Monday, May 4th, 2014…

I awoke to the feel of Spike nudging me awake. “Ugh… what?” I asked groggily, not having a lot of reason to awake at this hour… though I had no idea what time it was.

I rolled over to see Spike holding a letter for me. “Here, you got mail. It looks important,” he informed me. 'Damn! I missed Derpy... oh well.' I grabbed the letter. On the front, written in beg red letters, read URGENT.

‘Well gee… I wonder why he thought it was important,’ I thought rhetorically. I ripped open the letter, but the message was rather short.

‘Dear Burdy,
It’s the F brothers. We require your immediate assistance. Meet us at our desert garage.

Yours truly, don’t write that, he’ll think we’re gay!
Why the hell did you write that on the letter, now he’ll definitely think we’re gay!
GIVE ME THE DAMN PENCIL, IT’S MY LETTER!
OUR LETTER…’

The rest of the letter was ineligible and just a mess of scribbles, but I got the gist of the letter. They needed my help. I groaned, rolled over, and grabbed my watch. My eyes went relatively wide as I realized what time it was. Slipping on my engagement ring, watch, and Christian cross necklace, I let out a sigh. Well, if I get started, then at some point I’ll finish.

“Ugh… as if it’s 9:30,” I groaned. Standing up, I grabbed a pair of brown trousers, a white T-shirt, and my cowboy duster that Rarity had made. I would have liked to take my camouflage, but Rarity was repairing it at the moment.

I gave a wave to Spike. “Be good,” I told him with a wink as I grabbed my brown leather cowboy hat and stuffed it over my head. Lassie pawed at my legs and I knelt down.

“Sorry pooch, but you can’t come with me this time.” I gave a short smile then put on a serious face. “Ah’ll be back,” I told her in my thickest Arnie voice ever. Lassie whined in retort then pawed at me harder, telling me to be back soon.

I made my way out to my truck and immediately opened the passenger side door, retrieving Belladonna along with her custom leg holster. Stuffing a magazine into the pistol before holstering her, I closed the door then made my way to the driver side.

Trailing my finger along the metal panels of my truck, I whistled to myself. “Oh Cadence, how I love you so,” I told her, slowly embarking into the hulking vehicle. I gave her a tap with The naughty key right were she liked it.

Keying the ignition, I started the truck before making my way towards the desert garage. In only a matter of minutes, the trip started to become excruciatingly long. I flipped open the glove box and pulled out one of the custom CDs. Slipping it into the radio player, I began to jam to the tunes of ‘Sign of the Gypsy Queen, by April Wine’.

I loved April Wine… well, most of the music anyway. The music easily made the trip do-able and, at the same time, allowed me to jam to some music. The lyrics continued as I started exiting Ponyville. I used my knees to steer the vehicle while jamming with an air-guitar.

After only a few minutes, the song ended. “Oh no you don’t! That’s my cruisin’ music.” I thumbed the backwards seek button, rewinding the song to the beginning. As my truck threshed through the sand dunes, I cranked up the music. I contemplated rolling down the windows and start howling like a hooligan, but then realized that if I got sand inside the truck… I’d never get it out.

Cadence went airborne as I struck a large dune that was shallow on the other side. The truck bumped along through the sand and a huge fume of dust followed me as I hit a straight away.

Leaving Cadence in 2WD, I gunned it to 120 km/h. I squealed in excitement as I dared a glance in my rear-view mirror. The dust cloud was incredible… no, it was insane.

The instrumental part of the song hit mark and I began to vocalize the wordless instrumental music, which didn’t sound at all like the tunes, but it was still awesome none the less. Oh man… if only I could’ve done this back home.

I spotted the garage coming up fast and smirked. As I approached, I started easing on the brakes until reaching about sixty clicks, then hammered on the brakes.

The cloud of sandy dust blanketed the area, making it almost impossible to even see the end of my hood. I turned off the truck and stepped out just as the dust was passing. I heard Flim and Flam coughing violently as I slammed the door. I stood idly with a blunt look on my face. “I’m-back,” I told them in a deep Austrian accent.

As the dust cleared, Flim and Flam shook, sand shaking out of their fur in big tuffs. “Well… that was an interesting way of making an entrance,” Flim mentioned as he brushed the sand off his shoulder.

