “So uh, what do I do?”

“I said to shut up, get on the bed.” He said while pointing at it.

“Don’t have to be so mean.” Rose said as she walked past him to get to the bed.

He smacked the back of her head. “Just shut the fuck up, goddess damnit you’re annoying.

Rose spun around and pushed him. “Fuck you, you fuckin fuck!”

Rose’s horn lit up as he tried to push her onto the bed, a shot rang out and Rose’s ears started to ring, the stallion fell onto the bed, then flopped onto the floor. Rose held her ears and dropped the pistol she had under her uniform.

The door opened and one of the bar’s guards came in holding a shotgun. After seeing the pony on the ground and Rose on the bed he went to the side of the room as the bar mare came in. She started saying something but Rose could barely hear her above the ringing.

The guard pony pulled Rose off the bed and to the office room she was hired in, he took her gun as he pulled her. The ringing started to stop as she sat down.

“Why the fuck did you kill him?” The mare asked as she sat down and glared at Rose, the guard pony stood beside Rose.

“He hit me.” Rose said, lowering her hooves from her ears.

“And you should’ve gotten a guard, that’s what they’re paid for. You don't kill the damn patrons, plus you got blood on the dress and fucking ruined it.” The mare said while tapping the desk.

“So? It’ll come off.” Rose said as she looked around for where the blood was.

“Just go to your room, or leave. I don’t care but you’re done for the day.” The mare said before looking at the guard.

Rose got up and left after taking her pistol back. She entered her room and closed the door, she pulled the dress off and flopped onto the bed.

***

Rose heard a knock at the door, she opened it with her magic, the bar mare came in. “You’re somewhat lucky, he had a five hundred cap bounty, I’m taking half of it for having to clean the room, I’m also taking your deposit for the ruined uniform. You can stay but you’re done working here.

“Ok then, he attacked me but fine.” Rose said as she sat up.

The door closed as the mare left Rose alone.

Rose used magic to throw the closest thing to her at the door, her pillow bounced harmlessly off the door as Rose rolled over and pushed her face into the bed.

After a couple minutes Rose got up and gathered her things. She also shoved the dress into her bag, which somehow was bigger inside than it was on the outside… somehow.

Rose put her Stable suit on then her saddlebags before leaving the room, after going down the stairs to the main bar area. As she opened the door she threw the room key at the bar mare with magic then walked through.

Rose followed the road back the way she came, after a bit of walking she saw a black unicorn mare wearing leather armor walking towards her, Rose got ready to pull her pistol out when she got close.

“Hey, you the one that killed the stallion with a bounty?” The mare asked Rose when she was close.

“Maybe, why?” Rose asked, still ready to pull her gun out.

“Because I posted the bounty for him.” The mare said before pulling a bag of caps from her bag and offering it to Rose.

“Oh, I thought you’d want revenge or something.” Rose said as she relaxed.

“Nope, I heard someone killed him and came here as fast as I could, I couldn’t teleport all the way to the bar.” The mare said as she just tossed the caps onto Rose’s back.

“Bar owner said she is taking half to clean the room.” Rose said as she put it into her bag.

“Oh well, you can give it to her if you want, also you should try more bounty hunting, you might be good at it, especially with that massive gun you have.” The mare said as she turned away from Rose and started walking.

“Where do I even find bounties?” Rose asked the mare.

“Just look around for papers pinned to walls or poles.” The mare said as she continued to the gates.

Rose shrugged and followed her to the gates while looking around the town. More of the buildings were being reopened by the Queens, now they had a few ponies in metal armor, probably hired to help.

“Hey, white mare.” Rose heard the mare that gave her the caps talking to her so she looked back at her.

“What?” Rose asked as they both stopped walking.

“There’s a bounty over there.” She said as she pointed at a piece of paper nailed into the wood wall of a building.

“Oh, alright.” Rose said before going to it.

Rose pulled the paper to her and looked at it, she could barely understand. “So why are you helping me?”

“Because now you owe me.” The mare said happily.

Rose sighed. “Of course.”

“Ten cap finders fee!” She said while smiling at Rose.

“Fine fine, also can you read this to me?” Rose asked as she dug through her bag.

“Sure.” The mare replied after Rose tossed her the caps, she then took the paper and read it. “There is a factory with some raiders that’s been attacking caravans and you’ll get five hundred to take them out, bring the leader’s cutie mark as proof to The Queen, the mark is a pony skull with a bullet going through it.”

