Ponies; The Life of an Assassin

by salchanpony

Memory 1

She was always a pony who found it hard to sleep, with any nudge or discomfort caused her to wake. This night in particular was a difficult one, as last night's dinner was a simple bowl of soup and a slice of bread. Her stomach growled at her as she woke for what felt like the millionth time. She lay in bed for a few more minutes, before deciding that she couldn't take it anymore. She took another minute to listen for any sounds that would indicate another pony moving about the house. After deciding it was safe, she slid out of bed and crept to her door. Opening it only a little, so it wouldn't creak, she slid through into the hall.

Her breathing was heavy, yet controlled and quiet as she made her way through the dark hallway, the only noise being the occasional snore of a sleeping pony in one of the rooms. She had to keep every movement quiet, lest somepony wake and discover her. She knew she couldn't afford to be discovered, as the consequences would be severe. She made it through the hallway, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. One of the hardest parts was over, and she could relax a little, but only a little. She knew she couldn't get careless.

She made her way across the living room, taking extra care not to bump into anything. She made it through the room without touching any of the furniture, as she knew she would. As she crossed the threshold into the kitchen, she gave a nearly unnoticeable start, as the kitchen was already occupied. A blue unicorn was standing at the stove, horn shining as she used her magic to sir some ingredients into a bowl. Ruby took notice of a jar beside the unicorn. After a moment of inspection, she concluded that it was a jar of icing. She figured the unicorn was baking a cake, or something similar, then as smoothly and quiet as she could, backed into the living room.

She ran through a mental picture of the room, hurriedly trying to find a place to take cover, as there was no way to know when the unicorn would emerge from the kitchen. Her desision-making was cut short as she heard hoofsteps moving toward the living room. Her first move was toward the hallway, to retreat, but she overrode that move as she knew she couldn't risk waking anypony else. In a motion that she knew was reckless, she darted behind the couch. In her hurry, her flank hit the side of the couch, causing her to wince in pain. In her paniced state, she also accidentaly let a tiny whimper escape her lips.

The steps paused, and Ruby held her breath, not moving another muscle. She closed her eyes, hoping the unicorn didn't hear anything. The hoofsteps resumed, and eventually reached the carpeted living room, where they became harder, but still possible, for Ruby to hear. After a couple more seconds, the hooves reached the hallway, and walked into one of the other rooms. From her position, Ruby knew she had three options: to continue her mission and risk the unicorn coming back, to retreat to where she had started, or to stay put and wait. She knew the third option really didn't lead anywhere, so she discarded the idea. After a moment of intense consideration, she decided she would continue her mission.

After a couple minutes wait, and no unicorn returning, she felt it was safe to leave her hiding spot. as she crept out towards the kitchen, she paused at the hallway's opening, listening intently, for any sound that may come from the other rooms. She heard nothing, so she looked toward the kitchen, and began to creep forward. As she reached the threshold again, she paused, and glanced around the kitchen. She saw nothing, except that the oven was on. This alarmed Ruby, as she now knew the unicorn was going to eventually return. The absence of a timer didn't help her either.

Ruby, taking into account these new factors, immediatly decided that her best course of action was to abandon the mission and retreat, so she began to slowly creep back through the living room, again making it through the darkness without a hitch. As she entered the hallway, she sped up her pace a bit, but still managed to stay quiet. As she moved past each of the doors, however, she made sure to slow down and listen. As she neared safety, she started to relax, sure that her adventure was about to end for the better. This, however, was contradicted by the last door in the hallway. As she snuck past the door, it swung open, revealing the blue unicorn, who was greeted by a now extremely frightened Ruby.

"Ruby Shadows! What in Celestia's name are you doing up at this time of night?!" the upset pegasus yelled.

"I'm sorry, Momma! I was hungry, so I-"

"So what? You thought you could just ignore your bedtime? You know you have classes tomorrow, you should be asleep, little missy!"

Ruby seemed to shrink in the sight of her stern mother, Sapphire. All that she was able to do was whimper as the young unicorn looked into her mother's eyes. She was in trouble, and she knew it.

"You will march your rump to bed right now. I will discuss your punishment-" Ruby shrunk away at the word "-in the morning. I am very disappointed, Ruby. Do you understand me?"

Another whimper came from Ruby, followed by a barely audible "yes".

"Good, now go." Sapphire pointed toward the door at the end of the hallway, Ruby's bedroom. Ruby quickly scampered to her room, upset, not that her mother was angry at her, for Ruby had known she would be, but that she had been caught. As soon as she made it through her doorway and had shut her door, she launched herself into her bed and covered herself with the sheets, slightly shaking as she feared what her mother would decide on as a punishment.

Comments

[cleverpun]

You misspelled "ponies" (or..."pony's"?)

[MerlosTheMad]

3043592

she brought her arm up in the first half of the salute.

SHE IS NOW A FUCKING ANTHRO-PERSON..

I'd actually like to point out, that technically that isn't wrong, they are still called 'arms' on equine anatomy. Madness, I know. Someone pointed it out to me when they linked a diagram listing them as 'forearms' not 'forelegs' as I write it. Very strange, I thought, but I rolled with it.