Chapter Two-

“Dear Celestia, do you know that you’re one lucky son of a mule?”

A set of hooves clopped on the dirt road, the sound echoing softly across the yellow grassed fields. The sun was high in the sky now, bearing down on the two stallions, smiling its warm grin on the both of them.

One, however, wasn’t exactly enjoying the Princess’ ball of flame in the sky.

Mr. Hayseed, trying to take a nap to sleep off this horrendous nightmare, opened one eye and frowned. So far, from what he thought of his situation, he was one unlucky son of a mule. Both his knees had been shot straight through, making bending his legs a near impossible feat without pain. He had to part with his wife and their daughter, revealing his unlawful past to them at the same time.

The worst part was when his daughter, finally truly realizing what was happening, had run inside their house and grabbed her red bandana. She often wore it around the farm, but she wanted to give it to him as “something to remember her by”. He tried not to cry when she said that.

The earth pony had the bandana in front of him, perfectly folded into a triangle. Or folded as perfect as he could, being on top of two other ponies below him. The pegasus, after all, was a bounty hunter. He had other bounties with him and the four of them were now traveling on the road in a cart the pegasus was pulling.

The other two happened to be wrapped up in white sheets, red splotches covering each of their heads. They had been silent the whole ride thus far.

“Why’d ya say that? I don’t think I’ve had the best of luck lately… would you?” Mr. Hayseed retorted. He wasn’t in the mood for games.

“Well…” The pegasus didn’t turn around, but gave the cart an extra pull, grating its wheel over a rock. “I could have shot you in the head, like Big Keg and Lil Barrel under ya. That would have been a lot easier you know. Would have saved me a bullet too.”

“So why didn’t ya?” Mr. Hayseed replied bluntly.

The pegasus chuckled and did turn back now, a small smile on his face. “Like I told your daughter, Swift. I’m not a bad pony.”

Mr. Hayseed snorted and picked his head up now. “Yeah, but you still called yourself a monster.”

The jacketed pony’s smile wiped away and he turned back to the road. He didn’t answer Mr. Hayseed and simply kept pulling the cart, surprising Swift. He didn’t expect to win the verbal engagement so easily and most of the time when he had seen or come face to face with bounty hunters, they always had been more cocky and gung-ho about things. This pegasus had thrown that stereotype out the window for Mr. Hayseed.

“True Breeze, by the way, is my name Mr. Hayseed.” He stated, disturbing the still air between them.

Before Mr. Hayseed could comment about how he didn’t really care, True Breeze pushed on.

“Yes, I did say I was a monster. Though what makes one a ‘monster,’ per say?” He looked back at Mr. Hayseed, whose eyebrow was cocked in confusion. “What do you think a monster is, Mr. Hayseed?”

“A monster?” The pegasus nodded. “Well… uhm… usually I think of some big beast or something. Pretty scary thing, like a manticore or somethin’.” Mr. Hayseed squinted his eyes a bit. “Doesn’t seem much like you honestly.”

True Breeze looked back forward and shook his head. “Ah… Like a foal…” He looked straight ahead, his focus on a large boulder ahead of them. “No, Mr. Hayseed. That’s just a beast. It’s not a monster.

“A monster is something much more cruel, something much more malevolent. Beasts like manticores and timber wolves… They act like they do out of their nature, their survival instincts. They kill and eat others only because they have to out of survival. It’s not their fault they act like that, it’s just how they are.

“Now a monster though, they are on a higher level than beasts. A monster thinks. A monster plans. A monster knows what’s it’s doing and how it’s going to do it. They enjoy what they do and understand that doing it changes lives, changes the world. Taking the life of somepony is trivial to them; it’s normal for them. They enjoy it, Swift. Even if they don’t know it’s wrong, they enjoy doing horrible things to others. It’s worse if they do.

“Most say that we are separated from beasts because we developed our brains more. We learned speech, writing, and architecture. We created tools, weapons, and building with our hooves. Magic became an articulate thing to us, something we could use to further ourselves. We even developed entire cities, entire nations built upon principles and ruled by royalty.

“But that’s the trouble, Swift. That’s the trouble. We built nations of monsters.”

True Breeze turned around towards Mr. Hayseed. “Do you understand what I’m trying to-“

“Zzzzzz… zzzzz…”

The pegasus stopped under the shade of the huge boulder looming over them in dumbfounded shock. On top of the pile, the tan stallion has fallen asleep, the red bandana being used as a little pillow for him to lay his head on. A corner of it covered his left eye and ear.

True Breeze couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy! HIS bounty!

Maybe I should pop another round into his back leg… He eyed the tip of the cloudy grey barrel of his LOYAL-3 silenced sniper rifle. I mean, it’s not like anybody is gonna know the difference or anything, right? His smile was pure mischievous evil.

“KYAAAA!”

The air from Breeze’s lungs found space outside of his body once more, albeit forced out this time.

Knocked clean out of his straps with the cart, he tumbled forward a few times before sliding to a gritty stop on the dirt road. He was sure he hit a few rougher rocks in his tumble, but the impact had left him breathless and blinded. Gasping for air, he barely heard the chuckles and clopping of three sets of hooves around him.

