Chapters I slide the arrow back, using my black hooves to steady my bow and aim instead of my magic. A chilling breeze whistles around me, cold enough to be able to felt through my black suit but not cold enough to make me shiver, to lose my target. A gray and russet stallion stalks a helpless mare below my hiding spot and although the mare is colored grey by the shadows casting over her, the stallion, my target, stays in the bright moonlight so I can see him although he doesn't know I am stalking him.
During his change he is at his weakest.
Thanks to my modified digital monocle, I can tell who he is. What he is. Zooming in to the mare's face I can see it contorting into a horrified look, replacing the scared, trapped look she wore as he cornered her.
Gotcha.
Switching to my target I observe him as he starts twisting his figure. I draw a sharp breath and let go of my arrow. It stays true, driving into the neck, silencing him and killing him. The stallion crumples to the concrete, the satisfying thump reaching even my ears. The freed mare wastes no time departing the scene, tearing down the semi empty alley and onto the safe, secure main streets. Launching myself off the low roof I enjoy the brief flying sensation before hitting the ground with a muffled thump.
Pulling back my hood I examine the hideous creature my target became. Fur became skin, forelegs became human-esk arms, hooves became claws. "Hmm, a werewolf shapeshifter. An oldie but a goodie, This situation could have gotten ugly with that mare.... never mind." I levitate my bow with my magic and yank out the arrow that is buried halfway into the bulging neck muscle.
I quickly replace the bloodied arrow into the quiver strapped to my half saddle bag ( a saddlebag with one compartment and some other thing strapped to the other side, leveling the weight out.) and slide the bow into the enchanted bag that I cast a unlimited space spell onto earlier before extracting a length of blue ribbon from the bag with my magic. Ripping off a length I tie it to the half changed dead stallion's foreleg before causing my horn to spark. One lone blue spark jumps off my horn and I mutter "examinination and incineration." They will dispose of this abomination. The corpse flashes brightly before disappearing.
*CRACK*
I reach to my ear and press a micro button on the communication device.
"This is Archer, come in nightmare."
*CRACK* "This is nightmare"
Princess Luna's voice floods my ears, as the leader of Galaxy she keeps tabs on all her agents.
"I have disposed of my target. Sent him to E&I, for disposing."
*CRACK* "Good. You have done well Archer. Return to base when ready."
"Roger nightmare."
I cut the comm to Luna and prepare to jump. I don't so much as teleport as 'jump' to the place I need to be, thanks to the spell I created when I joined Galaxy, making me an invaluable asset to Luna or 'nightmare'
"3....2....1....jump"
I step forward, surroundings beginning to blur and distort, light beginning to stretch and turn to multicolored streaks. A bright white light developed in the center of my vision and quickly grew until it enveloped me and drove me to close my eyes against the harsh light. A moment later the light through my eyelids faded and I open my eyes, blinking rapidly to accustom myself to the normal light.
I am in canterlot castle, Luna's private chambers. I'm not in her bedroom, rather a room that joins onto her actual room. The plastered walls are painted a mash of blue and purple and banners of silver hang from the ceiling, black outlining the emblem of Galaxy (a half moon above a tiara) on each length. Large windows line one wall and magical torches illuminate the dark room. I am standing by a mirror so I check my reflection before calling for 'nightmare'.
Black unruly fur blends with a black suit and my red and yellow mane and tail is matted. A quick spell fixes that and blue eyes scan my body before I call out.
"Luna?"
"Please, Archer, You know you must call us nightmare when speaking about Galaxy."
I spin around, coming face to face with the princess of the night and my boss. I bow.
"My apologies, nightmare."
"Apologies accepted agent. Good work you did today Archer, dealing with the shapeshifter, getting that mare out of her sticky situation. I have your next job."
Nightmare levitates a paper file from a near by table and pushes it over to me so I take it with my own magic and flip it open to the first page. Inside is a picture of a purple unicorn mare with a dark purple mane and tail, accented with light purple and pink stripes. Flipping through the information quickly I gather her name, living arrangements and status.
"Personal student of Princess Celestia hmm?"
Luna nods at me.
