Everycreature gaped at the pony that had just entered the pub. The thing that made the pony look peculiar, was the outfit that she was wearing. Even by Kludgetown's standards, the outfit was unusual, while the residents of the small, backwater village were scruffy and unhygienic, the pony was wearing some type of black, skin-tight suit that covered every length of her body. Nobody could see what the unknown traveller looked like beneath the layers of black material. The clue that told the pub goers, what species she was, was the shape of what resembled a mane and tail beneath the black suit. Looking close, the bartender could see the faint outline of a pair of small wings.
The suit wasn't the only thing that, she was wearing, she was also wearing a large metal backpack with two tubes protruding from the bottom of the bag along with several belts that had small black objects, in the shape of an L. The pony was also wearing red-tinted goggles that hid her true eye colours.
The pony looked around the bar before spotting a patron sitting in the back corner of the room. The pony ignored the stares and walked straight to the patron and sat down in front of them without any form of invitation. The patron, who was wearing a brown cloak that was pulled over their heads, made an attempt to leave however made an abrupt stop as they felt something metallic and circular being pressed against their flank below the table as well as a foreboding clicking sound filled the patron's ears as they made a gulp.
Suddenly the pony pulled out a small fob and pressed a large button in the centre causing a hologram of a cat creature to appear. The pony then cleared her throat and said in a voice that sounded artificial, "I can either bring you in cold or bring you in warm, make your choice."
"Please, I can pay you more than what's on my head." a scared feminine voice said from within the hood.
The pony sneered, "So you have five hundred thousand bits lying around somewhere."
The feminine voice sounded shocked, "That's how much they are paying you?" she asked in disbelief.
The bounty hunter merely exclaimed, "I don't come cheap."
The creature then took her hood off, revealing a furry, white cat face. She fell to her knees and pleaded, "Please, I have kittens."
The hunter took out a pair of rigid, metal hoof cuffs and secured them around the cat's wrists before saying, "I don't care."
Suddenly a drunk patron attempted to intervene and slurred, "Get your paws off her," before trying to throw a punch towards the hunter. The bounty hunter merely chuckled and grabbed the fist in her hooves before twisting it, emitting a sickening crunch, causing the drunken mess to fall to the ground clutching his now broken arm. He shouted, "You broke my arm, you bitch!"
"Oh please, I've heard worse." the hunter then sighed before aiming her hoof towards the cat, who was attempting to make a run for it. A grappling hook was launched from a small box that was attached to the hunter's hooves and twisted its way around the cat's legs, causing her to come crashing to the floor. The hunter sighed and started to drag the cat by the tail, towards, what appeared to be a small airship that had been modified with rockets and cannons. The hunter then pulled out a small black fob with two buttons, clicking the bottom button a ramp extended towards the two approaching creatures.
The hunter pulled her prisoner onto the ship before leading her down below deck to the brig. She then unravelled the rope from the captive's legs, before pressing a button on a wall, where several bars appeared caging the cat. The prisoner launched herself at the bars, where she howled in pain as a current of electricity flowed through her veins. The hunter snickered before leaving the brig and heading towards the brig of the ship.
She pressed the same button on the fob and the ramp raised itself. She then walked over to a control panel and pulled a lever which made the ship rise into the sky. Turning the wheel portside, she pressed down on the accelerator and the airship began to speed off away from the lonely pub.
***
The bounty hunter was stood on deck, where she stared at an engineering marvel. They were fast approaching a city that could float in the sky, unlike cloud cities, which were only accessible to those who had wings or a cloud walking spell, this city was made from metal and was using large rotating propellers located underneath the city to keep it afloat. This was Venator City, a paradise for bounty hunters and criminals alike. She parked her ship in one of the many bays located at the Skyport, she then released her prisoner from the electrical dungeon and pointed a blaster towards her back, where she commanded, "Move!"
The cat reluctantly complied, and they both walked towards a tower. The tower was named the Bounty Exchange, this was where clients were 'reunited' with their bounties. The Bounty Exchange loomed over the city, like a menacing god. The duo entered and the hunter led her over to a private booth, where she sat in front of the client. A mysterious pony who always wore a tattered cloak. The hunter, however, had an eye for detail and had already spotted the fancy suit hiding beneath the cloak, making the client more peculiar.
