More and more time passed and before I knew it the summer was at its peak and today was one of the hottest days of the year. My shoulder had healed up a long time ago and I was back to work. I worked the farm with applejack every day and made good friends with her and twilight, we saw each other all the time and I was starting to get happy now, but of course... I went back to work for Donnie. He stationed me as a worker in his ranks and gave me various jobs all the time. He had me work mostly during the night which is when I was free, it was one job a day and it was working. I did all kinds of things now, sell drugs, trade goods, launder money, collect 'insurance' and collect profit shares from the towns small businesses. Was given a gun even though I didn't really need it, but I was given one to use if I needed it, but I never really worked alone. I hid my face with a mask every time and didn't like to show my face unlike the others did.
I did my work quickly and with precision. I never failed a job, and I always got what I needed. Before long I had fallen back into the swing of things and picked up my old code name... Shadow. I was Zack the shadow. I wore black and hid my face. I worked only at night and I never failed a single job. It's strange, since it isn't who I really am, but it feels so natural. It's like I've become bipolar and have started leading two lives, one during the day and one at night. Working at night had left me with little time to sleep, so I take short naps during the day after getting back from applejacks farm. So my life as a farmer and my life as a notorious street thug coexist nicely. Luckily for me I haven't been busted at all and my face and name remain off the papers... For now though. But news of the mafias 'shadow' are bound to show up soon.
Working for Donnie left me with lots of extra money now, the job pays much better than I expected and I have enough money now to buy my own house if I wanted to. But I like it here in my cozy little apartment. It's small and warm and it's close to where the action is. Besides, I've gotten used to it by now and moving would just be trouble. Even if I wanted to move, what am I going to fill an entire house with...? I don't have much. My life has certainly changed since that night at that party... And speaking of change... There's still the mater of the tattoo which mysteriously appeared on my back. Hammer is the only one who has a slight idea of what I'm talking about but I've told him to keep quiet about it. I haven't told or shown anybody else... It's my secret, and it sort of scares me. I don't know what it is, or what it means, or even how it got there... But every time I look at it, I can't really help but smile for some odd reason. If I had chosen to go out and get a tattoo it seems like something I would get. I'm just glad other tattoos haven't started mysteriously appearing all over my body, one is enough.
Hiding it is somewhat troublesome though. In this weather now I can't really just cover it up with my hoodie, people would think I'm insane, and I'd probably die of heatstroke before they got the chance to think anything about me. Working on applejacks farm in the heat often makes me sweaty and it's hard not to take off my shirt while working. I definitely know that I can't hide this thing forever, but I can't think of a way to show it to my friends. I don't really like to hide things from people, even though it's what I've been doing my whole life, I guess it's just now that the guilt has finally caught up to me. I can't think about that now though, I've got some very important work to do, and I can't get distracted.
It's the night of the hottest day of the year. Its midsummer and midnight is but only an hour away. I'm standing in a dark alleyway alone wearing black jeans, black gloves, my black hoodie and a mask that covers my mouth and nose. I've got my hood up over my head and shades covering my eyes, nobody knows who I am, and they never will. Tonight's job is a simple one, and I'm on my own. I've got to collect insurance from a liquor store on Maple Street. I can see it from here, it's just across the road, and almost about to close as it's getting late. No more customers, just the owner...perfect time to strike. I moved away from the shadows and started making my way to the store. I was ready with a loaded pistol in my pocket I. Case things go sour. I pushed open the door and a little bell rung alerting the pony who was behind the counter, luckily he wasn't a Pegasus or a unicorn, so that made the job all the more easier.
"Excuse me young lad, but we're closing now..." He said.
"I'm not here to buy alcohol." I said walking up to the counter. I stood there and looked down at the pony. He glazed his eyes over me and a wave of realization washed over him.
"Oh... I see what this is." He said in a very accepting voice. "You must be one of Donnie's boys." Said the pony.
"I believe you owe us some protection money." I said.
"Yes... I do believe that I do." He said opening up the cash register. "But... You know... I'm going to have to cancel." He said.
"What?" I asked furiously pulling out the pistol in my pocket.
