Deception was bored.

Currently, he was in a staring contest with his wall. The little apartment he rented in Canterlot provided no entertainment. He had read all of his books, and the options outside of his home simply didn’t interest him, with the exception of one. As much as he wanted to go back to the club, he couldn’t just yet.

Regular members could visit whenever they wanted, but he had to wait until he was given permission. For a being such as him, to have a meal held over his head, but unable to be reached, was torture. However, he tolerated it, because each time he went, he could feed so deeply upon his fetish.

Nowhere else in Canterlot, or really even anywhere, could feed him like the club. It was the one reason he offered his services and never complained. For a changeling like him, there was no better deal. Long gone were the days of kidnapping a pony and pretending to be them. Now he could be himself and reap the benefits.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Pushing his grumbling stomach to the side, he got up and looked through the peephole. On the other side was a stallion he recognized as working for the club.

His lips curled up into a smile, showing off his fangs. This is just what he needed, a job to do. Hopefully this one would be exciting. Wasting no more time, he opened the door.

“Report,” he barked out.

“The boss seeks you for a job,” the stallion said. He held out a scroll. “Here are the details, should you choose to accept.”

Deception took the scroll, reading it over. This was a simple job, well within his skillset. “Tell the Boss that I accept, for the usual payment.” He thought a moment. “No, tell the Boss that I want double for this, considering who it is.”

The stallion nodded. “I’ll let him know.” He reached into his saddlebag, pulling out a pouch, the contents inside jingling. “Here’s the items you’ll need.”

Taking the pouch, the changeling inclined his head once. “I’ll get right on it.”

The stallion nodded again, turning and heading down the hallway. Deception closed the door. It wouldn’t take him long to get ready. Heading into the kitchen, he set the pouch down on the table, opening it up. Inside was a number of bits.

Green flames surrounded his body as he adopted his usual disguise. Incognito was the unicorn stallion who rented this apartment. To his neighbors, he was known as a recluse, somepony to be left alone. Only a few ponies knew that Incognito was a created identity. The club had helped him forge things like a birth certificate and other documentation.

Taking the pouch and slinging it around his shoulder, Deception left his apartment. The scroll had contained all the information he needed to know about the job, including where to go. The first stop wasn’t too far away.

Hitting the street, he blinked in the sunlight. It was just after midday, so the streets were teaming with ponies. Some were dressed up in fancy clothing, while others were like him, choosing to forgo that. Nopony paid a stallion coming out of an apartment building any attention.

Pausing for only a moment, Deception joined the flow of traffic heading in the direction he wanted to go. In front of him was a mare, her red mane and tail intricately made up. Her dress was hiked up, showing off her flanks and cutie mark. Smirking, he drank in the sight. These haughty ponies pranced around, trying their best to show off. Who was he to complain about the sights?

Her tail swayed gently from side to side as she walked, offering him tantalizing attempts to see what lay underneath, but always keeping it hidden from view. Using his magic, he tweaked the tail slightly further to the side, making sure to match her movements. For a brief moment, she was on full display to him, her curves coming to a point, her delicate flower nestled between them.

He enjoyed little games like that. They would never fill him in any way, but he could be amused. Briefly, he considered talking to the mare, seeing if she would join him in an alley. Now that he’d seen what she had to offer, he wanted it.

No sooner had he thought about speaking with her, he dismissed the idea. There was a job to be done, and afterwards he could feed all he wanted. The mare was pretty, but not worth delaying what needed to be done.

For several blocks, he continued to tweak her tail, revealing her to him. Either she never noticed, or didn’t care. She turned and looked behind her once, her eyes meeting his. He just smiled at her and inclined his head. No sooner had she turned back around, he moved her tail again.

Eventually, he had to cease the game. She continued down the street, while he had to turn and take a side street. There were fewer ponies on this street, and the buildings were becoming more and more shoddy. Gone were the gleaming streets, replaced instead with detritus, ponies wearing clothes less and less frequently, looking more shabby.

Several more blocks, and he reached his destination. Looking at the building in front of him, he grimaced. While he wasn’t the poster stallion of cleanliness, he had enough standards to where the building disgusted him. It was run down, graffiti scrawled across the walls. Something foul smelling ran down the front wall from a window up above. The whole place smelled of decay and desperation.

Once he opened the door, he realized the inside wasn’t exactly any better. He couldn’t be sure, but the large stain in the middle of the lobby looked like somepony had tried to clean up blood there. Skirting the stain, he headed up the stairs.

A minute later and he was knocking on a door on the third floor. There was the sound of something clattering inside, glass bottles hitting the floor. Hoofsteps approached before the door opened.

On the other side was a stallion, grey with a blue mane. “What do you want?” he asked.

