An Assassin's Life for Me

Sea Worthy had pointed them in the direction of a port he could be left at to the north. Edward had called up the five ponies to watch as the were able to see their destination. "We will be arriving in a few hours, I suggest gathering what you brought with you and relax on deck, I will call you when it is time to depart." they all went off to gather their things and the winged female one who said she was Wind Starter flew up to the crow's nest, and seemed to fall asleep.

Sea Worthy had joined Edward at the helm and answering questions about himself, Equestria, and anything that was of Edward's interest. He had looked forward to seeing dry land and a warm bed awaiting him but his was odd. The place he was being dropped off was a fort on an island in the middle of a bay. The thing that unnerved him, and had no problem in making it known, that there was no ships around other than their own. He insisted that the flag be identified. Edward sighed as he raised his spyglass to see a red flag with a eagle-like skull on it.

"Well... what's on the flag?" Sea Worthy asked with impatience.

"I'm not sure, but it definitely isn't the same flag you were flying with the sun and moon." Edward answered lowering the spyglass. "It is red with a long eagle skull on it. This made Sea Worthy panic.

"Oh no oh no oh no. What are we going to do?!? We can't lose that fort! It is our first line of defense against the griffons!!!" Sea Worthy exclaimed.

"Well then it seems you are out of luck, they have already taken the fort it seems. How important is this fort?" Edward asked.

"As I said it is our first line of defense, so it is our strongest fort. It is a center for trade so it is full of valuables that could fund a full on invasion force!"

"Riches you say.... Well I don't see why we can't help you out a little." He turned to Anne with a devilish grin on his face. "Prepare the mortars with grape shots and get the crew ready for an attack, they don't seem to have cannons so we don't need to destroy the towers. I will be in my quarters getting ready for the attack."

"Aye, sir." Anne responded grinning to match her swordsman ship. "All of you lazy dogs! Dawn your robes and prepare the mortars for tearing flesh from bone! We are going to take that fort for ourselves!" This was met with cheers from the crew. They were itching for a proper fight.

"Wa-wait Edward we can't just storm the place!" Sea Worthy exclaimed.

Edward turned to the pony, his grin sending a shiver down Sea's spine. "Watch us." He turned and entered his cabin and began to dawn his robes, replacing his normal cutlasses with the gifted gun swords that were given to him by the order for completing some assassination contracts for them, removing his pistols and replacing them with his pistols that he had found and had been identified as those that belonged to captain Morgan he liked them because of the longer barrels tended to send shivers down anyone who was at the other end. Checking that he had everything he would need for this assault, he was satisfied. He walked out of his cabin and went back to the wheel. Sea Worthy was still bewildered about how bold this was.

Looking at the crew he noticed that they all had their robes on and hoods up. "Anne, are the mortars and cannons ready?"

"Aye."

"Men, we will make our  mark on this place today we WILL show them who we are, they will not know what hit them. We will pillage that fort and show them what happens when you mess with ASSASSINS!" Swords were raised at the ready and the cannons were rolled out, the mortars steadied awaiting the order. "FIRE!"

The five, now present, ponies watched in awe as the mortars fired their payload high in the air and split into multiple smaller pellets of metal going at extremely high speeds. As they landed the could hear scream of pain coming from inside. By this time they had made it to the dock, and unloaded enough assassins, the ponies got off and ran over to the gathered assassins. "Edward! We want to help!" Exclaimed each pony.

"Are you sure?" Edward turned towards the ponies. "Tell me, have you ever taken a life before?" The ponies looked at each other, they shook their heads. "You have gone through training but haven't been in a fight?" They shook their heads again.

"Just because we haven't been in a proper fight before, we have been trained to fight against griffons!" Said Sea Worthy the rest of them regained their composure after hearing their captain. "Trust us, if you don't want us to fight hoof-to-claw with them then let us find another way to help! They must have gotten here somehow, we could find their ship and destroy it!"

Edward thought about and retorted "Alright, instead of destroying the ship though, steal it. I can build my fleet up again."

