Chapters As the assassin walked through the portal he was shocked when he found his form had been changed, more so that his new form was a tan unicorn with his black mane pulled back and tied halfway down its length. 'This is indeed a strange world the Dread Father has sent me to.' He thought to himself as he got a good view of his surroundings; he was at the edge of a swamp,and there were no creatures in sight; there was however a town nearby across a river, hopefully it would only take a few hours to arrive there, and luckily there was a bridge across the river. After a quick check to see what he had, which revealed he had only his black hand robes he decided to head towards the town.
After about an hour of walking he stopped. "I know you fools have been following me for the past 15 minutes. "The assassin said as he turned to face two earth ponies and a red unicorn with a large scar across his face. "If you wish to rob me know this : I have nothing of value on me,and even if i did you would have no chance of defeating me."He said to the three.
"Really? Not many ponies use this road because of us, and besides; you haven't even seen the rest of our group." He said as two pegasi, a unicorn, and an earth pony came out of the woods behind the assassin.
"You bandits never learn." The assassin sighed, as he cast an invisibility spell.
What happened next could only be described as a blood bath. The assassin disemboweled one of the pegasi with his horn, took his knife and cut the second unicorns throat with it. The three earth ponies charged, each trying to land a solid hit on the assassin; he dodged the first two and dropped to the ground to avoid the third; he then used his hind legs to grab the earth pony's neck and break it.The remaining earth ponies and the pegasi charged as the leader began shooting magic beams at the assassin. after disposing of one of the two earth ponies by impaling his head with the knife and wedging it in his skull, he dodged a magic attack which hit the remaining earth pony and incinerated him; as the pegasi tried desperately to fly away from him the assassin picked up the incinerated pony's spear and impaled the pegasus through the heart and stuck him to a tree. He then picked up a sword the leader had dropped and proceeded to walk towards the terrified and exhausted leader
"I told you that you couldn't win, and now you pay the price." The assassin said as he decapitated the leader. He then heard someone calling for help; following the voice he arrived at the bandit's camp. There were three bandits left ,though one was asleep and another drunk. The assassin snuck up on the sober one and slit his throat, then took the dead bandit's knife and threw it into the throat of the drunk one and just as the third woke up he was run through by the assassin's knife. Afterward he found the key to the cage and released a silver pegesi foal with a blue mane. "Are you hurt?" The assassin asked the foal; he only shook his head and looked at him in amazement. "Good, now do you know if there are any other prisoners?" The foal's face immediately showed sadness as he looked into a nearby pit where there were two adult pegesi lying dead."I see; You are welcome to come with me if you like." The assassin said. And with that they went back to the road.
After a bit of walking the colt started talking, "That was amazing what you did to those bandits, do you think you could teach me to fight like that?" He asked.
Perhaps,but do you think you could take another pony's life without fear or remorse?" The assassin asked
"If they attacked me then sure." the colt replied with a shrug
"Is that so; then defend yourself!" The assassin shouted as he tossed the foal a stick and picked up one of his own.The assassin attacked so quickly that the colt barely had time block; the assassin kept up the attacks until the colt dodged and swung at the new opening, but the assassin was too quick; he knocked the stick out of the foal's hand and knocked him to the ground, pointing the stick to his throat .The assassin tossed the stick away and offered a hoof the the colt, only to have it used to pull him to the ground.The assassin quickly reversed the grapple and held the colt on the ground with one of the foal's forelegs pinned to his back. "It seems I underestimated you; against a normal foe that probably would have worked. but you have a lot to learn in the ways of combat if you wish to stand any hope against an opponent." The assassin said releasing the colt.
As they arrived at the city the assassin noticed the name of the city was Baltimare. As they approached the gate they were stopped by two guards. "Sorry, but until we can be sure you're not part of Scar's gang we can't let you in."One guard told them.
"If this 'scar' is a red unicorn with a scar across his face and the leader of a group of bandits, then you will be happy to know that he is dead and so are the others" the assassin replied
"how can we be sure you're not lying?" the second guard asked
the assassin simply drew the sword he got from the Scar's corpse, and asked: "Is this proof enough?"
