Ponies selling ponies, ponies owning ponies, it was disgusting. I didn't know what I was expecting in a slaver town, but it wasn't a shit hole. The town was built atop the ruins of an old long forgotten town, it didn't have a wall or guards, and it was a lot bigger than Crystal Frost. This place was mostly made of wood and cement, no big metal fence made of rusted bus carriages and some of the buildings actually rose more than a single story.

Every pony was kind and there were shops and stores all over the place, it was peaceful and organized, no signs of slavers or any slaves. But still, since I was a Pegasus, I was apparently worth a lot, Sis ensured me there was a law against capturing non-slave ponies in town. But we didn't want to risk it so I hid my wings under my jacket as we walked through the town, eventually we found an old hotel. Unfortunately it was too expensive.

"What do you mean five hundred caps!?" I yelled at the manager/owner who was behind the desk.

"Five hundred caps." he said, unwavering.

Sister put a hoof on my shoulder and said "Let me handle it brother." With that I was pushed aside.

I must admit I wasn't good at bartering, but Sis, she could sell a pack of smokes for one hundred caps. But five hundred caps for a room for one night was crazy, although the room was nicer than anything back home. No holes in the walls, a real bed and bathroom, all with working plumbing and even electricity, all fancy like. Well no point in complaining about it.

Seeing as how I wasn't needed I set about looking for an ammo bench. I'd managed to pick up some scrap on the way here, back at the now ex-raider base we found some ammo but it wasn't for any of our guns, so I was going to see if I could put that gunpowder and lead to some use.

My wounds from the raider base were feeling much better, although I must admit my front hooves felt like shit. They hurt when I stepped on them and they were bleeding a little, I could see the bandages getting crimson spots. But mostly they felt warm and itchy, although touching them invoked a sharp pain, so there was no way I was going to scratch them. So instead of causing a fuss, I decided to ignore it for now.

I more or less avoided everypony as I walked around, I was… uncomfortable meeting new ponies, but eventually after getting lost in town I walked into what I assumed was a bar. Ponies were drinking and playing poker and blackjack, games I had no clue how to play. But a drunken mare grabbed me and pulled me over to her table, with a bunch of their drunken mare friends, they were kind of cute so I just went along with it.

"So how do you play blackjack?" I asked, trying not to blush.

The cute mare with green eyes, yellow mane tied in a single ponytail and a pink coat giggled, she grabbed my head and pushed it against her chest, I tried not to blush even harder as she proceeded to shout. "Bring us the whiskey!"

She then let go of me and moved her head really close to mine, our noses almost touched. She stared at me intensely as I avoided making eye contact, still blushing, the other two mares just giggled.

"Listen up buddy, we're playing go fish." The pink mare said in a drunken slurry.

"Blackjack." one of the other mares corrected her.

The pink mare stared at the other two mares and replied. "My name isn't Blackjack? It's Pink Lily." I tried not to giggle, or inhale as I moved away a bit.

Her breath smelt of whiskey, I was wondering if I wouldn't get drunk just from her talking. She proceeded to ramble, giggling and hiccuping as she explained the rules of blackjack. To be honest this wasn't the first time some pony tried to teach me how to play.

Sometimes when dad would drag me into town he'd stop at Doc's place for a game of cards. He'd tried to include me but I had no interest in playing, I'd usually nap on Doc's couch as the two of them played.

The pink mare then shook me a little as she started to explain how to play. "Get as close as you can to twenty one. Over is bust and you're out. Try to beat the dealer. Face cards are ten and number is as is, ace is one or eleven. Player's choice, start with two cards up for player, one down and one up for dealer. Say hit and tab the table for one card, two taps and you quit and don't lose any caps, hoof on table for stand if you don't want any more cards, you can split your hand into two if you have the same card. Got all that?" My head was spinning and so was the pony in my head, I wasn't the smartest pony, but I might as well give it a go.

"Umm…ok let's play…" I nodded, mumbling.

The three giggled at me, the bartender brought our drinks, a bottle of Jack Pony Whiskey and four shot glasses. The bottle had a grey label and a little outline of a drunk pony on it, but the strange thing was, it was twirling. The little cartoon pony seemed to get dizzy and fall down, before the animation started again, it seemed cute but off. I'd never drank alcohol, let alone seen whiskey. Most of my life I had water or the occasional bottle of two hundred year old soda and it never had a animated creature on it.

