//------------------------------// // Ponyhood mission // Story: The Journalist // by redspark //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Dark Streets and Dark Alleys "Alright" said the unicorn. "I was reported by Sun Seeker that the Dark Ponyhood has begun to expand towards us. I fear that since we are not numerous we cannot keep our territory safe.” They had all gathered in the same room where they had met Nimble Hoof. The unicorn now stood in front of all of them, while all the ponies listened. Silent Mane was right beside Nimble Hoof. The others stood watching the unicorn attentively. “So I´ve decided that we need to show them not to mess with us, not by protecting our territory, but by taking something from them.” He gestured for Sun Seeker to step forward. She had a paper on her mouth. “Sun Seeker will explain the plan.” The Pegasus walked beside the unicorn and placed the paper on the floor. She cleared her throat and began. “First we will infiltrate on their main complex. You know how big Dark Ponyhood´s complex is. They are five times our number, so we will need to be silent and fast.” She looked at the paper lying beside her hoofs. “Our target is a small golden statue of a Pegasus. It´s worth at least ten thousandth bits.” The ponies gathered smiled at the mention of such a quantity of bits. “It will be a hard blow on them if we are able to take it from them. The plan is simple, but needs to be done without any mistakes.” She looked at the unicorn, who nodded at her. “We will enter through a small window that lies on the eastern wall of their building. It leads to a small storage room. From there we will go fast but silently through the room to their safety vault. The lock is one-seven-seven-three-one-nine. Silent Mane, you will stay in the door of the vaults to make sure nopony else enters. The rest will enter the vaults and help me taking down the guards without a noise…”she stopped when she noticed Nimble Hoof. “You, ehh… Nimble Hoof, was it? You will stay with Silent Mane. Any sign of guards or anypony you come to tell warn us. Silent Mane will take care of them if possible, if not we will need to hide well.” The unicorn nodded. “So it´s settled. We go in ten minutes. Get ready.” He looked at Silent Mane and then at Nimble Hoof. “You better not cause any trouble.” And he went to other room. The other ponies began to take out accessories. One of the earth ponies, Grey Stone, took a small knife that could be fit on his hoof. Sun Seeker took a rope and a small, curious-looking pen. She then went to other room. The other earth pony put on a hat and sat down, humming. Silent Mane looked at Nimble Hoof. “You don´t have to do this, you know. It´s gonna be really dangerous. Someone could get hurt.” Nimble Hoof looked down. “I will not blame you if you back down.” Nimble Hoof shook her head. “No, I am going. I am tired of being thought of as a useless pony. I am not, so I am going. Also, I´ll need to be where the story happens, no? So I can get a better perspective.” She looked at her cloak which was hung on a chair where she had left it right after arriving in the morning. She made sure her Notebook and pen where there. She looked at Silent Mane. “Let´s do this.” Silent Mane shrugged. “Then it´s settle.” He walked to a corner and retrieved a rope he placed around his belly. He then took a hook and fastened it to the rope. He made sure it would make a sound as he moved. He then looked around. The unicorn soon arrived and nodded at Silent Mane. “Alright lads, listen up!” he said in a high voice. “This is going to be more dangerous than our usual stuff, so be ready for anything. We need to make this in under one hour, or if not we are risking in being discovered. Each one of you will fulfill your part according to Sun Seeker´s plan. Any questions with her.” He looked at each pony´s faces. “Let´s move out.” He walked outside followed by the rest of the ponies. Silent Mane looked at Nimble Hoof before going outside. Nimble Hoof shrugged and walked outside slowly, her heart hammering. She could almost swear her heart was trying to escape her. They followed the unicorn to a large building. It did looked quite impressive, without counting it looked uncared, like the other buildings around it. They walked silently until Sun Seeker pointed with her hoof at one of the lower windows. The unicorn nodded and all followed him towards it. Sun Seeker pushed a box to help all get in and she entered. Nimble Hoof entered next. She stepped inside the building and felt a shiver through her whole body. It was really dark, the only lights coming from the windows. T was a long hallway that extended from one side of the building to the other. She looked at Sun seeker, who was now looking around. She looked at Nimble Hoof. The rest of the ponies entered, with Silent Mane in the back. Sun Seeker nodded at the