Deception stared at him. “Sharp Shooter?”

Sharp narrowed his eyes. “Who’s asking? Do I owe you money?”

“Not at all. My name’s Incognito. I work for the club.”

At the mention of the club, Sharp dropped the intimidation. “Oh. There another job already? I just got back from escorting Bright a few hours ago.” He stepped aside, indicating for Deception to come inside.

The inside of the apartment was a train wreck. Empty food containers and bottles littered the floor. The whole place smelled rotten. The only clean spot was a single chair, upon which Sharp sat. The stallion looked over at Deception.

“There is another job, but it doesn’t involve Bright,” Deception said. He chose to remain standing, casually kicking a bottle of whisky away.

“Then what kind of job?”

“I work for the club as a cleaner. You know what we do, yes?”

Sharp nodded. “Yeah. You guys go around, getting rid of any problems the club needs removed.”

“Exactly. You’ve wanted to be a cleaner for some time now.”

“Well, yeah. It’s like the perfect job. You get paid more than me, get more privileges than me, and your job is a lot better. You get paid to kill ponies! I want that.”

Deception frowned. “Killing is not all that we do. There are other ways to make problems go away. Bribery and blackmail are other tools of our trade. Intimidation, threats, extortion, we use all of those. Death is but one of our tools.”

“Right. Of course. So, what do you want with me?”

“You want to join the ranks of the cleaners? I’m here to offer you that chance.”

Sharp’s eyes lit up and he leaned forward in his chair. “Really?” At Deception’s nod, he pumped a hoof in the air. “Fuck yeah! So what do I need to do?”

“You’re going to accompany me on a job. I will be evaluating you based on how you perform, and once it’s all over, I’ll make my recommendation to the boss.”

“Sounds good. What’s the job?”

At this, Deception smiled. “It’s your lucky day. There’s a pony that’s been causing trouble for the club. He needs to be eliminated.”

Sharp whistled. “I’m liking this already. Who’s the target?”

Deception opened the apartment door. “I’ll tell you on the way.”

The stallion got off his chair. “Do I need to bring anything with me?”

“No. I already have everything we need.”

Together they left the apartment. When they were in the lobby, Sharp was about to open the door, but Deception’s hoof on it stopped him. “As soon as we hit the street, your evaluation starts.”

With that warning, they stepped out on the street. “Walk with me,” Deception said, turning left and heading deeper into the shady neighborhood.

Sharp trotted up to walk beside the disguised changeling. Deception didn’t say anything, just watching the stallion in his peripheral vision. At first, Sharp was looking at him, like he expected him to say something. At the continued silence, he quickly grew bored and fell into old patterns.

His eyes wandered around the street, looking at the ponies around him. A few he would exchange a wave or nod of the head with, though most got no more than a passing look. However, whenever he came across a mare, his eyes would linger, and he would stare at her.

Deception nudged Sharp. “Keep your eyes on the road. Cleaners are as effective as we are, because we blend in to our surroundings. We don’t draw attention to ourselves when on a job. So stop staring at the mares. You can flirt all you want once the job is done.”

“What’s the harm in looking?”

“Glancing is fine. Being familiar with your surroundings is a good thing. But it becomes a problem when you linger. Staring at a pony only invites them to stare back at you. If they stare, they could remember you. If they remember you, then should the guard come calling, they could give your description. That’s bad.”

Sharp nodded. “Right. Keep the looking to a minimum.”

“Exactly. Remember, we want to call as little attention to ourselves as possible. We’re like ghosts, in and out with nopony the wiser.”

The silence fell, Deception glad that he didn’t have to listen to Sharp’s voice for any longer than necessary. When the stallion spoke up a minute later, the changeling gritted his teeth.

“So what kind of jobs does a cleaner tend to get?”

Taking a deep breath, Deception responded. “It depends. Whatever the boss needs done. Sometimes, like today, then we make a pony vanish permanently. Though that doesn’t always mean killing them. Sometimes, we capture them and bring them back to the club for use in the stocks.”

The changeling made a mental note of a stallion approaching them, but at a look from Sharp he backed off. After a moment, he continued. “Sometimes there’s a white knight guard getting too close to us. In that case, we have to either get him off our trail, or remove him as a problem.”

“How do you decide what to do?”

“We’re given a scroll when we take a job. The scroll contains as much information as the boss can provide us. Everything from names, addresses, job information, family, to financial information, fetishes, as many of their dirty little secrets as we can find out. Using that information we scout out the problem, and form a solution.

“That potential guard problem I mentioned? Maybe he has a sick foal. Offer him enough bits to make that problem of his go away, and he’ll cease being a problem. Or perhaps he’s a family stallion. Pay his family a visit, use them to get to him. Tie him up and threaten his family. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes. There’s no room in this job for morals.”

