The wind whistled through the rusting walls of the lonely shack nearby. The solitary structure sat abandoned amongst the barren hills, it's only companion an old garbage can sitting a dozen feet or so away. From between the distant hills, a figure was fast approaching. Slowly, I raised the scope on my revolver, observing the traveler as he came into view. I levitated the contract I'd taken up, and I read the target description again to be sure.

A pair of crossed fire axes on the tan earth pony matched what had been roughly sketched on the contract. He stopped for a moment, looking toward the shack cautiously. He seemed hesitant to approach, and kept his ears perked forward. Slowly, the apprehension seemed to drain and he started towards the shack again. I slowed my breathing, bracing the barrel of #5 against the side of the trashcan I was hiding in.

Sure, you might think that a trash can that happens to be the only thing a pony could hide in for a thousand foot radius is a horrible place to try to keep out of sight, but you'd be wrong. Plus, I'd had to hide in worse places than this, in far worse conditions. At least this time it wasn't raining. Sitting in a trash can in the rain is pretty shitty, let me tell you.

In line with how my contracts usually go, my target was paranoid that he was being tracked. I guessed I couldn't blame him, but he did choose to run. He quickly trotted to the front of the shack, leaning against the door to listen for anypony inside. I turned the gun slightly, keeping him in the crosshairs as he hoofed at the door. He glanced over at my hiding place as he fumbled with the door. I knew he didn't see me in here, he was just being as scared as every other escaped slave I tracked was. I moved my eye off the scope and checked the terms of the contract one last time as he finally managed to open the door.

The report of the shotgun I had rigged up inside echoed off into the distance, the target slumped to the ground in a bloody heap. I levitated my pen from my jacket and pressed it against the contract, marking down the results of my hunt.

I didn't care who they were, or what their reasons are. The only question I’ve ever had is, with ponies like me out in the wasteland, why do they even run at all?

You want to know why my life ended up this way? Well, let me give you my understanding of the world.

Once upon a time, in the ridiculous land of pre-war Equestria, everypony lived in happiness and harmony. All three races of ponies; the earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns, lived under the rule of two goddesses. All was good for a time, but as ponies seem to do, they became assholes and started a fight with the zebra nation. We invented all sorts of magical and arcane technology to aid us in the fight, but the biggest mistake was the invention of the megaspell.

A megaspell is, in effect, a single spell that is applied over an enormous area at thousands of times it's normal effectiveness. Naturally, the only spell we seemed to care to make a lot of them out of was the most destructive spell known to pony kind: Balefire. It's a special kind of destructive, first burning and blasting away with an enormous fireball before leaving the affected area completely saturated with magical radiation.

So, the war hit its peak and the world came to an end nearly two centuries ago in a balefire fueled frenzy. What was left of pony kind has been slowly picking up the pieces that were left behind. Well, that is when we aren't busy fighting each other over the scraps themselves. Yeah, some cities have been repopulated to some extent, and the Pegasi Enclave hasn't come down to wipe us out yet, but the wasteland has been quiet for too long. I know something big is coming, a monumental shift in the way the wasteland works.

How do I know this? Because I can see it in the faces of everypony I meet. Everyday there are more and more smug assholes running around this desolate world, thinking that they will one day be king of their scrap heap. And when everypony starts to think that way, you get a few who are either brave enough, or stupid enough to actually try it. What do I care though. I'm just a working class mare, where everything has always been about the job.

I didn't know what it was about Fillydelphia, but something about this city just pissed me off. Maybe it was the fact that being around other ponies made me uneasy. Being on my own had always been easier. Nopony was trustworthy unless they were family, and even then there were exceptions. Whatever the case, this place had never treated me well.

For years, I'd struggled to get by. The contracts came in sporadically, and they paid next to nothing for the targets they wanted. Coupled with how much ammunition and my other supplies cost, I'd been close to just giving up the bounty hunting life. However, that all changed three months ago. Some stable stallion showed up and started buying up slaves like it was nopony's business. Soon after, countless contracts came pouring in for the slaves who would run away. The only thing better than how easy they were, was how well I was paid for them. This month I stood to actually make a profit.

My walk up main street wouldn't be as quiet as it normally was. The streets were lively tonight in celebration of... something. To be honest, I didn't care what that something was. The bars and Inns along main street were full of slavers and merchants alike, busy sharing stories of caps earned and adventures had. I hated nights like this. They always tended to bring out the most annoying folk.