"I've got other protection." He said. Just then I felt a presence behind me and turned around. I looked and saw that four thugs with bats and crowbars and come out of hiding and surround me.
"What the fuck..." I said. "Who the hell are all of you...? Who are you working for?" I demanded.
"None of your business brat..." Said one of the thugs, "you must be Donnie's shadow... I bet he'd be pissed if the only thing left of you was a broken pile of meat." I quickly whipped out my gun and pointed it at them and they just laughed.
"What...are you going to shoot us?" Asked one of them.
"Kid you might be good... But you ain't not killer... We know." Said the other one.
"Back off." I said pointing the gun at them again to which they just laughed even more. They had me on all sides. They locked the door to the shop and cornered me. I tried to shoot, but every time I squeezed the trigger just a little, thoughts of that one night kept flashing in my head and I knew I couldn't do it again. So I thought quickly and pointed the gun at the guy to my right who blocked the path to the door. I squeezed the trigger and the gun fired, but instead of hitting the guy straight on whirled by him and hit the window behind him, but it was close enough to daze him. With him confused I bolted towards the window and shoved the guy out of my way. He fell to the side and tumbled into a stand of wine bottle which broke and spilled all over him and the floor. The door was locked, but the window was weakened from the bullet. So I did the only thing I could thing to do... I jumped through the window.
I threw my whole body into it and the window shattered and I flew through it. I adjusted myself and instead of hitting the ground flat I rolled across the sidewalk and quickly recovered and started to run as fast as I could. The thugs from back there had started chasing after me, but after I disappeared into the alleyways they stopped. They alleyways were like my home now, I knew my way around them like the back of my hand. I rushed through the thin alleyways and vaulted over obstacles like fences and trash cans. Being thin as I am and having decent upper body strength is good for being agile and quick. I might not be strong, but I am fast and I can get around easily. I mostly follow the alleyways and the rooftops. I rushed to a fire escape and started climbing it up a large apartment building until I was at the very top of the escape. I climbed onto the railing and from there I leapt up and got onto the ledge of the building. I pulled myself up and rolled onto the flat roof of the building and rested there for a minute. I started breathing heavily and just rested.
It's a good thing that I was wearing all these clothes, or jumping through that window would have cut me to ribbons. I did have a slight pain in my cheek which I was just noticing now. I put my finger where the pain was and when I pulled my finger away to look at it there was blood. I must have cut my cheek, oh well... It ain't that bad. Certainly not as bad as having stayed there and gotten beat to a bloody pulp. I'm going to have to ask some serious questions when I get back. Once I was done resting I started making my way. South ponyville is a good place to go rooftop jumping since there are a lot of apartment buildings and factories like this that are all really close to each other and relatively the same height. I got a good running start from the first building and leapt over to the next. I landed down on the second building and cleared it with ease. Rooftops are a more interesting method of transportation, but it would be better if my friends didn't know that I hop from rooftop from rooftop all night long covered in all black and carrying a gun around.
Off in the distance I could see the large factory building that Donnie keeps as his home base. All of the other abandoned buildings around here are just checkpoints. Normally I would stop in at one and get a bit of R&R, but I think Donnie needs to know what went down tonight. I made my way across the rooftops as fast as I could until I was on top of an apartment complex just beside the factory. I stepped near the edge and then leapt off towards and balcony bellow where Donnie's office is. I fell down and landed on the balcony and shrugged off the impact my moving forward into a roll so I don't break my legs. I managed to land quietly enough and I got back up and knocked on the balcony door. I waited for a few seconds before somebody checked to see who was there, they knew it was me since I'm the only one who can get to this balcony without being in the office first. They opened up the doors and let me and Donnie was sitting there smoking a cigar.
"Ay... Zack my boy... How did the job go...? Want a cigar?" He asked offering me one.
"Uh, no thanks... I'm trying to quit actually." I said rolling up my sleeve and showing him a nicotine patch that I was wearing. I started trying to quit about a month ago and it's been going pretty well. I've definitely been breathing easier that's for sure. Twilight and applejack were the ones who pressured me into quitting and I've gotta say that they were right.
"Well that's good... So, how was the job...? Did you get the money?" Asked Donnie.