Sharp smiled. “Oh don’t worry about morals. I don’t have any of those to worry about.”

Deception nodded. “Good. However, that doesn’t mean that you should always harm others. The idea is to find the best solution, not the most convenient one. We want to make problems go away, not just hide themselves only to come back later.”

“What about other cleaners? How many are there?”

“We’re all independant, acting alone. Though sometimes a job can be too big for one pony, so we do team up from time to time. As for how many, I can’t say. Not until you’re one of us.” Deception took a right, heading down another street, Sharp still by his side.

“So, what job are we on now?”

He glanced over at Sharp. “There’s a stallion who’s been causing problems for the club. The boss made the decision on how to handle it this time. This stallion is to be killed.”

“Does the boss decide what actions we take a lot?”

Deception shook his head. “No. Usually it’s left up to us what actions to take. Though sometimes the boss does decide, yes. But generally the boss trusts us to get the job done in whatever manner we see fit.”

“No oversight. I like.” The smile on Sharp’s face was a menacing one. Clearly he was imagining all the things he could get away with.

“Remember that your actions are always being watched. The club has eyes and ears everywhere in this city. If you mess up, if you start drawing attention to yourself, or the club, just remember that the next job a cleaner receives, will be to take you out.”

Sharp dismissed Deception’s words with a wave of his hoof. “Yeah, I got this shit on lockdown. I’ve been wanting this for so long.”

The changeling ignored the stallion’s arrogance. It wouldn’t be long before he was humbled.

Together, they arrived at a plaza near the edge of the city. Just beyond was a platform that extended out, offering a view of the picturesque valley. A railing kept ponies from just wandering off the edge, as it was a long drop to the rocks down below. The plaza itself was home to a small market, ponies offering wares to the tourists who came by here to see the view. Other than a tower in the castle, this was one of the only places to see this view in the city.

Deception stopped in front of an empty bench. “Take a seat,” he said. Somepony had left a newspaper sitting on the bench, so he picked it up, opening it and pretending to read.

“Don’t look at me,” Deception said. “We’re just two ponies sitting on a bench who don’t know each other.” He flipped a page in the paper, eyes scanning across the area.

“Three o’clock, see the stallion with the green mane and a book for a cutie mark? Leaning against a mare.” Sharp nodded. “That’s our target.”

“So now what?”

“Look around you. There’s too many ponies around to do anything right now. So we wait and watch. If he moves, we follow him. When there are no witnesses around, that’s when we make our move.”

“Right. What about that mare? Looks like those two are close.”

Deception turned another page. “Our information says that he’s not married, so that’s probably a marefriend, seeing how close they are. Again, we wait and follow. If they go home together, then we deal with that. Ideally, they’d separate at some point, and that’s when we strike.”

“And how do we dispatch him?”

“However we want. A knife to the heart or throat, magic to choke him, you have to be adaptable. Once he’s gone, we dispose of the body, clean up the mess, and leave. When a job’s done, you always head to the club, report to the boss.”

“Right. So if the mare’s still with him, we can... take care of her, too?”

Deception knew what he was getting at. “Only as a last resort. Being on a job isn’t about your own pleasure. You can get your dick wet on your own time.”

Sharp shrugged. “Eh, I already got some today, anyway. Bright went and picked up this cute little filly. I had some fun in the cart on the way back to the club.” He smirked. “Even asleep she knows how to use her mouth just right.”

“I see,” was the only reply. The changeling went back to reading the paper, one eye watching the stallion. After several minutes of silence, he could tell that Sharp was getting antsy. “Time for you to go act natural. Get up and go browse the stalls. You’re just a pony here looking for a gift for your marefriend.”

Sharp got up and headed towards the nearest stall. Deception had kept his instructions purposefully vague. This would give him an idea of just what Sharp was like when left to his own devices.

He watched as Sharp stood in front of the stall, browsing over the wares offered. He exchanged a few words with the salespony there, before moving on to the next one.

Over the next half hour, he observed Sharp. The stallion was rough, needed a lot of work. He tended to gravitate towards stalls run by mares, and would spend an inordinate amount of time chatting up the mares more than browsing the wares. More than once, he could see a mare’s eyes linger on him as he walked away, usually in disgust. They would remember him.

Twice, he saw Sharp try and steal things. The first time, he fumbled the small object, so he played it off as if he had dropped it, setting it back on the stand and apologizing to the mare there. She just smiled and accepted the act. The second time, he succeeded in tucking a sack of bits into his mane.

Deception grimaced. This Sharp was no good. He was reckless and constantly drew attention to himself. It wouldn’t be long before he was arrested by the guard for petty thievery. Or assaulting some mare.