"Two coming in!" The first guard shouted.He then turned to the assassin and said: "You'd best go see the captain , he's probably still training the new recruits; go straight until you reach a dead end then turn right and take the next left."
After the two went into the city the assassin found a map of the city; taking time to find all the alleys and other less traveled routes. He also noticed that the map did not show any shops or taverns; the assassin thought little of it as they were likely in the center of the city.
After ten minutes of walking the two arrived at the training field where a red unicorn who looked exactly like Scar was training the recruits. The assassin was about to attack when he noticed the unicorn had no scar on his face. After waiting another ten minutes for the captain to let the recruits have a break, the assassin walked over to the the unicorn. "Excuse me are you the captain of the local guard?" he asked.
"Yes, Captain Dashing Forth at your service." The captain replied shaking the assassin's hoof."Is there something I can help you with?" He asked.
"I'm here with news about Scar." The assassin told him
"How many times do I have to tell them his name is not 'Scar' it's Blazing Forth." The captain sighed, slightly irritated. "Anyways, what did you want again?" Captain Forth asked.
"I'm here to inform you that Blazing Forth, along with his bandits are dead; I take it this sword is proof enough?" The assassin asked giving him the sword.
"Morden." The captain muttered.
"Excuse me?" the assassin asked.
"Our father crafted us each a sword on our fifteenth birthday; he gave me Mahulak, and he gave my brother Morden." The captain replied, giving the sword back.
"I'm sorry." The assassin said, pretending to regret his actions.
"Don't be; he murdered many innocent ponies, including our father." The captain replied."Here take his bounty, 3000 bits, and also take Mahulak, that sword has brought me nothing but sorrow." Captain Forth said.
"Thank you." The assassin replied as they turned to leave.
"What are your names strangers?" Dashing Forth asked.
"I'm Silver Wing." The colt replied smiling.
"And I..." The assassin hesitated for a moment. "Am Lucien Lachance."
Author's Note
don't know how often I'll update I have school to do ,and then Aikido most most nights.
Also' sorry if it's a little short couldn't think of any thing else right now.
But still, enjoy.
'Gurgle' "Heh, sorry I'm a bit hungry." Silver Wing said rubbing the back of his neck.
"It is getting late." Lucien replied, looking towards the setting sun. "There's an inn nearby, perhaps we could rest there for the night; is this acceptable?" He asked Silver Wing, who gave a smile and nodded. when they arrived Lucien Lachance asked for a room while Silver Wing ordered some hay fries as the speaker handed the innkeeper fifteen bits. He asked about any crimes other than those of the bandits; the most interesting thing he heard was about a local writer who's brother was killed by a gryphon recently; the gryphon claims it was self defense, but the writer says his brother would never do something like that.
"Well, I think it's time for us to rest for the night." Lachance said, motioning silver wing to follow.
"But I'm not tired." He quickly protested, although a yawn betrayed him.
"As I said, time to rest." Lucien said. as they walked to there room.Once they arrived Lucien placed the twin swords on one of the bed post's and pretended to fall asleep, while Silver Wing just jumped onto his bed and fell asleep.
2 Hours later
After making sure Silver Wing was truly asleep Lucien Lachance grabbed Mahulak and Morden and then quietly stepped out of the room. "If he wakes up tell him I will be back by sunrise." He told the innkeeper, nodding towards his room, the innkeeper nodded in response.
As he stepped out of the inn Lucien recalled that the writer's house was on the other side of town; deciding that it was best to be quick and discreet he raised his hood and decided to take the rooftops.The listener was making good time and if you heard anything it sounded like the foundation settling. He soon arrived at the writer's house and found an open window on the second floor, perfect.
He found that the open window led to the writer's bedroom,as he would rather keep his promise to the innkeeper and Silver Wing, he woke the writer; a green earth pony with a black mane that was starting go grey. "wh-who are you?!" He asked backing up against the wall
"I am Lucien Lachance, listener for the Dark Brotherhood, A harvester of souls, A taker of life. you have likely not heard of us as we come from another country. But you, you are a soul that cries out for vengeance, vengeance for his brother's death."
