It always begins the same way. It's just another beautiful night in Celestia's kingdom. Well, Luna's now, but for people born before her redemption it was still hard to get used to more than one princess. The moon's reflected light danced down onto the world below, bathing the old cathedral in a soft glow. Its faint outlines could be seen in the darkness, punctuated only by the beautiful shimmering of the light hitting the old stained glass windows. For someone who did not know better, it looked from afar like a cloud of multi-colored fireflies. The building has seen better times, a few of the windows are broken and vines are climbing all over it, but the crystal empire glass workers new their trade, the windows were still as gorgeous as they were 1500 years ago when they were installed.
A pegasus walks into the building, wide sunglasses on, even in the dark of the night. She is carrying a bouquet of roses tucked behind her wing. An astute observer would note a strange metallic apparatus hidden in the stems of the bouquet, but the stallions she is meeting suspect nothing. Two of them are covering the entryway, she doesn't even see them, but experience tells her where they'll be. Only two options in that kind of life, learn or be tagged and bagged. Two more stallions are on the upper levels and one or two more scattered in the pews, the old wooden structures used to hold the reading books as well as helping the young see what was going on. The last stallion was actually at the altar, surprisingly enough. Religious worship of the sisters had grown out of date as they became more comfortable with their position in the world. He kneels in front of the largest window of the all, a vast circular window depicting Celestia and Luna in all of their glory, circling in a cycle of light and dark. Each of their respective elements of harmony is in the other one's half of the circle, portraying their eternal union. Even after Luna's betrayal, Celestia had never given up hope on her sister and had kept the old symbol of their rule.
She walks up to him and calls out:
“Hey big man, never knew you were one of the oldies.”
The male pegasus finishes his prayer and floats up while turning around, smiling a bit at her return. The gun in his hoof still facing towards the window as his limbs struggled to keep up with his turning core.
“Hey, guess the job got do-”
In a flash the mare expertly pushes up her wing to throw up the bouquet of roses, she pushes back, grabs the gun and fires in an perfectly timed motion.
Bang.
The gunshot rings out through the church, the muzzle-flash briefly the only major light source in the Gothic building. The stallion suspected nothing as the bullet ripped through his head. This causes him to spasm and his own gun goes off, shattering the window behind him. As he collapses back, the glass showers down on him like a rainbow waterfall. His corpse is shredded under the deluge of ancient worksmanship. Meanwhile, in the darkness, the mare darts forth and grabs the pistol that fell from his hooves, the rest of the crew starting to react. She turns and fires.
Bang.
Another one falls, this time from the second level, he impacts the altar with a crunch, pouring out his blood onto the once sacred place in his death spasms. The bouquet of roses the gun was hidden in is now shredded, petals falling everywhere, carpeting the altar in red. Most of them are indistinguishable in the puddles of blood now covering the stone tiles.
Bang. Bang.
More shots now, little blossoms of fire springing out throughout the building. Groans start to be more audible now. Now screams.
Bang.
Wood tears as the bullet rips through a pew, the tumbling ball of lead is thrown off course and barely misses its target, clattering spent and useless next to him. He looks down at it with shocked eyes, barely able to understand his luck. A look of sheer joy appears on his face. The distraction is a mistake.
Bang.
The next round enters his head, splattering his smile with what used to be his brains. The rest goes flying, splattering unto an old stone statue of Celestia. Her smiling face gains a red grimace, almost like lipstick. A stray round ends up knocking off her muzzle, the stone shattering.
Bang.
A unicorn in a fancy suit looks across the aisle, spotting one of his bodyguard's guns. His horn glows with energy as he reaches out for it.
Bang.
Another round stops that, he screams in pain as the shattered remains of his horn imbed themselves in the pew behind him. Blood seeps from the wound, blinding his vision. All he can see is a flash of gray flying above him and bubbles. Red bubbles.
Bang.
His other bodyguard takes one right in the chest, the hollow point bullet making a pin hole as it enters but leaves a gaping wound in his back as it leaves. His shattered ribs stick out of it as his blood and intestines pour out, he dies screaming.
All that's left is the man now, his suit is torn open and blood is still coursing from the wound where his horn used to be. He slumps now, wounded and tired. He looks 50 but couldn't be more than 35, the game really took its toll on its players. He just slumps in the pews and lights up a cigarette, waiting for the end. He looks remarkably at peace, the blood almost fitting him, as if it was simply the coloring of his coat. He hears muffled shots as the rest of his men are put out of their memory.
Bang.
She wasn't cruel, at least she had that going.
Bang.
Its been a long time, a long time running, but sooner or later Celestia would cut you down. Unfortunately for him, she had gotten there first.
Bang.
That was the last one, he was up. She floated over warily towards him, near cover at all times with her two pistols covering every possible angle.
He calls out to her in a weary voice, pausing only to flinch. “No, don't worry, it's just me left. How much they paying you for this?”
Her soft voice replies:
“Enough.”
“Enough to do what?”
“To get out.”
“Think you can really escape all of this?”
“Yeah, found a small town time to disappear in, my filly needs it.”
He smiles a bit, probably the first time in years.
“So its a filly eh? Was looking forward to finding out.”
“Only found out yesterday. Was going to tell you tonight.”
“Life does have a way of intruding, don't it? Just do one thing for me, last favor I guess?”
“The last favor is forgiving all the bar tabs you owe me.”
He laughs a bit, at that. Its a surprisingly warm laugh for someone with such a harsh voice.
“Take care of yourself.”
“Don't worry, got your training didn't I?”
“And I'm beginning to regret it now that I am bleeding to death. Well, guess its time to see what's on the other side.”
“Say hello to the old man for me, will you?”
“I will.”
He closes his eyes and finishes his last cigarette. The smoke rises daintily from the scarred face and for the first time in a decade, the stallion is at peace.
Bang.
It all goes dark. Then light. Thin cracks of light. A voice. Soft, kind, a child's voice. At first, she can barely hear it above the church bells, she had triggered them to notify her real employers that the job was done. It grows louder and the dream grows fainter as she steps out of the church and into the rain.
Dong. “Mom”? Dong. “Mom”? Dong. “MOM”!
She is rudely thrust from her dreams back into reality. Her bed was a puddle of cold sweat and her little filly now was standing over her, face covered in worry.
“Mom, are you alright? Was it that dream again?”
She just closes her eyes and breathes in. It was too early, she wasn't ready to know.
“Yeah little muffin, just a dream. Now go back to sleep, mommy's fine.”