One of the three mare's, this one with a green coat, pink mane and yellow eyes and her hair tied into two pony tails, poured four drinks and pushed one over to me.

"Drink up." she said, a big smirk on her face.

"Oh, I never drank alcohol before." I blushed sheepishly, trying to hide my shy expression. All three of them started laughing, and that didn't make me feel any less embarrassed.

"Tell you what cutie, every time we hit, we have a shot." said the Pink mare, trying to sit upright on her chair, clearly she had too much to drink.

"We'll bet caps and bullets." said the Green one, shuffling the cards.

"As well as a kiss for the winner of each round." said the yellow one, giggling. It was cute how they finished each other's, wait what?!

"I um aa ye, oh." I mumbled. The pony in my head yelled. "JUST DO IT!"

In the end all I could do was nod sheepishly, how come I was calmer fighting psychos then talking to girls. With that the game began, the pony in my head cheered me on. We bet five caps each, luckily Sis gave me some money. I picked up the shot glass and gulped it down fast, it tasted like fire and piss, and I coughed heavily and bumped my chest.

"Hehe, you ok, Hun?" the pink one asked, tilting her head.

"You got to drink it slowly." the green one told me.

"Like this." then the yellow one drank slowly and slammed the glass down.

I lost the first round and the dealer switched from the pink coated mare to the yellow coated mare. The next game I managed to win, not just a few caps but a kiss from the dealer. On the lips. It was amazing! It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, or maybe that was the whiskey.

Speaking of the whiskey, the more I drank the better I felt. I was forgetting about the past, the death and the wasteland. The game went on for a while, I won a few caps and lost a few, but more importantly I won some kisses. One time the house won and the two mares kissed house, that raised my barrel. Luckily I was sitting at a table.

"Thank the goddesses." I shouted, or maybe the pony in my head shouted, I don't know.

When I was low on caps so I started to bet bullets. A few bottles of Jack Pony later I fully understood how each of the mares kissed. Pink used tongue, Yellow kissed for a long time and Green kissed with passion. As for me, I was crap at kissing so I let them take the lead. I don't really know what happened next, it was all a blur.

But I remember some pony saying. "Welcome to Slave Town."

My head was pounding like it was being hit with a sledge hammer over and over. The pony in my head was groaning and I felt very cold and strangely very hot at the same time. I slowly opened my eyes, then shut them as there was a flood of light. When I tried again I saw I was outside and it was day time. Never before had the day been so bright, or loud. The sounds of shouting and yelling were all around me. It was then that I finally saw where I was. I was in a cage.

I looked down at the front of my fore hooves to see the bandages stained and dirty. Sickly yellow and brown blotches with black centers covered the bandages. My hooves pulsed with pain and heat as i could smell a sickly odor of rotten flesh coming from myself. Waiting to tell Sharp was definitely a bad idea. I gagged and went to pull my jacket sleeves down over it when i released my jacket was gone.

My clothes had been stripped off me. My jacket, bag and gun were gone. There was something around my neck too. Something metal. A collar. I stood up and looked around for somepony I knew, although most of the ponies are know are far from here or dead. It was then that I saw the three cute mares from the bar, they were armed.

I got a good look at the three of their guns. They appeared to be a M-60 air cooled, chain feed, gas operated, iron sights and bipod attached, heavy machine guns. All identical, except for the color of their carrying belts, one green, yellow and the last was pink. They appeared to be in very good condition, little to no sign of wear. Enough about guns, back to the conversation.

"Hey! Where am I? Why am I in a cage? And why do I have a collar on?" I demanded before breaking into a coughing fit.

Yet again they spoke in unison, this time it was creepy instead of cute.

"You're in slaver town's weekly market." Said one of the ponies.

"You're our slave for sale. Pegasi go for big bits." Said another.

"It's an explosive collar in case you try to escape, boom!" Finally said the last.

Fuck me, an explosive collar? How the hell did they make an explosive collar in the wasteland? I should start a list, I'll put explosive collars right under raider decor, but first a question I could ask.

"How much am I worth?" I asked sourly, tilting my head.

"Ten thousand caps." All three of them grinned sheepishly as they answered in unison. I know why Sis told me to hide my wings. I mean I know Pegasi were worth a lot, but fuck.