"Then I want you to hunt him down, and murder him like the dog he is!" The writer nearly shouted. "He's likely at his camp about a mile into the forest north of Baltimare. He also took my brother's ring, bring it back to me as proof." He said, as he escorted the assassin out of his home.
"I will return when my task is complete." Lachance said, as he set out to complete his dark task. Luckily the writer's house was on the north side of Baltimare, so all he needed to do was scale a single story building next to the wall. He quickly found one and used a windowsill to get a boost to the roof; he then jumped onto and then off of the stone wall.
after about twenty minutes of walking he heard a roar nearby; he immediately drew his swords and waited. Lucien heard a rustling in the foliage behind him; he ducked just in time to dodge the claws of an albino manticore. Lucien had fought a few manticores in his life, although none he had fought had wings; this would be a troublesome delay.
The listener jumped back to avoid a strike from it's tail, and then stabbed it's right eye then pulled down to injure more of the manticore's face, but was knocked into a tree by a sweep of its paw. He hit with so much force that he was sure that he broke at least three of his ribs. The manticore went for another strike with it's tail only, to have it get stuck when Lucien dodged it. After cutting off the manticores tail, the assassin dodged a strike from the manticore's wing which he quickly cut half off at the joint. The manticore then pounced on top of the the listener knocking the swords out of his hands; the manticore was now trying to claw and bite the assassin's face and chest. Just as he was about to have his neck broken by the manticore's fangs he stabbed it in it's exposed underbelly with his horn and cast a fire spell; cooking the manticore from the inside. after he pushed the manticore's corpse of of him he picked up his swords and sheathed him he then put created a bag out of the manticore's skin and sinew, afterwards he put it's tail into the bag and used his basic knowledge of restoration magic to heal his ribs and then proceeded towards the gryphon's camp.
after about another twenty minutes Lachance noticed a campfire nearby; creeping closer he found that this was indeed the camp of the griffon although he was nowhere in sight. He quickly cast an invisibility spell and tried to find any trace as to where the griffon had gone. The listener barely heard the metallic sound of the the gryphon's wing blades as he flew down and landed ten feat away from him.
After sniffing the air, the gryphon said: "I know you're here, come out before I make you."
deciding that it would be best to not anger the gryphon yet, Lucien dropped his his invisibility spell. "You will soon know the wrath of Sithis." He said,as he unsheathed mahulak and morden.
"I don't know who this 'Sithis' is, but if you want a fight then I'll gladly kill you." The gryphon replied as he prepared to attack.
"You would shut out the darkness?!" the assassin replied as he charged the gryphon. He feinted a high strike from the right and tried to hamstring him from the left, only to have it blocked by the gryphon's wing. The Gryphon the spun around and tried to decapitate Lucien, the assassin managed to block the strike; the strike was so powerful that it knocked Lucien back a few feet. The listener then pretended to charge a powerful spell requiring a long time to cast; the gryphon took the bait and tried to cut Lucien in half, only to have him jump over him and cut the tendons and muscles of the gryphon's right wing, but the gryphon managed to grab him and throw him near the fire. The assassin then began to charge his horn again.
"That move won't work twice." The gryphon said. as he just stood there and waited. Lucien decided to try an idea that had popped into his head. Instead of releasing the magic into a spell he poured all of it into his blades before attacking. The gryphon blocked but the force broke his wing and sent him sprawling back fifteen feat.
"I'll kill you!" the gryphon shouted as he charged the assassin who had used all of the magic he had put into his swords. The griffon was so Enraged he didn't notice that the assassin slashed him across the face. He knocked the swords out of the assassin's hooves and headbutted him. He then broke the listener's forelegs and proceeded to beat him over and over. Just as the gryphon was about rip out the assassin's heart, a blade pierced his own.
The gryphon collapsed to reveal Silver Wing holding one of the assassin's swords. "How did you find me?" The assassin asked as he mended his wounds.