"H..hey there, shexy," one of those annoying fools in the crowd ahead of me called out. I looked up as he stumbled toward me. He was just some earth pony with his eyes half glazed over, no weapons or belongings. In other words, pathetic. "Why donsha come have shum fun an shleep with a shtud like me?"

I stopped and hoofed the right side of my trenchcoat open, using my levitation to pick out #2 from its holster. This kind of response may seem like a bit much for somepony like him, but again, you'd be wrong. These are the kind of assholes who just didn't know when to stop. I flicked off the safety and lined the gun up to his leg before squeezing the trigger.

#2 held steady in my magic as I fired it, and the soft pop the suppressed pistol made didn't draw anypony’s attention. When he dropped to the dirt and screamed over his leg, the other ponies took notice. The street fell silent in an instant. Between the awkward looks and frightened whimpers of some, I found more than a few guns raised against me. Lucky for me, the ponies still sober enough to realize what just happened were hesitant to fire. One missed shot and this whole street would become a warzone. One of the ponies next to him took a step toward me. I grimaced angrily, swinging the gun over and pointed it at him to make him pause.

"Listen up. I work for Big Shot, and unless you want to piss him off I'd rethink any moves you might want to make." I addressed the nervous crowd. "Now, unless any of you feel that you can live without your kneecaps, I suggest getting back to your drinks and letting me continue on my merry way."

As the stallion I'd shot writhed in pain, one of the crowd stepped up to him. I simply watched as he hooked his hooves under the injured stallion's forelegs and started to drag him off. As I holstered my gun, the ponies went back to their drinks, albeit silently. I could feel their prying eyes watching me pass, wondering if I'd bring Big Shot down on all of them. In reality, Big Shot didn't care. They weren't even worth my time, let alone the guy who runs most of this side of town. A few minutes of silent walking later, I had reached my destination.

The Silver Linings motel wasn't what you would call classy, but it was cheap and had a large enough bed that I could lay out all my gear at once for cleaning. The bell that hung from the door chimed when I entered the office. With a twinge of annoyance, I wrapped my magic around it to silence it. One of these days, I'd rip it off and stuff it in Horus' beak.

"Unless you‘re sober or want to pay double, get..." Horus called as he turned the corner from the lounge. He deadpanned as soon as he saw it was me. "Oh, Cap. For a moment there I thought I had a customer who wasn't going to ruin my night." I should have expected that, seeing as all Griffins are assholes.

I focused on the old water bottle I'd kept in my coat and levitated it out. The caps I kept inside immediately caught his eye as I floated them to him. I wasn't surprised, as they were the only thing he cared about in the world. "I'm paying rent up in full for this month and an extra 25 caps for the fact that I'm 2 days late on it." Just as I released the bottle, he snatched it out of the air. He shook it in his talons and smirked at the annoying jingle the caps made. As he set about counting them, I turned my gaze to the front desk. I felt about with my magic and attempted to grasp at the key for room six. Trouble was, I couldn't find it.

"Since you were two days late, I rented out number 6 to some merchant couple." He turned around and wandered back toward the lounge. "They paid up for a week, so you can take 7 until then."

"You're an asshole, Horus," I shouted, grabbing the key to my new room. I turned and left the office, heading back down the line of rooms until I reached the end. The room itself was the same as room 6, but I hated having three walls that faced the outside. It was just begging for trouble to find me. I walked into my room and locked the door behind me. Now that I looked at it, this place was just a mirrored arrangement of my normal room. The bed, the chair in the corner, both the kitchenette and bathroom, even the knothole I’d plugged up. They were all just reversed from where I'd expected them to be. With a sigh, I levitated my hat and trenchcoat off to the chair.

Now that I was out of my dusty garb, I could get down to my cleaning routine. I took my place at the end of the bed and looked down at my holster rigging. Carefully, I unbuckled it with my magic. One at a time I unsnapped and levitated each pistol from it's holster. Gently I set them on the bed for inspection.

Once I'd slipped out of the now empty harness, I got to work. I unloaded my pistols one at a time, only passing over #1. I hadn't unloaded my deringer during my down time since the incident last month. That feral ghoul came out of nowhere and I didn't want to be caught unprepared again. Tonight would be no exception to this, especially because of whatever everpony was out celebrating.

