Skulls were hard things. They form the base of a pony's head, and are a kind of shield for the brain that lies inside it, protecting it from anything that may come to hurt it. Skulls were durable things, and could handle punishment like no other. When your head was in front of the rest of your body and therefore reached things before the rest of you, it only made sense for the skull to be hard to crack. Though pony bones were hard to break as well, it was the skull that would reign supreme over all.

Skulls were hard things.

But Lui Calibre's hooves didn't give a single fucking shit about that.

One hoof connected, and the world erupted into a firefight, two ponies sitting on the sidelines completely struck with awe as they could only watch. Delirious farted. Vanoss burped. To be honest, they really couldn't care less. They knew what was gonna happen to the poor bounty hunters. They knew what Lui was gonna do, and to be honest that's all that really surprised them. They only wished that the hunters had said goodbye to their families before coming after them. Eh. Whatever.

The hunters had not, as a matter of fact.

There were five in total fighting Lui Calibre on that bright Saturday afternoon, with the clouds hanging high and the sun at its finest quality for all the ponies to enjoy. One such fighter was one Bright Light, his name very reminiscent of the day he decided to be a complete fucking idiot and risk his life. Born a Unicorn to a pair of stubborn, lazy Earth ponies, he grew up in urban Manehattan as a colt constantly doubted. All his early life, he would get picked on endlessly to the point where it affected his grades, and, seeing their son make a foal of himself, they kicked him out and sent them to his father's grandparents.

Now, keep in mind that Bright Light was, in fact, a genius. Every day after school, now separated from his parents, Bright spent his free time making objects: new things that he could bring to show and tell or just brag about to a friend. This ceased to amuse himself, and endlessly impressed many others who witnessed his creations. Things like a fly swatter that doubled as a back scratcher, or a cookie jar that could also have a substitution for cheese in the case of a rat infestation.

His inventions later caught the eye of one Dr. Brawn, who despite his name was actually a weak-ass little pussy bitch, and so stuck to being a scientist to avoid conflict in every form and fashion. As he walked along the Manehattan streets, intent on getting into work early like usual, he had caught the sight of a young, light yellow Unicorn showing a crowd of ponies what he shouted to be his latest invention. Curious, Dr. Brawn wandered over, thereafter forgetting work but discovering the wondrous mind of one Bright Light.

In his hooves was a vacuum cleaner, the likes of which nopony had seen before. Its unique quality? It could work on its own, and moved about by itself without any need for assistance. This invention surprised Dr. Brawn, and so he asked Bright if he had made it himself. Proudly, of course, Bright said that he did, and so it was that Dr. Brawn invited fourteen year-old Bright Light to work for him at Cleaners Industries, which despite its name did more than work on cleaning equipment.

Given a blessing by his grandparents, Bright went to the lab one Saturday morning and found something absolutely amazing in store for him. Hundreds of projects, thousands of ideas, all just waiting for him to work on and study endlessly. At fourteen years-old, he was happy, and so he spent more than ten years working there tirelessly, but happy. There was nopony to pick on him, and there were no put-downs present whatsoever. In fact, Bright Light was happy. Not a care in the world.

Until one morning he decided to murder a pony for getting into his carriage that he had called, thus cockblocking him from getting into it himself. Magicking a nearby lamp post, he swung it around like a crane and leveled the carriage, instantly decapitating the poor Earth pony who had taken his spot. No fuckin' Rosa Parks fuckin' bullshit in this fuckin' place.* Seething, Bright Light had raised a hoof up to raise his hat, effectively greeting the absolutely shocked carriage driver. Getting in, Bright had simply moved his victim's body over a couple inches, expecting a ride to Cleaners Industries as usual.

Stepping out a few minutes later, he was greeted by half a dozen police officers who took him into custody. Waiting out his jail time, he told Industries to pound sand and left Manehattan to work as a hired mercenary, finding himself in Las Pegasus. There he met up with the leader of a small group, and together the now six wandered Equestria to form a newly idealized bounty hunting party. Wandering into Appaloosa, it was not Bright Light who had seen the Wanted Poster for one H2O Delirious. No. He had been the third, and hated both the first and the second for being their respective positions.

Another such individual who was risking their life that day was Red Velvet, a crimson mare who everypony called as a young foal a "selfish little bitch who only looked out for her friends." Growling in those ponies' faces, she beat them up and all for good reason. Those said friends were the lowly ones of the school yard, the ones you would probably call the nerds, or the geeks, or as she constantly heard, the faggots. Red Velvet absolutely hated that word*, and promptly pummeled anyone who dared utter it.

Growing up in Canterlot, it wasn't great for her and her family. Lowly and poor, just like all of her friends, she preyed on the strong and took care of the weak. Destined for greatness by her parents, friends, and anypony who both met and liked her, she attended the best public schools and graduated from Canterlot University with a degree in Psychology. Taking a career at the nearby health clinic, she became an intern for awhile but felt that she had more potential. Leaving after three years, she found a help wanted poster for Las Pegasus as a worker.

Curious, she followed the origin of the poster and found herself in the hooves of the leader of a group of hired mercs. Always one to help out others, and not fully understanding the job, she joined up with them. After a few jobs that she sadly missed thanks to not getting up early, as Red was a bit of a laze-about in the end, she became aware that despite the Dead or Alive nature of the bounties, her group usually pulled the dead route. Furious, she made them promise to try their hardest to always get by with the Alive option.

After one job where they brought one in Alive, she found this boring and decided they should just kill them all. Thus was the case with one H2O Delirious, who she claimed looked like a little shit. She was not the first, nor the second to find the poster. In fact, she was generally liked by Bright Light. No, she was after him, because she knew he'd be looking at her ass if she was in front of him. Fourth.