two earth ponies. They walked towards one side if the hallway. She looked at the rest and gestured them to follow her. Nimble Hoof looked at the earth ponies go the other way for some seconds until she walked with the rest. Where were they going? Sun Seeker guided them through the building with no hesitations, save for the occasional sound of a pony approaching. So far, they had not have had any troubles. They moved through many rooms, trying not to go through big or highly used places of the building. The unicorn was second, looking around for any sign of trouble. Finally, Sun Seeker stopped at a door. She looked at the keyhole and took a small metal thing from a bag she had. After some seconds, the door clicked and opened. They followed her inside. The room they were in now took Nimble Hoof by surprise. It was a complete change from everything she had seen so far in Lower Canterlot. She was now used to seeing old, broken down buildings covered in dust from the inside and dark. This room was highly illuminated. Not only was it illuminated, but was also well cared. It was made of a white stone with a huge vault-box in the middle. There where pillars made from the same whit stone as the walls supporting the roof, and two golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling, balancing slightly from side to side. Nimble Hoof opened her mouth, surprised. All the other ponies also looked around, obviously not expecting that. “Welcome to the Dark Ponyhood Vaults.” Sun Seeker said in an amazed voice. She shook her head and looked at Silent Mane. “Go out and check for ponies we don´t want to get surprised. Nimble Hoof, go with him.” Silent Mane nodded and took Nimble Hoof with him out of the room. Nimble Hoof looked around one last time. Silent Mane closed the door behind them. “Wow! Did you see that?” Immediately Silent Mane placed his hoof on her mouth. He stared at her hardly. “Sorry” she muttered. Silent Mane nodded and looked around. There was nothing to see, but still he kept looking around. Nimble Hoof sat down and took out her notebook. Silent Mane looked at her. “What do you think you´re doing?” he whispered. She showed him the notebook. “What does it seem?” Silent Mane sighed. “This is no place for that!” Nimble Hoof finished writing down what she wanted and she looked at Silent Mane. “I need to have everything from the second it happens or else I´ll forget something important.” Silent Mane shrugged but said nothing more. Nimble Hoof was writing the way they had got in when she felt a slight tremor in the floor. She though the structure of the building wasn´t very stable, but then she remembered they where on a first floor… There were no earthquakes in Canterlot, so why would it have… Hoofsteps! She wuickly stood up, placing her notebook inside her cloak fast. “Sompony´s coming.” She muttered. Silent Mane looked at her. “I don´t think so, I do not hear…” He stopped as his ears twitched a little. He turned pale. “What, was is it?” She asked. Silent Mane tapped lightly the door to the vaults, which was the sign of trouble. “We are going to have company, and many. How could they possibly know…” He looked around. “We need to get out of here fast.” The vault´s door opened and the other ponies got out. “We have it” Sun Seeker said triumphantly, holding the golden Pegasus with one of her hoofs. The unicorn took it with his magic. “We need to leave fast” he said. Sun Seeker nodded. “Follow me!” and she was off running. Amazingly, no sound came from her hooves as she ran through the rooms they had been before. The other ponies followed, not as silently as Sun Seeker, but still amazingly quiet. Silent Mane pushed Nimble Hoof, taking her out of the daze. “Move!” and he ran. Nimble Hoof ran behind him. She ran as fast as she could without making noise. She was the most soundly of all, but still she ran faster without crashing against anything in the dark. She saw Sun Seeker running in front, guiding them. The unicorn followed right behind. He almost crashed against a wall because of the dark. Nimble Hoof wondered where the earth ponies where. They arrived at the window. She couldn´t resist any more without asking. “Where are the two ponies that went the other way?” Sun Seeker looked at her. “Where are they?” Sun Seeker looked around, obviously concerned. “They were supposed to meet us here…” She looked at Silent Mane. “Do you know if something happened to them?” Silent Mane shook his head. “then…” Hoof beats where heard and six ponies entered the hallway. Nimble Hoof looked the other side and other six arrived. They stopped a few feet away from them. Nimble Hoof saw a pony covered by the shadows. “Nice try.” Said the pony in the shadows. “But you´ll need much more than that.” He pushed some ponies from behind him to the floor. Nimble Hoof recognized the two earth ponies. “You know, the next time you try to