Hitpony

Back at the store again. Everything had worked itself out last night. I hid my stuff away once I got home, and then that was that. When I got the newspaper in the morning, like I usually do, I saw nothing about a murder, so that's good. I always liked to keep informed, just in case there was suspicion and I had to go silent. Caution never killed anypony.

So I just sat here with some coffee that I had got from the local shop. I really like ponies who work there. They are always very kind to me. I know that they work in service and that's kinda their job, but something just feels a bit more genuine about it. Their warm smiles never faltered, and they always seemed nice, no matter what. I can't recall a time where I went in there and one of the workers looked frustrated at all. It was a nice place to hang out and enjoy some breakfast.

But for today, I wanted to spend the morning at the office. I wasn't feeling up to the minimal social interaction that would take place at the coffee shop. If I was there, I would feel obligated to talk to somepony. Otherwise eating there has no purpose.

Today seemed like it was going to be a good day. It was a warm day in fall. The leaves had just begun to change colors, but they hadn't started to fall down so they didn't cover the ground. Once the leaves start falling then I want nothing to do with it.

Just then two ponies walked in. Looking at them I could clearly tell that they were brothers. Their fur was a yellow and their manes were red with white stripes. They both wore blue and white striped suits with black bowties and had straw hats on. The only difference between the unicorn twins was that one had a red mustache. They looked around the place as they walked up to the counter.

"How may I help you two today?" Standard greeting as usual. They both turned to me, realizing that I had said something.

"We're looking for Scarred Shadow." Said one of them. By now they had both reached the counter.

"You're looking at him." I'll admit that I was in a pretty good mood today. It felt kinda weird.

"There's a mare who's been ruining all of our business. Anytime we try to sell something, she ruins it for us." Wonderful story, I don't care.

"Where do I come in?"

"We need you to get her to leave us alone."

"That's a pretty vague request. Details would be nice."

"You know the big apple orchard? She lives there." This really wasn't doing too much for me.

"What do you want me to do specifically?" At this they stopped to think for a moment.

"How about you break into her house and destroy the place." Finally something I can work with.

"Alright. What about leaving a message? Should I leave some sort of note or something so that she knows it's you two?"

"Yeah, I like that. Say ... 'Don't get in our way. F and F.'"

"What do you mean by say? Like should I leave a piece of paper or carve it into the wall?" These ponies suck with details.

"Just nail a piece of paper onto the wall."

"Alright." I opened a drawer of my desk top grab a piece of paper, a quill, and some ink. I put them on the desk and pushed them over to F and F. "Just write it down and I'll bring it with me." One of them grabbed the quill in his mouth to write down the note. Before he could finish I asked the other one "Do you happen to know anything about her schedule? Like is there a time when the house would be empty or am I going to have to figure that one out?"

"She's  been asked to help cater for that big party. Her whole family will be there so you got an open window."

"Ah yes, the big town whatever the hay it's called. Good. So yeah that'll be ... oh I don't know ... 200 bits." The other brother produced several bags of coins and lay them on the counter. I reached over and pulled them over to my side of the counter. I assumed that they had the right amount of bits in them, both because I don't feel like counting and I trust that somepony wouldn't try to cross me, being a hitpony and all. I put all of the bags into the drawer and then wrote down some numbers into my little transaction booklet. At this point, he had finished writing the note, which he gave to me.

"Okay. I'll go over tonight and do the job. You two make yourselves scarce and have an alibi." The brothers nodded their head in unison, and walked out the door without another word.

I picked up my newspaper again and took a sip from my coffee, which was still warm. That was more difficult than it needed to be. I should put a sign up that says "Please be direct and specific with what you need." It would also come in handy when somepony needs something and can only describe it as "the thing that ___". It takes a solid 10 minutes to figure out what they're talking about.

I looked through the rest of the newspaper and saw nothing that I cared about, so I threw away the paper. I took the bit out of my saddlebags and looked at it for a second, before setting it back down on the counter. I thought about the job that I was about to do. I'll leave sometime around sunset and then hopefully they're gone by then, and hopefully they stay at the party for a while.

And there they go. Four ponies walked away from the farmhouse and towards town. I watched them from a safe distance in the apple orchard. The sun had already started to go down, and it was getting pretty dark. Well, time is of the essence. I don't want to risk them coming back early and seeing me destroying their house. That wouldn't go over too well.

I got up from behind the tree that i was sitting next to and made my way over to the barn/house/whatever. The farm was huge; no wonder whoever those two were had a competition with these ponies. Then again, it's pretty hard to compete with a farm this size, I'm surprised that they're even in business. I walked up to the front door and tried the handle to see if they had left it open. Nope, looks like I'll have to find another way in.

After checking all of the surrounding doors and windows, I knew I needed an alternative way in. I picked up a rock that was laying next to the front steps and, after a quick check of my surrounding, hurled it through the window. I carefully climbed through the window making sure not to cut myself on the glass that was left on the window. I looked around and saw that I was in the living room.  I walked over to the entrance of the house and took out the note that "F & F" had given me. I also pulled out a hammer and nail and hung up the note on the wall so that it was painfully noticeable. Well it was a big house, and I had better get to work.

I walked into what appeared to be a young fillies room by the chest full of toys on the far wall. I wasted no time in getting down to work, throwing the lamp off of the table and shattering it into many pieces. I then turned to the chest to go and rip apart some of the toys.

"WHAT IN TARNATION?" I heard somepony shoutfrom downstairs.

Oh shit oh shit. They're home. I've gotta make a quick escape. I panicked as I heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. I turned to the window, opened it, and climbed onto the roof. I creeped towards the edge and looked over. I saw a pile of hay a little ways away from the house. Inside I heard some more yelling, but I paid no attention. I took in a breath, and leaped for the pile of hay. I landed in the pile with a thump. Pain shot out through my back. I pulled myself up and started sprinting as fast as I could into the woods. Behind me, I heard a door slam and hoofs hitting wood.

I ran on without looking back knowing that somepony was chasing me. I pushed on and tried to block out the pain. Behind me I heard my pursuer screaming a torrent of colorful language at me, but I paid no attention. I heard the pony catching up to me, as I started to sweat and lose my breath.

Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground hard. My saddlebags fell off and the wind was completely knocked out of me. I rolled over and looked up to see an orange mare with a blonde mane pinning me down.

"JUS' WHAT DO YOU THINK YER DOIN' TO MY HOUSE?"

I was sweating profusely from fear and exertion. I saw out of the corner of my eye my saddlebags laying next to me.

"WHY IN CELESTIA'S NAME WERE YOU VANDALIZING MAH HOUSE? WHAT IS YER PROBLEM?"

I kept eye contact with her as I reached out a hoof to try and grab my saddlebag. I felt around and finally managed to get a firm grip on it.

"WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST OUR FAMILY? DO YO--" Her voice cut out as my saddlebag hit her across the face. She recoiled back and was leaning to the side. I took both my hooves and shoved her to the ground off of me. Then I stood up and hit her across the face again with my saddlebag. This time she screamed out in pain and brought a hoof up to her face. I slung my saddlebag across my back and leaned in close to her face.

"Don't come looking for me you bastard" I whispered into her ear. I turned around and sprinted away into the night. This time I did not hear anypony following me, so I slowed my pace a bit.

After a while I stopped and rubbed a hoof on my stomach, and looked at it to see that I was bleeding a bit. I decided it would be better to keep going and worry about it later.