An Assassin's Life for Me

Edward awoke with the sunlight in his eyes, he groaned and stretched.He still had his robes on and the gold jewellery he was wearing around. Now that he could properly see the room he was in he was impressed by the detail and décor. The dresser had elegant carvings in it and so did all of the wood work in the room. there was a balcony that allowed Edward to view the entire fort. Looking down he saw his crew walking around, going about whatever they wanted to do, drinking the hard cider that they must have found in the fort. Edward looked back into his room and looked at a golden  grandfather clock that was set by the door. It was 10:26. He walked out of his room and continued down to where the main entrance was. As he walked out of the main fort Sea Worthy walked up to him.

"I sent princess Celestia my report and I asked her to come here and meet with you." Edward groaned at what he was hearing.

"Why did you ask her to come here?" Edward asked massaging the bridge of his nose.

Sea Worthy was slightly confused by this question. "Why not? You and your crew seem to be the best fighters I've ever seen! With you on our side the griffins won't stand a chance! Not to mention the technology on your ship could improve our military ten-fold!"

"WE, aren't interested in fighting someone else's war. We have morals to uphold as well. Besides the best I could hope for from you ponies as a reward would be at least one of us dead." Edward glared at Sea Worthy. "There is nothing you have that we could possibly want, or couldn't just take."

Sea Worthy's jaw dropped at this. "Then why did you take this fort back for us?"

"I didn't. We needed a new place we could set up the brotherhood, and you said that this fort had enough gold to pay for anything we need to get started here." Edward retorted.

"What brotherhood? Is that why you are all wearing those robes?"

"Yes." At this point the other four ponies had gathered around them.

"Edward, could we ask you something?" The earth pony whose name was Heavy Hit asked.

"Yes? What is is?"

Wind Started stepped forward. "We want you to teach us how to fight like you and your friends do. We asked Anne about the brotherhood, and she said that you would need bodies to help set it up here. We would be honoured," they all bowed their heads to Edward. "if you would accept us into the brotherhood." She finished.

Sea Worthy and Edward were taken aback by this proclamation. Edward was impressed by their enthusiasm and Sea Worthy was considering this as his last troops defecting.

"WHAT?!? Why? What could you gain with this so called 'brotherhood'?" Sea Worthy asked with concern for his crew who he had grown to liking over their voyage.

"Skills, skills that out match the entire crew of the Preservation, skills that can take out the griffon garrison that was here skills that are honed to a point sharp enough to pierce iron." The unicorn known as Shielded Mace said. The other nodded in affirmation.

Edward rubbed his stubble on his jaw as he thought. 'I doubt that us walking around this pony place will allow us to keep a low profile.' He thought to himself. "You will have to be tested and seeing as how I am the head of the new brotherhood here you will have to be able to defend yourself against one of us. Then you will have to pass the final test, then you will be accepted within our ranks and given your own blades." Edward was planning on having some of the ponies in the brotherhood but he was hoping for a more experienced group to start with, but when these four just offered themselves he couldn't resist.

"But you can't-----" Sea Worthy was cut off by a letter materializing in front of him and landing on the ground. Edward gave a look that said "What the hell just happened?" Sea Worthy lifted the note with his magic and read aloud.

Captain Sea Worthy

Your apology is accepted. I along with my sister and the elements of harmony will be arriving within the week on the sister ship of the Preservation. I apologize and give my most sincere condolences for the loss of the ship and her crew. I must however advise caution when around the humans Edward now was paying attention to the letter The are easily aggravated as you probably have figured out and can...... Sea Worthy went over the letter mumbling so as to not alert Edward as to what was said. ....... And we will be bringing enough guards to hold the fort after we take the brotherhood with us back to Canterlot.

Princess Celestia

"Well then it seems like you may need to find another place to hold the brotherhood." Sea Worthy said while trying to hide a smirk of triumph.

"We aren't going anywhere." Edward said with a chorus of 'What's from the five ponies. "They are going to have to let us stay here if you want our help with that war of yours."

"But.... you have to listen to the princesses!" Exclaimed Wind Starter.

"No we don't. If you want to be one of us then you have one loyalty, only one, loyalty. It is to your brothers and sisters. Are we clear? If you are having change of hearts then walk away now. If you are up to it still, then come to my room on top of the tower." With that, Edward went into the tower to find more secrets within the fort.

Twilight still had many questions about the brotherhood and the apple, but Celestia had said that it would be explained when it needed to be. Her words were "Some things are meant to be left alone, this knowledge is dangerous. If anyone knew about it and they didn't need to, it would turn them from a bystander to a target to a body in a coffin." This answer had stopped Twilight dead in her tracks. If it was this serious then she shouldn't want to know about it, but that artefact. That golden ball. This thing was too interesting and attractive for her to just let it go. She had done research on this door that had blocked the apple from the world, and she had found something interesting in it. 'The door was constructed to only allow those with need for it and authority to use it to obtain it.' Through further investigation she found out that at least two alicorns were required until Celestia found out how to avoid this barrier and be able to get in on her own. She had to know about this apple. She only knew of one way to do this in time before she was to meet with her friends and leave to go to one of the forts on the front lines. She left to go and find Luna. Twilight thought  that maybe Luna would be able to shed some light on this and. if persuaded enough, could help her examine the apple.

She reached the observation tower and opened the door to find princess Luna watching over the night as usual. "Princess Luna?" Luna turned to see Twilight.

"Ah Twilight, what brings you up here this late?" Luna said happy that she wasn't going to spend the entirety of the night alone.

"I have some problems and questions that need to be answered, but we can't do it here, and we can't do it without going through a few locked doors." Twilight said trying to keep a straight face, but her nervousness was hinted in her voice.

Luna looked pensive for a minute and though about what Twilight could mean. "Is this against my sister? Or just a thing you believe is....intriguing?"

Twilight shrunk back a bit and answered "Both."

Luna thought for a minute and remembered what her sister had said when she had been informed of what had happened. She had said. "I don't want you causing anything this time. You saw first hoof what they were able to do when they were ponies and now there ideals have spread to humans! We both know their tendencies for violence and skill for carrying out their own will. They can't be provoked. The best we can hope for from the assassins is some peace keeping and maybe some insight. Nothing more. I will offer them sanctuary and room to grow, but we don't need to give them an obvious reason to hate us or not trust us. With some luck, there won't be any problems." Luna though about what Twilight was proposing and thought about how her  sister had treated her, like a foal. Maybe doing this and taking some responsibility would make her sister see that she was capable of doing good on her own.

"I will assist you Twilight. Although I must know what exactly we are doing." Luna answered.

"We are going to look at an artefact. I need to know about it and get it somewhere it can be studied." Twilight said.

"Alright, but we must keep this from my sister. This will be between you and me only."