The Leap of Faith
Twilight continued her ascent to the top of the tower. With a quick swipe of her hand, she pulled down her hood. Sometimes she cursed that mandatory hood, but every other time, she loved it. Only during climbing on a building, tall or short, did she hate it. It somewhat blocked her peripheral vision. It itched and it hardly cooled her in harsh sunlight on a hot day. But during assassinations or casual times, she couldn’t get enough of it. To her, and to all of the others in her Brotherhood, it was a symbol of honor. A symbol to never be seen, to always be around. But those feelings always disappeared when she climbed a building. Especially now, ascending to the top of the tallest tower in Equestria- Canterlot castle’s own stargazing tower.
The peak of the tower was finally within view. Twilight could see the perfect path to the railing, and the large telescope behind it. A chink in the white marble in which to place her right hand, a small window to jump to, the windowsill on which to stand on, and finally, to pull herself onto the railing. This came easy to the Alicorn assassin. She could have simply flown or teleported to the top of the building, but that could attract unwanted attention.
Twilight was tasked with easily the most risky assassination in her life. Recently, her own princess had told her why this had to be done. Celestia had found something out with her sister three weeks prior to this day.
Prince Blueblood was a Templar.
For some reason, Twilight was always skeptical of the prince. He always seemed… odd. Out of it. He seemed to be ashamed of the current government and rule, like he had a plan to take it over some day, even if he never said anything of the like. Something about him screamed deceit. Twilight always had a feeling, but due to past incidents, never confronted him on it. Three weeks ago, Celestia and Luna eavesdropped on their so-called ‘nephew,’ who had unsuccessfully sneaked a group of shady foreigners into the castle. As it turned out, he was a second-in-command of the Templar order, a lead into the top-secret royal documents and classified information. Princess Celestia tried to stop him, but saw no other alternative. Sending him to the moon would do no good either, as it wouldn’t send a message to the Templars.
Blueblood had to be killed. And, as the best assassin in the Brotherhood, Twilight was the one to do it.
Princess Luna was actually the head of the Brotherhood, a group started by her sister after the coup of Queen Chrysalis to take out any political threat or deal with any injustice. Twilight, though she was now a princess, decided to stay within the Assassin Brotherhood. Something within her wouldn’t let her leave. She was part of the Brotherhood, and the Brotherhood was a part of her.
Twilight finally reached the top of the tower. Taking one look at the guard, she nodded. The guard nodded back, lowering his weapon. Celestia had ordered all of her guards to keep the citizens away from Blueblood, and to allow any assassins to get through them. Below the gargantuan tower lied Blueblood’s annual Hearth’s Warming Eve speech. This particular night, given any other circumstance, would have been beautiful. The ground was covered in a comfortable layer of white snow. A light sprinkle of snowflakes offered a calming atmosphere. Luna had offered a wonderful full moon to the citizens, as was tradition on this most wonderful of holidays. The clouds surrounded the lower hemisphere of the moon, letting the silver light bounce off their corners in a beautiful display of nature. The snow on the ground was a very light midnight blue, bouncing off the light of the moon and the dark sky above.
But soon, the snow would be red.
Twilight knew that this assassination had to be in front of a large crowd. Even though it pained her to have to murder someone in front of so many innocents, this killing had to send a message, that the Templars were more powerful than anyone would have liked to believe. And this was the perfect night. Twilight could get this over with, report back to Luna, and get to one of her friends’ parties before midnight.
The assassin crawled onto the enormous telescope, which jutted out far from the tower. She had planned this assassination out on one of her walks through Canterlot. There was the tower. In front of that stood the stage on which Blueblood would address his subjects. And just behind that sat a convenient haystack, in which Twilight would land, crawl out of, and end the Templar. Twilight could hear the prince down below, in his annoying little voice, talking about how great he is, and why he’s the harbinger of joy in Equestria. Twilight pulled her hood over her head and rolled her eyes, which were now invisible behind the white fabric. The haystack was in view. Before every assassination in this fashion, Twilight liked to rest on her perch for a moment or two, taking in the sights of the city in whole. To listen to the sounds of the city. To properly synchronize with the world around her.
