Advent Of A Gunslinger

No more words would be exchanged between the two. Axel made sure to keep things strictly professional, and brief from that point onward. On the outside, he did his best to keep up an aura of steeled passion. On the inside, however, that was a different story entirely. The mere idea of having someone he didn’t really know involved with his business sent a chill down his spine.

“The very minute I start gettin’ involved with someone, it’s all gonna go to shit. Not lettin’ someone else get dragged through the mud ‘cus’a me.”

The airship touched down with the trail that led towards Klugetown perfectly outlined in the sand. Axel exited the vehicle, and flipped a few bits in Vido’s direction. “‘Preciate ya. Now go on home, alright? This ain’t no picnic.”

Without missing a beat, the griffon caught the bits in his claw with a rather annoyed frown behind his beak. “With all due respect, señor. I’m not just some random kid. I can hold my own just fine, thank you.”

“Good,” he sniped in return, “But none of that’ll matter if you’re buried beneath the sand. Now go on. Get.”

It’s not that Axel didn’t trust the young bird-man. Quite the opposite actually. The problem stemmed from the fact that he didn’t want to see the griffon family torn apart anymore than they were at this point. While he had no idea what happened to Cassy’s husband, he could put the pieces together and infer that something must have caused his absence. Which, in turn, left Vido without a father. Something Axel knew all too well about.

Since he wasn’t in the mood to argue, Vido was more than compliant with the gunslinger. “Alright...just be careful, sir.” With that, he started up the airship once more, and took it back into the air…

Axel gave a sigh of relief, and started to trot down the path. “Good. I won’t have to worry about babysitting anymore. Now to get back to business.”

The trail would lead him straight to it. Klugetown was a massive assortment of various homes and shops all mis-mashed into a singular entity. Admittedly, it was more like an entire city than a town. Its population was easily on the same level as Ponyville's. Its more vertical structural integrity completely betrayed the true mass of life that accumulated in such a place.

And yet, its aura was, in a word: Sleazy.

Everything about it screamed corruption and a lawless, untamed environment. Fitting given the population was primarily composed of Beasts. Animal-esque races that were sentient and operated on two legs not unlike the dragons. What separated them from the dragons, though, was their morals. Or lack thereof in this case. Dragons, ponies, griffons, and the various other races of Equestria all followed some sort of widely agreed-upon sense of ethics or etiquette. Even with their cultural differences.

The beasts of Klugetown, however? They had no such morals. They were infamous for being more than willing to stab their close friends and family members in the back if it meant they could get a leg up on one another. Most infamously, a beastman known as Capper even attempted to take advantage of, and sell the Princess of Friendship (who currently ruled Equestria), and her friends. An eternal free-for-all, as it were. Which begged the question:

Just how did a place with no morals, no laws, and no regard for safety function for this long? How had it not collapsed in on itself and imploded from the inside? How was a society that was eternally divided against itself still standing?

Even if he had no intention of doing so, Axel was about to find that out for himself.

He was right on schedule. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, which meant that it was about noon or so. Everything was falling right into place.

The closer he got to the desert town, the more everything would bend and shift to his perspective. The homes looked like they were made out of the oldest wood imaginable and defied the laws of physics with how they were able to remain upright. Other buildings were made of rusted metals that indicated signs of constant weathering. There was one building that stood among the rest which lay at the very epicenter on a rock formation above everything else.

Loads of options for Axel to take. But he didn’t want to roam around constantly at the risk of roused suspicion. “Better stay where I can be seen for now. The very minute I find myself isolated is the minute I find myself in a shitty situation.”

Meanwhile, not far from the town’s entrance…

A few sets of eyes already had their sights set on the pony-like creature that entered their homeland. From behind a set of doors, a pair of voices were already chatting to each other.

“Hey. You seein’ this?” a voice said.

“Yeah. What about it? It doesn’t look worth the time to me. Hippogriff parts aren’t worth as much. You know that,” a second voice replied.

“Of course I do. But even they don’t come around here that often. It must be here for a reason.”

The first voice went silent for a moment as they observed this newcomer. “...Look closer. Notice how it’s dressed. It must be a bounty hunter.”

“Great, just great. Another goddamn debt collector. Or worse--what if he’s a narc? Fuckin’ ‘ell...” the second voice grumbled, “Should we kill it or what?”

“Keep your shirt on. I think we can reason with it before it causes any trouble.”

Back with Axel…

The hippogriff had gotten nowhere so far. Most of the locals didn’t engage with him, and either avoided eye contact or quickened their paces to get away from him faster. Was it out of fear or for some other reason entirely?

Either way, this left the stallion in a huff.