The ponies smiled and went off around the island and Wind Starter took off. The assassins began to climb over the walls and jumped off each assassin taking a griffon down when they landed. The griffons began to regain some composure but not able to get a good hit on any of the assassins, claws being deflected, beaks being bashed with blunt end of blades and cold steel carving through flesh. Edward immediately made his way towards a griffon with armor and a large hat, an officer. He killed as many griffon as there were between him and  the officer without using a precious pistol shot. He had found a ledge to climb on and was able to get above the battle and above the officer. He jumped. He landed on top of the officer as it turned and flared its wings, but it was too late for escape, as the two gun blades plunged into the rib cage of the officer. Getting off the body Edward took the hat off of the griffon as a trophy. It was a crimson tricorn with black trim and three large eagle feathers decorating the back right corner. He placed it on his head, lowering his hood to fit the hat properly. He looked up to see the inner fortress' walls and saw another griffon with the same decorations except with the colors reversed, gawking at him then running off through a door. Looking around the Edward saw the battlefield littered with griffon corpses and little to no blood on his assassin crew, and all of them alive and kicking. He motioned for them to follow him to the inner walls. They climbed up the wall and were met by three griffon guards. They looked like they were about to piss themselves. Edward took out his pistols and sent three shots directly at the three scared birds. With the resistance gone other than the ones behind this door and the leader of this group would be waiting with whatever he had left in the way of defense. Edward kicked the door open and was said leader was greeted with a long barrel pointed at his forehead.

General Riptide was managing the state of the fort when loud bangs followed by screams were heard throughout. His sons had led a retaliation to this disturbance and a few minutes after he began hearing the sound of metal against claws one of his sons entered his office panting with fear in his eyes. "What is wrong my son?" Riptide asked.

"Father, a group of beasts have invaded, Steel Scraper is dead by their leader. Father, it is on it's way here." Said Zeus, he had been named after an old legendary warrior that was said to command lightning with nothing but his will.

"WHAT?!?! HOW THIS MUST BE A TRICK HE CAN'T BE DEAD!!!" Riptide exclaimed with sadness and fear. 'How could a creature kill my kin? He was trained by the best of the best griffons. He CAN'T be dead....' Riptide thought to himself. "Where is it now?"

Before Zeus could answer they heard three loud bangs from outside and the doors burst open. A bipedal creature was walking through the door with a long tube, pointed directly at his head. His eyes narrowed and his jaw dropped. He watched as the creature pulled on the device and an eruption of pain came from his head, as the ball dug through his skull.

Edward watched as the limp body of the richly decorated griffon fell the smaller griffon was watching the fallen like it was one that it knew, possibly a father. "Well then, it looks like you are the new commander of this place, and the last of your kind alive here. I  suggest you think about what to."

"I-- I uh," The newly promoted commander stammered. "I surrender this fort and whatever is in it to you. As commander of this fort I address you as a griffon begging for my life, do you accept my terms?" The griffon had sweat rolling down his head, and lowered his hat to cover his chest.

Edward smirked "I accept, Anne take him to a cell in the fort, and send some of ours to explore and draw a map of this place."

"Aye Captain." She said as she directed some assassins to follow her as she took the commander into custody.

"Oh and send someone to get Sea Worthy and the others." She nodded as she left with the griffon.

Edward began searching the room with the corpse. Nice clothes,unable to be worn by him though, a gold pocket watch, that now belonged to him, and a pendant around it's neck, a cross. This was something he recognized it had a gold chain and a gold outline but the inside of the cross was a ruby. It was the symbol of the templars. Edward ripped the pendant from the neck of the griffon. He stood and got a better look at it. There was no doubt that this was the symbol of the templars. He attached the pendant to his newly acquired hat. and continued to look through the office and found that it also seemed to be the treasury. There was gold everywhere.

Edward dressed himself in gold over his clothes as the five ponies walked in and gawked at him."What? Is my magnificence too much for you?" Edward said sarcastically.

After some laughs from the ponies and Edward Sea Worthy spoke up. "We found that ship you were talking about and it seems to be in suitable condition. Now, I must contact the princess. I am sure she will want to talk to me about my over-reaction and how you were able to take on a full griffon garrison. I will find a letter sender and be back to discuss."

"Awwww relax! You are all gentlemen of fortune now! You can bathe yourself in rum and wine and sleep in the riches of kings with me if you wish, but if you must notify your princess go ahead. I'm in no rush." Edward said. "Either way you are no longer in my command, go about and do that which you will. I won't stop you unless I have to."

The ponies nodded and relaxed and left to go about their will. All that Edward did after that was go and find the biggest room he could at the top of a tower and lay down on the bed with all of the gold and his armor still on him. He was looking forward to what would happen in the days to come, what riches he could plunder and what templars he would slay. He was in his element, he was happy.