"Th-the innkeeper told me that you had gone outside and w-would be back before the sun came up. I wanted to go with you so I sn-snuck out of the the inn through the window." Silver Wing replied, on the verge of tears.
"How did you find where I went?" Lucien asked as he stood up.
"I heard the manticore, and saw the campfire from the air, and I flew towards it and-"
"You saved my life." Lucien interrupted as he took off his robe.
"What does your cutie mark mean?" Silver Wing asked pointing to the assassin's cutie mark, a black handprint.
"I'll tell you in due time." Lucien replied, noting that it probably told what his specialization was. "Now come It's time for us to head back,there are bound to be predators who will be drawn to the smell of blood." He said taking the ring of the gryphon' claw and motioning for Silver Wing to climb on his back. After covering Silver Wing with his robes he ran towards town; just before a pack of timber wolves pounced on the carcass of the gryphon.
After fifteen minutes of running, they came it to the wall, Silver Wing gave Lucien his robes and flew over, whereas Lucien had to climb a tree then jump over. They were right next to the writer's house so Lucien knocked on the door and waited for the writer to arrive. The writer soon answered the door and was a bit shocked to see the assassin, who handed him the ring.
"Who's this?" The writer asked, pointing to Silver Wing.
"He, is the one who dealt the final blow to the gryphon and saved my life. I rescued him from bandits a day ago and told him he could stay with me for the time being." The assassin replied. "Now instead of money I would like you to write a book for me called 'A Kiss, Sweet Mother' " The assassin said.
"Is that all?" The writer asked laughing.
"Go back to the Inn, Silver Wing." Lucien told the young colt.
"You're not joking? Alright let me get some paper." The writer said as he went to get some paper. "Alright, tell me what to write." He told the listener.
"So you wish to summon the Dark Brotherhood? You wish to see somepony dead? Pray, child. Pray, and let the Night Mother hear your plea. You must perform that most profane of rituals - the Black Sacrament. Create an effigy of the intended victim, assembled from actual body parts, including a heart, skull, bones, and flesh. Encircle that effigy with candles. The ritual itself must then commence. Proceed to stab the effigy repeatedly with a dagger rubbed with the petals of a Nightshade plant while whispering this plea: "Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear." Then wait, child, for the Dread Father Sithis rewards the patient. If your prayer was sincere then you will be visited by a representative of the Dark Brotherhood. So begins a contract bound in blood." The assassin recited from memory.
The assassin then turned to leave but stopped a moment. "Oh, and if you require our services again, you know how to contact us."
The Next Day
"You will?!" Silver Wing asked, elated at what he just heard.
"Yes, in exchange for you saving my life I will train you. Now come, we need to get equipment to train with." Lucien replied, as they went to the stores.
Once they arrived Lucien began looking for any yeomen or blacksmiths; it only took about a minute to find a blacksmith, an earth pony with a steel colored coat and a fiery red mane with a voice that resembled that of a Nord. The assassin bought a wooden short sword and long sword, and two dozen wooden throwing knives for himself; he also bought two short swords for Silver wing and handed the blacksmith 345 bits for the weapons.
Deciding that it would be best if no one knew how he fought, Lucien decided to train in the plains southwest of Baltimare. "First we will work on your defense, try to dodge my attacks and only block when necessary." The assassin told Silver Wing after they arrived. After tossing him the short swords, Lucien picked up his long sword and short sword and began attacking with a basic fighting style, Silver Wing dodged the first strike but had to block the second. After an hour or two of this he started to find a pattern, get close to the strikes from the long sword and back away from the short sword. Lucien continued this for another 45 minutes before he increased the speed of his attacks.
At this point, Silver Wing had to block almost every attack just to avoid getting hit. He quickly flew away from the assassin and paused to catch his breath. He didn't even notice the throwing knife Lucien had thrown until it had grazed his cheek, he put his hoof to the spot where the knife had struck and found a small stream of blood on it.
"Never take your eyes of an opponent!" Lucien shouted as he charged silver wing. After continuing his barrage for a few more minutes, after which he switched to a more advanced and fluent fighting style. it only took a minute to knock Silver Wing to the ground and pointed a blade to his throat.