“Grrrgh…” He grit his teeth beneath his facemask. “What the hell? Seems like everyone’s trying to get away from me as fast as they possibly can. I won’t get any information at this rate. Maybe I should hit up one of the local pubs for some details.”

Behind him, he would hear a voice call out. A shrill, raspy one. “Excuse me, sir?”

Out of instinct, Axel pivoted on his hind-leg and turned around with his claws itching to grab his pistols. “Who--? Eh?” The source of the voice wasn’t at his eye level, so he had to look down…

And there, he found a rather short and pudgy porcupine that stood on two legs and was able to speak! “You sir, yes. I couldn’t help but notice you were lost. Do you want some help?”

Axel relaxed from his stance, but still kept his wits about him. After all, this was often how pickpocket routines went, among other sleazy things. “...I’m lookin’ for some info. Specifically how to get to Abyssinia.”

“Hrm, I see…” the porcupine stroked his chin with his left paw, “I might be able to help. But such valuable details come at a price. The question is: Is it a price that you’re willing to afford?” The quills on his back stood up and at the ready…

Axel noted the movements of the porcupine’s needles. The rumor about whether or not they could shoot them at will was something that he did not want to test out. “That depends on whether or not you actually have what I’m looking for.”

“Oh we have what youse lookin’ fo’, awright…” Another resident of Klugetown made an appearance. This one had an elongated snout, akin to that of a crocodile. “Youse just gotta follow what we’s say, and don’t dick around. Got it?” He brandished a small dagger that looked to be made of bone.

“Great. Both of them already appear to be semi-hostile and somewhat suspicious. Is this really all I’m able to deal with here?” Axel was in disbelief at what he just heard. Individuals like this were of no use because they couldn’t be trusted. They already gave him a rather uncomfortable vibe which caused him to calculate his surroundings for a good ten seconds...

After which, the crocodilian resident spoke up. “‘Ey? You deaf’a somethin’? If you ain’t gon’ play by our rules, then take ya ass right back from where ya came from, homie.”

The porcupine would follow up. “If you’re looking to put any of us in the dirt for debt, you have another thing coming. These parts don’t really cater to...your types.”

Axel almost scoffed at this. “Ain’t that a fact? Mind tellin’ me what that’s s’posed to mean?”

“Youse!” the croc shouted, “The kinda folks that try to act all big and tough tryin’a save someone’s ass. Ain’t nobody got time fo’ dat shit here. You either get ahead, or get dead. That’s how da Kluge works.”

Before he responded, Axel would make a mental note. “Get ahead or get dead? What a mantra to have…” Then, he answered. “I see now. Sorry for interruptin’ ya’lls date. I need to get back to what I was doin’.”

Such a remark angered the croc. “Wh--date?! Who in the hell you think you--?!”

Just then, another voice decided to cut into the situation. “Oi! You two shellheads betta knock it off!” The voice was loud, commanding, and rather feminine.

“Aw, shit,” the porcupine swore and quickly turned on a dime, “She’s here. Let’s bounce for now, dawg.”

The croc snarled, and trudged away while glaring daggers at the stallion…

From the corner of his eye, Axel watched as a female Abyssinian came into view. She had gray fur with a few circular spots all over her body, jade green eyes, a pair of small, rounded glasses over her eyes, and short brunette hair. She wore a pair of green, camo-patterned bike shorts, and a black tank top. Her build was average with a bit of muscle along her arms and legs and an average bust. Over that, she had on an apron which had various splatters of oil and grease and a pair of welding gloves.

“I’ll bash ye up proper if I catch ya messin’ with more visitors!” she said to the gunslinger with a thick accent similar to that of ponies from Bales, “Those fookin’ dummies are--well, just that--dummies.”

Axel looked up at her. “It’s...fine. I’m new in town, so I’m just getting a feel for the place.”

“Aye. I see that,” she placed her hands on her hips and looked down at the ground, “Newbies like you always get shat right out on the pavement after bein’ screwed by the wrong pooch.” “Better get him off the streets before someone tries to chop him up for money.” After a moment of thought to herself, she folded her arms. “Listen. Stallion. I might be willing to help out if you promise to keep yar presence on the low. I have a rep I need to keep, ya ken?”

Something about her was different. Axel couldn’t put his claw on it, but the vibe of this Abyssinian was nothing like the ones he had encountered in his youth. While it was less than ideal...

“To say that I trust her would be pushing it. But she could’ve easily let me get into a fight and cause a scene. And yet, she decided to interject anyway. Hm…”

There was a wary sort of tension in his eyes as he spoke. “...Alright. But no tricks, missy.”

She turned and started walking towards an alley. “It's nothing purrr-sonal. I just have to be careful, ie? Now hurry up before we get spotted, deall?”

“What sort of rep could she mean, I wonder…and what language does she speak?”