Rainbow focused on the small watchtower that was in front of her. It was about ten meters high, a small amount for a pegasus.
Her target was up in that tower. She needed to take out the watchpony that was keeping an eye on for the case of invaders.
It was her first mission. An exciting, yet still so frightening experience. She had never been on the field before. Theory and practice were all she had got before getting sent out to face the battle.
But it didn’t matter. She knew the basics, and the Rebels were easier to kill than those hay-filled dummies used in the assassination-training. If everything went as planned, she’d be out of that tower in under a minute.
She was still waiting for the signal that indicated that it was safe to go. It would be dangerous to just dash up in front of a well-armed Rebel that sure was not afraid to shoot.
After a good two minutes of patient waiting, the words that told her that she was on magically echoed in her ear. The magical communicators Twilight had made had proven themselves to be an excellent aid.
“All clear Dash. Go when ready.”
She immediately got up from the bush she had been hiding in, careful not to make any sound. She had to keep the element of surprise, just to make sure that they would not lose anypony tonight.
She silently unfurled her wings and took off, hovering about a meter above the ground. There was no fear of getting caught as long as she was in the shadows. Her black camouflage made sure that she was invisible to eye when there was darkness around her.
As she reached the tower, she hugged the wall. Objective one was done. She was at the tower, still alive and unseen. Things were going on just as planned.
The next thing was to get up the tower. Seeing that it was too dangerous to go inside, she just decided to slowly float up the side of the tower whilst still maintaining the advantage the shadows gave her.
As she reached the top, she could see that the watchpony was facing the very opposite direction. Just as planned.
She slowly moved her right forehoof towards the small bag she had strapped around her waist. There was only a single item in it. Her knife.
She swiftly pulled it out, pointing the sharp blade at the completely unaware stallion that had been unlucky enough to be on duty this night.
Rainbow silently moved over. Not even when she was right behind the stallion, so close that she could smell the fact that the stallion used some expensive products on his mane, did he notice her.
Rainbow smirked a little, slowly moved the knife over the throat of the watchpony, put her left forehoof over his mouth and sliced his throat open. It was all over in mere seconds.
She pulled the knife back and let the stallion fall to the ground. There was no fear of anyone hearing the small thud his body made as it met with the wooden floor. Her first mission, her first kill, it had all been a huge success.
She put her hoof at the small microphone she had near her mouth. The presence of the hoof activated the microphone, magically transmitting her speech to the radio the main group had with them.
“This is Dash, job is done. Route is clear, no bogeys on towers. Waiting for orders. Over.”
There was a few seconds of silence before the main group answered.
“This is base, good job Dash. We need you to return immediately for a regroup. How copy?” The sound was a little static-y and unclear at some spots, but Rainbow was sure that Twilight would fix that as soon as she had some time.
“Solid copy. I’m on my way. Dash out.”
She took her hoof off the microphone, ending the transmission. Her job here was done.
She took a quick look around, grabbed the two shiny metal tags from the table nearby, walked over to the edge of the tower and jumped out, unfurling her wings whilst doing so, and silently heading off towards the location of the main group, leaving a limp body with a sliced-open throat and a big puddle of blood after her.
----»«----
A bird chirped in the distance. The high-pitched sound penetrated Rainbow’s brains, appearing in her sleep. She tried her best to ignore it. Sleep was necessary, knowing that today was the big day.
The bird kept on chirping, but Rainbow had already filtered the annoying voice out and was falling back to deep slumber.
*BOOM!*
The chirping of the bird suddenly ended.
So did Rainbow’s dream. She’d recognize the sound of a gunshot any time. She immediately jumped up and looked around the room, scanning for possible threats.
She was nothing suspicious. But she did hear something, though.
“Fucking birds! You chirp this early, you fucking die!”
The voice was high-pitched and full of unnecessary rage. Those words were escorted by a series of gunshots and several curses.
One of the Rebels sure wasn't a morning person.
But this early wake-up was actually just good for Rainbow. She’d get an early start, reducing the chance of getting caught.
But she couldn't just dash out of the door with no supplies and no preparations. She needed a plan.
First off, she got up from the floor. The body of the gray pegasus was still on the floor. It was only about time when it would start rotting, but Rainbow wasn't going to dump this one into the hole. No, this one had proven to be a worthy enemy. And worthy enemies deserve a special treatment.
But that wasn't among the first things to do. She needed to gather up her stuff, pack some food, find and possibly secure a route out of the house, towards Canterlot and do something with the body.
If she’d be fast, she’d be out of here in an hour.
But only if she would be fast. No time to stand on place and think about things. What she needed was action.
So, she walked over to the couch that had served as her bed for her stay. Although she hadn't utilized this generous offering too much, it still had been a great help. It was easier to sleep on a couch than on the floor after all.
