The Watchful Eye

by Mr Anomalous

Blood

Blood

Shady had had a bad life. Who would like a pony whose special talent was stealing? No one, that's who. Except, maybe other thieves. Shady did not have any friends, save Pinkie Pie, he couldn't escape her, and that hurt him, but he drowned it out by doing what he does best: steal. He was quiet, light on his hooves, and a quick-thinker. All of this made him an amazing thief. The massive fire a couple days ago helped: ponies were distracted, and, thanks to the re-building efforts, they went to bed quickly, and fell asleep even faster.

He knew this, and decided to strike that night. He had spent his most of his jewel stash on things, illegal things, to help him build defenses for his hangout. He needed more.

His hideout was a cave in the Whitetail Woods, a forest above Ponyville and below Canterlot; perfect for stealing from both cities. But the disaster was in Ponyville, and thus he would hit there.

Shady stood outside of the place that he had called home for the past twenty years, the cold breeze sweeping up from the vast, empty darkness behind him. He stood on a rock ledge that was three feet above the ground, where the forest began and stretched for a few miles, before reaching Ponyville. Above him was Canterlot: literally.

His cave was in the mountain that Canterlot was built into, and the city literally was above his head. The waterfalls all trickled into a peaceful pond right next to his cave. Such a beautiful home for such a despicable pony.

Shady waited patiently as Celestia's sun retired down the horizon and as Luna's moon crept up into the sky. The air grew chillier, the sky darker. It was time. The thief had made this trip many times, and knew it well, so it only took him half and hour to cross several miles, Ponyville drawing closer with each bound.

At last, he reached the outskirts, and he stopped, hiding behind a large boulder. The dead leaves under his hooves crackled softly was he moved.

He reached up with a hoof and drew the black scarf that lay around his neck upwards and over his gray muzzle. He checked to make sure that he was clothed almost entirely in black, and therefore unrecognizable. Yes, he was.

The thief waited for a few more minutes, and made his move, bounding to the closest building that he possibly could, and hid behind it, pressing himself into the shadows. All was still. Shady looked up, his one eye searching for an window. He got lucky; there was a window that was both open and close to the ground, easily reachable. Shady couldn't beleive his luck as he smothered a cackle and easily slipped inside. Once more he paused. It was dark and quiet.

Alright, what's in here?

Shady noticed that he had slipped through a living room window, but nothing but a couple sofas and a coffee table was there. There were some photos on the walls, but the frames were wood, and none of them were good enough to sell.

So he moved on. There was an open doorway that led to a narrow kitchen, and another door near the window that Shady slipped in from. The sneaky pony crept over to it and silently opened it without a creak. A closet, almost as bare as the living room. Well, the kitchen next.

Shady silently hurried over and peeked inside, still sticking close to the wall. The other side was too dark to see to, but there may be something in the cupboards. Besides valuables, Shady also stole his food most of the time.

Damn, this place is practically empty.

Shady decided to grab the silverware, you never know, and the only thing he had found: chewing tobacco and celery.

As Shady's head began to pan, his gray eye searching for other things, he heard a noise. Shady froze. This was not a single noise, but a continuous one. It sounded like breathing, only it was hollow, muffled even.

What...?

Shady whirled around and gave a loud cry of surprise. Standing in the other side of the kitchen was a tall, slender, and dark figure. Its face was covered with a strange mask with large, shiny lenses and a protruding circular part that stuck out to the left of its covered face. There was a long, shiny crowbar in its grasp. It stood near the stairwell that led upstairs.

It looked at Shady with a cocked head, the lenses of its mask gleaming from the moonlight that streamed inside from another window.

Shady yelled again, not caring if he woke the inhabitants. He may have been a thief, but he was not some selfish coward who would leave a family of ponies to be killed by strange, otherworldly creatures. He stood up on both legs and leaned against the counter in a defensive position. He opened his mouth to shout again, but he couldn't. Come to think of it, he couldn't breath either.

Shady looked down and then tried to scream again, but this time in horror. From his gut protruded the crowbar that the monster was supposed to have in his hand. Shady looked back up but saw that the tall creature was gone.

"G-g...ahh..ugh.."

The crowbar was wrenched from his gut, and a spray of thick, ropy blood followed, spattering the black and white tiled floor of the kitchen.

