Electric Eye
Friendship. Friendship should be everywhere. That's the way things are. It's the way of the universe. It is not for us to challenge the established order and certainly not for us to change it. Anyone who doubts the necessity of friendship deserves only condemnation and, in most cases, punishment.
Those words were firmly fixed in his mind, keeping him from looking away from the crosshairs of his rifle scope, aimed at the panoramic window that encircled the top of a typical megapolise high-rise. As if resisting the all-consuming darkness of the night, it glittered with the lights of numerous apartments, rising majestically above the narrow streets of the big city. No one seemed to be able to learn its secrets. The mechanical eye, which could see through any obstacle, disproved this statement.
Clicking the bolt of a rifle fixed on the parapet, the figure in the black cloak brought the eyepiece closer to the clear glass, waiting patiently for his moment. He did not need to know the face of his target - the flame of life was the best guide. However, the flickering light at the entrance to the building threatened to make inevitable adjustments to the win-win plan. He didn't discount the importance of the responsibility Kurt and his ponies carried on their shoulders, but he considered their methods too crude. Right now, though, they were working together, and it was better to do so without putting sticks in the ally's wheels. Another thing is that the ally may not be aware of the existence of this simple truth...
One by one, the lights disappeared beneath the roof of the entrance, lost in the blaze of life above. The diversity of the inhabitants, however, did not confuse the gunner for long. Upstairs, movement began. Seven stallions dressed in identical blue uniforms jumped out of the open elevator doors. Their appearance was a great surprise to the company standing at the window, which consisted of a griffin, a zebra, an earth pony, and a unicorn. What a surprising combination for this country.
Hard batons, glittering with lightning pulsing on their surfaces, were at the ready. The chaos on the floor was not a hindrance to him, for his current task was quite different. And soon it was accomplished: the glass shattered as the griffin's body pierced through it. One shot and stranger, who barely had time to flap his wings, flew into the abyss. Another light went out forever. His work was done. Theirs had just begun.
The blow struck precisely on the earthpony's head. The spikes split its muzzle, causing the stallion's body to convulse. There was nothing she could do.
The bullet pierced through the zebra, leaving a blood oozing gash in its striped back. She could only watch.
The griffin's fate remained a mystery to her.
The policecolt who had her pinned to the floor was pressing the unicorn down with the full weight of his massive body, leaving her with only muffled breathing.
''You've had enough, bitch'' he hissed snidely, pawing at the filly's legs.
The guard didn't even seem to realize that the body was only a part of his opponent. Before the stallion knew it, the pistol that came out of its holster was leaning against the back of his head.
''Who's the bitch now?'' the unicorn grinned slyly, pulling the trigger.
The mare threw her weight down in a graceful somersault and fired a bullet between the eyes of the officer who had rushed at her, dropping the dead pony at the feet of another fellow officer. Losing his balance, he fell on his side like a turtle trying to get up, struggling unsuccessfully against the heavy body armor that encompassed him.
But the four were still on their hooves, surrounding the unicorn with astonishing speed. The bastard who commanded them was painfully familiar to her. A pair of vicious, tiny eyes staring back at her from beneath the visor of his ornate, pointed helmet, subtly emphasizing the fat figure of the policecolt.
''Izzy Moonbow - a notorious anarchist and troublemaker, in her own right''
''Kurt Moonbow - a dog of the regime and a rare bastard, what a meeting''
A nasty smile "lit up" the face of the scoundrel. He clucked his tongue in anticipation of such a speedy reckoning. She wouldn't leave now.
The unicorn had a different opinion. A flash of bright light blinded everyone around them. When sight returned to their astonished eyes, the policecolts saw only the tail that had disappeared behind the elevator doors.
''CATCH THAT WHORE!'' screamed Kurt, firing his revolver at the ceiling.
The metal plates didn't help the blistering cold that tormented the few remnants of living flesh. He breathed on his hooves, rubbing them against each other in an attempt to create some sort of heat pulse. To no avail, for nothing could save him from them. Heralds of death, riding across a war-torn planet, snowing over bloody battlefields and the ruins of once-great cities. Only a thin strip of magical barrier separates the few survivors from the inevitable end that reminded of itself every minute of every day. Sooner or later it will fall. Then the ponies will die out, purging the remnants of Equestria of their vicious existence. But those are matters of days to come...
The usual hustle and bustle of the arrest turned into chaotic tossing, which eloquently signaled a deviation from the plan. Indeed, a desperate pawn had been lost among the police signals, escaping the raid by a miracle known only to fate. But not from him. Moving the rifle, the gunner once again fixed his eyes on its eyepiece, concentrating on the fluttering orange dot, slowly descending downward and then running out of the skyscraper. The walkie-talkie burst with crackling voices spreading the alarming news to all stations. A seemingly ordinary case was complicated by the danger radiating from the wanted subject. The threat emanating from him had the potential to turn the whole order of things upside down and been the beginning of the end of an ideal society. That could not be allowed to happen.
