Time to shuffle off
Mugsy and Nunzio were in the process of waking up from an afternoon nap. They were under orders to keep trying to convince the “badass” blackjack dealer that working with the mob was far more profitable than working against them. Despite their protest to the higher ups that it was likely to prove futile and that maybe they should just leave Ponyville alone, their orders remained unchanged. In the absence of anything better to do, they were preparing to spend the evening at Sweetie Belle’s table. There was the slim hope they could win enough money to convince “da boss” that their trip had unexpectedly turned profitable. Not expecting anything exciting to happen, they were thusly surprised when their door flew open.
“You numbskulls, do you have any idea what you’re doing?” the mobs most deadly hitpony shouted at them.
“Umm, how’d you get in here?” squeaked Nunzio, since he was closest to the door, and therefore most likely to die first.
Shadow ignored the stupid question, as though a hitpony famous for killing highly secure targets would somehow have trouble with a lock on a third rate hotel door. “When I take a contract, I make only one promise: either the target dies, or I do. It’s why I’m still around,” he growled.
“We ain’t letting you hurt Sweetie Belle,” Mugsy replied with his most practiced glare.
Shadow rolled his eyes, causing Mugsy to reflexively take a step back. “You think you could stop me, Munzio?”
“Maybe, and it’s Mugsy,” came the mumbled reply.
“Well, you couldn’t. You and Nungsy are as dumb as a sack of bricks. Boss wants the Casino under his thumb, and you think some little filly is gonna stop him.”
“Maybe?” Nunzio said quietly with absolutely no emphasis.
“You two have done stepped in it.”
Shadow levitated his hat off of his head as his horn began to glow. A small hole began to form, its edges charring. “You take this, and you tell the boss that this is all that’s left of me. You tell him that the dealer left you alive so you could deliver this message.”
“Umm, why don’t you tell him?”
“Because I’m faking my death, you idiot. That means I’m leaving Equestria. I figure the griffin empire’s got use for a pony of my talents, and the mob don’t have representatives that far north,” Shadow said matter of factly. One of the things about being a hitpony was that you tended not to have a lot of attachments. It made the idea of uprooting your entire life surprisingly palatable.
“You could stick around and help us convince da boss to find another casino?” Nunzio said tentatively, in the hopes that the duo could enlist another ally in their quest.
“You two really are idiots. Boss ain’t gonna quit because he thinks I’m dead. He never quits. He’s gonna send more guys. And if they find out I’m not dead, they’ll fix that quicker that you can eat a cupcake. So congrats you two, I’m getting out while the gettins good, and if you two had any sense, you’d do the same, cause eventually, an even bigger numbskull than the two of you is gonna come along who doesn’t care about that cute, little filly. And they’re gonna kill you when they find out you’ve been lying.”
Leaving two nervous but still somewhat-confused stallions behind him, Shadow walked out of the room and out of the Casino, becoming another victim of an unwitting Sweetie Belle’s war on vice. He hadn’t quite reached the train station when a piercingly shrill voice almost shattered his eardrum.
“Hi!” exclaimed a pink pony who was way too happy to see him.
“Who are you?” he asked warily.
“I’m your friendly neighborhood auntie Pinkie, and you’re Shadow, but you go by another name don’tcha?”
Shadow dropped any pretense of civility. “How do you know about that?” he asked with a glare, spell at the ready.
Much to his surprise, his glare had no effect of the smile of his acoster; it remained as bright and wide as ever. “I know lots of stuff. Like about that bakery that burned down in Manehattan, the one with the family living on the top floor.”
Shadow flashed back to one of his earlier jobs. That one had been especially perilous, as the Equestrian Intelligence Agency had somehow caught wind of his presence. He had burned the bakery down because he didn’t have time to plan a proper assassination and needed a distraction to cover his tracks. But the only way that mare in front of him could have known that would be if she was there. And the only ponies who were there were the family that had burned and the EIA assassin who had been tracking him. It suddenly became very obvious who he was looking at. “You’re-”
“Your friendly neighborhood auntie Pinkie Pie, but I already told you that silly.”
It was rare that Shadow got ambushed. The knowledge that if it came down to a fight, he very well might lose induced a feeling of fear that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Much like his own reputation, there existed only whispers and rumors about the pony standing in front of him. A common refrain said that there existed no safe haven, no quarter, where you could run if Pinkamena put you on her list. The instant she marked you, you were dead. You just didn’t know it. “I don’t want trouble,” he stammered.
“That’s good, it’d be funny if you did want trouble. You’d be all ‘I’m looking for trouble’, and then I’d be all ‘well good because you found trouble’, but my name isn’t 'Trouble', it’s Pinkie Pie. Here, have a balloon.” Pinkie reached behind her back, and a bouquet of balloons suddenly appeared. As she handed them to him, the unsaid truth that those balloons could have easily been something more sinister hung in the air.
“I’m retired,” Shadow tried, hoping that his recent change of career, well, territory really, would convince the mare in front of him to let him get on with faking his own death.
“That’s good; I’m retired too, if I wasn’t, *woooosh*, there’d be all kinds of explosions going off right now. It’d be a very messy party.” That Pinkie was able to say that with a wide smile unnerved Shadow even further. “I’ve been watching you since you came to town, y’know,” she said softly.
“I haven’t hurt anypony,” Shadow blurted out, not entirely sure why.
“Yep, I know that too.” Pinkie’s voice dropped three octaves. “Which is why I’m letting you walk out of here. Time to shuffle off now, Boogiemare. Pinkie giggled at the nickname, though the sound of laughter dissipated as quickly as it arrived, leaving a more stern expression on Pinkie’s face. “Never come back to Ponyville again.”
And with that warning ringing in his ears, the mob’s most deadly hitpony hopped on a train never to be heard from again, thanks to Sweetie Belle.
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Time to get the buck out!
After thinking about it for a little while I think I can see Pinkie as a wetworks agent for Equestria. All she wants to do is make her friends smile, and she's willing to do whatever it takes to see them smile. If certain bad ponies have to disappear for her friends to smile again then that's what Pinkie's gonna do.
Though there was a distinct lack of Sweetie Bell in this chapter. More Sweetie Bell!
Please?
If you want a picture of Sweetie with a dress, there is one in this fic
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/186356/casino-night
If you like it, you need to ask the author for the image.
maybe pinkie needs to make a note to the mob the casino is already protected by a deadlier power?
derpicdn.net/img/2014/10/19/746113/medium.png
View on Derpibooru - Original source
Pinkie is scary.
I think Shadow could have stuck around and been Sweetie's protector, but oh well.
Hehe, what an interesting story. I'll be following this story to its conclusion
4830286 What does FNV stand for? Or did I already ask this?
4633403 Where did you find this comic?
I like this a lot. Please continue!
Why is this on hiatus?
OH COME ON!!!!!!!!!
...sorry, I couldn't resist
But seriously, this story is very enjoyable. I hope you're able to return to it one day/
5546112 Thanks. It will get an ending sometime this year.
I like this story and want to see more of it
...
Who DARED to dislike this!
This is a GREAT Pinkie Pie!
So even 'Shadow' was brought to heel by Sweetie Belle? to think that she'd be quite so powerful.
And PInkie was great here, I loved how it came out of nowhere, I did check the link but seeing it without first just was briliant