Contracted

by Slywolf930

Institution

Marx opened his eyes, feeling a burning heat near his face. He suspected the fire to last the night, or at least burn out. Instead, the fire had grown larger, with green flames dancing within the red embers. Putting out the fire, Marx looked over to his targets. They were still sleeping, although the rabbit had his eyes on Marx.

"Don't worry, you're only here as a liability until I'm done. You can relax," Marx said.

The rabbit seemed to understand and tried to go back to sleep. Marx went away from the camp, noticing the sun was barely rising from the horizon. He walked toward that cabbage patch he'd walked by before and harvested a bigger load of greens. Marx brought them and left a few for the rabbit when he woke.

Setting up the scope on his crossbow, he looked toward the quiet town. He didn't have a good view of the inner streets, where his next target woud be. Marx detached the scope and placed it back in his bag. Now, he took the sheathed blade and his crossbow and planned the route he'd take to the next target.

Marx couldn't afford to go loud, but if he was fast enough, maybe the next Element would be as quiet as Fluttershy. Although, Laughter didn't sound very quiet.

"W-where are you going?" Fluttershy asked, a slight yawn right after.

"Pinkie," Marx said.

"No, please," Fluttershy said, almost begging with her eyes.

"It's gotta be done, so I'm going to do it," Marx said.

Marx didn't wait for a response as he set out. Going for the back alleys, he made it to town easily enough. When he reached the areas where ponies were already stirring, Marx made sure to be cautious and avoid too much noise. Any hint that something was wrong and he'd be in trouble.

When he saw an opening, he walked across the alley into a more secluded area. In front of him, Sugarcube Corner was open and alive. Sneaking around the back, Marx wasn't noticed by anypony. When he reached the back however, he was almost seen by a pink earth pony, jumping around holding a trash bag.

Marx looked again and grinned. Too easy. Walking forward, Marx made no attempt to act sneakily. It was just the two of them and a trash bag.

"Oh hey mister. Are you lost? I haven’t seen you before," Pinkie said, leaving the trash with the other bags near the dumpster.

"Actually I wanted to see if you could help me with something," Marx said.

"What is it? Ooh, is it a riddle? I love riddles. I’m the world champ, you know," Pinkie said.

"What comes in the day and leaves in the night. It moves without sound and feeds off light," Marx said.

"Hmm, the sun?" Pinkie guessed.

"Nope," Marx said, getting closer.

"What about friends?" Pinkie asked.

"One more guess" Marx said, getting ever closer.

"A shadow?" PInkie asked.

"Exactly," Marx said, raising his hoof of chloroform cloth.

Marx covered PInkie's snout before she could react, and he had to make sure nopony heard her muffled screams before she passed out.

Marx now had to improvise. This back alley only led to the street, of which many new ponies would be walking past. He couldn't drag her out, becuase he hadn't prepared the distraction which he was going to do before he saw her.

Marx looked past her to the trash bins. He let a chuckle out before opening the bags. Emptying the contents, he smiled to himself. Making sure he left a small hole for breath, he finished tying up the bag, with PInkie inside. He looked down at the contents that fell out of the bag. Cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes.

Marx grabbed one of the cupcakes and downed it in seconds. Then, he dragged the bag with him into the street. Like he suspected, he saw the streets were already filled. They took little notice of him, however. Marx made it to the lesser seen back alleys and quickened his pace. Something felt wrong about this. He couldn't tell what, but something didn't fit in with the other puzzle pieces.

Marx dropped the bag near Fluttershy the bag was squirming, but he didn't care. Then, he opened it up. The inside was something he couldn't believe. Pinkie was still in there, but so were the cupcakes. She was eating one, and she had a smile on her face.

"Mmm, these cupcakes are really good. How’d you make them?" PInkie said, through a mouth full of trash cupcake.

"W-what?" Marx asked, surprised. Then, his experience kicked in and he handed Fluttershy the rope, pushing the confusion to the back of his head.

"You know, you owe me two bits for that cupcake," Pinkie said, as Fluttershy finished tying the rope.

"No, I don't," Marx said bluntly.

"Alright, I"ll put it on your tab," Pinkie said.

"Um, Pinkie. Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, I feel great. Marx here just gave me a ride up to the hill for solving his riddle. Now, he's going to see how good I'm at with magic tricks," Pinkie said, looking at the restraints.

"Marx?" Fluttershy asked. Marx felt confusion come back to him.

"That's his name," Pinkie said.

Marx was at a loss for words. Except for one.

"What?" Marx asked.

"Isn't your name Marx?" Pinkie asked.

"N-no, it's Shadow," Marx lied.

"Oh, is Shadow your nickname? Then how about you call me Pinky? The y makes it special," Pinkie said.

"W-what?" Marx asked. He heard somepony moving under the blanket.

"Can you please keep it down, I'm trying to work on my beauty sleep," Rarity said.

"Oh Rarity, you're here too?" Pinkie asked.

