Chapter one: Wanted and the death of Kindness
A shotgun from behind her fired, and the sound rang in her ears as Rainbow Dash rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the 12 gauge slug that grazed her back and tore through her left wing. Pain filled her vision as the burning hole in her wing sent waves of nausea through her body. The ringing in her ears died down as she heard the all too familiar sound of the racking and chambering of a new shell; time seemed to slow as her mind went into overdrive, driving out the panic that threatened to overtake her thoughts, doing her best to find a way out of this alive.
It had been a typical day for the small town of Ponyville, a place that wasn't a large city but not small enough to be considered a frontier town. It wasn't isolated, more on the path less traveled, only visited by the occasional dust storm or anyone stupid enough to get lost in the Everfree wastes. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, and any trouble that was started could usually be settled with a good stiff drink and a long talk, so imagine Rainbow's surprise when she woke up from her afternoon cloud nap above the city hall with a gun to her back. That will be a wake-up call to remember.
It had only been through sheer luck that the first shot missed, and she was alive. Now that her assailant knew she was awake and ready, they wouldn't miss twice, so with the imposing presents of death behind her and the pain burning through the new hole in her wing, Rainbow Dash had to fight to keep her mind from freezing up. She pushed through in the end, dragging up more willpower than she ever thought she had, forcing her mind to find a way out of this mess. Rainbow's head moved slightly, letting her eyes peer over the edge of the cloud, and she knew what she had to do, even if the hole in her wing said otherwise.
Rainbow's hand went to her waist, feeling for the holster that held her revolver, unclasping the leather strap that kept the item it had in place, rolling as she did so with the speed and grace that only a pegasus could manage. She fell, throwing herself over the side of a cloud with her back to the ground drawing the .22 revolver as she did, the silver and gold of the handgun glinting in the sun, the word "lead, Smoke, and loyalty" reflecting back the light. She heard them before seeing them, the squawk of confusion followed by the grunt of anger at realizing what had happened. She knew such sounds, but in the end, What really gave it away was the sound of a griffon war cry as they threw themselves off the cloud in a chase.
Rainbow smiled; a lousy move, she thought. The griffon had expected vulnerable prey. It was met with the shining end barrel of the .22 Rainbow Dash held in her hand; the griffon didn't even realize the weight of its error as the .22 spoke, spitting smoke, sending the message of lead from its master to the recipient, she fired. Once, twice, three times, with the practiced hand of the gunslinger she was, shining with skill as each shot went off with rapid succession, each bullet hitting home and making new holes in the griffon's body.
They both fell for a few more seconds, Rainbow Dash doing her best to confirm the griffon's death; with a satisfied nod, she flared her wings sending a new wave of pain through her body as she slowed her fall, letting the limp griffon form fall past her and land with a meaty thump on the ground below.
She soon followed, not long after hitting the ground with a hard landing, knocking the breath from her lungs. She hurt like hell but was still alive. She lay there for a moment in front of city hall, doing her best to ignore the black spots that took up her vision, pushing away the pain she now felt everywhere across her body. She lay listening to the gunshots that racked the small town. It must have been a raid.
Rainbow's mind went into overdrive at that. A raid wouldn't have made sense; no bandit clan was within distance to raid them, not to make it a profit at least. It had to be something else. She sat up, turning her attention to her new friend's body; maybe they would have something on them to tell her what the attack was about. She moved slowly, turning the body over to search them for anything useful. Rainbow took the shotgun from the griffon's claws, racking the pump, forcing open the chamber, checking the gun's condition and shells; five shots, all of them slugs. She looked at the hole in her wing; four shots she corrected, putting the gun to the side.
