The Assassin's Quandary

A small unicorn colt, barely old enough to be alone outside without arousing suspicion, sat on a street corner. It was winter, and winter was harsh; the pegasi had lost control of the winter skies, and clouds endlessly dropped their icy payload. The colt had been begging for money. He performed tricks with a small stick, bouncing it from hoof to hoof, tossing it about with his mouth, and grasping it with his magic. Few ponies noticed him, and even fewer gave him money.

The city was dead, ravaged by a disease that nopony could seem to grasp. The symptoms were, in the beginning, fairly mild. Infrequent shivers, coughing, maybe a trivial fever- distinct, but not life threatening. The disease used this pretense to spread throughout the city, and before long it had found its way into everypony’s body, becoming a constant but negligible nuisance.

Everything changed when the virus mutated.

It all happened too quickly for doctors to respond. The virus evolved into a new strain practically overnight, becoming a very serious condition in which the muscle in the body essentially tore itself to pieces, starting in the limbs and ending in the heart. The virus was almost invariably fatal, and ponies everywhere dropped like flies. It wasn’t long before the city was plunged into chaos. Aid from other cities would have come swiftly, if not for the massive snow banks that blocked the roads. The city was truly alone.

After a few hours of sitting in the snow, he finally became too cold to continue. He limped back inside a nearby building. The building had been raised within weeks during the golden age of the city; ponies from all of Equestria had dreamt of living in this Utopia. Now though, the hallways were dark, and the bricks were cold. Coughing echoed from within each room- rooms inhabited by single, lonely ponies simply waiting to die alone.

He made his way to the end of the hallway and opened the door to room 108. There lay his mother and his uncle, shivering in the bed they shared despite the large collection of blankets that had been stacked on top of them. Both were sick with the horrible disease that had already claimed the lives of their spouses and children. Now only Brother and Sister remained.

They had been talking, and their voices were strained and wearier than usual. “But we can still beat this, sis. Other people have done it. Your son beat the hell outta it, and he’s a shrimp.” They hadn’t noticed his entry. His hoofsteps were always quiet.

“Silen is much stronger than his body would suggest.”

“Still a shrimp. You know that without me, we all would have died. Silen may be resourceful enough to care for us now, but it was me got him where he is now.”

“Hmph. It’s easy for you to say that. I bet you’ve never even given a thought to all the innocent ponies he’s stolen from to get us our food and medicine. How are they supposed to live, when Silen steals from them? I love my son, but you’ve turned him into a thug.” She never would have said the last sentence if she knew that he could hear her.

His mother had always been the loving one. She had taught him well in the few years they were together; she taught him to value friends, to pay back debts, and to remember the names of those who helped you. “Names are more than just words,” she had said. “They are identity made tangible. They are what makes a lump of flesh into a pony.” She had taught him the little magic that he did know- telekinesis, which he barely was able to grasp, and teleportation, which he had actually showed great promise in, given the difficulty of the spell- though he never really pursued it. She had made life worth living for him.

If his mother had made him want to survive, it was his uncle who gave him the means to do it. His uncle had told him that life was a test, and that if you were given a problem that had only one solution, you had to take the one way out, no matter how horrible. “Life is gracious to you if She gives you a way out,” he once said to the colt as he walked him home from school after getting into a fight. “Sometimes you’ll have to choose a way, or find a way, and that, that is harder than any moral dilemma you may think you have.” He had taught him things, horrible things, about how to fight and steal and hide and even kill. Silen owed his life to him, and he hated that fact.

The snow had started melting. The town was finally able to receive aid from other ponies, and good-hearted doctors and healers came to the town. However, there were not enough doctors for everybody and supplies ran short.

A miracle came to the city in the form of Flip, a unicorn colt who came to the town peddling medicine. He came with hope in a time where none could be found. He came with promises of health and pictures of wellness. But the wonderful medicine was expensive, and Silen had to work very hard for the money to buy it. He told his mother that he had begged for the money or found work; his uncle knew the truth.