“Indeed,” Flam chimed in.

“So… what’s da problem?” I asked, still in my Arnie voice. They quickly started to do a dance and musical about… mobsters and underground business and… “Wait… What?!” I gasped, dropping my accent and breaking their musical stride.

“What?” they both asked in unison.

“Did you… just say… mobsters?” I asked. The two brothers looked to each other, then back to me.

“Well… it is Manehatten after all. What were you expecting? Rainbows and butterflies?” they asked and I couldn’t help but snicker.

“Yeah… kind of,” I replied and they both groaned then ushered me into the garage. They had some gizmos… it looked pretty cool actually. “What is this stuff?” I asked and Flam brushed his hoof.

“Nothing really, just some very basic things that you might need.” But Flim gasped.

“Nothing really?! Are you kidding me?! I put hours… days! Into these. It’s more than just essentials. They are The essentials you’ll need for this mission,” Flim informed me and Flam just scoffed.

“The most important thing is this, which I made myself.” Flam handed me some canister, and inside was vial filled with green goo.

“Oh please, any five year old filly could’ve made that! And you didn’t even make the important stuff,” Flim spat and it quickly escalated… kind of. They had a hissy fight in which they both stood up on their hindlegs and started flicking their hooves at each other… seriously?

I just rolled my eyes. “Hey, guys?” I asked, breaking up their little sissy fight. “You mind telling me just what exactly you need me to do?” I asked and Flam beat Flim to the punch.

“We need you to deliver that to our friends in Manehatten. You’ll need to get in via dingy boat and-“ I cut him short.

“Woah… wait a minute. If this is Manehatten, why can’t I just go there by… train or something?” I asked and they both shook their heads feverishly.

“Oh no,” Flam started and Flim chimed in.

“If you’re caught with that green slime, you’ll be imprisoned for life,” Flim informed me and my eyes went wide.

“WOAH, WHAT THE FUCK AM I HOLDING?!” I gasped, fearing perhaps that it was some kind of nerve agent.

“The secret formula to boosted nutrient grain,” Flam stated and I was at a loss for words.

“Wait… what?” I asked in confusion. Flim rolled his eyes then handed me a newspaper that was dated a few months back. The title read about some kind of new experimental nutrient grain that was stolen. Apparently it was so inexpensive that it was supposed to be the answer for poorer families…

“Wait… what the fuck is going on?” I asked and Flam huffed.

“One of our friends from the Manehatten mob family stole this, but he needed to keep it under the radar so he gave it to us to hold onto until the heat died down. Now that it has, you’ll deliver it to the family in Manehatten at the docks near the harbor. From there, they’ll ship it to some of their business associates who are going to market it as a newer product and make a fortune, and that’s all you need to know,” Flam informed me.

“I’m not exactly the kind of guy to do this sort of thing. Shouldn’t we just return it?” I asked but Flim huffed.

“Oh, so after we help you out in Ponyville, you just turn your back on us!” he huffed and I gasped.

“No, it’s not like that!” I replied quickly. “It’s just that… doesn’t this seem a little illegal?” I asked and Flim rolled his eyes.

“Well, yes and no. You see, it’s illegal because they’ve patented this specimen here. But the bastards stole it from another company. Just look.” Flim handed me a newspaper that was dated a few years back. The main title was about some company building going up in flames after a strange and suspicious fire in which their newest and most promising product went missing. The product, coincidentally, was a new nutrient bar that was supposed to supplement the user with a day’s worth of nutrients for an inexpensive price tag.

“Wait a minute,” I began. “If it’s this obvious, why haven’t the authorities figured it out?” I asked and both Flim and Flam burst into laughter.

“OH! AH-HA-HA! OOOOOH! OH… Wait… you’re not serious… are you?” they both asked and I had a rather dumbfounded look on my face.

Flam said, “It’s Manehatten. The crime bosses simply pay off the authorities and word never leaves the state.” That did make some sense. I figured this world to be perfect and I knew for a fact that Celestia probably wouldn’t tolerate this kind of crime, so having an inside state corrupt law force was kind of believable, but that left one thing…

“So how will I know them?” I asked and Flim presented me with some sort of digital touch screen thingy.