Another pony that day was a dark green Earth pony named Poker Face. Raised in Las Pegasus, he grew up loving the idea of gambling and so decided to join his single father in competing in Poker championships around the world. Once he was old enough, he accompanied his father to the casino that was down the street from their place. There he watched his father play and worked the game in his head. Though unsuccessful at first, he eventually foretold other pony's moves and therefore helped his father win many times. Together, the two were unstoppable.

That is to say, Poker wasn't good at school. Like, at all. All day, his head was filled with Poker mathematics and not regular ones, and so he failed all years of elementary school and middle school. Skipping out on high school at the behest of his father so he could help them get more money, Poker was able to win millions of bits for his family of two. For awhile, Poker had it all. And then he found a nice mare in the slums of Las Pegasus and fell in love.

She of course already had a husband, but this she did not tell him. Pretending to be in love with him as well, she agreed to marry him only a few months after their first date. She never showed up, however, and had taken his money while he was sleeping that last night. Enraged, Poker followed her along her usual walking route to find that she indeed had a husband. Standing in the doorway, he had caught the door and listened to her bragging about how much money she had taken. Pulling a knife from the kitchen to his right, he locked the door and worked.

Escaping Las Pegasus, he found work as a hired mercenary and eventually, you guessed it, found the leader of a small group when he came back after forgetting the rest of his money. Making sure that nopony could ever take it from him ever again, he always hid it inside a magic bag nestled inside his body armor, given to him by his father. He was the second to see the poster, and was hated by Bright Light but liked by Red Velvet. He immediately asked if they could rob Mr. H2O when they found him.

The fourth pony that day was Head Rush, a Unicorn expected for great things by his amazing parents. Raised in Ponyville, he had instead grown attached to nothing but violence, war, and most importantly, blood. To say he was edgy was beyond anything that could ever be said about anything. Ignoring his parents' wants for him to be successful, he ran away from home and began to murder ponies in the Everfree Forest. He didn't care who, he just had to kill them. He didn't really care about school either, despite being an eight year-old. Having a constantly bloodied, very jagged knife sort of worked to keep him from school's grounds.

He never dared to hurt other ponies his age. He knew that they had potential. The ones he did kill were the rest of the ponies that found themselves in his neck of the woods. Be they old, teen, mare, or stallion, he killed them and threw their corpse in a lake with a dozen or so rocks bound in his magic. If a filly or colt his age wandered into the Everfree, he'd go back to his rundown shack that he had found, hide his knife, clean himself with his nearby bucket, and kindly help them get out safely. Of course, he never showed himself around the town.

Ponies were bound to recognize him. His leaving wasn't exactly secret after all.

Intent on causing more ponies harm, he waited until he was twenty and went to Las Pegasus for the purpose of having more prey to stalk. Following an unfortunate mare, he caught the sight of a help wanted poster and decided to pursue it out of curiosity. Getting out of sight, he allowed Poker Face to have his act of vengeance, neither knowing who the other was until they met up as bounty hunters a month later. He was the sixth and final one to find the poster for H2O Delirious.

The fifth pony was Blank Slate.

He was normal. A Pegasus. He killed, like, one pony. It was his brother after he tried to drown him as a joke.

Blah blah blah he went to Las Pegasus. Finding the help wanted poster, he found the source and met up with the leader of a soon-to-be group, a burly Pegasus named Iron Sights, who despite his name stuck to using a scope with his crossbow. Blank was the first pony to find the wanted poster for Delirious, and was as such hated by Bright Light.

Iron Sights was, as previously said, the leader of the self-proclaimed Bone Collectors that scoured the country to find bounties and garner money. Born in Cloudsdale, he had a life filled with bullying, insulting, and absolute cruelty. Except, unlike Red Velvet, he was the one doing it. Being one of three triplets, he spent his years helping his brothers reign terror over playskies by asking for a bubblegum toll at the swingset, or guarding the largest slide with their little lives. Never doing good in the world, he and his brothers eventually pursued different things in Equestria after being expelled from school for both their terrible grades and their general behavior.

Not having a plan, Iron Sights kept watch over his wanderings to try to figure out what he'd do. First he thought to be a doctor, then realized that he'd hurt every patient he'd get. Then he wanted to be a police officer, but realized he'd probably pull his Magicarm on his partner rather than his crooks. Then he wanted to be a firefighter, but noticed that he'd be the one setting the fires. Deciding on hurting ponies as a job, he founded the Bone Collectors and sent out help wanted posters to garner attention.

Blank Slate was the first to arrive. Red Velvet was next. Bright Light was after her. Poker Face was fifth, then followed very closely by Head Rush.

Iron Sights had a great gang going.

And together the six had amassed quite a fortune.

But Iron Sights was not fighting Lui Calibre that day. And he had been the fifth to find the bounty for Delirious. Iron Sights was on the floor nearby, crumpled like a crippled cat and unmoving, his spine and ribs broken in many areas thanks to the wing of a large machine that had hit him with the force of a million trains. So, Iron Sights was out, and his five companions were left to fend for themselves in what could be considered the end of their lives.

Now you know who they are.

And now let's see how they all came to die, huh?

Author's Notes:

Outta My Mind is officially the new Godzilla movie.

You didn't think you'd actually see Lui fighting today, did you?

*Rosa Parks is actually seriously one of the greatest historical figures of our time and I greatly respect her it was just a joke DON'T FUCKING KILL ME.

*I also hate the word faggot. Despite Vanoss and the crew constantly using it, I'm not comfortable enough to write it in. It will not be appearing, and neither will using rape as humor. Yeah no fuck that.