“Sounds easy, where is it?” Rose opened the map of her Pipbuck, and a new marker appeared. “Nevermind I see it.”

“Really? It already knows?” The mare asked as she looked over Rose’s shoulder at her Pipbuck.

Rose smiled up at her. “Yep, it’s magical.”

“I need to get me one, anyway, you should really learn how to read.” The mare said before giving the paper back and leaving.

“I guess…”Rose watched her leave before putting the paper away and leaving the ruined town and following the road towards the marker.

***

A Couple Days of Walking Later

***

Rose looked up at the massive building her marker led her to, She pulled her massive rifle off her back and held it in front of her in her magic to look down the scope. She saw a couple raiders on the roof and one next to the front entrance.

Rose put the plus of the scope onto one of the ponies on the roof and held it in her magic as hard as she could, she closed her eyes then pulled the trigger, when nothing happened she pulled the small handle on the back end of the rifle, an empty shell jumped out of the gun, she then pushed it back forward and put the plus back on the pony and pulled the trigger. The rifle jumped in her magic and she almost dropped it, she looked back at the pony to see them on the ground.

Rose pulled the handle back again, after the empty shell jumped out she pushed it back forward and looked around for another pony to shoot, she looked for the one that was next to the door, she saw him running at her, she put the plus on his chest then pulled the trigger again. The rifle jumped out of her magic that time and hit her on the head, she fell onto her flank and the rifle fell against the road.

Rose held her head and tried to look through the tears at the pony that was running at her. She saw him lying on the ground with a hole in their chest, Rose got up and picked her rifle up in her magic. She wiped her eyes and looked back through the rifle’s scope, she saw the last raider pony loading a rusty tube with another tube with fins.

Rose put the scope’s plus on the tube and fired, the rifle stayed in her magic and she saw an explosion where the raider pony used to be. Rose set the rifle on her back and trotted to the factory, when she got close she pulled her pistol out and entered.

Rose looked around the entrance while holding the pistol in her magic, to the left was an office, right was a hallway that went past some more offices on the left side, on the right was some destroyed windows. Rose walked to the office to the left and opened the door, inside was a desk and shelves, on the desk was various papers, the shelves held random objects that meant something to the previous occupant. Rose left the room and started searching the other offices, after finding no raiders she continued down the hallway to the larger room.

She entered a small break room and found some Old World food, before Rose could take it she heard somepony running at her, she turned to see a raider with a knife in his mouth running at her. Rose turned her pistol to face the raider and she pulled the trigger, the pistol fired and hit the raider in the chest, the raider kept coming and tackled Rose. The raider pinned her to the floor and tried to stab her in the neck. Rose dropped her pistol and focused her magic on holding the blade back from her neck. Rose started to turn the blade around and she felt the raider try to pull back, she then shoved it at the raiders throat. The knife entered into the raiders throat and he fell on top of her.

Rose rolled the raider off her with magic and got up, she then tried to brush the blood off of her with her magic and grab her gun before continuing on into the main area of the factory.

Past the area that had food a path went straight and another went off to the right, Rose shrugged then started down the right path, she walked past a large machine that had a box in front of it, ahead of her she saw a couple more raiders talking to each other, Rose couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Rose aimed her pistol at one of their heads and fired, she saw him fall to the floor and she pointed it at the other one’s head. The second raider jumped behind a pile of boxes, Rose looked around for something to hide behind. While looking around she heard a gun firing, she looked back at the raider holding a rifle and firing it at her. Rose felt an impact on her forehoof, she crouched and shot back at the raider, she felt another impact in her shoulder. “Just fucking die already.” Rose muttered to herself as she started feeling the pain from being shot.

After shooting at the raider a few more times the top of her pistol stayed back and the trigger stopped doing anything. Rose turned the gun around and looked down the tube. “Oh it’s empty.” Rose turned it back around and pulled the magazine out and replaced it, she tossed the old one into her saddlebag.

She shot back at the raider and saw him drop to the floor. “HA! Fuck you.” She started walking to him when her leg gave out and she fell, pain shot through her and she screamed. She started looking through her pipbuck and found a healing potion, she selected it and grabbed it from her bag. She took it and downed it.

Rose pulled her bag off her and started looking through it, she looked for what she saw ponies get stabbed with when they were in pain in Medical. After some digging she found one, along the side of the syringe it said “Med-X”, Rose took it and stabbed it into her leg and pushed the back in, she felt the liquid enter her leg.