“Here. It’s like a map on a screen that you can move around.” He turned to his brother. “Told you he’d need it!” he snapped. I looked at the other equipment. There was a big duffle bag looking…

“Don’t touch that!” Flim burst out and I stepped back. “That’s an inflatable dingy craft. If you set it off now, you’ll have a difficult time getting it to the river. It’s a one-time inflatable raft, so use it wisely,” he informed me. And finally there was the sealed canister with the nutrient grain stuff.

Flam picked up the canister and gave it to me. “Best of luck. And remember: Don’t get caught by the authorities. And if you do, you’ve never heard of any of us, just a private investor of sorts,” Flam ordered.

“So… how do I do this?” I asked…

Hours later…
The night air was a little chilly. The river was rather calm and settling. The forest around me seemed more like a prison though… It was so thick and gloomy looking. I constantly heard the chatter of nocturnal animals howling and screeching.

The plan seemed simple enough, even if it was a little on the illegal side. I just had to paddle downstream in this little dingy, and by morning I would be at some offshore docks in Manehatten where I’d meet up with the F brothers’ contact. The F brothers’ contact was from the Liotta family, or at least that’s what they said. Apparently he'd be the only one at the docks, since the harbor nearby was closed at nights.

From there I’d drop off the vial and voila! Mission accomplished… of course it wasn’t always as easy as it sounded. Though I was traveling downstream, I had to paddle the dingy.

They did give me some cool equipment though. The first, most notable thing was the cool little map thingy. It was kind of like a GPS in the fact that it was digital. But at the same time, it was more like a map that I could simply scroll through, and all in the size of a small handheld device.

The dingy wasn’t all that great, but they did make a custom chest harness that housed several magazines for Belladonna. It kinda looked like some sorta… old detective chest harness… I chuckled to myself as I continued paddling downstream.

The vial case was nothing special really. I had also retrieved my Bowie knife and Buck knife, strapping the Bowie to my hip and the Buck knife to my ankle sheath. Other than that, there was nothing to really talk about.

The stream suddenly started to pick up. “Huh?” I muttered to myself, squinting my eyes to try and make sense of why the stream was travelling so fast all of a sudden.

Up ahead I caught sight of what looked like the edge of a waterfall… “Oh goddammit…” I hissed to myself. Those idiots told me it would be straight stream all the way there.

I paddled to shore and walked over to the waterfall. It was a straight downfall all around… “Goddammit,” I muttered, scowling rather irritably. I kicked the dingy craft and it went soaring over the waterfall.

Now in hindsight, I suppose I could’ve used that, but… on the flip side, I wouldn’t be able to carry it down the cliff’s face… then again, I couldn’t climb down the cliff at all. I didn’t have any gear.

“Figures…” I started mumbling to myself in a rather annoyed voice. This was just wonderful… just terrific. I started following the cliff’s edge, trying to find a way down. Once down, I’d just have to back track to the river.

After what seemed like hours… I checked my watch to see that it had only been half an hour. On top of that, it was 1:12 am…

“Oh my god…” I moaned in exhaustion. This was just a stupid plan. I wouldn’t even be able to backtrack to the garage for fuck’s sake. Flim and Flam had dropped me off at the river then drove my truck back to their garage to ‘Hold on to it’ for me.

“Oh hey Burdy, I have a great idea!” I mocked Flam’s voice. “Why don’t you go do this thing for us that we haven’t thought through! YEAH! GREAT IDEA!” I continued to mutter irritable things to myself.

I saw that if I travelled through the forest, it gradually became thick brush, but it might be possible to reach the river from there. I rolled my eyes and started making my way into the forest.

The undergrowth was dense. Not even five feet into the forest… no, this was no forest, this was more like a goddamn jungle. The plants were more tropical like, the ambiance matched a jungle atmosphere… everything screamed rainforest jungle… hell, there was even an Anaconda perched in a tree just a few dozen yards away.

It was extremely hot… hell, just ten feet into this place and there was a near fifteen degree climate change. The humidity was thick and the bugs were no help. Mosquitoes constantly latched to my neck and bit me.