"There... Was a problem." I said. "Apparently the store owner was paying more than one person for protection, and I was set up." I said. "He had four other guys in there ready to beat me to death with bats and crowbars..."
"You sure...?" He asked seeming rather serious now. "Do you know who they were working for?"
"No... But this isn't the first time that common thugs have gotten in our way... Remember the incident with Johnny... Poor lad was beaten to a pulp in a drug deal." I said. "I think there's somebody else out there who doesn't enjoy our company."
"You may be right..." He said. "I'll have some of the boys look into it... And I'll send some men to the liquor store tomorrow night to set things straight with the owner of the store.
"Escaping wasn't a problem for you was it Zack..." Said hammer who stood next to Donnie.
"They locked the door... So I took the window." I said pointing to the cut on my cheek to which hammer laughed a little.
"Well... I can't pay ya for the job... But, this is valuable information, and we can put it to good use, so I won't let ya off empty handed." Said Donnie tossing me an envelope full of money. "Here's half."
"Thanks... If you need me, you know how to get me." I said turning and walking out the door. I made my way through the halls until I got to the main floor which was now littered with thugs and criminals. It was like a safe haven for street scum. They were in forts built from materials and scrap and they were either trading drugs or waiting to be called out to do something for Donnie. I just made my way through them and towards the exit. Most of them looked at me with suspicious faces because they all knew who I was. They didn't really know who I was; they only knew me as Donnie's shadow. I had requested that Donnie make my presence a secret, and most of these people are faces I didn't know. Only a select few know who I really am and keep my secret, and those are just the people or ponies who knew me before and figured out I was Donnie's shadow.
I made my way out of the factory and took the streets back home since there weren't enough rooftops to jump across where I live. I live in the outer parts of south ponyville, closer to west ponyville. They say, though, that north ponyville is the one true ponyville. West ponyville is all the farmland and such, and east ponyville is the suburbs, like the humanized Verizon of ponyville. But south ponyville is like a city's, it's the slums, and it's at least half the size of the entire town. The town itself used to be small when it was just ponies living here, but now ponyville has the working of becoming a small city. There aren't huge towers, and skyscrapers, most of the stuff here is industrial. That's why there are so many factories and tall apartment buildings. South and east ponyville primarily belong to the humans, since we are more abundant here, but north and west ponyville are inhabited mostly by the ponies. It isn't really written that it should be this way, but it's just the way things are.
It didn't take me long to get back home to my apartment. I got in quickly and quietly through the window so nobody would notice me at the front door. It's easy to climb up to my window at this time since I've made it so that I can open it from the outside, and it's never locked. I can get up to it easily from the window below mine which is the laundry room. So there's nobody there at night to see me. I crawled in and closed my window. The rest of the night was me sleeping. I got out of my clothes and into something more comfortable and stashed away the money I received in a lockbox under my bed. I put the box back, turned off the lights, and went to sleep. I couldn't help but think about what happened to night, with those thugs. That hasn't happened before and it's certainly is odd, no matter which way you look at it, this isn't good. I've got a really back feeling about this all, and whenever I get a bad feeling, my back starts to ache.
I woke up the next morning, and persisted with my usual day. Today was Friday and I was getting paid today at the farm. I got up feeling oddly well rested and took a shower. I checked the scratch on my cheek which was deeper than I thought, but it wasn't much to cry about. I showered and got dressed in jeans, boots, and a t-shirt like usual. I had breakfast and checked the news. Then I headed out and walked down to applejacks farm where she was waiting for me with work. Today we had to harvest the apples in the east field and bring them over to the barn. She asked me about my cheek and I lied to her telling her it was just a dumb accident. When she asked what the accident was, I told her I was too embarrassed to say, to which she just laughed and shrugged it off. We both moved on and started getting to work.
The day passed by and me and applejack worked the farm, picking apples and bucking trees, then bringing heavy baskets of apples from the east field to the barn. We talked and chatted while we worked which helped the day go by quickly and then. Ever since I started working for Donnie at night applejack has been noticing that I've been a bit restless, but she thinks it's because I work for her every day of the week. So she decided to give me the weekends off which is nice of her. And seeing as how my financial situation is right now, it's not much of a problem, in fact, I don't really even need this job. I make more money I one night working for Donnie than I do working two weeks on the farm. Though, each job I do for Donnie pays a different amount, but I still get paid handsomely, nonetheless.
