Hitmare: Retribution
Written by Marc Johnson
Edit by QuackmanBrony
The cold, piercing rain fell from the heavens, drenching my short white mane and grey coat. Lightning cracked and illuminated my surroundings, if only for a moment. I stood perched on a rickety scaffolding affixed to the town hall that was being used for renovations. Inside, an older creme mare with a graying mane sat behind a large desk covered in stacks of paper. She opened a drawer and retrieved a bottle of scotch along with a large stack of cash. She took a deep whiff of the stack before pouring herself a tall glass of scotch. After downing the glass she pressed a large red button at the head of the desk and soon after a short light blue mare trotted in.
"Yes miss mayor," the mare said quietly.
"Have you finished fixing those documents I sent down this morning?" The mayor inquired.
"Yes I have but I think you should reconsider. If we keep taking so much somepony is bound to catch on. If we scaled down and just took two percent each quar--" The mare was rudely interrupted.
"You worry too much, that is why I'm the mayor and you're my accountant. Send them to the council immediately," she said before spinning around to face the window. The blue mare took that as a cue to leave and exited out the door.
Normally I'm not a mare to contemplate morals or ethics, a job is a job. This one was different. With the industrial revolution winding down, big business emerged and with it came corruption on a global scale. In a better time, a pony could work hard and make enough to support their family. As time went by the bit got shorter and shorter; times became hard for everypony. Foals went hungry, hard working ponies lost their houses to the banks. They told us capitalism was a good thing. That it would give us the freedom to live as well as we wanted. They lied.
Ponies like the mayor had the whole thing rigged from the start. Extortion, embezzlement, and corporate espionage were all common occurrences. They sat back and laughed as their fortunes grew while others suffered. From atop their thrones they made life increasingly harder for their fellow ponies. Ponies like her deserve nothing less, tonight she dies.
I took the last pull from my drenched cigarette and started to make my way around the building. The mayor was so preoccupied with her precious money that I probably could have walked right in without her noticing, but nevertheless I needed to keep a low profile. After a few minutes I finally made my way to the window directly behind her desk. The window was open and slightly ajar, just as my Intel said it would. I retrieved a syringe and three small bottles of liquid from my suit. Each bottle had a colored tape wrapped around it to distinguish which was which. Red means dead, blue meant unconscious, and green was something special just for me. If I was compromised or wounded I could give myself a shot of pure adrenaline, to either escape or take as many of them with me as possible. The lethal dose for the Red was twenty milliliters but I always use thirty, just in case. After filling the needle I gave it a small flick and clenched it tightly in my mouth. With the utmost care, I slid in through the window and gingerly moved toward the mayor. She was whistling a cheerful tune while counting her blood money, completely oblivious to my presence.
I quickly wrapped my hoof around her mouth and jammed the syringe deep into her neck, pumping the deadly toxins straight into her jugular. She struggled for a few seconds, jerking and trying to scream but to no avail. In her last moments she wiggled free just enough to hit a button cleverly placed underneath her desk. It didn't take a genius to know what that was, a panic button.
Thinking quickly I sat the mayor up at her desk and slid my silenced .45 caliber pistol out of its holster. I bolted for the door and stood to the side, holding the pistol at head level. Like clockwork, the light blue mare walked in right into my sights.
"May--" was all the mare was able to say before the .45 caliber round entered her face, the hollow points dragging chucks of brain and skull fragments out the back side with it. Her lifeless body dropped to the ground with a loud thud. From down the stairs, I could hear shouting accompanied by the glow of Tac lights dancing across the walls. Party time.
With the few remaining seconds I had, I slammed the door shut and took position near the mayors desk. As soon as I heard them reach the door I fired a few rounds blindly through the door before jumping to the side. From the sound of it, I hit one and in return the squad opened up their submachine guns turning the door into a slice of swiss cheese and giving the mayor a full pound of lead. When I heard the click of empty magazines I ran to the far side of the room as to position myself in the doors blind spot. As I pulled out my matching pistol I watched as the barrel of an MP5 pushed the door open followed by three ponies. They stormed through in a tight formation making for easy shots. Their Tac vests were no match for the .45 rounds that just tore straight through them, each one received at least three rounds to the chest and one was lucky enough to get a head shot. I hit the magazine release and let them fall to the ground then slammed two new ones in. No need to pick them up, I've got plenty back at home.
