The Elements Final Test

Link had just arrived at Canterlot, she had to fly a long and harsh journey to get there, she narrowly escaped her encounter with the Elements, she was not the pony she once was, before the war she was a shy pony, she always was on her best behavior, she loved to read and have conversations with friends.  She had changed after that rueful day, now she was a cold blooded murderer.  She cared for no pony but herself.  The guards at the gate moved aside when she arrived, she was one of the high ranking Commanders for Celestia.  She walked up to the palace entrance and entered.  Celestia was standing atop the staircase, she slowly made her way up to her.

Celestia, “What news do you bring me?”

Link, “The Elements, there back, I had just encountered them,”

Celestia, “And where is Debis and Trog?”

Link, “They were captured, we were recovering the recently stolen Elements, I narrowly escaped, they had us by surprise.”

Celestia, “Pity, Debis was a good soldier, remind me to have him punished for failing.  Now for you, since you actually returned, you’re to lead your own squad, pick anypony you want from the academy.”

Link bowed and said, “Yes you your highness.” After saying that she left the room.

*****

Link walked into the academy, even though Celestia put all the guards under her spell, they still have to be trained, they have free will, they just have to do exactly as Celestia says, this was the flaw in a all of their plans, it seldom happened but when it did it could end disastrous.

Captain, “Welcome Commander.”  Motioning her towards the top academy soldiers.

Link, “I’m looking for two ponies, the best of them, what all do you got?”

Captain, “What is your preference,”

Link, “Assassination, anything that is able to slit a throat in a few seconds without hesitation.”

Captain, “Well follow me.  Pill! Shark! Get over here!”  Two ruthless looking ponies walked up, they looked confident in their abilities, Shark was a big pony, he could be used to break doors down, he was a blue earth pony, and his mark was a led weight.  Pill on the other hoof was slim, agile, and he looked like a thinker, his mark was an encoded letter, he was a red unicorn and that would be useful later in her journey.  She nodded to the Captain and took them from the academy.

Shark spoke to confidently, “Why are we being pulled by a cute little mare?”  Link did not like that one bit, she hated being called cute from any pony, and it undermined her abilities.  A few seconds after he said that she bucked his knees from the front and they broke at the joint sending them buckling in the wrong direction, after his face was a hoof from the ground she bucked his face leaving imprints in his snout.  Pill laughed silently to himself watching Link teach Shark a lesson, he has heard of Link before, he was not nearly dumb enough to say something like that to her, Shark on the other hand was an idiot, he only served as a tank to him, it amused him to see Shark beet up for a change.

Link, “Never, ever, call me cute.” And after saying that she bucked his face into the ground.

Shark tried to say, “Aren’t you going to help me to the infirmary?”

Link looked at him, “Why don’t you ask the cute mare down the hall to help you?”  Pill let out a small chuckle.

Link looked at Pill and he shut up.  Shark crawled to the infirmary.  Link and Pill started to walk again.  In about ten minutes they arrived to the private training room Link had.

Pill, “So, what do you need of us, something important I assume?”

Link grinned and said, “You will soon find out, if you survive training,”  Pill didn’t like what Link had in mind so far, he despised training, they were usually too easy for him or they were not designed for his abilities, most trainings were brute force, something Shark was built for, he was a small and agile pony.

Link as if read his mind said, “Don’t worry, unlike the guard training I design my tests for each pony, it’s not a brute force facility.”

*****

Shark arrived to the training three hours after it started, it was a big mistake Pill thought.

Link yelled, “Shark, get your flank here now!”  Shark rushed to her limping still.

Shark said, “Yes great Commander?” Trying to win Link’s favor over, she had no intent on giving him mercy, she enjoyed other pony’s misery.

Link said in an aggravated tone, “Shark, where were you?”

Shark replied, “At the infirmary Commander, I had broken my joints, I had to go through magic surgery to fix them, I just got out a few seconds ago.”

Link sighed, “There are no excuses to skipping training!” Shark cringed at her shear command in the tone.

Shark said, “I’m sorry Commander, you said go to the infirmary earlier,”

Link yelled, “No!  I said why don’t you ask that cute mare to help you to the infirmary, I did not give you any permission to go to it nor skip training!”  Shark started to realize something, Link wasn’t a normal guard pony who is obsessed with their rank.  She was the type of pony to kill in a heartbeat.

Shark gloomily said, “Commander, I’m sorry and accept any punishment you have,” Link smiled after hearing that.

Link, “Your punishment?  Well let’s get started, three hours of missed training is about, five hundred laps around the training court?” Shark cringed and started to shake at the mentioning of how many laps.  Pill simply grinned, Link saw it and knew Pill was the type of pony she needed to keep this mess Shark in hand.

*****

Shark had just completed all five hundred laps, when he finished it was nearly midnight, Link and Pill already left, there training was over.  Link told him if he did not complete all five hundred she would make him run a thousand the next day, he had no idea how she would know but he did not want to find out so he ran the full five hundred.  When he started to leave he heard a noise, he was scared thinking it may be Link.  He hid behind what he could, there was a lot of things in the room but nothing his size to hide behind so he ended up behind a crate half his size.  He heard a whisper, it sounded like Pill.  Something smacked him behind his head and he fell over and let out a small yelp.

Pill, “Get up you blundering idiot, listen.  You are really screwing any chance we have with Link, if you didn’t realize she isn’t the same Captain from the academy,”

Shark, “Ya I know, she is our ne…”

Pill, “Listen Shark, she is one of Celestias TOP Commanders, I did a bit if investigating through the guard and found out she is an assassin for her, her mission is to kill the Elements,”

Shark sat and took in the words.  He then said, “Wow, I didn’t know…  Just how did we end up getting in this mess then?  Not like were any good.”  Pill looked at Shark as if he was an idiot then said, “Shark, if you didn’t notice, we ARE the best of the best in the academy.”

