One by One

by DreamWings

Eight.

Silver Spoon looked around the festivities going on in the little town. Everypony seemed really joyful and happy on tonight of all nights. You'd think that after all of the murders that had happened around the town recently they would be a bit more wary, especially on a night as dark as Nightmare Night, but they carried on as if it was a normal celebration. Silver Spoon had struggled with the events of the last couple of weeks just as much as everypony else but she had coped just as she needed to do. She would not have gained much respect from her contacts if she had broke down and cried when they most needed them.

Thankfully she had managed to stick to her side of the bargin and was ready to give what she knew to her fellow partner in this occupation. She was used to playing second fiddle and to supply information to somepony else in charge of her; it was second nature to her after her experiences with her friend the control freak, Diamond Tiara. Diamond had left a couple of years back to go and get her dream of starring on the stages in Canterlot. She'd become quite a success as far as Silver knew, but Silver didn't really care about that anymore.

She and Diamond had not been on friendly terms for a few years now. Silver found that the older they both got, the more she seemed to be pushed to the background; a place where she still seemed to linger. The truth is that nopony seemed to talk to her as much anymore. More and more ponies everyday seemed to forget that she was even there at all. She'd never thought when she was a filly that this could happen to her, but it had. She had become as much in the background as one of the odd ponies like Sunny Daze and Lyra. All of them not even noticable much in the large space occupied by the whole of Equestria. Silver wasn't sure that she liked it that way, but she had become accustomed to it by now.

She found it almost unbearable when she was forced to the back of a line merely because she was not a prominent character in the news of Equestria or beyond. It was aggravating when ponies pushed her around and forced her to do things just because she wouldn't be able to fight back because she wasn't 'popular' like some other ponies. Diamond Tiara didn't have these problems. She was popular. But it vexed Silver a lot.

The only good thing about her latest predicament was that she could wander around and do things behind ponies backs and they would be none the wiser. She was the best of the best of getting secrets from everypony. Even now, looking around at all of the costumed mares and colts, she could quite easily see what other ponies perhaps couldn't. She could see the agitation in Twist's eyes as she watched two colts gorging on all of her treats without even tasting them properly. She could see the unridled joy on the face of Zecora even though the zebra herself tried to hide it behind her scary stories and moves.

Everything was like a bright picture to Silver and she was the one in control of how powerful the lense was. She could zoom in on every feeling, every movement, every thought... and capture it. That's why she was the best. That's why she could not be replaced in the job she was doing. Her partner knew of her value quite easily. She was a good team player, Silver.

Her costume tugged on her back, the hem falling low over her flank. She supposed dressing as a Train was not the best costume she could have picked considering recent incidents that had occured, but she hadn't managed to find another one at last minute. All that mattered is that she had a costume and that nopony would recognise her properly. The only air she could get came from the eye hole at the front, which was hard to do in the cramped town centre. Ponies rushed to and fro, hastily trying to play all of the games that they wanted to.

Pumpkins flew high into the air and landed splat onto the targets a few metres away. Toy spiders shot through into the webs in front of the laughing ponies. Everypony was happy, everypony was peaceful, and this made Silver feel more relaxed. If they were focusing on their games then there would not be any chance of any of them seeing where she was going to go soon. She was keeping a close eye on the police Cheif and his Deputy. They were watching everypony just in case something were to happen.

Silver Spoon thought this was ridiculous. There was no way a killer could walk into a crowded town centre and murder somepony right under the eyes of everypony else. They would only do that if they wanted to get caught, which surely the killer did not want at all. Somehow Silver couldn't help but feel nervous about wandering alone into the alleyway in a few minutes time; she certainly didn't want to be the next victim of these gruesome crimes, but she had to do this or she would be considered a coward by her peers. Her partner would certainly think that she didn't deserve the assignment she had been given, even though she did.

No, Silver just needed something to calm her nerves before she went. What was there she could do? She could go on one of the games, but it had to be just the right one... And it certainly couldn't be too crowded or she would not be able to escape unnoticed. Weighing up her options she decided that the apple bobbing was her best idea. Hardly anypony seemed to be there, they were all standing around Zecora listening to the tale she had told about fifty times now. Silver couldn't imagine why it had scared her so much in her youth, it certainly didn't seem as scary now that she had faced the terrors of growing up.

She wandered over to the barrell and looked down into the clear transparent water inside. The apples bobbed cheerfully up and down in the small ripples just waiting for somepony to come and have a go at catching one of them in their mouths'. It was almost like they were teasing the grey mare; enticing her into their watery clasp. She had to do it, it was going to be fun. She lifted the head of her costume off of her head with her hooves before bending down and readying herself to go into the water underneath. Her head flung downwards into the water, her tongue feeling for the crispy apples that she knew where there. Where was that thing? She knew there had been at least eight apples around.

She began to withdraw her head from the bucket so that she could open her eyes and spot where the fruit could've got to. Her head wouldn't move. A strong hoof pushed her further and further into the water, not letting go of her head at all. The water swam into her nostrils; her head began to feel much heavier than it had felt in the night air. She opened her eyes sharply to see what was going on but could see nothing but the bottom of the brown bucket. Her eyes stung badly but she couldn't feel that pain so much as that from the force of the pony's weight up above.

She kicked her hoof brazingly back at her attacker but it did not good, she was becoming much too weak to struggle against this. Her mouth opened in a sub-conscious attempt to bring any oxygen into her body but of course it did not work. The water sunk into her lungs and choked her on its rippling tides. The attacker let her body go and moved backwards into the crowds. An apple floated to the side of her head as her tired mane flowed in the transparent puddle inside its container.

A shrill scream sounded from a small filly stood near the game, alerting all of the other citizens to the scene of the crime. The Chief scowled to himself: Not again. And through all of this commotion nopony noticed an orange hoof slipping into the headgear belonging to the mare, pulling out a piece of paper and stuffing it into the pocket of her own costume. Nopony could ever suspect the silent Shadow Bolt... Nopony ever would know about Silver and her circumstances; she would make sure of that.

Eight.

Comments

[Konics]

silver was scoots ally and not a loose end from what im seeing. i still dont think it is scoots