I was thinking of my next question when I heard a familiar voice and it sounded pissed. "You fucking idiot! Where the hell have you been?" I tried to hide but that's a bit hard in a cage. The pony in my head finally stopped moaning and started panicking. I saw her face. Oh Goddess she was angry, and the pony in my head had a plan. "Activate the collar!" luckily everypony ignored me as this angry mare stole the spotlight.

I thought it over for a second but chose not to ask them to blow up my head. Too messy. She pushed the three heavily armed mares aside and grabbed me through the cage, choking me a little. Thank the goddesses for the cage.

I shook in her hooves and shakily replied. "H-... Hey… Sister." She slammed my face against the bars, my head rang like a bell, before she started screaming in my ear.

"Don't you fucking ‘hey sis’ me, brother! Why the fuck are you in a cage!"

It was then that the three mares pulled her off of me. I think at that moment I developed full Stockholm syndrome, or at the least a will to live without my sister's wrath. I trembled in fear, my eyes tearing up. It was then that she let go and took a long calming breath.

"You idiot…." Her voice was quiet and sad, but also rejoiceful.

I opened my eyes to see her crying. She’d been worried about me. She was sad and hurt and I wasn't there for her. She’d been strong the night before but that was different. Then, she had been strong for me, I was hurt after all. But she was also hurt, on the inside. She'd let me cry out all the pain of our parent's deaths and I hadn’t let her do the same.

"Sorry... it's ok to cry, you know?" In the end all I could do was dry my eyes, in an apologetically soft voice. She chuckled and whispered in my ear. "I'll cry when this is over." Her voice was surprisingly dark.

It was then that the three mares put themselves back in the conversation. Not liking being pushed aside, all three pushed the barrels of their machine guns to the back of my sister's head. Suddenly, my cold body began to feel like it was boiling over as a heat ran over me. I started coughing and sister let go of me.

"Don't touch the merchandise." The other smiles grew.

"Hehe so your siblings." This time the yellow mare stepped forward.

"In that case, we'll sell him back to you for eleven thousand caps." Their voices snickering as there grins grew larger.

But Sister was perfectly calm, smirking. She replied as she spun around to look down the three barrels. "Trade code thirty two, any open price may not be changed while trying to sell product to somepony." Her voice filled with pride and victory, one of the mares was about to reply, but Sister continued. "Furthermore, rule twelve. All towns and cities are safe zones where one is not allowed to capture ponies and enslave them." I smiled as I felt so happy, knowing my release was guaranteed. But then the mares jumped back into the conversation.

"Wait!" Two of the mares said quickly. "We caught him outside of town limits."

"As for the price, say five thousands caps." the pink mare said, keeping her cool.

Our smiles disappeared and the pony in my head started swearing, Sister’s expression changed to one of curiosity. I was the one to ask what we were thinking.

"How?"

This time the pink mare stood forward, smirking. "The drunken scam. We'd find a naive traveler and get them drunk until they passed out, then we'd drag them out of town and enslaved them."

The green one was also smirking. "Besides we didn't even get to do our true plan."

The last one shrugged. "What a shame." she said sarcastically.

More secrets, what's with all the run arounds, it's so annoying, and I couldn't help but yell. "What plan?" All three of the mares smiled, looming over me, I couldn't help cowering back in my cage a little, somehow feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

The three of them giggled and replied.

"Impregnation."

"A little baby for each of us."

"Hopefully a Pegasus, to sell for big caps."

I felt sick in my stomach, feeling chilled all of a sudden. The idea of having a child just to sell it. Those three were laughing at the idea. They didn't give a damn about life, and they were monsters, just as bad a raiders. A mother is god to a child, but there is no gods in this world. Not any more. The world was destroyed by and reborn as greed.

At some point I stopped smiling. "All of you, deserve to die." I said clear as day, it was then that they shut up, I didn't bother looking up at them.

"Shut up! I'll buy him." Luckily Sister jumped in before anything else happened. Wait…

"Wait! You tried to seduce me!?" I yelled before breaking into a coughing fit.

"Yep." said the green one, giggling and licking her lips sexually.

"But alcohol can make it hard to get up." the yellow one said, gesturing a stroking action with her hooves.

"So what do you say? Want to have some fun?" Said the pink one last, staring at me, as she wiggled her hips a little.

Despite their sexy looks I was too pissed to be aroused. I grit my teeth and snarled at them, they were really pissing me off. It was then that we were interrupted by a thud.

"Five thousand caps!"