I sighed and attempted to get back to the task at hoof. I looked over the other pistols, making sure that they hadn't gotten too grimey or damaged, and cleaned them as necessary. Once my guns were taken care of, it was time to take a look at myself. My dark green coat was matted and dusty at various points. Surprisingly, I'd found a piece of old chewing gum had gotten itself stuck to my cutie mark. That was one of the occupational hazards of working out of a trash can. A shower had already sounded good, but now it was a necessity.

I trotted to the bathroom and used my magic to turn on the shower. The old water pipes groaned for a few moments before water came through the rusting showerhead. I made sure the handle had been turned to hot and held a hoof out into it. The warming water felt like pure ecstasy as it ran over my leg, soothing my anger over losing my normal room.

I turned around and used my magic to inspect my crimson-colored mane. As I did, I pulled a two hundred year old candy wrapper from it. Letting my mane back down, I'd thought about how nice it would be to have the luxury of some shampoo. Sadly, ammunition would always take priority over things like that. I took in a deep breath and steam from the hot shower filled my lungs, drawing even more of the stress out of my body. Turning around, I climbed into the tub, and let the near-scalding water wash over me.

"Oh Goddesses, that's good." I closed my eyes and tilted my head up, just soaking in the warmth of the water. If it wasn't for the fact that it was mildly tainted with magical radiation, I could probably sit in here for hours. Slowly turning in the shower, I let the hot water run down over me. A small gasp escaped my muzzle as it ran down my tail over my flanks. The warmth reached into places that I'd forgotten in my day to day travels. I reveled in this feeling, wanting to savor it for as long as I could. After a week like this one, that's all it took to get me started up.

It had been a few days time since I had last gotten myself off, so it didn't take much for me to really get into it. You'd be amazed how creative a mare can get with nothing but her hooves and an old copy of Wingboner magazine fresh in her mind. I laid down in the tub, letting the hot shower rinse across my nethers as I searched the depths of my mind for the perfect stallion to imagine.

I settled on one of the foldouts I had seen recently. He was a fairly lean earth pony, with a tan coat, and a mane with an almost orange coloration that had highlights the same color as his coat. It was a lot longer than even my mane was, but it complimented his apple green eyes. Oh, yes... he would do perfectly.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I froze as the odd banging repeated again and again from outside the bathroom. Concerned, I twisted the shower handle and turned the water off. Perking my ears, I listened for any clue as to what was going on..

"Oh yes! Harder!"

Great, it looked like I wasn’t the only one in the mood tonight. But did it really have to be the couple who bought room 6 out from under me? I had really hoped to use that bed again sometime, but there was no way I'd trust it now. Seriously, this fucking world was populated by nothing other than annoying assholes bent on making me pissed off. I let out a disappointed sigh. The vision of the perfect stallion was lost, along with my drive to continue. Instead, I levitated the towel off of the rack on the wall and used it to dry myself off. Using my magic, I dried off my mane as well. Carefully, I wrapped the towel around my head and tied it there securely. As I walked from the bathroom, I resisted the urge to cringe at the banging. Annoyingly, out here I was now able to hear them with much more clarity.

"Make me your slave! Punish me, master!"

Now, it might just be me, but that's just a fucking weird way to have sex. I shook my head and levitated my guns off the bed. Reloading them, I returned them to their proper places in the harness. I jumped up onto the bed and laid down on it, trying to get comfy enough that I could maybe fall asleep. The banging from the other room started to get louder, and I couldn’t hold back from cringing. It's enough that I knew that my old bed sat on the other side of the wall. To know that they were soiling it with their lust was what truly annoyed me.

I groaned and rolled over. A quick look was all it took to find the knothole in the wall again. A swift yank from my magic ripped out the cork I'd stuffed in there. As I thought about what gun to use, I levitated my holster harness over. What would be the most fun... most likely #4. Everypony knew 12.7mms always made the biggest bang. I was tempted to use #6. Horus might've been able to tell it came from my room though if I did. Instead, I took #4 out of its place and floated it over to the hole. I twisted it so it would fire up into the ceiling of their room.

"Yes! YES! I'm so close, don't stop! Oh Goddesses, I'm gonna..."

I smiled and pulled the trigger. The next few minutes were spent in silence. Slowly my mind finally relaxed enough to fall asleep. It's only fair you know. I didn't get off tonight, so why should they?

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I woke with a groan, my head throbbing. Were they really at it again? I should go over there and personally kick the shit out of the two of them.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The knocking hadn't been coming from the pair in the other room, instead it had been the front door. I rolled off the bed into a defensive stance and levitated all six of my guns to me. It was hard to do having just woken up. They wavered a bit, but I kept them pointing at the door.

