“You did what?” Celestia shouted at her sister at the top of her lungs. “I did not believe you to be insane, but I must have been mistaken. That is the epitome of ridiculous.”
“On the contrary,” Luna started. “It is completely foolproof.”
“You hired a hit on yourself! What kind of mentally stable princess does such a thing?”
“A princess who needs a better popularity rating, that's who.” Luna stepped over to the small window of the inconspicuous Manehattan apartment. As she pried the blinds open the light streamed into the room in phosphorescent yellow strands of illuminated dust. Down below, in the streets of the city, she could easily observe the methods to ensure her complete safety, or so they thought. This time, the princess had hired the most qualified hit stallion, one who had effectively carried out an assassination on royalty for several years ago. He was top of the line, the first in his class, the most talented assassin in all of Equestria.
“Luna, there are other ways. Please don't do this. Lurker is known for his superequestrian ability. He might actually hurt
you,” Celestia said, her voice as urgent as it worried.
“I have already made up my mind. The assassination attempt will go on as planned-”
“But what if it doesn't?” Celestia interrupted. “You can't expect me to sit idly by if you get seriously hurt. You are toying with death itself.”
Luna donned her cloak and walked toward the door without responding to her sister's pleas to change her mind.
“Luna, wait,” Celestia begged once more.
“Yes sister?” Luna asked as she paused at the door.
“Be safe.”
“Lurker, are you ready,” Hawk asked as he stood by his brother's side on the top of the tower that overlooked Manehattan. The sun was just beginning to set on the horizon, its looming figure divided by the magjestic buildings that reached into the sky. The day had just seen a small drizzle of rain, and a light fog held in the air, making the auburn sunset light stream through in vibrant bands.
“As ready as I'll ever be. I never thought somepony would hate the princess so much as to want to kill her.”
“Yeah, but we have a job to do,” Hawk said as he continued to look through his binoculars at the guards who were preparing the security barriers. “I'll keep in touch, keep your communicator on. If anything happens...” Hawk's voice trailed off.
“Take the pill. I know,” Lurker said soberly as he put his foreleg around his brother's neck. “But it won't come to that, it never has.”
“You're right,” Hawk sighed as he looked back at the parade's preparations. “Ill see you on the far side.” He rocketed into the air and assumed his position high above the clouds. His binoculars and his radio were how he would gather and relay the minute by minute details to his brother, who would wait for the perfect moment to strike.
Lurker hooked himself onto the thin black rope and began to rappel down the side of the building. His dark coat was disguised as a shadow against the glass. This mission would be the pinnacle of his career.
“Keep your cool, there are two guards just beneath you,” Hawk's voice said from the communicator. “Neither know you are there.”
Lurker wrapped the rope around his hind leg and swung himself upside down. His hair nearly touching the back of the guard directly beneath him. He reached his hoof beneath the chin of the guard and placed his other just beside the guard's temple. With the swiftness of a viper he snapped the guard's neck and released himself from the rope. The second guard drew his weapon, but Lurker wrenched it out of his hooves and delivered a lethal blow to the back of his head. The second guard was dead before the first had hit the ground.
“Stay hidden. We don't want this blowing up in our faces like it did in Manehattan,” Hawk said. “Keep to the shadows, the parade will start in just a few minutes.”
“Alright, I'm going to go with our long distance plan from the North East,” He said as he pushed the two dead bodies into an alleyway and removed his sniper from his back. “This way we can stay relatively sure that we won't be traced on our way out.”
“Good idea.”
“I'll see you on the far side.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Celestia asked as she helped Luna onto the open air platform of her float for the parade.
“Yes,” Luna resolutely as she placed her helmet onto her head. “Make sure the doctors are ready to treat a bullet wound. It shouldn't come to that, but be prepared for the worst.” She turned her attention to the guards who were to pull her carriage.
“Guards! You may begin the parade!” She shouted in her royal Canterlot voice. Immediately the air was filled with trumpets, shouting, and showers of confetti. This is it. She thought as she kept a watchful eye out for the assassin that would make her loved.
It took only an instant for the entire commotion to unfold, but in that instant, a few key actions started the domino effect that Luna had been searching for. It started with a glint to her right as she rounded one of the corners of the street. From a nondescript window of one of the skyscrapers a bullet had rocketed out of the shadows and had struck her directly in the chest. The guards had immediately taken action, using their own bodies as shields to protect the princess from the inevitable followup shots. Three more bullets rocketed through the air in rapid succession, each one intending to hit the princess, but hitting the guards instead. It took a fraction of a second for Luna to be pulled out of danger by the guards. The parade abruptly ended after the occurrence, but the memory of the assassination attempt still burned itself into the citizens' mind.
“And in other news, today marks the one year anniversary of Luna's assassination attempt,” the news anchor said. Luna smiled, her plan had worked like a charm. Approval ratings had skyrocketed shortly afterward. The whole nation, now supplied with an enemy to hate, rallied behind Luna as much as they had with her sister.
“It worked,” Celestia said as she walked into Luna's bedroom. “It was completely crazy, but it worked.”
“Now the nation no longer fears me,” Luna said as she took a sip of her tea. “I made sure Lurker was kept alive. Now the whole nation hates him instead of me.”
“Let's hope it stays that way,” Celestia said as she sat down on Luna's bed. “We don't want any more enemies than we already have.”