I began to overheat in my duster coat and had to roll up my sleeves to try and alleviate my body’s temperature. It didn’t help much. My body still felt the heat and, worse yet, the mosquitoes believed me to be a buffet.

Added to the fact that these jungle mosquitoes were over twice the size of a regular house blood sucker… I frowned in anger. When I got back, I was going to tear Flim and Flam a new one…

My eyes caught a glimpse of something flashing in the shimmering moonlight. I ducked into a nearby thicket and peered into the small open space. What looked like a… either an original AK47…. or perhaps a very well resembled replica… maybe a wood furnished AKM…

“Wait… why the hell is there an AK in Equestria?” I muttered to myself.

‘Whatever the reason, it could be a trap,’ my conscience chimed. I nodded and licked my lips. Using my left hand to scratch the back of my head, I kept myself in a low stance as I crouched towards the gun.

“Regardless…” I muttered. I kept my senses high as I approached the assault gun. Now closer… it was an AKM. I could tell due to the cylindrical muzzle recoil compensator. That and the wooden stock was a bit straighter and longer than what an AK-47 would’ve been. As I got within reaching distance, I noticed another AKM telltale. The rear sight measured from 100-1000 meters, whereas the original AK47 only went to 800… that and the sliding notch was on the left side, where as the AK47 was originally on the right.

I went to pick it up but stopped. ‘Why is there an AKM in Equestria?’ my conscience asked. My fingers dangled above the gun as my heart began to pound in my chest. I stepped back then crouched lower to try and get a look at the underside of the gun.

Unsheathing my Buck knife with my right hand, I gently elevated the underside of the gun, but only slightly. I slowly and cautiously poked around underneath the rifle with the sleek blade of my knife, feeling for any telltale signs of a simplistic booby trap.

I tilted the gun up a little more, only to see nothing. I felt around the length of the gun for perhaps det-cord… but still found nothing. “Maybe the Equestrian gods are looking down upon me with smiles…” I whispered as I placed the stock to my shoulder then tilted the gun ninety degrees counter clockwise.

I pulled back the bolt with my left hand, only to find the feeding block was stiff, really stiff. I peeked into the gun to find not only was it unloaded… but the gun was gritty and mucky inside. Filled with corrosion and powder fouling… this gun looked like it had seen every war since it had been created and never been cleaned once… but I bet it would still fire… I did have 7.62x39mm for my SKS which was the same as…

Hairs prickled up on the back of my neck as my pupils went wide. My vision darted to my immediate surroundings. Something felt terribly off, and it wasn’t the fact that there was an AKM in Equestria. My senses started going berserk. I could hear my heart beating inside my head.

I cautiously stepped back… things were getting sketchy. The jungle birds no longer sang their happy tunes… instead, it was complete silence. I sniffed the air. I had no idea how I caught wind of it but… I smelt something… not of this world.

I quickly backpedalled into the deeper forest and back towards the waterfall. I didn’t like the smell of this. Weird, I somehow picked up its scent before I even saw it… whatever it was.

I moved quietly, the only sound being the underbrush squishing beneath my feet. Though not very quick, my pace was silent… and almost impossible to hear unless one was right beside me.

I stopped as something in the distance snapped. It sounded like a twig being stepped on. I sniffed the air and again smelt the lingering scent of… something.

I stiffened up as I felt my heart begin to race. I quickly paced over to a tree trunk and pressed my back up against it, the old battered AKM in my hands. Sweat was beading down my face in profuse amounts.

Some sweat dribbled into my eyes and stung my vision. I grunted and tilted my head to the side to try and wipe them clean. Just as I did, I seemed to go deaf. A brilliant flash seared bright in the dark gloomy forest as a snappy gunshot rang out.

A bunch of splinters assaulted the back of my neck and I fell to the ground. However, it wasn’t my neck that was in pain… it was my shoulder. My eyes clenched shut as I bellowed in pain.

It was then I realized that I had a clean bullet hole right through the thicker part of my left shoulder. If I hadn’t have moved my head to wipe my eyes, I would’ve bitten the bullet… quite literally, but I couldn’t dwell on that now.