I leaned down to one of the guards and my horn let off a faint white glow. Slowly I watched as my coat changed from a light grey to a deep blue. I grabbed his uniform before stashing his body behind a large file cabinet. The moment they find that body my spell will be broken so I didn't have much time. I grabbed one of the guard's MP5s and a couple mags and attached them to the vest. I started to make my way down stairs to see the leader of security searching for me with four other bucks.
"Star Shine, where is the rest of your squad?" The leader asked.
"They're dead, the assassin just jumped out the window." I lied.
"Everyone outside now!" he shouted as his troops started to file out of the town hall. He kept his eyes locked on me, studying my every move.
"Star Shine, you said that your whole team is dead right?"
"Yes sir, it was a fucking bloodbath. I survived out of dumb luck."
"Well what are those on your vest," he said pointing at the group of bullet holes. He lifted his gun to fire but before he could pull the trigger I pushed his safety down. His face was priceless as I put a bullet right between his eyes. Damn, that was close.
Being careful to avoid detection, I slipped out of the town hall. I reached the train station and promptly discarded my vest and the MP5 in a nearby trashcan. Right on time the midnight train rolled into the station. After checking for onlookers I deactivated my disguise and stepped onto the train. The place was dead aside from a mother and her foal, who gave me a strange look as I sat down about ten seats away from them. After a few minutes, the trains gears kicked in and produced a sharp sequel before starting up. The magical gears sped up and began to push the train back to Canterlot, my home.
In other news, the mayor of Ponyville was brutally murdered last night along with her accountant and five members of a private security company. Police currently have no leads on the assailant but they're working diligently to bring them to justice. The only clue they could uncover was quite disturbing and confusing. Of all the bodies, one was hidden behind a filing cabinet for some reason. Upon further investigation, officials believe it was a was a political assassination due to the questionable ties the major has to Marsanto, a major player in the biotech field. A review of her records showed that the mayor and her accountant have been embezzling large amounts of bits from the city over the last eight years.
I sat in my dark one-room apartment with a smoke hanging out of my mouth, listening to the news go on about my latest job. In front of me floated my pride and joy, two stainless steel AMT hardballers. Many would call them a hiccup in the M1911 series of pistols, but i can tell you first hoof that they're ignorant to their true beauty. One major defect in their design was that the lubrication technology at the time of development was not up to par. This would cause excessive jamming and was a nightmare when using hollow points. Mine were custom models with a polished nickel finish along with a polished feed ramp making use of hollow points a breeze. They both featured silencers and required very tedious upkeep; some parts were prone to breaking and not interchangeable with other M1911s. After each job, I completely stripped them down, cleaned and lubricated them, and replaced any part that looked too worn. Never want to chance having a gun fail in the middle of a fire fight. Better safe than sorry.
My apartment was compact, only featuring a T.V., refrigerator, and my wall of toys. A dark gray rack hung from the wall adorned with a few masterpieces of gunsmithing ingenuity. Over the years I had amassed enough submachine guns and assault rifles to support a small army, but only the best of the best make the rack. My M4A1 was one that made the cut. Back when I started out I had a job up in Marealand that didn't go so well. Long story short I had to shoot my way out of a heavily fortified C.O.L.E. base. I found it hanging on a post outside the little bucks room. Without it I never would have made it out and since then I've had a special connection with it. Come to think of it I'm more attached to my guns then I've ever been to another pony. The closest thing I ever had was Diana and I've never even seen her.
From across the room, my laptop started beeping signifying an incoming transmission. I sat down and hit a couple buttons and the room filled with Diana's sensual voice.
"Good morning 47. After watching the news I see everything didn't go according to plan last night?"
"Negative. The whole op was blown. How did your informant forget to mention the mayor had a panic button? And what of the security? This was supposed to be a quick get in, get out deal." She could probably feel my anger pouring through the screen.
"It appears as though the Intel was compromised. We're not sure if they found out and bumped up security or somepony on our end tipped them off. I've been investigating into our own agency for sometime but haven't found anything substantial. The payment from your last job has been wired into your account and I have a new job if you're ready."