She moved the body again, prying the satchel off its side and dumping the contents. She pocketed some of the shotgun shells that rained out, pushed away any food stored in it, and uncovered a rolled-up parchment that looked important. Paper was a commodity, after all, so it had to be important. Rainbow unrolled the parchment and was met with the mother of all wanted posters; on it sat the picture of her and five other mares, followed by their names, Rainbow Dash, Rarity Bell, Pinkamena Diane Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow sat stunned at the wanted poster, looking over it again to ensure she saw it right. It was a wanted poster for them; under the pictures and names was a WANTED DEAD in large letters. Rainbow's mind skipped; they didn't even want them alive. She looked for the reward for their deaths, and her eyes widened at what she read. The bounty on their head was sponsored by the Crown, and the prize was a favor of the Crown; within reason, she guessed, that was if Queen fire bitch didn't just kill the people after the job was done.
The idea of this shook her. If the bounty was worth this much, it wasn't just her being attacked. It was all of her friends. Her body screamed as she stood up. The hole in her wing and the fall from the cloud apparent upon her abused and beaten body; she stumbled forward, grabbing the shotgun from the ground. She pushed the pain back as the new adrenaline raced through her as made her way to help her friends. They would need help. They had just gotten back from a job involving a bandit hideout nearby that was attacking caravans. They were tired and vulnerable, none other than the first she had to get to, Fluttershy.
She had to make it to Fluttershy first. The other girls could take care of themselves; Fluttershy, on the other hand, was more of an honorary member. She was timid and more peaceful than the others around. She was more of a talker, trying to find a way to end a fight with no bloodshed. She wasn't really down for the gunslinging that the other girls did or were up for the idea of what it meant to be safe in the new world that they found themselves in. So, Fluttershy would have to be the first place Rainbow went just to ensure that her friend made it through all this.
It wasn't a long walk, but it wasn't a short one either; having to make her way through a town that was under attack, the gunshots died down over the ten minutes it took to get to the cottage that rested slightly outside of town. The dust moved with her as she walked. It had been like this for the last ten years, ever since goddess Luna had left them. One day she disappeared without a trace, not even telling Twilight what was happening. The group had been in the ruins of the old castle when it happened, looking for something that only Twilight Knew.
Next thing next, the sun never set. The moon and the cold, peaceful nights that came with it were never again felt, and the world of green that so many ponies lived in started to fade with the burning ball that turned the world into that dust and sand.
Fluttershy used to live next to a forest that rivaled all those in Equestria, now it was nothing but a shriveling wasteland, and the once crazy weather that the magic of the forest created, which used to be rain, where now skin-ripping dust storms. With this thought, she moved faster to her friend's rescue. The cottage was easy enough to spot, and fear raced through the mind of Rainbow as she spied the broken door from a distance.
Rainbow's body was starting to slow as she approached the broken open door that barely sat on the hinges of the little two-story hut; Rainbow raised the shotgun to her shoulder, stepping over the broken door pieces and making her way in. Her stomach rises to her thought as she looks at the bloody carnage that lay for her in wait.
The living room, where many guests had tea with the shy yellow pegasus, was covered in blood and bodies. She walked over them, making her way to the other rooms on the ground floor. They were all empty. Rainbow did her best not to look closely at the three bodies laid out in a grizzly display of death when she walked back into the living room, but it did little to stop her from noticing all the claw and teeth marks that littered the bodies. It was as if a savage animal tore into the intruding griffons. Rainbow pushed past them and back to the cottage entrance, turning her attention to the stairs leading to the house's second floor.
She started up the steps doing her best not to slip on the blood that poured down the steps like a river, pooling from the body of another dead griffon that lay at the top of the stairs; his throat ripped open. This time, a bullet had done the damage, not the claws and teeth that killed downstairs. She grimaced as she stepped over him and did her best not to call out Fluttershy's name in case there was still a griffon in the house. She moved from room to room, her fear and anxiety growing with each empty one. She cleared each room with a careful step, the shotgun heavy in her tired arms.
