Chapter 1 - The Hunt Is On
In the city of Las Pegasus, it was heavily raining. The ground was wet and slippery. One false move would make sure you'd trip and fall easily. A shady looking pony wearing a hoodie was walking through the busy streets of the sprawling city. Pushing and shoving past ponies on the busy street, he finally reaches his destination. He looks up to the casino aptly named "Lucky 7" and enters through the double doors. On the opposite side of the street, stood a pony wearing a black cape and an Akubra hat looking through the scope of his crossbow at the pony just before he entered the building. He lowered his crossbow onto the ground and picked up a strange device from his pocket. He pressed a button using his other hoof.
"This is Dead Shot. The target is inside the casino named 'Lucky 7'. Over."
The device crackled and a voice came through.
"This is Brain Teaser. Good job, Dead Shot. I'll send in Edge and Spetsnaz to neutralize the target. Stay clear. Over."
Dead rolled his eyes and pressed the button.
"I still think these devices you made are stupid, Brain."
The device crackled again and Brain's voice came through.
"And I still think Edge's tail style is stupid, yet I don't badger him about it, do I?"
The device crackled and another voice comes through.
"You think my tail is stupid?! Hello! It's strategically designed to allow me to stand on my hind legs and use my swords effectively, Brain!"
The device made a loud crunching noise as if it was being passed on to another. And a new voice comes through.
"Stop arguing, the lot of ya! Look, I might goof off a lot but NEVER during a hunt! Get your act together!"
Dead sighed and pressed the button.
"Roger, Spetsnaz. I'll head back to regroup with Charger and Loki."
Dead turned and headed down the street towards the rest of the group.
Meanwhile, Spetsnaz and Edge were walking down the street and heading towards the Lucky 7 casino. They opened the golden double doors and entered. A mare wearing a golden bikini walked up to them with a cheery smile.
"Welcome to the Lucky 7 casino! How may I help you?"
Edge stepped forward and bowed. He raised his head and donned a different accent.
"Wouldya happin' to know somepony named Green Greed?"
The mare lost her smile and cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Greed is unavailable right now."
Edge ran up to her at blinding speed and held his dagger to her throat very secretly. To ponies passing by, thanks to Edge's cape, it looked as though they were making out. Edge lost his fake accent.
"Now you listen here. Tell me where to find Mr. Greed and you keep your throat, capiche?"
The mare nodded to the best of her ability and Edge removed the dagger from her throat and stowed it back inside his pocket. The mare cleared her throat and pointed to a set of golden stairs.
"Follow me, please."
The mare walked towards the stairs with Edge and Spetsnaz following. As they ascended the golden stairs, Edge and Spetsnaz noticed the portraits hanging all along the walls of the stairs. All of them had a pony with a emerald green coat, forest green mane and light green eyes. The cutie mark was a "$" and he was always with a mare or a pile of bits. Edge nudged Spetsnaz and leaned in towards his ear.
"You willin' to bet that's our target?"
Spetsnaz nodded. "I'm sure of it. And our hooded friend will be there to. We've been looking for him for far too long, now."
Edge nodded. "Yeah. He's been escaping us more often then the Umbra Triad."
Spetsnaz gave Edge a deep and dark glare.
"Don't talk about them around civilians!"
Edge looked around them. They had reached the top of the stairs and were now in a golden corridor that lead towards a golden door. Edge rolled his eyes.
"Ugh. This guy sure likes gold, don't he?"
Spetsnaz nodded. "Yeah. Hey, where did the mare go?"
Edge looked behind them and saw the mare halfway down the stairs.
"Guess she doesn't wanna come up with us."
Edge and Spetsnaz headed towards the door at the end of the corridor as the mare pressed a button on the wall and spoke out loud with an evil look.
"Mr. Greed, you have visitors."
Edge and Spetsnaz walked up to the door and knocked twice.
"Enter, visitors."
Edge and Spetsnaz gave each other a weird look. Edge opened the door and revealed the inside of the room. Just as he expected, gold everywhere. The walls, the floor, the ceiling. Everywhere was gold. In the middle of the room, was a bed with gold coloured sheets and pillows. On top of the bed was the same green pony with 2 mares by his side. Kneeling in front of the bed was the hooded pony. He didn't look behind him, but Green looked to Spetsnaz and Edge with a smile.
"Ah, the visitors Golden Delight mentioned! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Edge stood up on his hind legs and drew his two blades from their sheaths. Spetsnaz threw his hooves up in front of him like a boxer. Edge pointed one of the blades to Green.
"Green Greed! You have a bounty of 12,000 bits on your head! We are the Blood Hunters! We are bounty hunters! Come with us willingly or we shall use force!"
Green laughed and looked to the hooded pony.
"Get outta here, kid."
The hooded pony nodded and ran towards a window. Edge tried to make a move, but was blocked off by a big and muscled earth pony who came from behind the door. The hooded pony jumped out the window as the earth pony smashed Edge in the snout, knocking him over. Spetsnaz stood in front of Edge and held his hooves up to the earth pony.
"I got Green! Go get our hooded friend!"
Edge nodded and grabbed his swords from the ground. He put them in their sheath and ran towards the window. He leaped out and landed on the roof. He looked around the massive area and saw the hooded pony running across rooftops through the rain on the other side of the street. Edge stood up on his hind legs and ran towards the building across the street. He leaped and held his hooves outstretched towards the building. He grabbed the edge of the building and flipped himself over on top of the building and landed safely. He looked ahead and saw the hooded pony running. He continued hunting down the hooded target.