Rarity gasped. "Pinkie? What in Equestria could Pinkie have done wrong?" Rarity asked Marx specifically.

"Well she did just give away my name," Marx couldn't continue with that ruse. They weren't going to see anypony else anyways.

"But Shadow, you told us your name," Rarity said.

"Marx, it's not good to lie," Pinkie said.

"That's it," Marx said, taking out the cloth.

"Please, you don't have to do that," Rarity said, trying to reason.

Marx gagged her and then looked her in the eye when a question entered his head.

"How did you know my name?" Marx asked, not expecting an answer.

Pinkie instead reached down and dug in the ground with her snout. She wrote the letters i d k in the dirt and Marx sighed. Then, he wiped off the dirt from her nose. She nodded gratitude and Marx turned and thought for a second.

"Knowing my name isn't against the contract, so I'll forget about this. But let's get this straight, I'm the one you should hate" He looked at Fluttershy. "I'm the one you should cooperate with" He looked at Rarity. "And I'm the one you should fear," Marx said, trying to get the point across by unsheathing the sword.

“But why should we be scared of you? Pinkie asked innocently.

Marx could feel some impatience starting to arise. He didn’t think he should have been so annoyed, but was something about her that caused him to feel this way. Marx turned and walked away, hoping he’d lose those feelings before he did something he told himself he wouldn’t.

“Um, darling. How’d you get that cloth out of your mouth?” Rarity asked.

“What cloth?” Pinkie asked. Suddenly, Marx realized that she’d talked after he’d gagged her. Looking back at her, the cloth was on the floor next to her.

“I’m certain you’d been... restrained from speaking,” Rarity said curiously.

“Nope, my mouth is just fine. See?” Pinkie opened her mouth to emphasize her statement.

“I’m going crazy, Marx said not too quietly to himself.

“Um, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“That’s it, I’m going over here. Talk amongst yourselves, I don’t care anymore,” Marx said. On the way to his bag, he mumbled “Not worth 750k.”

Marx took his bag to a tree farther off from the three of them, where he could still keep an eye on them. Now, he rummaged through the bag and pulled out the recently purchased book, as well as the contract. He opened the book, going to the Bearers Chapter.
Chapter 8-The Bearers
The wielders of these powerful artifacts have been identified by their traits. The first of which, being the Element of Magic...

Marx skipped to the section he wanted to read.
...The Element of Laughter, wielded by Pinkamena Diana Pie AKA Pinkie Pie. She is ecstatic, as well as outgoing. She has been known to do things many others couldn’t think of doing, or failed in attempting. Leaving many to watch in awe, as she does the impossible, laughing the whole while. Her element, laughter, fits her appropiately...

Marx put the book back in his bag and sighed. Now he understood what that meant. She was certainly different. But now something else was bothering him. It was bothering him since Pinkie answered his riddle. At first, he thought it was about Pinkie, but now that changed. Marx looked at the contract, reading what he should have read completely the first time.

Everything seemed up to par with the usual agreements at first. Then, something caught his eye. Looking near the middle of the page, he saw a word that caught his eye. Monitored. Marx read the lines around that word.
14. No trace of the involvement of the CRG in this contract will be shared.
15. The progress of this contract will be monitored to ensure efficiency.
16. Partial completion of contract will be unacceptable.

Marx wanted to rip up the contract after reading that. Who gave them a right to watch him? And more importantly, how were they watching him? He was one of the best at this. But also, were they watching right now? Marx looked up from the contract into the trees. The wind blew softly as a nearby bird sang his tune. No sign of anypony as far as he could tell.

Marx put the contract in his bag, and watched the three mares as they conversed. He tried to think about anything that happened in the past few days he should have been aware of. Only a few things came to mind. The first, being the fire that didn’t last the entire night. Second, the feeling that something was wrong, almost different. The feeling, he guessed, was that somepony had been watching him. Well, he’d have to play by the contract’s rules.

Marx stood up and grabbed his bag. He went to the mares, annoyed at how depressed they looked.
-------------
(after Marx started walking towards the tree)

“What’s got him in a knot?” Pinkie asked.

“I believe he’s a little rustled from your actions. I must admit, I’m a little rustled as well,” Rarity said.

“I thought everyone knew how to take a gag off with your tongue,” Pinkie said.

“No darling, I believe it’s just you,” Rarity said.

“Girls... I don’t meant to interrupt, but should we think of a way to get out?” Fluttershy asked.

“You were so helpful to the brute, I thought you were on his side,” Rarity said, looking at her restraints.

“Why would we want to leave? I’m about to finish my trick,” Pinkie said, fumbling with the rope.

“Well... I didn’t want to get on his bad side...” Fluttershy said. Obviously, it wasn’t her that caused him irritation.

“Well that’s nice and all, but helping your enemies isn’t helping us any,” Rarity said.

“But it’s showing kindness, that’s my Fluttershy,” Pinkie said.