Finally, Sharp started making his way back over to the bench, taking a seat again. “Easy,” he said.

“I saw some things that could use improvement, but nopony’s perfect on their first run.”

“Now what?”

“The crowd is starting to thin out, it’s getting later. Soon the stalls will close up and ponies will go home. Our target will probably move by then, so we follow.” Deception floated the paper over to a nearby trash can, depositing it there. “I’m going to move closer. Don’t follow me until later. Just sit here and rest.”

The changeling got up from the bench, moving through the market. He paused briefly at some stalls, inspecting what they had on offer. Slowly, he made his way towards the overlook, where the stallion was still sitting with the mare.

Upon reaching the railing, he set his front hooves on the top rail, looking out over the view. He was close enough that he could hear the stallion and mare talking. They were laughing and sharing the occasional kiss.

He smiled, looking out at the view. Nestled down in the green valley was a small town, Ponyville. Beyond that was a large forest. From up here, he could see everything. It was the perfect spot.

Over the course of an hour, the market emptied, ponies closing up their stalls and heading home. Soon, the only ponies left on the overlook were the stallion and his marefriend, and Deception himself. Still those two were wrapped up in their own world.

He felt a presence at his side, looking over to see Sharp there. The stallion was looking at him questioningly. “Not yet. This is too open, too exposed,” he muttered. Sharp nodded, retreating away slightly.

Finally, the stallion stood up, offering a hoof to the mare. Together they walked away, towards a small side street. Sharp attempted to follow, but Deception blocked him with a hoof. “Let them get a little ahead. we’ll still be able to easily see them, and it won’t look like we’re following them.”

The couple entered the side street, before turning a corner and disappearing. “What the fuck?” Sharp said. “They’re gone.”

“Yes, they are. Which is good, because they were never the target at all.”

“Wait, what?”

Deception dropped his hoof, turning to look at Sharp. “As I said, they weren’t the target.”

The stallion was silent for a moment, the gears in his brain twisting. “This was all a test,” he said.

“Yes. I was merely testing you.”

“So, how did I do?” Sharp asked with a cocky grin.

Deception sighed. “You failed.”

“What? How?”

Deception pointed back to the now empty market. “You have patterns. You spend more time chatting up mares than acting subtlely. Based on how I saw those mares acting, they’ll remember you, which is a bad thing.”

The changeling reached his hoof into Sharp’s mane, pulling out the bag of bits. “You also stole from one mare, and tried to steal from another. Petty theft is a great way to get caught by the guard. You’re paid more than enough to not have to resort to that.” He tossed the bag over the railing, where it quickly fell out of view.

“All in all, you draw too much attention to yourself. That’s a bad thing.”

Sharp’s muzzle flapped open. “So... I’m not going to be a cleaner?”

“No.”

“And there was no job.”

“No. There is a job.”

“What’s the job.”

Deception smiled. “You.” Before Sharp could react, he was hit with a stunning spell. His muscles locked up as he stood there, frozen and unable to move. He couldn’t say anything, but his eyes were looking right at Deception, questions in them.

“Those same reasons why you will never be a cleaner, are exactly why I’ve been assigned to take you out. You draw too much attention to yourself, Sharp Shooter. When you go out with Bright, you ignore orders, steal things. You use the merchandise before it even makes it to the club. But worst of all, your loyalty is not absolute. Should you get caught, we believe that you would turn over the club in a heartbeat to save yourself.”

Deception paced around the frozen stallion. “You can thank Bright. She’s the one who brought this to the attention of the boss, and advocated for your disposal.” Using his magic, he picked up the helpless stallion and floated him over the railing, suspending him over the long drop.

Sharp’s eyes were full of fear. If he could talk, Deception had no doubt that he’d be begging for his life. “No hard feelings, it’s just a job. Goodbye, Sharp.”

With that, Deception canceled the spell, sending Sharp falling. He watched the body plummet until it was a mere speck against the rocks. He knew that Sharp’s body would hit the rocks and burst open.

Turning away from the railing, he was about to leave, when he remembered something. Taking off the pouch that he’d gotten with the scroll, he tossed that over the railing as well. “Here, payment for services rendered,” he said. The bits would spill open, mixing with the blood and guts, all that remained of the pony known as Sharp Shooter.

Somepony would find the body at some point. It would look like some poor stallion had managed to fall to his death. No pony would question it. Accidents happen, after all.

Turning away again, he headed back into the city. It was time to see the boss and collect his payment. Spending the night in the company of his favorite little filly down in the club would do him wonders.

Author's Note

I wanted to get this chapter out before I headed out to E3, and here it is. Two more stories are in the works, one being written by a special guest author. So there's still more to come once I get back.