Sister dropped a few bags of caps. I had no clue where she had got that many caps but I was thankful. The three mares grinned wildly. They quickly let me out of the cage, helped me up and gave me my jacket back, along with my bag. I looked through my bag to make sure everything was there, luckily for them it was. I pulled out my SMG and checked the clip and sights, pointing it at the three mares, they were too busy counting their caps to even notice.

Sis looked at me a shook her head. My breathing grew faster and more erratic, my vision blurred as I began to feel hot again, my strength faded and I dropped my gun in the snow, my hoofs shook as I coughed violently. Sister yelled my name and galloped over to me. My vision grew darker, all the noise faded away too. I felt terrible. The last thing I remember before the darkness was my sister's face.

So cold, everything around me is so cold, so why is my body burning up? I didn't know if my eyes are open or closed, darkness all around me again, at least that annoying voice wasn't here.

"Hello again."

Fuck, he was right behind me.

"What do you want?" I groaned, not in the mood for talking. He floated in front of me and smiled, his white mouth extending across his face.

"I want to know why you smile?" He asked sincerely.

I sighed and decided to humor him. "I smile for others, to make them feel better, but being a part of me you must already know that?" His smile disappeared as I grew one.

"Then why did you smile when you killed?" He questioned.

I opened my muzzle to reply, but shut it as I thought of what to say. "I don't know?"

"Don't know? Or don't want to know?" Suddenly the temperature changed, this time I was cold and everything else was hot, but I was too busy thinking about what the voice said to care.

"W-why are you doing this, before you used to just worry or criticize me?" I said shakily, confused and somewhat scared of his last question.

He chuckled "I'm not the other guy, I'm the guy you buried. So why did you smile when you killed?"

I grit my teeth and replied. "Because I needed to stay strong for my sister!" I shouted as he started to annoy me.

He smiled and began to fade away. "A truthful lie, but still a lie. You enjoyed it. Just like you did back then."

"Back when?" I asked, confused.

A memory bubble appeared, but this we approached the bubble and as we did it grew bigger and bigger, or maybe we just grew smaller, we entered it and the way back to that limbo appeared as a shrinking hole as the memory took shape around us. it was an old memory of back when raiders attacked, but instead of me being in my own body or even as some specter watching my own memory from a different angle. I was in the body of the raider I attacked. I saw myself grab a rifle and take aim, the real me, not the raider me. I hesitated before smiling and taking the shot.

I shut my eyes and gripped my head screaming imagining the bullet tearing through me. I panted and opened my eyes slowly. Instead of darkness I saw a grey and old flaking ceiling. I was in a bed, a wool blanket thrown off on to the floor. I looked around the room, it was empty except for a table next to me, a window, and it was snowing outside. I tried to sit up but my whole body hurt. Mainly my front hooves.

I tried to talk but my throat was too dry to speak. I felt terrible. There was a tube sticking out of my neck, it led to an I.V. bag filled with a glowing pink liquid. I don't know how long I laid there, trying not to think about what the shadow pony had said. Was I really smiling back then? Did I really enjoy killing? There was a click as the door opened. I could hear hoof steps and struggled to move my head to see who it was.

"Good, you’re alive." Said a male unicorn with a blue coat and green mane. He wore a white lab coat, so I couldn't see his cutie mark, he was checking a clip board. I tried talking again but was still unable. Luckily he looked up at me and saw I was trying to talk.

"Don't talk, just rest. You had a very bad infection in the wounds on your front hooves and I had to remove a lot of the dead tissue, had to stick the IV in your neck. I got bit aggressive when removing the remaining shrapnel fragments, but leaving shrapnel in a wound is inviting trouble. You'll still be able to keep your front legs and they should heal fine but there will be permanent scarring. As a result of your infection, you were running a high fever. You were also dehydrated, though I assume that must have been from alcohol." He chuckled and marked some things off his clipboard before continuing.

"I've also got a message from your sister." he then held up a note and I began to read it.

"You idiot! I was worried sick about you! I've gone out with what little cap's I have left and am currently shopping around for stuff, stay in bed and wait for me. Also don't die! I paid a lot of caps for you and the doctor doesn't give refunds!

Love you,

Your sister"

I smiled and blushed. The doctor whose name I still did not know laughed and walked away. Yet again I was alone in that small room with nothing to do, my body still aching and I did not want to go back to sleep. I didn't want to talk to the shadow pony.