Fluttershy's room was the last room on the floor that had yet to be searched, the door having been closed when Rainbow walked up to it. She breathed quietly as she raised her hand to the door knocking slightly, not wanting Fluttershy to think that it was an attacker and, on an offhand chance, get shot by her best friend. After a moment of no sound or movement, she opened the door calling out for Fluttershy in a quiet whisper. There was no reply. Rainbow cured as she made her way further into the room.
The shotgun went limp in her hands, forcing her to place the weapon down, leaning it against the wall so that she wouldn't drop it; as her eyes caught sight of the room in front of her, Fluttershy was dead, the side of her body bloody and torn open, blood pooling on the wooden floor. Rainbow walked forward in a daze looking over her friend, trying to spot anything that would hit at this being a cruel joke. She looked at her friend, for any sign of life, for any sign that Fluttershy wasn't dead.
Tears threatened to make their way out of her now watered eyes as she looked over her friend; she stared, taking in the look on Fluttershy's face. It was a look of fear, one of pain and anguish. Her eyes, even in death, showed the fear that she felt in her final moments, time that she could have only spent alone; with a shaking hand, Rainbow reached out, placing her fingers over Fluttershy's eyes and closed them, doing her best to lay her friend to rest.
The glint of metal in Fluttershy's hand caught Rainbow's eye and drew her to look in her friend's lap; there sat two things. The first and most noticeable was the red and white pulp, a gold and red collar torn and melded with the flesh ball. This would have been the only thing Fluttershy would try to defend, even in death. It was what was left of angel bunny, her first and last pet. Rainbow shook her head at what she had always thought was a hellspawn; she knew that thing was mean and didn't have to be told that if Fluttershy was in real danger, then that bunny would kill for her, and the downstairs had proved that point.
Rainbow could only hope that the bunny had died quickly, finding a new respect for the hellspawn she didn't have before. The next item she noticed was what had initially caught her attention; in the right hand of the shy yellow pegasus was a gun. With a shaking hand, Rainbow took the firearm from her friend's cold hand; for such a small revolver, it was incredibly heavy. She brought the gun up to her eyesight to inspect it. It was definitely Fluttershy's gun. The butterfly gem proved that much.
Rainbow had thought back to when the friend group had received such gifts from the goddess Luna right before her disappearance. Each one had accepted a firearm to protect them in their world; the gems in each handle were something that the goddess gifted them as well, saying that they held old magic they might find helpful.
Rainbow had not known Fluttershy; the group's pacifist had gotten one. Rainbow had expected that Luna would have given her a different option, but here it was, a short-barreled 9mm revolver that barred the cutie mark of the tame pegasus. She looked at the right side of the barrel; the gold lettering on each gun goddess gave them shined on the weapon, spelling out the word "Kindness" Rainbow spun the gun over, the other shining as well, reading three words "just in case."
Rainbow let out a quiet sob as she mourned the death of her close friend, the gun in her hand growing heavier with each tear that hit the ground. It was only a minute later that the cyan pegasus had to stop her tears, a burning anger replacing the sadness, the determination of the wronged taking the place of her grief. She would kill the griffons that did this, then the queen was next.
With a practiced hand, Rainbow popped open the cylinder that held the rounds; one spent casing sat in the chamber, one bullet just in case the worst had come to pass. In truth, it had done nothing to stop the oncoming death march that killed her friend. She left the empty case in the cylinder as she stood and moved away from the bodies, making her way to an open drawer that looked like it was opened in a panic. She found what she was looking for on top of the dresser that had the open drawer. There, in a silk handkerchief, were five bullets.
She took one of them off the handkerchief, careful not to duty the rag; with a steady hand, she loaded the bullet into the gun, placing it right next to the bullet casing that had been fired not long ago. She closed the cylinder with a snap of her wrist, the once heavy gun feeling lighter as she filled it with her now unending wrath. She would kill them for this, and then after that the queen was next
The gun went into her pant waistband as she turned back to the dead; with respect, she placed them on the bed, doing her best to make them at rest. She would return to bury them after she gathered the others, it was time to kill the queen, God or not she had made this personal.