The client, clapped his golden hooves together, exclaiming, "Excellent."
The hunter ignored the compliment and instead, held her hoof out, where the client smiled, "Of course, here you go."
The mysterious stallion used his magic to give her a large pouch stuffed with bits. As the hunter got up to leave the unicorn shouted, "Wait! I have another job if you are interested."
The hunter, who was addicted to the thrill of a chase, said "Go on."
"There's this new inventor. She's a threat to my business, I need her out of my way." He told her.
"Can I see the fob?" she asked, holding her hoof out, expectantly.
The unicorn swallowed, chuckling "There is no fob. This job is extremely sensitive, I cannot have any potential evidence leaking."
The hunter stared deeply into the client's cloak, It was highly unusual for a job to not have a fob. A fob was enchanted with a spell that beeped rapidly when close to its target as well as providing an accurate image of the target. "Do you at least have a description or a name?"
"I don't have a name, my competitor is extremely secretive, all I know is that she is an earth pony and used to work on an apple farm."
"Is there a location?"
"Yes, she is expected to do a talk at Applelooza."
"And how much are you willing to pay for this job?"
"Anything."
The hunter slowly nodded before saying, "Five hundred thousand bits as a down payment and then one million bits after the job is completed."
"A little steep but okay." The unicorn muttered before tossing a second pouch that rattled with gold coins.
"Steep is what you get when you make a challenging order." She said finally before at last departing.
***
The client watched the bounty hunter walk off before rushing outside through a back entrance, where he found a hidden alleyway. Pulling his hood down, he powered up a spell, where a projection of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the ruler of Equestria, stood in all her glory.
"It's been done," he said.
"Excellent work, Snails. Soon those three will be friends again..."
The bounty hunter looked down at the small bustling town. The last time she was here, Appleooza was merely a small backwater town that had merely comprised of two streets and a couple of outlying farms and ranches. Now it was a busy, market town.
When she had docked her airship inside of the small Skyport, a white earth pony stallion came rushing up to her, "How long will you be staying here?" the pony asked in a stuck-up tone.
"That is my business, not yours," the bounty hunter said, dismissing the earth pony.
"Excuse me, you need to pay to dock here," the stallion insisted.
The bounty hunter grumbled rolling her eyes beneath the red goggles as she dropped a pouch of bits in front of the stallion, she didn't bother counting the money, she had plenty of bits to go around.
Without saying anything, the hunter left the Skyport and began walking towards town. She knew that a western town like Appleooza would have a saloon and if you wanted news then the saloon would be the best place.
She walked into the town square, ignoring the curious looks that the townsfolk seemed to give every time they passed her, where just as she expected a saloon was located on a corner. As she approached the main entrance, a weedy-looking earth pony colt was chucked onto the street, within the saloon, she could hear a mare's voice shouting, "AND STAY OUT, YOU LITTLE TWERP!"
The sandy-coloured colt shook his hoof in anger before he spotted the hunter heading towards the saloon, "Don't go in there, she's a mad mare,"
The hunter chuckled before ruffling the colt's maroon mane, "I'm sure she is, besides I've dealt with worse."
"Hey!" the colt snapped, shaking the hoof away.
The hunter chuckled again before walking into the saloon, just as she expected everypony stopped what they were doing and stared at her. The hunter waited a couple of seconds as everypony turned back to their drinks and fellow patrons.
The hunter then walked up to the bar, where she could see a muscular, grey mare, giving her a suspicious look. The bartender walked up to her and asked, "What can ah do for you today?"
"Just a pint of your finest apple cider, keep the change," the hunter responded, dropping several coins onto the counter.
The hunter then pulled some of her mask up, so that her mouth was being revealed, before taking a sip. Smacking her lips in reminiscence of old memories. She could tell that the Cider had come from the apple family.
Suddenly the bartender asked, "What's with the mask?"
"I wish to keep my appearance and identity a secret," the hunter simply stated, staring down at the amber liquid inside of her flagon.