Suddenly, all hell seemed to break loose. A constant chatter echoed in the forest as the dirt all around me was kicked up in a hell storm. I rolled to one side, leaving the useless AKM on the ground. It served no purpose to me now.

Blood seeped from my shoulder, but it didn’t seem fatal… at least not yet. It could get infected I suppose.

Unholstering my mighty hand cannon, I rolled behind a tree, putting the thick trunk between myself and my assailant. More echoing rang out, but the shots were still directed towards the ground where I had been moments before, shredding up dirt and grass.

I swivelled around the tree and went for a two handed stance, but ended up groaning in pain as my left arm refused to move as fast as I needed it to.

“The fuck?!” a voice yelled, just an instant before the gunfire was directed to my new location. I had caught a glimpse of where the muzzle flash had come from, but now I was pinned down.

The chatter sounded like a light caliber, intermediate cartridge most likely. Added to the fact that the shots seemed snappy and quick, it was most likely not Russian origin… perhaps American or British... but how the hell is there a British gun in Equestria. To my knowledge, I was the only one with any sort of firearm.

The chattering stopped and I burst from my cover, my monstrous pistol booming several times. Rings of fire protruded just inches past the muzzle each time the bullets made their hasty exit.

Firing Belladonna in one hand while running was a chore to say the least, but I still managed to keep my shots directed towards where I thought the assault barrage had come from.

In just under five seconds, Belladonna ran dry. The slide locked back and I swore to myself as I slid behind another tree. I cursed as I tried to fumble another magazine into the gun.

Just before I could eject the magazine, another burst of auto fire blasted away at the tree I was hiding behind. Splinters sprang through the air, several slicing my cheeks and forehead.

I shimmied around the tree and out of the line of fire. I cursed as I realized I wouldn’t be allotted the time to reload. Instead I merely strapped my pistol back into her holster. I had either one of two options I could think of, try and escape, or fight it head on.

Since this assailant had assault weapons and I had an empty hand cannon that I would have trouble loading… it was pretty clear which choice I was going to take. I grabbed a nearby stick and tossed it into the thick grass to my right.

Automatic chatter echoed and the grass was shredded up. In seconds the shooting ceased and I took my chance. Running straight forwards and into the jungle’s depths, I put as much distance between my assailant and me as I could before it had the chance to reload.

I didn’t make it that far before the rattling of automatic gunfire started again. Lucky for me the jungle was so thick, the creature or… whatever it was, probably couldn’t get a clean shot.

My heart continued pounding as my shoulder soared with a new pain. Funny… of all the stories I heard about getting shot being extremely painful, this wasn’t too-too bad… but then again it was a clean shot, in one end and out the other… that and it was a small caliber.

I broke into a clearing and gulped, I was near the river. In foolishness, I dared a glance back, only to be gifted by the sight of dense forest. For some reason I had the feeling that whatever it was attacking me would’ve been right there waiting for me with a machete… maybe I watched too many horror movies as a kid.

I rushed alongside the river, heading upstream in an attempt to lose my attacker. In my foolishness, perhaps I should have stayed in the jungle, but it was too thick in there to make a quick getaway, and I figured maybe I could outrun my hidden enemy.

As I ran upstream, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled up. A shiver went down my spine. I took the thought seriously and lept into a nearby thicket then began to crawl back into the jungle.

My mind began to race. I had no idea where that thing was… but it probably knew exactly where I was. I huddled up against a tree trunk and gasped painfully as my shoulder refused to allow me agile arm movement. My hair was now wet with sweat and my shirt served no better. Every garment of clothing I had was nearly soaked, mostly from sweat but some from the blood that now seeped from my shoulder.

Blood stained the sleeve of my duster coat along with my previously white T-shirt. I caught the gleam of metal shining in the moonlight and ducked as quickly as I could. Just as I did, the spot where my head had only recently been lit up like a hand grenade.

Splinters of wood spewed as the thing with the assault rifle started at me again. I began to creep through the heavy grass as fast as I could, but it must’ve noticed my presence.

An unbearable pain buzzed through my right thigh. “GAH!” I screamed in agony as I rolled to my left. My eyes clenched shut as my face twitched in pain. I quickly started rolling as fast as I could through the condensed grass. Bullets chewed up the ground where I had previously been. Small projected pellets followed me like some sorta angry tornado.