I was just lying in bed, very bored, when all of a sudden the door opened. In the hallway stood Sharp. I sat up, ignoring my pain and smiled at her. She did not smile back. She threw my jacket and my bag at me, both bounced off my chest and into my lap. It hurt a little. I swallowed and opened my mouth to speak, but she interrupted me.

"Ten thousand caps!" she glared at me angrily. I gotta shut up or die vibe and let her talk. And talk she did.

"That's how much the stupid mare at the general store wants to unlock the pip-buck. But you had to be an idiot and I lost five thousand to buy you, a thousand for your stuff, two thousand for medical expenses, three hundred for the room, two hundred for food and water, that leaves me with one thousand, five hundred caps!" she was pacing up and down my bed, complaining, I could see she was upset.

I did the only thing I could and hugged her, even with my hooves crying in pain and my bandages bloodied. I still held her close. "I'm sorry, for the caps." I said. She sobbed a little as I held her tightly, my hooves trembling.

"I'm not mad about the caps, I'm mad that you almost died and left me all alone, I need you." She said, sniffling.

Those words hit me like knives to the heart. I was all she had left. I was the big brother, I was meant to be the strong one. I remembered what happened when she found me in the cage, when she cried, and I tried to speak. "It's ok to cry." My voice was dry and rusty but she was hurt.

She slowly pushed me off her and wiped away her tears. "I told you I'll cry when this is over…" She dusted herself off as I laid back down.

"Sis, can I ask you a question?"

She sat on the floor and tilted her head. "What question?"

I looked away, then I looked her in the eyes, she could tell I was being serious. "Did I smile? Back when the house was attacked by raiders?" I was scared of the answer. I was trembling after all, I shut my eyes waiting for the answer, but then I felt a hoof press on my shoulder.

"You remember what happened with the bunny?" I opened my eyes to see her looking down. She then looked at me as if she was very sorry, I slowly nodded and she continued.

"Back then I thought killing was fun. It would get me dad’s approval, but I'd disappoint mom. Before that, mom and dad were impressed when I learned magic, but… When it came time to kill another pony, I was scared. I looked over to you, you were scared out of your mind and dad stopped shooting back to protect you. Your fear made him worry about you when he didn't have time to, so I decided to smile, so they wouldn't worry about me." There was a pause as we both took in what she had said.

"It's true you were smiling after you grabbed the gun, but the reason for your smile is something only you can find out." Her voice was shaking, as if she was scared all over again. She hugged herself. I thought back to the raider base. She was smiling for me. She smiled at me shakily and said. "I was so scared, I'm still scared."

I didn't realize until that moment, but I was crying. I wiped my tears with my bandaged hooves, quickly putting on a big smile. She hopped back onto her hoofs and proceeded to walk to the door.

I shouted out "I love you!"

She froze in her tracks for a moment before turning to me with a big smile. "Love you too, brother."

Her wounds hurt, I could see she was in much more pain than me, she might have been smiling but her pain was clear.

I now knew my answer to the shadow pony's question. I laid comfortably back into bed and went back to sleep.

Soon I was back in the dark limbo, he was waiting for me, grinning as always.

"Got an answer for me?" I smiled back at him as he tilted his head.

"It doesn't matter."

He chuckled. "Of course it matters."

I snickered a bit, waiting for him to stop quiet. "No it doesn't, not right now anyway. Right now I need to be strong. So, for now, I'll push it down." I said with conviction, his grin disappeared.

"You know that’s unhealthy right? Suppressing your emotions. What will happen when it's time for you to deal with them?" He asked skeptically.

I chuckled a little. "Then I'll deal with them, but for now my sister needs Me." He smiled again before fading, this time the darkness faded with him.

"You can't push everything down."

I woke up slowly, peacefully, that was until I saw the doctor standing over me. I jumped a little and screamed, he just chuckled. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I yelled.

He smiled and replied. "That's extra." He joked. I hope.

I sat up, feeling much better, only a little pain in my hooves. I tried to side up but fell straight back down. Ok maybe more than a little pain. He sighed and injected me with something, I flinched then relaxed. I felt better, much better. "What was that?" I asked. He threw the empty syringe away.

"It's a drug called Med-X. It's not cheap, but that one's on the house." I sat up and put on my jacket and clothes.

"Thanks doc" He waved me off and with that I began to walk out, fresh magical bandages and no bomb collar. I felt pretty good.