The thief fell down on all fours again and gasped as the side of his head was cracked with the blunt end of the crowbar, splitting it open. Shady fell to the ground, bleeding heavily from both wounds. The monster was over him again, his weapon and clothes bloodied. He was looking at him with the same cocked head, only toward the opposite direction.

The pony's temple was struck with a boot and it slammed into a cupboard door, putting a hole in it.

Shady's eyes followed the monster's hand as he went to open a drawer. Without breaking its gaze away from Shady, the monster fumbled around until he drew a knife.

"Ga-h! N-no...!"

And suddenly Shady's vision was filled with the cold lenses of the creature's mask. Frozen, lifeless, empty, they seemed. Again, Shady gasped, only this time when he felt the cold steel being viciously stabbed into his gut, just above the crowbar's wound. It wrenched upwards, down, and then out again with another spray of blood. Shady was losing all senses, so no pain was felt with the next stab. Nor the next, and neither the next. Finally, he was gone.

Sketch's eyes fluttered open when she heard a loud crash come from downstairs. Sketch, without even the thought that it was a burglar, but maybe one of her friends about to pull a prank on her, grumbled and slipped out from under her covers.

She was about to open the door when she was stopped by a peculiar sound. Sketch didn't recognize it, but it sounded most like the rending of wet cloth. That just meant that this prank would involve water. Those evil mares.

A smirk on her face, the mare hurried through her hall and down the stairs. He was laughing as she turned into the kitchen and began to say, "Lily, I got you now...."

She trailed off. What? Was that...? Sketch shook her head. It...was. Sketch only giggled maniacally as she fainted, hitting her head on the banister, and lay near the stairs, bleeding herself.

Comments

[Armadaes]

.....personality disorder much?

[Mr Anomalous]

2483412
He's...a bit of a psychopath. More on that later.

[Cold Spike]

SO not to be THAT GUY, but if he did in fact die then the ' Everyone' rating might need to be pushed to teen. Because you barely described the blood there is no need to say gore or anything like that, but a murder like that just kind of seems out of the Everyone comfort zone... also MOAR! Please?

[Mr Anomalous]

2483491
0.o.
Uh-oh. Crap, forgot. Tee-hee!

[Cold Spike]

We all forget .... seriously MOAR? 2483505

[The 10th Doctor]

Man, the suspense, the build-up, the detail, and the Watcher(don't know what you call him yet). He sounds like the guy from Dishonered. But whatevs, great chapter.

[Mr Anomalous]

2483524
Is that a good game? Haven't played it yet...

[Dihinner]

Pyro's been taking lessons from

GORDON FREEMAN

[Johnyapple]

At the end of the chapter, why is their both sketch AND roseluck, did they suddenly switch or something?

[The 10th Doctor]

2483530
Yes. Its an amazing game. If you've played Skyrim, you'll love Dishonered. Reason why this anti-hero reminds me of the main character from it is the mask and his unexplainable speed. Because in Dishonered, you can literally stop time around you long enough to interact with the enviornment around you.

[Mr Anomalous]

2483619
I had originally meant for that pony to be Roseluck, but decided against it. Must've left that there, thanks for catching it!

[Armadaes]

2483487 ahh...ok uh yeah that clears things up thanks a bunch

[Archmagejay]

Dun dun duuh... The plot thickens...

[MemeShitlord]

Cool.

[The Watcher 509]

Well...DOUBLE KILL!!(Or One Kill And One Unconscious?)

The Divider's Are Amazingly Beautiful In This Chapter

[Cmnd Vanguard]

Wait, wait, wait. Okay, So saving ponies caught in a mass fire. But then the dude does a MASSIVE 180 and kills someone for thievery?
'Kay, now I've gotta know what's up.

[Mr Anomalous]

2492417
Good. I have drawn you in.

[CIA]

Shady looked down and then tried to scream again, but this time in horror. From his gut protruded the crowbar that the monster was supposed to have in his hand.

"That sounds worse then getting all your blood punched out of ya."
"Or worse than having a pyro go to town on your entire team.

[Xermy]

1 death and 1 fainted and bleeding off in one night... *golf clap*

[Pretty In Pink]

Love the way you make the theif not completely bad. And that ending was perfect. Took me abut to understand it, but when i did it gave me shivers. Very well written story.

[thatguyyeah]

this has made me happy in da pants good job

[Arexander]

I realize this is an old chapter, but the line break image is broken. You might also want to scroll through the other chapters for any broken images, I think chapter 4 had at least one as well.