Fluttershy blushed, and then went into thought. “So, any ideas?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well, if he’s watching us all the time in the day, I doubt we could pull a fast one on him. And I’ll be getting my beauty sleep at night.” Rarity asked.

“C’mon girls, don’t you want to see my trick?” Pinkie asked.

“Pinkie, might I ask how you intend to do this trick?” Rarity asked, to humor Pinkie.

“That’s a secret. But can you remind me why I want to do the trick again? I forgot,” Pinkie said.

“If you get out of these dirty bonds, you can get some help in town. Have some of our friends come save us,” Rarity continued with the thought. “Then, we can call for help from Canterlot and get this hooligan behind bars,” Rarity said.

“Oh, okay then,” Pinkie said, going quiet.

“I don’t want him to get hurt, but what’ll happen if nopony saves us?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know dear, I don’t know...” Rarity said, putting her hoof on Fluttershy’s back for comfort.

Marx was coming over, apparently finished with what he was doing. He stopped in front of Pinkie, assessing her face, and adding numbers in his head. Finally, he whispered his results. She was outgoing, all over the place. And ponies would definitely notice her missing. Mixed in with the fact she had probably been doing a chore when he found her, Marx was feeling depressed at his bad choice.

“One day,” Marx estimated. “Max,”

“What?” Pinkie asked.

“That’s how long until they’ve noticed you’d disappeared. That’s for all three of you, and there’s still three more to get...” Marx said biting his lip.

“D-does this mean...” Fluttershy asked, her hopes raising.

“No, it means this could go a lot worse than you think,” Marx said.

“And why would you say that?” Rarity asked.

“Because I just found out that my employer is keeping tabs on me,” Marx said.

“Meaning?” Rarity asked.

“Meaning, that if I try to pretend to quit the contract, he’ll know that I just didn’t want to take the risk of having the authorities come after me again. So, I’ll be forced to tell the truth... or be forced to kill you all and save my career. Remember, I’m letting you live because I don’t have a very good policy on killing,” Marx said.

Marx saw all three of them gulp at the end. He had to admit, it would take the risk of his career to kill anypony. But he still had priorities. Now, he continued with his reasoning.

“That means, I have less than twenty four hours to foalnap the other three Elements, or else I’ll go loud and probably end up murdering half the town. So, I’d cooperate if I were you,” Marx said.

They didn’t respond, and he continued. “If I wanted to distract the town for about one hour, what would be the best place to put the distraction,” Marx asked.

At first, he thought they were going mute, but then Fluttershy gulped. “The t-town square,” Fluttershy said.

“Ponyville has a town square?” Marx asked.

“Y-yes,” Fluttershy stuttered.

“Great, it’s not labeled on the map, but I think I know where that is. See, this cooperation is what I wanted. Now, I’m off to bag another pony. Hopefully one quieter than you,” Marx looked at Pinkie, then turned to Rarity. “And less demanding than you.”

Marx took his bag and raced off towards the town. The clock was ticking now. He had to collect all six of them before anypony reports them missing. By now, there should be speculation on Rarity and Pinkie’s disappearance, but Fluttershy was definitely a good first pick.

Marx checked for the Sapphire on the way, and found it still in its position. Smiling, he hoped that Karma wasn’t about to rear her ugly head.

Nearby, the figure jumped from the trees, landing without a sound in pursue of Marx. She smiled to herself. She had been given the perfect timing on this job. As she followed, she wondered just why Marx had to be monitored, and what was going on in that head of his. If she could listen to it, she’d know that he was signing his will, and leaving everything to luck.

Author's Note:

Weird chapter to type, weirder to name, i supppose. The chapter title came from the idea that if this happened in real life (Substituting ponies for people), you’d think you’d gone crazy too. Editor and I had some discussion over this chapter. Sadly, he won most of them, so it’s not as close to its original form as I wanted. Now, I hope you understand about the whole: battling his past, time and contract he signed. Although, the extent of all three will be enhanced as the battle progresses, so stay tuned!

Next Time: The Mistake, Who’s was it? And why does it change everything?

Comments

[lordofmyth]

whats to prevent pinkie pie from just escaping and running off for help? nothing i can imagine. she jsut came along upon her own will after all.

[Slywolf930]

3825655
How did you read it that fast? Wow you're one dedicated reader. Like eight minutes after it's posted you reply. I don't think I can even read that fast.
*Spoiler to anyone who didn't read full chapter*
Wasn't she stuffed in the bag, and then almost gagged? I don't think that counts for her own will. Either way, no one really understands pinkie so maybe she thought it was a game? I don't know.

[lordofmyth]

3825702 she realizes it isn't now.......... and she did take those cupcakes.

[Slywolf930]

3825713
Just wait 'til next chapter ;)
If you correctly guess who my favorite pony of the mane six is correctly, I'll post it immediately.
Caution: You have one guess.
(Just cause you're a faithful reader.)

[Slywolf930]

3825772
Thanks, I don't use much details, so I try to fill it up with dialogue. Glad you like it.