My Little Assassin: Pinkamena's Puzzle

The pony slunk through the undergrowth, belly dragging through the dirt and leaves. She stopped and peered over a particularly large bush and saw an empty clearing.

She knew what that meant. She silently flew up above the trees to take an arial view.

Just as she expected, armed ponies and traps of all kinds fanned out from the center clearing. The pony knew what she was looking for, and this clarified for her that she was right.

The hovering Pegasus wore a shiny, skin-tight, black body suit with a hood and mask. The leather was cut to precisely for the mare, it even covered up her mane and tail and had two separate pieces of fabric around the wings, letting the Pegasus be able to fly if needed.

The only holes in the suit were cut around the eyes, mouth, and nostrils.

Around the assassin's waist was a tool belt that held a set of knives, a compass, a grappling hook with a detachable hook, some explosive grenades and smoke bombs, a dart blower, a gun holder with a gun inside, and an I.D. case that held fake I.D.'s, a typing stylus, a few bits as cash, and a few other small items that might be of importance.

Sewn into the suit was a communication device next to her ear, a microphone by her mouth, and special lenses that would drop over her eyes when needed.

The lenses had night-vision, magnifying glass, long-vision, and a computer for background information about encountered enemies.

The Pegasus above took an explosive grenade from her belt into her mouth. She took a deep breath and pulled the tab, letting the grenade fall.

On instinct, she flew as high as she could to be sure not to be injured. She turned away and used her hoof to shield her face from the blast of light and heat.

When the blast was over, the pony floated downward and carefully checked for any survivors or traps that had yet to be disarmed.

Finding none, she landed and called in on her communication device.

"Solo to base, solo to base. The area is clear, do you copy?" She waited patiently for the response and soon heard a staticky voice.

"That's a copy. Tap Sequence 24-8B is a go, I repeat: Tap Sequence 24-8B, over."

The pony nodded and turned the communication off with a silent click.

The Pegasus tapped in a sequence and backed up into the bushes. The ground began to rumble and shake, and a crack appeared straight through the center axis of the clearing. The crevice grew wider and wider until the shaking came to an abrupt halt. The pony crept hesitantly over to the opening and peered down.

The high-tech lenses automatically switched down over her own rose-colored irises. Even with night-vision, nothing below could be seen.

The mare slowly descended into the depths until she hit the stone floor. She followed the tunnel so long that she lost track of the minutes, but soon a door would appear every so often on the wall beside her.

She soon came to a fork in the road. The pony pulled the tabs on two smoke bombs and rolled one in each direction. One had a maze of red lasers, the other did not.

She smirked through the darkness and began weaving her way through the red beams, taking care not to touch one.

She found herself soon on the last beam, back-bending over the strand of light. Now back on all four hooves, she continued her trek down the corridor.

After minutes of flapping silently down the hall, (she decided that walking was too loud) she came to a dead end.

She felt around with her hooves and found a latch in the wall, meaning that this was a door. The latch was locked, of course, and the Pegasus quickly called back to base.

"I'm at the last door, over." She whispered.

"Tap Sequence 14-6F, I repeat, Tap Sequence 14-6F. Activate keypad code: 451160, over. Oh, and don't mess this up, Newbie."

The mare quickly silenced her call, feathers bristling and with her teeth grit tightly.

I've been doing this for far longer than you have! She thought angrily. She let out a sharp breath and tapped in the correct sequence,  the door sliding away.

Behind the first door was a second, smaller door. It was made of rusty metal with a keypad in the center.

She took the stylus from her pack and typed in the correct code.

She pushed the door open lightly, thankful for there to be an absence of eery creaking.

She quietly stepped inside, holding the gun in her mouth. She raised her lenses up, the few torches in the room gave off enough light.

However, the real prize was in the center of the square room. On top of a lone marble pedestal sat a glass case that held a magnificent diamond.

When light hit it just right at just the right time if year, it cast a moon-like glow and could revive any living being enough to come back to life, even stronger than before.

This gem was worth, in some cases, more than life itself.

The pony crept over to it, stepping over a multitude of trip wires and ducking under touch-sensing traps.

She cut a hole into the thick glass with her knife and slowly extracted the gem. She put it carefully in a case that she had attached to her belt specifically for this mission, and walked back over the trip wires and under the hanging traps.

She was half-way to the door when it slammed shut, and all the torches blew out.

In her shock, she couldn't think to let her lenses down. Instead she was shrouded in darkness, until a lone torch at the far end of the room beyond the pedestal came back to life.

It have off an eery yellow glow, brighter than it had been before.

In the dim light, the mare hadn't seen the large chair, waiting for her.

The blood-red, throne-like chair sat alone, its only company being the mare sitting in it.

A pink earth pony mare with a springy pink mane and tail sat, waiting for her prey.

The Pegasus tried to look unfazed, but couldn't help show the anxiety she was feeling.

Don't mess this up, Newbie. she heard over and over in her mind. Sunset "egghead" Shimmer's words ricocheted around in the mare's brain. She wondered how and egghead could make her want to wet herself from anxiety.

"Hello, Dashie." the earth pony said, her tone like ice. She folded her hooves neatly in her lap and leaned forward ever so slightly. Narrowing her sky-blue eyes she added,

"Long time, no see."