"Patch me through."
"Okay. Your target is on the board of directors for the Marsanto Biotech research company. Our client has provided us with blueprints to the building and a full security outline. Our client is being strong-armed into a business deal with your mark and needs him dealt with. The client doesn't care how you do it as long as it's not too quick. As always you will receive a bonus for being discreet. Good luck 47."
With a short buzz the transmission ended.
***
Ding. Every few seconds the room would chime as we passed another floor. Ding. In front of me was a cart with rubber gloves and an assortment of cleaning supplies. Ding. The janitor made it too easy. He even had a key card with the second highest level security clearance for the building. I gave him some sleepy serum and tossed him in the dumpster. Hope he wakes up before he gets thrown in the compactor tomorrow morning. That would be a shame. I pulled out my PDA to take one last look at the floor plan. Only security detail had clearance for the top floor so I needed one of their cards or to find another way up. The IT office was down the hall so that might be a better option. The final ding sounded as the doors slid open to the twenty second floor. I slowly pushed my cart out into the hall and surveyed the floor. Everything looked clear but my Intel clearly noted that two patrols made their way along this floor.
I pulled my baseball cap down over my face and started off towards the server room. It was late so most of the cubicles on this floor were empty, aside from a small mare tapping feverishly on her computer in the corner. I reached the server room without seeing any guards but I was sure that wouldn't last long. I pushed the door open to find a massive buck playing some shooting game on his computer. His desk was covered in empty soda cans and his keyboard had a thick coat of orange cheese on it. "Damn engineers!" he shouted before realizing my presence. "O hey Barry, what are you doing here? Need a new GPS tracker for your broom?" He joked before before being knocked out by the butt my pistol. Thank Celestia for his rolling chair, without it I wouldn't have had a chance at moving him.
I exited his game and searched for the key card program. After a few minutes I found it and slid mine into the port on his machine. A slight buzz came from the machine and a 'success' message appeared on the screen. Wasting no time I pushed the buck into the far corner and started off toward stop number two, the fuse box. On the way I ran into a patrol of security mares.
"Hey Barry, how's it going?" One asked.
"It's going I guess," I replied.
As I passed by the group one mare stared me down. I had fooled the other two but I think he knew something was up. I turned the corner and got to the stairs as fast as I could. Before I went in I waited to see if the mare was following me. After a few seconds of nothing I slid inside and closed the door behind me. There was no way this cart was gonna make it upstairs and it wouldn't help anyway, Barry didn't have clearance. I retrieved my pistols and M4 from inside the cart and screwed a silencer on the rifle. My M4 wasn't very subtle but the silencer helped conceal its bang. This baby was a work of art. On the side was a dual Tac light/laser sight for target acquisition along with a red dot sight on top. A flip-up rifle sight was on the other side for Mid-to-Long range combat. This bad boy isn't a sniper rifle but it can definitely reach out and touch somepony.
Being extra careful I peeked my head out and checked for guards. With the coast clear, I made the short trip from here to the fuse box. With my multi-tool, I pried the fuse box open and located the set for this floor. I placed a little piece of tech I had created myself over the fuses, a timed fuse disruptor. It could be used on virtually anything electronic and gave me a unique tactical advantage. With the device in place, I turned my attention to my PDA. This thing was pure genius. It worked off the heat signatures that everypony gave off and gave me a rough map of their locations. From the looks of it, my mark was in a room with four other ponies in close proximity.
The last thing on my agenda was my escape route. With great care, I moved through the top floor, dodging patrols left and right. From the map, I saw the room I was in now had a balcony right beside my mark's office. When the coast was clear I moved toward the door and went outside. The rain was pouring down; since this bullshit started it seemed to rain all the time. I looked at my watch and attached a fast rope to the adjacent balcony. Three, two, one, buzzzzz! The lights flickered for a moment then went out completely. From the other room, the terrified screech of mares filled the air.