Eventually, Silen had gathered enough bits to buy two doses of the medicine. As he approached the cart, he noticed that a massive crowd had gathered around it. “Come one, come all! Plenty of drink for everypony! Step right up, only 50 bits per bottle!”

Ponies rushed to the cart to buy their medicine, tripping over each other in anticipation. Silen took a place near the cart, but not directly in the line, and rushed forwards when a gap appeared. He was able to get out of the crowd without getting shoved around and made his way home quickly.

“Si...Silen...” His mother’s voice was a whisper which emanated weakly from a violently shaking bundle of blankets. His uncle, on the other hand, remained silent, saving his strength. He hurried to the bed and struggled to hold their mouths still as he gave them the medicine. They stopped shaking almost immediately and fell into a comfortable slumber with smiles on their faces.

Silen withdrew from their tiny bed and trotted to his own, which was really more of a piece of cloth on the cold stone floor. He slept for longer than he had ever slept since the disease came.

When he awoke, he saw his Uncle and Mother standing in the kitchen. It looked odd to him somehow- it didn't occur to him that this was the first time he had seen them upright since they had become infected. What he did notice though, was that they were not wearing smiles of gratitude as he had expected. Instead, they looked worried and subdued. “Mother?” He whimpered. “Is something wrong?”

“Silen,” She croaked. “Ponies across the entire city have been dying to a mysterious poison. Apparently the poison was being sold as an antidote, and will actually help ponies recover, for a time. But everypony has told me the same story. It always ends with death.” She turned away and started sobbing. His uncle walked over to him.

“We know that you gave us medicine last night. We know that we feel better instantly. Only the so-called antidote has shown recoveries that manifested this quickly.” He knelt down, eye-to-eye with the young colt, who was now crying. “Silen. It’s too late for us. But you have to do something for me.” He levitated a knife from the counter and put it in front of Silen. He began to whisper. “Kill him. Kill the man who promised you he would save us. He promised you our lives. Now take his away.”

They spent the rest of the day quietly speaking. His Uncle instructed him on where to insert the knife, how to confidently and innocently make his way to the target and drift away as if nothing was wrong. Finally, they took the final drops of “medicine” and coated the blade with it. Silen cried softly the whole time.

He said goodbye and left.

Despite an entire day of sad agony and anticipation, he felt strangely calm as he strode through the snow-covered streets. He wore his Uncle’s over-sized black cloak, which he had carefully tucked the knife into. It was warm, but not comfortable. Functional, not sentimental.

Silen found the cart parked outside of one of the few inns still in business- the place his Uncle told him to check first. He strode inside and walked to the counter. “I have business with Flip. Would you direct me to his room?” The innkeeper told him that he was welcome to wait in Flip’s room until he was back, which wouldn't be long. Silen moved to the room and found a hiding place inside a closet.

After waiting for what seemed like hours, the door finally creaked open. Flip’s voice could be heard talking excitedly. Silen’s heart froze: had Flip brought somebody? What can I do when an innocent person may be endangered? He opened the closet very slightly and peeked out. Flip was reading a letter- and, praise Celestia, he was alone.

“Dear Flip, the boys have finally arrived! I say boys because we have received twins, and I must say they look just like their grandfather Flip. We have decided to name them Flim and Flam after you. You simply must visit so that you can see them!”

For the first time that night, Silen began to doubt whether or not he could do what he set out to do. This was a colt who had a family just as he had a family. Could he really bring himself to do this?

Unfortunately, it was also the night that he heard the voice. The voice that would become his greatest ally and worst enemy. The voice that told him that he had to go now, before he thought it through too much. Now, it said. Now or never. Your uncle had one wish. Kill. This. Colt.

And so it was that Silen Step killed the First by plunging his poisoned blade into the soft flesh of Flip’s neck. There would be many more.

He buried his Mother and Uncle the next day. Little was said about Flip- one life wasn't worth much in those days. His Mother had tears across her face when he had found her, but his Uncle...his Uncle had the most chilling smile he had ever seen- a smile of approval.

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Sorry if it has taken a long time, this second chapter was pretty difficult for me. Hopefully it's good though! Lemme know what you think of it!