I was just out the front door when the doctor came running behind me. "Wait!" I stopped.

"What's up doctor?"

He caught his breath, before telling me. "Your sister told me to tell you to go to room four-one-five of the ‘Unlucky Bastard’ hotel, around the corner, also don't worry about your wings. Just don't fall for any more tricks and keep them hidden." He snickered, I blushed and nodded, smiling back at him.

"Thanks." And with that I was truly off.

By the time I got back to the hotel it was almost four in the afternoon. I got back to the room but sharp wasn't there, there was however a note.

I groaned, was she ever going to let that go, it's already been a day. But I was feeling too good to just sit around for her so I decided to go out and try to earn some caps back. I wandered around town, by the looks of it most of the slavers had moved on already, including those three mare's. I’d assumed is must have been an annual market thing.

Eventually I stumbled upon a bounty board. There were some collection quests and some actual bounties, ranging from small ones for a few hundred cap's all the way up to two thousand caps. Then I saw it.

A bounty for ten thousand caps. By the poster it looked kind of old, on it was a unicorn that seemed use two custom revolvers, wore a dark brown duster, had an eye patch, had a yellow eye, dark brown cowboy hat with bird skull on its brim, brown coat, grey mane and tail and grey magic, whose age was unknown and had a cutie mark of two revolvers crossed in a X mark. These wanted posters were very detailed.

Crimes included murder, attempted murder and robbery, wanted dead or alive. I was kind of surprised there was even a justice system, in Frost-Crystal there was no bounty board but we did get bounty hunters passing through every now and then. They seemed so cool, but dad wouldn't let me near them. But this time I could be the bounty hunter. It might be fun.

I took the poster down and put it in my bag, then I went back to the same bar I was at last time. Last time everypony there was chatty, maybe they had some information on this Twin Barrel fella. I walked right in, it was a lot quieter than last time. There wasn’t even any music playing.

But that wasn't the only odd thing. Everyone was sitting at tables and no one sat at the actual bar bench, except for one pony, one rather large pony. I saw all the eyes in the bar stare at me, except the one at the bench. My wings were still under my jacket so it couldn't be that. I trotted up to the pony sitting at the bar bench and sat next to him. Everyone seemed to gasp, some even left the bar, all the others looked away.

But the pony I was now sitting next to didn't even look at me. Eventually the bartender asked me what I'd like to drink, yet again I felt the whole bar looking at me again. "Milk please." It was then that the whole bar broke out into laughter.

I blushed as they laughed at me, but then the stallion next to me turned his head and gave them a look. They shut up immediately. It was then that I got a good look at him, he was a light brown coated stallion with an eye patch, goatee and a yellow eye, he wore a brown leather duster and a dark brown cowboy hat with a bird skull on the brim. He had a cigarette in his mouth and was slowly smoking it. Before I couldn't see his face very well because he had his hat tilted forward.

Eventually the bartender brought me some cold milk, it tasted good, probably brahmin milk. "Mmm that’s good!" The stallion next to me started to chuckle, a deep bellowing laughter, I tilted my head. "What's so funny?"

I saw his horn, it started to glow as he drank a shot of whisky quickly, ignoring me. The bartender leaned in closely and whispered into my ear. "That's the legendary Twin Barrel, he's drinking a venom shot, rad scorpion venom and whisky, our specialty." I smiled, the bartender backed away, put off by my smile.

I stared at the stallion before me and extended a hoof. "Hello, nice to meet you sir. Do you mind if I capture you?" Cue the sound of multiple jaws hitting the floor.

Twin Barrel looked at me with his one eye, his jaw dropped a little, almost dropping the cigarette. The bar was quiet for a moment. Then Twin barrel quickly levitated out a pistol to my forehead. The gun was a magnum revolver with ‘Luna’ written in blue along the underside barrel, a counter balance weighted frame attached to the top of the barrel, and a midnight blue grip with a white crescent moon on it.

I'd say it was a model 500 Colt double action revolver, 10.5 inch barrel, iron sights, five round flat cylinder, topped with a reflex scope. Under the gun was a shaped gun blade in the same style. The whole gun was finished with black chrome. A work of art and it was shrouded in a dim grey magic field.

Back to reality, I kept smiling at him, even as he cocked the revolver. He stared at me, confused but anxious. He finally spat out his cigarette into the empty shot glass. The bar was frozen, not a sound, eventually he stopped pressing the gun against my forehead and spoke.