Working the farm all day was tiresome work, but we pushed through it and finished regardless. I was rather exhausted and sweaty, it would be a good idea to cool off and rest a bit before seeing what Donnie wants me to do tonight. Once the work was done applejack smiled and paid me. We talked a little bit more before I left and headed home. I walked out of the farm and made my way home. As I started to make my way back home I suddenly felt my pocket begin to vibrate, it was my phone which I kept on vibrate now a days. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone and flipped it open to see who was calling. To my surprise I saw that it was twilight who was calling me. I pressed the answer call button and put the phone to my ear.
"Hello..." I said into the phone.
"Hey Zack..." Said twilight in the other side. "Are you still working at applejacks?"
"No actually... I just finished up and I'm on my way back home." I said.
"Great... I was wondering if you wanted to come over tomorrow... It's been a while since we've done anything... We could go bowling or something." She said.
"Bowling or something?" I repeated sarcastically into the phone.
"Shut up..." She said playfully. "I'm trying not to make this sound like a date..."
"Well... You know, I suck at bowling... So I'm not sure how fun that'll be." I said. "We could just chat and walk around until we find something." I said. "That's worked out for us every other time."
"Yeah, you're right... Why ruin a good thing...so I'll see you tomorrow then?" She asked.
"Yeah, sounds good... I'll be over around noon."
"Alright Zack... I'll see you tomorrow." She said. "Bye..."
"Bye..." I said before hanging up the call and putting my phone back in my pocket. Before I could even let go of my phone it started vibrating in my hand. I stopped for a second and pulled it out and flipped it open again... This time it wasn't from twilight, but hammer. I glared at the phone and answered it. "Hello..." I said in a serious voice.
"Hey...shadow..." He said using my code name.
"Yeah hammer?" I asked.
"You planning on coming in tonight?"
"Of course..."
"Good good... Donnie's got something big he wants you to do, something delicate that only one person can do, and he trusts you to it." Said hammer.
"Can you tell me what it's about?" I said moving into the nearest safe spot I could which was behind the side of an apartment building where nobody was, hiding behind a dumpster.
"You know about what happened with you and Johnny..." He said. "Well, it seems like your hunch was correct, there's somebody else in south ponyville who thinks they can swim with the big fishes... You gotta meet up with Donnie tonight, and he'll fill ya in." He said.
"Alright... I'll be there when it gets dark..." I said.
"This is big Zack... Donnie says the pay is big too... Definitely something to fatten your wallet... And the bank." I waited and then he hung up. I closed the phone, and started right back home. When I got home I sat down on my couch and started to mentally prepare myself for tonight. It wasn't too much longer before night had actually fallen and it was around 11 now and I was making my way down the street dressed in all black with my face covered and dark glasses over my eyes. I kept on making my way and soon got deeper into the suburbs until the factory was close by. There was a loud bang and a screech in a nearby alleyway to which I responded by quickly stopping and turning to the noise with my hand tightly wrapped around my gun. I waited and suddenly a cat bolted out of the alleyway with a dog barking and chasing after it, nearly scared me half to death.
Despite the screeching cat, I made my way to the factory and walked inside. I was greeted with the sneering faces of all the thugs and ruffians inside. I made my way past them all and ascended to Donnie's office which overlooked everything. I knocked twice on the door and it opened up to reveal the office. I walked in and took in the surroundings. I looked to see that the usual crowd was here, except for some bloke tied to a chair and beaten nearly to death. I don't recognize his face, not that anyone would anymore, but he still doesn't seem familiar. I walked over and Donnie spun around in his swivel chair and held his arms out to greet me from far away.
"Ah, good... You've come." He said. "Listen up Zachary... This is very important." He said.
"You said there was a top job you needed me to do." I muttered.
"Yes... You see this fine gentleman here..." He said pointing to the guy in the chair.
"He doesn't look so fine to me." I said.
"We caught him driving a wedge into one of our tradeoffs with some boys in the next town over." He said. "Your hunches were right... There's someone else."
