A Hidden War

As she sat down across from Lunar Shade, Twilight noticed That she had her left foreleg bandaged and seemed to be lighter shade of black than from before. Lunar Shade noticed this and decided to put the Alicorn at ease.

"Don't worry," She said, idly rubbing her bandaged foreleg. "I'm fine. All I need is a few more hours of rest and I'm good."

"Not if a' have anythin' ta' say about that." Applejack said, sitting next to Twilight on the sofa. "You've already dun so much fer us. We can at least help ya recover."

"Um, excuse me, but recover from what?" Twilight asked, not wanting to be excluded from the conversation. "And I still want to know where we are."

"I'm getting to that, but to answer your first question." Lunar Shade pointed to Twilights barrel and then to Applejack. "You were both suffering from blood loss, and were going into shock while Applejack was starting to lose consciousness."

"We were all so scared that we might lose you two." Fluttershy said in her whisper like tone as she sniffled a little. "I didn't know what to do, I-I wasn't able to help."

"It's alright Fluttershy. It must've been pretty scary seeing me losing blood, but That's in the past."

"Speaking about the past." Lunar Shade said as she removed her bandages, revealing a small puncture wound. "We thought there might've been some blood loss with you and your friends, but we hadn't taken into account which blood types you were." She rubbed her wound, wincing a little as a small jolt of pain shot up her leg. "You're lucky I have universal blood ,or you and your friend might not be here. I'd say you both lost a few pints together."

"A few pints?!" Twilight shouted, causing the rooms occupants to wince a bit at the use of a toned down Canterlot voice. "You would be dead after that. Gone. Pushing up daisies. How are you still alive?"

"When it comes to death, I'm really hard to kill." Lunar Shade said as she got up and walked over to the door, swaying a little on her hooves as he did so. "And if you mares want to know about this place, follow me."

The five mares followed Night Shade out into the hall, a little curious as to where she was taking them. They passed corridor after corridor until they came upon a large pair of old, wooden doors that had the same symbol that adorned Lunar Shades flank.

"Okay, does anypony else see that symbol everywhere?" Twilight asked nopony in particular, although eliciting a few mumbled yeses from her friends and a light chuckle from Lunar Shade.

"Good then." Lunar Shade said as she pushed open the doors, light suddenly blinding them for a few seconds. "Because this represents our Order. The Order of Assassins."

The sight that met the five mares were met with was both bewildering yet somewhat calming. Dozens of white cloaked ponies were in a courtyard below them sparing with each other while a few of these figures walked up and down the two stone stairs that led from where they stood. Encircling the courtyard was a large, stone wall with a spire every couple hundred feet.

"For centuries, the Order of Assassins has trained here generation after generation, following the three tenants of our Order." Lunar Shade said as she and the five mares walked down the steps, greeting the occasional pony. "These tenants are what every assassin follows. Our first Tenant says to Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent, for our targets are those that are corrupt and wish to inspire fear and hopelessness into the common people." She looked around the courtyard for a few moments before spotting what she was looking for. Guiding the group following her, she led them to a rather large and beautiful garden that had a wide variety of plants and fauna, making it seem like a small forest. "Our second tenant says that we must hide in plain sight, for we must appear like phantoms, materializing from nowhere and then disappearing into the crowd like we were never there."

Lunar Shade walked a little bit into the small forest, beckoning the other mares to follow her. After diverging onto a small path, the small group came upon a group of statues, each one having the same hooded cloak, but in different positions.

"Then there is our third tenant, the most sacred of them all." Lunar Shade sat in front of the closest statue depicting a pegasus stallion rearing up to take flight. "Never betray the brotherhood. for the actions of an assassin should never compromise it, whether they be captured, killed, or tortured."

Lunar Shade picked a tiny, black feather from her wings and gently placed it at the foot of the statue, muttering something under her breath before turning to face the group.

"Any more questions?" And to that, multiple hooves rose. "No, I can't tell you where you are." And then swiftly fell down, except for a lavender one. "Yes, miss Sparkle?"

"Why do you follow these tenants? Killing somepony is wrong, and why not let the justice system take care of those that are corrupt.? Wouldn't that make more sense?"

Lunar Shade snorted a little. "Your right, actually."

"I knew it! I thou-"

"Right about killing ponies, yes."

At this, Twilight deflated a little. "Huh?"

"Well, to be honest, killing anypony is wrong, but that is one of the three great ironies of the Assassin Order."

"ughhh, enough with the talking already! We've been doing nothing but talk for most of the day. Can we go do something, I don't know, cool for a change?" Rainbow Dash said, boredom having long rooted itself into her.

"Rainbow! There are too many questions still left unanswered right now, you can rest later." Twilight said before turning back to Lunar Shade. "So, you were saying about the three ironies?" Twilight had the same insatiable hunger in her eyes that she had every time she saw a new book, ready to soak up any and all information.

"I think your friend is right, it has been a bit of a walk, so I think a break is a good idea right now." Lunar Shade got up and proceeded down the small path again which led deeper into the garden and eventually into a small, resting area. "And besides, I think I've already said too much."

From where the six mares were standing, the resting area was circular, having multiple benches and a fountain in the middle. The stone under their hooves seemed to be a mosaic with the assassin symbol inside each of the phases of the moon.

"Um, excuse me, Lunar Shade. But um...." Fluttershy mumbled to said pegasus, almost not catching what Fluttershy said from how quiet she was.

"Yes, Fluttershy?"

"Well, I was wondering, if it's okay, but, are there any animals here?" Fluttershy asked, thinking she might've askd for too much.

Lunar Shade thought it was a bit adorable to see the timid mare worrying over asking for something, even though she was a welcome guest. Sighing a little as she looked up to the sky, Lunar shade pursed her lips together and made an almost ear splitting, two tone whistle for a few seconds. Almost immediately after she stopped, she was answered by a growing brown dot in the sky, followed by the familiar screech of a falcon.

Lunar shade extended a hoof out, allowing the falcon a perch as it landed. "This little guy here is Altair Fluttershy, his flock has been in the Order for as long as I can remember." She nudged Altair a little, causing the falcon to lazily glide onto Fluttershys back. "I think you'll like him."

The group more or less sat around for a few hours, taking in the different plants, idly chatting a little about random things. But after a while, Twilight got a little impatient for her answers and decided to investigate the statues.

After finally getting away from her friends without them noticing, Twilight found her way back to the statue Lunar Shade put the feather on, looking for any inscriptions that hadn't been worn down with age. When she realized that there were no inscriptions in a readable condition, she opted to do a rubbing. Tearing off a small chunk of her bandaging and enchanting it, which caused a small headache, she pressed it against the base of the statue, almost immediately being awarded by black writing appearing on the bandage.

Twilight felt utter joy at what she had just gotten, only to be brought out of it by two approaching voices. Panicking, Twilight put the bandage into her cast before turning to address the voices. Both of them sounded very familiar, but she couldn't guess from where.

"I'm telling you Tavi, Skrillex is good but is nothing compared to excision when it comes to bass drops."

"Well I'm telling you that all dubstep sounds like noise to me."

"Hey!"

"Sometimes Vinyl, only sometimes."

Finally recognizing the voices, she was met with the sight of a white unicorn mare with a blue and neon blue mane accompanied by a gray earth pony with a well taken care of mane, both wearing the white hooded cloaks, albeit the hoods were down.

When the pair noticed the bewildered Alicorn, there conversation ceased to exist for a few minutes as an awkward silence took its place. Until finally, Vinyl broke the silence.

"Well, This is unexpected."