"Who the hell are you? And what the hell are you doing?" He sounded like a cowboy, his voice was deep and firm, yet it had a rough rasp to it that gave it character.

I smiled and replied. "My name is Star and I need to pay back my sister. I owe her nine thousand caps." I blushed embarrassingly.

He chuckled a little, not lowering his gun, he pulled out another and placed it on the table. This one had similarities to the other gun. But this one was white chrome, with ‘Celestia’ written in gold and a golden sun inset into a light yellow grip. It appeared to be the polar twin of the gun being pointed at my head.

He smiled, then put down the gun marked as Luna, next to the one marked as Celestia. "Let's play a game." he said in a deep and masculine voice.

"What sort of game? Not blackjack."

He chuckled again. "Roulette."

I looked at the gun and back at him, he nodded and said. "Go ahead, make my day." He levitated both pistols and unloaded the guns slowly, leaving one round in each before spinning the chamber. "We ask a question, then fire once." There was a pause before he spoke again. “Choose a gun." I pondered and picked up the Luna revolver. "Good choice kid."

He then picked up the other revolver. I nodded to him to ask first, and he levitated the gun as I pointed the other one back at him.

"Where'd you get that jacket?" he asked.

"My dad gave it to me." I replied, my voice muffled around the handle.

My turn, him asking about my jacket did add some questions to my list, but first I had to ask something I had to ask. "Why do you have such a big bounty?"

He sighed. "Murdered an important pony." He answered, vaguely.

Time froze for a second as we locked gazes and I worked the surprisingly heavy trigger with my tongue. The hammers of the guns both dropped and made was seemed like the loudest sound ever.

I sighed a little, thankful I wasn't dead. Both our pistols weren’t chambered. My turn to ask again. "Who was the important pony?" I muffled.

There was a pause before he replied. "A young mare named Sydney. She was friend of your dads, a unicorn named Red Cross and the current leader of Blood Skull, Blood Rose. "

My eyes went wide, surprised, trying to contemplate what he said, but before I could, he asked his question. "What happened to Straight Shot and Red Cross?" I had to think about that, my dad usually didn't use his name. As for Red Cross, I'd assume he might of been talking about Doc, I'd never heard him go by that name. Back to the questions.

"My mom and dad are both dead….. As for Red Cross, I assume you mean Doc? He's ok." It hurt to answer the first half, dredging up sad emotions.

There was no hesitation, we didn't even blink as we pulled the triggers a second time.

Both still alive, good. I didn't want him to die, he knew a lot. But he also gave me more questions than answers, like sydney and why her name was etched onto my SMG. His go again. "You don't know about their past do you?" I kept getting more questions, but I was getting worried about the chances.

"My dad left a stable, then wandered around until finding his love, my mom, right?" He smiled and replied.

"Right and wrong. He did wander the wasteland, but not alone. He did stop, once he found his love." AGHH more questions.

I thought of my question to ask. "What else happened with my dad?"

"He and three others roamed the waste land in its most dangerous time, they survived and thrived, making a name for themselves. The immortals."

We were both very lucky. My go to ask, I thought through all my questions but found one popping up. "Where did you get these beautiful guns?" There was no way I couldn't ask about those beautiful guns.

My smile grew but his smile faded, I could tell he didn't like that question. "...my son." he said painfully.

Our conversation wasn't very private, only the bravest or drunkest stayed behind. It was his turn to ask. "Who do you think killed your parents?"

The thought of their killer made me angry, I gripped the gun tight in my mouth and growled his name. "Blood Rose!" There was a pause as I took a moment to calm down. Twin Barrel on the other hoof was thinking. After a moment we continued.

We were very lucky. His go to ask a question, our last question. "What will you do now?" At this point everypony was listening.

Without hesitation I replied. "I'm going to kill Blood Rose."

Yet again everypony’s jaws dropped, including Twin Barrel. Everypony laughed at my statement, but not Twin Barrel. this time it was my turn, but I could tell if I asked the question I'd probably be shot, plus I couldn't pick a good question out of my list of ever growing questions right now.

"I'll save my question for later." I said, he simply nodded. We both cocked the pistol before smiling at each other.

Quiet, after that the bar was quiet, me and Twin Barrel sat there smiling at each other, smoking barrels between us, we both missed, both pistols turned to the side, there was a ringing in my right ear, a little pain under my eye as that’s where the bullet grazed me. My shot had whizzed past his head, going through his long grey messy mane, we both started laughing as the whole bar was speechless.

