//------------------------------// // Shady Arrangements // Story: Foreign Politics // by Zh3sh1re //------------------------------// "You do know how important this is, right?" The shady figure asked the other shady figure beneath the destroyed, burning and smoking towers of Horseshoe Bay. The air was deathly quiet, more quiet than it had been in the last 300 years, but that was understandable. The Kirov-Class ship still lay in the harbor. After singlehandedly destroying the entire fleet that was stationed in the harbor, it proceeded to try and level as much of the city as possible. Much of it hadn't survived the violent bombardment coming from the large cannons. Civilians were keeping their heads down, and voice shushed. Worse yet, the news of the loss of Ponyville had spread quickly to the ruined city, and the ponies had lost even more hope. The shady figure had a black hood over his face, and a long black coat over his body. One could hear his armor clinking beneath, though, so it wasn't hard to realize that he was a royal guard. He gave the other shady pony a medium-sized package, wrapped in brown packaging paper. It almost looked like a gift, and in a way, it was. For the Soviets, that is. He accepted the package and nodded to the guard. "I do, and I'll succeed." His eyes narrowed. "That's what you pay me for, is it not?" The Royal Guard grimaced beneath his hood. The crown would rather not deal with mercenaries, much less assassins, but this pony had sneaking skills unheard of in the kingdom, and though he was hunted before, he was now an ally of the state, and to all of ponykind. "Then get to it." The guard said and turned around, walking off without hesitation, only his thoughts echoing in his head. Shadow smirked and disappeared into the ruins of the city, handling the package with care. His hooves hit the ground softly, barely making a sound. His wings unfurled and he flew through the buildings, but staying out of the sky at all costs. Some pegasi had learned the hard way the mistake of flying over the buildings, and Shadow had seen it himself. Pegasi turned to a bloody mush as they flew too close to the ship. The humans seemed to have developed a way to combat flying opponents already, and they used this technique to a degree of perfection, at least in his eyes. Even though he hated the crown for the most part, they did not want to kill random ponies, something the humans did without remorse, and it sickened him deeply. The sun had begun to go down across the horizon, and the shadows of the ruined city stretched across the streets further and further. On board the Molotov "Are you sure?" Admiral Stepanov asked the telegram officer. "Sure as anyone can be. The orders are to fire upon these coordinates." He said and pushed the note towards Stepanov. The said coordinates had been checked, and rechecked. They were the coordinates for the Royal Palace. Stepanov smirked to himself. "It seems that this war will end much sooner than I thought it would." He nodded softly and walked out of the office towards fire-control. The edge of the harbor. It had gotten darker, late afternoon had come. The time had come. Shadow sneaked down the stairs to the water-level, and then he dove into the water, propelling himself with his wings quietly. The ship was lying just inside the harbor, casting menacing shadows across it. Shadow shuddered at the cold water, but he steeled on and quickly reached the ship edge. His eyes peeking around the large steel frame, then up it. It was at least a good six or seven meters to the edge. He took out his suction-cups, and attached them silently to the hull, and climbed out of the water, one hoof after the other. Fire Control As Stepanov entered the fire control station, the officers saluted sharply, before returning to their tasks. He walked over to the commander of the station, and pushed the note of coordinates towards him. "These are the new coordinates. I want the guns trained on it, and ready for my command." He said with a nod. The gruff officer nodded. He had a mighty beard, and a bald head. His uniform had a great many medals on it. "Alright, Admiral. We'll be awaiting your word." He said and returned to the tactical map, marking the coordinates, which another officer radioed to one of the gun-towers. Edge of the ship Shadow's head poked across the edge of the ship, and saw several crewmen walking along and working with various things. He hoisted himself across the edge and immediately sprung under some stairs and hid in the darkness. He waited patiently as several patrols of guards walked past him. He soon saw his opening, and went for it, running to one of the large metal doors and hoisting it's heavy frame open, looking inside, he saw a pair of stairs running downwards, empty. Good. He tip-toed down the metal stairs. As he exited the stairs, he was a long corridor to either side, a sign with directions sitting on the wall in front him. Unfortunately, this was in their strange language, which he didn't understand. He instead opted to listen for the sound of the engine, which very clearly was coming from the right. He ran down the corridor avoiding patrols and the like, and very soon came to a door which stood wide open. Inside he saw several crewmen working on very large machines that occasionally sputtered oil and steam. "These must be the engines..." He whispered to himself. Bridge Stepanov walked into the bridge, his heavy steps echoing across it. The officers saluted him, then went back to work. He looked over the officers for a moment, and then took a seat and looked down at his watch. Around seven... It'd be time soon. Engine Room Shadow quietly walked into the room, the crew busy with maintaining the giant engines of the large steel ship. He managed to sneak behind one of the engines. The place smelled heavy of oil and sweat. He took a quick look to the floor, which was dusty. "Good. No one going back here." He opened the pack and put it down. It exposed a single, fairly large crystal with runes on it's surface, glowing a deep red, as if the gates of Tartarus were contained within. He gently touched one of the runes with his hoof, and it glowed. It started to blink slowly, and he smirked. "Time to get the heck out of here." He said and turned around, coming face to face with the stomach of a crewman. Both of them stared at each other for just a second, equally shocked, before Shadow threw a strong punch right into his face, breaking his nose and making him fall backwards. Shadow jumped over the screaming crewmate and sprinted out into the corridor, seeing several guards coming from the corridor to the right. He sprinted to the left, and up the stairs he came down through, some bullets whizzing past him. Outside the door, another guard stood, raising his weapon. Thankfully for Shadow, it was a few moments too late, and he pounced him, grabbing his weapon and aiming it at the guards coming up the stairs. He quickly located the trigger, and pulled it, letting loose a few shots which made the soldiers keep their head down. He was shocked at the recoil and missed most of the shots though. Shadow grunted and threw it aside and jumped overboard, diving down into the harbor and swimming away from the ship. He should be al- ARGH! A pain arched through his back and leg. He looked back, and saw a large wound in his left hind leg. He gritted his teeth and let it hang limp as he continued to swim under the water, until he was far enough and was able to move out of the water, and up the stairs once more, limping horribly. Bridge "It makes no matter." He said simply when he heard of the intrusion. "Are the guns trained?" The officer infront of him nodded. "Alright... Fir-" The entire harbor cracked with the sound of a large explosion, the giant gray ship engulfed in a tornado of fire, it's shadow melting into the water, which oozed off steam. The light lit up the entirety of the harbor, drawing looks from some of the ponies around it, which finally, after several days of being killed, got revenge.