"Hey, Cap! Get your lazy flank out here," The muffled voice of Horus came through. “Now.”

I sighed and lowered my guns onto the bed. I trotted over to the old door and unlocked it. It swung open just enough to where I could stick my head out.

"Big Shot wants to see you, so make yourself decent," he grumbled before glaring at me. "Oh, and I know that was you last night. I hope you know I'm adding the repair cost of their roof to your next months rent." He turned to head back to the office. Then he stopped and looked back with a frown across his beak. "Seriously Cap, you’re going to drive away all my customers at this rate."

Leaning out the door, I yelled, “I wouldn’t worry about that, Horus! This place is shitty enough it’ll happen eventually!”

He spread his wings and flew away lazily, ignoring me.

With a sigh and a spin, I slammed the door shut. There wasn’t time to care about Horus when I needed to be getting ready. A yawn escaped my muzzle as my body finally got in gear and started to wake up. While I trotted over to the small kitchen on the far side of the room, I rolled my shoulderblades and craned my neck from side to side. Disregarding how stiff I felt today, I opened the fridge with my magic. As expected, there was a complimentary bottle of water and can of beans inside.

I turned my focus onto my trenchcoat. My levitation worked it's way into the saddlebag I'd sewn inside of it. The bag wasn't the biggest, but it kept my things hidden from the prying eyes of others. I pulled my combat knife from it and brought it over. The nicked and nearly dull blade had served well the last year to skin my targets, but I needed to find a replacement for it soon. There was only so many times it could be resharpened. Carefully, I jammed it down into the beans with a satisfying 'Thunk'.

I lifted the can to my horn. With my eyes closed, I concentrated hard on condensing the fire spell I knew into the bottom of it. After a few moments, the beans started to boil and I released the spell. A soft crackle was all that preceded the towel I had forgotten was on my head caught fire. Quickly, I hoofed it to the floor and stomped it out.

The rank stench of nearly two century old smoldering linens filled the room. I levitated the hot can down on the counter and used a small amount of my bottled water to douse the scorched towel. Disappointed in the start of the day, I twisted my mane into a bun and put my wide brimmed leather hat over it.

With my harness equipped, I carefully slipped each of my guns into their correct slots. I made sure that they were secured before I pulled my coat over myself. With my gear ready, I levitated the contract I had just completed and the cutie mark for it out of my saddlebag. I wondered why Big Shot had requested a visit from me. If he had heard I was in town, he would know that I was bound to stop by to see him at some point in time anyway.

I took a sip of water and hoofed the combat knife into my bags again, careful not to damage my coat. I read over the contract to make sure my report was accurate and put it and the flayed mark into the outside pocket of my coat. Keeping the stallion who gave me my contracts waiting was probably a bad idea. I scooped a hoof full of beans into my muzzle and downed what was left in the water bottle before putting them both back in the fridge. With one last look around around my room, I made sure I had everything. Like always, I did, and it was time to go.

I locked the door as the early morning sun tried its best to get through the cloud layer. This was good, because that meant it didn't look like rain today. I hated when it rained. The streets must have cleared out sometime before the sun came up. The few ponies left who weren't working were lying around passed out in assorted alleyways. As I trotted further up the street, I could see the lights were on in the old city bank.

As I approached, a fairly tough looking unicorn mare stepped in front of the door. She levitated an old assault rifle at me and looked me over. I pulled the contract out of my coat and floated it over to her. She took a moment to read it over before hoofing it back. Then she nodded and escorted me inside.

The lights as usual made the most irritating buzzing noise. It felt like Big Shot knew that they did, and just kept them on to keep ponies restless. The old bank's overall design didn't help calm me either. Its large marble counters and slate grey walls gave the feel of a fortress. The dark grey steel bars towered over most of the tellers counters were absent in the center. They drove attention to the only pony in here who even mattered. Big Shot smiled from across his 'throne' when I approached. His hooves were held out in a welcoming fashion that generally made me feel uneasy.

"Miss. Percussion Cap, I'm so glad you could make it," he said in his unnaturally smooth voice. His blue coat was nearly spotless and his oil black mane had been combed over to cover his balding head. He had wheeled out the charm and made himself presentable for some reason, but it definitely wasn't for me. "I see you have completed yet another contract for us. That makes what, 35 now? May I see the proof?" He gestured for me to sit in the chair he had set in front of the counter. As always, I refused and stood next to it instead. "I trust that it wasn't too taxing on you."

