The night was cold.
Freezing.
Red Sparrow curled tighter into a ball, determined to preserve the little body heat he had. clip clop Red Sparrows ears perked up. What was that? He quickly slid out of his curl and into a running stance. clip clop Somepony walking. Red Sparrow too a look around. He was in a pretty narrow ally, littered with trash and scattered paper (you've seen movies). Above him a crescent moon hung ever so tauntingly in the sky, garnered by a wreath of stars. He knew he was in the southern part of Stalliongrad. Very close to the warzone, occasionally the city would shake from bombs in the distance. Sometimes you could find bodies.

From the darkness of the ally he saw the glint of a war helmet. soldiers? Red Sparrow didn't like that. Hes heard the whispers on the streets, rumors perpetuated through both fantasy and truth, but Red Sparrow was pretty good at picking out the true parts of rumors. That was his thing. And it seemed from the local gossip that soldiers were conscripting all stallions and mares above the age of fifteen. A new policy established by the new Elector.

Red Sparrow was older than fifteen.

Red Sparrow had lived on the streets for his whole life. He had starved. Had unquenchable thirst. In the army you got rations for free, and a payment for your service. He knew quite a few ponies that had purposefully been taken away. But Red made sure to keep out of the spotlight. As long as you were invisible, nobody could touch you. It was a little hard for Red, but he had a good head on his shoulders and coupled with his normally weak body by earth pony standards being considered strong by unicorns and pegasi, he could get out of most jams. This was not a jam he could wriggle out of.

Had the guard seen him? Of course he's seen you! He's walking straight towards you! The alley wasn't just a clear path, there was a generator halfway through the narrow corridor, electricity for a small business, it obstructed most view. Their were a few shopping carts littered about as well. It's why he chose this place to sleep- he was invisible. The soldier couldn't have seen him. He must have been walking by, which was why Red Sparrow had heard hoof-steps. He must've given himself away when he stood up. The generator did not fully cover his entire body, and the movement must've drawn the guards eye.

He ducked. Maybe there was still a chance the guard would turn around? Fat chance. He peeked back up, for a better view of the stallion. Now that the guard was closer he could see that the stallion was actually a mare. Her coat was a dark green, with her mane being a muddy-brown, styled into a popular 'back is a braid but the front slopes over' look. She tentatively stepped forward, starting to hoof for the gun strapped over her shoulder.

Thankfully, because of her fear of somepony in the shadows(him), she was making slow progress. He might have enough time to escape. He frowned. No. Maybe if he had a more muted coat, but Red Sparrows coat was a mix of beige and orange(Heavily leaning to the orange side), with a bright red mane. In fact, he slightly envied the mare for her coat. It would be easy for her to blend into the shadows. The only reason he could pick her out was because they were in the more industrial, western side of the city, where everything is brick. Usually he could blend in because of the red brick, but because of the dark night the color difference would be all to seeable. In fact, thinking about it now, on the south side of the city he wouldn't be able to tell the mare apart from the walls.

She slowly creeped forward.

Red Sparrow had to make a move and fast. He had to decide on a plan of action. To get out of this he needed an objective. A single purpose to clear his mind, right? What dont I want? He didn't want to be conscripted. So he had to leave without her seeing. She might not directly conscript him, but she would probably tell her squad leader she had seen me. And if there's one, there's gotta be more. Soon there be a search for conscriptable ponies. Here he had a chance to escape. Their he did not. So how do I do that?
How do I do that?
How do I do that

Up
No pony ever looks up. You always look strait, or down, or side to side. Only up if there's something you already know is in the sky that you want to see. He checked her stance. Hesitant, unsure. A Lot of soldiers walked these streets, veterans, cadets. Veterans carried a sure and haunted feeling where they walked. They were careful, yes, but not hesitant. Hesitation cost lives. Much like the walks of stallions and mares that have been on the streets for a while, Red Sparrow realised. Cadets haven't learned that lesson yet. They hesitate. They aren't hardened by battle, nor tempered by warfare. In short, Their bad. A veteran would probably look up. A cadet, mmm, not so much. But they are trained. Red had to keep that in mind to. A veteran looked up out of instinct, a cadet because they are trained to do it. Because they are told they should do it. But he couldn't operate on ifs.

