It was half past twelve and my mind had finally wandered off the encounter from earlier. Things have certainly changed, like I remember when the jobs were month to month but now it's turned into a near weekly thing if I'm lucky. Lots of ponies think I enjoy what I'm doing but to be honest, they couldn't be farther from the truth. It's like I said long ago; at first you hate the monsters, at least until you see that the real monster is inside of you.

I just do what I feel is right, and in this world there is no space for black and white. Everything is grey, and with that in mind everything is only a matter of perception. I guess I have a different view because I'm more accustomed to death, I'm a little closer to it so to speak. I know I might die on even the easiest of jobs but when you think about it you only have a few options. The options are pretty clear with what they depict to.

You either live on your knees, accepting evil for what it is.

Stand and speak out, but never act.

Or act, change the world, and make it better for the others.

Those are my options.

I looked back around at the clock in my endless monologue, it had only been ten minutes. I closed my eyes, and waited to go to sleep.

I woke up to a bang, it wasn't a friendly knock on the door but at least it wasn't on mine. It came from the motel room next door.
I peeked out the door quietly, whatever was going on couldn't have been good. There were what looked like five or so ponies in uniform, back to back against the wall, on the front of the formation was a pony with a Personal Defense Weapon, something like an MP5. In front of him was a breacher. The breacher straddled a shotgun on his back and a battering ram in his hooves. He contorted his body to the side and swung against the door. Causing a deafening scream from the door's hinges.

Once the door was dealt with the pony behind the breacher threw a flashbang in and the group stormed in one at a time, the breacher going in last.

"GET ON THE FLOOR!

"HOOFS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!"

"WE HAVE TWO MALES IN CUSTODY."

"HE'S GETTING UP!"

There was a burst of gunfire, which ended with the shotgun blast.

The silence was deafening.

They pulled some buck in cuffs with a brown bag over his head out the door and into a SWAT van. They then dragged the dead corpse of Applejack's cousin, don't think I ever got his name, out the door. His face was blown in half, brains dripping from the shotgun's blast to the upper head. One of the cops turned, I thought he noticed me. I jumped back into my room and closed the door. There was a streak of yellow on his waist.

He had a taser, not that it mattered now but it upset me at the time. Bad policework, only thing is this looked intentional. The SWAT van, the target, the timing, something wasn't right. As soon as they were gone they just left the body there. I guess there was no point in 'law and order' in this town because they didn't even wait for a doc to come out and pronounce the poor bastard dead.

I walked over, there had to be a reason behind this. It was obvious that they didn't originally intend to kill him but I guess trying is only an end to a mean.

He still wore his leather vest, it was sorta like jacket I wear. I reached in the pockets, searching for some idea of what was going on. I got a pack of cigarettes, a picture of Applejack, and a few other trinkets. As I gave up I looked back over the body, there was something wrong...

I picked up the pack of cigarettes, it was opened but not through the right hole, instead he just peeled it off the lid. I opened it up and walked into my room. Almost all of the contents were exactly as advertised, all but one.

A rolled up piece of paper was in the cigarette pack. I unraveled it and was confused at first, until it hit me like a right hook.