The hooded pony looked behind him and saw Edge chasing after him. He turned back to face a wall and smack right into it. Edge saw his opportunity and ran faster. He caught up with him and unsheathed a blade, pointing it at the hooded pony's chest. He looked up at Edge and then to his left. Edge laughed.
"No way out. Come with us willingly or we will use force."
The hooded pony looked up at Edge. A faint glow came from underneath his hood. Edge's eyes widen and he went to grab him, but he was too late. The pony teleported away from Edge's grasp in a bright flash of white light. Edge stood there, frozen for a few seconds. He sheathed his sword and slammed his hooves down on the concrete of the building.
"Celestia damnnit! He got away again!"
The device in Edge's pocket crackled.
"Edge, this is Dead. Ya got the bugger yet?"
Edge sighed and grabbed the device from his pocket, rain heavily hitting the device. He pressed a button and groaned.
"Negative. Mission fail. Spetsnaz has Green Greed, no doubt. I'm sorry."
The device crackled and Dead's chuckle came through the soaked device.
"Ah, don't worry about it, mate. Ya come back to the temporary base. Ya must be cold."
Edge nodded and pressed the button. "Roger. I acquired some information, though. Our target, the hooded pony, is a unicorn."
The device crackled and Dead's voice came through.
"How do ya know that, mate?"
Edge rubbed his eyes with his soaked hooves.
"He teleported away from me."
Another crackle and Spetsnaz's voice came through this time.
"Report back to base, Edge. And hurry. Loki's found some sugar. Better get here and calm him down."
Edge sighed and pressed the button.
"Roger. Over and out."
-----Blood Hunter's Base, outskirts of Las Pegasus-----
Edge walked towards the old run down shack in the middle of the dry desert near Las Pegasus. The sun was high in the sky and drying Edge off. When he reached the shack he knocked twice, then thrice, then once. The door opened and revealed a set of stairs leading down underground. He walked through and the door closed behind him. He continued down the set of stairs and reached the bottom.
The area looked like a jungle and a cave had sex, the baby was the room. Vines and plant life grew everywhere. On the walls, the floor and the ceiling. The area was lit up with candles placed all around the place. There was a fresh water spring in the corner and in the opposite corner were a set of 6 hammocks. Each hammock was placed right next to the wall. In the wall was a small hole full of items. Possessions of the hunters. In the other corner was a large table with a map of Equestria attached to the wall. On the other wall was hundreds of pictures of ponies. Most had a big red "X" marked over them.
Seated around the table was the entire group of the Blood Hunters. Spetsnaz was leaning on the table in front of the map. Dead Shot was busy sitting near the table cleaning his crossbow.
A pegasus with a grey and eccentric mane and white coat wore a science lab jacket and had the cutie mark of a hydrogen atom. He was fiddling with some liquids in a rack of vials. This was Brain Teaser.
Next to him was a brown coated earth pony with a darker brown mane and the cutie mark of a 10 tonne weight. He was looking at a picture of bunny rabbits. This was Charger.
Another earth pony had purple coloured mane that looked like he was shocked by lightning and a purple coat. His cutie mark was a stick of Dynamite and he was eating a large packet of sugar. This was Loki.
Dead Shot was a pegasus that had a red coat and an orange mane. Although you couldn't see either due to his cape and Akubra hat. His cutie mark was a cross-hair.
Spetsnaz was a grey coated unicorn with a red mane and tail. He wore a military uniform and had a cutie mark of 6 skulls. He was trying to talk to everypony, but they were doing their own thing.
Edge was a pegasus had a dark grey coat with a light grey mane styled in an emo sort of way. He had swords by his side and a jacket with a knife holder. His cutie mark was a katana. Edge made his way towards the table and everypony looked up to him. Spetsnaz smiled.
"I handed in Green Greed to the Las Pegasus police and got the 12,000 bit bounty."
Spetsnaz threw a giant bag onto the table and bits spilled out from the opening. Edge sat down near the table and shook his head.
"I failed. The hooded unicorn escaped me."
Spetsnaz frowned. "Do you know what you've done!? You've discovered something about our main target! We've been hunting him for over 4 years now and you think you've done nothing!? The last piece of info we found out about him was his motives and a picture! And that was all discovered 4 years ago, when we started hunting him!"
Spetsnaz pointed a hoof to a picture on the wall. The picture was the hooded pony in Appleloosa entering a saloon.
"You did good, Edge. Don't forget that. Unfortunately, now he will no doubt skip cities because he now knows that we knew he was here. Next up, we head to Manehatten, the closest town were criminals are at large. But! Let's not forget our mission! Hunt down criminals, not just Hoodie, got it? You see a scum bag, you bag them!"
Everypony nodded. "Yes, Spetsnaz."
Spetsnaz jumped down from the table and headed over to his hammock.
"All Hunters, get some sleep. We have a big day tommorow."
Everypony nodded and headed to their hammocks. Loki, Dead Shot and Edge were still at the table. Loki looked to Edge with a wild grin.
"Can't sleep! Sugar sugar sugar sugar!"
Edge gave Loki a glare and pointed at his hammock.
"Bed, now!"
Loki dropped the sugar bag in fear and ran towards his hammock. Edge heard a chuckle and looked behind him and saw Dead smiling.
"Yer the only one of us that can handle that bugger, ya know. Listen, Edge. Ya did great. Better then the rest of us. Anyway, mate, get some sleep. Moving this place is always a pain in the arse."
Edge smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Dead."
Dead smiled and punched Edge lightly in the shoulder.
"Take care, mate."
Dead walked to his hammock and jumped in. Edge walked to his item horde, as he liked to call it, and placed his swords and dagger in gently. He lied down in the hammock and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.