kill me, do not send your loudest ponies. They took no noticed that I was awake at my bed, you know.” Nimble Hoof stared at Sun Seeker. She was looking angrily at the shadowy pony. “And also, they didn´t saw my face either, so nothing was gotten from this.” He pulled out a knife and pointed it at the earth ponies. “Now, who shall be first…” “Wait!” Sun Seeker cried out. “We… we can solve this problem talking, with a… with a nice cup of tea, yes…” the pony threw the knife at one of the earth ponies, who fell down soundlessly. Nimble Hoof squeaked. He had… He had killed him! Sun Seeker stopped talking. She now had a shocked and scared face. “That´s it, better shut up.” He took out another knife. “You need to know that I do not take lightly attempts against my life…” Nimble Hoof saw the pony´s mouth moving, but she was no longer hearing. She was in a panic she had never felt before… They were executing, EXECUTING, ponies in front of her! She had never before heard of assassinations, least seen one! She looked at the pony. He was beginning to lift his hoof to throw it to the other earth pony. Nimble Hoof didn´t knew what she did, until she realized that she had thrown her pen at the pony. Normally the pen would have caused nothing, but somehow it hit him in the eye. The pony covered his eyes, crying in pain. Silent Mane jumped and attacked one of the sides, while Sun Seeker and the unicorn attacked the others. Nimble Hoof stood there, still in shock of what she had just done. She had actually thrown a pen at an evil pony! She contained her enthusiasm as she saw the two earth ponies. Sun Seeker and the unicorn where (she needed to learn the unicorn´s name someday) fighting the six with the shadow pony, while Silent Mane was against the other six. Apparently, Silent Mane was a good fighter, holding against six others, and pushing an offensive. Nimble Hoof waited until the earth ponies where no longer beside the fight to get to them. “Wait…” she muttered as she cut the ropes with the knife the pony had thrown when hit by the pen. She then cut the gag on the pony´s mouth. He looked at the other earth pony, the one with a knife on his back. He was unconscious… or dead. “He´s alive, take care of him, I´ll help the others.” Said the pony, and he was off. Even though she didn´t had time to think about it, she noticed that, instead of going to help Silent Mane against six, the pony went to help the unicorn and Sun Seeker. Still, she didn´t though much about it as she cut the ponies ropes tying him. She then cut the gag and looked at the wound. It was, miraculously, not deep. Somehow, the knife had not hit well. She sighed in relief as she took the knife from the pony´s back. She then used the gag to protect the wound. Around her was a battle with no decided winner. Curiously, Silent Mane was doing better against six… well, five, because he had already taken down one, than the three ponies against six and the shadow (Why she thought of the pony as the shadow, she did not know. Probably it did fitted that horrendous pony). Nimble Hoof finished with the pony and looked around. Silent Mane had only three adversaries left, and the others had only two and the shadow. The next time she looked at Silent Mane, only one pony remained and, in less than a second, the pony was down also. Silent Mane leaned against the wall, panting. He quickly turned around and went to help the others. They had pushed back the shadow pony and the two remaining ponies. The shadow pony pushed his own against Silent Mane and Sun Seeker, leaving the unicorn alone against him. Instead of attacking, the shadow pony left the two ponies and went to a room beside the hallway, closing the door. In no time the two ponies were down on the floor. Sun Seeker looked at the door where the shadow pony had went. “He escaped. We should leave before he returns with more.” Said the unicorn. Silent Mane and the earth pony nodded. Sun Seeker looked at the door intently before opening her eyes wide. “Alright then, let´s go!” and she pushed them all (how she did it alone, Nimble Hoof didn´t knew) out of the window. She was down off the window with them a second later. “And now…” a door inside was heard opening. “Run!” All the ponies ran to a building in front. Silent Mane climbed faster than the rest, and Sun Seeker, who was carrying the injured pony, flew up and landed on the roof seconds before Nimble Hoof. She had climbed faster than she had ever climbed before in all her life, and her heart was pounding like never before. Silent Mane loked at them and said: “Follow me now. I know the fastest way out of here.” And he ran with the whole ponyhood behind him. Nimble Hoof took some seconds to follow, because she had just realized that she no longer had a pen with which to write. She shook her head and ran after them. .. Assault to the Shadow ponies and wrong results...