Shark said, “Why did you meet me here anyways?” Pill looked at him and grinned then said, “To make sure you finish all five hundred laps, I know how you hate running.  I’ve been watching you for about an hour or so?”  Shark scowled at that and they left to their newly assigned quarters together.

*****

Link awoke around four in the morning.  She walked around and gathered her items.  She first walked to the armory.  When she got there she requested some custom gear built for Shark and Pill, she ordered Shark some full body armor since he was more of a tank than a thinker, for Pill she ordered a unordinary spell book, this one had ways to conjure metallic items at will.  No guard was ever shown this since it is very risky having a unicorn be able to conjure anything they want at will, even if it is temporary.  When she left she went to the training room.  She may not have told them that training was every day at four but she would enjoy seeing their faces when she had to go to their room and punish them for it.  When she got to the training room she was shocked to see what was, Shark was already breaking through row after row of concrete walls, Pill was using his magic to break through her top of the line unicorn deterrent cage.  The way to get out of it was to unlock a series of locks, pull hundreds of levers, push multiple combinations of buttons, it was proven impossible to unlock via magic on the inside, until she heard a *Clink* and it opened.  She grinned at what she saw, in most eyes this was an impossible training that almost no pony could do, in her eyes this was two perfectly disciplined and trained soldiers.

*****

After six days of training she deemed them fit and ready to be in her squad.  She immediately called for a chariot to take them to Ponyville.  It was a long ride and she could not stand being in the same chariot as Shark, it was designed to hold 6 ponies but he was angered when Celestia said she could not spare another.  The whole ride Shark had a foul odor to him, he was quite thank Celestia but it was the worst four hours she had in her life, she was tempted to fly to Ponyville herself.  Her first mission, get Debis and Trog, Celestia ordered her to kill them for failing her, not only that, but they had valuable information that if the Elements found out could end the war.

*****

They finally arrived and shortly after landing the chariot returned to Canterlot.  Link already explained the plans to Pill and Shark, they are to go to her old camp and salvage what they had there.  After that was finished they would soon create their own camp, after that is finished Pill would scavenge for food while Shark goes around town looking for anything they can use, she only assigned Shark that so he would stay away from her, she knew he would find nothing.

*****

They had just finished setting up camp.

Link, “Pill, go harvest some food now, Shark, make yourself useful and find something we can use around town, I don’t want any of you back for another three hours.”  And with that they were off.  She started to relax at their new camp, at the old one she had to deal with Debis, she may be higher ranked in Celestias army, but she was ordered to follow anything Debis told her, it annoyed her since Debis would demine her every time he got the chance, she would enjoy taking his life.  To some ponies, taking a life is the most selfish thing any pony can do, to her, it was something to do daily.  She then carefully planned out how they would assault the Elements.  Her plan was something that only her and Pill would be needed, it was a stealth operation, something that Tank would not be good at.  The plan was this, first, when all the Elements are asleep she would slowly infiltrate the barn with pill, she would trot in with Pill and then Pill would use his magic to pick put a silence spell around them keeping any noise from escaping where they are at.  After the silence spell was cast they would have to stay close since it was a radius spell, not an attachment spell.  They would walk around the barn carefully and try to locate where her old team was in, once they found them, she would interrogate them, figuring out if they leaked any information, after that she would have Pill muzzle their mouth while she slit each ones throat.

*****

It was time, Link called for Pill to follow her, he gladly did, she explained the plan to him already and he was ready and did research on the silence spell while they waited.  It took them about thirty minutes to get to the barn, when they reached it Pill cast the silence spell on them.  The big barn door was locked so he simply picked the lock, it only took twenty seconds tops.  When they were in the barn they saw Rainbow Dash asleep on a haystack, probably fell asleep during her watch shift, this was going to be easier than she thought.  It only took about ten minutes to find out what room they were kept in, Debis and Trog were tied to the ground, she then started the interrogation.

Link, “Debis, is there anything you would like to tell me before we get you out of this mess?”

Debis, “I kept my mouth shut, don’t know about that idiot Trog over there.  Might want to ask him.”

Link, “Debis, I hope you know what will happen if you said anything to them.”

Debis, “I already know, Celestia gave you your own squad?  What a shame, now hurry up and get me out of here,”

Link, “In a second, have to check Trog.”

Link walked to Trog and he replied no as she expected.  Debis said, “Are you going to get us out of here or not?”

Link smiled and said, “Pill, now.”  And Debis’s  mouth was shut tight along with Trog’s, they were also thrown against a wall and had a magic aura around them, Link slowly walked up to Debis and said, “I’ve been waiting a long time to do this,”  and she slowly used a small blade she had to slit Debis’s and Trog’s throat.  When it was over Pill and Link was walking out of the big barn door when they heard a, “Hey!  Where are you going?”  Link turned around and saw Rainbow Dash has woken up.  She grinned knowing that Rainbow was out matched and outnumbered.  Pill said, “Should I finish her off?”  but Link said no.  Link flew into the air and told Pill to return to camp.  Dash then flew into the air and they had an air dual, Dash was flying at an immense speed and they smashed head first together, Link had a helmet on so it hurt Dash much more than it hurt her.  She grinned seeing Dash fall to the ground unconscious.  She slowly flew away and returned to camp.  Behind she heard the other Elements stirring up.  She knew it was only a matter of time till they found the bodies.