"Calm down girls. I'll figure out what’s going on." From the sound of his voice that was my mark. From the other room the guards had turned on their Tac lights and were searching for me. The buck went over to his desk and pushed a button near the top. "Chief, what's going on down there?" No response. I got myself hooked into my fast rope and climbed out onto his balcony. While hanging over the edge I tossed a couple coins up and they made a loud *ting* as each hit the ground. "What was that?" The buck said before going to investigate.
As soon as I felt him close enough I shot up and wrapped my hooves around his neck. With a quick jerk, I tossed him and myself off the balcony and quickly started falling towards the ground. I released him a few floors down and started to slow myself. He hit a few seconds before me but exponentially harder. His crumpled up body didn't look much different but I was sure he'd broke every bone in his body. I made my way to the extraction point but stopped short. I passed by the dumpster that I threw Barry in and decided to lift him out and set him on the loading dock. He didn't deserve being crushed to death.
Expert Analysis
The hum of an old buck's electric wheelchair filled the grand hall as the night rain steadily fell outside. Every few moments a flash of lightning could been seen through the massive stained glass windows that lined each wall. Massive concrete pillars reached from the ceiling and met the shiny floor, adorned with a complex pattern of geometric shapes. The grey buck slowly cruised down the hall in his chair accompanied by a light blue mare with a swooping blue mane. She walked with such grace as she followed, bringing a shimmer of light to the otherwise dreary room. She had a notepad tucked beneath her wing and a trio of dragonflys swirling about on her flank.
The grey buck retrieved a small cloth from his coat pocket and hacked into it fiercely before turning to the blue mare. "I understand you're here to learn about 47." He said before hacking into the cloth once more.
"Yes, I'm writing a report on her involvement with the Maresanto Corporation," Flitter said in a surprisingly firm voice.
"Well you've made the right choice coming to me. I was the lead investigator for the Celestial Defense Unit and founder of Operation White-Wash. After Equestria's industrial spike, small mercenary cells began to pop up which excelled at stealth assassinations. We'd managed to catch a few but the killings just got worse. In the five years following the spike, 'accidental' deaths went up by 500%. The public was in a panic. The royal sisters decided something had to be done. The CDU became the main line of defense against these organizations. We spent countless hours tapping phones, doing surveillance, and launching counter measures during events we suspected they would strike." The buck paused for a moment to catch his breath and continued. "One organization we followed very closely was The Agency. From what we can tell, they're the best of the best. They're cold, calculating, and damn hard to catch. Unlike their competition, we've yet to bring one of them into custody alive. Now you're here to learn about Agent 47 but I must warn you, her story is not a simple one. She was different. I have knowledge that nopony should know, but I will share it with you if that is your wish. Are you ready?"
The buck sat silently awaiting a response. Flitter sat for a moment contemplating her decision before giving a determined nod.
"Good. Well I guess the next question I have is where do you want to start?"
"The best place would be from the beginning. I would specifically like to know about her connections with Maresanto."
"Ahh, Maresanto. What a dirty bunch of liars. I guess that would be as good a place as any to start. As you know, Equestria has changed greatly in the last decade. For years, Equestria received all its power from magical gems. Gems are not innately powerful, they needed to be enchanted by a unicorn to become useful. They provided sufficient energy but were expensive to produce, and a unicorn’s magic is far from endless. Then came the discovery of coal." The last word brought a look of disgust to his face as they reached their destination. The pair arrived at a small table that sat atop a small granite staircase. The mare took her seat and admired the beautiful stained glass window to her right for a moment. The masterpiece featured Celestia raising the sun with her mighty power. The buck’s hacking broke the mare from her gaze. She sat her note pad down and waited patiently for the sickly buck to continue.
"Let me ask you a question miss, who has control of the magic?"
"Well the unicorns of course." she responded.
"Wrong. All ponies are magical."
"How so?"
"While unicorns have the most physical, tangible power, earth and pegasus ponies magic is much more subtle. Pegasi can walk on clouds and control the weather. Do you understand just how important that is?" Flitter gave him a nod signaling him to continue.
"Earth ponies hold an equally great power. They have a knack for anything agricultural. As they say 'Let them plant it, and it will grow'. As you've probably already realized, together Pegasi and earth ponies could completely control the food supply at any given moment. This didn't sit well with some of the more elite and wealthy unicorns of Canterlot. With a dumb-founding bankroll behind them, Maresanto opened their doors and started playing God. Are you familiar with Biotechnology, Flitter?"