"Twilight Sparkle knows that she has a pony coming to live with her for a while, a miss archer. You must watch over her without her knowing you are protecting her. We believe she is going to be targeted by somepony, by whom or for what we do not know. You must not fail us. Go Archer. Protect Twilight Sparkle."
I nod then gear up to 'jump' to ponyville but Luna's hoof on my shoulder breaks my concentration.
"Take the train."
I am gazing out the window, watching the scenery slip past me like water. Half-day train rides sure do take it out of you.
Twelve hours had past. Fifteen minutes were spent reading through Twilight Sparkles file (over and over again), Half an hour was spent reading a book on the Gallop-agos islands, Five hours spent reading every single book on the books for sale table.
All in all, a very boring trip.
"LAST STOP! PONYVILLE!"
Good. I stand, stretch and levitate my saddlebags onto my back. I have my weapons concealed inside them. Trotting outside I scan the crowd for Twilight but it seems like she isn't actually here. Strange, she hates being tardy. A candy pink mare seemingly bursts out of nowhere, ahead of me and at my pace, I crash headfirst into her, causing a huge, loud explosion to go off onto some clueless member of the crowd.
The crowd parts from the unlucky pony, driven by a loud ACHOO!. I get a good glimpse of the glitter covered mare who is none other than... Twilight Sparkle. A stroke of genius hits me and I walk over to Twilight, Lending her a hoof. "Hiya Twilight..... Twinkle!" I burst out laughing due to my lame joke and the candy pink mare joins me, rolling on the ground. I compose myself and give her a friendly smile,noticing the scowl on her muzzle. I help her to her hooves and introduce myself.
"I'm Archer. Princess Luna organised for me to stay here for a while, She said I was to stay with Miss Twilight Sparkle and she would help with whatever I need. You must be Twilight."
Twilight's face brightened in an instant
"So you are Archer, my house guest! Come on, Ill show you around."
I glance behind me, spotting the pink hyperactive mare still rolling about, still laughing. Twilight's hoof draws me back to reality. "Don't worry about her Archer, she's just being Pinkie pie." I turn and catch a glimpse of my host, Glitter coats Twilight's purple coat, confetti hangs from her horn and back, as well as a party blower that is hanging from her mouth, unfurled. I stifle a laugh.
"I think we need to get you home for a bath."
Twi scans herself, taking in the mess then blushes. "I think we do too."
She leads me to a large tree in the middle of Ponyville but what surprises me the most is the windows and doors carved into the oak and the balcony coming off one side. Twilight looks at me strangely. "Its my home... and a library. The whole tree is hollowed out but it still lives! How absolutely fascinating is that!!"
"Fascinating..."
I wander up to the darkened library and magically open the door.
SURPRISE!!!
Pairs of hooves reach out in my moment of distraction ( much to my eternal shame) and grab me, pulling me into the library. Inside the main room, it looks like most of Ponyville's population is here. Pinkie pie bounds into my vision and starts blathering illegible words. I spin around just in time to see Twilight being lead up a set of stairs by a suspicious looking stallion with red fur and a blue mane and tail. His red eyes flashed green for a second before he disappeared onto the upper floor.
I push Pinkie pie aside, sending her off to talk to an orange and yellow earth mare and I begin dodging unfamiliar ponies, making my way to the stairs. I pick up my saddlebag with my magic as I leap over a orange and purple pegasus filly and charge up the steps, extracting my quiver and bow as I go, discarding the bag itself and flinging the quiver onto my back.
As a Galaxy agent I was prepared for the scene before me. Several changelings in natural form surrounded Twilight, the purple unicorn blasting bolts of pure energy at her captors. When one went down, another took its place and the struck changelings would get up within a few seconds.
"Damn"
Every changeling in the room looked at me, hesitating before lunging at me. I extract a arrow from my quiver, load it into my bow and shoot, sending it into one changelings face. He falls and as I reload and shoot again, I magically drag my saddlebags into the room, remove several throwing knives and send them flying through the air, causing several changelings to fall again. Disposing the remaining creatures, I power up my horn and throw a memory bolt at Twilight, muttering a quiet sorry before she passes out, the memory bolt removing all memories of my changeling battle.