He glanced at the pony. Closer now. She was only about ten yards away now. Thats bad. Very bad. He had to wait. If he didn't move when she wasn't looking, then she would notice the movement. She was a cadet- not an idiot. He had already noticed how the mare looked over her shoulder every few seconds, as if expecting a shadowy figure behind her. It was just a matter of time. Turn 1...2...3... Turn 1...2...3... Turn 1...2...3...He quickly and silently scaled the generator, trying to stay quite over-head. creak. shit. He could hear it as soon as he leaned on the metal top of the generator. He winced. The mares head snapped forward, now fully pulling out her gun (a PPSh-10) and aiming, and shooting in random directions, eyes wide.
It was painfully hard not to move.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
A series of shots ring through the alley. From up here he could see slightly farther, ponies (forty and above in age) scattering in panic. They think this is a warzone! This was bad. This gave attention. Too much attention. And was that...? Oh shit. Soldiers! More soldiers!? He needed to get out. He looked up at the brick wall above him. Not a great idea to scale. Like most of the buildings in Stalliongrad, it was covered in cracks, and it seemed that there were large chunks of brick missing from the walls (They could make some good hoofholds). He heard the sound of shouting get closer. He looked up. He couldn't scale that. He'd just have to wait and try to stay unseen. Red Sparrow hugged the bottom of the generator so as not to be seen, peering just little to see what was going on on ground level.

A Battalion of soldiers rushed in to the alley, guns aimed at the mare. They quickly surrounded her in a neat circular formation.

The mare instantly dropped her gun and made a sound that closely resembled a "Eep!"

The panic of the initial gunshots had seemed to have faded and one of the soldiers asked something.
"Murky Reed?"

...
...

"Yeeess?" Responded the mare.
"Ugh."
The Stallion looked at the others and started speaking, waving his hoof in Murky's direction. "It's alright guys, this is one of the new cadets we got transferred. Must have had a gun misfire." The soldiers collectively sighed and rolled their eyes.

The Battle was over.

They quickly fell into a straight line and stomped back out to patrol the streets.
"What an idiot..."
"...I can't believe this mare..."
"Ugh"

Slowly their voices faded away into the background of the night.
Red Sparrow was about to get up, but he heard the shuffle of a hoof and layed back down, not wanting to get caught. He turned his head towards where the pony was and tried to strain his ears.
"...ers nothing here, Reed! There's no one here!" Said the Stallion who had called her out earlier.
The ponies were speaking in barely a whisper.
"I swear to Alti-" She shook her head. She had almost cursed with the previous Electors name. "I swear to Vyatka, when I was walking down the path I saw some orange thing behind that Generator! And to me it looked like a couple of hooves!" She gestured over to the generator.
Red Sparrow held his breath.
But it seemed that the stallion didn't really care to investigate.
"While obviously theres no pony their!" Said the obviously frustrated stallion. His other hoof waving about in the air.

The conversation went on like that for a little bit longer, at this point Red Sparrow had zoned out of the conversation, thinking more on when where these ponies going to leave so he could get down.

After some sort of laugh from the two, the stallion shook his head and the mare smiled, and then they walked out of the alley.
When they were at the very end of the alley the mare stopped and turned around. She glanced one last time at the theater, and walked off with the Stallion

Red Sparrow let loose a sigh of relief. He looked at the sky, a few cracks of daylight spewing from the horizon. He had spent the entire night on this uncomfortable piece of metal. He jumped of the generator with a resounding thump. Usually he would a weight a bit before he got off his perch, so as to make sure he was alone. But the freezing cold metal had made him unpatient and hungry. He walked out of the alley, surveying the streets. Time to get food

Author's Note

Hello, fellow MLP fans! I'm so honored to have you guys read my story, its my first one so... get ready for a rocky ride. I thought the chapter was alright, not publishable level but readable level, and I hoped you liked it. If you have any suggestions leave them bellow(Now I sound like a Youtuber). Anyway, see you next chapter.