She lifted her head from writing to give him a small nod, then went back to scribbling on the pad.
"Biotech is the practice of genetically modifying an organism to suit the meddler's needs. They started simple enough; creating corn that could yield twice the product in half the time. Making tomatos that naturally defended against bugs and disease. At this point, the scientist saw just how far they could take biotech. They'd just let Pandora out of the box, and couldn't be happier. They started off testing on small animals, making them faster and stronger. Every time they tweaked a life form’s genetic makeup, they would encounter many complications. One incident I remember clearly from their second year of operations. Can you imagine a cute little bunny slaughtering a whole room of scientists?" The buck dropped a creme folder on the table and took a sip from some contraption connected to his chair. Flitter slid the folder over and looked through it tensely. The folder had a full case report along with a series of crime scene photos. The white room had broken glass everywhere and the walls were covered in dark red blood, as if the animal had literally tried painting the room with its victims. She looked through every photo but couldn't find one with any bodies.
"I don't get it, where are all the bodies?" She asked curiously.
"There were twelve of them." He reached over to the photos and waved his hoof all over the room, pointing out different blood spatters and piles of gore as 'bodies'. It took all the mare had to keep her lunch done after making this gruesome revelation. After a few moments, she regained her composure and closed the folder. The buck took that as a sign to get back to his story.
"As you can see playing with genetics can have a very bad outcome. Maresanto Corp didn't even blink at the incident. The next day a fresh set of scientist were back in the lab trying to figure out what went wrong. The bunny escaped and hasn't been caught to this day. The board members decided it was time to go deeper. Gene splicing experiments became the norm for a while. They worked tirelessly attempting to fuse all different types of creatures together, taking the best aspects of each and forcing them into the final product. The most intriguing I'd heard about was Unicorn X Dragon. Apparently all subjects were deemed 'failures', but I wouldn't doubt they’d keep it a secret if they were successful. They were shooting for a unicorn with a scale hide that could breath fire. They also wanted wings for obvious reasons." The buck stopped for a second to catch his breath.
"At this point, the unicorns ruled the food industry. Earth ponies were no longer needed to tend the land so they became the main brute workforce for Equestria. They were subjected to long hours in horrible conditions. On top of that, they weren't even paid enough to feed their families."
"But if earth ponies are so great a growing stuff, why didn't they just grow their own food?"
"A good question. When Maresanto began producing its genetically modified seeds they patented them. The legal system is a fickle mistress, my dear. The Corporation hired goons to enforce their patents against the earth pony farmers. When a plant produces pollen the wind blows it away and takes it to another plant to pollinate it. If they found even one plant on a pony’s that was pollinated by theirs, they would sue them into the ground. So most gave up. Soon after, Maresanto’s entry into the market, we started seeing a series of crimes and began to link them together. We later realized we had something much bigger on our hands than a few killers. A whole network of highly trained and effective assassins had formed right under our noses. Our research shows they had been around for the last few decades, growing in strength and numbers. We don't know how their numbers rose so quickly without us noticing. Agent 47 was the star player in their arsenal. She’s quick, mostly discrete aside from a few 'incidents', and a stellar marksmare. Some say she could hit a bit at a thousand yards in the rain. This is the report on the first case we could link her to." The buck slid another folder over which the mare flipped through and studied its pages carefully.
***
"Good evening 47, I trust you've been briefed on how this works. My name is Diana and I will be giving you your assignments for the duration of your employment. Payment will be directly deposited into your offshore account. Bonuses will be awarded for being extra discrete. Any questions?"
She took my silence as a no and continued.
"Your first target is an earth pony politician that goes by the name Justice. He is the head senator for the Earth party but has been accepting large sums of money to misuse his position. His known ties to Filthy Rich have left him in bad standing with the majority of his colleagues in all three parties. He helped to pass the Biotech Research Act and outsourced thousands of jobs to the Zebra Badlands. Our client requests that he die slowly, to take a moment to think about the lives he’s ruined."