Rose laid on her back and waited for the pain to stop, she pulled her gun to her and put it back into its holster, she dragged one of the ponies she killed closer to her by their leg, when next to Rose she started going through his pockets.

She found some random bullets, a hoof full of caps, a red plastic tube connected to a rectangle that had a hole on one side. She tossed it all into her bag then went through her Pipbuck for anything new. She found something called “Dash”, when she selected it the red, plastic tube thing went to the top of her bag. “Oh that’s what that thing is.”

Rose pushed it back down into the bag and put it back on, she tested her hood before standing back up, the pain returned but not as strong as it had been before, limping to the other body she picked up a pistol one of them dropped, after tossing it into her bag she went through the pockets of the other body.

***

Rose found a group of raider ponies still asleep, she crawled up to one and took a knife laying beside a mare, Rose used her magic to stab the mare in the head, she tried to pull the knife back out but it just lifted the mare’s head with it, she put her hoof on the mare’s head and tried to push it down while pulling the knife with her magic, after it still wouldn’t come out she dropped her head and crawled to the next pony.

She went through her Pipbuck looking for another knife, as she clicked the buttons she felt something hit her leg and her Pipbuck smacked her in the nose. Rose fell on her back, the raider ponies all grabbed their weapons, Rose drew her pistol and started firing at them all, after killing one she was smacked in the back of the head by something thin. She spun around to see a stallion holding a long stick, She fired her gun into his head, a pony jumped on her back and pinned her to the floor.

Rose jerked her head back, attempting to hit them with her horn, the pony on her put their hoof on her horn and shoved her face to the ground. Rose looked around, she saw the stock and grabbed it with her magic and made it fly at the pony holding her down as hard as she could. The raider pony jumped off her while screaming.

Rose jumped up and looked for her pistol, she saw it beneath the screaming raider, she grabbed it in her magic and turned it up and fired before pulling it to her, she looked around and saw a filly wearing raider armor sitting in the corner.

“Hello? Little girl?” Rose holstered her gun and slowly approached the filly.

The filly grabbed a small knife in her mouth and ran at Rose, Rose lit her horn and picked the filly up. “Nope.”

“Leth me thoh!” The filly yelled at Rose while trying to escape.

“Nope, you’re coming with me to the Queens, trust me, it’ll be better than this place.” Rose booped the filly’s nose and took the knife from her.

The Filly tilted her head. “Queen? There’s a Queen?”

“Yeah, she’s like Sweetie Belle from the war, the original music ‘Queen,’ I have some of her music on my Pipbuck if you want to listen later.” Rose put the knife in her bag and set the filly down.

“Alright, you’re nicer than the last pony that came through here, he tried to kill all of us but The Boss killed him. I’ve wanted to leave for a while after my parents died.” The Filly said with a sigh.

Rose patted her head. “Then why did you try to stab me?”

“Thought you might’ve been mean like him.” The filly said while trying to push off Rose\s hoof.

“Well, I am being paid to kill your ‘Boss,’ so I’m not so sure about that.” Rose said before turning around and walking through the factory floor again.

The filly followed behind her. “Well yea, but you just picked me up when I tried to stab you, others probably would’ve shot me.”

“Well I don't want to shoot a little filly.” Rose said while looking around.

“I’m almost as tall as you.” The filly said with a huff.

“Yes, but I’m older. So, ha!” Rose looked back at the filly and blepped.

“I doubt it.” The filly said before trying to grab Rose’s tongue between her forehooves.

Rose grabbed the filly’s hooves in her magic. “I’m eighteen.”

“Oh, I’m fifteen.” The filly tried to pull away from Rose’s magic.

Rose let go of her hooves. “Ha, now let’s go find that boss so we can get out of here, and so we can get you to the Queen.”

The filly pointed up at some hanging walkways. “He’s up in one of the hanging rooms.”

“Well that’s easy then, go wait outside, there’s some small rooms you can hide in out front.” Rose patted her head before turning to leave.

“But I can help you!” The filly grabbed Rose’s tail.

“I have gun, you don’t, so wait for me.” Rose said before pulling her tail from the filly.

“Fine, you better come back then.” The filly said before heading to the front of the factory.

Rose started following the hanging walkways till she found steps leading up, she looked up and sighed. “I better get paid real good for this.” She pulled out one of the raider’s automatic rifles she took and pointed it up the stairs and started walking.