Realizing that he was unlikely to hit from his current position, the gunner walked to the edge of the roof and jumped off it headfirst, tossing his front legs out to the sides as he flew, letting his steel wings snap out of the hoops around his limbs. As luck would have it, the wind was a tailwind, picking up the sniper and carrying him over the snowy ground. The fleeing figure ran in panic across a vast wasteland, on the other side of which could be seen the intricacies of divergent pipes belonging to a monstrous power plant.
He could hear her heart beating hysterically. He knew that soon her lungs would fail defenseless victim. And then she would fall, exhausted and frightened, like a rabbit in front of a wolf's mouth. But the filly clung desperately to her own life. She zigzagged with mad inertia, and went farther and farther into the night darkness of the snowy field.
The stallion took his time, waiting for the right moment to strike. But the moment never presented itself. Nearly caught in steel wings, Izzie ducked under the pipes and disappeared into the maze of steam and copper. The sniper touched the ground, silently watching the unicorn with a grim look. His muzzle expressed no emotion, only cold calculation guided the assassin, who clasped his rifle behind his back, brought his metal-clad hoof to his lips, and spoke a sequence of code words into the microphone that opened. The response he received was an ingratiating phrase - ''Execute''. Putting his foot back on the snow, the stallion moved forward.
Izzy was practically groping her way down the aisle - the dusk preventing her eyes from finding the right path, which was her only salvation. The insinuating clang of metal came to her flared ears from somewhere behind her, slowly but inexorably approaching the shaking terrorist, who was doing her best to keep from going insane with mind-eating fear. The dumb guards, used to following orders without question, posed no threat to the filly - she had learned their moves from years in the underground. But what followed her now was beyond that experience. Something she'd only heard of in whispered stories was on the hunt for her puny soul.
But what went wrong? How did they know about the meeting?
These and other questions arose in the unicorn's mind, mixing into a mad mess, inevitably leading to the same conclusion - they had been ratted out. Turned in the most vile and cold-blooded way possible, sending the best members of the resistance to the other world. Only one remained in the ranks.
Absorbed in her thoughts, the filly didn't notice when she hit the steel door. As she tugged frantically on the handle, Izzy realized that the passage was locked from the inside. Was this really the end? Would everything be resolved here and now. She could not believe such a thing, suppressing a cry of indignation and bringing her hooves down in impotent anger upon an obstacle indifferent to her fate.
The knocking grew closer. The unicorn leaned her forehead against the door, slumped down and turned her back to it, leaning back and closing her eyes as if she didn't want to witness the denouement of a short but eventful life. The knocking was already coming from around the nearest corner.
Finally, the stalker revealed itself. A bizarre mixture of machine and living creature in silver armor, in the place of one of whose eyes was a scarlet eyepiece that cast a crimson light on the kneeling troublemaker. The nightmare's snout was lost in the shadows, but even without looking at it, filly could tell that he's going to take a lot of pleasure in completing the task soon. A red dot appeared on the unicorn's forehead. The assassin cocked the trigger of the revolver that had sprung up in his hoof.
A shot rang out.
The door swung open with a long clang, dropping the broken lock to the floor. With her back on the ground and channeling the bullet with magic the unicorn rolled over and, using the time to recharge, galloped into the opening passage. The assassin grinned, aiming at her back.
A sharp pain pierced Izzy's body. She yelped and twisted to the side. Scarlet drops ran down her skin. Barely holding back the tears that spurted from her eyes, the mare clenched her teeth and made her way to the wide room, the floor of which was covered with chaotically branching wires wrapped around a computer unit in the center of the hall. Without a second thought, the heavy-breathing pony began to pound the surface of the computer with her hooves.
Crimson light appeared from behind her back, accompanying the unyielding stried that inevitably brought her pursuer to the wires. Another blow shattered the flimsy hull, showering the unicorn with hissing sparks that shot hundreds of jabs through her tousled fur. Streams of energy ran around the wiring, closing in on the hoof-squeezed area.
The assassin shook, twisting his legs and lurching downward with a long howl. The glow faded, leaving only bright flashes to illuminate the agonized body, which collapsed to the ground a few moments later as a pile of smoking scrap metal.
The charred filly recoiled to the side, looking at the fallen stallion with sleepy eyes. Barely on her hooves, with a shuffling gait she drew nearer to the lying, finally getting a good look at his snout.
''Hitch?" her lips quivered in surprise, "But...how?''
The cyborg's head shuddered. The eyepiece began to shrink chaotically, accompanying a slowly rising clarified gaze with an inexpressible sadness in it that looked at the filly.
''Izzy..." the stallion whispered, unable to make even the slightest movement.
The unicorn's consciousness was rapidly filling with darkness.
''I...I loved you...'' she said in a trembling voice, sinking lower, realizing that her time was running out.
''I'm sorry..." the assassin replied.
Their lips made contact, becoming the last thing the ponies felt as they drifted off into nothingness.
''Target eliminated. Task force killed in the line of duty''
''What's the likelihood of recovery?''
''Eighty percent''
''Exсellent. Get him to headquarters''
Over and out.