Diana paused for a moment while my laptop began pulling up different pictures and building schematics. The left side pulled up the picture of a dark brown buck with a white mane. Under the picture was a short description and a list of random details I could use to my advantage. His favorite foods, hangouts, and everyday habits. The last space gave a detailed medical history including surgeries and different medications he's been taking.
"The hit will take place at a dinner party for the elite of Canterlot. The event is being hosted by none other than Blueblood. The mansion sits atop a rolling hillside surrounded by a large spiked fence. The event is invite only and we've secured one just for you. However, once inside you'll need to disguise yourself. The door buck may not notice you’re not of the upper class, but the other ponies sure will. There are two secondary targets noted in your briefing files. Only engage them if it will not interfere with your primary objectives. The party starts at nine. Good luck 47."
The transmission ended with a small burst of static as the connection severed.
***
The manor glistened in the moonlight as snow slowly fell to the ground. The contractors spared no expense to make this mansion a work of art. The front side was lined with large windows separated by tall white pillars. Elite ponies were arriving in the finest carriages in all of Equestria, as was I. As we approached the gate, a husky brown pony with an assault rifle slung across his back signaled for us to stop. My driver handed over my invitation, and after a few seconds he nodded to the other guard. The gates slowly creaked open for us to go through. I noted the front gate wasn't going to be an option for my escape unless I wanted to become a swiss cheese pony. My driver let me out at the front door before pulling off back toward the front gate.
The outfit I choose was far from subtle, but would fit in quite well with Canterlot's elite. I was sporting a jet black evening gown with deep red accents. My mane was tied up in an elegant twisted bun with two red metal spikes keeping it together. As I entered the mansion, a buck in a tuxedo offered me a tray of hors d'oeuvres, to which I politely declined. I soon found myself standing in the largest room of all. In the middle of the room was a grand piano that sat empty with a giant crystal chandelier overhead. A large circular staircase stood to my left reaching up to the second story. The walls were lined with fine portraits of several different ponies. Some I recognized as generals, others looked like politicians. There was one pony that had more paintings than any other in the room, Blueblood himself. The feeling of pompous self-righteousness was thick in the room, each attendee congratulating each other on jobs well done and boasting about their own personal accomplishments.
The chatter died down quickly as a small dark grey mare with a mane of gold slowly made her way to the grand piano. She was wearing a stunning white evening gown with a small golden trim. I quickly noticed her as one of my secondary targets for this job, Short Strings. Apparently, after becoming a famous concert pianist, she began to dip her hooves into underground crime. She was from a broken family, leaving all the resources for corruption close at hoof. She opened her music book and began to tap her hooves on the array of keys before her. The sound that she produced was magnificent, filling the manor with its joyful tune. Slowly, her horn let off a faint blue light before strengthening. The beam poured up onto the chandelier which scattered the light all across the room. She filled the space with all the colors of the rainbow, but slowly the tone of her piece darkened, the tempo dropped and the colors shifted to their darker opposites. I couldn't help being caught in the performer’s snare like every other pony in the room. The lights dimmed as she played her final note, and rose to the sound of a hundred hoof claps. She bowed to her audience and exited through the door to her left. Soon after she left, Blueblood took the stage and approached the microphone.
"That was some show, wasn't it?" He asked the crowd, to which he received a short clap. "The next piece begins in twenty minutes and you will not want to miss this one, trust me." He has no idea. Blueblood left the stage and rejoined his group at a table close by. He began conversing with Justice, my main target, and an assortment of arm candy mares he'd probably had flown in from exotic regions. There was one mare in the group that stood out. She was shorter than the rest but absolutely stunning. The others had nothing on her. The white unicorn was wearing a beautiful gown fit for a royal, which went perfectly with her curly purple mane. Her elegance was astounding. I had seen her before on posters all over Equestria. Her name was Rarity and she was one of the biggest names in fashion this country had ever seen. Since then, she'd been hired on by Maresanto as Head of Public Relations. I took a seat nearby and eavesdropped for a bit, knowing whatever I picked up would probably be quite interesting.
"Well my darling, you see, we can't just let anypony have access to our technology. The profit margin is much too high to ever contemplate letting our competitors in on it. Besides, we invented the technology so it is our decision whether to share or not," Blueblood said in a self-entitled tone.