"Good, you dodged most of the basic attacks. However, when you flew back to rest you lost sight of me and got injured because of it." Lucien said, as he took his sword away from the colt's throat.
After taking a short break the two went back to training. "Now we will work on offense and footwork; mimic my movements and you should succeed." Lucien said, as he grabbed his longsword and Silver Wing grabbed a Short sword.
"Raise the sword, step back and strike, step forward and thrust, raise the sword, turn and strike." The assassin said, as he and Silver Wing did the motions.
"Raise the sword, step forward and strike, step forward and thrust, raise the sword, turn and strike. Turn, step back and uppercut with the sword, continue with the strike by turning and striking downward, step forward and thrust turn and strike."
"The next is the same as the third except when you turn for the uppercut you step forward. Next block toward the side of your front leg then step in that direction; now bring your sword from blocking to your head and strike, step forward and stab, turn and strike.now instead of stepping toward the block, the back leg slides out then step back and strike." Silver Wing was now doing the attacks more fluently and could almost keep up with the Assassin's moves.
"Now, raise the sword and step forward, turn, step back and cut, step forward and thrust turn and strike." It took him a few tries but Silver Wing managed to get the hang of it.
"With the next technique block toward the open side and slide your front leg out, then the back leg takes it's place. Now Strike, step forward and thrust, turn and strike." After they finished, Lucien picked up his other sword, and then moved away from Silver Wing
"Now, let's see if you can strike me in two hours." The assassin said as he got into a fighting stance."Don't hold back; strike me with intention to kill."
Silver Wing Nodded and charged the assassin striking with his left sword, Lucien simply dodged by going under the strike. The next strike came too close to the ground to duck so the assassin jumped back, Silver Wing tried to get away with a reckless charge which Lucien stepped out of the way from and tripped him.
Silver Wing responded by throwing dirt into the assassins eyes then going for an upward swing. The assassin blocked and swung his other sword at Silver Wings head. He scarcely managed to dodge and back away.
I thought you said you wouldn't attack!" Silver wing shouted at the blinded assassin.
"I never said anything of the sort, and even if I had; you should never trust your opponent, no matter who they are." He replied as he charged the sound of the colt's voice.
3 Days later
"Not bad." Lucien said as he blocked a few of Silver Wings attacks."Not good enough to live." He said as he spun Silver Wing around and threw him away. Afterwards they continued to train and Lucien brought them to a nearby rock." Find a place to sit down? I don't have your energy." The assassin said as he sat down. "Fight with your head, not your heart. he said as he slapped Silver wing gently.
"Better, Silver Wing." Lucien said as Silver Wing blocked his attacks. "you're still dead." Lucien said with a laugh as he spun around and hit Silver Wing's side. he then poured him self a drink from a table he had set up, still blocking. "No one ever found victory in the dirt." he said as he tripped Silver Wing. 'This child has potential. ' The Listener thought to himself as they continued training.
It was then that he decided it was time to finish training for the day. "Meet me at the abandoned house on the eastern edge of Baltimare tonight, you can have the rest of the day to yourself." Lucien said, as he handed Silver Wing a small bag of bits and walked toward the town. After he arrived he went to the blacksmith and bought a dagger with a crimson wrap.'Now to find a suitable pony. ' after a few minutes of walking he noticed an old unicorn sitting in an alley trying to drown whatever troubles he had. 'Perfect. ' The Listener thought to himself.
The Other Side of Town
Silver Wing Wandered around until he noticed he was near the barracks. He watched the guards train for about an hour until an earth pony guard noticed him and walked over. "Hey, you're the kid that Lucien guy saved; wanna have a quick sparring match?" the guard asked.
"Is that even allowed?" Silver wing replied.
"Sure it is; come on." the guard said,practically dragging him to the training field. "Take whatever suites you; doesn't matter to me." the guard said as he grabbed a wooden greatsword with a wide blade from the rack and took a fighting stance in the sparring ring. Silver Wing grabbed a shortsword and dagger. "To be fair I don't think you should be allowed to fly." the guard told Silver wing who simply nodded in agreement.