Her bag was just where she left it, next to the couch. Everything was inside, even her pistol. She had no idea how it had gotten there, but it didn't matter. Less time spent gathering her stuff together.
The next thing was to pack some food. Good thing she had kept that huge pile ready on the table.
She headed off to the kitchen. The delicious smell that was coming from the pile met her in the doorway, immediately causing her mouth to water.
She hadn't eaten a thing in a while. It wasn't a good thing, thinking of the trip that was ahead of her. She needed all the energy she just could possibly get.
But she decided to pack first. Just so she would have the best pieces with her on the trip where they would help more.
After a while of thinking, she ended up packing a bunch of sandwiches, some daisy-cinnamon rolls she found from the bottom of the pile and a pack of those delicious chocolate-chip cookies she liked so much. The perfect pack for adventuring.
She had some drinks in her saddlebag already. She also had the small foil-wrapped, now ball-formed pile of food, but just by looking at the ball of foil she could say that they were in no good condition compared to her freshly-gathered pack.
Gathering food was done. It had taken a bit longer that it should have, but she had done gathering her stuff a lot faster than planned.
Next thing was to plan ahead. It would be easy with the map that, for some completely strange reason, was on the wall of the kitchen. She had no idea what the owner had been thinking.
The fastest route to Canterlot would take her through the mountains. The other option was to go around the mountains, through the grasslands that surrounded them and hope that the old path leading to the city was still in a tolerable condition and it wouldn't crumble whilst she would be walking on a dangerously narrow part near the edge of the highest cliff she had managed to find.
After thinking about the possibilities for a while, she decided that it was for the best to go climbing the physically more demanding path than risk your life when you had got such great plans.
Rainbow tore the map off of the wall, folded it nicely and stuffed it into her bag. It would come in handy.
Then, the last part. The body.
Rainbow couldn't think of anything else than a burial. It would take time, but it was worth it, respecting the fallen sister.
So she dropped her bag to the ground, still careful not to break the fragile bottles she had with her, and left the kitchen in order to retrieve the body.
The body had not moved, just as she had suspected. She wasn't going crazy, not at the moment.
She walked over to the body, grabbed a hold of the left forehoof of the pegasus with her mouth and started pulling. It was a long way out, but she wasn't going to just leave the body there.
After a good ten minutes of intense pulling, she had made it to the huge backyard of the house. And as of an invite, on the left side of the backyard was a shovel and some apparently soft soil. It almost felt like someone was dropping these helpful items down from the sky. Whenever she would desperately need something, it would suddenly appear.
But that wasn't important. The soil looked soft enough to dig a hole big enough for the body in a good ten more minutes.
Wasting no time, Rainbow started digging.
----»«----
It took only eight minutes. She was in a fairly good shape. That was only good, though.
The hole was deep enough for a mare to fit. Rainbow hopped out of it and took a quick look at it. It would do just fine.
There was no time for any big rituals. She just put the limp body to the middle of the hole, the small knife on the right side of the body and a picture of the mare to the left. Two items you may take with you…
Rainbow saluted the grave, picked up the shovel and started throwing the fresh soil back into the hole, covering the body. It was faster than digging and was over in about five minutes.
There was now a grave-resembling mound on the back yard of the house. It was nothing fancy, but all an assassin needed.
The final thing Rainbow did was that she placed the two metal tags she had found from the bag of the mare on the top of the grave. One had the name of the mare, Mara, and the other one had a beautifully made carving of a silver moon, setting behind the horizon.
All the tasks were done. It had taken a bit longer than supposed, but it didn't matter. She could afford losing some minutes.
She took a final look at the grave and went back into the house to retrieve her belongings.
They were just where she had left them. She picked them up, made sure everything was in the bag and went back to the back yard. It would be easier to sneak out from the back yard that just happened to be facing the mountains.
From the door she made sure that the route was clear, double-checked that she had not forgotten anything and dashed out of the door, through the back yard and towards the mountains.
The town was silent, just as she had suspected. The single Rebel with some rage-controlling problems had not managed to wake the whole town up.
But Rainbow was still careful, slowly making her way through the fields that surrounded the town, keeping as quiet as she could. If one would have looked really closely, he or she would have seen that some of the stalks of the golden wheat were moving into a different direction than the others, against the wind, but knowing Rebels, he or she would have just ignored it.
Soon enough she was outside the town. She had escaped the hell, just to head towards its bigger brother.
But she didn't care. Knowing that the options were either spending the rest of your life alone and afraid or going to the hive of the Rebellion, the last sounded like a better option.
And as long as she had a chance to make the world a bit better place, she was ready to do anything.
She took a one last look at her home town that was now torn to pieces, let out a silent sigh as the flow of memories rushed over her and ran down the path that would lead her to the godly city that was now taken over by the ruffians that claimed to be liberators.