"Who?" I asked.
"That's what I wanted to find out." He said. "We caught and interrogated this man here but he don't know much. He's just a grunt... So I'm sending you out to gather information..." Said Donnie. "Hammer... The suitcase."
"Yes sir..." Said hammer grabbing a suitcase and walking it over to me. He held it up and opened it up, inside were stacks of money. He closed the case and set it down next to me.
"This man here couldn't spill info about who's in charge, but he did spill the beans about a higher up that lives in north ponyville. We want you to go to the address here and interrogate this man." Said Donnie as hammer handed me a note card with an address on it. "Offer him a bribe first... I know you don't like getting your hands dirty... But if you gotta, I want you to squeeze the truth out of him... His name is Kyle west... He's married, but no kids..."
"What about the wife?" I asked.
"I suppose if you gotta threaten the lady to get what you need then so be it, but you know how I feel about hurting innocent dames." He said. That's the way Donnie is. He would kill every man pony and child, but he would never lay a hand on an honest woman... Which is good...? I suppose.
"Don't worry... I won't hurt the wife." I said. "Hmm... I'm going... To need... Rope." I said looking around.
"We'll get you hooked up... Don't worry." Said hammer walking over. Me and hammer walked away to get supplies and I got ready to go. It wasn't much longer before I was out of the factory and hopping from rooftop to rooftop heading towards north ponyville. I had the suitcase slung over my back held down with rope that I had been given. I kept a roll of duct tape in the pocket of my hoodie and my gun in my front pocket. I had a switch knife in my back pocket that I could use and I was growing closer and closer to north ponyville. I was getting deeper into town now and the rooftops changed from concrete to hay. They were still sturdy enough, and there was plenty of stuff to climb and vault over to get around. I jumped from one roof and onto the roof of sugarcube corner, a local pastry store that I've visited before with twilight and applejack. It was late now, and the darkness of the roofs kept me hidden. From here I glazed over the streets and looked for street signs.
It wasn't long before I spotted the one I was looking for and leapt down and towards that street. I took a right and made my way onto Valley Street. I looked around and started counting the houses looking for the right one until I stopped at what I believed to be the correct house. A small regular house with a shingled roof and two stories. The front door was too well lit, so I snuck around to the back where there was a small door left completely dark. I crept over to it and tried it quietly, but it was locked. I don't really know how to pick locks, but it's definitely a skill that's worth looking into. I can't get in through the door, so I tried the windows on the first floor but they were all locked, but I'm sure that the second floor windows aren't. If there's one thing that I know, it's that nobody locks the second floor window. I quietly and quickly climbed my way up to a second floor window using the help of a fence and a first floor window.
I placed my hands on the window and slowly but forcefully pushed up. To my luck the window slid up enough of me to get a good enough grip on it. I slid the window up and it stayed. I couldn't look into the room because there were curtains blocking the way, but I now noticed what I had gotten into. I had just noticed the room was brightly lit and there were two people in it. I couldn't see them but I heard them talking to each other. I quietly slid into the room and hid behind the curtains and even more quietly did I close the window behind me. Once the window was closed and stood there in the curtains and waited and listened in on the conversation.
"How was work today honey?" Asked a woman's voice.
"You know how it is..." Said a man's voice. "My boss drives my ass all day and night, I'm just glad I got home this early." Just hearing this conversation makes me think that this guy couldn't be a thug, but then... Look at my life. My friends don't have any idea about the life that I really lead.
"Maybe I could help you relax." Said the woman.
"No... I've got too much to worry about right now." Said the man.
"Like what?" Asked the woman sounding disappointed. "Are you worried that Donnie's boys might come after you?" Hearing that sparked a realization in my head. This is definitely the guy I'm looking for.
"There's no way they could find us..." Said the man.
"I wouldn't be too sure..." I said out loud and brushing away the curtains. The man and the woman turned to me in horror and the woman screamed as the man threw himself in front of her. The man was a middle aged man with blonde hair and hazel eyes. The woman was a brunet with curly hair and matching hazel eyes.
"Y-you... Who are you, when did you. Get here... What do you want?" Asked the man firing off questions.
"I just got here... I'm Donnie's shadow." I said. "I'm here to talk..." I muttered in a menacing way.