Luck must’ve had it that the creature’s gun ran out of ammo, because the gunshots stopped momentarily. Unfortunately I thought too soon. A light explosion ripped apart the ground a few yards in front of me.

The concussive blast lifted me off the ground and sent me hurtling through the air. My body rag dolled against a tree and fell to the ground in a clump. I groaned painfully as I crawled through the grass and to another nearby tree.

I pressed myself up against the tree, putting it between myself and the attacker, whom still had an unprecedented advantage over me.

I twisted my right leg slightly to see the wound. It was bad, the bullet didn’t pass through. I caught the slight glimpse of steel just before the hole in my leg filled with blood.

This was bad. A bullet was lodged into the bone in my thigh… the femur I think it’s called. This was really, really, REALLY bad…

I heard steps threshing through the grass. Whoever… whatever, this was… it wasn’t much for stealth. I could hear its breathing. Heavy breathing… adrenaline pulsing through its body no doubt.

I could almost smell the sweat off its body. A dark figure started to come into view, the barrel of what looked like an M16A2 with an M203 grenade launcher, leading the way. With every inch of strength I had, I lashed out at the creature, going for the gun barrel.

I pulled the barrel away from my body and drove a head-butt into the creature's head. This beast was bipedal… human?! The human, who looked female due to the set of breasts, staggered back.

I took no time in yanking the gun away to the left, but she fluidly gripped the barrel with her left hand while the handgrip rested in her left. She pulled with her right hand, pulling the barrel towards her while forcing the other end of the gun towards me and stepped forwards, slamming the stock of the black rifle into my face.

I staggered back and she went to finish me off with a point blank blast. With every cell in my body in a fueled rage, I neglected the pain that roared for me to stop. Lunging forwards, I pulled the barrel to the right then drove the rifle flat against her chest before head-butting her once more.

She staggered back from the aggressive hit, but as I moved forwards, she simply gripped the collar of my coat and twisted her body. I was shocked as she pulled me over her shoulder, swiveled her body, and plowed my body into the ground. My back hit the unforgiving ground, nearly knocking the wind from my lungs completely.

I saw a barrel coming down towards my face. My left leg shot straight up and back, hitting her upper chest, near her throat. She hacked and her aim was thrown off. Grabbing the barrel off the rifle with my left and the handgrip with my right, I pulled myself into a forwards roll, ripping the rifle from her grip as I rolled to a crouched stance, swiveling at the last moment to face her.

I quickly took aim and pulled the trigger.

She leapt through the air and delivered a straight kick to my chest, knocking me back and onto my ass. I rolled completely backwards, my right leg burning in an unforgiving pain of which I have almost never known before. But I pushed through the pain, knowing that if I didn’t… I’d die.

I had dropped the rifle when she kicked me and she now possessed the firearm. She went to pull back the charging handle but it wouldn’t budge. The weapon looked to be jammed with mud and other jungle muck.

“Shit!” she swore, just as I made my most valiant assault. I charged forwards and attempted to simply overpower her, but with one arm, it wouldn’t be easy. Attempting to ground tackle her, she merely overcame my attack with a counter. She swung her left arm across my face while pushing against my bad left shoulder with her right palm. Her right leg swung behind my legs, and finally she pulled me to the ground, all in the blink of an eye, with what looked like a simplistic hand to hand combat technique.

I went to get up, but a boot connected with my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I wheezed for air but didn’t get much as the woman quickly took me into a vicious chokehold. She pulled me to my feet then began dragging me backwards, giving me no chance to gain any sort of foothold.

At the last possible second, her right arm drifted away and quickly came back with what looked like a Beretta. Though whether it was a 92FS, a 93R or an M9 was beyond me. All I saw was the barrel coming for my temple.

In a last ditch effort, I reached around with my right hand and yanked her arm forwards, over my shoulder. Her body lost balance and she tipped forwards. Through searing agony, I reached around my right shoulder with my left arm and gripped the back of her hair with both hands.