“Well well well… Look who we ‘ave ‘ere fellas!” The low voice cackled once, then coughed. Gathering his phlegm, he spat a glop of green amoebic fluid on True Breeze’s head. “A right old bounty hunter, going by Grand Fields’ boulder!”

True Breeze’s gasps came slower and longer as his vision came back, his face looking at the hooves of scarred up dark brown unicorn stallion. Looking up, True Breeze gazed into the face of Grand Fields, several ragged scars notching his face this way and that. His mane was a dirty collection of muddy brown and sandy brown hair, his Mark a skull with a crown bent to its side. His horn was chipped in several places like it had gone through the shredder one too many times.

The bounty hunter looked at him for a minute through squinted eyes. Grand Fields stared back, not exactly expecting the stare down between them. Finally, True Breeze chuckled and smiled wide.

“Wow. You are one ugly mother bucker.”

The stallion grunted and kicked his forehoof in True Breeze’s face, flopping the pegasus on his back. “Watch it bub. You ain’t ‘xactly in a position to talk shit ‘bout ponies.” A ruddy brown glow alighted his horn and from the worn saddle bag he wore, he pulled out a shiny revolver.

Grand Fields smiled, putting the first bullet into its chamber, taking his sweet time. The other two ponies, a yellowish earth pony and a vivid dark blue one, stood behind True Breeze chuckled and laughed as they watched True Breeze’s face start to grow in horror.

“Well…” The third bullet slid into the cylinder. “I must say, I am happy ya came by. We ‘aven’t raided and killed anypony fer a while now and our supplies have run a bit low…”

A fourth bullet entered.

“However, ya happened to come by at a perfect time with three dead bounties! And, with a nice gun too! Ain’t that great fellas?” The ponies behind him shouted their agreement.

The sixth bullet entered its chamber and True Breeze expected him to clip it up, ready to shoot. To his surprise though, Grand Fields put in another bullet, smiling wider now.

“Oh, ya thought only six shots? Well, this here is a special gun. It has- “He slid the last bullet in, the eighth. “Eight shots instead of the normal six. The OCTAVE-8 is a very rare, very... special gun.” His smile was pure mischievous evil as he clicked the cylinder into place, pointing the weapon at him. “I’d rather just show ya what I-“

WHACK!

Without skipping a beat, True Breeze’s face fell to seriousness and his hind leg kicked out, knocking the gun out of Grand Fields’ magic grasp. Using the momentum of his kick, he turned his side over to flip himself upright and tossed himself at the nearest lackey by him, tackling him to the ground.

Landing some good strikes on the pony’s face, he didn’t expect the veil of brown magic to surround him as Grand Fields grasped him. The unicorn face crimsoned up like a ripe cherry as True Breeze was turned around to face him, and Grand Fields gave an unsatisfied grunt. Putting True Breeze back down, the other lackey tied up the pegasus’ wings and unstrapped the LOYAL on him, pointing it at the pegasus. The first lackey got up, still dazed and confused, but managed to get behind True Breeze to put him in a full nelson.

Grand Breeze frowned, hocking up another loogy and spitting it on True Breeze, hitting his jacket. The bounty hunter’s eyes grew wide, then terribly cold and malevolent.

“You spit on my jacket.”

The bandit leader cocked an eyebrow. “So?”

“You’re gonna pay for that you know.”

A chuckle was his response as he put his face only an inch in front of True Breeze’s, his rancid breath heavy in the pegasus’ nostrils, his dental hygiene looking like someone had dropped him a few too many times as a colt. “Oh really? How’s that?”

Hummmmmmmm~

Flump- clang clang…

True Breeze’s face remained impassive as the pony with his sniper fell to the ground, his gun clattering past the lackey’s now dead body.

Without waiting for a proper response from the others, he wiggled his hoof around in his sleeve. A shining metallic double blade sprung forth, burying itself into the side of the pony behind him. Screaming in pain, he let go, giving True Breeze the perfect chance to let Grand Fields repay some of his debt.

With one swift motion, he sliced above Grand Fields’ shocked face, lobbing off the stallion’s horn.

“EEEEEYAAARGH!” The ex-unicorn screamed in agony, falling to the ground from the sheer amount of pain that his lost appendage was causing. Sparks of magic tried to connect to create an aura, but everything just fizzled into nothingness.

True Breeze looked around him, at the dead pony, the injured one, and Grand Fields. Both of the injured ponies were rolling about on the ground in pain, uttering choice swear words and other profanities the pegasus didn’t hear too often and even a few he’d never heard before. He stood there for a moment, then looked over at Mr. Hayseed, the OCTAVE-8 in his mouth and pointing at him.

They both stared at each other, neither one saying a thing. Purple eyes met red eyes and locked in a mental combat, both not sure what the other would do. After only a few seconds however, True Breeze made the first move and turned around, surprising Mr. Hayseed.

The pegasus walked past the dead pony and leaned down, grabbing his sniper rifle. In his hooves, he inspected it, rubbing off a few dirt marks and cleaning the barrel out a little with a feather from his wing. After inspecting it from barrel to stock, he nodded and turned around.

TINK!