"I'm not telling you shit... You get outa my home right now..." He said getting up looking like he was going to punch my face in. He charged at me until I pulled a gun out and pointed it at him. He stopped immediately and backed up and the woman screamed again.
"I think you will tell me shit." I said. "I'm not trying to be the bad guy here... We can do this the hard way... Or the easy way." I said pulling out the suitcase and showing them the money.
"W-wha- I...but..." Stuttered the man. The woman just kept her eyes on the money.
"Honey... That's a lot of money; we could start a better life with that." Said the woman.
"But what if he comes after us." Said the man whispering into the woman's ear, but I could hear it.
"Who is he?" I asked.
"Nobody..." Said the man. I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh.
"Look... Tell me what I want to know. Do that, and the money's yours, and this never happened." I said. "It's simple... Or we can do this the hard way." I said pointing the gun at him.
"If you fire that gun off in the neighborhood the guard will be all over your ass in seconds." He said.
"You know... That's probably true." I said putting the gun back in my pocket but moving my hand to my back pocket and grabbing my knife, but keeping it concealed. The man smiled and then charged at me in an attempt at my life. He threw one punch at me, but it was slow and very sloppy and easy to dodge. I quickly and easily dodged the attack and the man ended up punching right through the curtains and punched out his window. The sound of shattering glass filled the room and the man let out a scream which I quickly silenced by covering his mouth with my hand. Before he got the chance to bit my hand I took out the duct tape and placed it over his mouth to keep him quiet and free up my hand. I placed the knife to his neck and he stopped with his hand still in the window. I pulled him back and he screamed again as his hand came back and he fell back. He held up his hand to see the wounds and it was covered in blood and torn to ribbons.
He moaned and groaned in pain but his cries were only muffled by the duct tape covering his mouth. I pulled out the rope and used it to bind his only good hand to the bed frame and tie together his legs. Then I looked of the white who stared at me in horror and I pointed the knife at her. I could see the fear in her eyes and she back up on the bed that they were resting on before. The man writhed on the ground and the blood from his wound poured over the ground, it was clear that he was losing blood and would die without any help. I put the knife at my side and looked between the two of them. I already had a plan going through my head already and it was time to put it into action.
"Alright... This is how it's gonna work now." I said. "I'm going to remove the duct tape and you're going to tell me everything, your wife is going to sit there and keep quiet... If you scream, so help me god, you'll be bleeding along with your husband... And we can see where that gets the two of you." I said pointing my knife back at her. She just nodded her head and sat down on the bed like she was going to cry. "Now... I'm not leaving until I hear what I want to hear." I said leaning over and tearing the tape of the man's mouth.
"And what if I don't tell you anything?" He asked threateningly.
"Well... Then I'm sure your wife might know some things... But uh, you probably don't have long before that hand of yours completely bleeds out and you lose consciousness... And then probably die." I said. "Tell me what I want to know, and I'll cut the ropes and take my leave, then you can get help and live."
"Fine... What do you want to know?" He asked.
"That's more like it..." I said. "First... Tell me who you work for."
"A man named Gronn..." He said.
"Gronn... That's a strange name for a man." I said. "I'm not sure if I believe you."
"It's true... I swear..." He said.
"Alright... I'll take your word for it." I said. "Where is Gronn...?" I asked.
"Not here... He operates out of las Pegasus." He said.
"Now that's interesting." I said.
"So what does Gronn want with a place like ponyville... And why is he targeting Donnie?"
"He wants this town as a key point in a crime web that he's setting up; this is the last town... Without it, the web can't be finished."
"Now that's what I want to hear... You're doing good, keep it up and you might just make it out of this alive... Now, one last question." I said leaning over to him and putting the knife to his chest and glaring at him. "Who's in charge of operations in ponyville?" I asked him.
"A unicorn named scribe... He's got deep connections to Gronn and has been put in charge of assimilating this town." He said.