Trotting over to the bathroom next to her bedroom, I leisurely remove all traces of blood from my weapons that I retrieved from the corpses before I stow them away and turn to the room. I tie a length of familiar blue ribbon to each of the fallen before I get my horn to spark and send them to E&I. A quick spell fixed the room and I levitate Twilight's sleeping body down the stairs before I wake her up in the party.
Her head moves slightly before she looks up groggily. "Urrg... What happened?"
"You tripped."
I sit up groggily and wipe the hardened sleep away. A stretch sharpens my senses and I turn my attention to my duties.
I slide out from under the soft covers and quietly make my way to the adjoining room. My host and charge, Twilight was still sound asleep on her own bed and spike was also oblivious to my watchful eye, away in dreamland. I take a quick trip to the bathroom and make my way to the first floor and the kitchen.
I magically collect the ingredients for pancakes and begin making and cooking them. Half way through the batter, a yawn breaks me from my stupor.
"Hey Archer. You making breakfast?"
"Yep, spike" I say, smiling at him.
"cool! Something else I don't have do for Twi."
I watch spike waddle over to the table and jump up onto his specially made chair. He glances my way expectantly. I roll my eyes and levitate some freshly made pancakes to his waiting plate. Spike digs in and hoofsteps draw my attention to the stairs.
"Hey Twilight, just in time! I made breakfast!"
I use my magic to waft the smells of fresh pastry over to her, causing her nose to twitch. Twilight trots over and sits on a floor cushion, watching spike eat with weary eyes. I fill two plates with the hot pancakes, give them a generous dash of maple syrup (thanks to maple tree, the mare who runs the new maple syrup stall) and take them over to the table. I place the plate beneath Twilight's nose but notice she has fallen asleep.
"Twilight?"
Her eyes snap open and she bends her neck to face me.
"Hmm?"
"You alright, you seem a might tired."
"Yeah I'm alright, I have been having trouble with nightmares... but i'm having a sleepover at applejack's tonight, a change of scenery might help... speaking of which, do you wanna come tonight?"
I nod. Gotta keep an eye on Twilight, even if she is away from home.
"Great! Now the plan for the day is...."
"Twi?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't you think you should get some sleep? There's no way you will be able to enjoy yourself if you are half asleep anyway."
"That's a good idea but I can't! I have to collect grocery's this morning!"
"I'll do that. You get some sleep"
"Thank you sooo much! Here's the list of what we need, here's the bits to pay for it all, there is the exact amount an"
"Twilight. I think I can handle this. Eat your breakfast and get to bed."
She nods. I quickly swallow the remainder of the mildly warm pancakes before levitating a snoozing Twilight to her bed. I check the windows are locked and place a warning wire (kind of like a trip wire that goes in a doorway except when it it set off a beacon vibrates in my saddlebags) in the doorway and shut the door. Spike had gone off to help rarity on his day out so Twi would be alone for the morning. I levitate my normal saddlebags onto my bag, collect the list and bits from the counter and trot out the door, closing it behind me and flip the open sign to closed.
The first few stalls went without a hitch. Carrots, celery, cherry's (what is with twilight and making alphabetical lists?) Next is apples. (scratch that.)
I make my way to the wooden stall unaware of anything wrong with the orange mare behind it. Then, as I get closer, I see it.
Applejack is covered in scratches and bruises, the latter forming a latticework that shows through her barely combed fur. I could see that it even pained her to move.
"Oh my goodness, AJ! What on earth happened to you?"
"Ah, it's nathing ta worry 'bout sugarcube, just fell outta bed tats all."
"Applejack, you have always been a terrible liar, what happened?"
"Ah don't rightly know, Archer. One morn'in i'm fit as a fiddle, next, I'm covered in these."
"Hmm" I muse
"Have you heard or seen anything strange on the farm recently?"
"Nope, sorry sugarcube... did'ya want some apples?
"Ill get them applejack. See you tonight."
""See ya'll later Archer"
This is strange. Applejack is alone on the farm at the moment. Granny smith is away visiting apple strudel, Applebloom is away with the cutie mark crusaders in Canterlot thanks to fancy pants, Rarity's coltfriend, and big mac is away on a cider business trip. What could have caused Applejack to get such injuries? Seems like this needs to be investigated... I had better take my crossbow.