"So you're saying we have the power to feed all of Equestria, but we won't because of the potential profit?" Rarity shot back.
"That is exactly what I'm saying. They controlled the food supply for the last thousand years. Why should we give them biotechnology? So they can become the controllers again? We unicorns are the superior race, why shouldn't we be treated that way?" This statement received nods from most ponies in proximity to him.
Rarity turned to Justice and directed the next statement towards him. "With these ludicrous new laws you've put in place, farmers can't survive on their own. If they even become remotely successful, you send your goons to shut them down. The whole situation is absolutely dreadful." Her face showed a look of disgust as she took a sip from her mixed drink.
"Miss Rarity, the laws we've passed have been absolutely necessary. If they have a plant on their farm that was pollinated by Maresanto, that plant is Maresanto’s property. Stealing is stealing, no matter which way you slice it," Justice said while slicing into a fresh cherry pie.
"Stealing?! So by your logic if I slip my ring into your bag without you knowing, you've stolen it." The mare was clearly getting quite agitated.
"In that case no, but as it applies to agriculture yes." Justice said with a smug look of satisfaction.
"So you would rather have a hard working farmer go to jail and his family go hungry, as opposed to losing a few bits!?"
"Precisely, and would you please calm down, you're upsetting the guests with your liberal jibber-jabber." Blueblood spouted. Oh no, he just fucked up big time.
"Why you little---!" Rarity shouted while swing her hoof towards Blueblood. The slap either hit him so hard or caught him by surprise that he fell straight out of his chair. The other guest stared wide-eyed as the white mare stormed off. As she passed by, we locked eyes and I could see the tears starting to form.
I took the moment of confusion to make an unnoticed exit. My file on Justice said he was deathly allergic to Storm Stalk, a popular seasoning found only in the Everfree Forest. To those affected, Storm Stalk would cause death within minutes, and it was a quite painful process. The body attempts to fight the foreign substance but unknowingly helps the toxins circulate quicker. Once the toxin finds the stomach, it fuses with the stomach acid ducts and orders them to produce a higher, much more potent digestive fluid. The acid quickly eats away the stomach lining causing ruptures into the rest of the body. Death quickly follows. My best bet would be to acquire a waiter outfit and hand deliver the trap. Seeing most of the waiters coming and going from the second floor, I climbed the circular staircase and scanned the hall for signs of a wash room. All the doors looked the same, and opening each door was out of the question, so I'd have to find another way.To the left of the staircase, two mares on break conversed about one of the stallions below. They looked so close they could have been sisters, with matching coats of green and blue manes.
"I'll be back in a minute, gotta go use the restroom." the left one said. Bingo.
As she started down the hall, I followed from a distance. She turned around once, but I just pretended to admire a portrait that hung beside me. The mare rounded the corner a few steps ahead of me. Once I reached it, I peeked around to see her enter a door to the right. The hall was pretty much empty aside from an armed guard patrolling the whole mansion. I stood outside the door pretending to examine a picture of the princesses, while secretly preparing to knock this mare out. The guard left the hall just in time as the mare emerged just seconds later. I caught her off guard and pushed her back in. We struggled for a moment until I bashed her head upside one of the sinks. She slumped to the ground as I cradled her in my arms. I could still feel a pulse so I hadn't killed her. I dragged her into the stall and proceeded to take her outfit. Her perfume smelled lovely, a mix of oranges and wild berries. I left the stall and purposefully jammed the lock closed before hearing loud hoof steps coming from outside.
"Is everything ok in there?" Some buck asked from outside the door.
"O yes, everything's fine. I just slipped is all." I said in my most lady-like voice.
"Good, well then I'll just come in and assist you."
"No,no. That won't be necessary. I'm fine."