"Alright then." I said pulling back and severing the rope around his hand and legs and then putting the knife away. "Thank you for the cooperation." I said walking away towards the window. I lifted up the window which made a few pieces of glass fall and left through the window. I made my way through ponyville keeping to the shadows as normal with the suitcase still full of money. I don't feel especially proud of what I've done. But in hindsight, I didn't really hurt anybody, that guy did that to himself. I kept thinking that as I made my way back into south ponyville, but it doesn't really help. I can at least take solace in the fact that he's probably going to be fine.
I made my way through the south end of ponyville and it wasn't long till I had leapt from the rooftop of an apartment building and onto the third story balcony of Donnie's office. I didn't even bother knocking since it's pointless now, I opened the door and everybody looked over to see me, with the suitcase in my hand. I walked in and made my way into the room and Donnie looked at me and he smiled. He called out my name and took a big puff of his cigar; he always has a cigar in his mouth. It's kinda funny really, it's almost like it's always the same cigar, like he's been smoking the same one for several years.
"I take it by the suitcase in your hand that negotiations got a bit messy." He said. "Please, enlighten me as to how it went."
"Well... I snuck in and offered him the money, and then he attacked me. He tried to punch me, but I dodged and he punched his own bedroom window. He punched through the window and tore his hand to ribbons. I pulled him out and tied him down and promised to let him go if he talked." I said.
"Ah, smart... Smart... So, what did he have to say?" Asked Donnie.
"Some rather... Interesting things." I said. "There's a man named Gronn who is the basis of this whole operation, he's tucked safely away in las Pegasus. He's been trying to build a crime web and ponyville is the last crucial point in the web. Though he isn't here, there's a unicorn named scribe who's the brains behind everything in ponyville. We take out scribe; we send a message to Gronn... Only problem is, I don't see how this isn't going to turn into an all out turf war."
"Zachary... This is very valuable information... And I don't doubt any of it for a second." Said Donnie. "Thank you... You've done well, better than I expected actually... I didn't think that he would be the type that would squeal like he did..." Said Donnie getting rather serious.
"Will that be all?" I asked.
"Yes... Thank you..." He said.
"And about my payment?" I asked.
"Your holding it." He said pointing to the suitcase.
"Really?" I said. "This is a lot of money!" I said.
"It's 200 thousand bits... Plenty of money. Use it wisely." He said. "And take a week off, my treat, we need to dig deep and find out some more... I'll call ya when your needed." He said.
"Yeah..." I said as I turned around and left. I didn't really have anything else left to say, so I just left. I made my way back home with the suitcase full of money in my hand. I made my way back home, but took the front door this time, I wasn't really thinking, luckily nobody saw me. I turned on the light in the living room and sat down and turned the TV on just to create some noise. I placed the suitcase on the table and just stared at it. It looked like there was nothing in it, so I opened it up to make sure and it was full of money. 200,000 bits... What the hell am I going to do with that kind of money? The only thing I could do really was stare at it. I can't just splurge and buy a shit ton of stuff, everybody will get suspicious... Especially twilight and applejack. The only thing I can do is literally just stare at it. I grabbed one of the stacks of twenties and flipped through it. The tie on it read $5,000. Five thousand solar bits. Fourth stacks of 5,000, twenty dollar bills.
I just stared at the suitcase of money and the stack of twenties in my hand. I took out a thick stack of twenties and put them in my wallet just to have some spending money. I put the rest away and then stored the suitcase in my room. I stripped down and went to sleep. With all the stuff that's happened today I had almost forgot that I have a date with twilight tomorrow... Well, not a date... Just a meeting with friends. I kinda can't wait until tomorrow, it'll be good to spend a bit of time with twilight, and it's been a while since I hung out with her. I'm sure that it'll be fun. But I still have a few things on my mind, like this whole thing with Gronn. I'm sure that this could only end badly.
But we'll just have to see...
-Authors Note: okay... so. i realize that in my last chapter i may have accidentally called Zack... Crmison, yeah... i get it. I'm writing two stories at the same time here it gets confusing, and i dont need shit from you people. you all know very well who the character is in this story. im going to refrain from doing it from now on, but if i do accidentally call him crimson again, dont lose your shit over it. anyway... i hope you guys enjoyed this rather action packed chapter, a change of pace from the usual. so keep reading and ill get the next chapter of something out as soon as i can. until i see you guys next time.
-Stay Shady~