Pulling her forwards, I reefed her over my shoulder and onto her back, jamming my knee into her chest as I hammered her down hard. In a brief motion, one of her knees shot up and hit me in the temple. Off balance and dazed, I staggered back in a struggle to regain posture.

In a blur, I spotted her lining up a shot. The pistol was either a 92FS, or an M9… I wasn’t quite sure, but both were almost identical minus the few tidbits here and there. My right hand lunged for the gun, grabbing the slide and reefing it back before she could even get a shot.

My thumb immediately pressed on the disassembly button located on the right side of the gun, the left side from where I was standing. At the same instance, my middle finger flipped down the disassembly lever located on the left side of the gun.

The woman yanked the gun back, probably thinking I was trying to steal it from her grip. In the process, she pretty much finalized the removal of the slide. As she pulled back, the slide assembly remained in my hand and she pointed the rest of the pistol in my face before pulling the trigger, but naturally, nothing happened.

She looked to the gun in disbelief and I spoke first. “Maybe a sturdier pistol would suit you better,” I taunted. In truth, there was nothing really wrong with Berettas, they were a fine gun…

We circled around each other like caged animals, nearing the river each time we did a complete circle. “So what are you? SAS? Spetsnaz? Joint Task Force?” she asked in fine English.

“Redneck,” I replied honestly, not quite understanding why she thought me to be military. Hell, I didn’t even have my fatigues on.

“Bullshit, with how you move… you have to have had some kind of training. No civilian could’ve lived through that!” she spat and I just shrugged. There wasn’t much to fear from her at this very moment.

She was better at hand to hand than I was, that I was sure of, but as long as I kept my distance she couldn’t quite get me. Both of her weapons were non-functioning. She slipped out a knife from a hip sheath.

‘Well shit… so much for that,’ my conscience thought. I took a defensive stance and started backpedalling at a slow pace, not making it look like I was going to make a run for it… truth be told, I couldn’t. With how my leg was, I could barely stand.

Before I knew it, I was standing on the edge of the cliff, directly beside the waterfall. ‘Dammit… between a waterfall and a sharp thing…’ I thought to myself.

“Don’t suppose we can talk this out huh?” I asked. She took a quick swipe at me with the knife, keeping her free hand at the ready for a counter offensive. I leaned back, the blade just skimming my chest. My shirt was now cut and blood dribbled out of a minor flesh wound.

I had two choices. One: Fight and most likely die… or Two…

She got ready for another strike. Her stance was weird and definitely not just some kind of throw-down, duke-it-out brawler stance. She had class to her stance… perhaps she was some kind of military… I didn’t think twice. I chose option two.

As she went for the killing blow, I let my body fall back over the edge of the cliff. My body plummeted downwards and hit the unforgiving water far below. I was pulled along through the underwater current and couldn’t even manage to get myself to the surface before the back of my head hit something hard, probably a stone, and my whole world went black…

Ponyville library, third person…

Lassie arose from her sleep as her ears perked up. Something inside her felt awful… just terrible. She trotted upstairs, pushing open the basement door. Her paws barely even made a noise as she walked through the quiet library. Only the moonlight that protruded from the window gave any sort of lighting to the library. Lassie hopped up some shelves and squeezed out the front window and onto the lawn outside.

There was no wind present and the air was warm and peaceful. Lassie still had a painful feeling inside of her. Looking to the moon, which was only a waxing crescent, she sat on her rump and looked to the night sky above.

Sucking in deep, she released her emotions in a long and saddened howl that echoed throughout the night air sky, reaching even as far as the Everfree. But never once was did the howl become significantly loud. Her howl seemed to be almost mystic.

Her howl soon faded, but she quickly let out another cry of equal sadness and mysticism. Her howl wasn’t quite loud enough to wake anypony, but again it managed to travel throughout Ponyville and reach the edge of the Everfree forest. Her cries of sadness filled the still night air, howls of sadness meant for the one she held so dear…

Author's Notes:

So, regarding the title picture, a few people have commented saying that it should be different. So VariusMayhem said I should maybe use something like this

Then Tiamat said to me that I should use the one picture I have of me and basically said it would fit pretty well with the story

Anyway, maybe you guys/gals have possible suggestions or maybe you like the title picture, but I just thought maybe I'd ask and try to figure something out?