"But I insist!" He said before bursting in with his pistol drawn. I quickly floated both the red spikes from my mane and tossed one at him. It hit his gun and knocked it to the ground before he could get a shot off. I lunged at him with my remaining spike and nicked his cheek, dropping small red dots on the tile flooring. He lowered his head and started to charge me. As he approached I jumped to the side and held out the spike for another slash. Instead of hitting it he spun around and apple-bucked me into oblivion. I hit the wall with a sharp *crack* and fell to the ground. Within seconds the guard was on top choking me. He muttered something about 'having his way with me' before finishing me off. And that was about the time that two deadly sharp spikes rammed into the back of his neck, severing his spinal cord and turning his posture to that of a sack of potatoes. I withdrew my spikes and rolled the heavy buck off of me. There wasn't anywhere left for me to stash his body, so I'd just have to make the room inaccessible. After grabbing his pistol, I cleaned my spikes off in the sink and secured them back into my mane. I love these things, fashionable and deadly effective.
Upon exiting the washroom I purposefully jammed the lock to buy me some time. With a quick look at my PDA I found the stairs to the attic were right down the hall. With a little picking I was able to pop the lock and get to the top floor. To my surprise, the space wasn't filled with fine furniture and trinkets, but large grey file cabinets and personal computers. I rooted around in the file cabinets for a few moments and grabbed a couple files that caught my eye. They weren't one of my objectives, but I'm sure The Agency would be interested in anything I found. Afterwards, I located the main support for the massive chandelier overlooking the piano. It was held up by a thick metal cord that started from the ceiling. I pulled out one of my gadgets made specifically for a situation like this. I clipped the small green box to the middle of the line and primed the charge. This little box will produce a super hot flame when detonated, strong enough to melt the thick cord almost instantly. Doing my best to curb my curiosity, I made my way back to the second floor. That little incident with the guard put me behind schedule so I had to hurry. The show resumed in five minutes and my window of opportunity was closing.
I quickly located the kitchen and ordered up one Gin and Tonic. Justice's file said it was his favorite drink, and I couldn't chance him passing up the beverage. The barpony whipped it up in the blink of an eye, tossing the bottles around and doing all kinds of fancy tricks while pouring. She served it up on a silver tray with some very intricate metal engravings, definitely an earth ponies work. After exiting, I put three drops of Storm Stalk extract in the concoction, more than enough to end him even if he had medicine on hand. The group was still seated at the front-most table, minus the white mare. As I approached I caught the back end of their conversation.
"... And that is why those brutes aren't fit to hold public office. There's no way they could be in a position of leadership without running the country into the ground." Justice continued to spout off about unicorn superiority while the rest nodded their heads in agreement.
"Gin and Tonic, sir," I asked in the most delicate voice I could manage.
"Why yes, how did you know?" He asked.
"Inside tip," I replied, giving him a flirty wink. He sat his drink down and stirred It for a minute before taking a small sip. That's right you bastard, drink up.
Now that all the pieces were in play, it was time to make my exit. Intel said my best bet was an underground walkway leading out through the storage shed out back. The path was designed as an escape route from Blueblood's mansion in the event of an attack. I pulled out a smoke and walked out back casually, as if I was going on break. The back porch was empty aside from a little white unicorn quietly weeping. She immediately noticed my presence and turned to me.
"Please miss, do you have a minute?" She begged.
"Well I'm on a tight schedule..."
"O, but it will only take a moment. Please." She stared at me with those teary eyes and I gave in.
"Okay," I sighed, knowing I could blow the whole mission right here.
"I can't take it anymore. I joined thinking I could make a difference. Make sure every foal has a full stomach regardless what situation the parents were in. Help Equestria become a better nation. The only thing we've done since then is hurt everypony else. We play God everyday and put a stranglehold on the food industry. We make them slave away in the factories for next to nothing. How can I live knowing all I do is hurt ponies?" Rarity asked
"You don't." I replied.
"I don't quite follow."
"All souls will meet their end one day. You can only strive to make up for the evil by doing good. The question is, are you a good pony or a bad pony?"
"I... I just don’t know anymore." From inside I heard the pianist starting her second performance.
"I'm sorry, but I must be going," I said as I rose and began walking toward the shed.
"But I never caught your name!" Rarity shouted at me. Right after I heard the performance suddenly stop due to Justice’s wheezing.
"47," I said low enough that she couldn't hear. I pressed the detonator and trotted off into the snow, the screams of Canterlot's elite sounding like a sweet melody of panic and confusion.