"It’s 34 actually." I continued standing as my magic passed him both contract and skin. He looked it over, squinting in a very unnatural way as he glanced back and forth.

"Ah, good, good." He nodded and pushed the two items aside. "You’re probably wondering why I asked you to come here so early, but it’s because a disturbing situation has come to light." He pressed his hooves together on the marble counter top and leaned forward. "A certain... individual escaped our custody this morning with some very sensitive information in her hooves. I need you to find her at all costs and bring the information back to us intact."

I cocked my eyebrow and looked at him slightly puzzled. "So, it's a normal contract then. Track her, kill her, and bring back whatever she had."

"No, you misunderstand." He shook his head lightly. "There is no physical copy. She has the information memorized and under no circumstances can you allow her to die."

I felt like facehoofing, but needed to maintain professionalism. "Big Shot, you know that's not how I work. I don't do live ones."

He shrugged and placed his hooves on the counter. "Look, I understand how you feel about it, and I’m willing to authorize double what we would normally pay for a live capture." He sighed and looked over to a mare who stood by the vault, giving her a small nod. She disappeared into the steel caged room as he turned back and continued. "I can give you half upfront if you need it for supplies, but you’re the best hunter we've got access to right now."

The best they've got right now? Ouch, that hurt. "Well then, you need me. Make it three thousand caps, half of it upfront, plus another 200 for supplies to keep her alive. If you do, we have a deal." I really didn't want to spend half of my journey babysitting a captive, but I normally only got 250 caps per contract kill. The thousand cap reward they offered was never worth the effort to bring them in. Two thousand caps was a hell of a lot to pay for the return of one fugitive, but it didn't mean I wouldn't try to get a better deal.

"I'll agree to three thousand caps, but you have to fund the supplies yourself." He smiled and held a hoof out, the mare he sent returned with a burlap sack that jingled of caps. I walked forward and took his hoof in mine, shaking it as I levitated the sack over and slipped it into the saddlebag in my coat. He hoofed a piece of paper across the desk that contained the contract details.

"Deal, she's as good as caught." I rolled the paper up in my magic and stuck it in my coat pocket before taking a step back.

"Remember, this information is of the highest importance." He glared at me as he spoke, letting the words sink into my mind before softening his gaze. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to meet with our illustrious and benevolent leader."

I sat in my room and read over the contract. This one was going to be a whole hell of a lot tougher than any other I'd had to do. I couldn't skimp out on any details before heading out, meaning I need to know her name, her friends and family, why she fled, and where she was likely to go. Pretty much everything I always skipped over on a normal job.

Target's name: Burst Flare. May also go by the name 'White Star'

Description: Unicorn Mare. Cream colored coat. Orange and yellow striped mane. Blue eyes.

Cutie Mark: White star in front of flames.

Spell level: Moderate casting abilities. May conjure a concentrated ball of fire and propel it at high speeds towards a target.

Suspected location of shelter: Steel junction common house.

Known associates: Anti-Slave faction designated "Celestia's angels". Faction size unknown, but assumed several dozen members. Faction location, Steel junction common house.

So, it's another unicorn. I hated tracking unicorns. They all turned out to be assholes when it came to detecting the traps I'd set up for them. No matter though, I’d figure something out by the time I got to Steel junction. It was two days away and she'd have a half-days head start on me. Not too bad. If I played my cards right, I'd be back here at the end of the week and be another 1,500 caps richer.

Easy money.

Author's Notes:

(Special edit! Thanks so much to Hnetu! Not only does she write one of the best Fo:E side stories out there, she's helped me make a few improvements the first chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it)

So the whole idea of doing this story is that I wanted something that I could write in between Merchants of Hope chapters that would be shorter and less stressful to keep track of. Better Days won't be as story Driven as MoH, and won't contain some sort of EPIC QUEST. Nor will I be including references or jokes as often as my other stories because I wanted this one to feel a bit more gritty and serious (Although, not to the extent that Monsters did).

I would love to hear your feedback on it, as I am always looking for ways to improve my writing. I would like to thank Kkat for the wonderful gift of Fallout Equestria. And I would also like to thank; Somber, Mimezinga, No_One, Stonershy, Hetnu, John Colt, Bad Pun, Xjuan, and Sawyer for having some of the best stories out there.

And this special shout out goes to Regolit: Keep on being awesome buddy!