We calmed down and put the guns on the counter, I wiped a trickle of blood off my cheek. Twin Barrel put his guns away and stood up, chuckling under his breath. He proceeded to walk over to some ponies sitting at a table, their jaws still wide open. Twin Barrel picked up a gun in its holster, it was laying on the table atop a pile of chips, obviously somepony bet it.

"Don't mind if I take this?" All the ponies in the table shook their heads.

Twin barrel chucked the gun at me and I caught it in my hooves. "Kid, you’re headstrong and stupid. I like you."

I blushed at the compliment. "Thanks old horse." I yelled, he chuckled and walked to the door.

"Don't push your luck." He said in a joking manor.

Just before he walked out the door he stopped and said. "You can't blame the sins of the parent on the child." I tilted my head, confused, and with that he was gone.

I still had a lot of questions, mainly about my dad's past and his relation with Blood Rose, as well as what happened to Sydney and why Doc use to be known as Red Cross. But all of that wasn't important now, I got a new gun. I felt like a colt on his birthday. I pulled it out of the holster and placed it on the bar It was a lever-action rifle, or shotgun. I checked it's load, looked at its chamber and by the look of it, it was a rifle.

I picked up one of the empty shells from before and put it in the chamber, a bit too small, so it was most likely a .45 Colt lever-action rifle. But this one was different, this one had a much shorter barrel, a wooden stock and iron sights, so it was a Mare's Leg lever-action .45 Colt six round tube feed short barreled rifle. Very nice, too bad I didn't have any ammo for it. Maybe I could ask sister to buy me some, on top of all the caps I owed her.

I moaned. "Why is it so hard to get caps…?”

The bartender chuckled. "I don't know, but tell ya what, seeing as I’d normally kick ya out for having no caps, I’ll Tell you a story, then you can leave."

"What kind of story?" I asked as I tilted my head, getting the sense that this bartender was chatty, although the open mouth cutie mark kinda tipped me off..

The bartender was wiping down some glasses as he smiled. "The legend of Twin Barrel and the Forty Four."

Before I could ask a question the lime yellow unicorn started talking. "Before Twin barrel got his big bounty, he himself was a bounty hunter. A big shot too. Fastest gun in the north. But one day his son was killed due to a misunderstanding with the Rose clan." I sat on the edge of my seat, listening closely.

"What sort of misunderstanding?"

The bar pony shook his head "I don't know. Anyway, Twin Barrel tracked down the ones who killed his son and an epic gun fight broke out. Eventually Twin Barrel killed one of the ponies who killed his son, but it cost him an eye. The only problem was the one he killed was close to Blood Rose. So Blood Rose put a ten thousand cap bounty on his head, and that was twenty years ago."

"That was an interesting story, but I didn't hear anything about forty four?" I said questionably.

"I'm getting there. After the big bounty a bunch of bounty hunters teamed up to try and get him. Forty four of the best bounty hunters tried to bring him in, dead or alive. But he beat every one of them. Most of them died, the one's that lived spread his legend. Some say he even shot a missile out of the air, others say he killed a dragon. I don't know, all I know is you gotta be stupid or brave to go after his head. Looking at you, I say it was most likely the latter."

My eyes were huge as I was captivated by his story, too amazed to care about the insult. "Awesome!" I paid for my drink and grabbed my new gun and holster and ran outside, wanting to talk to Twin Barrel again, maybe ask him if he'd join us, but he was gone.

I looked around town, but there no sign of him, it was getting late so I was going to head back to the hotel when I saw a filly in a cage. She was toying with something in her hooves, I couldn't see what it was or what she looked like but I could tell she was very young, I walked up to her as she shyly backed away from me, clutching the object in her hooves.

"What you got there?" I asked softly, seeing she was scared of me.

She just stared at me with scared blue eyes, before muttering. "Broken."

Author's Notes:

Last update 16/7/17

Well, I managed, with the help of my editor, to hit a deadline, he's been helping out so much. but speaking of editors, I am looking for more editors and pre - readers and reviewers, so if you're willing to help then simply message me on Fim, any and all feedback helps, so please feel free to leave some.

thanks to my editor:
http://www.fimfiction.net/user/WeaponPrime https://www.fimfiction.net/user/275628/EverfreePony
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/230688/Fair+Play