The guard was the first to attack, a simple vertical slash. Silver Wing dodged to the left and tried to stab the guard in the neck with the dagger, only to have it blocked by the flat of the greatsword. He then tried to slash across the guard's chest with the shortsword only to have it disarmed and have pushed back to avoid the sword.
At this point some of the other guards, and even a few ponies from town stopped to watch them spar.
The guard pushed Silver Wing to the edge of the ring and did a vertical slash. Silver wing was trapped; there was no room to dodge to the side, and if he dodged backwards he would go out of the ring. He blocked the strike with the dagger and directed it away from him, he managed to avoid the strike but the dagger broke in the process. Silver Wing moved to the center of the ring and went into a unarmed fighting stance.
"You should really just give up; I mean, you don't even have a weapon any more." the guard said, as he walked closer to him.
"It's not over until your opponent is dead!" Silver wing shouted.
"If that's how you wanna fight then so be it." the guard replied. as he charged him.
Silver Wing got on the inside of the strike and twisted the guard's arm away from his face causing him to let go of the sword.Silver Wing then did a leg sweep to knock him over, and swung the guard's sword at his chest; a kill strike, had they been using real weapons.
At this point there was a small crowd watching; most of which were cheering for Silver Wing, although some of them begrudgingly handed others a bag of bits.
"Nice work kid; serves me right for challenging somepony who's teacher beat a group of bandits lead by the captain's brother." the guard said with a slight laugh.
"It was only luck that the dagger didn't break sooner; you could just as easily have won." Silver Wing replied as he handed the guard his sword.
"Either way; you beat me fair and square. Here consider this your prize for winning." the guard said as he handed him a bag of bits.
Silver Wing noticed it was getting dark, so without a word he flew to meet Lucien. After a few minutes of flying, he found the house; which was easy considering it was nearly falling apart. When he went inside he found lucien just sitting there with a dagger.
"Good you're finally here. Now, before we begin I must make one thing perfectly clear: if you wish to lead a normal life, then you should leave now. However, if you wish to stay with me; you must be prepared to do anything." Lucien said standing up.
"You saved my life; I'm staying with you." Silver Wing replied sternly.
"Then follow me." Lucien said, as he headed to the basement. Silver Wing quickly obeyed and followed him down. What he saw next would change his life forever; an old unicorn, strapped to a chair and gagged.
"I believe you deserve an explanation; I am an assassin, a killer, a mercenary, and if you wish to stay with me, then you must become one as well." Lucien said, as he took his place by the door.
"But what about him?!" Silver Wing nearly shouted.
"Kill him." Lucien replied simply.
"What?"
"You saved my life by killing the gryphon, showing that you can kill when necessary. Now I need to know you can kill on command; now kill him." Lucien said as he handed Silver Wing the dagger.
Silver Wing walked up to the unicorn, visibly shaking. He stood there a few minutes before he made his choice; he slashed across the unicorn's face, earning a muffled scream. But that wasn't enough to get rid of the rage and fear he experienced in the last week. he swung at the unicorn again and again; one of the strikes hit the corroded artery, spraying blood in his face, but he kept going. By the time he was done the unicorn was long dead, and he was covered in blood.
Lucien walked up to the colt and put his hoof on his shoulder.
"Welcome to the Dark Brotherhood."
"I have been waiting for you, assassin. We have not spoken before, but I am well aware of your accomplishments within the Dark Brotherhood. That is why I have sent for you. I'm afraid there is a... situation. The time has come to test both your skill and your loyalty to me again." The Dread Father told the hooded spirit before him.
"I will serve you for time immemorial!"the spirit said.
"And that, dear child, is why I have chosen you. The Dark Brotherhood has been destroyed. That is why I have brought you here; you will be sent as Listener to a new world; almost untouched by war and violence."
"It shall be done." The spirit said saluting.
"Go now, child of Sithis, and know that should you fail; your torment will far worse than anything you have ever felt before."Sithis said, as he opened the portal and sent the assassin through it.