An eagle began to circle the perch as Twilight reared back. It let out a loud, beautiful scream as the assassin jumped.
Twilight fell.
And fell.
And fell…
After the entirety of two whole seconds, and with an audible grunt from Twilight, she landed cleanly in the haystack. After a moment or two, she opened her eyes, making sure she was uninjured. With a few pops from the bones in her back, she rolled onto her stomach and brushed aside some hay needles. She could see Prince Blueblood looking back at her with a confused expression on his face. With a shrug, he turned around and continued his speech. The assassin slunk out of her hiding spot and started to slowly walk to her target. She looked towards a guard, who nodded at her. She subtly nodded back and continued to approach Blueblood. Blueblood continued his bloated speech, at which many of the citizens looked bored of. Twilight flicked her left wrist, activating a small mechanism on her wrist-guard. A long, slender steel blade flicked out of the bracelet. All it took was one jerk of her arm and the blade was inside of the Templar’s back. She put her hand on his right shoulder and held him back. She jerked the hidden blade upwards, slicing his organs and spilling his blood on her hand. The crowd roared in a terrified frenzy as the Templar’s body fell to the ground. Twilight leaned down and held Blueblood’s body. Time seemed to slow down around her as she connected with the Templar.
“So,” whispered Blueblood, a bit of drool trailing down his cheek. His voice was choky and barely audible, “My secret’s gotten out…” Twilight looked Blueblood dead in the eyes. Her voice was deep and dark when she spoke.
“No one will trust your order when this gets out. May no one remember your name. Rest in peace, former Prince Blueblood.”
The Templar let out one final breath as Twilight stood up. She eyed the crowd one last time. With her boot, she kicked Blueblood’s jacket open, revealing a golden necklace with what seemed to be a small + on it. It was the insignia of the enemy. The symbol of dishonor and injustice. The symbol of the Templars.
Twilight dashed back around the building and out of sight, easily evading any wanderers who would’ve seen her face. The assassin’s next stop was the base under the castle.
“Was it a success? Is the traitor deceased?” asked the night princess, her hands firmly behind her back.
“Yes, my mistress. Blueblood is no more,” said Twilight, her hood still far over her eyes. Normally, she would’ve addressed Luna as friend informally, but in her line of duty, she was required, as all assassins are, to address Luna as mistress. Formally, as if she knew not of her personal life. In the Brotherhood, she is no princess. She is their mistress, addressor to all assassins and keeper of all secrets. She, in most aspects, is the Brotherhood.
“Very good, Twilight. Yet another successful mission. Thou continues to prove thyself to the Brotherhood and to us. Be free with thy friends and family for the remainder of the night.”
“Thank you, mistress.”
Later that night…
Twilight continued to laugh and have fun at the Hearth’s Warming Eve party. Her mind was still fixed on the earlier events, of course. Her friend, Rainbow Dash walked up to her.
“Havin’ fun yet?” she asked over the loud music.
“You know it!” answered Twilight, copying Rainbow Dash’s volume of speaking. Some loud yelling and cries to stop the music sounded out throughout the dance center. The loud dubstep ceased and the view of the large flat-screen TV was cleared. Twilight walked toward it as the volume of it was turned to the max level. Surprisingly, the new was on.
“…And later reports say that the assassination of Prince Blueblood was in the works for some time. An investigation of the crime scene and a word from Princess Celestia confirmed that Blueblood was in fact, an undercover Templar. Now revealed that the organization is willing to corrupt the throne itself, the true question emerges. ‘Should we trust these Templars?’”
Twilight watched the screen and held back a smile of her handiwork. The plan was taking effect. The trust of the Templars is being called into question. As Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, she noticed her friend had taken out her small silver necklace with a triangle on it.
Rainbow Dash looked over at Twilight and offered a wink to her.
The End.
Author's Note
If you like my Skyrim story, here's my Assassin's Creed story!