The bartender scoffed before saying, "Well, ah don't wish to keep mah identity a secret. The name's Cider Whiskey." She held her hoof out for her to shake, the hunter stared at the hoof before reluctantly accepting it.
"You're not from around these parts, are yeh?"
"What gave that away," the hunter said sarcastically.
"She has humour, so what brings you to Appleooza?"
"I'm looking for an inventor,"
"You and everypony else, yeh'll find her at the apple orchards but be warned, her sister can be a little overprotective. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want tah see this inventor?"
"We have... a business arrangement, that we need to discuss." the hunter exclaimed cryptically.
Downing the last of her cider, the hunter told the bartender, "I must get going now."
"Oh well, please come again," the bartender muttered in slight disappointment.
"I'll consider it." the hunter said.
***
Walking down the street, she passed an alleyway, where the distinct sound of fighting met her ears. She was going to ignore it when she suddenly heard a familiar voice scream, "HEEELP! AHM BEING FOALN-MMMMPH!"
Silently cursing herself, the hunter entered the alleyway to find two earth pony stallions, wearing bandannas and fedoras, hogtying the colt that had been kicked out of the saloon earlier. "What's going on here?" the hunter asked, preparing herself to pull out her blasters.
"Nothing that concerns you." one of the stallions, who was wearing a red bandanna, grunted.
The colt released several muffled pleas through the white rag that was gagging him. "I think you do find that it concerns me," the hunter explained, unclipping her blasters.
The bandits, who noticed this, snarled, "Don't do anything stupid."
"You are the ones that are doing something stupid, foalnapping this innocent colt in broad daylight. Now release him or else," the hunter threatened.
The red bandanna bandit sneered, "Or else what? You're outnumbered."
The hunter smiled beneath the mask before blasting the bandit, sending a red magic bolt into his heart with precise precision. "Look's like I'm not outnumbered now."
"HORSEHOE! You'll pay for that, bitch." the remaining bandit growled before lunging at the hunter. The hunter leapt over the attacker before using her grappling hook to lasso the stallion around his neck. She then used her jetpack to fly into the sky, raising the stallion off the ground.
The stallion instantly began clawing at his neck as he started to be strangled from the makeshift hanging. The tied-up colt watched with a mixture of horror and fear as the hanging bandit started to spasm before eventually, his hoofs fell down hanging down at his side, his face was blue and his eyes rolled backwards, he was dead.
The hunter released the stallion letting the body fall to the ground, making a distinct crunching sound. The colt grunted with fear as the hunter slowly approached him.
The hunter looked down at the trussed-up colt, who was making muffled protests as she aimed her blaster at the colt's forehead. The colt's purple eyes widened with horror before beginning to tear up as he realised that he was going to die.
The hunter hesitated at seeing the colt's tears, she knew that it was dangerous to leave witnesses but she couldn't bring herself to kill the kid. Sighing with frustration, the hunter reholstered her blasters, the colt, who had his eyes clenched shut, slowly opened them as the hunter pulled the gag off.
"Please don't kill me," The colt pleaded.
"Relax, I'm here to rescue you," the hunter reassured him as she untied him.
After she released him, the hunter asked, "What's your name, kid?"
The colt reluctantly said, "Apple Taps."
"Right, I'm going to take you home, I'll need you to show me the way," the hunter said, she was hoping that if she brought the kid back, then parents might give her a reward.
The colt nodded and began to lead her towards the apple orchards. They eventually arrived at a ranch house that sat on the outskirts of the apple orchards, the hunter was now beginning to suspect that Apple Tap's parents might be her target.
As soon as she knocked on the front door, it snapped open to reveal a yellow earth pony stallion, who was wearing a brown jacket along with a brown fedora. "Braeburn!" Apple Tap shouted, hugging the stallion.
"Apple Tap, thank Celestia, yer okay. Yer parents have been worried sick." Braeburn said, his voice laced with concern
"I'm fine," Apple Tap said.
The hunter then stepped forward, "Apple Tap here, nearly was foalnapped. It was lucky that I was there to rescue him."
"Thank you so much, please come in," Braeburn opened the door wider to allow the duo to enter the house. Upon entering the sitting room, the bounty hunter suddenly stopped in her tracks as she came face to face with an old friend...