Red erupted from the downed croony as his head was obliterated from the short range rifle shot. The silence afterwards with thick, threatening to envelop everypony there.

Grand Fields had watched the whole scene and his labored breathing had quickened, fear finally settling into the stallion’s mind. He watched the pegasus look at the dead body impassively, as if studying some rare piece of art and appreciating its fine work. Then the bounty hunter directed his attention towards Mr. Hayseed.

Without pausing, he strapped the LOYALTY back on him and walked over to Mr. Hayseed, who still was staring at him. They stared at each other, once again, but True Breeze wasn’t having anymore stare downs. He put up his hoof and bent it towards himself. After a minute of staring, Mr. Hayseed let go of the OCTAVE, though not without some hesitation.

Walking back over to Grand Fields, he inspected the gun in his hoof like he did with his sniper rifle, only pausing to grab the unicorn horn he had chopped off. He stopped in front of the down stallion but still looked over the gun, noticing several interesting things about it that he would have to check at a later date.

For now, he had one last pony to deal with.

Hummmmmmmmmm~

“AAAAAAUGH!”

“Such a beautiful sound, the cello. Very few understand its beauty, its simplicity…”

Hummmmmmmmmm~

“URGHHHHHH CELESTIA DAMMIT!”

True Breeze smiled. “…it’s power.”

Two rivulets of red poured out of two holes on the stallion’s right forehoof, his other legs clutching it in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. True Breeze went to Fields’ side and unlatched the saddle bags, tossing them over by his cart. Noticing that one of the other ponies had a saddle bag, he went over and did a similar process. Done with his looting, he returned his attention back to Fields.

Hummmmmmmmmm~

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGH! BUCKIN DAMMIT YA BASTARD! YA BUCKIN SON OF A THREE-LEGGED DIAMOND DOG’S BITCH’S RIGHT-“

“Oh shush, no need for such vulgar language Fields though I’m glad you showed me what’s so special about this gun. Music in every shot. How odd yet beautiful at the same time.“ He grabbed the horn again and used it to wipe the phlegm off of his jacket. Inspecting it with cold hatred, he brought that same chill to his smile and bent down. Collecting his own spit, he spat on the horn.

“Now, I think I’m gonna return something of yours with a present of my own…” In disgust, Grand Fields’ eyes grew wide as the horn came closer to his mouth. Clenching it shut, he refused to let it in.

True Breeze puffed out one of his lips and sighed. “Aw… Baby don’t want his food…”

Hummmmmmmmmm~

“GYAAAAAA- MMPH!”

“That’s better!”

Spitting out his own horn, Grand Fields coughed a few times, disgusted and paling with the increasing pain and blood loss. Veins made ridges on his neck and head as he screamed at True Breeze. “YA BUCKIN SICK BASTARD!”

True Breeze smile only grew wider as he stood up, grabbing his gun with him. “Oh, oh really now? Because your payment isn’t quite done yet. I got one more little thing to give ya, then I think we'll be even…” He then rounded over to Field's side, a vulture looking at the dying carcass before him.

Confused, Fields didn't understand what Breeze was planning. Then, he noticed he kept going around. And around. Until finally, he reached his back end, over by his Mark. True Breeze's grin was malicious as he lifted up his hoof, letting the sharpened blade whisk out of it's sleeve. With sudden clarity at what was about to happen, Fields blanched even more and struggled wildly with his two working legs.

“OH NO! OH BUCK NO! PLEASE! DON’T BUCKIN DO-“

Mr. Hayseed had to look away as the blood curdling scream of Grand Fields echoed all around him.

The deed done, True Breeze returned to Grand Fields’ front side with a small smirk on his face. Nodding his head, he looked down at the ex unicorn. “Well, now we’re even. I would have just killed you before, but seems like you’re a bit new to the game. You’re not even a blip on the wanted posters yet! Not worth my bullets to kill you and my energy dragging you and your buddies around…”

The pegasus's grin died as he looked over the panting body before him, blood clumping where it hit dirt. "Well... You might live anyways, if you don't bleed out before you get help... IF you get help."

With a snort, he turned towards the cart, grabbing the saddles and placing them in front of Mr. Hayseed, who refused to look at True Breeze. The pegasus however wasn't noticing and fidgeted with the straps of the cart, eventually getting himself strapped up once more. Saluting at the crippled stallion, he took off at a brisk pace, continuing down the road as if the whole experience had only brought joy.

After about an hour had gone by, Mr. Hayseed finally looked over at True Breeze. The pegasus was limping a little bit as he walked but he still pushed on at a moderate speed. The earth pony observed the bounty hunter until finally opening his mouth, his thoughts understanding the bounty hunter’s words at last.

“You really are a monster.”

Unexpectedly, True Breeze laughed, loud, coarse, and short, though the words afterwards came through a clenched smile. “Yes... yes I am.”

Author's Note

Hello again~ I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter to this fic~ and trust me, it only gets better as it goes on~

Thanks again to conantheimp and Showmare Trixie for the editing and revision of this chapter~

So... ask questions, comment below, fave, thumbs up, thumbs down, do whatever you wish~ I love interactions and it will make me very happy if you do something! :)